Science, at last

I finally met Eors Szathmary today! It was brief, because he had a bunch of meetings. He was very nice, and insisted that I refer to him by his first name, which, I have learned, is pronounced Ursh. His last name is pronounced Sat-mayree with the second syllable kind of elongated, but the emphasis still on the first (Its a little tricky for us Angolul). I also met Adam Kun who published a paper with Eors recently. After a little ice breaker small talk, we got down to it, and talked science. I explained to him my research project, and we talked about what he found interesting from his perspective. He and Eors do a lot of theoretical biology, which they test using computer simulations. So he suggested simulation type experiments I could do, or try to do, or have somebody with some simulation experience do. I gave him a copy of my recent paper, and he found it very interesting. It all went pretty smooth. He's a good dude. Tomorrow, I will find out what he and Eors are up to.

And as I left the collegium, I felt less like a tourist. I wasn't walking around aimlessly, taking photos and thinking about where I would have my next meal. I was now a visiting scientist. In fact, if I may speak frankly, the tourists are a bit annoying to us Budapest scholars. They due help drive the economy, so I guess I will put up with them. Hmph.

Well, I should go, there are still some sites I want to take pictures of, and I'm not sure where I will have dinner tonight.

Eric travels

p.s. For Will in particular: I had the best Indian food of my life last night. The experience was similar to the first time I had really good Thai food (Kun Pic's in Portland). I couldn't believe all the flavors I was tasting, I didn't know my tongue could do that. It was like turning on a color tv for the fist time, but in my mouth.