About me
This page is about me, the person beyond the university. Not that it is very important when judging my teaching or research performance, but I often find that a better understanding between people on everyday's subjects helps a lot in working together.
One of my most important hobbies is spending quality time with my wife, Éva. This includes travelling, hiking, playing or even cooking together. Our dream-destination for travelling is the Nordic countries, most importantly Northern Sweden (note that Sweden is our 2nd home) and Norway.
A lucky situation for me is that Éva is a very good chemist (holding a PhD in inorganic/coordination chemisrty), and therefore she not only understands my everyday frustration with failed experiments in the lab, but very often she can help as well. Also, reading almost all my manuscripts in the early phase,
she is also my best critic, helping a lot in improving these papers.
Another important free-time activity in my life is doing sports. This includes playing different ball games (e.g., soccer), but in the past 3-4 years outdoor running became my preference. I am an experienced, but very amateur runner, typically running 10-15 kms 3-4 times a week. Occasionally I run half marathons, and try to finish at least 1 marathon a year.
A new hobby I developed recently is baking (motivated by a fellow chemist, @kalcirecept.hu. I guess it is somewhat related to the fact that I spend less and less time in the laboratory (and work more in my office). Baking is a bit like chemistry - you follow a recipe, use the practiced "laboratory" operations, do precise measurements and then wait for the result. The fresh bread product is definitely a pro as compared to performing chemical experiments in the lab...