My Czechpoint

Sunday, April 29, 2012

Vienna and Venice

April 11-14th we took a class trip to Austria and Italy. We spent two days in Vienna and two days in Venice.
Vienna was beautiful, and strangely enough, reminded me a lot of Washington D.C. We had the opportunity to tour the Schonbrunn Palace (summer palace of the royal Habsburg Family). It was gorgeous! My favorite tour so far. We also got to tour the Albertina museum and saw/walked by many other places including: the opera house, Mozart Denkmal, Imperial palace, museum of fine arts, and parliament. We saw so many places in this city it's hard to keep track of them all! It is definitely a place I would like to revisit.
Venice is a city unlike any other--waterways instead of streets, water buses instead of cars, bridges instead of crosswalks. This is probably the only city that I don't care to see again. I wasn't a fan of all the canals, narrow streets, bridges, getting lost--apparently the best way to experience Venice. We saw San Marco Square (the heart of Venice), Palazzo Ducale, the bell tower, Doge's Palace (where Casanova was imprisoned), and even went on a gondola ride. Even though I didn't love it, I would say we had a full Venetian experience.

Walking through Vienna.

Loved this sign in Vienna.

Museum of Fine Arts, Vienna.

Stefansdom Cathedral, Vienna

Mozart Denkmal, Vienna

Me, Yoli, and Lisa outside the Museum of Fine Arts, Vienna

Driving through the Alps between Vienna and Venice.

Water bus in Venice on the Grand Canal.

San Marco Square

Prettiest part of Venice.

Enjoying some excellent Italian gelato.

A waterway in Venice.

Gondola ride in Venice.
Our gondola driver was the cutest little fellow!

Budapest, Hungary

Wow, it's easy to get behind on blogging! It constantly seems like there's so much to do with so little time to do it! Here are my updates from the last month:
Budapest:
A group of us went to this unique city over our three day Easter weekend. The most impressive part is along the Danube River. It is lined with buildings, trees, and people. We crossed the Chain Bridge several times which was quite an experience! The bridge is huge and, no matter where you look, the view is marvelous. On Easter Sunday we briefly visited St. Stephen's Basilica. It was yet another magnificent church and so full of people. No matter how great the building, though, I missed spending this special holiday at home with loved ones and in an English-speaking church service.
Most of my weekend was spent with Yolima. We had a wonderful time wandering around Budapest on either side of the river and eating at American restaurants: Starbucks, Subway, Starbucks, TGI Fridays (and we are not even ashamed). Yoli has become a very special friend, and we had a lovely weekend!

Standing on the Chain Bridge

Along the banks of the Danube River

Parliament

I am finding elephants everywhere!

On the Chain Bridge: Me, Yolima, Karen

Chain Bridge. Budapest is beautiful at night!

St. Stephen's Basilica, Easter morning.

Yolima and me enjoying a Hungarian dessert. So delicious!

Monday, April 2, 2012

Why yes, I am an American...

Today our class lecture was especially interesting. Martin Elbel, one of the program coordinators, started class by asking us about stereotypes. "What are some Czech stereotypes about Americans that you've noticed?" I said, "loud" and he said (in his Czech accent) "Yes, but I'm afraid that is not just a stereotype." We (loudly) laughed.
Even though we've been here three weeks now, we still stand out as foreigners. All we have to do is talk. If the perfect English didn't immediately give us away, the volume of our voices would. We are definitely accustomed to receiving stares. And, if I was a European, I would stare at us too! Oh, I love having a foreigner's perspective!

Brno, Czech Republic

We ate dinner at a brewery. There was a hockey game playing...apparently Czechs do yell sometimes.

Mozart performed here when he was 11.

A view of the Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul

This is how we warmed up. It tasted as good as it looks.

The foundation of Gregor Mendel's Greenhouse

Waiting for the train, I decided to befriend some pigeons.

This weekend seven of us took the 1.5 hour train ride to Brno, Czech Republic. It was cloudy, rainy, and cold the whole time we were there but that did not ruin our fun! (Yes, we knew Nebraska was enjoying summer weather at the time.) We did most of our touring on Saturday. Our agenda: a cool, creepy crypt full of dead monks, the Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul, a palace that was later a jail, and the abbey where Gregor Mendel did all of his research. The city wasn't nearly as nice as Olomouc, but apparently we were staying in the Gypsy ghetto so maybe that had something to do with it! Overall it was a good first experience of traveling without the guidance of Jan or Martin, our Czech program coordinators. Yay for us!

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Notes on Europe

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Notes on Europe:

· Dogs are like humans. Their owners take them everywhere…even into fancy restaurants.

· American music is always playing.

· It seems like I’m spending more money on voda neperliva (still water) than anything else.

· Beer is cheaper than water.

· Public transportation isn’t so bad.

· Clean cities. Hardly any trash on the ground.

· The buildings are very big, very old, and very beautiful.

· Many public bathrooms are not free. 5 Kc to use the loo!

· Figuring out how to do laundry in a foreign country takes an entire day.

· Americans talk and smile a lot. Maybe that’s why we stick out so much.
· It has never been so easy to be in the moment.
· It's fun being known as "the Americans."
· Cobblestone streets everywhere and the women still wear heels.
· I never get tired of hearing all the accents.
· Everyday is a new adventure.
· History is everywhere you look.

· Walking, walking, walking, walking….

· I love it!

Monday, March 26, 2012

Prague and Dresden

Tara and me in front of the Dresden opera house.

No dryers. We're roughing it big time.

The John Lennon Wall

Outside of Prague Castle.

The American Embassy in Prague! The second most secure street in the city.

Part of the Berlin Wall in Dresden's brand new WWII Museum. So cool!

Standing on the St. Charles Bridge at sunrise.

It was so beautiful!

Outside the Jewish Quarter in Prague.

I can’t believe we’re starting our third week in Europe! It has already gone by so fast, and I know it’s just going to get faster! I am amazed by how quickly Olomouc became home. Though there are definitely things I miss about America, I haven’t been homesick at all. This last weekend our group made our first journey outside of Olomouc. We spent three days in Prague and one day in Dresden. As always we were going non-stop and were ready to be back in our flats Sunday evening. Overall, both cities were big, beautiful, and full of people who spoke English!