Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Sociology, Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main
"The Central European University is all about transformation and movement. It is about the fascination with the ways in which societies, places and practices transform – sometimes slowly, sometimes overnight. And it is about the constant movement of ideas and persons, which often lead to unexpected encounters and conversations that happen in the right place, at the right time. That year when I was a Masters student at the Department of Political Science certainly transformed my thinking and greatly influenced my personal movements. It broadened my horizons and, equally importantly, helped me acquire the skills that are essential to navigate well in an academic world that is increasingly transnational, but only considers English its official language. All this took place in Budapest – a city I thought I knew like the back of my hand, but appeared beautifully unfamiliar when I walked its streets with my CEU friends from Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania, Slovakia and the United States."