Golden October

After two weeks of crisp and chilly mornings with clear and chilly afternoons, we are experiencing a (presumably brief) respite of beautiful golden warmth. What a blissful feeling! I just love the extravagance of warm afternoons after a period of cold. It feels so self-indulgent! And in October, the warmth is enhanced by the creeping gold and red color of the changing leaves. Is there anything more golden than a warm, October afternoon when the leaves are turning?

Sunday the weather was so warm that I took Ronan to a sandy beach on the far side of the Tisza (from us, anyway.) I've had my eye on it all summer, but hadn't managed to figure out how to get down to it. We biked down and enjoyed a few hours playing in the sand. It was almost too warm! Not something I expected to feel a week into October. Ronan dubbed it "the beach with the sparkly sand" -- there's a lot of mica mixed in with the sand, so this is a good name for it. Now he wants to go back every day! I said we might have time some days, but not every day. It gets dark pretty early, after all.

We were playing a bit before Sunday, too. Friday and Saturday we were at a Fulbright outing - we visited Veszprém, Zirc, Bakonbél, and Pápa. These are all west of Budapest, and a bit north of Lake Balaton - up into the Bakony mountains. (These are more like East Coast mountains, so I'm schooling myself not to call them hills.) Although our entry into Veszprém was less than ideal, since it was accompanied by Ronan's first experience with motion-sickness, we avoided similar drama the rest of the trip. (Thank goodness!)


Veszprém is a beautiful city, and I wouldn't mind the chance to go back and wander around. While there we visited the University of Pannonia -- the English and American studies programs. Interesting fact: I almost applied to the Fulbright position at the University of Pannonia. They have a really strong chemical engineering program. But then I met my current host at an American Chemical Society (ACS) conference, and it was too good a connection to look elsewhere. But hey -- now I do have a contact at the University of Pannonia, so...maybe in future...

We also visited Veszprém's American Corner. They have a weekly science activity for kids, so of course I was interested. They have a library of English-language books, and Tristan discovered "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy." He wanted to borrow it, but of course we don't live in Veszprém. I had to assure him a bunch of times that we could get it from our own library, probably in e-book form, and probably as soon as we next had internet access. He was hard to convince. He wanted to stay. So did Ronan, who had discovered the toys in the kids corner. He was having so much fun playing that he cried when we had to leave, poor bug. Of course he was also quite hungry by then, since I still wasn't sure what his stomach was up to -- so that didn't help.

Veszprém is also home to World's End. It might not be quite as dramatic as the Cliffs of Moher, but still quite beautiful and unexpected, given the local terrain. Nearby World's End is a church with an arm-bone from Blessed Erzsébet, the beloved wife of Hungary's first Christian king, Saint Istvan. I'm not much into relics of this kind, but it certainly was interesting to see. I wonder if it was her lower arm or upper arm -- I'm not very well-versed in human anatomy, I'm afraid.

Zirc is a short drive from Veszprém north, into the mountains. It's home to a beautiful Cistercian abbey. We admired the gorgeous books in their library. Well, most people did. I followed Ronan around, trying to convince him that there was something to be interested in. I finally hit on trying to find the biggest, "stumpiest" book in each of the library rooms. (In case you haven't yet encountered this word, "stumpy" is usually used (by Ronan, and now by us, too) to describe size, or quantity, but not exclusively. It can express other characteristics, too. Ronan once described a harbor seal as a "bundle of stump." So you see it is a flexible word. It always said admiringly, though -- regardless of what other characteristics are being described.) There were some pretty stumpy books, I can tell you! And of course it was a library, so there was a stump of books there.

The Cistercian's didn't just collect books; they also collected trees. There's a beautiful arboretum just outside the abbey walls. We took a lovely walk there. It was such a mild afternoon, and the air was so fresh in the mountains, it was quite a treat. Ronan and I rambled along, threw pine cones into the creek, and looked at mushrooms. Tristan hung out with a couple of his adopted uncles - in Hungarian these are bácsi (plural would be bácsik.) (Incidentally, this is also how students address their teachers -- female teachers are "aunts" and male teachers are "uncles.") Tristan has several "uncles" among the Fulbrighters, which is fabulous. I really appreciate how welcoming everyone has been with him, especially. He needs more people.

This brings me to the other reason why this trip was so welcome. Yes, of course it was extremely fun to be guided through beautiful places, and learn about interesting history and culture. But more than that, it was really helpful to reconnect with friends in a social, casual setting. We don't get enough of that in Szeged. I've been working on changing that mix for us by inviting people over, but that only goes so far.

Ronan is probably the best off of the three of us - he gets to play with friends all day. Tristan has a little time to talk at school, of course, but so far he hasn't been able to get together with friends outside of school. Many of his classmates are extremely busy with extra-curricular activities. We're working on it, but it's challenging. So it was especially welcome because Tristan got to spend most of the two days on the trip hanging out with his bácsik -- which was fabulous for everyone involved.

And me? I do OK most of the time. I'm used to having a lot more interactions with my colleagues, though. Here at SZTE my colleagues are uniformly very busy -- so I don't see them much, and I feel a little awkward approaching them to ask if they want to go out for lunch, or get a coffee. It feels like an imposition. So as I said earlier, I've compromised by hosting parties on the weekends. (Speaking of which -- I think it's time to host another one!)

Anyway, even though I've described a lot, that wasn't even the whole of Friday. After Zirc we headed to Bakonybél, a tiny little town deeper into the Bakony mountains -- that happens to have an observatory. So that evening after dinner we walked to the observatory, and got to have fun looking through a telescope. Improbably, the weather was even cooperative! It was a beautiful, clear night; a little humid, so some of the images weren't super clear, but still. No complaints. We got to see Saturn, Mars, a star cluster, and the Messier 57 (M57) ring nebula. Then we went down to the planetarium and saw a movie on black holes. Finally, everyone trouped out to the roof to do some good, old-fashioned star gazing. By this time Ronan was seriously tired (it was after 10pm), so we headed back to the hotel with a few other Fulbrighters who were ready to turn in, too. The night was crisp and dark, the walk was refreshing and companionable, and the beds were comfortable. Although it might've started a bit rough, it turned into a lovely day.

And then it was fall

Just in time for the official turn of the season, the weather in Szeged has shifted from summer to fall! This morning I got up to an unexpectedly chilly bright, windy day. The clouds are high and puffy, the sky is vibrant blue, and the air has a flavour that I haven't felt in...well, about a year, right? The crispness is so striking, especially in contrast to last week, when I spent most afternoons sweating.

I don't think I have a favourite time of year, and I think that's healthy. I try to enjoy where and when I am -- what other option do I have anyway? If I pine for a season the rest of the year then I'm spending most of the year unhappy. What kind of life would that be?

Fall is so beautiful. The trees haven't really started to turn colors here, but I suspect that these chilly mornings will start to bring the change. But fall is also sad. It's the last fireworks display before the bleakness of winter. Of course winter can be beautiful, too, but I have a more complicated relationship with winter. I've had too many traumatic events happen in the winter for me to look toward it with anticipation. For example, that big elm tree in my front yard has given me some strong feelings of trepidation about winter -- but at the same time I don't want to just chop the tree down. I love trees! And it's a beautiful, old tree. It gives us incredible shade. But it's also scary.

So let's get back to living in the moment -- in fall. This weather makes me want apple cider, pumpkin pie, and cozy blankets. It also reminds me of more things I'd forgotten about bike commuting: the cold hands and ears. Time to make myself some mittens and an earmuff, I guess!

I am now in my third week in the semester, and it's been an incredible experience so far. My classes are so different than what I usually teach, but it's inspiring and exciting (as well as intimidating.) Rather than teaching chemistry, right now I'm teaching science writing. In one class we're focusing on writing journal articles, and in the other we're writing about the elements in the periodic table. Well -- we will be very soon. So far we've mainly been talking about how to write, and some of the challenges for students who are not native speakers of English. Incidentally, the book "Doing Science" by Ivan Valiela has a wonderful chapter on language, specifically intended for scientists who are not native speakers of English. But really, it's not just for scientists, and it's not just for non-native speakers of English. I think anyone who does academic writing would probably get something out of it.

Have you noticed that this is the first time I've really said anything about my classes this semester? So far I've struggled to try to describe my experience -- that's why I haven't said much. I guess I can start with the basics: my classes are small. One class is all Ph.D. students (and a couple of med students); the other is M.Sc. students. Incidentally: in Hungary everyone who is admitted to a Ph.D. program already has a master's degree. They also all have to get level B2 or better in English. This rating means that they are upper intermediate in speaking and writing -- they were probably all as good at English as I was at Spanish back in 1995 when I was nearly fluent. Some of them are a little rusty at speaking because they earned that rating coming out of high school, and maybe haven't had the opportunity to practice speaking all the time. But -- many of them are addicted to English-language movies and serials, like Game of Thrones, so they get lots of opportunities to practice listening and understanding.

This means that most of my students speak at least two languages fluently, or nearly fluently. For those keeping track, in the near future, students in Hungary will need to pass two language exams at level B2 or better in order to be accepted to attend university. Intimidated? I am. But I'm also kind of jealous. I love that so many people here speak multiple languages. I love that bilingual education is the norm, not the exception. There are so many good reasons to learn other languages. Travel is one, of course, but it's also fun to learn more about the structure of languages. I learn so much about English when I study other languages. It's a mirror, you know? By looking at other languages I can more easily reflect back on what English is like.

Anyway, I'll get back to my lovely students. I said my classes were small. I have 18 students in the Ph.D. class and 11 in the M.Sc. class. My students in the Ph.D. class are definitely more confident about speaking in class, and they often contribute and ask questions. I've found us some great things to read to better understand keeping story in our writing (Terry Tempest Williams, "Not Ours to Exploit"), an awareness of audience (Neil deGrasse Tyson, "A Cosmic Perspective"), how to structure introductions (Lorelei Fister and David C. Johnson, "Controlling Solid-State Reaction Mechanisms Using Diffusion Length in Ultrathin-Film Superlattice Composites", which is a journal article from my P.I.'s lab -- but back before I was a graduate student.) I also used that last one as a good example of keeping language simple and minimising the use of jargon (even in a scientific article.)

I sent a big mental "thank-you" to my wonderful colleague, Nathalie Kuroiwa-Lewis, because I spent a half an hour in both of my classes talking about rhetoric and rhetorical situations. I also will give a shout-out to Purdue OWL, since they have some really great resources on so many things having to do with writing (including rhetoric.) (I do like to give credit where it's due!)

It's really weird, though. I'm only teaching 90 minutes, 3 times a week. So the vast majority of my time here I'm really doing something else. What that looks like for me is a lot of time on course prep. This makes sense because -- guess what? -- I've never taught anything like this before. So yeah, Mondays and Wednesdays I spend around 4-5 hours before class getting ready for class. Tuesdays and Thursdays I get ready for my Thursday class. I'm not sure how many hours, but probably 4-5 again. On Friday I try to pick up the pieces, answer the e-mails, and figure out what I need to prepare before next week.

But wait! There's all kinds of hours in between there where it sounds like you're not doing anything, Arwyn. What is this, some kind of fancy holiday? No, no! Don't jump to conclusions. I'm keeping very busy, believe me!

In addition to the classes I'm teaching I've worked out an outreach schedule where I'll be doing science activities with the Szeged American Corner 2-3 times a month. Do you know about American Corners? I didn't until last March when my Fulbright host said, "Hey, there's an American Corner opening in Szeged. You should reach out to their director. They're on Facebook!" So I did. American Corners are an outreach of the US Embassy. Local communities host spaces where there are cultural events intended to increase understanding of the US. But they also have really practical stuff, like conversation circles where people can practice English. Right now there is (of course) a push to increase STEM activities in the American Corners, so that's where I come in.

But...I have very strict rules about science activities that I do. Yes, yes, of course I do stuff that's safe. No explosions. Nothing horribly toxic. But that's actually not what I'm talking about (because I consider it obvious that I'd demand safety.) Instead, what I am is deadly opposed to the whole "science magic" kind of show that you often see. It's not that I don't think they're any good. They're super fun! But I'm just not into science as entertainment; I'm into science education. I think learning is already exciting. I think that having "science magic" shows makes science more mysterious, not less. That's right -- I'm trying to make science accessible and interesting, and I want to convince you that you can do science, too. I think "science magic" does the opposite. No, I don't have any scientific research studies that demonstrate this, but maybe I'll talk to some of my colleagues about designing some when I get back.

This next week is our first event, and I'm going to do a chemistry and art activity -- we'll make egg tempera paints. If you want to give it a try, send me an e-mail and I'll share the activity. Only household ingredients required for this one.

Anyway, I'm also biking Ronan to and from his kindergarten -- so that's about 20 km per day I'm on the bike. It's been great -- I get exercise while I'm commuting! Wow! Revolutionary, I know. I envy and admire all of you who've been doing it all along. I'm just happy I can do it right now. It's great to get daily exercise without scheduling in something separate, and it's also really beautiful. I get to ride across the Tisza river every day, and that's lovely. And also my hips are feeling better. Even with sitting for 6+ hours a day while I prep. And then of course there's the constant battle we all face of making sure we have groceries in the house, food on the table at mealtimes, clean clothes to wear, and a house that isn't a total biohazard zone... So yeah. There's plenty to keep me busy.