This past
weekend we finally got to leave the Czech Republic for a fun yet exhausting
trip! We started out with none other than a hike to the Maiden Castle ruins
above the Vltava River where I was reppin my Cal Poly pride and got to pet a
goat. Our main stop for the night
was Cesky Krumlov the cutest town I’ve seen in the Czech Republic thus far. We went
on a Castle tour where no pictures were allowed, but Marisa luckily snuck one
of the theater, which was my favorite moment of the tour because it felt like a scene straight out of Finding Neverland.
Cesky Krumlov
The illegal photo of the theater.
Vienna, Austria.
Day two we left
for Vienna where we were rewarded some Schnitzel and amazing pumpkin soup after
hiking down a mile long hill of the vineyard we were not warned about (big
surprise). These unexpected hikes are really starting to get to us, as everyone
threatened to not leave the restaurant if we were going to have to walk back up
that hill. To be honest, the rest of Vienna is a blur and my first impression
of this city just was not the best. It was very upscale and there is no need to
grab a map of the city because you will never find where you are. We had a
lovely meal at my friend’s Aunt’s house and then we were off to the museums
that happened to be staying open until 3 am that night. I just wanted to see
some dinosaur bones and then I’d be happy. We went to a couple museums but the
fact that I was not going to see Ben Stiller or Owen Wilson I decided my night
at the museum was over after one of the statues waved bye to Erica and I (not
kidding).
In front of the Belvedere in Vienna, Austria.
The next day we
visited the Belvedere Palace’s gardens and went to the art museum where they
were celebrating the 150th anniversary of Gustav Klimt known for his
painting “The Kiss”. Getting lost just one last time, Rachel and I made it to
the bus on time and we were quite ready to say goodbye to Vienna and wake up in
Budapest!
After crossing the border into Hungary, we took a quick stop at the oldest abbey in Hungary, Pannonhalma which began in 996. We went on a guided tour with the coolest monk I will ever encounter wearing his jeans and vans. The best part was the library.
Buda and Pest. "Budapest? More like BudaBEST!" -Sunny
Budapest has won
favorite city by far! The fact that we were here for two nights also made us
feel way more relaxed on time and had more time to explore. We started the
night at a fancy restaurant where we were served the best soup in the world,
great wine, and some goulash and then took a night walk to the castle. They had
told us that it would be warm on this trip…I don’t know if that meant we have
totally different definitions of what “warm” means but I was freezing the
entire time since I did not pack a proper jacket. Good thing it was so BUDAful
(had to) that I didn’t mind walking in the cold. The next day started with a
ride on the metro that sounded like you just won a video game at the end of
each stop, and we were off to the Szechenyi Spas.
I stuck my feet in but Erica
and I decided we wanted to explore the city a little more. The whole day
consisted of adventures, taking “senior pics”, eating hummus, going to the
Central Market Hall, seeing a random statue of Ronald Reagan, and Jan, our program
director/favorite Czech, ran and jumped onto a really tall statue like a
beast.
This has been the most moving Holocaust memorial I have come across on this trip. These shoes represent the Jews of Budapest that were lined up and killed along the Danube waterfront during World War II.
Everything about
Budapest was amazing and the fact that I’m surrounded by such great friends
made it even better. A must go is the Szimpla Bar which is the 3rd
best bar in the world and THE best bar that I will ever go to. I don't know if I will ever find a place where bathtubs and old car parts are some of the provided seating. I’ve been
slacking on the pictures a bit but it is so hard to capture the places we go
through a camera lens. Guess I will just have to come back!
Leaving our mark at the Szimpla Bar. Hope to see you again.
Do I even need
to talk about Bratislava? It is the capital of Slovakia and this is the one
picture I took while there:
I never
thought….
I would get
tired of seeing castles
Eat a pepper
that was even too hot for ME to handle
Prefer my broken
Czech when surrounded by German and Hungarian
Be provided with Hungarian meats and cheeses as our "bus snack" and see a loaf of bread this big:
ONE MONTH. That is how long I have been in Prague now, which seems unreal. This past week it seems to have really hit us that we live here. Going to school, studying at local cafes, going grocery shopping every couple days all has become the norm and Prague feels more like a home than a foreign land. And, we have now made it a tradition for a weekly dinner with my R30 family.
Mac&Cheese night!
After hiking in Mikulov.
This weekend
there were two options: drink beer or drink wine. Meaning, half the program
went to Oktoberfest to buy 11 Euro beer, which just isn’t in my budget for this
fall considering the fact I’m living in a city with the best beer selection in the world;
and where you can buy .5 liter for about $1. So, instead a group of 15 of us
went on an overnight trip to the wine country of Moravia in the southeast of
the Czech Republic. We all signed up for this only knowing that we would be
wine tasting, and then because of the word choice in an email that was sent to
us we thought we were sleeping in a wine cellar. We honestly did not know what
to expect the moment the van picked us up Saturday morning. Hair did, sweater
and boots on we were all ready for a relaxing weekend at a vineyard...right?
But in hindsight, have we ever gone on a trip without some form of hiking
involved? We should’ve known...
The group in Lednice.
Sisters, reflect
back to the land cruiser and how we always fought over sitting in the back
because it was so bumpy. Well, imagine having to sit in a van that bumpy for
four hours. But don’t worry, “My
Heart Will Go On” was one of about ten songs that were consecutively being
played on and on and on to muffle the squeaking of the wheels that sounded like
they could’ve fallen off any moment. And it wasn’t until the last 5 minutes of
the return journey that the AC started dripping all over Garrett and Nathan in
the back.
Climbing the stairs of the observation tower.
The first stop
with Tony the bus driver and Geiger our leading man, was the South-Moravian
town of Mikulov, where we were told, once we got there, that we would be hiking
up a hill: sweaters and all. Our next stop was a castle and Unesco Park of
Lednice, where we had yet another hour and a half walking around a lake, 302
steps up a tower made by the man who invented the pencil, and Nico and Marisa
who chose not to climb the tower got their official archery certificates so can
now take part in the next Hunger Games.
As the day
continued all of us were getting more exhausted, hungry, and in a desperate
need for some wine. We finally made it to our final destination of the small
town of Boretice for wine tasting in the cellar from the 1700s. Even being pre-warned to eat a
lot of food, with seven hours of drinking as much wine as you desire ahead of
you, no amount of bread could save you at this point. First of all, wine
tasting is a bit different than back at home. Rather than sipping and spitting
out a small portion of wine, our glasses were poured half way full and then we
were rushed to gulp it down before the wine pourer came back to us. The next 6
hours that followed would include bread, wine, wine, bread, wine, and doing the
YMCA with Czechs: something everyone should experience in their lifetime.
Wine tasting!
The main attraction on Sunday
The next morning
began with a man giving anyone who wanted them some Cuban cigars when all we
wanted to do was get home. And when we finally left we got lost, stuck in
traffic, and thought of new ways to get comfy in a very tiny bus. Let’s just
say the highlight of Sunday was seeing a huge mushroom. Overall though, it
ended up being a great trip I got to share with my closest friends here!
The wine cellar!
Lessons learned:
When going on a hunt for Mexican food, don't forget your Czech phrase book so you understand that they went to the bank and will be back soon.
Keep track of the ratio of bread eaten to wine drunk
Sleeping in the
wine cellar would have been less creepy than sleeping where we actually had to
Czechs are
horrible drivers
If you are
British you WILL be the center of attention
“We’re a dream a baby’s having...” (How I Met Your Mother starts this week!) So the big talk
around town, especially being a study abroad student, is the fact that a
prohibition on hard alcohol is currently going on in the Czech Republic. 20
people have died so far but don’t worry, Mom it really doesn’t affect me since
I tend to stick to beer and wine. Even though coming here you would want to
visit the green fairy a few times, I can wait for it to pass.
Meanwhile this
was first week of classes. I have class Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Yes,
that means I have four-day weekends - life is rough. I’m taking
multiculturalism, art and architecture with a teacher who Rachel and I have
agreed resembles Umbridge and Global Economy, which I’ll probably fall asleep
in every week. I’ve also decided to add a gender studies class just for fun
because 1) my teacher is British 2) girl power 3) my teacher showed us this the
first day of class:
Remember to vote!
Speaking of One
Direction, Marisa, Erica and I definitely witnessed the whole bands’
doppelgangers coming out of the metro earlier this week. We also were flipped
off by a man holding his adorable chocolate lab on the escalator when all we
did was smile out of puppy envy. Oh, now I get it…the smiling blew our cover of
being American. Anywho…BONES.
This weekend we
visited the village of Kutna Hora where we got to see the famous bone chapel! It contains bones of about 40,000 plague victims, which are arranged into everything from chandeliers to the coat of arms of the Schwarzenberg noble family.
The moment I chose to
study abroad in Prague this is what I instantly looked forward to after
browsing through Lyndsey’s backpacking pictures. It had the feel of being in
Pirates of the Caribbean (you would have loved it, Molly!) and with our awesome
tour guide, who must have some Addam’s family blood in him with his
mad-scientist persona and a voice straight out of the Haunted Mansion ride it
made such a creepy place feel more complete. For example, he felt it necessary
to explain that the only thing you can do at the bone church is plan your
funeral. Yeah, can’t say that’s one of my priorities while studying abroad at
the age of 20. After going to the bone chapel we headed over to the St. Barbora
Cathedral where I’m not kidding: a real golden snitch is hidden. (Pretty sure
all the bones of the seekers are next door). It is the finest example of late gothic in Bohemia.
Erica, Rachel, Me, Marisa, and Arica
We ended the trip by suiting up ;)
for the Medieval silver mines, which is not recommended for anybody who is the
slightest bit claustrophobic. Kutna Hora was the second most important town of medieval Bohemia and competed with Prague for political power and prestige. We got to walk through the actual dark, slippery,
narrow tunnels of the silver mines and if it weren’t for our hard hats I would be in
very much pain right now. “Pitch black” also has a whole new meaning to my
eyes (no pun intended) because in order to experience what it would have been like to get lost in the darkness of a mine we had to turn off our flashlights at one point. This has been the best field trip by far!
Note to self:
Don’t go to Yes,
Burger in the hopes of it tasting the way you’ve always imagined Good Burger to
taste like.
Free Sangria
Night (for girls) is on Tuesdays at Bukowski's
Hang-drying my
underwear is something I may never get used to
the grocery store Albert has jalapeños
Shout out to
best friends, neighbor gents, and all my lib studs I hope your first week of
classes went wonderfully!
I’ve officially
been in Prague for two weeks now! Week one went by strangely slow because of
the jetlag and incredibly long days but I can’t believe week two is now over.
On Thursday we went on a walk, lead by Richard this time, and finally got to see
the baby tower up close and personal. The Zizkov Tower was constructed in order
to block any incoming western radio and television transmissions, so it’s not
surprising that this tower has a history of being unloved by Prague locals. The
artist David Cerny then placed the babies on the tower as a temporary exhibit
post-communism, but people liked them so much they decided to keep them there.
My theory is that the baby creator threatened to bring these things to life and
they kept them out of fear of being controlled by artificial intelligence
because in my opinion it’s just creepy. Speaking of babies, I seem to be especially
observant of the kids and puppies here. Foreign children are just especially
adorable and the dog count is increasing at an exponential rate. Dogs without
leashes, dogs in purses, dogs in baby slings, dogs in strollers, you name it!
Later that day
we went to the Communist museum, which we found thanks to the McDonald’s signs
ironically guiding our way. It was a very well done walk-through of communism
in the Czech Republic with displays, artwork, graffiti walls, and videos. It
was just surreal to think that the street we walked onto just moments after
walking through the museum is the same street that thousands of people were
fighting for their rights nearly 20 years before. Where students were being
beaten, sprayed down with water, and dragged by the police, there now stands
McDonalds, malls, and cafes filled with tourists. It made me really anxious to
start my classes for the history aspect of this part of Europe and hopefully
hear Jan talk more about what it was like being in his 20s during the time.
The rest of the
weekend included Czech country music, a giant hot dog, and a hike. On Saturday
there was a wine festival at the castle. It was basically a ton of people and a
ton of walking because we couldn’t even find the right place to go. We gave up
because at the time a foot long hot dog sounded better than expensive wine. On
Sunday we went on a hike, lead by Honza, to Ceské stredohorí which is a spectacular hillside of
volcanic origin 40 miles North of Prague. We hiked to the Kost’al mountain with
the castle ruins Kost’alov on the top. We had to walk through neighborhoods
that made us feel like we were trespassing, and it was definitely more
demanding than last week’s hike. We were a little skeptical of Honza since he
first misplaced our tickets, then he kept checking the map and every time there
was a fork in the road it seemed like he was just guessing we were going the
right way. We eventually made it to the top of some castle ruins and made the
long way back after stopping for lunch in the middle of nowhere. We were all
exhausted by the end of the day especially since half the group seems to be
catching the sickness that is going around.
Luckily, the
train ride there and back was a lot more comfortable than last week since we
had individual compartments and it wasn’t a million degrees. It actually felt
like I was on the Hogwarts Express. However, just because there’s a man sitting
in what appears to be his black robes next to you does not mean he is a
professor at Hogwarts and probably did not carry chocolate with him in case of
the arrival of some unwanted dementors. Oh yeah, it’s also really fun to stick
your head out the window of a moving train.
Done with Czech Language and got an A! I could take it for
the full semester but I think I’ve been lost in translation long enough…at
least in a classroom anyways. Earlier I accidentally said I dance every morning
and let’s face it I will never be able to say the number 4! (čtyři) My teacher,
Lenka, was OSM* though (hehe Czech humor, please refer to footnotes). She would
teach us common phrases like “Na Zdravi!” – “to good health” said when they cheers,
“opici” which actually means “monkey” but it’s the equivalent to “hungover”,
and “Fakt” - excuse my Czech, but that just means “really”.
Last day of Czech class with Lenka!
Lenka also taught us about Czech culture a bit. Here they
not only celebrate birthdays but also your “name day”. So all the Karels will
celebrate one day, all the Rachels, which is today, will celebrate one day and
so on. Unfortunately MacKenzie doesn’t have a name day here, but I'm not surprised since 1) it's not Czech and 2) adults haven't been able to accept the fact that MacKenzie is indeed my first name since the first day of kindergarten. She also told us
to not be offended when Czech people are rude. She explained that it’s not
because we are American, it’s because they are just mean. So more of a it’s not
me it’s them type thing…or that’s how I’ll interpret it. I guess I need to stop
smiling in order to somewhat assimilate into this place. Eh…nevermind, that’s
like asking a kid not to smile at Disneyland. I mean, if you’re surrounded by
castles you are going to feel like a princess. Even though Czechs never seem to
be in the best mood they must have a sense of humor with ads like this around:
Also, Lenka told us they only say “I love you” in a romantic
way, so they only tell their children “I like you”. Yet, they can say things
like “Miluju jablkos” which would mean I love apples. So you can love apples
but not your own child? Ok then… They also don’t tell their children they are
proud of them or really any type of positive feedback. But they will say things like “you did terrible on that test!” hmmm…did I just solve the mystery
of their unhappiness? Hierarchy of needs anyone? Maslow had something to say
about self-esteem I believe.
In other news:
Some friends and I decided to visit Prague Castle Monday
where we got some more zmrzlina! This is in front of St. Vitus Cathedral. I’m looking forward to coming back when I
actually know some history about this place.
p.s. glad you guys are enjoying my blog! Miss you all! Get
excited because next post involves one word: BABIES.
*osm: means 8 but pronounced like awesome, if you understand
Czech, Lenka in fact is not 8 just to clarify.
The Czech language course started this week, which means sitting in a classroom for 4 hours a day but my teacher, Lenka, is great and keeps teaching us the essentials. I know how to greet and ask for ice cream, beer and some other basics but it’s still intimidating and I’m sure I look like a lost child every time someone starts speaking Czech to me at the grocery store but hopefully that will pass soon. BEST FRIENDS: if you recall the app on my phone that we would practice saying our names backwards with, THAT is exactly what Czech sounds like just to give you an idea how funky this language is. Throughout the week, we’ve been trying to do some exploring on our own like go to parts of Old Town and Charles Bridge but it was super hot that day and a lot of tourists so I’m sure we’ll be back to those parts another time. Many young Czechs turned to John Lennon as an inspiration during the communist era so the "Lennon Wall" pictured above has been filled with John Lennon inspired graffiti and pieces of Beatles lyrics.
Enjoying some Strawberry Cider after the really hot walk to Charles Bridge with Erica!
Pivovarsky Pub under K17.
A sculpture by David Černý on Husova Street. It's probably Sigmund Freud or Lenin - David Černý always mystifies people, so when you meet him, he may say it was even someone else!
Thursday we went on the "Farewell booze cruise" since it would be too cold to say our goodbyes on the river in the middle of December. Instead, we're on a boat week one when we still don't even know everyones names. We first went on a walk around Old Town and passed through the National University Library Klementinum, saw the 17th Century student statue, and walked along the river Vltava from the Charles Bridge downstream.
We
still don’t have internet but it better kick in soon. We went on a hike, which
was described as "not very demanding" but it was about 4 hours of walking up/down
hill. We didn’t know what to expect, especially since our internet has been
down and we can’t even check the emails that are sent to us. We went to the
countryside about 20 miles southeast of Prague and it was beautiful! We also
went into a cool church and cave but the lack of information given to us on
this trip was a bit disappointing so my apologies. At one point some friends
and I had stayed back, “Team Tortoise” as Arica had nicknamed us, andgot separated by the rest of the group by taking the wrong
turn at the fork in the road but we eventually got to the top of the mountain
for an amazing view of the village. I’ve met some really great people so week one has definitely been a success!
Arica, Erica, Me and Marisa on top of the mountain!
Life in Prague:
Beer is literally cheaper than water (pivo>voda)
I’m eating too much nutella to make up for their lack of peanut butter
"When- if not now? Who- if not us?" -slogan of Czech
Students during Velvet Revolution
I’ve been here a few days now and Prague continues to
confirm that it is the perfect city to live and study in. We’ve gotten lost a few
times using public transportation and have gone to their version of a giant
kmart maybe one too many times but no matter where you are standing on the
cobblestone streets each building has it’s own character and charm. We went on a walk around New Town, which began in the 14th century...yeah not very new, which was lead by our program director Jan. We made our way around Charles
University campus and went through the Botanical Garden (don’t worry,
definitely coming back to study the plants, lib studs). One of the highlights
though was when we stopped at the memorial of the first protest on November 17, 1989 that sparked the Velvet Revolution that Jan actually took part of! Lenka, my Czech teacher, as well as Jan have been explaining how independence is still so new for the Czechs that they are still adjusting to their free lifestyle. This year they will even be voting for their own president.
We then walked along St. Ignacius church to the New Town
City Hall and climbed too many stairs for an amazing view of Prague outside the
windows of the tower. Prague has been nicknamed the "golden city of 1000 spires" because of all the towers and cathedrals there are to admire.We definitely deserved our zmrzlina (ice cream)
afterwards at the famous "U Itala"!
