comparison
Budapest is poorer than Prague at first glance: city infrastructure, people's dressing etc. Chestnut-haired Hungarians appeared to be more pessimistic about their lives comparing with dark/dirty blond Czechs. The architecture along both Danube coasts seemed to resemble romantic style (huge pillars, magnificent domes), while Prague is more medievally gothic (smooth straightforward walls, angle/edge like roofs): St. Istvan basilica versus St. Vit cathedral serves as a telling comparison in that particular respect. What I liked most in Buda? Cave church, definitely: atmosphere of tranquility, spiritual harmony. I even tried to meditate there briefly.
CEU’s material well-being has noticeably worsened upon Soros' financial withdrawal. These are esp. CIS students who are now sharing double-bed rooms with one another at Kerepesi dorm in order to get a modest monthly stipend. Yet, the academic staff hasn’t seemingly suffered that much, even though they are now getting their salaries based on merit: journal articles, working papers, monographs etc.
I was amazed to meet my professors along with program coordinators at the Department. I even deliberately attended three lectures, including that by (to my view) most appreciated dr. Enyedi: Comparative European Politics. The class, however, turned out to be too overcrowded. Do they have to admit more students nowadays? Be it whatever it may, PolSci Department has now become professionally up to the level under eagle-eyed supervision of renowned comparativist dr. Toka. To be sure, he did really deserve that appointment. Not surprising then, that scholars of such caliber as Schmitter, Horowitz, Kitschelt are due to lecture for a while for both Masters and PhDs.
I did enjoy my stay at Kerepesi as a regular sauna/swimming pool visitor. Surprisingly, I had my nerves at edge during the first days: this was exactly my mood when I left Pest two years ago. Actually, I had felt this way in the course of whole academic year due to intensive studies, I guess. This become especially evident when I took a look at my MA thesis, while sitting in the library: for couple of minutes I lived through two-month long inner struggle accompanying my thesis writing at the turn of spring/summer 2002.
CEU was an interesting life experience. In Prague I have always been surrounded by Czech students, and sought to socialize among/within that cultural mainstream. In Budapest it had always been a kind of melting-pot enclave separated from broader Hungarian society: physically you are in Europe, spiritually somewhere in the CIS borderlands, given the absolute multitude of Russian-speaking students coming from that region. I got an impression that most of such CEU first-comers tended to get a false view of Central Europe even upon a year long studies there. As for me, I prefer socially integrated activism of Prague to that of curtailed socialization/integration of Budapest, although material well-being in latter case seemed to be better.
CEU’s material well-being has noticeably worsened upon Soros' financial withdrawal. These are esp. CIS students who are now sharing double-bed rooms with one another at Kerepesi dorm in order to get a modest monthly stipend. Yet, the academic staff hasn’t seemingly suffered that much, even though they are now getting their salaries based on merit: journal articles, working papers, monographs etc.
I was amazed to meet my professors along with program coordinators at the Department. I even deliberately attended three lectures, including that by (to my view) most appreciated dr. Enyedi: Comparative European Politics. The class, however, turned out to be too overcrowded. Do they have to admit more students nowadays? Be it whatever it may, PolSci Department has now become professionally up to the level under eagle-eyed supervision of renowned comparativist dr. Toka. To be sure, he did really deserve that appointment. Not surprising then, that scholars of such caliber as Schmitter, Horowitz, Kitschelt are due to lecture for a while for both Masters and PhDs.
I did enjoy my stay at Kerepesi as a regular sauna/swimming pool visitor. Surprisingly, I had my nerves at edge during the first days: this was exactly my mood when I left Pest two years ago. Actually, I had felt this way in the course of whole academic year due to intensive studies, I guess. This become especially evident when I took a look at my MA thesis, while sitting in the library: for couple of minutes I lived through two-month long inner struggle accompanying my thesis writing at the turn of spring/summer 2002.
CEU was an interesting life experience. In Prague I have always been surrounded by Czech students, and sought to socialize among/within that cultural mainstream. In Budapest it had always been a kind of melting-pot enclave separated from broader Hungarian society: physically you are in Europe, spiritually somewhere in the CIS borderlands, given the absolute multitude of Russian-speaking students coming from that region. I got an impression that most of such CEU first-comers tended to get a false view of Central Europe even upon a year long studies there. As for me, I prefer socially integrated activism of Prague to that of curtailed socialization/integration of Budapest, although material well-being in latter case seemed to be better.