Krakow, Poland

Hey!
So this post will probably be my most depressing one.  Krakow Poland is an amazing city with incredible history, however, it is very sad history.  I'll start from the beginning of the trip.
The bus left Prague at about 3pm.  As soon as we crossed the border into Poland, our bus broke down.  Luckily it broke down when we had stopped at a gas station and McDonalds!  We had to wait three hours in rainy nasty weather until another bus could come pick us up.  It was St. Patty's day so we bought some beer and nasty mini boxed wine from the gas station and had a little party bus! After being rescued and continuing on our way, we finally made it into Krakow at about 3 in the morning.

The next day we went on a walking tour of the city.  We saw the main square, which is really neat, and we also saw the Jewish quarter.  The Jewish quarter was also really neat and filled with great restaurants and bars.  Later, we went to the Schindler Factory museum.  It was one of the best museums I've been to.  The museum not only told us the Schindler story, but also about the Polish situation during the Nazi regime and the war.  Poland is sandwiched right in between Germany and Russia.  During the war, they were in a horrible situation.  With two fronts invading their country, they were stomped on by the Nazi's and by the Soviets.  The Nazi regime came into Poland and took over everything.  Not only was the government taken over, but the cultural life was too.  German people moved to Poland and basically shoved the Polish aside.  The Nazi's created a Jewish ghetto in the city.  The Jewish population was not the only population that feared the Nazi's.  Non-Jewish Poles feared them as well.  One thing I found very interesting was a video of an old man in the museum.  He said that at the time, it was so normal for somebody to die by gun, bomb, beating, etc... that as a boy, he never assumed a death to be natural.  If somebody died, he would have never guessed that it was from old age or illness.  The violence that so many people witnessed and endured during the war years seeped into the culture.  It is shocking to think that a child would find it normal for people to die by beating or shooting and abnormal to die a natural death.  Overall, the museum was great.  It gave me a new appreciation for Poland.

Jewish Quarter

Wall of the Jewish Cemetery.  It is made of old gravestones that were recovered after the war.  Nazi's were taking them and using them as sidewalks...

Inside the Krakow castle

Town center

Later that night we went to a really cool little bar called "Propaganda".  So if any of you ever go to Poland, go there!
We had a very early night because we all had to wake up early and go to Auschwitz.  Auschwitz is actually a camp complex.  There are two different camps.  Auschwitz, which was a work camp and Birkenau, which was a death camp.  If people were sent to Auschwitz, they lived in big brick buildings and worked.  If people were sent to Birkenau, they were gassed upon arrival or shortly after.  Auschwitz and Birkenau was one of the most difficult things I've ever seen or done.  It is well worth one visit though.  I don't really have much to say about Auschwitz because it was all so hard to see.  It was kind of difficult to grasp a lot of the things because now they are just old empty buildings standing there.  But to think that I was standing in a room where thousands and thousands of people were gassed and burned is horrifying.  I think the things that really hit home for me and made it such an emotional trip were the little things.  Such as the baby clothing.  The Nazi's saved everything.  Upon arrival, the Jews were stripped of everything they owned and all of those articles of clothing, glasses, bags, toothbrushes, everything, were saved.  Seeing baby shoes, women's make-up, hairbrushes, and glasses was so unbelievably sad.  They did not know what their fate was, and so they packed all of their things.

Birkenau.  It was enormous.

It was the eeriest place I have ever been.  Birkenau was a huge massive chunk of land.  During the liberation, before the Nazi's fled, they burned a lot of the building to try and hide evidence.  Even though many of the blocks were burned, the chimney's still stand which is super creepy to see.  I felt very uncomfortable taking these pictures and putting them up so I only put a few on here.
I was at the biggest crime scene in history.  It was a horrible thing to see, but also very important I think.

The next day we drove home to Prague.  It is always so great to be back!

Berlin, Germany

I know I haven't posted in forever, so here we go! 

I think I left off right before Berlin.  A few weekends ago I went to Berlin with about six other kids in my group.  We left on a thursday morning and came back sunday late afternoon.  When we first got to Berlin, we checked into our awesome hostel and went out exploring the neighborhood we were in.  We ate a currywurst which was basically a sausage covered with ketchup and curry powder.  And a bunch of fries.  It was delicious and I found a new love for curry!  

We had an early night and woke up early for a free walking tour of the city.  Our tour guide was great and the history of Berlin was definitely the highlight of the trip.  The city is not old and beautiful like Prague, because it was so heavily bombed throughout WWII.  Most of the apartments and buildings are relatively new and many of them in East Berlin are communist housing (very dull looking).

* Interesting note: Germany finished paying reparations from World War I in October 2009.  Crazy!!

Here are some things we saw on the walking tour:

This is the last standing gate left from Midieval Berlin by which German royalty entered and exited the city walls.

This is the hotel that Michael Jackson held "Blanket" over the balcony!

The Reichstag

 Above is the Reichstag, known as the Nazi headquarters.  In actuality, this building was not used throughout the war.  It originally held Nazi Party leaders, but right before the Nazi take-over there was a huge fire and the building stood in ruins throughout the war.

These two pictures are of the Holocaust memorial which is located right in the middle of the city.  It is a very creepy place to be.  It gets very cold and claustrophobic as you walk through it.

Below this dirt patch is the nuclear bunker where the Nazi's camped out throughout the last few weeks of the war.  This also is the location where Hitler committed suicide.

  We learned that Hitler got married, and then a day later he and his new wife committed suicide.  His Nazi's partners attempted to burn him to be rid of any evidence but could not do so successfully (how ironic).  Instead, they buried him a few feet away from this spot.  Later, when he was found, he was successfully burned and his ashes were scattered in the Elbe River.  There is no burial site for Hitler for fear that neo-Nazi's would have a place to congregate and worship.  

What is left of the Berlin Wall which separated the East from the West during the Communist regime.

The wall was not nearly as big and exciting as I had expected, but nonetheless, it was amazing to see.  Little did I know, this wall dividing the city was basically built in a night.  People woke up and there was a wall splitting their city in half.  Many people could not go to work, school, or see friends or family members.  What is most shocking about this was that after ten years of the city being completely divided, after the fall of communism and the fall of the Berlin Wall, citizens of the city seemed to reunite well.  The city has meshed back together very well.  

On a lighter note, here are some interesting things we learned about and saw in Berlin:

Street "walk" sign in East Berlin.  When the Wall went up, communist East Berlin wanted to be as different as possible to the Western Capitalist world.  They changed nearly everything.. even the street signs.  Here, you can see, they put a hat on the man in the "walk" sign.

 Later in the day, a couple of us checked out a really neat place called Techeles.  Techeles is an old building converted to an art house.  Artists spray paint everywhere and create art in the building as well as the back yard.  It was all really cool to see.  We wandered around and checked it all out!

That night we tried going to a club in the city.  Berlin night life is supposed to be amazing, but what I learned from it is that while it might be amazing, it is also very exclusive.  We waited in line to get into a club for about 40 minutes only to have half of us get in and half of us get denied.  They chose at random and are pretty ruthless.  While I'm sure the places are awesome inside, going to choosy exclusive clubs are definitely not my thing.  Luckily I live in Prague, where bars are cheap and friendly and don't care if you are dressed like a movie star or not!  Also, the German beer is nothing compared to Czech beer... 

Sausage wrapped in bacon filled with cheese covered with mustard and ketchup in a bun. 

The next day I spent wandering around on my own.  It was great! I spent the whole morning in a really neat neighborhood on the north end of the city.  There was a great farmers market and tons of adorable shops.  The neighborhood was very young and spunky (a nice change from Prague) and kind of reminded me of Lincoln Park Chicago or Madison Wisconsin.  I got the best sausage of my life in that market.  

Cute neighborhood! 

Market

Things in Berlin that in my opinion, should be everywhere:

Beer Bike!  Exercise while drinking beer, socializing with friends, and seeing the city! 

Yum! Who wouldn't want to eat there?! (and I think it's weird that it's in Asian looking writing)

Permanent ping pong tables in parks!

Overall, I thought Berlin was amazing.  I learned so much history and saw a culture that is completely different and unique to that of the Czech Republic.  The only complaints I have of Berlin was that it was expensive and HUGE/tricky to get around, but other than that I'm lucky I was able to see it!

Prague Astronomical Clock 600th Anniversary!

Follow this link, it's really cool!



http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2BBhtJ/www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DQjWJHEmFfPA

Dobry Den!

I'm about 4 weeks in to my Prague stay and the Czech Republic gets better every day!  While I haven't had a chance to get out of the city to travel in other countries yet, I have explored a lot of Prague and the surrounding areas.

Two weekends ago while everyone from my program went to Budapest, my old friend Sarah came to visit me from Sevilla.  We had a blast wandering around the city, getting lost, cooking delicious food, sleeping in, going to a Czech hockey game, and visiting a little castle town about 40 minutes out of the city!
We had beautiful weather all weekend!  We tried hot mulled wine (which is delicious) and went to the castle one day.  We went to a hockey game that night which is great fun!  We got lost on the way there and ended up at the Sparta Soccer stadium rather than the Sparta hockey arena... I had to use the little Czech language that I knew to figure out how to get to the stadium which was quite a scene, but we made it and had a ton!

Cool graffiti we found while lost in Prague 7

Hockey Game.  SPARTA!

Vasclav Namesty at night

Sarah and I at the castle

Cathedral in the castle

Karlstejn!

The next day we went to a small town outside of the city that was a 45 minute train ride.  Karlstejn was a very strange town to say the least... While it was pretty cute, it was also really touristy and the castle tour felt something out of the late 70's.  However, it was a beautiful day, and the castle was nestled in some pretty mountains so it was great!  

Just this past weekend, we hunkered in here in Prague and enjoyed some cool new bar scenes!  So far, all the bars we've been to have been really neat.  Usudu is a favorite because it's in a cavern underground and has a bunch of different tunnels leading to different cavern rooms.  A place I hope to check out soon is a bar that was a nuclear bunker converted into a bunker bar.  It's supposed to be really cool and actually is supposed to be converted back to its original state as a nuclear bunker if there is a need for it in the future.  We also checked out a bar that was pretty cool called the Beer Factory.  They had a tap coming up through the table and 4 taps available to refill whenever need be!  It was fantasticky!!  

As for beer (James I know you've been curious), its THE BEST!  Their "crappy" beer equates to our good beer, much of the time.  Also, as I said earlier, it's cheaper to get a huge beer than water at a restaurant so we're pretty much forced to get beer instead of water.  Not too big of a problem though I guess!  So far my favorite beers are Pilsner (found everywhere in the Czech Republic), Staropramen (cheaper, but still great), and Hoegarden (which is Belgian and also phenomenal). 

Usudu bar

More Usudu

Beer Factory

As for school, I've been learning some Czech history, mostly on Communism, and Czech Language that will help us to get around the city.  We've been learning Czech basics like how to order in a restaurant and how to ask for directions, which have definitely come in handy.  

Hello = Dobry den

Goodbye = Na schledanou

I would like 4 beers, please = Dam si ctyri pivo, prosim!

I'm planning spring break this week and have a bus booked for Berlin this weekend!  Shout out to all my peeps who trekked it to NOLA for some Mardi Gras shenanigans this past weekend.. hope you had a ball and I'm jealous I missed out!  Love and miss you all!

Hey everyone! We finally have a home and are just getting settled.  We still have no hot water or internet which is kind of a problem but everything in Europe is slower than what we are used to so I'm trying to be patient with it.  This week we started our Intensive Czech Language course.  It is a crazy language!  We learned how to order food and we learned a bunch of basic foods so that we can get around in the grocery store or restaurant.  The tricky part of Czech is that there are SO many consonants back to back.  We have to try and pronounce words like "ctyri" (meaning the number 4) and "zmrzlina" (ice cream).  It is really great being able to learn something and then go right out in the street and use it!  A lot of Czech people in Prague speak English so it's not too hard getting around, but many do not, so it can be tricky getting around sometimes.  Next week we start our full course load.  I'm actually really excited to have a regular routine and to get into these classes.  They all seems so interesting!
I'm taking:
Intensive Czech
Czechs Jews and Germans in Bohemian Lands
Life and Culture in a Totalitarian Regime
Prague as a Living History (walking tour class)
and a course on the history of communism in the Czech Republic

The Powder Tower

We went on a few tours last week.  One of them was a short walking tour around the city.  We learned a bit about Czech architecture and the city's history.  It's amazing seeing the contrast in architecture!  One building will be modern cubism style and the next will be gothic style.

Wenceslas Square (Vaclavske Namesti)
Wenceslas Square is where Prague's major demonstrations have always been held.  The Velvet Revolution took place here in 1989 when the Czech people fought to overthrow the communist regime.

Wenceslas Square during the revolution

Change of Plans

So its been awhile since I last blogged, but thats because things have gotten pretty wild the past few days...
Long story short:
We moved into a nice apartment on the outskirts of Prague in a great neighborhood but our landlady turned into a psycho.  She came in one day and just started screaming at us because we had A. moved a blanket from the couch... B. had a guest stay the night... and C. we apparently weren't supposed to move the ironing board out of the closet.  We talked to our advisors and the realtors, who also talked to her.  She said she didn't want us living there which I guess is good that she admitted it because our semester could have been miserable if we'd have stayed.  The realtor company even said they thought she was crazy, so it wasn't just us!
So, after a few more days of trying to scramble and find housing after getting kicked out and being homeless for a day, we found a new place! The price is great and the location is also amazing!  It may get pretty touristy because it's near the Charles Bridge but the view we have is beautiful.  We can see the Prague Castle from our bedroom window!  We are all crossing our fingers that we have a nice landlord this time.
I'll post pictures of the apartment and view as soon as we get internet.
So now everything is hopefully settled and we have a pretty crazy story to tell... I've now dealt with a crazy Czech woman and been evicted from a Czech flat!
Love and miss you all!

Culture Shock!

While we haven’t had much of a chance to explore the city yet, I have interacted with many Czech people while tramming around and searching for flats.  Not only are we in Europe, we are in Eastern Europe.  Eastern Europe seems to be a whole other ball of wax than Western Europe.  Because this region has had so much dark history, it has really seemed to change the culture and even the look of the city.  While it is a beautiful city with amazing architecture, winding cobblestone streets, and random castle-like buildings everywhere, it kind of has a weird dark feel to it.  It’s hard to explain.  It seems as if a couple of world wars, the presence of the Nazi’s, and the Communist years have really haunted the city.  I’m really excited to learn all about Prague’s history in my courses.  There is so much!

Another thing that has come to my attention is that Czech people rarely smile.  They are extremely conservative and probably think I’m crazy when I smile to them on the street.  It doesn’t seem like it, but it’s pretty much natural for us as American’s to smile at someone on the street if you make eye contact… here, it is not normal at all.

This morning I wandered around our neighborhood, which is amazing, and grabbed a coffee.  My coffee was about the size of an oversized dixie cup.  Not only was it tiny, but it was about $2.50.  My coffee was way smaller and way more expensive than any beer I’ve gotten.  Beer is also cheaper than getting water at restaurants most of the time, which is crazy!  Last night I had a fried pocket with ham, chicken, and cheese in it.  It was delicious, but basically a heart attack on a plate.  I’ll have to monitor my eating habits for sure!

The restaurant service, like in many European countries, is slow.  They take their sweet time taking your order and bringing your food.  We'll have to learn how to be more patient and relax, which will be a nice change!

One Week In

Sorry I haven’t written much since I landed, but it has been a really really busy week.  My flights went smoothly out of the U.S. and I arrived to 40 degree weather in Prague!  The weather this week has been beautiful, which is great for all of this orientation that we have going on.  As soon as we got to the hotel, we were bustled out into the tram to get to our school, Charles University.  The tram systems are great!  I’ll be using them a lot. 

The school we will be taking courses in is right near Old Town and Wenceslas Square.  I also just learned that down the street from where we will be taking classes is a building that was the Prague headquarters of the Nazi party, and right next to our building was once the headquarters for the Czech Communist Party.  Kind of creepy…

The front of school - Charles University

So this past week, we have been in orientation every day and have been searching for flats (apartments) around the city.  This has involved a lot of walking and a lot of stress.  It’s pretty tricky finding a flat in a good location, in your price range, and with people you barely know, in such a short time.  After a whole week of stressing over that, we finally found a place!  I’m living in a cute little flat in Nove Mesto (New Town), in Prague 2, on a street called Na Hradku.  It’s a great neighborhood and we are all so relieved that we got so lucky!  We are close to the tram stop that will take us to and from class and downtown, above a restaurant and post office, and a few blocks from the Vltava River.  Oh, and there’s a botanical garden across the street which I’m sure will be beautiful in the Spring!  I’m living with three other girls from Tulane and we are working to gain the respect of other residents in the building.  Apparently there was a group of American boys living in the flat last semester who were loud and obnoxious and had a bunch of parties.  We are lucky that the landlord gave us a chance seeing as they are not very fond of having Americans live in their flats due to our “loud voices” and loud music… we are hoping that they will soon smile back in the stairwell after they realize that not all Americans are crazy and loud.

View from my bedroom window

We start our intensive Czech language course on Monday and I’m actually pretty excited.  It’ll be nice to have a routine to my days and weeks, and to learn some Czech to help me get around. 

With the first week under my belt, I’m feeling relieved and ready to finally go explore the city!

One Week Left!

One week left until I leave for the Czech Republic!  These few weeks in between the semester ending and leaving for Prague have flown by.  After a few last crazy weekends in Ann Arbor with everyone I’m home and starting to pack up… well, sort of.  I’ve mostly just been staring at all of the crap piled up in my room waiting to be shoved into my suitcase.  I’ll probably be spending my week saying my last goodbyes here in Kalamazoo, watching Mad Men, searching for summer internships, and packing! 

I’ll be leaving Sunday evening from Chicago, will have a layover in Zurich Switzerland, and will arrive in Praha at around 2 pm.  It’s a 6 hour difference so I’ll be getting done with my day as Emily wakes up in early afternoon, haha.  There’s nothing else exciting happening here in Kzoo so I’ll update after I get overseas.  I’ll miss everyone like crazy, and be sad that I wont be here to turn 21 in two weeks, but I’m ready to get out of here and be completely engulfed by the crazy Czech language!