Afternoon with an Aussie

The study and preparation for my Midterm exams this week has been a pleasant reminder than I am indeed still attending college classes while living here in Budapest. I haven't mentioned much about them because they more or less fall under the daily hum-drum of life, but when test week rolls around, the studying and preparation is rather stressful. I've already knocked one down, but I've still got two more to go. One can imagine then that my afternoon showing an Australian fellow I'd met in Poland around Budapest was a welcomed respite to the drudgery of studying.

I'm a bit embarrassed to admit it, but before meeting Frank, the only Australian culture I'd ever known was Crocodile Dundee and Outback Steakhouse. It was eye-opening in the sense that even though Americans and Aussies share a similar culture, there are quite a few subtle differences as well (and of which I knew nothing about!). We both agreed, though, that the friendliness of our homeland cultures is something of a rarity in Europe.

Frank slept in the bunk underneath me while I was staying at the hostel in Poland, and when he mentioned that he would be coming to Budapest in about a week, I (naturally) took the opportunity to offer my services as a tour guide. Even though I'm not an authentic Hungarian, I've certainly been here long enough to talk any one's ear off about Hungarian history and walk around the good sights without getting lost. Plus, I was thrilled to gab away the day in English. After touring the Castle district, we had some coffee in a local cafe and discussed the stereotypes of American culture. I really appreciated his honesty, as I think that understanding how other cultures view my own is an excellent way of broadening my "worldliness" so to speak. Language came up as well, and I was particularly intrigued to learn that Australians, too, have regionalized accents.

This brings me to my latest theory on the English language! In the states, one could distinguish the typical accent of someone from New York versus someone from South Carolina. The same goes for a bloke from Manchester, versus a bloke from London; or a fellow from Northern Australia versus Southern Australia. In Hungary, there is no regionalized accent; when asked of its existence, Hungarians will sort of raise their eyebrow as if contemplating the thought, and then inform you that everyone simply speaks Hungarian in Hungary. There is no characteristic distinction of dialect between the various regions. Bearing that in mind, I just recently learned that the English language requires the usage of only 18 muscles in the mouth; Hungarian requires 43. My theory, then, is that because the English language is physically easier to speak, it is more prone to the wayward deviations that we so often hear today. I'm no linguist by any means, but I find the phenomenon fascinating.

After coffee I extended the invitation of returning to the flat for dinner- I was making Spicy Hungarian Mushroom Soup- and so we enjoyed a great meal and more conversation. I learned a lot yesterday, and I'm so glad that my understanding of the country now extends beyond kangaroos, Sydney, and the Great Barrier Reef. I believe Frank was equally intrigued by my friendliness and self-confidence; attributes that he doesn't encounter much in the European women that he's met on his travels. Overall, it was a great learning experience, and a nice break from the doldrums of student life. As I am so often told, I'm learning a lot more from my semester abroad than a college class on the Main Campus could ever teach me.

P.S. Congrats Al Gore!