Most of the classes focus on the Hungarian fortes of discrete math and analysis. Classes are interesting and challenging, and the problems are often more difficult than you would encounter at Smith, but the workload is lighter. Students live either with a host Hungarian family or in an apartment with another student from the program. Either choice of living arrangements has its benefits and adds a wonderful dimension to the experience. A meal out might cost you 600 ft, cover at a disco is between 200 - 500 ft, and a trip to the opera is about 500 ft.
Public transportation is cheap and excellent, there are even night busses along the main routes.
The program schedule allows students the opportunity to travel around Hungary itself and to other nearby countries, such as Italy, Czech, Slovakia, Poland, and Germany. Students can choose to attend the program for either a semester or a full year. Although a year's stay offers the most opportunity to learn about the Hungarian language and culture and to take more of the great courses the program offers, it is really a semester-based program and one semester will give you the time to enjoy all the amazing aspects of Budapest. Students who cannot afford to go abroad for more than one semester due to other requirements or commitments should keep the one semester option in mind as a unique opportunity to study mathematics abroad and meet those obligations at the same time. If you are interested, you should speak to your advisor or past participants.