Ife sent his last post for me to add to the blog and share with everybody:
One of the first things I learnt about my faculty host, Dr. Naomi Halas, is that her name ‘Halas’ is Hungarian for grateful. Why Hungarian? My Erdos (after Paul Erdos) number is 3, the person who gave a raison d’etre to my mathematical life is Hungarian. So, when I learned of this, well it stayed.
I am halas, I suppose I can speak for my colleagues as well and say, we’re all halas. For the opportunity to be part of something bigger than any one of us, we’re all halas; for the joy of the bonds we made, we’re all halas; for the camaraderie of relationships, we’re all halas; for the revelry of occasional shivoos, we’re all halas; for the depth of great learning, we’re all halas; for the patting of our intellectual vanities, we’re all halas; for a great institution, we’re all halas; for the Athenian owl; we’re all halas; for the coordination of this program, we’re all halas.
To have met the people I met, to have learnt from them, to have shared with them.
I AM HALAS!
I am also hálás for the opportunity to share the summer with a great group of people! (and for Google Translate!)