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!