Time for another update on the Adventures of Emily in Europe! This weekend we had a long weekend because of Easter, and what would be more fun than a ski trip to Austria? Nothing, really. Well, snowboarding for me.. I've always wanted to try it and figured the Alps would be a pretty awesome place to go. We left Friday by train.. 3 trains and many hours later, we arrived in Schladming, Austria. I must say it is probably the cutest, quaintest little town I've ever been in. It's also where Arnold Schwarzenegger goes skiing, fyi. After such a long day we were of course hungry, and proceeded to supper. The hotel served a 5 course meal, much fancier than I'm used to for sure, but it was good. The soup was some of the best I've ever had in my life! In fact, it was better by far than any part of the meals. The first night we had a vegetable bouillon, then potato leak, and the last night a mediterranian vegetable. mmmmm!! Also that evening, I had the opportunity to watch a little bit of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in German. Now many would say, what's the point of watching a movie in a language you can't understand, but when you know the movie as well as I do, I knew what they were saying anyway.. so that was kinda cool.
Saturday we hit the ski shop to rent our gear, and I signed up for a beginners snowboarding lesson. Given that I've never snowboarded before and really know nothing about it, I figured it'd be a good idea. So my friend Josh said he'd help me get to the right place for my lesson and I could hang out there and play around on the easy slopes and he could get on with skiing, since he's good and knows what he's doing. Well, we went up the wrong mountain.. instead, we came to the top of a 1,800 some foot mountain full of intermediate and above level slopes with a beginner slope here and there. And I had to get back down to the bottom. Now, never having been on a snowboard, I was a bit intimidated.. and I fell.. a lot. One such fall, my best one, involved a bit of a role and what I at first thought was a broken arm, as I could not move it. Fortunately though, I was able to get back up and the pain subsided for awhile. After 3-3.5 hours, we made it to the bottom! I was so relieved! I made it back to where I needed to be not too late for my lesson and learned how it was done. By that time it was already 3:30, and having the morning I had had, I was ready to call it a day when we got to the bottom.
Talk about personal growth, haha! I was pretty proud of myself for making it all the way down that big mountain, knowing absolutely nothing about what I was doing. By the end of the day my legs were on fire and my whole body ached, but it was soooo much fun! I definitely want to go again. My instructer was impressed with what I had done and said I was a really fast learner, so that was encouraging as well.
Unfortunately, Saturday night I must have eaten something that didn't quite agree with me, because I got sick.. and even more unfortunately I didn't get to go snowboarding the second day, due to the fact I spent most of the morning throwing up.. which was not fun. But I was feeling better by Sunday afternoon, and was able to walk around the town. And Monday we headed back to Olomouc, and classes began again today. And that's it!
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
week 2 is here
Well I have made it through my first full week and weekend in the Czech Republic! This past weekend we went to Prague, which is such a beautiful city! We had a 3 hour train ride before our arrival then headed over to our hostel to get all settled in. As this was my first time in a hostel I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but we stayed in rooms for about 6 or 7 people, and down the hall was bathrooms and a shower room for all the rooms on the floor. If you want an idea of our room, picture Annie, because that's pretty much what it looked like haha.
We walked around the city Friday afternoon and got to see the Astronomical Clock, the Old Town Square, a bunch of really cool looking buildings that I have no idea what they were, Charles Bridge, and the Lennon Wall. The view at the bridge was really pretty, you could see the castle and the whole surrounding area, and later we went in a tower there which had the most beautiful view of the city I saw while we were there. As a Beatles fan, I also really liked the Lennon Wall. During the communist reign here, which only ended 15-20 years ago, people graffitied the wall in honor of Lennon because his music gave them hope. Pretty cool. Later that evening while walking through the Old Square there was an orchestra playing the Beatles music, and that was just awesome, because who would have thought you'd ever hear that from an orchestra? Beautiful.
Saturday we went to the Prague Castle and Cathedral, which I must say was actually not that impressive. The castle just looked like a big building, not like what one usually pictures when you think of a castle. But the cathedral was gorgeous! I got kicked out of one of them though, because I followed a couple people from my group thinking we were going to another room I hadn't seen yet, and when I realized we were heading outside I turned around and the man said "no, no" and shut the door in my face. How rude! I later learned that the view from a tower in that cathedral was gorgeous, so unfortunately I missed out on that. After our group split we wandered around and guess what we found? Starbucks! It was huge, they had a bunch of rooms and then a whole downstairs area to enjoy coffee! It was great. We then wandered around to do some shopping, but unfortunately were unable to locate the 2 shops we had seen before. That night a few of us went looking for a jazz club we had seen, and although we didn't find it we found another one, so it was ok!
Sunday we went to the place I was most excited about - the Jewish Quarters and Old Jewish cemetary. One of the synagog's had the names of all the Jewish people from Czech who were victims of the holocost painted on its walls, that was really neat. Then we went to the cemetary. I believe it's about a square block and there are some 20,000 people buried there, because the Jews were only allowed to be in a certain part of town. Being there reminded me of going to the concentration camp in Austria when I was in high school. It's so hard to imagine the millions of people who were victims simply because they were Jews. It's just heartbreaking. We're going to Auswitz concentration camp in Poland in April, and I'm looking forward to that. After the Jewish Quarters we had a little free time then our 3 hour train back to Olomouc, which I slept most of the way as I did not get much sleep over the weekend.
This week we started our regular lectures, today was about the influence of the Czech media.. it was alright, but I hope they will get a little more interesting. Oh, and Happy St. Patrick's day to you all! St. Patrick's day was actually on Saturday here, because apparently the pope has power to change the holiday, which he did.. which is weird. But I wore green today anyway. And also took a 4 and a half hour nap. And had some falafle for dinner. What a great day, huh?
Oh, in reference to my last e-mail about the old ladies with crazy colored hair - I know what it's all about. During the communist reign, which hasn't been over too terribly long, women were not allowed to dye their hair at all, so now that they are able to they kinda go a little dye happy. But there's the 411 on that.
OK, Peace, love, and the luck of the Irish!!
We walked around the city Friday afternoon and got to see the Astronomical Clock, the Old Town Square, a bunch of really cool looking buildings that I have no idea what they were, Charles Bridge, and the Lennon Wall. The view at the bridge was really pretty, you could see the castle and the whole surrounding area, and later we went in a tower there which had the most beautiful view of the city I saw while we were there. As a Beatles fan, I also really liked the Lennon Wall. During the communist reign here, which only ended 15-20 years ago, people graffitied the wall in honor of Lennon because his music gave them hope. Pretty cool. Later that evening while walking through the Old Square there was an orchestra playing the Beatles music, and that was just awesome, because who would have thought you'd ever hear that from an orchestra? Beautiful.
Saturday we went to the Prague Castle and Cathedral, which I must say was actually not that impressive. The castle just looked like a big building, not like what one usually pictures when you think of a castle. But the cathedral was gorgeous! I got kicked out of one of them though, because I followed a couple people from my group thinking we were going to another room I hadn't seen yet, and when I realized we were heading outside I turned around and the man said "no, no" and shut the door in my face. How rude! I later learned that the view from a tower in that cathedral was gorgeous, so unfortunately I missed out on that. After our group split we wandered around and guess what we found? Starbucks! It was huge, they had a bunch of rooms and then a whole downstairs area to enjoy coffee! It was great. We then wandered around to do some shopping, but unfortunately were unable to locate the 2 shops we had seen before. That night a few of us went looking for a jazz club we had seen, and although we didn't find it we found another one, so it was ok!
Sunday we went to the place I was most excited about - the Jewish Quarters and Old Jewish cemetary. One of the synagog's had the names of all the Jewish people from Czech who were victims of the holocost painted on its walls, that was really neat. Then we went to the cemetary. I believe it's about a square block and there are some 20,000 people buried there, because the Jews were only allowed to be in a certain part of town. Being there reminded me of going to the concentration camp in Austria when I was in high school. It's so hard to imagine the millions of people who were victims simply because they were Jews. It's just heartbreaking. We're going to Auswitz concentration camp in Poland in April, and I'm looking forward to that. After the Jewish Quarters we had a little free time then our 3 hour train back to Olomouc, which I slept most of the way as I did not get much sleep over the weekend.
This week we started our regular lectures, today was about the influence of the Czech media.. it was alright, but I hope they will get a little more interesting. Oh, and Happy St. Patrick's day to you all! St. Patrick's day was actually on Saturday here, because apparently the pope has power to change the holiday, which he did.. which is weird. But I wore green today anyway. And also took a 4 and a half hour nap. And had some falafle for dinner. What a great day, huh?
Oh, in reference to my last e-mail about the old ladies with crazy colored hair - I know what it's all about. During the communist reign, which hasn't been over too terribly long, women were not allowed to dye their hair at all, so now that they are able to they kinda go a little dye happy. But there's the 411 on that.
OK, Peace, love, and the luck of the Irish!!
Hello from Czech!
Hello Hello!
Well I've made it safely to the Czech Republic! Our first plane from Omaha left Sunday morning, followed by a 6 hour layover in Memphis, TN. My dear parents picked me up at the airport since I had such a long layover, and we enjoyed the Olive Garden as well as Graceland. What a layover, huh? Our 8ish hour plane to Amsterdam would have been much better had I been able to sleep... but that doesn't really happen for me on planes unfortunately. We then had a short layover in Amsterdam, a plane to Prague, and finally a bus ride to Olomouc (pronounced a-la-moats). When we arrived we got our room assignments, unpacked, and after 2 days of traveling and barely any sleep, I went to bed!
The school here is much different than universities in the states. Our dorms, which are by the cafeteria, are across town from the classrooms, so we have to take the tram to class. The dorms are nice, a bit small, but nothing to complain about.. except the blood stains on the wall by my bed. Ew. We share a suite with 4 other rooms, and there's 2 bathrooms and a tiny kitchen. My roomate and I have met 2 of our suitemates, 1 Czech student and 1 exchange student from England who's been here for 4 years... both guys... which is weird, but they both seemed friendly. (It's ok mom, we never see them, don't worry!) There is also a girl across the hall, but we just saw her once.
Yesterday we had an orientation to Palacky (pronounced Palasky) University where we have a Czech language class and then a lecture (pretty much about their country, from politics to music, art, history, etc.) each day. I then took a nap, being quite exhausted, and later had my frist trip to a Czech supermarket, which was pretty much like Walmart. Got a few essentials -Nutella & bread and banana's. (Brit & Anna, I knew you would appreciate that!) We survived it pretty well, although there were a few times we had to watch people to learn how some things were done. We also walked through the local mall, which is much nicer than the one in Kearney. There's a cinema there, I'm sure we'll see a movie or two at some point. Then later we wandered about the city in search of a resturant and found a nice Italian place in the square.
Today we had our first Czech lesson, and let me tell you, this language has got some weird pronunciations! Hopefully we won't butcher it too badly while we learn it. Later we'll be touring the city a bit, getting familiar. Also, something I noticed just today but thought was interesting.. I've seen 3 old ladies today who had dyed their hair. Now normally, one would think, oh, some natural color right? Wrong! 1 had light blue and the other 2 light pink. And they were like 80! Weird.
OK, well I guess that's all for now, just wanted to say hello and tell you about my first few days in the Czech Republic! I have my mailing address here but it's up in my room where I am not, so I'll get it to you next time! Let me know what's going on with you, although I don't know how long it'll be before I respond I'd love to hear from you!
Well I've made it safely to the Czech Republic! Our first plane from Omaha left Sunday morning, followed by a 6 hour layover in Memphis, TN. My dear parents picked me up at the airport since I had such a long layover, and we enjoyed the Olive Garden as well as Graceland. What a layover, huh? Our 8ish hour plane to Amsterdam would have been much better had I been able to sleep... but that doesn't really happen for me on planes unfortunately. We then had a short layover in Amsterdam, a plane to Prague, and finally a bus ride to Olomouc (pronounced a-la-moats). When we arrived we got our room assignments, unpacked, and after 2 days of traveling and barely any sleep, I went to bed!
The school here is much different than universities in the states. Our dorms, which are by the cafeteria, are across town from the classrooms, so we have to take the tram to class. The dorms are nice, a bit small, but nothing to complain about.. except the blood stains on the wall by my bed. Ew. We share a suite with 4 other rooms, and there's 2 bathrooms and a tiny kitchen. My roomate and I have met 2 of our suitemates, 1 Czech student and 1 exchange student from England who's been here for 4 years... both guys... which is weird, but they both seemed friendly. (It's ok mom, we never see them, don't worry!) There is also a girl across the hall, but we just saw her once.
Yesterday we had an orientation to Palacky (pronounced Palasky) University where we have a Czech language class and then a lecture (pretty much about their country, from politics to music, art, history, etc.) each day. I then took a nap, being quite exhausted, and later had my frist trip to a Czech supermarket, which was pretty much like Walmart. Got a few essentials -Nutella & bread and banana's. (Brit & Anna, I knew you would appreciate that!) We survived it pretty well, although there were a few times we had to watch people to learn how some things were done. We also walked through the local mall, which is much nicer than the one in Kearney. There's a cinema there, I'm sure we'll see a movie or two at some point. Then later we wandered about the city in search of a resturant and found a nice Italian place in the square.
Today we had our first Czech lesson, and let me tell you, this language has got some weird pronunciations! Hopefully we won't butcher it too badly while we learn it. Later we'll be touring the city a bit, getting familiar. Also, something I noticed just today but thought was interesting.. I've seen 3 old ladies today who had dyed their hair. Now normally, one would think, oh, some natural color right? Wrong! 1 had light blue and the other 2 light pink. And they were like 80! Weird.
OK, well I guess that's all for now, just wanted to say hello and tell you about my first few days in the Czech Republic! I have my mailing address here but it's up in my room where I am not, so I'll get it to you next time! Let me know what's going on with you, although I don't know how long it'll be before I respond I'd love to hear from you!
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