Before I rant for the next few paragraphs or so, I would just like to apologize for not updating the blog as often as I thought I was going to originally. For the sake of not boring all of you with short paragraphs every other day, I wait until the beginning of the week/end of the week to type out all that has happened. So, now you know how I work and hopefully you will not have to waste the effort of checking my blog every day and just looking on Sunday/Monday for a new post. There will be weeks when I update more than once though, just not very often. Moreover, lets move onto what happened this past week.
This past week was very interesting, exciting, and enjoyable (all adjectives that I will be using quite often while here). This past week was the second and last week of the mandatory Intensive Czech Course taken by all the students in the ECES program. The course was long (4 hours 45 minutes a day, 5 days a week, for 2 weeks) and a bit aggravating to say the least. I chose to take Latin for 8 years of my life; a non-spoken (for the most part) Romantic Language that evolved over the years to become elegant and easily understandable in it's formation. My life revolved around translation and not speaking the language in anyway. I then come to Praha for a semester, where the Language is not Romantic and is, of course, spoken. I do not think I could have chosen a more backwards language 8 years ago to prepare me for this trip, whoops. The language has some different letter pronunciation and a lot of vocabulary that needed to be learned, but the class was not too terribly bad in the end. The professor was extremely nice and in the end I came out with a B+ for the class; not bad for a Romantic :-p
Friday came quickly (unfortunately) and started with learning some drinking songs with the professor and then going to the pub at 10:30 in the morning with him to get a pivo (beer) with the the rest of the class to celebrate the completion of the class.
After class on Friday, I strolled through the city with a few people and saw some new sights and then finally found one of the English Bookstores. The store is called Big Ben and has quite a lot of books despite its size. I ended up picking up the new Dan Brown book, The Lost Symbol and have been reading it in my spare time. I am about half way through and love it. I highly recommend it to anyone who would like a new novel to start. We then went out to a pub that night before calling it a day.
Saturday was truly and adventure. My friends Jordan and Amanda, and I chose to go to the small town of Cesky Krumlov. The best way to access the town is by bus and train. So starts the adventure. We took the Metro to the main train terminal and got up to the hostess where we bought our round trip tickets to Cesky Krumlov. We left her presence and wandered out into the terminal where we finally examined out ticket. The ticket had no information on it what so ever. We did not know where to go, when to go, or how to get around. We wandered around the terminal for 15 minutes trying to figure it out before we found a grumpy security guard and asked him the meaning of our confusion. He told us that you buy a ticket and then just chose which train you want to ride on; there are no ticket specifics, you just buy and go where ever you want. We then found our train and sat for about 3 hours with the cutest little old czech woman before hitting another train station. We then had to get off at that train station so that we could transfer to the one train line that runs into this picturesque town near Austria. We saw that the transfer train was not leaving for about an hour and a half, so we wandered and explored the town we got off in, grabbed some lunch, and found the square. We then made it back to the train, where we met the same little old lady we had sat with going to this train station. Like on the previous train, we did our best to communicate with the woman. After about 50 minutes or so, we finally made it to Cesky Krumlov.
The town of Cesky Krumlov is the epitome of the perfect small European town up in the hills. There were streets no bigger than an over-sized ally way with shops on both sides. We wandered through the streets and made it to the square where there was a small festival. The booths smelled of food goodness and the young children were putting on a musical display. After some spelunking in town, we wandered into the castle where we just kept hiking up and up and up until we finally made it to the top. I like to rationalize our hike and the higher spots of the hill as the different levels as heaven. We would make it to different plateaus the higher we went up, and each plateau was more beautiful than the last. When we made it to the top, well, nirvana is the only word that comes to mind. The last level was the most beautiful garden I have ever seen. It looked like a garden taken directly out of a 17th century French Chateau. It even overlooked the entire town, a little cliche in my opinion, I mean, how many castles are there in Europe that have to overlook the entirety of a town :-p
After a little more meandering, We got back on the train and headed back to Prague. The trip was long, but worth every waking moment.
Sunday was a little bit more relaxing, with a lot less train. We woke very late to recover from our journey and a bunch of us took a walk through Prague and ended up on the river. We decided to take a couple of rowboats out and enjoy the sun. The boats were very enjoyable, but were short lived unfortunately. We wandered for a little longer after giving up the boats and then head back to the dorm before going out food shopping. Sunday night was the night that I did the only American thing I can remember since coming to Europe. We all missed Football a little bit, so we found a pub that would put on American Football games is the TVs were reserved. So we went out, had a couple beers and watched the Patriots before calling it a night.
Today was, well, a very spiritual day. Today was St. Wenceslas Day in the Czech Republic (the equivalent to their Independence Day) and Pope Benedict XVI has been in town for the weekend. The pope conducted mass the next town over from Praha, so Sam, Amanda, and I went out to this town and got to experience mass conducted by the Pope. The best way to describe this mass would have to be......Giant Papal Concert 2009. The mass was conducted in a field where, in front was a massive stage (makeshift altar) and designated sections for people to stand and watch the mass. There were thousands upon thousands of people there and was definitely an awesome experience. I am so happy I got to listen to Pope Benedict conduct mass in Latin. Spoken Latin is always awesome to listen to. Side note....The Popemobile is awesome and drove but 10 feet away from me (Pope not included in purchase of said vehicle). We then made our way through the crowd at the end of mass and made our way back to the dorm. The rest of the day was quite relaxing and enjoyable and has led me to right now. I am going to watch a movie in a little and enjoy the first day of classes tomorrow (of which I have none).
I apologize for the length of the post, there was a lot to mention and I hope you all enjoy reading it. Until next time....
Monday, September 28, 2009
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Intensive Czech, what a class
Dobry Den Everyone! or Good Day Everyone.
This week started the the introduction of the required Intensive Czech Class into my life. Intensive Czech is definitely intensive and definitely not the easiest language in the world to learn. It has not been too much of a struggle though. After 8 years of Latin, it has been easy to pick up on the structure of Czech, but pronunciation is another universe in itself. Of course I am going from a Language that is not like any other language in the word (English) and a romance language that is not spoken anymore (Latin) to a spoken Slavic language that can drive anyone crazy. The class is fun though. My professor is a really nice guy and is the one who wrote the book we are using. I have one more week of Intensive Czech and then semester classes finally begin. I cannot wait for the semester to officially begin.
This week I went to a few spectacular places throughout the city. Tuesday night some of the group and I went to see the opera Figaro. The opera house was absolutely gorgeous. I took my seat and took 15 minutes just to analyze the magnificent building I have entered. It also took me a while to realize that the building I was sitting in is probably older than the United States.
On Thursday night some of the group and I went to the Czech Philharmonic Concert at the Concert Hall. The orchestra was performing both Beethoven and Dvorak. I cannot even describe the subtle bliss that is live Romantic music hitting my ears. The performance was tear worthy and by the end of the night, my hands hurt from clapping so much at the end of the concert. If there is but a piece of heaven on earth, it is the sound of a live Oboe player soloing over the soft accompaniment of the strings in the back round. I am so happy I got to experience the Czech Philharmonic.
Yesterday I went to the Zoo. The Prague Zoo is enormous. My group and I walked around for about 4 hours and only saw about half of the property. The animals they had there were excellent (even the little children running around screaming). We also went across the street from the Zoo into a large garden with two large Villas on either side. I took a lot of pictures there because it was so very picturesque.
Last night I went to a wine Festival a few stops down on the Metro. I went with two friends, Val and Amanda. Over here they sell a product called young wine in the fall right after they have picked the grapes. Young wine is exactly what it sounds like, it is wine that has just been pressed and does not have a large alcohol content yet, so it tastes like grape juice. We had a good time and then retired for the night.
I believe that is it for now, so until next time Dobrou Noc (Good night)
This week started the the introduction of the required Intensive Czech Class into my life. Intensive Czech is definitely intensive and definitely not the easiest language in the world to learn. It has not been too much of a struggle though. After 8 years of Latin, it has been easy to pick up on the structure of Czech, but pronunciation is another universe in itself. Of course I am going from a Language that is not like any other language in the word (English) and a romance language that is not spoken anymore (Latin) to a spoken Slavic language that can drive anyone crazy. The class is fun though. My professor is a really nice guy and is the one who wrote the book we are using. I have one more week of Intensive Czech and then semester classes finally begin. I cannot wait for the semester to officially begin.
This week I went to a few spectacular places throughout the city. Tuesday night some of the group and I went to see the opera Figaro. The opera house was absolutely gorgeous. I took my seat and took 15 minutes just to analyze the magnificent building I have entered. It also took me a while to realize that the building I was sitting in is probably older than the United States.
On Thursday night some of the group and I went to the Czech Philharmonic Concert at the Concert Hall. The orchestra was performing both Beethoven and Dvorak. I cannot even describe the subtle bliss that is live Romantic music hitting my ears. The performance was tear worthy and by the end of the night, my hands hurt from clapping so much at the end of the concert. If there is but a piece of heaven on earth, it is the sound of a live Oboe player soloing over the soft accompaniment of the strings in the back round. I am so happy I got to experience the Czech Philharmonic.
Yesterday I went to the Zoo. The Prague Zoo is enormous. My group and I walked around for about 4 hours and only saw about half of the property. The animals they had there were excellent (even the little children running around screaming). We also went across the street from the Zoo into a large garden with two large Villas on either side. I took a lot of pictures there because it was so very picturesque.
Last night I went to a wine Festival a few stops down on the Metro. I went with two friends, Val and Amanda. Over here they sell a product called young wine in the fall right after they have picked the grapes. Young wine is exactly what it sounds like, it is wine that has just been pressed and does not have a large alcohol content yet, so it tastes like grape juice. We had a good time and then retired for the night.
I believe that is it for now, so until next time Dobrou Noc (Good night)
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Brno, Moravia, Czech Republic
Greetings from a nice long weekend past in the Moravian district, Czech Republic.
On Friday, September 11, my group and I left Prague for a nice long weekend in Moravia. Moravia is the second of the two unofficial, yet official territories in the Czech Republic. Moravia is also know as the Czech Republic's wine district.
We left Friday morning and headed off to Brno, the city we would be staying in Moravia. We stopped once for lunch, and a second time to look at a very old, very beautiful cloister in the town of Tisnov. This cloister is very famous for the entrance way to the church known as the Porta Coeli (Gate to Heaven). We stayed for about an hour and then headed on our way to Brno. We arrived in Brno, unpacked and then went to a wine cellar for dinner known as the Templar Order Restaurant. This has been a wine cellar in existence for centuries and has since been turned into a beautiful restaurant. Dinner was excellent and the wine was wonderful.
Saturday began with a tour of Brno and some exploration of the local churches and some experimentation with what is referred to as young wine. Young wine is a a wine that has not aged for a very long time at all and tastes very much like grape juice. I had a cup while watching the festivities. The festivities consisted of people dressing up and singing their praise for the new wine (wine production, and the celebration of young wine is very important in Moravia). We there visited the Gregor Mendel Museum which was quite awesome and then moved on the the Basilica of Assumption of Virgin Mary, one of Brno's oldest and most beautiful churches. I have become very fond of all the churches over here and love taking pictures of all the ones I can visit. The last place we visited on Saturday was the Austerlitz Battlefield. Austerlitz is a battlefield outside of Brno where Napoleon defeated the Russian and Austrian armies in 1805. There was a massive memorial in place on location and was magnificent to look at.
Sunday consisted of a lot of sitting on the bus to get to a few specific places in Moravia. We packed up in the hotel and got on the bus to visit our first place of the day, Adamov. Adamov is a small town known for St. Barbara Church, where a very large, very intricate wood altarpiece is found. The piece was massive and full of detail. We then headed to the Moravian Karst Caves where we took a walking tour and a boat tour of the caverns. The caverns were very cold with limited area to move, but they were definitely worth seeing. Before heading back to Prague we stopped at the most beautiful church I have seen outside of St. Peter's Basilica. The church is in the small town of Krtiny and is truly the focal point within the whole town. The church was decorated top to bottom with paintings, statues, woodwork, stone work. Every art form was used to enhance the beauty of the church. I could only feel warmth when walking through the church looking all around me.
Tomorrow my Intensive Czech Class begins, so my school work will finally begin.
Until next time....
On Friday, September 11, my group and I left Prague for a nice long weekend in Moravia. Moravia is the second of the two unofficial, yet official territories in the Czech Republic. Moravia is also know as the Czech Republic's wine district.
We left Friday morning and headed off to Brno, the city we would be staying in Moravia. We stopped once for lunch, and a second time to look at a very old, very beautiful cloister in the town of Tisnov. This cloister is very famous for the entrance way to the church known as the Porta Coeli (Gate to Heaven). We stayed for about an hour and then headed on our way to Brno. We arrived in Brno, unpacked and then went to a wine cellar for dinner known as the Templar Order Restaurant. This has been a wine cellar in existence for centuries and has since been turned into a beautiful restaurant. Dinner was excellent and the wine was wonderful.
Saturday began with a tour of Brno and some exploration of the local churches and some experimentation with what is referred to as young wine. Young wine is a a wine that has not aged for a very long time at all and tastes very much like grape juice. I had a cup while watching the festivities. The festivities consisted of people dressing up and singing their praise for the new wine (wine production, and the celebration of young wine is very important in Moravia). We there visited the Gregor Mendel Museum which was quite awesome and then moved on the the Basilica of Assumption of Virgin Mary, one of Brno's oldest and most beautiful churches. I have become very fond of all the churches over here and love taking pictures of all the ones I can visit. The last place we visited on Saturday was the Austerlitz Battlefield. Austerlitz is a battlefield outside of Brno where Napoleon defeated the Russian and Austrian armies in 1805. There was a massive memorial in place on location and was magnificent to look at.
Sunday consisted of a lot of sitting on the bus to get to a few specific places in Moravia. We packed up in the hotel and got on the bus to visit our first place of the day, Adamov. Adamov is a small town known for St. Barbara Church, where a very large, very intricate wood altarpiece is found. The piece was massive and full of detail. We then headed to the Moravian Karst Caves where we took a walking tour and a boat tour of the caverns. The caverns were very cold with limited area to move, but they were definitely worth seeing. Before heading back to Prague we stopped at the most beautiful church I have seen outside of St. Peter's Basilica. The church is in the small town of Krtiny and is truly the focal point within the whole town. The church was decorated top to bottom with paintings, statues, woodwork, stone work. Every art form was used to enhance the beauty of the church. I could only feel warmth when walking through the church looking all around me.
Tomorrow my Intensive Czech Class begins, so my school work will finally begin.
Until next time....
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
ECES Orientation Trips
Greetings everyone from Prague. Here in Prague we still have yet to do anything related to classes at Charles University. The past two days students from my program (AIFS) and students from another program through Charles University gathered to go on orientation trips to different parts of the Czech Republic. (ECES is the student exchange portion of Charles University Staff).
Yesterday (Tuesday) I and other members of the group chose to go to Terezin, Czech Republic. Terezin was first made famous with the large fort built in the town in the 1790s. Over the years it then became a prison and then in World War II the fort was taken over by the Nazis and used as a concentration camp for many Jewish people. We were taken to the fort at first and was given a history based mostly around the WWII portion of the fort's history. The fort is very large and had much to be said about it. We then moved on to the town in which the Jewish prisoners were held before being sent to other concentration camps. We walked past many historical places in town and saw many historical artifacts in a museum. After the museum visit we moved on to lunch and collapsed after a very long day. It was a very insightful day, most definitely one I will remember for a very long time.
Today (Wednesday) I and others chose to go to the town of Telc. The town is about 2 hours outside of Prague and is the most picturesque town I think I have ever visited. We arrived and I wandered around town with my friend Amanda and took a lot of pictures. After 30 minutes of shooting, the group and I had a tour of the chateau in town. The chateau has been passed down from 4 main families and is now part of the UNESCO history sights. At the end of the tour, we had learned much about the history of the building, and also learned that living in a chateau would be freakin' amazing, haha. We then got some lunch and some ice cream and took a walk around the rest of the town. The town is so unbearably beautiful, there were pictures to be taken everywhere. We walked through a lovely park and then returned to the bus. Today was much less stressful the the day before. I enjoyed the town of Telc very much.
Tomorrow, everyone has the day off, so I think I am going to explore more parts of the city and take some pictures.
Til next time...
Yesterday (Tuesday) I and other members of the group chose to go to Terezin, Czech Republic. Terezin was first made famous with the large fort built in the town in the 1790s. Over the years it then became a prison and then in World War II the fort was taken over by the Nazis and used as a concentration camp for many Jewish people. We were taken to the fort at first and was given a history based mostly around the WWII portion of the fort's history. The fort is very large and had much to be said about it. We then moved on to the town in which the Jewish prisoners were held before being sent to other concentration camps. We walked past many historical places in town and saw many historical artifacts in a museum. After the museum visit we moved on to lunch and collapsed after a very long day. It was a very insightful day, most definitely one I will remember for a very long time.
Today (Wednesday) I and others chose to go to the town of Telc. The town is about 2 hours outside of Prague and is the most picturesque town I think I have ever visited. We arrived and I wandered around town with my friend Amanda and took a lot of pictures. After 30 minutes of shooting, the group and I had a tour of the chateau in town. The chateau has been passed down from 4 main families and is now part of the UNESCO history sights. At the end of the tour, we had learned much about the history of the building, and also learned that living in a chateau would be freakin' amazing, haha. We then got some lunch and some ice cream and took a walk around the rest of the town. The town is so unbearably beautiful, there were pictures to be taken everywhere. We walked through a lovely park and then returned to the bus. Today was much less stressful the the day before. I enjoyed the town of Telc very much.
Tomorrow, everyone has the day off, so I think I am going to explore more parts of the city and take some pictures.
Til next time...
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Early Days, Praha
On Saturday the 5th, my group from AIFS and I left the Hotel in Munich and loaded onto buses for the last leg of our journey. The bus ride from Munich to Prague is about 6 hours in all so many of the students could catch up on some long lost sleep. We stopped at the Pilsner Beer Factory for lunch when we crossed the border into the Czech Republic. It was a nice lunch, but I think everyone, including myself, was very anxious to make it to the dorm in Prague. We finally got to the dorm and dealt with all the administrative stuff before going to our rooms. I was so happy to unpack everything out of my suitcases. Living out of a suitcase is a somewhat miserable task, but now, all my stuff is finally unpacked.
Our first night in Prague, two of my new friends, Alex and Sam, and I decided to break off from the main group and wander around Prague. We took the Metro (subway) 4 stops away from our dorm and climbed the stairs out of the Metro station to the ground. I got to the the surface and looked up in a sea of wonder and excitment. We walked into the most beautiful square with the oldest buildings I think I have ever seen. THe lights from the night life mixed with the mystique of the old buildings add up to a thrilling environment. Alex, Sam and I found a pub to eat at and then emerged from it about 2 hours later when we decided to take the Metro to the Old City.
Getting off the train at the old city, we wandered around until we finally walked across Charles Bridge. My heart dropped immediately at the sights seen from that bridge. We looked up about halfway across the bridge to see Praha (Prague) Castle. I stood looking at the castle for about 10 minutes, completely beside myself from the beauty of this enormous structure in front of me.
We then of course got lost in Prague and needed to take a taxi to get back to the dorm.
Yesterday (Sunday) we woke and did a tour with the AIFS representatives and the ended up wandering around the city for a while finally making it to a supermarket so we could buy some supplies. Last night was relaxed and enjoyed a night without having anything planned.
Today will be somewhat similar to yesterday. So today will be a good day, haha
Pictures will be up soon, I just haven't had a chance because the internet connection here is not solid yet.
Our first night in Prague, two of my new friends, Alex and Sam, and I decided to break off from the main group and wander around Prague. We took the Metro (subway) 4 stops away from our dorm and climbed the stairs out of the Metro station to the ground. I got to the the surface and looked up in a sea of wonder and excitment. We walked into the most beautiful square with the oldest buildings I think I have ever seen. THe lights from the night life mixed with the mystique of the old buildings add up to a thrilling environment. Alex, Sam and I found a pub to eat at and then emerged from it about 2 hours later when we decided to take the Metro to the Old City.
Getting off the train at the old city, we wandered around until we finally walked across Charles Bridge. My heart dropped immediately at the sights seen from that bridge. We looked up about halfway across the bridge to see Praha (Prague) Castle. I stood looking at the castle for about 10 minutes, completely beside myself from the beauty of this enormous structure in front of me.
We then of course got lost in Prague and needed to take a taxi to get back to the dorm.
Yesterday (Sunday) we woke and did a tour with the AIFS representatives and the ended up wandering around the city for a while finally making it to a supermarket so we could buy some supplies. Last night was relaxed and enjoyed a night without having anything planned.
Today will be somewhat similar to yesterday. So today will be a good day, haha
Pictures will be up soon, I just haven't had a chance because the internet connection here is not solid yet.
Friday, September 4, 2009
London, take 2, Munich
Yesterday was our first full day in London. the day started with some breakfast and then everyone in my group proceeded to the tour buses where we would get on the bus and have a nice tour of London. The tour was awesome. We were given the chance to get off the bus at limited times to go and see many of the famous landmarks of London. I was able to see Buckingham Palace, Parliament, Big Ben, the Eye, St. Paul's Church, Millennium Bridge, etc. London is an awesome city, it just happens to be very expensive.
After the bus tour, the Driver dropped us all off and my group for the day and I wandered around and ended up having lunch at a pub and then making our way to St. Paul's. We arrived at St. Paul's and chose to climb all the way to the top of the tower. That was more than a hike and probably not the best of ideas. We then went to the National Gallery and looked at some of the most fantastic paintings in the U.K.'s collection. Once we figured out how to use the Tube (subway), getting around London was not very hard. We then went out to dinner at a Pub just up the street from our hotel and went to sleep early.
I woke at 4 a.m. so that we could leave the hotel at 5 a.m. to get to the airport. Our flight left London today at about 9:10 a.m. and we arrived in Munich, Germany at around noon. I have been hanging around the city for a while and decided to take a break and type this out before our night tour of the city.
Tomorrow we bus down to Prague where I can finally unpack my suitcase and settle in for a few months. I can't wait.
Until Next Time.....
After the bus tour, the Driver dropped us all off and my group for the day and I wandered around and ended up having lunch at a pub and then making our way to St. Paul's. We arrived at St. Paul's and chose to climb all the way to the top of the tower. That was more than a hike and probably not the best of ideas. We then went to the National Gallery and looked at some of the most fantastic paintings in the U.K.'s collection. Once we figured out how to use the Tube (subway), getting around London was not very hard. We then went out to dinner at a Pub just up the street from our hotel and went to sleep early.
I woke at 4 a.m. so that we could leave the hotel at 5 a.m. to get to the airport. Our flight left London today at about 9:10 a.m. and we arrived in Munich, Germany at around noon. I have been hanging around the city for a while and decided to take a break and type this out before our night tour of the city.
Tomorrow we bus down to Prague where I can finally unpack my suitcase and settle in for a few months. I can't wait.
Until Next Time.....
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Soooooooooo...London
I do not have much time, but I am going to take a few minutes and update my blog. I have made it safely to London, England on my flight from Boston. I will be here for a couple days as a stop-over before flying to Munich, Germany. It was a decent flight and all the people I have met in my group are awesome. I can't take up too much time, so I will stop writing and find somewhere tomorrow to sit and type for a while. for now I will say goodbye. I will update very soon.
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