January 30, 2013, Year 3, Issue 27

the CEU Weekly

An independent newspaper by CEU students and alumni

Traditions in the Making

The non-official selection of random customs that define CEU students‘ identity. Or not.

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HUNGARY

Will Hungarian Students Keep on Protesting?

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CEU Community

Student Tip # 71

71: Keep in mind that this year‘s new banking

transaction tax affects every cash withdrawal and

bank card payment in Hungary!

Hungarian Expression of the Week

Phrase: ―Örvendek!‖

Pronunciation: ɜːrvendek.

Translation: Nice to meet you. (We say it when we meet

someone for the first time.)

Carmina Burana at the Budapest Palace of Arts

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International Cultural Festival at CEU

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The non-official selection of random customs that define CEU students’ identity

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Is There a Future? 2013 Israeli Elections

PAGE 3 Real Estate and Xenophobia

A Tale From Romania

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Peace-talks Resume After Renewed Ethnically Framed Clashes in Tana

River District, Kenya PAGE 3

Train your brain! Exercising is good, even if it is a brain one. Try to solve the puzzle and get an exclusive prize from the “DZSEM” cafeteria at CEU : - a voucher for a free lunch !

More details on PAGE 8

FREE LUNCH

Interview with Zoltán Illés Zoltán Illés studied Chemical Engineering. Since university, he militated in environmental ac-tivism groups. Later, he devel-oped a career on scientific re-search, writing a PhD and spending time researching in the USA. In 1994 he joined Fidesz, the party that now holds the Hungarian Government. Currently, he serves its country as State Secretary of Environ-mental Protection, Nature Con-servation and Water Manage-ment, and he teaches in CEU in

the Department of Environmental Science and Policy. The CEU Weekly had the opportunity of talking to him, and we want to share the results of this interview.

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the CEU Weekly

EASTERN EUROPE

Viktor Orbán Prime Minister in December provoked a series of student protests by announcing the transformation of Hungari-an higher education (see The CEU Weekly‘s blog for details: http://ceuweekly.blogspot.hu/2012/12/hungarian-students-want-to-save.html). This transformation included governmental prescriptions to each university regarding the number of ac-ceptable students, and the abolishment of state-founded plac-es in 16 popular programs, such as legal studies, economics, communication and media studies, and international relations. This ―reform‖ was decided exclusively by the government, without consulting representational bodies of universities, pro-fessors or student unions. The following mass demonstrations of university and high school students proved that this young gen-eration resisted the government‘s antidemocratic attitude. On the 10th of December the official representational body of university students (HÖOK) declared to support the claims of the non-official, spontaneously founded Student Network (HaHa), which were composed in 6 points, demanding among others the involvement of students‘ and professors‘ organiza-tions into governmental decisions regarding higher education. The government was apparently surprised that students were able to organize such a mass movement, consequently invited at least HÖOK to negotiate a compromise. Zoltán Balog Human Resources Minister offered a new reform plan according to which there would be state-founded places for each university programs (including the 16 controversial areas), the government would establish a higher education roundtable involving all the concerned representational bodies of students, professors and universities. However, the required criteria for acceptance would not be defined by the universi-ties, but by the government. So the basic contradiction of the system was kept: the government withdraws more and more from the founding of higher education, and at the same time violates universities‘ autonomy more and more. On the 21st of January HÖOK signed the minister‘s pact, de-spite having declared it inacceptable just a few hours before the meeting of HÖOK president Dávid Nagy and Zoltán Ba-log. Dávid Nagy justified his act with the claim that an agree-ment was the interest of high school students who have to ap-ply for universities in February. The non-official Student Net-work is disappointed and gave an ultimatum to the govern-ment that unless the 6 points of December 10 will be fulfilled by 11 February, students will return to the streets. I personally do not have too many illusions regarding the pow-er relations and the potential results of future protestations. Nonetheless I am proud of the students‘ resistance – as one of the so many student-demonstrators.

Agnes Kelemen Hungary Department of Nationalism Studies

Will Hungarian Students Keep on Protesting?

―We are offering a 300 RON (around 70 euros) reward to every gypsy woman, in the Banat area (a small region in western Romania), who can show us a medical document that proves that she has voluntarily subjected herself to sterilization in 2013. If they cannot educate their offspring in such a way that they would stop being a burden on the Romanian society, we offer them 300 RON for any sterilization procedure that was voluntarily made in 2013. The offer is very serious and those who are interested are kindly asked to contact the Autonomous Nationalists of Timişoara”.

This was the message posted in the first week of 2013 on the blog of the Autonomous Nationalists in Timişoara (natm88.blogspot.com). Now this blog has been taken down after the Romanian authorities took notice about this awful text which started to circulate on news media. Both civil society organizations and the news media were outraged by this event and called upon the authorities to intervene. One week after the case was presented in the press for the first time; prosecutors searched the homes of a few members of the organization. The have

arrested its leader who is now prosecuted for promoting fascist, racist and xenophobic ideologies. But not everyone seemed to share the anger and disgust against this nationalist and xenophobic organization. A local online news site from Timişoara (debanat.ro)published some articles that declared the swift intervention of the police as being ―hilarious‖. The author of the article pointed out that the local authorities didn‘t seem to be equally effec-tive in cases where the citizens of Timişoara reported bullying and intimidation acts form the part of the Roma community. Indeed, Timişoara seems to be an interesting case for those who study

corruption. In the last years it has been constantly reported that the city is incurably affected by the violence of a Roma clan that is using its financial power to illegally acquire real-estate assets with the tacit help of the local authorities. For years, the so called “Roma real-estate mafia” forged and falsified property rights documents in order to get as much real estate as they can. Of course, this phenomenon enhanced the xenophobic attitudes of the locals, to the point that all the guilt for everything that is going bad falls on the head of the Roma community. My observation to this situation would be that if the local authorities had done their job in the first place we would not have had this discus-

sion. It is almost unbelievable that in 20 years of democracy no one was able to fix the problem of “Roma real-estate mafia” in that city. Of course that the slow but steady growth of one‘s group influence over property has infuriated the locals. However, what I want to em-phasize here is that the fury is targeting an ethnic group instead of targeting the corrupt and the illegal. The media and the local public opinion seem to agree that the problem is the Roma minority, and they don‘t even seem to think about the fact that corruption has nothing to do with ethnicity, but it is driven by money and power. Partly, this is why until the true causes of corruption will not be addressed in the city of Timişoara, organizations like the ―Autonomous Nationalists‖ will

flourish and their actions and opinions will continue be seen by many as “justifiable”. Or, it is clear that nothing justifies this kind of bully-ing and constant aggression against the Roma. Such behavior should be penalized through legal means as well as by social punishment.

Florin Zubascu, Romania

Department of Political Science

Real Estate and Xenophobia A Tale From Romania

January 30, 2013, Year 3, Issue 27

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the the CEU Weekly

THE WORLD

The Haaretz headline reads: the world is trying to understand who is Yair Lapid. As an Israeli who left the country just less than two years ago (temporarily) and is still obsessively checking Israeli news web-sites, I am supposed to be able to understand the election results and in particular the big surprise of these elections which is supposed to be the rise of the new centrist party ―There is a Future‖ (Yesh Atid) headed by former television presenter Yair Lapid. I don‘t feel I do. The new party which received according to the results coming in now 19 seats over 14% of the votes. Especially coming from Tel-Aviv I should be familiar with Lapid‘s electorate. In Tel Aviv Lapid gained over 18% of the votes, so it seems that I must have many acquaint-ances who voted for this party. Although parties with similar agen-das have appeared in previous elections I am still curious who are those that voted for this party and whom did they vote for in the 2009 election? Well, probably many of them did not a right to vote at the time as the result of the soldiers votes indicate (16% for Yesh Atid), possibly many others did not vote claiming that they had no one to vote for or they are ―not political‖ (this election saw voting rates higher than usual), possibly there are many ex-Likud (Netanyahu) voters who could not stomach his alignment with the ul-tra-right current Foreign Minister Liberman. This alignment proved a big mistake on Netanyahu‘s part because the seats it gained are significantly less than the sums of seats both parties have in the cur-rent Knesset. The slogan that is being waved around now is ―Carrying the burden equally‖. This is code for lifting the exemption ultra-orthodox Jews have from the compulsory military service and for demanding civil service from the Palestinian population inside Israel. The main prob-lem actually is that these communities are not fully incorporated in the work force and not necessarily out of their own choice. Therefore they do not have equal chances to improve their economic situation. Most of the few current initiatives that address this problem are private and pay discriminatory rates. It doesn‘t seem that Yesh Atid cares much about this. They just like to complain that the secular middle class population is carrying the tax burden and regard themselves as a sectorial party just as the religious par-ties do. It is unlikely that there will be a major change after this election: Netanyahu with 31 seats has the highest chance of forming a coali-tion and the current configurations available to him are either an ultra right settler and religious coalition similar to the outgoing one or a coalition leaning more towards the centre including Lapid‘s par-ty. Lapid has disgracefully rejected any attempt to form a coalition with centre and left wing parties, because this would only be possi-ble with the Arab parties. It seems that the current policy of building settlements in the Occupied Territories and the lack of will to pursue a settlement with the Palestinians will continue with this government. In my view this is the heavy burden that Israelis should be concerned about. Sharon Casson Israel Department of Philosophy

Is There a Future? 2013 Israeli Elections

Following the first full-scale massacres in Tana River Dis-trict since the 2007 post-election clashes, the local popu-lation remains concerned about the lack of government effectiveness in security provision and legal accountability for the crimes committed. Since August last year more than a dozen violent attacks, including machete-slaughtering, machine-gun assassina-tions, arson, pillage, cattle raiding and looting have been committed by members of the agrarian Pokomo ethnic group and the pastoralist Oroma. Around 150 people are estimated to have lost their lives. In addition, scores of people have sustained severe injuries and tens of thou-sands have been displaced. Compared to the 2007 vio-lence, this time around women and children appear to have been more systematically targeted. The motivations for the attacks are currently being investi-gated. Most local and international commentators give struggles over land resources as the primary issue at stake. The devolution of administrative power, as a result of the 2010 Constitution, may also play a role in intensi-fying local conflict. So does the influx of weapons into the region. Still, the details of the wave of violence remain unclear. The recent kidnapping of the principal government-appointed investigator and some of the evidence so far collected impede the fact-finding and accountability pro-cess. Not to be excluded is the possibility of top-down incitement of violence. So far, Dhado Godhana, MP in the Galole district and Assistant Minister in the Ministry of Livestock Development been faced with charges of inciting violence and was dis-missed from the latter position and released in September 2012 against a 500.000 KSh bail. An additional 3 politi-cians are currently suspected to be involved in the vio-lence and accusations are being made against the police force for ineffective intervention and prevention of further attacks in the face of warning signs. On the bright side, peace and reconciliation talks are cur-rently taking place near Garsen, a district center. Howev-er, without long-term locally anchored solutions to conflict over land and resource allocation, legal accountability, as well as checks and balances on governors and ethnic en-trepreneurs, the conflicts in Tana River District are unlikely to be resolved.

Miranda Myrberg MA Nationalism Studies Program

Peace-talks Resume After Renewed Ethnically Framed Clashes in Tana River District, Kenya

January 30, 2013, Year 3, Issue 27

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the CEU Weekly

Zoltán Illés studied Chemical Engineering. Since university, he militated in environmen-tal activism groups. Later, he developed a career on scientific research, writing a PhD and spending time researching in the USA. In 1994 he joined Fidesz, the party that now holds the Hungarian Government. Cur-rently, he serves its country as State Secre-tary of Environmental Protection, Nature Conservation and Water Management, and he teaches in CEU in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy. The CEU Weekly had the opportunity of talking to him, and we want to share the results of this interview. A hectic morning. Get a tripod for the vid-eo camera. Discover that the video cam-era that we expected to use for the inter-view has suddenly decided to stop work-ing in the last moment. It did so the even-ing before. Run home to get a not-so-good camera. Run back. Prepare the ven-ue. Wait. The Minister does not arrive. Call his secretary. OK, he is on his way. OK, he is late. OK, patience, nerves. Finally, he enters the room, accompanied by his latest assistant. A colleague, he specifies. It seems he has 138, and all of them are allocated to two days each of “shadowing” the Minister. After the nec-essary greetings, setting the camera in the correct angle and accomplishing our interviewer-faces, we proceed with our first question: Please, could you provide us with a little background and how did you get en-gaged in environmental issues? I remember learning in my childhood about the importance of protecting nature from my parents and grandparents. I was born in Subotica (then Yugoslavia), from a Croa-tian mother and a Hungarian father, being part of the Hungarian minority in Serbia. I graduated from the Technical University of Budapest as a chemical engineer, and then I pursued my PhD in analytical chemistry, publishing papers dealing with environment protection. At the same time I was always concerned about the social-political and economical aspects of the environment as well. During my university years I was heavily involved in the opposition movement of the

1980s (during Socialism), especially deal-ing with environmental issues. I still have strong connections with Hungarian NGOs. Each month, I hold 2,5-3 hours of an-nounced consultations with local NGOs. I strongly believe in the importance of coop-erating with grass-root organizations and in the importance of having their feedbacks. Today I was talking to András Lukács, lead-er of Air-Group, and I discussed with him how to use our resources for air pollution management. On a later stage, I worked as post-doctoral researcher in the United States, and I was also employed by the World Bank in Washington D.C. as a consultant on envi-ronmental issues with a focus on Poland and Hungary. Already in the time of the first elected Hungarian parliament in 1990 I worked as secretary to the Minister. Other past jobs of mine include the Hungarian Embassy in the EU in the 1990s, dealing both with minority and environmental issues. Later on, I returned to the USA for more research work, this time in environmental policy development. After the elections of 1998, I became a Member of Parliament with Fidesz, my con-stituency being the 6th district of Budapest. I became also member of the committee for environment. Impressive CV, indeed. But we are won-dering how a career that began with en-vironmental activism and followed with scientific research ended up joining Fidesz? I was more open to social-environmental issues already during my university years. Therefore I joined NGOs, being an initial developer for several ones, including the Green Club of my University and the Dan-ube Circle. These were the last years of Socialism, which was the preparatory peri-od of Hungarian democracy, and I felt that I had to join grassroots organizations. I joined Fidesz after the elections of 1994, which was an astonishing fail for the party considering that in the public opinion polls of December 1993 Fidesz obtained a 43%. The Party was not at the peak of its popularity. Soon after I joined, I became vice-president (among a total of 8), respon-sible for environment protection strategy. Kept this position until 20003. As regards environmental issues in Hungari-an politics, this country still has a long way

to go. There is no Green Party, even though there have been several failed attempts, due to the relatively small population, and the environment is not a relevant part in the other parties‘ agendas. This is why I strong-ly cooperate with NGOs, members of the civil society that are not engaged in politi-cal debates, but rather concentrate on the environment. We would like to continue the interview with your point of view on the implemen-tation of European legislation in Hungary after it became a part of the EU. I keep considering that close cooperation with the EU institutions is essential. When I took my position after the elections of 2010, I had to face in September and Oc-tober of 2010 the Red Sludge catastrophe. The cost of the rehabilitation of that area was 150 millions USD, and the operations are not over yet, having ranged from top-soil removal to the creation of new houses for those affected by the spill. While we were focusing on the rehabilita-tion of the area, Hungary held the presi-dency of the EU during the first half of 2011. We also faced reforms in the Ad-ministration, changing from 16 to 8 minis-tries and reducing severely the number of employees. For another year I was busy with the devel-opment and implementation of a Danish model of waste management. It was a truly successful work, since Hungary managed to at last comply with EU legislation in this field. I am also proud of my work in rela-tion to the Natura 2000 Network, as our case against Audi‘s activities inside a Natu-ra 2000 protected area proved. Also in relation to European Affairs, we feel interested in knowing your point of view on the reform processes for the Common Fisheries Policy and the Com-mon Agricultural Policy. As regards the CAP, I was just having this morning a discussion concerning the Green-ing of European Agricultural, which we sup-port. In the field of fisheries, I fiercely stand against the current overfishing not only of European Waters, but of all oceans, and I expect strong measures from the high ad-ministration of the EU to tackle this problem.

>>>

Interview with Zoltán Illés State Secretary of Environmental Protection in Hungary

INTERVIEW January 30, 2013, Year 3, Issue 27

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Budapest hidden jewels: Hungari-an fish’n’chips At he CEU Weekly we never surrender in our gastro-nomic quest around Budapest. Our latest discovery? Halkakas, a little restaurant specialized in Hungarian fish. Bon profit. We all are tired of the regulars in our diet. Italian food. Thai food. Chinese food. The canteen (a catego-ry itself). Mexican food, sometimes. The 10th floor caf-eteria. We would like to propose you something new, for a day that you feel like breaking your food routine and exploring the less known part of district V, near Calvin ter. A remarkable part of town, by the way. Specially at night. But that is not our topic today. For more infor-mation on old buildings and narrow streets in which to get lost during lonesome and melancholic walks on misty nights we shall write another article. Halkakas offers Hungarian food. But not of the kind we are used to. No goulash, no fruit soup, no Hungari-an pasta. This restaurant specialises in seafood. Well. Riverfood. All dishes contain fish, either caught in this country‘s rivers or raised in fish farms. It offers differ-ent kinds of fish, including catfish, trout and other deli-cacies whose Hungarian names I have forgotten. All of them prepared in different ways: fillets, hamburgers, fish‘n‘chips… remarkable lemonade Hungarian style, as well as their selection of wines! The CEU Weekly held its last Editorial Team Building Dinner in this venue. We could not be more satisfied with the result. We would like to sincerely recommend it for your next date or for whenever you feel like going a little out of our usual Deak ter-Uni route and eat some unusual food!

INTERVIEW

>>> Coming back to the current state of the affairs on Hungarian politics, could you give us some remarks on the main mid-term achievements and prospects for the second part of your mandate? Despite the fact that popularity of govern-ing parties necessarily decreases after the first months (as it has been demonstrated all around the world), now the coalition parties (Fidesz and the Christian-Democrat Party) are winning the public opinion polls. It is impossible to implement regulations that are attractive to everybody. However, the public good is our goal, and we consid-er it reachable, This means that the im-portant thing is to implement the regulations that are the best for the widest public. For instance our government has succeeded in generally decrease the prices of public

services. More concretely, our ministry has managed to decrease the price of such an important public service as waste collection. For the second half of the mandate, I would like to establish highly protected zones in-side the National Parks, cooperate with non-profit organizations in organizing ecotour-ism all around the country and implement new policies to decrease air pollution, which is a big issue in Hungary. We also want to change our obsolete bus fleet, as well as restoring the irrigation system, which worked at a high level during the Socialism but was lost after 1990. Last but not least, could you give us some words on your professional rela-tionship with CEU? I became an employee of CEU in 19997 after having come back from the US. My

department was newly developed. I was the 2nd favorite candidate for this job, but the first one, from Russia, decided to go to work in Great Britain instead. Since the very beginnings our department (Environmental Science and Policy) has had several strengths: a very good colleague body (I do not call students simply students, since everybody who comes here has al-ready a diploma, and they are among the best on Planet Earth, who are studying here), as well as our very special program (MESPOM), working in partnership with the Lund University, the University of Manches-ter and the University of the Aegean. Authors: Ágnes Kelemen (Nationalism Studies) Sergio Rejado Albaina (MESPOM)

January 30, 2013, Year 3, Issue 27

Carmina Burana at the Budapest Palace of Arts If only, if only, if only… if only we had some more time to enjoy of the amazing cultural life of Budapest! Last Monday, the Palace of Arts of Budapest offered a delightful dance performance around Carl Orff‘s masterpiece ―Carmina Bura-na‖. Have you taken a look to the agenda of the Budapest Palace of Arts? Maybe you should: www.trafo.hu. Incredibly busy, the program offers classical and con-temporary pieces of music, ballet, contemporary dance… OK, maybe not a plate for all tastes, but definitely something worth trying. Dance and music lovers will find it difficult to choose which events to attend! The CEU Weekly attended last Monday the 29th of January to the famous clas-sical piece ―Carmina Burana‖. For a little background, this masterpiece was com-posed in 1935-36 by the German composer Carl Orff (1895-1982), giving mu-sic to a series of medieval poems with the same title and written in German and Latin, and arranged in the shape of a scenic cantata, c‘est à dire, a piece in-tended to be dance. Still not sure? The first verse ―O fortuna… velut luna… sta-tu variabilis…‖ is easily recognizable for almost everybody nowadays, and the song has been used as a soundtrack in many well-known movies (Excalibur, Haunt of the Red October, The General‘s daughter…) and featured in many TV shows, including The Simpsons. It is one of the most reproduced classical pieces of the XXth century. The Szeged Contemporary Ballet offered a memorable, renewed, mystical rein-terpretation of this piece. Seemingly resembling a barbaric humanoid community touched by destiny and the cruelty of the ever-vanishing fortune, the dancers succeeded in translating the strength and weight of the music into subtle dances that managed to embody a whole arrange of feelings. Something wild, barbar-ic, like an animal instinct or a trapped fury is present all around the perfor-mance. The decoration was simple enough to help to the development of the story while not distracting the attention and adding just the necessary touch of colour and atmosphere it required. The dancers made their precisely-crafted choreography, making the audience stick to their seats in more than one occasion fearing for the integrity of their spines… What else to say? It was a show difficult to brief in words. My judgement? Pay more attention to other performance in the Palace of Arts, and do not let anoth-er opportunity like this pass. Simply unforgettable.

Things To Do In Budapest By Sergio Rejado Albaina (MESPOM)

the the CEU Weekly

CEU COMMUNITY

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Beliefs, preferences, ways of doing the things that define not only an individual, but, sometimes, too, a group of people. Behaviours, thus, can define some particular trends, like cul-tural festivities in any given country, be them to celebrate a National Day, local food, religious beliefs and different kinds of alcohol —for alcohol is usually an important part of any kind of celebration and, thus, should too be celebrat-ed— among others. And regarding the CEU student commu-nity, this can be recognized in some customary practices that can be regularly seen on campus. Therefore, the following informal article aims to recognize some of those random practices that CEU students do, the spots they frequent, the why and the symbols they may car-ry —whether they know it or they don‘t care at all. The Not-So-Japanese Garden

Maybe trying to carry the Japanese minimalist spiritual ex-perience in its design, the smokers preferred spot located at the second floor can be described, besides the above given statement, in many ways, except for being Japanese. Some loud conversations happen there, some other secret ones too, but especially some small talk —the time it takes to smoke a cigarette, be it rolled or from a package— is the regular atmosphere happening there. No sakura tree and its cherry blossom say ‗present‘, nor the standard, hard, itchy Japanese grass. No katanas or kimo-nos decorate the place, either. Speaking with a Japanese friend while smoking a cigarette there some days ago he told me: ―I‘m the only thing that‘s Japanese in this place. It should be my garden.‖ A girl smoking right next to him start-ed laughing, for smokers know it‘s theirs.

The Sleeping Basement To nap in times of stress and hurry should be considered an art. Between exams, lectures, readings and assignments, finding the —much needed— calm to take a well deserved rest can be hard. Freaking hard. Nevertheless, like when one looks for the light at the end of the tunnel, lost in a long cor-ridor, passing a cafeteria, a procrastination paradise awaits for the exhausted ones —and the lazy ones, too. Several couches and cushions, almost like beds, are there most probably to give some sort of comfortable reading position for students. But taking a nap is always much better. Rested inspiration is mandatory for correct reading, we could say. Just watch it with your sleeping pictures taken by the envious ones who couldn‘t get a cushion. The Cultural Festival

A yearly celebration, it‘s that moment at the start of the year when the different people from all over the world that conform CEU Community try to improvise with all their heart a little stand —with food, alcohol, games, geography les-sons, national dresses, etc.— to show the basis of their iden-tity. Not-so-culturally-committed assistants get to learn, to drink, to laugh, to drink, to eat, to drink, to dance and to drink —among others— for free, in an ambiance of true joy and fraternity. The never-so-many drinks then open the doors for the afterwards partying craziness, where cultures stop being apart and tend to, graciously and physically, mix (for whatever that means). Traditions, yes, form a spirit of union, of common identity and belonging. So, what do you think are other traditions in the making that will define CEU students in the years to come?

Thor Morante B. MESPOM, Peru.

Photo1: aaronabroad.net Photo 2: Natalia Mileszyk

Traditions in the Making The non-official selection of random customs that define CEU students‘ identity. Or not.

January 30, 2013, Year 3, Issue 27

the the CEU Weekly CEU COMMUNITY

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The week of January 14th at CEU was even more interna-tional than ever: in

addition to hearing a bunch of languages being spoken here, one could attend various dance clas-ses, movie screenings

and see some breath-taking photos of places that one should immediately put on his/her bucket list. All these nice

events comprised the CEU International Cultural Festival, one of the beautiful an-nual traditions we have. ―Celebrating

diversity‖ that week translated itself into something even more tangible, danceable and eatable! The biggest event and the one that attracted a great deal of people was undoubtedly the International Bazaar that took

place at the CEU Conference Center (also known as…the dorm). With fearless attitude towards the cold and forgotten arrogance towards people living in the

dorm, even the city center dwellers were taking that metro and the bus to reach the mythical far-way land known as the 10th district to see

what this bazaar was about. And, no doubt about it, it was worth it! This time, it was way

more than just the universal magnetic combination of stu-dents and free food that made it work: in one room, one could

see traditional costumes from dozens of countries, join some folk dances, touch impressive artifacts from different conti-nents, and, well, yes – taste some delicious foods as well as

strong drinks. ―It was awesome!‖, when asked about

the International Ba-zaar, says Hani, a student from Indone-sia. ―I did learn about many cultures of the world in one

place, it felt like some culture center.‖ ―Also,‖ Hani laughs, ―I could show off my cooking skills by presenting Indone-

sian foods to fellow students.‖ What the CEU Weekly team would add here is that Hani‘s skills and that magical peanut

sauce were highly appreciated indeed! The festival ended but the diversity element stayed: now we know what delicious desserts our friends from various countries can make and so we can start lightly harassing them. So let‘s

thank our CEU community, our Student Union and everyone who contributed to this awesome event for letting us travel without leaving Buda-pest. Who knows,

maybe due to this festival some people have decided to have Indonesian food in Bali one day and to see the mesmeriz-ing landscapes of

Kazakhstan after graduation. Expand-ing our minds: isn‘t this what the CEU is all about?

Justina Poskeviciute

Lithuania Department of Political Science Photo: Natalia Mileszyk

International Cultural Festival at CEU

January 30, 2013, Year 3, Issue 27

he Weethe CEU Weekly

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CEU COMMUNITY January 30, 2013, Year 3, Issue 26

About the CEU Weekly This is a student-alumni initiative that seeks to provide CEU with a regularly issued newspaper. The CEU Weekly is a vehicle of ex-pression for the diversity of perspectives and viewpoints that integrate CEU‘s open society: free and respectful public debate is our aim. We offer a place in which current events and student reflections can be voiced. Plurality, respect and freedom of speech are our guiding principles.

Editor in Chief: Florin Zubaşcu Managing Editor: Justina Poškevičiūtė

Editorial Council: Agnes Kelemen, Olha Pushchak, Maryna Shevtsova, Sergio Rejado Albaina, Rodrigo Avila B.,

Laszlo Horvath, Erik Kotlarik, Alexander Minbaev, Razi Zaheer. ceuweekly.blogspot.com

YOUR CORNER

Want to get published?

Send your article at ceuweekly@ceu.hu

UPCOMING EVENTS & CONCERTS

Featured event: Re-opening Minifest at Corvintető Essentially, a bunch of DJs celebrating re-opening of this club from Wednesday till Satur-day. Check out their Facebook page for further

details. January 30-31, February 1-2 Corvintető Corvin Áruház 4, Blaha Lujza tér 1-2 (entrance from Somogyi Béla street) Tickets: 500-1500 HUF

Che Sudaka (Argentina, Colombia): ska, punk, reggae, salsa January 31, Thursday, starts: 9pm Akvárium Klub Erzsébet tér Tickets: 3500 HUF (3000 HUF in advance) Gary Beck (UK), Nils, Nilux, Dorian Knox, Koczian (HU): hip hop, funky, soul February 2, Saturday, starts: 11pm A38 Petőfi híd (bridge), Buda side

Tickets: 2900 HUF (2200 HUF in advance)

Welcome to “Train your brain”! Are you ready for a new mind – challenge?! Another FREE LUNCH voucher from the Dzsem Cafe is already waiting for the lucky winner!!! First of all, many THANKS to those who participated in the previous contest, and con-gratulations to Ioana Ciolac! This time we have prepared you a ―fallen quote‖ puzzle. All of the letters in the white squares have dropped to the ground. To see what the secret message says raise the let-ters back up into their places - in the empty squares directly above them. Please send your answers to ceuweekly@ceu.hu

*This quote belongs to James Dewar.

FREE LUNCH