Praha Round Two

“What I like about photographs is that they capture a moment that’s gone forever, impossible to reproduce.” ― Karl Lagerfeld

This weekend we took a “field trip” back to Prague and a trip to Dresden, Germany and it was fantastic! I had such a great time and it was nice to go back to Prague. WARNING: this blog will have a ton of pictures, I think it will be easier to write about a few of the pictures and then put them under the explanation. The pictures do not do these places justice but it will give you an idea of what I saw!

 First day, we took a mini tour around Prague. First, we went across the Charles Bridge to check out the other side of the river. One of the gates has a bunch of locks on it, and people write their names and the names of their lovers and lock it to the bridge. It is similar to the one in Paris but much smaller. Then we went to check out the John Lennon wall. I was obsessed with it. The colors were so bright and people painted sayings and quotes all over the wall. Later in the day some of us stopped for lunch at a bagel place, everything was made with bagels. My friend got bagel French toast, which is the same as normal French toast but obviously with bagels! Then we went out later that night and had some fun!

The second day we went to Praha Hrad (hehe, the Prague castle) and it was beautiful. The cathedral, St. Vitus, was absolutely gorgeous and full of stain-glass windows. You can see all the different ones below. St. Vitus is the oldest church in the Czech Republic, and still holds services today. The first picture is the outside of the cathedral and the rest are the window panels throughout the church. 

 

 

 

Here is a picture of the St. Wenceslas chapel with his tomb in it. The chapel is not open to the public and the Czech crown jewels are housed here. The jewels are only view able to the public once every eight years, and we were not lucky enough to see them!

On Sunday, we went to the Jewish Quarter. It was incrediably sad. We got to walk around the oldest Jewish Cemetery which has a bunch of tombstones. It looks like it is just on a hill but sadly, that is not a hill. There are layers of bodies buried there in a mass grave. The Jews do not allow people to move the dead once they are buried so they have been left there for years. On some of the stones there are coins and little pieces of paper containing prayers that people have left to help honor the dead. In one of the synagogues they have written the names of the Jews from Prague who died in the Holocaust. It was covered floor to ceiling in names, and was very overwhelming. It helps to put the Holocaust into perspective. Also, there was a children's art exhibit. These artworks were made from children in the concentration camps, and their teacher saved them in a suitcase and hid the suitcase in the wall. It was eventually discovered and they displayed them for the public. That was horribly sad and one of the paintings really stuck with me. The title of that section (so the assignment for the picture) was "Looking to the Future"  and one of the kids drew a picture of a skeleton and said "Death". For me that was the hardest thing to see because that showed they knew what was going to happen and they had no hope for being rescued. 

                                   

On Saturday we went to Dresden, Germany and it was very fun! I will post about that trip in a different blog because this was a lot of typing and pictures! I am loving Europe and will finish telling about this weekend in the next post! 

Experience, Experience, Experience

“The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.” ― Eleanor Roosevelt

Some of my family members have urged me to update my blog more (cough, Mom) so I decided to sit down and write a new post before I leave for Prague and Dresden for the weekend. The weather is so nice here anyways; I am typing this from the park trying to get a tan. Classes are going well and I am slowly getting into a daily routine, so for this blog I decided to type some observations and experiences I have encountered. I have only been here for a mere 14 days but it seems longer.

Random Thoughts:

1)    Dogs are EVERYWHERE. This is not an exaggeration. I have seen dogs in cafes, dogs on the trams, and of course people walking dogs. There must be some unwritten rule stating that everyone must own a dog. It makes me very jealous because I want to get a puppy too!

2)    People here are not nice. At restaurants people aren’t working for tips so they can be rude and they do. The motto here must be the customer is an annoyance. Many people warned us about that but being the naïve Nebraskan I am I believed they were just being negative. Nope. It is completely true. Living in Kearney for two years made me always smile at people on the streets but if you do that here people give you weird looks, trust me on that one.

3)    Take advantage of free water and refills at restaurants. In Europe they do not do that. You have to pay for water and they give you a very small amount, so you must ration it out throughout your meal. If you are actually thirsty, good luck.

4)    Beer is also everywhere. At every single restaurant, café, library, vending machines, and McDonalds. It is cheap and pretty yummy!

5)    Not being understood gets frustrating fast, but can be slightly amusing. I have got my fair share of random meals because I will order one thing and get something different. I was exchanging money today and I was trying to get Euros but the lady had no idea what I was saying. So, I ended up with extra Czech money after completely confusing her.

6)    Fashion wise, anything goes. Except for shorts apparently. Feel like wearing a bright blue shirt, orange pants, and a yellow/green hat? Go ahead! People here wear anything they want, anywhere they want. However, shorts are some kind of crime. I feel like I am back in the olden days when ankles were provocative. It was 75 and I wore shorts and I received quite a few dirty looks and double takes. Good stuff.

7)    The houses here are every different color, blue, green, yellow, and pink! I have seen buildings with huge circles on it and different decorations. It is so interesting and fun to look at.

Well, there are plenty of more things I have encountered and learned but I am done for now! If you read this whole thing, thanks! I am sure I will have plenty to say after my weekend away. 

Home Sweet Home

When I left off in my last post we were still in Prague and had not made it to our “home” yet. Well, we are here now and I am loving it! Olomouc reminds me A LOT of Kearney. Olomouc is way smaller than Prague and less of a tourist attraction, which makes it less crowded.  The first day we got here we got our room assignments. Me and my roommate lucked out and got some pretty cool flat-mates. Two girls, one from Italy and one from Sweden and one boy from Slovakia, and they have been very nice to us and haven’t had any problems yet (knock on wood).

Monday and Tuesday we had “orientation” which was nothing like I expected or how we do orientation in the USA. It was very chaotic and not as informative as I think we were hoping. We still do not have our student ID cards and we missed our first two classes, which probably isn’t the best start to the semester. However, we have a schedule now so we hopefully will make the rest of our classes! On Tuesday for part of our “orientation” we went to some caves. We took a train to a town about 30 minutes outside of Olomouc and then walked forever to a different town. The caves were pretty cool but not all that exciting. Then we went to go see this Abyss, which was literally a huge a hole in the ground.  Again, kind of cool but not all that thrilling after walking over 5 miles and were exhausted.

For part of the orientation we had lectures about the Holocaust. One of the speakers was a very old man who was a boy during that time period. That was incredibly interesting to listen and learn about. Being here in Europe really makes the Holocaust seem so much more real. These towns were part of it and the people living here were directly affected. When walking around the city there are gold bricks in front of many buildings and those are there to symbolize someone who lived there that died during the Holocaust. Seeing those bricks and the names of people really hits my heart and I know going to Auschwitz later in the semester is going to be a life-changing experience. Another speaker gave a lecture called “Silenced Voices: Music of the Holocaust” which gave me a new perspective. It talks about the musicians who had to play songs in the concentration camps for death marches, roll call, and whatever else the guards made them do.  It was all very eye-opening and heart-breaking.

 

Once we finally made it to our classes we had to start to learn Czech. As most of you know I am HORRIBLE at learning new languages.  I have learned some words though and really do want to learn this language because there is nothing more frustrating than trying to find your way around a store without knowing any words. I have bought many mystery meals that I just sometimes close my eyes and hope I will like it! We found this crepe stand though and I am obsessed with it! It is the most delicious thing I have eaten here and I am planning on getting another one tomorrow. I am slowly becoming less of a picky eater but I am already missing my steaks and Chipotle back in the USA! :) 

 

"Do You Know Where We Are Going?"

We only got really lost once today and we have been here for officially 24-hours, so I would say that is a pretty great percentage. When you have a group of American girls wondering around Prague looking for our hostel it was bound to happen. Obviously, we made it back and are alive so no need to worry (Mom). The flights were very long and I did not get much sleep so I was thrilled when we finally made it.

Last night we had a reservation at a traditional Czech beer hall which was quite the experience. We had traditional Czech beer and I personally got a potato soup (it had some fancy Czech name I can't recall) and some dumplings which turned out to basically be sliced bread which looked more like pound cake. It was pretty good and very filling surprisingly. Everyone here drinks beer and it is almost just expected of you to drink some beer! There are a ton of bars and pubs on every street so you can just take your pick!
Today a group of us decided to go on a walking tour which was very informational and helpful for understanding the buildings we were admiring. The history of this city is full of drama and a lot of people's heads getting cut off. But they haven't cut anyone's head off in years so I think I should be safe.

Fun Fact of the Day: This clock, the Prague Astronomical Clock, is apparently considered to be the second most over-rated tourist attraction in Europe. I can honestly say I was expecting more to happen when it hit the hour but still impressive considering it was made hundreds of year ago.

Tomorrow we are touring a castle about 45 minutes outside of Prague so I am very excited for that! This whole blog thing isn't as awkward as I thought it would be so I am sure I will update more!