sunny skies

Another nice weekend spent in Prague and a few jaunts out of the city...

This past week was pretty good, aside from the fact that the professors have decided to add about 8,000 unnecessary and previously unannounced assignments to Blackboard. I have a too much silly busy work now because they forgot to assign discussion questions earlier. neat.

Tuesday my globalization class met with our 3 professors for drinks at a Pulp Fiction themed pub. it was awkward to say the least. However, as they had some pivos (beers), we learned some interesting facts. Dr. S has a small castle 28 minutes from Prague that has been in his family since the middle ages. It is surrounded by a small forest filled with wild board that he roasts over his home-made charcoal. He also has a small vineyard in Croatia where he and his brother make something that sounds a lot like moonshine. He is now actively counting the days until he can draw on his pension and reside in the castle. Dr. H is afraid of sharks and Dr. K still doesn't know enough English to be teaching this class, even when he's drunk.

Friday I went on a day trip to Cesky Raj, which is north of Prague. We went on a hike in "the Czech Eden", which is near the city of Turnov. The hike was really pretty and the view from the top was amazing. Next we went to the Czech garnet factory and saw all of the parts of the jewelry making process. The stones are really beautiful but it's a hell of a process to make anything out of the. We had lunch in Turnov and then went to a glass bead factory. Naturally, i was in craft heaven. At the end of the day we went to a castle on a cliff only to find that it doesn't open until May 1st. wamp wamp.

Friday night I had an interview on skype for UMTV. i didn't wear any pants.

Saturday I spent relaxing in Praha- I went to my special secret garden and to a very entertaining karaoke bar at night. There were about 12 songs in English so Erin and I entertained the drunks with "Hey Jude".

Today I went on another day trip to Lidice, which was a small village outside of Prague. The entire village was destroyed in 1942 by the Nazis in connection with the Czech paratroopers assassination of Hitler's right hand man, Heydrich. To get back at the Czechs, Hitler ordered the entire village to be destroyed. All of the men were shot on the spot and the women and children were sent to concentration camps. All of the homes were burned down and then the entire site was bulldozed. The Nazis even dug up the graves next to the church to destroy everything they could. The site is now a beautiful park and a museum, but the whole place is very haunting.

Now I have to haul ass to finish these papers and assignments so I can have fun in the lovely weather!

Easter= Whippin' Time

Since getting back from Budapest 2 weeks ago, there has been some sunlight in Prague. While that means all the vampires have disappeared, those of us with season affective disorder are faring far better.

Last weekend was Easter, which Czechs celebrate in a very special way. About 85% of the country is atheist, so Easter is more like a day off from work than a religious holiday. The special Czech traditions include painting eggs, eating sweets, and whipping women. Yes, whipping. On Easter Monday, the men of the Czech Republic make whips out of willow branches and colored ribbons (yes, very manly) and proceed to whip the women, who then supposedly have good luck. This practice is carried out by children and grown men alike. Petr, my Czech friend, said he had to go home to the mountains for the weekend to whip his mother. Professor Zaruba said he had a lovely holiday but his sister did not. She cannot sit down because their cousin whipped her all day!

Because I have been in Prague for the past few weekends, I’ve had some time to do day trips and loaf around the city. I went back to Zizchov to see the babies crawling up the TV tower on a clear day, and climbed a giant mountain to see the national monument to Jan Zizka. I also went to a flea market run by the Vietnamese mafia. They sell Gucci purses AND brass knuckles!

I also tried some sweet new restaurants and pubs. I found “the best falafel in Prague”, but it still doesn’t hold a candle to the falafel in Berlin. And I went to a secret pub in a converted cinema where they played a Czech cover of “Holding Out for a Hero” from Footloose and the entire Grease soundtrack. Czechs just love Grease.

Unfortunately, I actually have some real reading and paper-writing to do. Again, I find that the “study” aspect of “study abroad” is a burden.

Nascle!

tales from Budapest- long overdue..

Sorry it’s been a while- now that the sun appears daily I have a hard time sitting at my computer for any extended period of time.

Budapest was really, really great. I was traveling with my roomate Hannah and her parents who are here visiting, so it was a nice change from traveling with just students and I stayed in a real hotel! With a tv! And a shower! The weather was also absolutely incredible- perfect sunny skies and warm weather that was perfect for walking.

On Thursday we arrived in the city around noon and had some lunch before walking along the Danube. We stopped to sit right in front of the massive parliament building, and hearing us speak English, an Irish student came over to talk with us. He said he was studying architecture in Budapest and said it was funny that even though we just arrived we had decided to sit in front of the most important building in all of Eastern Europe. Of course we didn’t know yet it was the parliament and we were too embarrassed to ask him where we were, but it was nice to know that subconsciously we were drawn to the center of Hungary. After walking down the river, Hannah’s parents arrived and we ate dinner with them in a nice outdoor Hungarian restaurant right by St. Stephen’s cathedral. I have to say that overall, the food in Hungary was not very good compared to other trips we’ve taken.

Friday we started off early and after finding a local bakery with great fresh pasty, we got on the Hop-on-Hop-off tour bus. Usually I laugh at these tourist busses, but it was actually a good idea for Budapest. It did a big loop of all of the most important sights and gave some good historical background. We decided to “hop off” at the Hero’s Square, right in front of a big park. We wandered around there and then hopped off again on the Buda side to see the castles and Fisherman’s Bastion. Then we finished the loop back to the hotel. The whole city was much different than I imagined- it was a beautiful mix of old and new rather than just the old that I had pictured.

In the afternoon we went to the Turkish baths. It was so warm we were even able to swim in the outdoor pools. I don’t know if they really cured all ills like they claim, but it was really relaxing to sit in the pools and saunas after walking around all day. For dinner, we went to an Easter market to try some local street food. The desserts were definitely the best part.

Saturday we started off at the Museum of Terror, which is in the building that was used as Nazi headquarters in the 1940s. The museums itself was actually pretty poorly designed- it wasn’t in order and the audio guides did a poor job of explaining the historical background, but the overall effect was pretty deep. It showed the opposite of what we saw in the DDR museum in Berlin. While that showed that daily life in Communist Germany was pretty comfortable, this terror museum showed just how uncomfortable it was for anyone who wasn’t a loyal member of the party. The stories were all pretty gruesome.

After the museum we walked back over the river to Buda to see what we missed the previous day and to have some really good ice cream.
Sunday we just walked the main boulevards of the city soaking up the sun before we had to go back to Prague. We missed Obama’s speech by only a few hours!

Spring in Prague

it's spring in prague. not Prague Spring, because that was a political event in the late 1960s, but real Spring. all i had to do was go to Budapest and come back and it was 70 degrees. last week it was 40. i dont get it, but i like it.

more on Budapest later when i have time...

Obama v Praze

nooooooo! i'm missing Obama in Praha! it was finally announced today that he'll be speaking at Prasky Hrad (prague castle.. which is 4 blocks from my apt) on sunday at 10 am! too bad i'll still be in Budapest! but the czech media coverage is pretty sweet- they ousted thier own PM just last week, but they're obsessed with ours. and they just cant get enough of michelle obmamova. i stole a sweet poster from my school today too...

but budapest will be sweet!

mmm.. Vienna

Vienna was absolutely fantastically beautiful! It’s true what they say- Vienna is a smaller, fancier Prague!

We started off really early on Friday morning and took a lovely, relaxing train ride through the countryside. I slept, but I’m sure there were at least a few cows and goats passed.

When we arrived in Vienna, we checked in to our hostel, the West End City Hostel, which was very clean but a little cramped. 8 girls on bunks in one room…eeek. After we checked in and ate at a very cute café (Viennese coffee= soooo good), we went for a walk through the city center with our fearless leader, Professor Holub, who bears a striking resemblance to Professor Lupin. We walked down Maria Hilfer Straβe, which is the “5th Avenue of Vienna”, which I would say is an accurate description if 5th Ave had more stores selling Mozart balls. Then professor took us to the historic city center, where we saw giant, beautiful buildings, museums, and a statue to commemorate the Black Death. It was actually gorgeous and gold. Speaking of gold, Vienna is populated by more costumed characters than is necessary for such a tiny place. Everywhere you look there are gold Mozarts, caped guys selling concert tickets, CLOWNS, and all other sorts of unnecessary creepers. They molest tourists then ask them for money. It’s really not cute at all. After Professor wandered away, we went to see Stephansdom, which is a giant, very shiny Gothic-style church. There happened to be a concert that day, and we got there just in time to hear Shalon Havarim- it was a very interesting rendition.

Then we hit up Centraal Café, on Zuzana’s recommendation. Centraal Café is one of the historic landmarks of café culture and it is very elegant. There is a piano player, velvet couches, plenty of coffee, and most importantly, STUDEL. The most amazing strudel in the world, actually.

After strudel, we wandered the streets for a while until we discovered Barfin, which was a great little hookah bar with a very friendly waiter eager to practice English. He recommended some great white wine and even played Britney Spears music in our honor. Austrians seem to like American tourists as much as Czechs hate them.

Post- hookah bar, we grabbed some street falafel and called it a night.

Saturday morning we woke up super early to tour the government area with Professor. This was also an epic day in terms of weather as it was 60 DEGEES AND SUNNY. Note facebook photos for evidence that I took off my jacket outside! After a long walk and discussion about architecture, we found a lovely Easter market and had a lunch time smörgåsbord of homemade treats: cheese, bread, beer, pastry, etc.

Then we jumped on the metro to see the Shoenbrunn palace, former home of Maria Teresa, Emperor Franz Josef, and entourage. The palace has 2,000 rooms, one of which Sisi used for the sole purpose of brushing her ankle-length hair. Just one tidbit from the tour. After seeing just a tiny fraction of the palace, we went outside to stroll the beautiful gardens and lay in the grass to soak up the sun. Unfortuantly, a very angry Austrian came riding through on his bike pointing at a sign that implied sitting on the grass is not allowed… the ultimate BIKE COP!

Saturday night we went to a really delicious italian restaurant called Vipiano, which was like a gourmet dining hall on crack! They gave you a swipe card and then you went to the counter of your choice and swiped to order. When the food and wine magically appeared, it was delicious! After dinner we went to hear some quailty live jazz and passed out from walking exhaustion.

Sunday we woke up for some museum hopping and rain-trudging. It rained the entire day and was absolutely freezing, but Professor still wanted us to see lots of architecture that was very, very out of the way. Then we went to two of the best museums in Europe: the Belvedere and the Kunst. Both had incredible art and even a mummified crocodile! After more rain trudging, it was confirmed that absolutely everything is closed on Sundays in Vienna, so we had more falafel before getting back on the train to Prague.

This week, I have only 3 days in Prague to get all my work done before I leave for Budapest Thursday morning. I’m also battling a cold, which is really making me feel gross and icky. However, I finally won the battle with the printing system at school today and I am finally able to print! 1 point for Jo!

There is a Dunkin Donuts in Berlin

Just got back from Berlin last night after a really busy week.

I had Judd here visiting so I got to play tour guide again and we did some good sight seeing and some excellent eating. We also went to a Sparta Praha futbol game- Prague kicked Brno’s ass!

Wednesday night, my Alternative Literature and Underground Culture class went to see a mini concert by The Plastic People of the Universe, Czech Republic’s most popular rock band… of the 1960s. We had a Q&A with the bass player and saxophone player who both confirmed the stereotype that Czechs value women and beer above all else.

I also had my first tutoring English lessons both at the high school near my dorm and with my one-on-one student, Sarah. We discussed antonyms and the politically correct way to distinguish between dot-Indians and feather-Indians.

And then I went to Berlin really really super early on Friday morning. When we arrived, we checked into our hostel which was a really cool converted factory building in the Turkish neighborhood of Kriesburg. Then we had a guided walking tour of the city center from a very tall Brit named Neil. He filled us in on Berlin’s history and pointed out a few key facts: Berlin is the 3rd gay-est city in the world (after San Francisco and Sydney, Australia) and the 3rd bridge-iest city in Europe (after Amsterdam and Hamburg). He took us to Bebelplatz, the square next to the city library and university where the Nazis staged massive book burnings, the remaining section of the Berlin wall, Checkpoint Charlie in the former American sector, the site of Hitler’s secret bunker, the Holocaust memorial, the Brandenburg gate, and lots of other cool shit. Later, after some quality German food and grapefruit beer, we went to the Checkpoint Charlie museum, which tells the story of what lengths East Berliners went through to try to make it to the other side. In true tourist trap fashion, they also have a “Charlie” soldier dressed up in the street who will stamp your passport with the old East Berlin stamp. Then we had some drinks and called it a night.

On Saturday, we drove to Potsdam, which is about an hour outside the city. We took a tour through the palace where the Big 3 met to discuss the Treaty of Potsdam after the end of WWII. Then we headed back to Berlin and went to the Story of Berlin museum. The museum also included a tour of a nuclear fall-out shelter built in the 1970s under a parking garage. It was super creepy. We then proceeded to walk approx 800 km through the zoo and Tiergarten to see “Chick on a Stick”, which is what Berliners affectionately call the giant victory memorial in the center of Berlin. The chick is really shiny. After that, I had the most delicious falafel ever before visiting the dome of the Reichstag, the German parliament building. Given some of the shady politcs that happened there before, all government buildings that were re-built after WWII are now all glass as a symbol for transparency of governemnt. The dome of the parliament building had a great view of the entire city, and you could really see the mix of old, communist, and new architecture.

Sunday, we spent some time on Museum Island, seeing as this is the only part of the city actually open on Sundays. We went to the DDR museum, which is a really fun, interactive museum about life in East Germany during communism. There were lots of things to touch and open so obviously I liked this museum a lot. I learned that communist coffee is awful, the jeans were made of plastic, and garden gnomes were totally hip. They also had a display of a typical communist flat, complete with a bathroom that is identitcal to the one I have in my dorm here in Prague. Then I had Dunkin Donuts coffee, and I was very very very happy.

On the way back from Berlin, we stopped in Dresden, which is the capital of Saxony. In Dresden, the neo-Nazi party is so strong that they actually have seats in the state parliament. Scary shit. We didn’t see any neo-nazis, but we did see some beautiful old churches and an opera house that supposedly has the best acoustics anywhere in the world. After dinner, we headed back to Prague where I shall do nothing but school work for the next week.