So Vienna exceeded my expectations. I honestly didn’t have high hopes for the city because my friend had visited a few weeks ago and didn’t have rave reviews. Also, I knew a lot of the city had been destroyed in the war, so I figured it wasn’t all that pretty. I was wrong, and I ended up I really liking it.

The town hall

Like Krakow, we all boarded a bus Friday morning with Jana and Z, and headed to Austria. Thankfully, Vienna is a lot closer than Krakow, so the bus ride only took about 5 hours. After checking into the hotel, Z took us on the short 10 minute walk to the city center. After that, we were free for the rest of the day to do whatever we wanted. I spent the time walking around the downtown area with some friends, grabbed some sausages from a street vendor and then headed back towards the hotel to a Christmas market.

I loved the Christmas markets. They were decked out in lights and Christmas decorations, and were bustling with people. We all bought a mug of hot punch and walked around trying the foods and looking at all the stands filled with souvenirs and decorations for sale. There were stands of candy canes and chocolates, potato pancakes, crepes, sausages, and more. It was hard not to buy one of everything.

Christmas Market

After the Christmas market, we wanted to check out the nightlife in Vienna. On the bus to the hotel earlier that afternoon, Z had pointed out an area called the Bermuda Triangle where there was a lot of bars and clubs. He had warned us about it, and said it gets pretty wild. Naturally, we wanted to take part in the craziness. When we got there, it was kind of a disappointment because although the bars were all pretty full of people, the streets were pretty empty. We found a bar that had half price drinks, so we stayed for a while.

On Saturday, AIFS arranged a tour of the city center with a professional tour guide. She took us all around and showed us everything: the town hall, Parliament, the Supreme Court of Austria, the Chancellor’s House, St. Stephen’s Cathedral, and more. The buildings were all really beautiful. On our tour, our guide pointed out the most famous bakery in Vienna, Demel and she told us about the traditional Sachertorte cake that is baked there. After the tour, a few of us went back to the bakery and tried the cake. It was very chocolatey and delicious. 

On the grounds of Schonbrunn

In the afternoon, Z took us on another tour of the city. One place he took us to was where Mozart died. There is a exhibit in the building that is now located in the place where his apartment once stood. It was really weird though, because the building is now a 6 story department store. On the top floor is a restaurant and bar, and a small exhibit dedicated to Mozart that explains how this was the location of his death. It was so strange to get on an elevator in a department store, go up to the top floor and see this small memorial basically sitting in the hallway leading to a bar. Pretty bizzarre if you ask me.

For dinner, I got the traditional weiner schnitzel, and it was really good. The portions they served were so big that I couldn’t finish my meal on my own. After dinner, we walked around the biggest Christmas market, that is set up right in front of the town hall. The windows of the town hall were made into an Advent Calendar, and it was really cool. I bought some ornaments, drank some punch, and headed to bed early, tired after a long day of being a super tourist.

Sunday morning I went to the Vienna Boy’s Choir performance. They sing at a Roman Catholic mass in a chapel right down in the center of the city. I was excited to see them, but it was pretty disappointing. The choir was on a balcony above us, so we couldn’t even see them. They sounded really good but didn’t sing all that much so it wasn’t really as impressive as I had expected it to be. I figured it probably wasn’t okay to videotape them, considering it was a mass, so here is a youtube clip I found of them singing Little Drummer Boy….

On our way back to Prague, we stopped for a few hours at Schonbrunn Palace, the imperial summer residence. It was gorgeous and had lots to do. There was another Christmas market set up in front of the palace that had huge, delicious baked potatoes. After eating and walking around the market, we walked around the gardens in back of the palace. We found some replica Roman ruins, and walked up the hill behind the palace to find a great view of the whole city.

Alex and I in front of the palace

So it was a good thing our bus didn’t get stopped by the border patrol because I still can’t find my passport, and I would have been stuck at the Austrian border. That would have really sucked. But the weekend was really fun, and really busy. I loved the Christmas markets, and all the holiday spirit. I haven’t stopped listening to Christmas music since I got back to Prague.

The weather this past week has been amazing. It’s been like 50 and sunny everyday. I’ve spent so much time just walking around the city, enjoying the weather before I go back to Vermont where its snowy and cold.

I haven’t watched tv in over 2 months and I don’t miss it at all. It’s kind of nice not having a tv in my dorm room where I can waste hours watching re-runs of the same shows over and over again.

Downtown for the speeches on Tuesday

There is a great cafe right off of Old Town Square that has the best free samples ever. Every day, without fail, they put delicious samples outside to try. There is no sign that says to only take one, so I usually end up trying about 4. I don’t even know the name of the cafe because I’ve never bothered to notice, but at this point I feel like I should go inside and spend $50 to make up for all the free samples I try in between classes.

My backpack is probably the best thing I’ve ever bought. It’s the perfect size for my weekend trips, so I don’t have to check any luggage when I fly. It also functions as a book bag for school, a grocery bag, and its been known to fit plenty of bottles….of water.

After visiting other cities, I am so glad that Prague is not on the Euro. It’s ridiculous how much money I spend on my weekend trips. I’m very grateful for the Czech crown, otherwise I would have been broke after Week 2 in Prague.

I’ve taken probably about 2,000 pics since I’ve been in Europe. I’m gonna need a big scrapbook.

I lose everything. Mostly cell phones (I could hold a record) but I’ve been known to lose shoes, debit cards, iPods, basically anything. Currently missing: my passport… for the second time this trip. I need to find it today.

I have exactly one month left in the Czech Republic. The thought of that makes me more depressed than my current passport dilemma.

Busy day in Old Town Square

I have 3 papers to write, and a presentation coming up. I hope I remember how to do research.

My friends and I think a few Czech words are really funny to say. They translate to fried ice cream and computer. Czech people must think we’re either a. crazy or b. really obnoxious as we walk around the city repeatedly saying them.

This weekend I’m headed to Vienna, Austria with AIFS. I’ve heard mixed reviews about Vienna, some people love it, others aren’t too fond of it. I was talking to Z this morning at the AIFS student center, and he assured me that Vienna is the cultural center of Central Europe. He told me about the busy itinerary they have planned for us, and he promised we would find plenty of fun things to do.

When I looked at my school calendar upon my arrival in Prague, I quickly noticed we had three days off from classes in observance of national holidays. I didn’t really care what they were, I was just pumped that three of my overwhelmingly long three day school weeks became two day weeks. Two of them, St. Wenceslas Day and Independent Czechoslavak State Day, passed without much thought. However, yesterday, November17, proved different.

So many people marching

The day, known internationally as International Students’ Day, is apparently celebrated all over the world. It observes international demonstrations of student protests, and commemorates the 1939 Nazi brutality at the University of Prague. The day became even more important to the Czech people, and is now known as the Struggle for Freedom and Democracy Day, after student protests on November 17, 1989 sparked the beginning of the Velvet Revolution.   

Yesterday marked the 20th anniversary of the events of 1989 and thus, there were all sorts of events going on around the city. My friends and I decided it’s not every day that we’re in Prague on the 20th anniversary of the start of the Velvet Revolution, so we thought we should observe it like the Czechs. Thus, we grabbed a few beers at a local microbrewery and attended the recreation of the student march that occurred on this day 20 years ago. We gathered with about 5,000 other people and listened to speeches (none of which we could understand, considering they were all in Czech) and bands. We then walked the same route the students marched in ‘89. Everyone around us had signs, Czech flags and lots of pride. I heard people talking, in English, about how they had participated in the actual march when they were college students.

Getting in the spirit on our way to the march

It was a really fun experience to be in the middle of it all. Although we had no idea what the signs read, or what people were speaking about, it was cool to see how far the country has come in such a short time. It’s crazy to think about how much has changed in Prague in my lifetime alone. A lot of Czechs have said they are disappointed with the slow progress of the country since the end of the Communism, but on this day, it just seemed like everyone was proud to be there.

I know my explanation of the events and the history of the day may not have been that clear… so to learn more about it, check out this New York times article.

Amsterdam is crazy. I loved it. I visited the city this past weekend and met up with some friends from Saint Mike’s. I decided that there are two completely different sides to Amsterdam: the city in the daytime, and the city at night. During the day, you have to watch where you’re going at all times because there are thousands of aggressive bikers sharing the sidewalks with you.

so many bikes in the Dam Square

I learned, very quickly, that they get very irritated when you get in their way. If you get distracted by the faint smell of marijuana on every street corner, they aren’t afraid to run you over. There are also tons of beautiful buildings, sooo many cool museums and miles of beautiful river front properties.  At night, well, its a completely different place. I found that pretty much everything I had heard about the Red Light District is true. I don’t think I believed some of it until I actually saw it myself.

While I was there, we took 3 tours. The first was the Heineken Brewery. It was really fun. We learned about the history of the company, and how they make the beer. It ended with taste testing, and a few free beers. Totally worth it. On Saturday, we took a tour of the city center. It lasted about 3 hours and our tour guide was really enthusiastic.  She talked about how the conservative government is trying to clean up the streets of Amsterdam to make it less of a party town, in hopes of attracting older and wealthier tourists. She also told us about the history of the city, the story of the Miracle of Amsterdam, and showed us famous places such as the Anne Frank House.

inside the Heineken Brewery

The last tour we took was the Red Light District Tour. It was interesting, to say the least. Walking down the streets and seeing the prostitutes soliciting men was weird for me. There were windows and windows of women wearing practically nothing, and it is completely legal. We were warned not to take pictures of any of it, because they have been known to come out of their rooms and smash cameras or throw bottles of urine at those who do take pics.

As we walked around, we saw that there were tons of fun bars to go to. We ended up doing a pub crawl that took us to really fun places that we probably wouldn’t have found on our own. It was a great time, but at the end of the night we ran into a little roadblock. Since none of us were familiar with the public transportation system of the city, we didn’t realize that the trams stopped running after midnight. Therefore, we didn’t know how to get back to our hotel and ended up having to pay a lot of money for a taxi.

The trip was awesome, and I was really glad I got to see a few of my SMC friends that I’ve missed. But, when I got back to my dorm last night, I went to turn on my computer and the screen went black. I waited a few minutes, tried a few more times, and still nothing. I know absolutely nothing about computers, so I freaked out. I called my mom in tears from the pay phone in the lobby of the dorm. She had sympathy, but assured me that there was nothing she could do from 4,000 miles away. I spent an hour thinking about how terrible life would be without a working computer for the next five weeks, and how I would rather lose my passport than have my computer break while in Europe (I think I was being a little dramatic). After feeling sorry for myself for a while, I decided to take the battery out for a few minutes. I was so relieved when I put the battery back in and my computer turned on. It would have totally sucked not to have a computer to do my research, Facebook creep, write my papers, skype with my friends, and BLOG!

For the past two weeks, I haven’t found much to write about short of my trip to Poland. It made me worry that I was just wasting my time in Prague, not doing anything worth talking about. Then I got my weekly AIFS newsletter from Marketa, our Resident Director, and everything made a lot more sense.

Every Monday, Marketa sends us an email with the week’s events planned by AIFS. It includes movies at the AIFS office, Czech language lessons with Z, ballets, operas, sporting events etc. In each newsletter is also some type of friendly advice including how to meet local Czech people, how to stay ahead on our schoolwork, how to deal with homesickness and more. I’ll be honest, I usually skim it and continue on to my other emails. This week, however, I read the first line, and it hit me. It read, “The novelty of being in the Czech Republic has worn off.” I realized, thats why I haven’t had much to talk about lately when I email my mom or skype with my friends. It’s all so routine now. The novelty of Usudu, my favorite bar, has worn off and it is now the place I go with my friends if we want to have a laid back night… the cobblestone sidewalks that I once saw as beautiful and unique to Prague, are now more of a hassle that slow me down… the tourists in Old Town Square stopping to take pictures of the buildings that I was once mesmorized by now annoy me more than anything.

It may seem like I don’t appreciate the city, but I guess I’ve just gotten very comfortable here. I’m no longer intimidated walking into stores and restaurants, hoping someone will speak English. I  know that even if I have to resort to crazy hand gestures, conquering the language barrier isn’t too difficult. I’ve learned not to buy novelties, such as postcards or souvenirs, anywhere in Prague 1. I’ve learned that I shouldn’t take offense when people push past me aggressively in public. It’s not personal, they just have somewhere to be and the words “Excuse me” aren’t neccessary here.

Although I’ve reached this plateau, one thing that hasn’t changed (and will probably never change) is how happy I am that I chose to study here. Even if I don’t walk around constantly snapping photos anymore, the city hasn’t lost its majestic feel. Just last night when I was leaving school, I looked up at the castle and found myself in awe of its beauty as it sat lit up on the hill, overlooking the whole city. I was reminded of my first night here, when I walked up the stairs from the metro station, saw the castle lit up for the first time, and instantly fell in love with the city. A lot has changed since that night, but I still love Prague just as much.

I don’t know how to describe Auschwitz I or Auschwitz II- Birkenau. I didn’t know what to expect of the camp, and I certainly wasn’t prepared for some of the things I saw. I was really skeptical to write anything about it, because I dont really know how to put into words what the experience was like. I wouldn’t say that I had a dramatic emotional breakdown in response to what I saw, but it definitely made everything I know about the Holocaust more real for me.

We visited Auschwitz I first. Most of the camp is still intact, and a lot of the old barracks have been made into different museums. Seeing the hallways and hallways of photographs of the victims put a face to the facts and figures I had studied in school. It’s one thing to read out of a textbook that 1 million innocent people were killed at the camp, but to see the faces of these victims was unnerving. I don’t really know how to explain my feelings towards the exhibits displaying the baby’s clothing or the massive amount of human hair that were recovered upon liberation of the camp. It was something I thought I’d never see.

Auschwitz II-Birkenau was a lot bigger as it was designed for more people. A lot of the buildings were destroyed to cover up the crimes committed there, but that didn’t take away from the eerie feeling of the camp. The gas chambers stand in ruins at the back of the camp and on our walk to them, I couldn’t help but think about how so many people had made the same walk I was making on the way to their death. At that point, I’d had enough of the concentration camps, and just wanted to get out of there.

The day we went, the weather was very overcast and you weren’t able to see too far in front of you. When you looked off into the distance, you could only see the silhouettes of the buildings, trees and people. It gave them an almost ghostly appearance, and was very eerie. I got the impression that the weather never changes there, and its always dark and gloomy there. It doesn’t seem appropriate that the sun could ever shine there. According to Z, no flowers grow within the camp walls and it is rare to see birds flying in the area. As creepy and depressing as the visit to Auschwitz was, I’m glad that I went but I never want to go back. I think it is a place that everyone should visit so that they can witness firsthand what occured.

This past weekend, AIFS planned a trip for everyone in my program to go to Poland. Along with our two chaperones, Z and Jana, we boarded a bus on Friday morning and headed out. We spent Friday night til Sunday morning in Krakow, and on our way back to Prague on Sunday, we stopped at Auschwitz. Krakow was an awesome time, and definitely my favorite European city besides Prague. We had tons of fun touring around, taking tons of pictures and experiencing the city’s lively nightlife.

Being tourists in the city center

We finally arrived in Krakow after an 8 hour bus ride that included several stops and some unwelcomed traffic. Our hotel was located right downtown, so after checking in, we all went our separate ways for the night.

I ended up getting kebabs with some friends then headed to a local pub. We tried the popular famous Polish drink of Vodka and apple juice called Tatanka. It was very delicious but I was very careful drinking it, because one of my professors had warned me about how potent it was.

A fun dance club

When I had told her I was going to Krakow, she told me that I had to try this drink, but to take caution because it’s so delicious that you can’t taste the alcohol. She said she had an unfortunate incident where she drank too much Tatanka and got a lot more drunk than she had planned. With this in mind, we only ordered one round of Tatanka and then switched to beer. We bounced around to a few bars, and then hit up a club that was playing American hip hop music.

Saturday morning, we headed out on a tour led by Z. He took us around the city center, pointing out the beautiful buildings and explaining the long and storied history of the city.

We visited several beautiful churches and monuments and took lots of pictures. The tour was a lot of fun because we all spent the majority of it taking candid pictures and videos of each other. When we broke for lunch, some friends and I went to a Ukranian restaurant that Jana had recommended. It was a really cute place with traditional Ukranian music and food. I tried pierogies for the first time, and they were very tasty.

At the castle

After lunch, we all met up again and went on a tour of the castle area and the old Jewish town. The weather was cold and rainy, but it didn’t stop us from enjoying all that Krakow has to offer.

One of the coolest things Z showed us in Krakow is a famous dog monument. I know, I’m in a city that was once one of the most important political centers of Nazi Germany, and I’m obsessed with a statue dedicated to a dog. Seems a little pathetic. But there’s a good story behind it…. This statue stands in the middle of a park near the river and is dedicated to Dzok, “the most faithful canine friend ever, epitomising a dog’s boundless devotion to his master”. For a year, Dzok was seen wandering the park waiting for his owner, who had died in the very spot where the statue was erected.

After the afternoon tour, I went shopping with some friends and was happy to find that Krakow is veryyy cheap. We walked in and out of stores and finally got some Georgian food for dinner. Z had told us about this restaurant right on the main square, and it turned out to be very delicious. I had some traditional Georgian cheese pie with chicken dish but could only eat about half of it because it was so huge. We headed back to the hotel and went to bed at a reasonable hour as we all knew we had to be very early to catch our bus.  

Group shot at the castle

Tomorrow I’m headed to Poland for the weekend with AIFS. We’re taking a longgg bus ride to Krakow and spending two nights there. On Saturday, we’re taking a guided tour around the historical city center. In the afternoon, we have free time to re-visit places we saw on the tour or just explore the city on our own. On Sunday, we’re leaving Krakow pretty early and going to Auschwitz concentration camp.

I’m not really sure what to expect of Poland or Auschwitz. I never thought I’d ever go to Poland just because I didn’t think I’d ever have a reason to visit the country. But, now that I’m actually going, I’m wicked excited. I can’t wait to see what Krakow is like, and how it is different from Prague. I did a little bit of research about the city today so I could find out the important places to check out on Saturday. As for Auschwitz, I’m sure it will be like nothing I’ve ever experienced but, besides that, I don’t really know what I’m in for.

Midterms mixed with rainy weather and a cold (don’t worry, I’m pretty confident it’s not the Swine), have combined for a pretty boring week thus far. After recovering from Halloween festivities, I spent Sunday night and Monday morning completing my take home Comparative History midterm. You can hardly call this a midterm though, as it was basically a list of questions asking us how the class is going and what suggestions we would make to improve it. The most difficult part was brainstorming ideas to write my final paper on. Like I said, more of a questionnaire than a midterm exam.

My second midterm, in Czech Politics, went equally as smooth. I spent a lot of time studying for it as it is worth about 40% of our grade, but I’m pretty confident I did well. I’m not used to having one test count for so much, so I forced myself to study a lot. Although, like I’ve previously said, finding motivation to focus on schoolwork while I’ve been here has proven veryyy difficult. I have one more midterm tomorrow in Jewish History. It will definitely be my hardest exam, as it covers the most content, but I’m confident that if I can force myself to study for one more night I’ll do fine. I wish there were more exciting things to report as of late, but I’ve found my studies get in the way of my social life the past two days. I guess I can deal though because is the last night of studying for a while!  

I’ll leave you with a few random thoughts….

1. The cobblestone sidewalks and streets are beautiful…until it rains. Then they get super slippery and you end up falling in a giant puddle like I did yesterday on my way to class. Pretty embarrassing and made for a very uncomfortable history class.

2. Unlimited public transportation passes are the greatest things AIFS gave us. I can just walk onto the train, tram or bus and not even have to worry about buying a ticket. Super convenient and definitely a money saver.

3. I probably should have learned how to grocery shop before coming to a foreign country where I don’t speak the language and can not read the labels. I found myself wishing I could walk into Shaw’s or Stop n Shop today as I stood lost in the middle of a Czech grocery store.

4.  I’m gonna miss dorm living. It’s really fun having everyone in our program in the same dorm. And the pub in the basement makes for a great place to hang out on weeknights.

First off, I can not believe it is November 1st. (Although, the weather has cooled down dramatically in the past few days so it definitely feels like November.) I can’t believe I’ve been in Europe for two months. It’s been the fastest two months of my life.

The past two weeks have been really busy for me. My parents were here so I showed them around, then we went to London and then my siblings came back to Prague with me for the week. It was really fun to show everyone around and take them to my favorite places. They seemed to love the city and were grateful that I only got them really lost once!

On Friday night, a few friends and I went to a micro brewery downtown. The place was really cool and the beer was delicious. They had over a hundred different types of beer and we tried a bunch of them… banana, sour cherry, coffee, etc. The banana tasted like rotten banana to me but I really liked the cherry flavor. It tasted more like cake than beer. Some of the boys ordered a giraffe of a dark lager but it was too heavy and filling for me. I want to go back and try more flavors before I leave.  

Yesterday was Halloween. And if anything has disappointed me about Prague, it was the lack of Halloween spirit. I know its and American holiday and all, but Halloween is one of my favorite days of the year and it was barely even recognized here. I saw maybe 2 places selling pumpkins, no costume shops and no special festive candy. It was a little depressing. We made the best of it though, and all of the kids in my program got dressed up. We had limited resources and tight budgets so some of the costumes were pretty creative, and it turned out to be a great night. We went to Sasazu, the only club in Prague that was having a Halloween costume party. They had free drinks, a costume contest and great music. It was a lot of fun and ended being a pretty late night.

This week I have midterms. One take home that I just finished, and two in class tests. I’ve found it really hard to be motivated in school this semester as I would totally rather be walking around the city than spend my time studying. Therefore, it’s been pretty hard to get myself to sit down and actually read over my notes lately. I’ve always been a procrastinator though, so I’ll probably end up cramming the night before my tests.