We just arrived to Budapest, where our parents were waiting for us at the Airport. They were more excited than we were.
I really enjoyed this week in Moscow, I liked most things about it. I would want to go back sometime to see the stuff that we did not have time for now.
Special thanks for the Új Európa Alapítvány, for the support in my preparation via the "MOL Tehetségtámogató Program".
Felkészülésemet a MOL Tehetségtámogató Program Segíti.
Sunday 8 May 2016
Saturday 7 May 2016
Closing Ceremony, results, fireworks
Finally we had the closing ceremony and received the results. I mean I'm happy that we have the results but sadly this awesome week is about to end. The kind of feeling that I have on most of this kind of competitions.
Fortunately the Closing Ceremony was't held far, only in the next building, where we had the theoretical exams.
All 4 of us got medals, which we were really happy for.
From left to right:
Levente Bajczi - bronze medal
Andrea Kiss , mentor, holding the bronze medal of Bence B. Botlik, who left for the EUSO
Tamás Károly Stenczel (me) - silver medal
Soma Turi - silver medal
front: Gábor Magyarfalvi, mentor
After the ceremony, we went out with a whole lot of balloons, at least one per person and let them go together.
Fortunately the Closing Ceremony was't held far, only in the next building, where we had the theoretical exams.
All 4 of us got medals, which we were really happy for.
From left to right:
Levente Bajczi - bronze medal
Andrea Kiss , mentor, holding the bronze medal of Bence B. Botlik, who left for the EUSO
Tamás Károly Stenczel (me) - silver medal
Soma Turi - silver medal
front: Gábor Magyarfalvi, mentor
After the ceremony, we went out with a whole lot of balloons, at least one per person and let them go together.
And some fireworks were launched at 10 pm.
Visiting Borodino
Today we got up earlier than we should after all the exams, but it's not that bad. We needed the time for the excursion to Borodino. We went there with the buses and went around the place with them. I mean we stopped at most of the memorable spots of the battlefield to see the monuments.
It was mostly a huge field with 3-4 interesting places.
This is the place where Napoleon had his camp.
This is the main monument. Made of iron, they said.
We visited a museum too, where personal belongings of the commanders were displayed and other stuff about the battle.
The most interesting part of the museum was the map with the armies and lights to indicate where they were and what happened.
And we visited the Spaso-Borodinsky Monastery which is ont the field. Obviously it was built after the battle.
It was mostly a huge field with 3-4 interesting places.
This is the place where Napoleon had his camp.
This is the main monument. Made of iron, they said.
We visited a museum too, where personal belongings of the commanders were displayed and other stuff about the battle.
The most interesting part of the museum was the map with the armies and lights to indicate where they were and what happened.
And we visited the Spaso-Borodinsky Monastery which is ont the field. Obviously it was built after the battle.
Friday 6 May 2016
Lab exam and arbitration
Today we had the lab exam.
There were two tasks, one inorganic synthesis and a titration to measure the composition of an already prepared sample of the same complex compound.
I prefer organic synthesis over inorganic, but this was pretty much OK.
I hope I will get a lot of points on this one, just like last year. We will see.
After the exam we ate in the university, and had a tour around it. It is just amazing, we really liked it.
They told that the Chemistry faculty and the Physics faculty argued about the Lomonosov statue in the middle. They discovered that it is 3 m closer to the Chemistry building, but it is oriented 3° to the left, to the Physics building.
There were two tasks, one inorganic synthesis and a titration to measure the composition of an already prepared sample of the same complex compound.
I prefer organic synthesis over inorganic, but this was pretty much OK.
I hope I will get a lot of points on this one, just like last year. We will see.
After the exam we ate in the university, and had a tour around it. It is just amazing, we really liked it.
They told that the Chemistry faculty and the Physics faculty argued about the Lomonosov statue in the middle. They discovered that it is 3 m closer to the Chemistry building, but it is oriented 3° to the left, to the Physics building.
After that we went in to see the main building, the tower. They told us that the idea was to put a statue of Lenin, Stalin. It was not decided during the construction. But Stalin died and it became a metal thing with a huge red star, same as the Kreml's stars.
The original idea was to see the geological museum kind of on the top of the tower. That would have been amazing. But sadly due to the holiday the workers go home earlier today. Too bad.
We watched the library on the 21th floor instead. The scenery was amazing though.
After getting home, we went to the arbitration, where we were scheduled to be in the first group of countries to go in. That was great, because so we could go to do anything afterwards free. I looked through my solutions, calculated the points, everything was ok, just one organic figure was not corrected so I got 0.5 points extra. This will likely not make much difference, but there is the feeling that I got some extra.
Thursday 5 May 2016
Mosfilm studios
Originally we were going to visit the Kubinka Tank Museum, which would have been nice. But the program changed and we visited the Mosfilm studios.
Firstly we had to wait on one place, then a guide came, we went to another place, waited more and so on until we finally started seeing something.
Bence did not want to come with us to the excursion, he stayed to sleep and stuff like that. Firstly we thought, that he made the better decision, because the weather was grumpy too. But it turned out to be interesting, as for I never visited a film studio before.
Firstly they showed us their car collection with a lot of stuff about them, some were governmental cars earlier or were used in famous films.
Then we went to the next room, where no-one expected the Spanish inquisition.
Firstly we had to wait on one place, then a guide came, we went to another place, waited more and so on until we finally started seeing something.
Bence did not want to come with us to the excursion, he stayed to sleep and stuff like that. Firstly we thought, that he made the better decision, because the weather was grumpy too. But it turned out to be interesting, as for I never visited a film studio before.
Firstly they showed us their car collection with a lot of stuff about them, some were governmental cars earlier or were used in famous films.
Then we went to the next room, where no-one expected the Spanish inquisition.
Then we went out of the building and saw a tank. At least one for the day.
Finally we saw some sets too, firstly one outside set and then an inside one.
This is Saint Petersburg, used for some war movie. It amazed me how realistic it looked unless you went closer to the windows to see the inside of the buildings. That part was just a wooden scaffold.
The inside one was a little church. They said that it is not really possible to film in churches, so this set is needed. And they can remove the ceiling and even walls, so it is easy.
After this, they showed us masks and other stuff used for films. It was interesting.
Wednesday 4 May 2016
Second theoretical exam
Today we took the second exam, where there are 5 sections with 3-3 tasks and only one of each will count, so we have to choose. Of course we can solve more than one and they will be all corrected, but the one with the highest point counts. I really like this part, because if something is not too friendly I can go on and find some task I like more. This went pretty well, I like it.
After lunch, there was a theatre play, but it was in Russian so most of our team skipped it. I rather played volleyball and ping-pong It was fun.
There was supposed to be a disco today evening, but sadly it was cancelled. Too bad.
After lunch, there was a theatre play, but it was in Russian so most of our team skipped it. I rather played volleyball and ping-pong It was fun.
There was supposed to be a disco today evening, but sadly it was cancelled. Too bad.
Tuesday 3 May 2016
First theoretical exam
Today we took the first theoretical exam. Just like always, 8 hard problems for 5 hours. It was ok, could have been better. Well it can always be better unless we have 100%, but I mean that I could have done a bit better. Though, it was much better than last year.
After lunch, we had "open air games". This was fun, we played ping-pong, ate some kind of pancakes and played volleyball. Meanwhile, some Russian music was playing and some people were showig national dances.
After lunch, we had "open air games". This was fun, we played ping-pong, ate some kind of pancakes and played volleyball. Meanwhile, some Russian music was playing and some people were showig national dances.
Monday 2 May 2016
Sightseeing
After the Opening Ceremony we went to eat in a restaurant, just in front of the place where we ate on Saturday. After this we went to see the city with bus. They drove around and a guide explained stuff. Funny, that she told 3 times that the Kreml hag a gate for cars, but President Putin is taken there by helicopter. Like this was the most useful info for us about the city...
We stopped near the Red Square and went out to see it. Good that it was open.
They were already preparing for the next celebration, 9th of May.
They were already preparing for the next celebration, 9th of May.
After taking a ton of pictures, we went into a souvenir shop to look around. It was expensive, but we got to see what there is and can now think what we want to bring home.
We saw people dressed as Stalin, Lenin and other historic characters. We could take pictures with them, I think it would cost money.
Then, we went back to the buses to meet the others. On the way home, we stopped to look around and take pictures in front of the university. Not the side we saw already, but the other side, where we can see the city. The view was great, but it wasn't easy to get to a good place between the whole lot of tourists.
We saw people dressed as Stalin, Lenin and other historic characters. We could take pictures with them, I think it would cost money.
Then, we went back to the buses to meet the others. On the way home, we stopped to look around and take pictures in front of the university. Not the side we saw already, but the other side, where we can see the city. The view was great, but it wasn't easy to get to a good place between the whole lot of tourists.
Opening ceremony
This was the best Opening Ceremony I ever saw on chemistry olympiads. Not too long, not boring, not monotonic, they showed us their traditional stuff and it was exciting. Of course not everyone liked it, but it will never happen that everyone likes it.
So, the awesomeness started when we arrived to the building: There were university students standing in the entrance hall to applaud for us and the Dean of the Faculty of Chemistry, V.V. Lunin standed there to greet us. As I went in, we shook hands. The others from our team did not, because they passed us and went on.
This was an amazing gesture for us, we really felt esteemed.
The ceremony itself consisted of several speeches, mostly on Russian. These were translated so that everyone understood it. The translator lady had a hard time translting stuff in real time, as for some speeches seemed to be done that way. It was ok though.
We saw several performances on stage, including balett, lite-show, balancing and something with parrots. This one was funny, I never saw anything like it.
The balett was performed by some dancers and a lot of little girls. They were great.
The balett was performed by some dancers and a lot of little girls. They were great.
Food stuff
Potato puree, or more accurately powder puree. Almost like in our school's canteen, well a bit better than that. So we got that for supper Yesterday with some meat. And they gave a little pack to bring with us.
Today's breakfast was great. They had some kind of porridge besides other things, which I really liked and ate 3 plates of it. I hope we will get that every day, or similar.
Now we are leving to the opening ceremony and we will have some sightseeing after that in the city. I'm excited.
Today's breakfast was great. They had some kind of porridge besides other things, which I really liked and ate 3 plates of it. I hope we will get that every day, or similar.
Now we are leving to the opening ceremony and we will have some sightseeing after that in the city. I'm excited.
Sunday 1 May 2016
Arrival to the middle of nowhere
After lunch we went to the university (MSU) wherefrom the buses took us to the recreation facility of the university, out of the city.
The MSU is just huge and great. There is the main building, with the tower, dormitories on its sides and the Department of Chemistry on the side, its the left wing I think. It could be awesome to live in the same building with the whole department and everything.
The bus trip was ok, we had a comfortable bus. Those 1,5-2 hours passed very fast. We arrived to the place, which we already heard about from 2014's team. They told some bad stuff too, like there will be no Wifi, but fortunately there is. Even enough for all people, we have no problems with it, not like last year in Yerevan.
The room is great, we have plenty of space and the beds are comfortable. They are creaking a bit though. We have a 5-bed room for the 4 of us, with private bathroom.
Anyway, it is pretty nice here, I like it.
This is the building where we sleep: (2nd floor 2nd and 3rd window on the picture)
There is the dinig hall in this building and we will write the exams here too:
There is a little holiday village nearby, we were told that people who van afford have houses out of Moscow and go there for the weekends. This village is like that too, full with those houses. Mostly middle class and under, not the very big fancy ones. Its name is Volkovo.
Funally we visited the local shop and saw a camel on the way. I was surprised.
The MSU is just huge and great. There is the main building, with the tower, dormitories on its sides and the Department of Chemistry on the side, its the left wing I think. It could be awesome to live in the same building with the whole department and everything.
The bus trip was ok, we had a comfortable bus. Those 1,5-2 hours passed very fast. We arrived to the place, which we already heard about from 2014's team. They told some bad stuff too, like there will be no Wifi, but fortunately there is. Even enough for all people, we have no problems with it, not like last year in Yerevan.
The room is great, we have plenty of space and the beds are comfortable. They are creaking a bit though. We have a 5-bed room for the 4 of us, with private bathroom.
Anyway, it is pretty nice here, I like it.
This is the building where we sleep: (2nd floor 2nd and 3rd window on the picture)
There is the dinig hall in this building and we will write the exams here too:
There is a little holiday village nearby, we were told that people who van afford have houses out of Moscow and go there for the weekends. This village is like that too, full with those houses. Mostly middle class and under, not the very big fancy ones. Its name is Volkovo.
Funally we visited the local shop and saw a camel on the way. I was surprised.
Lunch at MYMY
Today we had lunch at a little restaurant, called MYMY. They have this canteen-like serving system, with a decent variety of stuff. I liked it, and tried some other local dishes.
So let's see what I ate:
Cheese cream soup
Frikadeller-like thing with fried egg on the top + potato filled with mushrooms
Cheesecake and a pirok with apple filling
And the Muffins that the others couldn't eat :)
So let's see what I ate:
Cheese cream soup
Frikadeller-like thing with fried egg on the top + potato filled with mushrooms
Cheesecake and a pirok with apple filling
And the Muffins that the others couldn't eat :)
Leftist march near the Red Square
Today we had breakfast in the hotel and decided what to do. One choice was the Tretyjakov Gallery, which was near the hotel, the other was the Red Square, to see the celebration of work (1st of May).
I chose the latter. We separarated so everyone could see what he/she wanted, not democraticly decided by the majority what he/she will see.
Before separation, we went together in the Kreml's direction to see it from a bridge, where we had a great view of it. Maybe we will visit it from the inside too, I'm not sure. At least, we took good photos with it.
We saw the crowd from the bridge and heared that the show is going. So we started walking in that direction. Sadly it ended and people were coming away from there. We wanted to go in the other direction, to visit the Red Square, but the policemen at the fence did not let us. So we walked around Kreml as long as we could and went back with the metro.
The next place to visit was a monument for the sins of men, that hurt children. Practicly 13 statues in a semicircle representing them. It made me think and amazed me. Great that we visited it.
After this, we were going back to the nearest metro station, which was Tretyjakov by the way, but saw a huge crowd on the next bridge,where we made the photos earlier, with red flags. They looked like Soviet flags. We had to go and see it for ourselves.
It turned out, that this was a march of the Russian Communist Party. They were singing songs, that I did not understand, only notices that they were singing Katyusha once.
It was weird, with all the socuet flags and stuff, We never saw anything like that back home. Those soviet symbols are banned at home too.
I chose the latter. We separarated so everyone could see what he/she wanted, not democraticly decided by the majority what he/she will see.
Before separation, we went together in the Kreml's direction to see it from a bridge, where we had a great view of it. Maybe we will visit it from the inside too, I'm not sure. At least, we took good photos with it.
We saw the crowd from the bridge and heared that the show is going. So we started walking in that direction. Sadly it ended and people were coming away from there. We wanted to go in the other direction, to visit the Red Square, but the policemen at the fence did not let us. So we walked around Kreml as long as we could and went back with the metro.
The next place to visit was a monument for the sins of men, that hurt children. Practicly 13 statues in a semicircle representing them. It made me think and amazed me. Great that we visited it.
After this, we were going back to the nearest metro station, which was Tretyjakov by the way, but saw a huge crowd on the next bridge,where we made the photos earlier, with red flags. They looked like Soviet flags. We had to go and see it for ourselves.
It turned out, that this was a march of the Russian Communist Party. They were singing songs, that I did not understand, only notices that they were singing Katyusha once.
It was weird, with all the socuet flags and stuff, We never saw anything like that back home. Those soviet symbols are banned at home too.
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