A World of Summer and Sunny Skies

9 Reasons this summer was my best one yet: 

(Beginning with top left...)

1. Getting the keys to my first big girl apartment
2. An impromptu trip to Le Claire, Iowa for antiquing and a visit the American Pickers shop
3. A tribute to the early 2000's via Jojo's free concert at Chicago Pride 
4. Many nights on the town with my sister and mom
5. Pancakes on pancakes on pancakes; lazy weekend mornings with the best boyfriend and roommate in all the land
6. Metal detecting adventures on the beach with said boyfriend
7. Family reunion trip to Table Rock lake
8. Finding reasons to celebrate (and pop open St. Germain and champagne) with my sister
9. Annual Shakespeare Fest at Ewing Manor with my best friends

Last Month Abroad

Today while visiting my Grandparents and their adorable new puppy, they asked me why I never wrote a last post from my trip abroad. I've been meaning to and I've already been back in the states for over two weeks so I figure now is a good time.

Grandparent's new puppy, appropriately named Molly as she was born on St. Patrick's day

 In all honesty, I spent my last month in Europe quite anxious to come home. If Peter could have moved there and brought a soda fountain (its only requirements being diet coke and ice), I could have happily stayed a lot longer. But I was eager to see him and my friends and time started moving so slowly. I did go on a couple more awesome trips though. Our last group trip was to Kutna Hora, a medieval Czech town home to a chapel decorated completely with human bones that had been dug up from the graveyard in the middle ages. So that was eerie and cool.

Kutna Hora Bone Chapel

The next weekend I was so happy to see my mom, sister, and aunt in Roma! My mom took my sister, who just graduated college (speaking of, you should follow her style and interiors blog, Fashion House), on a trip of her choice and she chose Italy, so I was able to meet them in Rome for a few days! We wondered leisurely through the city, stopping often for wine and cappuccinos. It was a great break from my college budget. We stayed in a cute apartment hotel off of Piazza Navona, ate plenty of gelato, and people watched in our little alley every night. From the highest point in Rome during a talk with my aunt, I became aware that the thing I love most about this city is its colors. Every building is earth toned, and none are more prominent than the others. All blend in a brown, burnt orange, rust mix and it is simultaneously striking and calming. I was sad to leave Italy and my family but only had two more weeks to go!

Abby, Mom, and Me in Piazza Navona 

Overlooking Rome from the highest point

I returned to Prague for my last week of classes then ventured to Oslo for my last trip. Getting there was a nightmare. I went with one friend and our plans to stay with friends studying in Oslo fell through so we booked a hotel half an hour before our bus left that morning. We had to take a bus to Berlin to catch a cheap Ryan Air flight, so we sat at the crappy Berlin airport for cheap airlines for 5 hours without free wifi and unable to afford expensive airport food. Mostly we passed the time by playing chess on our laptops. Upon landing in Oslo at midnight we discovered that we had to pay $20 to take an hour long bus ride into the city, where the metro lines were closed and our only option was to take a cab to our hotel 3 miles away. And that cab ride is where we learned the true meaning of being one of the most expensive cities in the world. Finally, we got to the hospital complex our hotel is supposedly in and after searching for 15 minutes we were able to settle in. We were staying in a hospital room turned hotel room complete with a handicap shower and toilet and an emergency call button by the bed. Anyway, Oslo redeemed itself the next day, proven first by the extensive (and free) breakfast buffet at the hotel. We spent our three days there walking around and exploring the cities parks, gardens, coasts, and museums, and as a result I can tell you that Oslo is a strange and beautiful place.

Me and the most famous sculpture in Oslo

Whats with the baby statues in Europe? This famous baby is one of three in front of the
Prague Contemporary Art museum

On my last day in Prague, my friends and I went hiking outside of the city. It was steep climbing and a fitting goodbye. Hills seemed to reappear constantly throughout my trip and I've learned that it is always worth it to climb them.

Disco Roller Derby and Holocaust History

Anyone who claims to be my friend probably knows about my love of pancakes and my embarrassing fascination with roller derby (which admittedly began after seeing the movie "Whip It." Who wouldn't want to be as cool as Ellen Page in that film?) That being said, this Saturday was one of the best days I have had in Prague. I slept in until 12 then my friends and I hit up Globe for brunch. Although this place is attached to an English bookstore and is pretty Americanized, the atmosphere is perfect for a Saturday afternoon brunch with the girls. The music was the best mix of soul and motown- Aretha Franklin, Mary Wells, Otis Redding and the like- and they had free ice water (!), real filtered coffee (!), and chocolate chip pancakes (!). My weekend could have ended after that meal and I would have been more than content. But that night I put on a sparkly dress and we went to a roller-skating disco party at a big arts complex called the MeetFactory. Two girls known as Poxxoxo DJs provided music as we skated around the warehouse singing and trying not to fall, mostly successfully.

This weekend was characterized by opposites. The Friday before this wonderful Saturday, the USAC group took a trip to Lidice and Terezin. Lidice is, or was, a town systematically destroyed by the Nazis in retaliation to the Czechs' assassination of the Nazi leader ordered to preside over Czechoslovakia. Now all that remains is a park with some memorial statues strewn throughout. Terezin was one of the "nicer" concentration camps, where Jews weren't treated quite as badly. I don't want to spend much time describing either of these places, not because they shouldn't be talked about but because I know I could never describe the things I saw or learned accurately. As much as language is the only medium we have to describe a thing or act as a representation, it does not have the capacity to in some situations. There is no way to explain the sadness and heavy energies in those places, so I will not try. Instead I will leave those moments to my memory in order to commemorate the world's enormous loss, and encourage anyone who has the chance to visit the places of the Holocaust and feel the haunting past.

Field Study Tour: Austro-Hungarian Empire in 5 Days

There is so much to tell but I'll try to keep it fairly short so as not to bore you. On March 30th most of the USAC group in Prague took off on our field study tour of Český Krumlov, Vienna, Budapest, and Bratislava. Our first stop was a few hours outside of Prague at Maiden's Castle. We had to hike through some woods and over some streams before we stumbled upon the ruins of the castle. It was a cloudy and chilly day, making the area even more intriguing. We continued to the medieval Czech town of Český Krumlov. The castle there is from the 13th century and has since been home to aristocracy of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The Rosenbergs lived there the longest but perhaps the most famous inhabitants were the Hapsburgs. The interior decor as well as the frescoes on the exterior are extremely well preserved, almost all the furnishings were originals. And bears have lived beneath the drawbridge for around 400 years. That night we ate at the Eggenberg brewery with the group then went on a night walk around the town. 

The next day we left for Vienna, our first stop was Schönbrunn Palace, the summer palace of the emperor. We strolled through the gardens for a while then had lunch and a historical walking tour of downtown Vienna. We were kind of rushed through the history and sites, I'd like to go back on my own sometime. After the tour, it was evening so most everything was starting to close, but we spent some time at the Easter markets. It started raining freezing rain and we were all pretty tired so we hung out in the hostel and ordered pizza that night. On Sunday, we walked around Vienna a bit more, through snow this time. Then we went to the Leopold Museum of art. Viennese museums are some of the best in the world and I really enjoyed this one. The main exhibit was Egon Schiele, on Melancholy and Provocation. There was also an exhibit on Gustav Klimt's life, but sadly, his painting The Kiss was not displayed there. After the museum, we got back not he bus and headed to Budapest. 

We stopped at a monastery in the Hungarian countryside and were given a tour by one of the Benedictine monks. The order has been around on the same hill for something like 1,000 years, and it was a very peaceful place. Next we arrived at our hotel in Budapest and I was immediately enamored with the city. The castle and Parliament building were lit up along the Danube, making this place look so majestic. Richard, one of our directors, is Hungarian and we very excited to be showing us is home. It was so cute- he was so proud of this city. We had a great dinner with really great Hungarian wine that night then took another night walk along the castle walls, looking out past the Danube and over all of Budapest. 

In the morning, we went to a bath at the natural hot springs. It was like a public swimming pool but mostly for old people in speedos. There were a few main pools in a the courtyard of a beautiful yellow building and more smaller pools inside. I had fun, but wasn't interested in staying there too long. My friends and I left the group and headed to the Easter Market. Seriously, these markets are so great all over Europe. There are tons of homemade crafts and antiques and delicious food and hot wine. Budapest's market was by far the best I've been to. After looking around for a bit, we met the group again for another walking tour. This time we climbed a huge hill with a giant statue on top representing the liberation of Budapest by Soviets from the Nazis. They kept the statue after the fall of communism but removed the Russian inscriptions. It really was a beautiful statue- it was of a woman holding a palm frond over her head, her dress waving in the wind behind her. That night I sat on some steps by the Danube with friends and shared a few bottles of wine. 

Tuesday morning, we drove to Bratislava and toured the city for a few hours. It looked a lot like Prague, but smaller. We stopped again on the way back to Prague at a castle ruin in Slovakia.

Spring Break: Istanbul, Athens, Holland, & Belgium

Apologies, this is going to be a long one.

I was so worried that the taxi I ordered online to take me to the airport the first morning of spring break wouldn't show up- I had to use google translate to order on a Czech website for 4:00 AM and they didn't send me any kind of confirmation. But because things usually work out, it did, and I arrived at the airport in time for my flight to Istanbul (by way of Brussels and Zurich)! Turkey is a place I've vaguely considered visiting since my World History class sophomore year of high school. I couldn't believe I was actually getting to go. All the flights went well, I met the rest of my group in Zurich (for the record, Swiss Airlines gives out some really great Swiss chocolate on board), and we landed in Istanbul at about 4:00 PM. We ate some kebab on the way to our hostel and since it took a while to find and we were all tired from traveling, settled in for the night.

Istanbul really is as beautiful as everyone's always said. The mosques are so ornate and unlike any architecture I've ever seen. Saturday we walked from our hostel down a main shopping street to Galata tower, a lookout tower built on the highest point of the city walls. From there we walked down across the bridge where fishermen were lined up shoulder to shoulder. Later on the way home, they were grilling and selling the freshly caught fish right behind them on the sidewalk. We kept walking, through the famous spice market, lined with barrels of spices and loose leaf tea, through winding streets of shops to the Grand Bazaar. Parts of Istanbul were like a giant garage sale- men selling drills and toilet seats and anything they could get their hands on. But the Grand Bazaar was filled with stalls of hand-painted pottery and dishes, silk scarves, handmade tapestries, rugs, bags, and my favorite, mosaic lamps. The lamp shops were mesmerizing. Luckily, my friend Rachel already brought me one back from her trip to Turkey last fall!

We walked to the Hagia Sophia from there. It was once a church and then became a mosque and is now a museum, open for people to walk through and gawk at the magnificent architecture, artwork, and hundreds of candles hanging from the ceiling. Because it has been both a church and a mosque, there was Islamic artwork and Ottoman style decor amidst Christian paintings of Mary and Jesus. It was an odd and peaceful conglomeration of religions and one of the most gorgeous interiors I have ever stepped foot in. The Blue Mosque was quite an experience too. We took off our shoes upon entering the giant room where all the walls were decorated with hand-painted tiles in different shades of blue and green. From there we went to Topkapi Palace and learned about the past Sultans and Harems. I didn't know about the Queen Mother or the concubines who were brought in from neighboring villages for the Sultan. It is such a foreign culture and history to me, I really enjoyed learning about it. The walls of the Palace were similar to the Blue Mosque, tiled and ornate.

Hagia Sophia

Hagia Sophia Interior

Blue Mosque

Blue Mosque Interior

On Sunday, we woke up around 9 with no plans because we had accomplished what we wanted to do the day before. We decided to go to the Asian side of Istanbul so we headed to the boat dock. We took a half an hour boat ride to Asia, stopped there for an hour, and then came back. Feels good to be able to say I've been to three continents! We had fresh mussels on the dock for lunch. Then we went to a mosque to see a Whirling Dervish ceremony. The Whirling Dervishes are an Islam group of monk-like men who recognize the rotational nature of life- the planets around the sun, electrons around an atom, and humans around a divine creator. They spin for an hour straight honoring submission to God and destruction of their own ego. The tall hats they wear represent a tombstone for the ego and their gowns, a shroud. It was such a different type of meditation. It was beautiful.

We flew from Istanbul to Athens on Monday. Once we got settled in at the hostel, we decided to climb Lykavittos Hill, the highest point in Athens. It was about a 20 minute walk (but after paying 8 euro to ride the metro earlier, we vowed to walk for the rest of the trip). We started climbing through lush trees and yellow flowers. Halfway up, we came out of a clearing and saw the acropolis across the city! We climbed the rest of the way and saw the cute white church and olive tree at the top. It was such a beautiful welcome to Greece.

View of Acropolis from Lykavittos Hill

Tuesday began with a trip to the archeological museum, where the statues and art from the acropolis and other locations around Greece has been moved. Then we walked to the center of it all, stopping first in the Roman Agora, the city center built during the Roman Empire. The Parthenon itself was exactly as I've imagined it. There is the theater of Dionysus on the South slope of the hill, I didn't know about that. It was really cool to see the spot where Sophocles' and Aristophanes' plays were first performed! We wandered around the acropolis ruins for the next few hours then found yet another hill to climb (we're really good at that). It turned out to be Filopappos Hill, where democracy was founded and first practiced. There was a podium build into the rocks where speakers like Pericles would have stood. We took a nap in the grass overlooking the Parthenon. Then we went to the first Olympic Stadium. At this point, we were all exhausted. We had a glass of wine near the acropolis so we could see it all lit up at night then headed for bed.

Parthenon

New day, new country! Wednesday I flew to Amsterdam to meet my parents and grandparents!! I was so excited to see them. We spent the first night in Amsterdam then rented a car and drove to Keukenhof, a beautiful park full of tulips and flowers in The Netherlands. It was such a nice day outside and the park was absolutely gorgeous to stroll around in. Afterwards, we drove through the town my stepdad used to live in, Wassenaar, when he worked overseas for CAT, to The Hague, where we spent the night. I've read/seen somewhere once that The Hague has one of the highest rates of overall happiness in the world. Maybe it's because everyone rides bikes, or because everything is legal in The Netherlands. We were really only there long enough to have a beer and people watch in a busy square then have some wine and cheese for dinner back at the hotel. We woke up early the next day and drove to Bruges, which turned out to be one of my favorite cities I've ever visited. It was such a quaint canal city with green spaces and adorably buildings and swans everywhere. I could've spent a week there just wandering around.

Bruges

The next day, Saturday, we drove to Brussels. Matt also lived near Brussels for a while so it was nice to have a tour guide. First we walked through the Grand Place, the central square with the old town hall and medieval houses. The architecture reminded me of Prague. We saw the Mannequin Pis statue after that, the famous small statue of a boy peeing into a fountain. He was wearing doctor scrubs that day. We strolled through more cathedrals and parks and saw the king's palace. I was becoming exhausted, ten days of traveling was starting to ware me down. I really enjoyed the city but didn't feel all there. On the way out of town the next day, we saw the Atomium, the sculpture built for the Belgian world fair. My friend Erin, who is an incredibly talented artist and lived in Brussels for a while, painted a picture of it once and I've always wanted to see the real thing.

Atomium

After spending a bit more time touring Amsterdam that day, I realized it really didn't do much for me. The buildings and canals are really pretty but it's not a place I need to go back to. We did visit the Anne Frank House and that was really sad and unreal, to be able to match the real place to the book everyone always reads. We had an amazing Thai dinner that night to celebrate my birthday and the next morning, I headed back home to Prague.

Berlin, Dresden, and a visit from Peter!

I have not been great at the upkeep of this blog, which I guess is a good thing if you consider it an indicator that I've been keeping myself busy. I'll try to stick with the interesting stuff and jump straight into my first trip to Germany! On March 2nd, we left on a bus to Berlin. Upon arrival, we stopped at a burger place on the way to our hostel called Burgermeister that I had read about. I had been craving a good burger and this place is supposed to have some really great, cheap ones. It is in a tiny little stall under some metro tracks with barely enough room to stand and eat. But it was the perfect welcome to Germany. We stayed at Plus Hostel and I wouldn't call it my favorite. It was huge and loud most of the night. The first day in Berlin, we went to all the main sightseeing stuff- Brandenburg Gate, the Holocaust Memorial, Tiergarten, Checkpoint Charlie. That night we met one of my friend's friends who are studying in Berlin. They took us around the city a bit and had a drink with us.

Brandenburg Gate

We started the next morning by walking along the East Side Gallery which happened to be a short walk from our hostel. The Gallery is a remainder of the Berlin wall painted by artists from all over the world. Speaking of, Berlin has the best street art I've ever seen. We saw a lot of it when we took an alternative tour later that day. Our tour guide showed us great graffiti, artist hangouts, and we learned a lot about the underground culture of Berlin as well as the history of the city. It was a really good tour and I'm glad we did it. That afternoon we strolled through a street market and then met the group for some good German food. I had the best sausage and sauerkraut.

East Side Gallery

East Side Gallery

We woke up early the next morning and headed to Dresden. I've never heard much about Dresden besides that it was destroyed by the allies in WWII. I was not prepared for how beautiful this city was. We were able to walk everywhere efficiently with the short day we had. The city center is home to gorgeous churches, an opera house, and many old palaces turned museums. I could have wandered there for days. Our hostel was in a really cool neighborhood with lots of young people and hip shops (also the highest birth rate in all of Europe according to the internet!). We left Dresden the next morning and headed back to Prague.

Dresden

Dresden

From the bus station in Prague I went straight to the airport to pick up Peter who flew over to spend his spring break with me!! I can't describe how torturous it was watching every person come out of that terminal and waiting for one of them to be him or how wonderful it was to finally hug him. Throughout the week we visited all the must see sights of Prague- Old Town, Charles Bridge, The Castle, Vysehrad, The Dancing House, Petrin Hill, Wenceslas Square, etc. We went to a different bar every night. We saw a documentary about Chernobyl at the Jeden Svet (One World) Film Festival. We went to a club. We ate a lot of pastries. He ate a lot of fried cheese. It was one of the best weeks of my life and I feel so lucky to have been able to see him in the middle of these four months (and to have the most wonderful boyfriend to exist).

This week I'll be busy studying for midterms but I leave for Istanbul Friday! From there I'll be in Athens for a couple days then I'll fly to Amsterdam to tour Belgium and the Netherlands with my mom, stepdad, and grandparents! How lucky can a girl get?

Warsaw

There is so much to say, and I don't think I'll be able to accurately convey how great the past couple of weeks have been.

Swan Lake was such a gorgeous ballet and the opera house was just as beautiful. We ended up buying tickets for the opera, La Boheme, the next week. The glassblowing trip was also fun- we were able to make our own vases and watch the artists at work for a while.

Glassblowing

Classes flew by last week because I was so excited for our trip to Poland. Six of us left Thursday on a night bus from Prague and 12 hours later arrived in Warsaw. It was only 9 AM and we couldn't check into our hostel until 3 so we spent the first day wandering. We got doughnuts at a cafe on Nowy Swiat street, which, as multiple people told us while we were there, is the "most representative street of Warsaw." From there, we walked until we reached Old Town and then explored that area. Snow was coming down lightly all day and made Warsaw look even more beautiful. We couldn't go the whole first day in Poland without pierogi so we stopped in a restaurant to have some for lunch. By 5 or so we were exhausted- none of us had gotten much sleep on the bus ride there- so we headed to our hostel. I had made plans earlier to meet Peter's (my boyfriend's) cousins who live in Warsaw that night. Dominika, Zuza, and Filip, who are all around my age, picked us up from the hostel at 9 and took us to a cute bar/cafe on Nowy Swiat. We had a really great time with them, and they invited us to a party at their friend's house the next night. So after a few beers and a lot of good conversation, we headed back to Hostel Krokodyl for a short night's sleep.

Old Town

Our first stop the next day was Palace on the Water which is a wonderful park/palace complex with the friendliest wildlife you will ever meet. At one point, a squirrel was sitting so close to us and staring at us so we started to inch closer to take pictures. Then, the prettiest bird perched on a branch right next to us at eye level. We were distracted for a brief second by the bird when the squirrel took a flying leap on to my friend's thigh. We were not prepared for that, nor for the multiplicity of peacocks strolling around so closely to people. It was really quite strange. The palace itself was a romanesque building situated on a lake with bridges and outbuildings all around. I'd love to go back in the summer. After the park, we had lunch at another small cafe (more pierogi), and then went to the Warsaw Uprising Museum. The museum was extremely well put together, and just as depressing as you can imagine. There was a short 3D film that showed an aerial view of Warsaw after it was demolished in World War II. Over half of the population was wiped out, and the entire city center was destroyed. The amount of work put into rebuilding Warsaw is absolutely incredible.

Palace on the Water

Later that night, Peter's cousins picked us up again from the hostel and drove us to their friends house. The party was in the basement, which was actually a Lamaze studio that his parents owned. It was pretty strange to see pictures of babies everywhere and dance on a cushion floor surrounded by beanbag chairs and bouncy balls and shelves lined with baby dolls, but hilariously fitting in comparison to all the other odd things that happened during this trip (i.e. Snow White-esque wildlife experience). All of our new friends at the party welcomed us with Polish vodka shots and the rest of the night was filled with dancing and lively conversation. And not American club style dancing, but Samba ballroom style. Everyone knew how to dance and everyone was amazing at it. It was one of the best nights I have had in the past month abroad.

We were so sad to leave Warsaw the next day. Everyone we had met in the city had been so kind to us- the waiters, strangers on the street, everyone at the party. It was a huge contrast to the way people seem in Prague. We visited the Wilanow Palace on Sunday, which is known as the Polish Versailles. Then we headed to catch the Polskibus back to Prague.

One last story to complete the trip:
The bus had no bathroom, so it would stop every 3 or 4 hours for a break. The first stop on the way home however, 4 hours in, had no bathroom. So everyone is filing off the bus, scattering to corners of this truck stop parking lot at midnight, and everyone knows what everyone else is doing. (Why would a bus with no bathroom stop at a rest stop with no bathroom??!) I find a dark place behind a semi with 2 of my friends, and a Polish woman comes around the truck, looks at us, we look back awkwardly, and she says, "Ok, I will join." And that was that, she squatted down right next to me and we all finished and never saw each other again.

Until next time, Poland.

Svaty Jan Pod Skalou and Moravia

Well, I've finished my intensive Czech course and some crazy part of me decided today to sign up for the semester long one. I've also started my Experiments in Czech Film class and Modern European History. This week I'll start Developing Intercultural Competence and Alternative Culture. The first day of film class we watched a surrealist movie called "Conspirators of Pleasure." It was very unsettling and discontenting but there is a lot of genius behind it. I'm excited to read more about the New Wave in Czech cinema. Today we watched a Czech Western so that was interesting.

People here seem stoic. They rarely smile. You can tell who is a foreigner on the metro by who is laughing or talking with friends. Both my Czech language teacher and my History teacher mentioned that Czechs typically have a rather pessimistic view on life. When things are going well, they are waiting for the other foot to drop. This may be because of their history with empires and occupations. I think it's fascinating but it is very strange to be in the middle of.

On Saturday, January 28th, USAC planned a trip for us to the small Czech village of Svaty Jan Pod Skalou which means St. John Under the Rock. It was about a 40 minute train ride to a deserted looking town. From the train station we hiked four miles to a corner of the village with a church honoring a saint who lived in a cave during the 9th century. There is a small door from inside the church which leads to the cave where you can go in and see where he supposedly made his home. Next to the church is a small mountain with a cross on the top and because it seems that in Europe it's customary to climb to the the tops of things, we climbed it in 10 degree weather. The view was worth the hike and the cold. We sat at the top for a while then headed back down and four miles back to the train station.

Church of St. John the Baptist with Mountain we climbed in background

Svaty Jan Pod Skalou

Last week consisted mostly of Czech language class and more orienting myself around the city and of course more fried cheese sandwiches. The 15 of us who were still stuck in the hotel finally moved into our apartments last Sunday as well, so it's been nice to have a place to unpack and call home. There are 6 of us living in a roomy 3 bedroom apartment. It's homy and I'm getting used to it.

This weekend, 20 of us went on another USAC planned trip to Moravia for wine tasting. The Western 2/3 of the Czech Republic make up Bohemia, where beer is the drink of choice, and the Eastern 1/3 is a region called Moravia, which is where Czech wine is made. We stopped in a couple small towns on the way. In Mikulov, we hiked up another hill called the Way of the Cross trail. It had statues representing the stations of the cross spread out along the way and a beautiful church at the top. At another stop, we spent about an hour on a frozen lake in some gardens. I've never seen such a large body of water completely frozen so I had fun but I was the coldest I've ever been in my life. After that we finally reached our destination and spent the rest of the night tasting wines. A family owned winery had unlimited food and wine for us until 2 am and then we walked to our hostel nearby.

Overlooking Mikulov

Church at the top of the Way of the Cross trail

Frozen lake we walked across

Sunday we attempted to find a local bar broadcasting the Super Bowl (which didn't start until 12:30 AM here) but after 20 or 30 minutes of searching for a certain one, we were too cold to continue looking and resorted to a Hooters that happened to be around the corner. I was fairly disappointed to be eating at a Hooters in Prague, but I had good wings and good company so I made the best of it. Plus Madonna rocked it and we got fried cheese afterwards so it's all fine. Today was the start of our real class schedule and I couldn't be happier.

Tomorrow I am seeing Swan Lake at the opera house. And this weekend we are taking a trip to a glassblowing factory where we'll get to make our own vase. And the weekend after that is Warsaw!

Some Pictures

Birthing Center // Snowy Day

Market in Old Town

Train Station in Czech Countryside

Prague Castle

Accomplishments

When I got here, I could only place myself by what I could see around me. When we’d first walk places, I didn’t know which direction we were heading or what we would see next. But now, the map of Prague in my mind is expanding. Now I can stand on my street corner and know that if I walk ten minutes North I will reach Old Town Square, and if I head South, I’ll find my school. And if I get on the number 24 tram heading West, I’ll arrive at Wenceslas Square in about 7 minutes. I imagine it like in Coraline, when she walks around the entire world as it unfolds in front of her only to end up back at her house. This corner of the planet is beginning to unfold around me, becoming smaller and more managable.

            Every thing you do in a new place is a task. Learning the public transportation system, finding a place to buy towels, buying a phone and prepaid plan, ordering off of a menu, searching for a post office. I feel so accomplished anytime I figure out something new. And usually, trying to figure things out leads to discoveries. Lauren and I were trying to find a store near Old Town the other night and emerged out of a metro stop to a stunning view of Prague Castle along the river. It is the most beautiful piece of this city I’ve seen yet and it feels good to have found it accidentally. And after three days of my Czech language class, I can now successfully ask people for directions and respond to pleasantries instead of staring at them blankly. While walking down the street today I could pick out bits and pieces of conversations and advertisements. Nothing I could make any sense of but it’s a start. At least I can tell people “Sorry, I don’t understand,” and ask them if they speak English now.

            More exciting news: my weekends are filing up quickly with trips! My friends and I are dedicating this weekend to exploring and sightseeing in Prague. Taking a tour of Prague Castle and visiting some museums are on the top of my list. The weekend after that is a group wine tasting trip to Moravia planned by the school. The next Friday we will be visiting a glass blowing factory where we get to make our own art. And I’ve booked a trip to Warsaw for the weekend after that. In the works are trips to Belgium, Dresden, Krakow, Greece, and Istanbul. I am meeting my parents in Amsterdam and visiting Bruges and Brussels with them in March. And I’m hoping to also make a quick trip to Rome to see my friends studying there. I’m still having a hard time imagining being away from people back home for four months, but seeing my calendar fill up is keeping my spirits high.

            This has been a fairly positive post so I want to go ahead and ruin that by complaining about the coffee situation. We were hoping to pass a coffee shop on the way to school on our first day that we would be able to frequent in the mornings. When we didn’t see one, we asked our Resident Director if he knew of any. He informed us that coffee is not a big thing here, and people do not typically gather or hang out in cafes. Espresso is popular, but drinking a 24 oz. coffee is not. This is devastating. Beer is, as you may have guessed, the most popular drink here, and usually the cheapest. This may be good for my caffeine addiction but I’m not sure it will be for anything else. I am not complaining about the availability and price of beer, but I will definitely appreciate giant coffees and polar pops and cheap water more when I get home.

            

I am about to meet friends and check out a Jazz bar off of Wenceslas square, so that's all for now. Nashledanou! 

Rough Night

I know I wrote a short blog post earlier today but seeing as I can't sleep and I'm feeling quite overwhelmed from the rest of my day, I thought I'd vent by writing another. It's been a rough night. After we arrived, I showered and took a quick nap, only to awake to find a whole slew of tiny black bugs crawling around under my pillow and blankets. I asked the front desk if they could switch my room; they said they wouldn't be able to until tomorrow morning but they'd change the sheets for me. Then I met the rest of the group for dinner. We walked through Old Town square and lots of small side streets lined with shops and cafes. The spires of Prague Castle were lit up yellow against the dark sky. We ate at a nondescript cafe/bar in the corner of a walkway off of the square. They had a buffet style dinner set up for us payed for by USAC. After dinner, the staff led us on another short walk to Wenceslas Square, a center for shopping and nightlife. The activities director of our program offered to show whoever was interested to a 90's disco bar. Most people opted out, everyone was so tired from the trip. I took note of where it was though so I could check it out another time. We all split up and wondered around on their own, finding pubs or food. Lauren and I ventured back to the apartments to find a local pub around home. We succeeded (in both finding our way home on the tram and finding a bar), and local it was. Everyone stopped mid conversation and stared at us when we walked in. We tried to order a couple of beers but the bartender didn't speak any English. A man standing at the bar heard us and had to help because he was the only person who spoke English. I couldn't help feeling like they were mocking us the whole time. The crowd was a little intimidating but we felt accomplished. Upon my return to the hotel, I found more bedbugs after the sheet change. So I packed a bag of stuff and headed to Lauren's apartment down the street to sleep on her futon for the night, or maybe the next few, depending on when they can get me a new room. I'm sitting in her room now and I've already tried to fall asleep once. It's about 3 am here and I should be much more tired than I am. But my mind is racing and I can't turn it off. Thinking back four months ago until now and then thinking about spending that same amount of time in this strange place is really making my stomach and throat hurt. I hope this gets easier. I'm sure once I move into my apartment and hopefully get out of any bug infested beds I'll be more comfortable.

Czeching In!

Ahoj (this means "Hello" in Prague so naturally whenever someone says it I feel the urge to reply in a pirate voice and add "matey" to the end). Also, don't worry, I promise I only have a few more Czech/check puns to use then I will stop.

Thursday night I had a nice dinner at Morton's Steakhouse with Mom, Matt, and Peter. Friday, we headed to Tavern on Rush for a good brunch before Mom and Matt dropped me off at O'Hare. As nervous as I am right now, I feel so lucky and so happy.

My flights went smoothly after a two hour delay on the runway in Chicago. Flying in the snow storm made me a little uneasy at first but it was peaceful and beautifully eerie to be above those heavy, dark clouds. The fog was so thick landing in Frankfurt that I couldn't see anything until just moments before we hit the ground. Once in Frankfurt, our small group from Chicago met up with a lot of the other students in our program and caught a connecting flight to Prague. We met our Resident Director there and took a bus to our apartments. As punishment for being one of the last kids to sign up, I was placed in an apartment further away from the others and the school and for the first couple of nights will be in a hotel nearby. I'd be a lot less bitter about this had I packed less; I'm really regretting the amount of luggage I brought.

It is snowing in Prague, and driving over the Vlatava River on our way into Old Town made me so excited to explore my new city.

Fare Thee Well and Forget Me Not

Tomorrow marks the beginning of the biggest adventure of my life to date. Until now, studying abroad for four months has been an exciting and distant thought. But it has fast approached and the past few days of saying goodbye's, or rather, see you later's, have been harder than expected. The friends I've made in Chicago over the past year and a half are some of the greatest people I've ever met. And my friends and family at home have been the best support system I could ask for. This trip has already made me more grateful for the people in my life and I haven't even left the country yet. As much as I know I will miss everyone, I can't wait to meet the people I'll be living and traveling and studying with in Prague. I am excited to open myself up to every adventure and experience waiting there.

My flight doesn't leave Chicago until Friday morning, but tomorrow I'll head up with my mom and stepdad to meet my boyfriend for a nice dinner and then stay in a hotel near O'Hare. I'll fly to Frankfurt and from there transfer to Prague, the Mistress of Bohemia. And from there, adventure awaits.

I will conclude this post with two beautiful poems by Czech writer, Rainer Maria Rilke. The first, important because I know my heart will grow used to its farthest spaces in the perfect terror of the unknown and because I know that is the only way to grow. 

Ignorant Before the Heavens of My Life

Ignorant before the heavens of my life, I stand and gaze in wonder. Oh the vastness of the stars. Their rising and descent. How still. As if I didn't exist. Do I have any share in this? Have I somehow dispensed with their pure effect? Does my blood's ebb and flow change with their changes? Let me put aside every desire, every relationship except this one, so that my heart grows used to its farthest spaces. Better that it live fully aware, in the terror of its stars, than as if protected, soothed by what is near.  The second, an inspiration to overcome anything in the way of wonder. As Once the Winged Energy of Delight As once the winged energy of delight carried you over childhood's dark abysses, now beyond your own life build the great arch of unimagined bridges. Wonders happen if we can succeed in passing through the harshest danger; but only in a bright and purely granted achievement can we realize the wonder. To work with Things in the indescribable relationship is not too hard for us; the pattern grows more intricate and subtle, and being swept along is not enough. Take your practiced powers and stretch them out until they span the chasm between two contradictions... For the god wants to know himself in you. dobrou noc!

Cincinnati to Kansas City

My post-christmas trip to Cincinnati to visit my boyfriend and meet his parents resulted in a whole lot of wonderful anti productivity as laying in bed and watching movies took up a majority of our time. But I did learn some crucial Polish phrases from his family, namely "I love cereal," and "Please buy me these shoes."And I finally tried Skyline Chili and Graeter's Ice Cream, both of which my friends at school haven't stopped talking about since I met them (Why are so many of my friends from Cincinnati?). I am hoping my exposure to Peter and his family speaking Polish will help me a little when I get to the Czech Republic in two weeks. Learning Polish with him is a lot more fun than teaching myself a different Slovak language so I'm just hoping the alphabet and sounds will help me out once I'm in Prague.

From Cincinnati I drove home for a couple days then headed to Kansas City with my mom for a work trip- she works, and I entertain myself around the city. I downloaded some Intelligence squared debates to listen to during my 20+ hours of driving over the past two weeks, which I highly recommend. Here's the website.They have some good podcasts on iTunes too if you ever feel like being productive while driving. 

The first night in Kansas City, my mom and I had dinner with one of her friends on the Plaza. One of the things KC is most famous for are the lights on the Plaza during the holidays. I hadn't seen them before and they didn't disappoint. Every building is lined meticulously with thousands of lights. The Plaza really is a beautiful place to visit, I'm always happy to keep my mom company on these trips.

My mom and her coworkers finally took me to The Peanut, the oldest, divest bar in Kansas City for some beer and hot wings the next night. And they weren't kidding when they told me they are the best hot wings they've ever had. The room was just a small square, with all kinds of KC relics on the wall and so crowded. I can't believe it's taken this many trips to KC to finally visit this bar. 

Now that I'm back from Kansas City it's time to start packing. And the more I look at the suitcase and carry-on I have to live out of for four months, the better at procrastinating I become. There really isn't too much to do before I leave, but I feel like I'm so unprepared. I just want to get there and get started. 

A New Poem for a New Blog

Say of the Sky 


We are the doe-eyed receivers of this world of woe so

We stow away in the guttural sounds of gnawing.

Oceans pour weight onto waiting sand,

Beams of glaring sun cut into cavernous land,
And you and I feel the gripping haunt of mountains and climb to the barren top.

All is punishment when all is the aftermath of ruinous love.

But say of my heart that it is yearning and

Say you're only going to stray,

I'll say of the snow it is shining as it suffocates, decay

Is the only sure sign of the cycle,

A promise that hearts still beat.

Say of my soul it knows magic as day becomes day becomes day,

And the sky in all its unknowing is either an obstacle or a display

But the beauty of it is that it is blue.

Visit my poetry website