Papež

The last two days have been great, so I will try to pick up where I left off yesterday recounting the story of the weekend.

Karen, Blair, me, and Megan

I got off the bus a little before 5am and jumped on the metro. I took the yellow line all the way to the last stop where my friends from my program, Karen, Megan, Blair, and Lauren were waiting for me. We then took a bus to Stara Boleslav, a town about 30km north of Prague. I had barely slept and was carrying all of my things from my Munich trip, so I felt a bit homeless. We got off the bus and followed the crowd of people until we got to a giant field. It was still dark out, and we watched the sun rise over the field. We set out a sheet and sat down to wait for 9:45 when the big event would take place.

Karen and me

I won't leave you in the dark anymore and I'll tell you what "papež" means. My friends and I made the trek yesterday morning because we wanted to see THE POPE! We didn't have tickets (because they were all reserved by September), but we went as "pilgrims" and just sat in the grass for Mass. At 9:15 we noticed that soldiers had formed a line down the aisle, so we got up to see what was happening. We heard sirens in the distance, and then all of a sudden we saw a motorcade. As a Catholic, when I had heard that the pope was going to be in Prague, I felt obligated to go, but I wasn't really excited. However, when the popemobile came into view, I was surprised how excited I got. I realized I kept repeating "Oh my God, it's really the pope," but then I realized that technically I was in Church, so I cut it out. Anyway, the pope drove RIGHT BY US. Here's one of the pictures I took, and I didn't even have to zoom!


It was so exciting to see the pope! Mass was pretty boring since we couldn't really understand it, but it was still a great experience. I knew that the Czech Republic was very atheist, so I guess I shouldn't have been surprised at how few people were there. Yes it was a very large field so it probably dwarfed the crowds, but it still wasn't nearly what I had expected. All in all it was something I will always remember, and it's pretty cool that I didn't have to go to Italy to see the pope!

Today was my first day of classes. I had two today, and I have my other two tomorrow, so I will just tell about all of them tomorrow.

After class today I went to see a Czech movie with my friends. We saw The Protektor, a film that takes place during the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia. It had English subtitles (I'm not that good at Czech), and I LOVED it! I wish that I could buy it. After the movie we went to a local establishment where someone was having a birthday party. They had platters and platters of food left when they were leaving, so they brought them over and gave them to us, along with all the balloons from the party. We were so excited that you would have thought it was Christmas.
I apologize that I have been so slow in putting up my pictures, but I'll get caught up soon! I put up some from Bohemian Paradise, and the rest, including the Munich ones are coming soon!

On another note, I have sent out quite a few postcards in the last few weeks, but the language barrier at the post office has been a little difficult, so I'm not sure if I've done it right. If you could let me know if you get a postcard, that'd be great!

Oktoberfest!

I just want to preface this post by stating that since Saturday morning I have gotten about 3 hours of sleep total, so I apologize in advance for any grammar and/or spelling mistakes!


Knowing that this will sound extremely cliche, I just want to say that the past five days display exactly why I came to Europe. I just got back to my room, and I had left on Thursday morning. It has been a whirlwind that included the right combination of adventure, alcohol, culture, and independence. I am aware that the volume of stories from the last five days will probably bore most of you (or at least Nikki, if she's actually reading this), so I am only going to write about Oktoberfest today, and I will save today's great adventure for tomorrow.

Anyway, Thursday night I stayed at Jenny's dorm because we had to catch a 7am bus to Munich. The adventure truly began at the bus station when I realized that my passport was not in my bag where I thought it was. I did a quick check but couldn't find it, but I decided to get on the bus anyway and hope that they didn't stop us at the border. (It's very uncommon for them to do so when you travel within the E.U., but you're supposed to have it anyway). I made it to Munich without a problem, but I knew I had to stay out of trouble since I was technically there illegally.

After six hours on the bus we made it to Munich where we managed to find Jenny's friends from Fordham and the Hilton where we were staying. (You're probably thinking, "The Hilton? Isn't she on a college budget?" but just wait and I'll get to that explanation soon!) Anyway, after checking in we headed straight to Oktoberfest.

Oktoberfest. I can honestly say that I knew nothing about it ahead of time except for that it involved beer, usually in large quantities. I had uncharacteristically failed to Google it, so it was all a complete surprise. I should have known the magnitude of the festival when we got on the metro and were stared at for being almost the only ones NOT wearing LEDERHOSEN and DIRNDLS (the traditional German dresses... think of beer commercials). EVERYONE, from small children to elderly, were wearing those outfits. I have never felt so out of place when dressed so normally.

When we came out of the metro, I was in shock. I felt like I was at Disney because there were carnival rides and stands EVERYWHERE! We made our way to the first beer "tent" that we could find. These "tents" are not so much tents as they are giant temporary buildings. The tent we found a place at was the Haufbrau tent, operated by the famous Haufbrauhaus. We sat outside and in no time the waitress had carried over all of our beers AT ONCE.

These were not ordinary beers. Not only did they cost 8.55€, but they were giant. Let me just say that I have an actual bruise on my hand from the weight of the mug. Anyway, we had a great time at HB on Friday getting to know people from all over the world who were around us. We finally left to head back to the hotel. On our way to the metro we ran into a little trouble. Remember when I went to Munich earlier in the month and commented on how many bikes there were in the city, well in her post-HB state, one of the girls we were with decided to sit on a random one and start riding it down the street. We turned around in time to see her being stopped by the German police for stealing. Somehow she was able to get out of it, despite the fact that all she kept telling them was that "in America it's only a joyride!" In my passportless state I was slightly worried about a run-in with the police but we made it out okay!

We headed back to the hotel where we realized that some of the boys weren't with us, including the boy with the key to the boys' room. That meant that the boys stayed in our room, bringing our grand total of guests to 10. (Yes, that is how we managed to afford a Hilton-7 girls splitting one room brings the cost down quickly!)

Sorry that this is so long! I will attempt to be more brief! Saturday we tried to get there early but the previous days activities made getting up difficult, and even more difficult for some of us. We ended up getting to Oktoberfest in two separate groups. The first group was able to get a table at a tent, but four of us waited outside of that tent for almost three hours without being able to enter. We finally gave up and decided to try HB even though they had an even longer line. We were the last people in line when a woman asked us how many we were. When we told her four this waitress escorted us past all different security checkpoints, THROUGH THE KITCHEN, and to a table. The best part was that a little while later she coincidentally brought two people in the same way and they were people that were staying with us! Eventually everyone else was able to get in and to our table, so we had a great afternoon.




All in all it was a great Oktoberfest experience. Sunday morning we checked out and everyone left around one to catch their busses and planes back to different parts of Europe. Unfortunately there was a problem with my ticket, so I was on the 11:40PM bus. Jenny left at one too, so it was just Munich and me! I had ten hours with no hotel so I felt slightly homeless. Thankfully it was Sunday and not a single store was open, so I was able to save my wallet (especially after those 8.55€ beers)! I ended up really enjoying my day to myself. Thankfully I had only brought a backpack for the weekend because I walked all over Munich to pass the time. I wandered from about 1pm to 7pm, picking random parks, gardens, and tourist attractions on the map to go see. I had bought the book The Economic Naturalist in Prague, and I was able to finish it throughout the day. I also listened to a lot of street musicians and string quartets that were performing all over. When I really, really had to go to the bathroom I paid the entrance fee at a modern art museum and used their bathroom. I then wandered around the museum. The day was good for some self-discovery, because I realized that no matter how hard I try I will never have a true appreciation for modern art.

Finally around seven I decided to grab some ice cream and then headed to the bus station. I sat at the deserted bus station for about 4 hours, but my 11:40 bus finally came. I arrived in Prague at 5 am after getting an hour of sleep on the bus and my next adventure began. I will tell you all about it tomorrow. (I'm so excited!) For now I am off to catch up on sleep. (And for those of you who were worried, I tore my room apart when I got back and still couldn't find my passport, so I went back to where I thought it had been all along and it was hidden inside a map! Crisis averted.)

"Čas Jsou Peníze"

(Translation: "Time Is Money")

There are several different meanings to the title of my post, but I feel like it ties together the last few days pretty well.

"Čas jsou peníze" happens to be one of my Czech teacher's favorite phrases. Along with "To je fajn," ("It is fine"), we hear this at least ten times a class. I will probably forget what I learn in these classes within the next year, but those phrases will always stay with me. It terms of learning the language, it is much harder than I had expected. Czech is a very fair language-it seems to me that most words were a lottery and they just picked letters out of a hat to form words. Never have I seem a language that uses letters like "k," "z," and "j" with such frequency. Take for example the word for ice cream: zmrzlina. Who would choose to put that many consonants in a row? Sometimes all you can do when you see a word is to laugh.

Now that only dealt with the complexities of pronunciation. Grammar is a whole 'nother obstacle. As much as it kills me to admit it, but the grammar lessons that I learned from a certain, um, interesting elementary school teacher have actually come in handy. As a Slovak language Czech has cases of the nouns. That means that even though "Prague" in Czech is "Praha," if it is the direct object of the sentence it becomes "Prahu." (If you don't get it, don't feel bad-neither did half the class.) Thanks to that teacher I know my parts of speech, so that has made it easier, but it doesn't mean it has made it easy. I know it seems like I don't enjoy learning Czech, but I really do. The challenge is fun, and I like learning a language again.

"Čas jsou peníze" can also apply to my outside of class activities. I have Czech class from 1:45-6:30 everyday, but we don't really get much homework aside from writing a few sentences. This means that I have PLENTY OF FREE TIME! I love it. Like I said before, there is so much to do here that there is no problem filling that time. However, filling that time is taking a significant chunk out of my bank account!

The last few days have been jam packed but enjoyable. When I got back from Cesky Raj we found the bar that played the Pats game. Not much good to say about the game, BUT I happened to run into Jenny at the bar, so that was a great surprise! It was also a bit nice to hear a lot of English after a weekend in Cesky Raj where no one knew English. Anyway, Monday was busy. Karen and I ran a bunch of errands before class and then we had a meeting afterward. Today was somewhat of an errand filled day as well, but tonight we went to a cinema downtown and saw the Indie film Cold Souls starring Paul Giamatti. The movie itself was pretty interesting, but the most interesting part had to have been the fact that the movie was in English with Czech subtitles. It was fun to realize that I actually recognized a lot of the words, and my Czech progress was definitely put to the test when we realized that the parts of the film in which they spoke Russian, where we would have normally read English subtitles, had the same subtitles in Czech. Therefore, small parts of the movie may have been lost on me, but my limited Czech ability did allow me to catch some pieces of those parts.

As a final note, I would just like to point out the fact that my post that drew the most comments had to do with bodily functions. Nice to see that the family has lots to say about that :) Thanks for the comments, and to reassure those that may have been worried, my roommate made a crucial purchase today:

(Don't adjust your monitors; yes, it is pink.)

Problem resolved. And just like I learned on the flight over, these minor problems can be very managable.

Pictures from my weekend in Bohemian Paradise coming soon!

Český Ráj

(Translation: Bohemian Paradise)

I just got back from a little overnight trip to an area of the Czech Republic known as Bohemian Paradise. The trip was through ECES, the school program I'm in, and it was great. There were thirteen of us, and we left yesterday morning and drove about an hour and a half to the town of Turnov, right near the Sudetenland. There we visited a newly renovated synagogue that recently celebrated its first services since before the Communists came to power. (Actually, it might have been before WWII, but I don't remember). Unfortunately the Czech Republic is having some trouble with neo-Nazis right now, and the gate and sign of the synagogue were subsequently vandalized following the services.

After visiting the synagogue we headed into the woods. We walked some beautiful trails that wound in and out of villages, and saw some idyllic houses. We got to tour Valdštejn Castle which was built in the thirtienth century. We also saw some great carvings that were carved right into sandstone cliffs in the middle of the woods. We also saw the ruins of an ancient castle. All in all we walked about 8 miles.

We stayed the night in a tiny town (tiny as in when we got there Karen, Meghan, and I went for a walk and there were no stores or street lights or anything). We stayed at a Pension, which is like a bed and breakfast. The place was a lot nicer than I had been expecting. Our tour guide went and bought a bunch of pizzas for us for dinner (since there was literally NOTHING in the area), and then we watched a Czech movie (with English subtitles). The movie was amusing, but a bit strange. They definitely have a different sense of humor.

This morning they gave us a great breakfast, including apples from the Pension owner's apple trees. After breakfast we went on a tour of a garnet gallery. We saw how they are cut and polished. Apparently they are own of the Czech Republic's gems (ha ha), and so the people are verey proud of them. Although we couldn't purchase them there, they did tell which two places in Prague were not run by the Russian mafia and actually have real ones. Since they are my birthstone, I may have to check that out, but maybe I will wait until the second week of November (hint, hint). Anyway, after the garnet gallery we toured another castle and an old farmhouse, and then we headed back to Prague.

Just a little sidenote: I just want to make a comment about toilet paper, because it is starting to get frustrating. First of all, I am yet to find toilet paper that is white. Toilet paper here looks (and feels) like the brown paper towels you find in most public restrooms in the States. It must be made out of recycled paper, but it is strange. It often comes in strange green or pink colors that seem to be trying to hide its brown/gray dingy-ness. The worst part about all of this is that half the time I find myself wishing for that stupid (yes, Mom, I just used "stupid") toilet paper, because THERE NEVER SEEMS TO BE ANY! My suite is given TWO rolls of toilet paper every Friday. There are four girls that share that bathroom. TWO. Midweek we run out. Other girls have asked the reception desk for more and they get turned down. Many public bathrooms, especially the ones you don't pay to use, don't have any either. Sorry to rant about that, but I find it kind of funny.

Anyway, I'm off with some people to find some place that will apparently be playing the Pats game. Hopefully they'll have toilet paper!

Týden Jeden

(Translation: Week One)

I consider this my first week since it was my first full week in Prague. I had a great week, and the city is finally feeling like home. It's a great feeling when you no longer need a map, and you know already have favorite places.

Yesterday morning I wandered around the Mala Strana district in the morning until I got to the cafe that Karen and I like. I got some coffee and worked on my Czech homework. Karen met me there a little while later, and we worked for a while. Czech class went well, and our adorable teacher even took us to the grocery store so that we could ask her questions about which brands were the best and what certain foods said. After class we grabbed dinner at another great vegetarian restaurant that we've found. It was nice to have a real meal (I will tell you about the food eventually, but let's just say that it was nice to not have the Czech version of ramen noodles again). Anyway, after dinner we went to this huge concert that was going on in Staromestske Namesti (Old Town Square). Goran Bregovic performed a free concert as some sort of tribute to the Czech people. According to praguemarathon.com it was "an expression of [their] thanks to Czech people for their help and understanding after crucial time in ex-Yugoslavia." (Whatever that means). The concert was actually really interesting. It was sort of like polka music at times, but this guy played a bunch of different music. Apparently he's pretty famous in eastern and central Europe, and the place was packed. One of my friends said that her Czech teacher had told them that Goran Bregovic is like their Jimmy Buffet, and that sort of makes sense to me. There were people there of all ages, and they seemed to equally enjoy it. I found an actual video from last night:



After the concert we met up with Karen's friends who were visiting Prague and went out with them. All in all it was a good night.

Today I wandered the city in the morning with Alexa and Jill. We went to Mala Strana and walked around. Alexa showed us the Wallenstein Palace gardens which were beautiful. After that we went to the school cafeteria for our 10 crown coffees (which are really 13 crowns 'cause they charge you for milk and sugar!), and then we went to class. Our teacher took us to the World Press Photo Exhibit and paid for us and everything. It was an amazing exhibit. I might go back next week. We each had to pick a photo and describe it to her in Czech which was quite the challenge. The exhibit itself was very interesting and had a lot of moving images from the most significant news events of the past year. We couldn't take pictures at it, but I did buy a poster to decorate my dorm a bit:


Anyway, I'm heading out for the night so I will update next week about my weekend. I put up all of my pictures from the week though!

Včera a Dnes

(Translation: Yesterday and Today)

*I finally uploaded my pictures from Brno.*

I can honestly say that yesterday and today have been my two favorite days in Prague so far. Yesterday my friend Karen and I left our dorm pretty early in the morning and wandered by foot around the city. We didn't have any real destination besides the fact that we just wanted to find a cafe to do our Czech homework. We ended up in the Mala Strana district. At one point we both turned a corner and gasped because we had such a gorgeous view of the whole city. We found a little cafe on a sidestreet and sat for a while doing homework. Then we walked some more, happened upon the Lennon wall, and then kept going across the Charles Bridge. We ended up stopping again for another coffee, and then we went to class. After class we had a meeting, so we got back to the dorm late, but after making some dinner a bunch of us met in the pub in the dorm and just hung out. All in all it was a great day.

A picture from our morning walk.

A little side story from yesterday: We met up with our friend Claire inbetween cafes, and she told us about her interesting morning. When sitting in a touristy cafe downtown a woman sat down next to her. The woman was carrying a jacket that she put down next to Claire. Claire saw the woman reach down and it looked like she was touching her foot, but really the woman had put her hand in Claire's purse and was trying to hide it with the jacket! Claire slapped her arm and yelled and the woman jumped up and ran away without getting anything, but it was definitely a close call.

Today was a great day as well. Karen and I took the metro downtown and wandered around until we found a cafe we liked. We sat outside and did some more Czech homework. The language is VERY HARD, but it's actually kind of fun to learn. It's just difficult since we're learning it so quickly there are a million words being thrown at us at once. Anyway, after the cafe we met up with our friend JC and went to the Communism Museum. The Communism Museum gave a history of the Czech Republic under communism, and I found it really interesting. I'm lucky that the people I went with found it interesting as well, because it was not much of an interactive museum, and to get anything out of it you really had to read each exhibit. They had a lot of displays of random things (such as food, furniture, school books, military equipment, etc.), but my favorite part was all of the propaganda posters and the mock interrogation room. After the museum we grabbed a quick lunch at the school cafeteria that our teacher showed us (where coffee is < $1, THANK GOD), and then we went to class. After class I went to the opera at the National Theatre here in Prague. We saw Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro. I was a bit unsure about how much I was going to like the opera, but I actually really enjoyed it. The music was great and the atmosphere was interesting. The conductor looked just like someone from Target though, so that kind of creeped me out.

Julia, Alex, Karen, Claire, and me before the opera.

All in all the last two days are amazing. There is so much to do here, and even doing homework is okay when you're doing it in such a great place with such great views all around you!

By the way, I asked my teacher today the exact way to say "Happy Birthday" in Czech, and she told me, so Všechno nejlepši, Mom!

škola

(Translation: School)

For the first time I didn't have to look up the Czech word for the title of my post. I knew it on my own! (I know, not that impressive, but I've got to start somewhere!)

Just a quick update-today was my first day of the Czech language class. My teacher is great! She is enthusiastic and fun but still wants to make sure we learn something which is a good combination. She's also really concerned with making sure we experience Czech culture, so she gives us great tips. Thank goodness she is interesting because FIVE HOURS IN A ROW is a long time with one teacher.

Related to my first day of class is the challenge that is finding school supplies here. The biggest difference that I have found with stores here is that most stores specialize. At home every store has everything, some just have more than others. You can go to Target, Stop and Shop, CVS, and Barnes and Noble and find some sort of school supply at each of them. We went to about 50 stores today and ended up at the far-away Tesco, which is a lot like a super Walmart. (I compare it to Walmart and not Target cause the stuff is cheap but the quality is terrible!) Anyway, at Tesco I thought I had finally found a notebook but my choices were either a Cars notebook, a Disney Princess notebook, or a BOUND BOOK. I was totally set to get either princesses or cars until I realized that each notebook page had a picture in the background that made me dizzy looking at it. Therefore, this is what I ended up with:


Definitely makes me appreciate the choice that we get in the States with such a large market. In econ they have always said that one of the advantages of capitalism is the choice that buyers have, and I know that the CR is no longer communist, but it makes me wonder if this lack of choice is symptom of communism's legacy. On the brightside, at the end of the class I'll have a bound book on the Czech language!

Víkend

(Translation: the weekend)

I just got in from my weekend in Moravia, and I am exhausted. Not that I hadn't been looking forward to this trip, but I had been skeptical about how much I would enjoy visiting another location within the Czech Republic. I had been disappointed that I wasn't going to be visiting another country, but I am definitely glad that we went. Brno (pronounced without any vowels between the r and the n - it isn't a Sacha Baron Cohen movie) was a great little city that reminded me a lot of Providence.

Saturday brought a lot of places and a lot of laughs. It started at breakfast with Jill recounting her experience from the previous night. She was in a local Brno establishment when she went looking for a bathroom. She asked a guy where the bathroom where the bathroom was, and he started speaking in Czech. She informed him that she spoke English and didn't understand, and he became excited and asked her if she was American. She responded that she was and he immediately began raving about Derek Jeter. A die-hard Red Sox fan, Jill knocked his glass out of his hand. Luckily I was not there to witness the Red Sox being the cause of the deterioration of American-Czech relations.

The day continued with a guided walking tour of the city of Brno. It had a few beautiful old buildings, but a lot of the buildings were very plain functional Soviet architecture. We saw the town hall and Saint Peter and Paul's Cathedral. They were both beautiful. After that we broke for lunch and my friends and I wandered to a farmers' market and bought grapes.

Now is a great time to tell you about the famous drink in Moravia. We were warned multiple times before leaving that we should not do much more with this drink than a mild sampling. Called burcak (with some accents on letters that I am missing), it is a young wine that has not completely fermented. It is not sold commercially. Instead it is available only in this region, and is sold all over the city at homemade stands that look like lemonade stands. It is one of the sweetest drinks I have ever tasted, and you cannot taste any alcohol. However, it is much stronger than a glass of wine, which is what makes it so dangerous. We were even told that if we bought it we wouldn't be allowed to bring it on the bus because it often causes the plastic containers to explode as it continues fermenting. Everyone in the states is definitely missing out on burcak.

After we wandered around town we went to the Mendel museum. Most of you probably forgot who Mendel was after high school biology, but those of us geeks on the trip actually found this trip pretty interesting. We toured a museum that talked all about Mendel's experiments and life. We even got to see the garden where he grew his famous peas. It was pretty interesting.

The best part of the day was our visit to the museum and memorial at the Austerlitz battlefield. Austerlitz was the decisive battle in the Napoleonic wars, and we went to this strange but high-tec museum there where they had strange reanactments of the battle on hidden TV screens. The best part was the location because it was high on a hill so we had a gorgeous view for miles. They also had this really interesting monument that was tall but you could also go inside the bottom. They told us before going in that the acoustics inside were designed so that if you stood in one corner and whispered into the corner it could be heard in the opposite corner. I thought they were joking, but when we went inside everyone tried it and it really worked. Pretty sad that we were so amused by that.

We spent the evening downtown in Brno getting dinner and having a low-key night sitting outside at several different establishments.

Today was a bit more of a busy day. We were supposed to go to a church first, but my friend Alex had not had a low-key night last night and left her purse in a cab. A Norwegian girl had found it and called another girl on our trip from Alex's phone so our whole bus spent half the morning trying to find the Norwegian girl's dorm to get the purse back. Funny but frustrating.

Once that had all been sorted out we went to a small town called Adamov to see an amazing hand carved altar. After that came THE BEST PART OF THE TRIP. We toured caves in Moravia that are one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. The pictures I took don't even begin to do it justice! We walked through these caves for about half an hour before getting on boats to float through the underground river. It was all breath taking. Looking around our group was funny 'cause everyone walked around with looks of amazement on their faces. The caves were probably my favorite part of the trip so far.

After the caves we stopped at the church we were supposed to see in the morning (which was beautiful of course), and then we headed back to Prague. I am exhausted from our busy weekend, but it was a lot of fun. Language class starts tomorrow from 2-6:45, so that should be interesting. I can't wait to know more than the basics.

It's been great to hear from all of you, and I'll be getting a few postcards in the mail soon!

Brno

Brno is a city in the eastern Czech Republic in an area known as Moravia. (See, you learn something new everyday). Moravia is also know as wine country, and if I had been awake on the way here, I would have been able to tell you about the acres upon acres of vineyards that we passed.

We are staying at the nicest hotel that we have stayed at yet, despite the fact that if you look at it from the outside you would think we were walking into one of Stalin's original projects that hasn't been touched since. Whereas I would describe the other cities that I have visited as picturesque, the best way to describe this city is communist.

Yesterday we had a fun day. We visited a cloister from 1233 which had a BEAUTIFUL church with it. This is probably one of the most beautiful churches that I have ever been in, and part of it might have been the scenery around it, as it was situated in a small village amongst the rolling hills and vineyards. Unfortunately, we were unable to take pictures inside the church so the ammazing-ness will not be shared.

After that tour we continued on to the hotel where we checked in and hung out for a bit. Then it was back on the bus for an hour drive to a vineyard. This vineyard was one of the most interesting dinners of my life. We ate dinner at a restaurant that was underground. We were in the wine cellars of this vineyard so the ceilings were low and it was all made out of brick. The lighting was low so everything had a pretty glow to it. We had been given three options for dinner ahead of time since the program was paying, and I had elected the trout. That made for an interesting experience as it arrived on my plate head, scales, tail, and all. It was really good minus that detail. We also had the wine from the vineyard that we were at so that was pretty cool. After dinner we toured the wine cellars which have barrels that are hundreds of years old. It was a great experience.

Now we're getting set to head out for a day in the actual city of Brno, so I'll keep you posted!

Telc

I just want to start by wishing my grandparents a Happy 50th Anniversary! I know that I am a few days early, but I leave for Moravia tomorrow morning and I'll be without internet access!

To catch you up on my adventures on this side of the world, I will quickly tell you about yesterday and today. Yesterday we went to a town called Telc near the Austrian border. It was about two and a half hours away but our bus driver was insane and we made it in about two hours. Anyway, while we were there we toured a really interesting castle/chateau. I'm not really sure which it was because our tour guide was so confusing. The poor girl looked like she was about 18, and the only words she seemed to know in English were those that she recited to a us like a record in each room we saw. Unfortunately we couldn't take pictures inside the rooms so all I have are pictures of the courtyards and the town itself. After the tour we had lunch at a Czech restaurant, and then we walked around the town and through a park. It was all so pretty.

When we got back we all napped for awhile. Then a LARGE group of people from my program decided to accompany me and my friends to an establishment where we were meeting up with Jenny and her friends. Since the metro stops running after midnight, we had to make sure we got going in time so that we would only have to take trams home. I figured out all the metro and tram connections we had to take on the way there, and then I also found which bus and tram combination we would have to take on the way home when the metro closed. There were about 25 of us that set off, and I even wrote the bus and tram numbers on everyone's arms so that they wouldn't have to leave at the same time I did. We had a few difficulties when not everyone got on the tram in time on the way there, but overall we managed to get there okay. I got to see Jenny and her friends, and the place played a lot of eighties music so it was fun. On the way home the trip was EVEN SMOOTHER than the way there. See Mom and Grandma, nothing to worry about!


Today I didn't really do much of anything. We got our student ID's, and I payed a few different things for which I owed money. It was nice to walk around the city from place to place. Jenny came over for a bit and got to see my dorm. She also witnessed me try and fail to make myself some rice for lunch. After trying to cook it for an hour I gave up and just ate it slightly crunchy. I'll explain more about the food sometime soon!

OH! Before I forget, I have gotten a couple questions regarding my roommate. I never mentioned her 'cause I wanted to check with her before I wrote about her on here, not because I don't like her or anything. I actually love her! She's adorable and cute and a lot of fun!

Anyway, I'll post again Monday about my trip to Moravia!

Praha

(Translation: Prague)

I FINALLY HAVE INTERNET IN MY DORM!

Now that I have internet I will be able to do more frequent short posts that will be much more interesting for you to read (and for me to write). But since I want to catch up on the last few days this one may be pretty long. For that reason I'm going to subtitle them. That way, if you get bored you can just move on to the next one.

Sunday Night
I left off with Sunday night when I was supposed to meet Jenny. Since her program got back from their trip late, I ended up not getting to see her. Instead I went for a GREAT dinner at a vegetarian place near Charles Bridge with my friends Jill, Alexa, and Alex. Then we came back to the dorm and decided to go explore the city. We found a very nice establishment right near the bridge and on the water. It was a lot of fun because it was mostly people our age and most were from other countries. We met a group of ladies from Norway and some college kids from Belgium. It was really interesting hearing the impression that these kids have of the United States. We danced for a while but then had quite the adventure getting home. This time we knew our address and which metro stop we were and everything, except we had forgotten that the metro stops running at midnight and we were um, slightly past that time. We decided that we could definitely walk back to our dorm. We forgot the part that we had never done that before, so it was quite the challenge. After walking for about two miles up a twisting, winding road that was straight uphill, we finally decided that we should just try to figure out the tram. We FINALLY found someone to ask and got on a tram. Mom, this would be why I was talking to Dad at that hour.

Monday
This was our orientation day at the university. Not much to report on that. A bunch of the director people introduced themselves. I do not lie when I tell you that ONE OF THE PROFESSORS stood up and wrote the names of the best clubs on the board and told us which ones were cheapest which nights. She was great. She also told us that if we pay more than 35 crowns for a beer at a bar or restaurant, then we're getting ripped off. (FYI 35 crowns is about 2 dollars). Anyway, after that little introduction we ran some errands. It was about noon so we got breakfast, and did a little shopping for odds and ends that people needed. (Okay, not odds and ends but important things like cell phones).

I think it's necessary to quickly make the distinction that I am here through a program called AIFS, which are sort of like study abroad travel agents. I go to school at Charles University in a program called European College for English Studies (ECES).

Monday afternoon we went on a boat ride up and down the Vlata River. It was with all of the kids from ECES, not just AIFS. It was cool to see all of the sites from the water, but we were all a bit rundown so two hours on the water really tired us out. I met Jenny for dinner and got to see her dorm. It was nice to see a familiar face, and it was surreal that I was seeing her here.

After I left Jenny I was taking the tram back to my dorm. As I got off the tram to get on the metro, I ran into a bunch of my friends. They were headed to see the John Lennon wall so I decided to go with them. (So much for an early night). It took us a while, but we finally found the John Lennon wall. Unfortunately, my camera died after only taking a few pictures of it, but I will definitely go back soon.

Today
Today was a trip with ECES that is part of our orientation. We went to the town of Pilsen (or Plzen in Czech) where we climbed to the tower of an old church and saw the city from up high. We also toured some old synagogues. The highlight of the trip (yes, the real reason we all signed up for this one) was that we then toured the Pilsner Urquell beer factory. It was so impressive!

So far many things in the Czech Republic have been beautiful and impressive, but they have been beautiful and impressive because they are so old and yet so intricate. However, there isn't much here that is new. There isn't anything that I have looked at and been impressed by the technology or the modernity. Pilsner changed that. Everything at the Pilsner factory impressed me. We saw the filling station which is the size of FIVE SOCCER FIELDS. The most impressive part is that they fill 100,000 bottles and 38,000 cans AN HOUR, and all with only FIFTEEN workers on duty at a time. I was so impressed! They bussed us to other buildings where they showed us movies about the process and showed us every single step. We went into the cellars (absolutely freezing) of the brewery where there are over six miles of tunnels. We got to see where they store the beer. They gave us our free sample and even included a free Pilsner mug!

Tonight I went to Tesco with Jill and our friend Mike. This was a very important trip. Tesco is sort of like Walmart. I had to buy a towel because the towel that they gave us and that I have been using is literally smaller than a hand towel. Very effective, I know. I also bought plates and cooking utensils. I tried to buy food, but it's kind of difficult to figure out exactly what you're buying. Maybe now that I can cook my own food it will be easier to find something to eat!



There are a few more odds and ends that I want to tell you about. So this morning I went down to the breakfast at the dorm cafeteria. I got a yogurt and a hard boiled egg, but the best part was that when I tried to find water to purchase with my food it was no where to be found. However, there was BEER ON TAP AT BREAKFAST. I am not even kidding. Before you ask Dad, no, I did not get it.


The other thing that I wanted to share was that I have actually been using Czech. I'm the only one that really knows any besides "thank you," so I've had to talk several times. Looking for the Lennon wall I used my wonderful "Excuse me, do you understand English," and that came in handy again tonight when looking for Tesco. I also told the host at lunch today that there was eight of us. That I can attribute to Caroline who helped me to learn the numbers! Thanks, Care! Anyway, my intensive Czech classes start on Monday, so hopefully I'll be able to use more than the simple phrases soon!

Tomorrow I'm heading to a town called Telc. I don't know much about it, so that should be interesting. Just so you know I was able to put up my pictures from Munich tonight, including the ones from our interesting night out! Talk to you soon!

Odrazy

(Translation: Reflections)

I feel that my posts so far have been play-by-play of my day, and that isn't really all I want to do with this. Unfortunately my ability to get online has been very restricted, so that's all I've really been able to do. We had all been hoping that once we got to Prague we'd be all set, but because most students don't move in for a few more weeks, we don't yet have internet in our rooms.

I have all semester to talk about Prague, so I want to reflect a little bit on the trip to Munich.

If I had to describe my first impression of Munich in two words, it would be beer and bikes. Both are everywhere, which probably explains how people there drink so much yet stay so thin. People in dress clothes, skirts, dresses, heels, all ride bikes. In front of every building there were at least 25 bikes, and when the bike racks were full people locked them everywhere. Almost every single street had bike lanes as well. I honestly came closer to getting hit by bikers than I did by any cars! Once I get a chance to put up my Munich pictures, you'll see that just about EVERY SINGLE PICTURE has a bike in it.



The other part about Munich that I found hilarious was that those traditional German outfits are actually popular. There are high class stores that sell them, and there are marketing campaigns for them all over the city with models making it look like it's high fashion. We all immediately thought HALLOWEEN COSTUME when we saw them, but the 80 euro price tag quickly changed our minds. Even the outlets for them were expensive. (Yes, they have outlets for that.) I was just surprised 'cause I had expected that to be a more historical type of dress, but apparently it's not just the tour guides and waitresses that wear them.



In terms of Prague, the city is beautiful. We went to dinner at a pub in Old Town last night, so we saw the Charles Bridge and the castle at night. They look like something out of a fairy tale. The subway system is ridiculously simple, so that definitely won't be a problem, and I know my address and carry a map so if I mess up I deserve whatever happens! Today our program showed us some of the places we will need to go, like their office, so we got to see the major sights again during the day. You feel like these places can't be real buildings or that they're just there for decoration, but they're not. It's almost like walking down the street at an amusement park except that it's all real.

I'm meeting up with Jenny in a bit since I'm finally here. Tomorrow is orientation with the actual school I'm going to, and then I need to run a million errands and get some essentials including a towel, cell phone, pillow, and food. (Food is a whole 'nother issue that I'll get to soon!) Anyway, tomorrow will be busy, but busy here is much different from busy at home!

Thanks for all of the comments! Unfortunately I discovered an H&M here, so I will be adding to the clothing collection. And apparently books are going to be pricey so I don't know how large that collection will be!

úspěch!

(Translation: Success!)

Made it to Prague!

Here's a photo of our room. It's actually pretty cute. I had been expecting bare cinderblock walls, but the built-in shelving takes care of that problem. It's much better than I had expected, so I really like it!


I have no idea how I managed to bring so many clothes, but I'm pretty excited about it. So far it's definitely worth the inconvenience and embarrassment of carting around so many bags.

I put my pictures from London up, and will say more about it when I get a chance. I have to go get ready to go meet up with everyone.

Mnichov

(Translation: Munich)

I promise this will be a short post! I'm using the hotel computer which has a somewhat different keyboard, so the post will be as long as I can tolerate this!

Just wanted to give a quick update. My last night in London was great. My friend Cathy from RI is studying abroad in London and her dorm was literally a hundred yards from my hotel, so she picked me up and we went to a great dinner at this place called Giraffe. She had never been, and we were in love with it. After that I headed back to the hotel and met up with kids from the trip and just went to a pub for a bit. We made it an early night because...

Yesterday morning we had to be outside the hotel for FIVE AM (London time, not your time), in order to get to the airport on time. We made it to Munich without a problem.

I think that going to London first spoiled me. I love every building in London, and the architecture and detail of every building is beautiful. When we got to Munich I was slightly disappointed because the city doesn't hold that same beauty. It's more of that severe, boxy style (which I know we learned in Civ so I'm mad I can't remember the name), but I'm not a huge fan of that style. We ended up going on a two hour tour of the city that the program had scheduled for everyone and once we saw the old town or main part of the city I liked Munich a lot better. Those buildings had the detail and color that I had been expecting. We got to see the major sights, including Hofbrauhaus, the famous beer hall. (Dad, mission accomplished.) Anyway, after the tour we had a very economical dinner or brie and baguette from the market next door and headed out to Hofbrauhaus for the Munich experience. Once I'm using a computer besides the hotel one I'll post some pictures!

Mom and Grandma, stop reading now!

So my friend Alexa and I learned several important lessons last night, including that we HATE travelling in groups, that the German language is very confusing when looking at subway maps, that we should always bring our own map, and, most importantly, when in a city where you don't speak the language, don#t followsomeone out at night and think that you'll be able to get back without a map AND WITHOUT KNOWING THE ADDRESS OF YOUR HOTEL. Apparently there are several "Hotel Ibises" throughout the city so getting directions to the hotel didn't even help. Luckily I remembered that I had seen a main train station near the hotel and we finally got directions to that, but Alexa and I learned quite the lesson! (Don't worry, we weren't in any danger. It was definitely more comedic/frustrating than life-threatening).

Anyway, for some reason I'm up early so I'm heading for a run. Leave for Prague in a few hours so my next post will be from there. And I promise that I will add some photos soon!

Londýn

I hope that the journey so far is prophetic of what the rest of the trip will bring. I arrived in London after a pretty eventful flight. Check-in went smoothly and Mom and Dad and I ate dinner before they sent me through security with great words of wisdom. (Dad telling me not to drink as much as he would, and Mom telling me to pace myself. Duh, I go to PC.) Anyway, I got through security without a problem.

The excitement began when we lined up to board. It was a disorganized mess and I was pretty confused as to where I was supposed to be. Luckily there were a couple of other kids there, and we realized we were all going to Prague, and we were in the right spot. While introducing myself to the other people, I heard an announcement over the PA system asking that Renee Turcotte report to gate 7A (my gate) for an important message. Being the genius that I am, the name "Renee" did not even register, and I thought to myself how funny in was that there was another person on the flight with the same last name. DUH.. It took me a few seconds to realize that "Hey! Renee is my middle name," (yes, I just willingly divulged that), and "I bet it's more than just a coincidence that someone else has that name." Excusing myself from the group I dashed over to the BA counter, worried about what kind of message I would have. I was soon told that I had been URGRADED to business class! I loved my seat, complete with plenty of amentities and a gorgeous British boy across the aisle. It all made up for the fact that the plane left almost an hour late since EMTs had to tend to the boy sitting behind me.

Despite my inability to sleep for more than 20 minutes on the flight, it was a great flight thanks to the many amenities. The greatest amenity of all was definitely the drink service. They hated to allow my wine glass to be empty. I am hoping that the plane ride is a metaphor for the rest of the trip: a smooth journey with minor glitches made great by a full glass.

ANYWAY, we got to the hotel in Kensington without a problem but weren't yet able to check in, so we left our bags and went to a pub for a couple of hours. We then went back to the hotel and napped for a few hours. After that was welcome drinks with the program, and the Boton kids went out to a pub together for dinner. As we were all pretty tired, we just went back to the hotel and took advantage of the hotel's fine establishment. I just want to note that the weather is COLD. I wore my winter coat last night. Pathetic, I know.

Today we were up early for a 3 hour tour of the city. (Dad is probably singing the Gilligan's Island theme song now). The tour guide was great, and we saw all of the major sites. We saw Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, Parliament, the Eye, the Tower Bridge, the Tower of London, and lots of other places. The bus dropped us at Covent Gardens around noon, and my friends and I decided that we wanted to walk back to the hotel and see everything along the way, so we did. It took us a couple hours but it was really nice to just wander through the city. Tonight I am getting dinner with my friend Cathy who is doing a semester in London. Such a coincidence, but as I was just writing that sentence she walked into the cafe I'm sitting in to get lunch. Weird.

Sorry that the post is so boring with a play-by-play of my day! I'm off to get ready for dinner. It's been great to hear from all of you!

Odlet

(Translation: Departure)

This is most likely my last post stateside, so I thought I'd just give you a bit of an update on my plans. I leave tonight at 9:30pm from Logan, with two SIGNIFICANTLY sub-50lb. bags. Yes, under fifty, not over. I consider this a personal victory. Plus, the Vera duffel I had been planning to carry on stuffed full of clothes is actually folded flat in my suitcase. I have a practically empty backpack and large purse as my carry-ons. I'm a little bit shocked. Anyway, I leave tonight and arrive in London at 8:30am Wednesday (their time) where I will meet all of the other students in my program. I'll spend Wednesday and Thursday in London with them before we fly to Munich Friday morning. Saturday morning I will finally board a bus to Prague!

Before I go any further I want to take a minute to thank every single one of you for the cards, gifts, and wishes. Thanks for taking the time to see me before I left, and thanks for wishing me a great trip. It meant a lot to me to hear from all of you, and it makes it much harder to move almost 4,ooo miles away. I'll miss you all!

Anyway, despite the difficulties with saying bye, I am ready to go. I want a new adventure, and I can't wait to wake up somewhere where I don't know every street, can't speak the language, and probably won't like 90% of the food (not that I won't try it). There's something I love about the uncertainty of it all, and the challenge that it poses.

Hopefully I'll have wifi in my hotel so that I can put up a short post tomorrow to let you know that I successfully completed the first leg of the journey!

And now to bed so that I can conquer the jet lag just like I conquered my suitcases...