Poland

This weeks blog will be a little difficult to write about for me, because I saw a lot of things in a short amount of time this weekend. We spent 3 days in Poland where we visited the salt mines of Krakow, Shindler's Factory, and the Auschwitz and Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration camps. I knew this would be a lot to soak in for one weekend, but I knew it was something I'd been wanting to see my whole life and I think it is something that I will remember forever.

Saturday morning, we left for Krakow, Poland to visit the Salt mines there. When we arrived to the salt mine and went down 54 flights of stairs which was like over 80 meters below the surface, but still above sea level. It took about 15 minutes to get down the stairs. The tour of the mine consisted of our tour guide telling us how the miners harvested and transported the salt, how the salt preserved wood, and how they navigated through the mines. It was very cool to experience the mines- it was like nothing I'd ever seen before.  Once we got to places where there was water, our tour guide let us taste how salty it was, and even encouraged us to taste the walls because they were made out of salt. Something really cool that I learned, is that they had horses down in the mines that would work and help the miners transport the salt. When the horse was old enough they would take them down and train them. The life expectancy of the horses actually increased while they were down in the mines because of the salt that was in the air. When the horse had reached an old enough age, they would be brought back up to surface to live out the rest of their lives peacefully. By the end of the tour, we were at about 129 meters below the surface (still above sea level). We rode the elevator up to the surface and loaded the bus back up to go to our hostel. The rest of the day was spent exploring the town of Krakow and getting some food before the long day we had ahead of us.

Sunday morning, we walked for only about 15 minutes to get to Schindler's factory. A little background about Oskar Schindler... Oskar was a German living in Krakow at the time of WWII. He took over his father's shut-down factory which produced pots, pans, door hinges, knobs, and lots of other metal products. At the time of the war when the Nazi police were evacuating and demolishing the Jewish Ghetto's, Schindler was losing workers. He and his accountant who was also a Jew decided that he would make sure to get more and more workers so he could make money within his factory. Once he realized that he was saving many lives by employing these Jews he decided to make a list of names of every Jew he knew so they wouldn't get sent to the concentration camps. By the end of the war, he saved 12,000 Jews from meeting their horrible fate in the concentration camps. Schindler was a hero to all. His factory was preserved and made into a museum to show just how much of an impact he made.

As we walked through the museum, it started from the beginning. It was kind of a timeline of the war. It started out with how the war started, and ended with the liberation and included almost everything in between. There was a part about the ghettos and how they were all destroyed. There were letters on the walls from the Jews that lived there about what they were feeling and experiencing. This was a hard part for me because it showed real emotion from those people. As we got toward the end of the factory, there was a room with quotes from some of the people Schindler saved. The one that stood out to me the most read, "He employed me at his factory, although he knew I would be useless for him." This stood out to me, because in the movie 'Schindler's List' there was a man with no arm who he hired to work for him and when the Nazi police tried to kill him, Schindler stopped him and explained the importance he had in his factory. He did this for many people, especially the elderly and the children. A lot of people tried to save the Jews. Some succeeded, and some did not but Oscar Schindler used his strong business mentality to save 12,000 PEOPLE and he made a huge impact on WWII.


Monday morning, we left for the Auschwitz concentration camp at 6:00 AM. It was about an hour and a half bus ride to get to the camp. I somewhat knew what to expect walking into the camp because of the knowledge I have acquired over my years in high school history, and what we have learned here in the Czech Republic. What didn't expect, were the emotions that flooded through me when I entered the concentration camp that morning. I made sure to stay very close to the tour guide so I could learn as much as possible as we went through our tour. After the first camp, we went to Auschwitz-Birkenau which was a death camp. The Jews that were sent there would get off the train and be picked off by who was the strongest. The weakest would be sent to the gas chambers and killed immediately. The stronger ones would work until they died of starvation.

What I have learned and seen in movies will never compare to what I saw, and what I learned about the concentration camps. Being there, walking where they walked, walking where over millions of PEOPLE died for no reason at all will forever haunt me. It will also help me understand only a little bit of what they went through during the Holocaust. I can't even imagine that happening today in our world, which is crazy, because it happened not too long ago. Humans are capable of horrible horrible things, and I genuinely hope that history doesn't repeat itself. I hope we learn from the inhumane things that happened and never let them happen again.

I'm sorry that I couldn't write more about my experience, but it is a very hard thing to write about. Everyone should get a chance to see these concentration camps at least once in their lives and experience it for themselves.

Vienna & Venice

A couple weeks ago, our class took a week long trip to Vienna, Austria and Venice, Italy. These were two places that I was most excited about visiting when I was accepted into this program. Each city has their own uniqueness which is what I enjoyed the most about this trip.

Our first day in Vienna was spent just learning the ins and outs of the city. We walked for what seemed like an hour from our hostel to the main square. The square had various stores and restaurants, including my new favorite clothing store, Pull & Bear. Once we found the place where we would be meeting, we split up for lunch. A few of us went to Brothers Pizza where we ran into Doug and Jan and his son Damien! Shortly after we regrouped, we walked around the city as a class and Jan told us about the history of the city, and then we toured St. Stephen's Cathedral. We split up once more so we could do our own thing and get some dinner. We decided to meet again early in the morning for a long day filled with activities.

After taking the long trip to walk into the city square, we started our day at the Hapsburg Imperial Treasury where there were many ancient jewels and crowns and other heirlooms over the last 500 years from the Hapsburg Imperial rule. After spending about an hour and a half in awe, we split up into two groups to see either the Natural Science Museum or an Art Museum. Since I chose the art museum when we were in Dresden, I decided to do the Natural Science Museum this time and I wasn't disappointed.

There were 3 different levels in the museum and each had something different. First, we went to the animals. It felt kind of like a zoo, but with stuffed animals. There was a whole entire room dedicated to just birds. They had every animal that you could imagine. They also had dinosaurs, dodo birds and woolly mammoths. The next level we went on was dedicated to different rocks and crystals that belonged to areas all over the world. I think we spend over 3 hours in this museum, but I didn't mind at all because it was something that I had never experienced before.

After getting some much needed lunch, we rested at our hostel for a while and then headed toward the nearest metro to go to the Palace. If we wanted to go inside, we had to pay so we decided to just walk around outside. We first arrived in the front court yard, which was the size of a football field. On the front of the palace, there were two sets of stairs that led up to the front doors. We walked around the building to the backyard where the garden was. Since this was early April, the flowers and trees hadn't quite bloomed yet, so the garden wasn't very green but I used my imagination. All of the trees and hedges were trimmed in the shapes of arches and the outsides almost looked like walls on the side of a building. It seemed like this garden went on for miles and miles. We ventured a little while longer and saw a huge hill that reached a building which seemed like it would have a great view of the city. It took us a while, but we finally got to the top and we were right. The city was beautiful from the top of the hill-we could even see St. Steven's Cathedral.

The next morning, we had to pack up and say goodbye to our cozy hostel to head to Venice. We had a little bit of a delay when Bre fell down the stairs and sprained her ankle and had to be taken to the ER. We loaded the bus and waited for her in the hospital parking lot and arrived many hours later in Venice.

When we got to Venice, we had to get a train to go further into the islands. Since the city is made up of 118 islands, its hard to get around. The smaller islands are connected by bridges and the bigger islands are only accessible by water taxi, water bus, or train. Once we got onto the group of islands with our hostel, we took a water taxi with all of our luggage to get to the hostel. It was late at night, so we got settled in and got dinner and then headed off to bed.


The next day was spent exploring the islands and visiting different churches. After breaking apart from the group, we got lunch, and then went back to the hostel to change and relax for a little while.  A couple of us met up so we could go on a gondola ride around the islands. This was something that I had been looking forward to doing this whole trip. We searched for the cheapest possible ride for the 6 of us, and it ended up being about $15 each for a 30 minute ride. Our gondola driver gave us a mini tour and told us a little bit about the history of the city and he also sang a song for us. After our ride, we got gelato and some souvenirs and then some dinner and called it a night. The next morning, we hopped on a train for Rome.


I could have spent so much more time in both places, but I'm grateful for the short amount of time that I had. I wish I could have spent more time exploring Austria. It was such a beautiful country and I think I could have found some hidden gems if I looked a little further. If I ever get the privilege to come back to Europe, I will be coming back to explore a little bit more.

Not Your Typical Spring Break

When I thought about what I wanted to do for spring break this year, It wasn't a very tough choice for me. I knew I wanted to cross some things off of my bucket list, eat some amazing food, and go somewhere where the weather was warm and where the water was wet. So that's exactly what I did.

The week before spring break, our class when to Vienna, Austria and Venice, Italy. I could talk forever about those places so I will save them for another blog. At the end of our time in Venice, our class went our separate ways and I headed off to Rome, Italy.

By now, I'm pretty used to waking up early in the morning to travel to a new place, so we packed up our bags and walked for about 30 minutes over the many bridges of Venice to get to the train station headed to Rome. By the time we got to Rome and got all settled in at our hostel, we decided to grab a bite to eat from somewhere close. The manager at the hostel recommended a restaurant/bar with a an unusual selection of food. It mostly consisted of different appetizers and had some really good sushi too. Once we filled up on about 4 plates each, we went back to the hostel and decided to rest for the big day we had planned ahead of us.

Pope Francis speaks at the Vatican City every Sunday morning, so that's where we started our day. We hopped on the metro which took us a couple blocks away from the Vatican. Once we got closer and closer, I could hear the commotion from the hundreds of people walking to listen to the Pope speak. When we arrived, I couldn't believe the amount of people I saw. After pushing our way through the crowds, trying not to lose one another, we made it to security with about 5 minutes to spare. We barely made it passed the metal detector when the crowd started cheering for Pope Francis who was standing on the balcony. Now I don't speak Italian, so I had no idea what he was saying, but I assumed it was very moving because halfway through, everyone started to cheer again. After about 20 minutes, he went back inside so we went into St. Peter's Basilica. Again, there were crowds of people, but it was free to go inside so we got in line and went through another security gate. We saw signs that showed that everyone should be in appropriate dress. It had an X through any shirts that showed shoulders and dresses that showed knees. I wish we would have known, because most of us didn't make it through the gate. Paige was nice enough to lend me her jacket to hide my shoulders so I could go in.



After we spent a couple of hours in the Vatican, we decided it was time for lunch. A man came up to us on the street and handed me a flyer from a family Italian restaurant that he was promoting. It was only a block away from the exit of the Vatican, we found the rest of our group and sat at a table outside. In Venice, I didn't have very good luck with finding a pasta that reached my standards so I figured that I would try again in Rome. I'll just say that I stuck to pizza for the rest of my time in Italy...

After lunch, I was still hungry but we hopped on the metro again and got off at the stop called Colosseum. As soon as we stepped outside, BOOM there it was. The Colosseum was so beautiful that I didn't even mind the large amount of tourists around me. We came upon a man that was trying to sell us tickets to tour the Colosseum and the Forum for like $40 and we didn't want to spend that much, so we searched for something cheaper. We ended up getting into both places with a 24 hour pass for only $15. Since we were near the Forum, that's where we went first. I didn't have much prior knowledge about the Roman Forum so it would have been helpful to have a tour guide, but luckily we had Nick who is a history major and lives for talking about the Roman Empire. He showed us around the forum and read his notes that he prepared and gave us a more interesting and cheaper tour.

Next, we walked back to the Colosseum and Nick gave us the same kind of tour. I was lucky enough to be a little more prepared for this landmark, thanks to the amazing social studies and history teachers from my elementary school and high school. I was always interested in the Roman Empire and Ancient Greece so this was something that I have been wanting to see for a long time. In the Colosseum, a lot of the original structure had been missing, leaving no seating, no floor in the arena, and 4 levels instead of 5. Since there was no floor in the arena, we could see the tunnels where the gladiators would be kept before their fights which was under the arena floor. There was no seating left, but the whole arena was so huge so it put into perspective of how many people came to watch these fights. We climbed up what seemed like 10 flights of stairs to get a better view of the whole thing. It kind of felt like I was at Memorial Stadium on Husker game day because most sports arenas are based off of this structure. After walking around for a few hours, the Colosseum was closing soon, so some of us went back to the hostel to nap, but I wanted to go see the Trevi Fountain. When we got off the stop for the fountain, we realized that it was a couple blocks away from where the metro ended. We started walking and stumbled upon a lot of tourists again but we were at the wrong fountain. We decided to take it all in, and then go back to the hostel with the rest of the group and see the fountain the next day.


After the long day we had, I decided to go to bed early because we were going to get on a bus to head to Pompeii. This was another place that I've learned about in social studies so I figured I'd cross it off my bucket list as well. For those that don't know about Pompeii, it was a Roman city near Naples which was ruined by a volcanic eruption in 79 AD, killing everyone in it's path. This city was discovered sometime in the 7th century and is now preserved for people to see and explore. When we got to the ruins, we decided not to pay for a tour guide again and to just wander around the city by ourselves. It sounds morbid, but something that I remember learning about, is the casts of bodies that were preserved and put on display. A specific statue I remember seeing was of a boy who was covering his face from the ashes that were falling down on him. When we exited the ruins, these bodies were on display in glass containers. After touring the ruins of Pompeii and the new city of Pompei, we got back on our bus and headed back to Rome.

When we got back, we went to see the Trevi Fountain so I could live out my Lizzie McGuire dream for about 15 minutes. I tossed a coin into the fountain and made a wish just like in the movie. I was hoping someone would mistake me as a European singer and I'd get to live out that dream for a little longer, but unfortunately that didn't happen. After taking the metro back to the hostel, we were getting sick of eating pizza for every meal, so we found a Honduran restaurant and I had a huge chicken burrito.

The next morning, I was sad to say goodbye to Rome and all it had to offer, but I was ready to relax on a beach for the rest of the trip. We packed up our things, and jumped on a plane to Split, Croatia. When we got there, we didn't have to wait long for our luggage and we had a ride set up for us to get to our Air bnb. When we walked outside, it started to pour.. so much for going to the beach. We packed into the car and made it to the apartment. When the rain stopped, we decided to save some money and buy groceries at the local store to make meals in our fully stocked kitchen. I got some supplies to make pasta, chicken nuggets, sandwiches and grilled cheese. I'm glad we decided to do this because I was running out of money and couldn't take spending any more on eating out every day. We got back to the apartment and made food and then instantly fell asleep after another long day of traveling.

It was now Wednesday, and the weather was still a little crappy so Jess, Kody and I decided to get an early morning massage. I've gotten massages before, but I've never experienced  one that hurt that much.. maybe I was so tensed up from all of the traveling, but once she got to my shoulders, my whole body tensed up. Later, I realized that it was a sports massage which is usually meant for athletes so that's probably why it was so rough. After our massages we decided to relax for the rest of the day because we still had 4 more days in Split. Later that night, we met up with two more girls from our class that were staying in a different area of the city for dinner and drinks. They told us all about their day exploring different islands and swimming with jelly fish, despite the freezing cold water. Our group decided we wanted to go on an adventure as well, so we planned on going to a national park on Friday.

The next day was spent at the beach.. it was about time. We made some lunch and put on our swim suits. It was only about a 15 minute walk to the nearest beach so we got some beer on the way. When we reached the beach there weren't as many people as I thought there would be, so we put our towels out and started tanning. After I could feel myself getting burnt, I walked into the water which was freezing cold but it felt nice because the sun was beaming down on us. We only stayed for a couple more hours until we were all sunburnt, so we walked home and decided to go to bed early because we had to meet for the national park the next morning at 8:30.

Krka National Park is a park that consists of huge waterfalls. We got on a bus for about an hour and then got on a boat for 30 minutes to reach the park. We saw online that there was a swimming area in the park under the waterfalls, so we wore our swim suits. After an hour with our tour guide, we split up and walked around the rest of the park by ourselves, discovering an abundance of beautiful waterfalls coming from all different sources and nature along the way. At the end of the trail, we found the swimming area, but we were a little distraught because our tour guide told us that the water was too high for swimming and that it usually didn't start up until May. We saw people swimming anyway, so we decided to jump in. The water was freezing cold, but it was an experience I'll never forget.



When it came time to leave on Sunday, we had to check our of our Air bnb at 10:00 AM. Our bus from Split back to Olomouc didn't leave until 9:00 that night. We had a whole entire day to kill, but we had all of our luggage and nowhere to go. We decided to get some brunch and head to the beach. We sat in the shade just appreciating the view of the ocean, writing in our journals, reading books, and a little bit of napping. We didn't want to have to carry our luggage around all day so this was a perfect place to relax. As the sun started to set and our shady spot wasn't as shady anymore, so we went to get an early dinner which was closer to the bus stop. I had a few beers and a burger with mac and cheese to top off the relaxing day we had.


Once I got on the bus back to Olomouc, I fell asleep right away. When I woke up, it was about 4 AM and everyone was getting off the bus. I had no idea what was going on, and our bus driver didn't speak English but I could tell he was trying to tell me I needed to follow the rest of the passengers off the bus. I saw Jess and Kody with their passports, and when I realized what was happening I realized that we were crossing the border into Slovenia and needed to show our identification. I had left it on the bus so I had to get back on and the driver didn't seem too pleased. We had to do this 4 times throughout the whole 12 hour bus ride. When we got to Vienna, we had a 3 hour layover, so we sat at the bus station and waited for our bus to Olomouc. Finally, after 7 more hours, we arrived at our home away from home and had to miss class because of our set-backs along the way. I was so happy to be back in my dorm room and get some sleep.

My time abroad is coming to an end, and I have already experienced much more than I thought I would. We have about a month left here and I can't believe it's gone by this fast. I'm glad that we are holding of on the traveling for a while, because I'm a little burnt out from the last 2 weeks. We will be taking a weekend trip soon to Krakow, Poland to see Schindler's factory and the Auschwitz concentration camp so I've decided to stay in Olomouc this weekend to prepare myself.

Next week I'll be writing about Vienna and Venice so stay tuned!

To the People of Europe,

Since I've been in Europe for a little over a month now, I have already met so many people that will impact my life forever. Along with these people, there are even some who I've only spent a couple minutes with that have taught me something about myself or about life.

To start off, when I first arrived in Prague, I encountered a lot of people who were so nice to me and the group that I arrived with. The woman who rented out her apartment to us left us a list of all the places near us to eat, to shop, and the places we should visit for the weekend. She even had a driver pick us up from the airport and take us back. This made my first weekend in Prague feel so welcoming and homey. As I have already mentioned in my first blog, we had to take an Uber almost everywhere since our Air bnb apartment was very far away from the city square. I encountered so many different Uber drivers. Most of them didn't speak English so there were a lot of silent rides, but there were some drivers that went on and on about their lives in the short 15 minutes I spent with them. Most of them talked about their reason for moving to the Czech Republic and how happy they were to be there. A few talked about their education and how they had the privilege go to college and get their degree. This really stood out to me because not a lot of people here have the opportunity to have a higher education. They work so hard to get where they are and I really appreciate that. It makes me want to work harder towards my goals in life, and it also made me cherish the privileges that I have in my life.. especially the opportunity for me to be in Europe for three months.

Having dinner after our beer tour. Tereza is on the bottom left!

Next, I want to talk about Tereza. Tereza is one of or directors here in Olomouc. She has been helping me, and the rest of the group ever since we got accepted into this program. We met her back in the States last semester when we got together at Old Chicago, and ever since then I knew she would be our "Mother Tereza." She's done so much for us since we've been here like copying our passports for safer travels, booking local weekend trips when we have nowhere to travel for the weekend, teaching us how to use the tram system, showing us around our new college home, and being there for us when we need someone to talk to or to take us to the doctor when we are sick. She really does it all and I think I speak for everyone else in our group when I say I am so thankful for her. Last weekend she organized a beer tasting and a wine tasting for the weekend. I only went on the beer tour (because it was cheaper) and was almost late for the bus-but what's new. I quickly messaged her on Facebook and told her I was behind schedule, but she was so understanding and helpful on telling me how to get to the bus on my own. Thankfully, I made it on time and didn't have to miss out on the beer tour!

When we arrived at our dorms (Nederin) in the beginning of March, it was late and we were all so tired from our day of traveling from Prague. We were given our bedding and WiFi router (which didn't work by the way) and sent off to building 2D floor 4. Emily and I each had huge suitcases and tired arms... and then we had to carry our belongings all. the. way. up. to. 4th. floor. Luckily, there was a nice girl that lived across the hall who asked us where we were going. She took our key and led us to the right room and unlocked all of the doors for us on the way. Just today actually she offered to let me try her authentic Chinese food that she cooks for her and her roommate almost every night. I've run into so many nice and helpful people within our dorm. The guy that lives next to Emily and I helped us with our WiFi situation and he also warned us when the University was doing electrical checks. Since our WiFi router from the University didn't work, we were forced to buy one at the store, which we apparently weren't supposed to have. He saved our butts from getting fined.
Jess also has an amazing flatmate, Hash, who is from the UK. He has helped her and Hannah so much in their dorm as well. Whenever Jess and I are trying to book a train or a flight for a weekend trip, he helps us and sometimes knows how to get us discounts. He's even helped us order TelePizza when Jess and I had no food in our rooms. I'm so glad I met Hash because he's so understanding, helpful and patient with us in all situations. He really is a blessing!

Adela, me, Jess, and Tereza

Speaking of new friends, Jess met two girls while she was lost and trying to get back to the dorms one night, and they helped her find her way back. To thank them Jess and I met up with them for drinks last week. Tereza and Adela are sooo nice and they were very interested in the differences of the US and the Czech Republic and what we had to say about it. Tereza grew up here in Olomouc and Adela is from a small town in Slovakia and they are both studying here at the University to become Dentists. We spent the whole night talking about all of our different views on the world and quickly became friends. When we get back from our trip to Vienna, Venice, and Croatia in the next couple of weeks, we have already planned to meet up again.

On this trip, I have already learned more about myself than I ever thought I would. I've learned to be more patient- especially when I'm always late for things and getting on the wrong trams and getting off at the wrong stops. A long time ago, I realized that I was very relaxed and carefree when it came to stressful situations. Usually when the slightest thing goes wrong, there is always someone who becomes stressed about the situation.. which isn't a bad thing. Sometimes its good to have someone in the group who worries about missing flights and accidentally getting off at the wrong train station, because if no one worried then we would never get things done.

Laughing after we got off at yet
another wrong stop

I've learned to sort through what is worth stressing out about, and what isn't. For me, being late and missing a tram is NOTHING compared to other problems going on in this world. There could always be something worse that could happen to me. On this trip I have definitely realized that I have it pretty good here.. so the little things that go wrong don't quite matter.

Because I'm a little bit more relaxed, I find myself not booking flights, trains, bus rides, and places to stay when we travel until about a week in advance, because I kind of worry about things as they come along. Thankfully there are people who are more organized than I am in our group. But I am learning from the more responsible people in our group to be more organized and on top of things. This is definitely something I have struggled with all my life.. I guess you could call it procrastination (as I'm writing this blog an hour before it's due haha.) But by the time I am ready to travel back to the states, I'm hoping I can be way more on top of deadlines than I was before I arrived. Maybe I will start being on time to things too ;)

That's all for this blog, but I'll be back soon with all of my adventures in Vienna, Venice and my Spring Break travels.

A Little Bit of Homesickness, a Little Bit of Culture Shock

My beautiful family :)

Recently, I have become homesick which is something that doesn’t happen often. Perhaps I can blame it on the Easter holiday that I missed with my family. Maybe it’s the fact that my little brother was recognized for honorable-mention all-state in the Lincoln Journal Star for basketball and I wasn’t home to congratulate him. Although I will be returning home in a little less than 2 months, it is very hard for me get through the days without my family and friends back home.

I have been trying to focus on the positives of being here which is very easy to do because I am surrounded by amazing people and places, but lately I have been focusing on the negatives. I find myself thinking about all of the things that I’m missing out on at home-especially the food. Almost every day, I crave Raising Canes, Runza, or simply making chicken and rice in the comfort of my own kitchen. I also miss my queen sized bed, my feather pillow and soft blankets. These are things that I knew I would miss while I was away, but I know that they will all be waiting for me when I get home.

Along with the little things I have taken for granted, I want to touch a little bit on the culture shock that I have experienced in the last month.

Pilsner Urquell and Kody

The pivo here is CHEAP and much tastier than Busch Light lol. The average mug at a bar costs about 30 CZK which is about $1.50. Back in the US, I can find the same thing for $6 which is usually fatal to my bank account. I also don’t get asked to see my ID when I order a drink at a restaurant or a bar, which is nice because the drinking age here is 18 years old unlike back home. While I’m talking about the beer, I might as well talk about the water. I think I took advantage on the access to water back home because it’s sometimes hard to find here. Water is also more expensive than beer when ordering drinks at a restaurant. It took me a while, but I’ve learned that nesycená means “flat water” and has a blue cap, but the green caps are sparkling water which doesn’t agree with my taste buds. After about a week, we finally found bottles of water that were only 6 CZK and have 1.5 liters of water! It doesn’t taste as good as the water from home, but water is water.

Something I miss doing back home that I also took for granted is driving my car. Here in Olomouc, we have public transportation in the form of a tram that takes us straight to class and the train station and then makes a few more stops along the way. There are also busses, trains, subways and very cheap flights that allow you to travel within the country and to other countries as well. A train to Prague only costs $10 and we purchased our tram pass before we got to Olomouc which will last us the whole semester so most transportation is fairly cheap. I have noticed that a lot of the locals take public transportation over driving a car. All of the cars here are manual and are seen as a luxury instead of a necessity. In America, I don’t use a lot of public transportation. I had never taken the subway up until I arrived in Barcelona this past weekend. It was such a new concept to me because I had only ever driven a car and used a bus a couple times to get to a Husker football game. Using the tram and the metro seems like a quicker way to get around a big city, but can be complicated until it becomes an everyday thing. I still find myself getting off at the wrong tram stop from time to time, but I’ll get hang of it someday!

Being a server at a restaurant, I have noticed some differences between restaurant etiquette in the US and in the Czech Republic. Here in the Czech the servers usually come to the table within the first 5 minutes like in the US, but they ask us what we want to drink right away and don’t allow a lot of time for us to think about what we want- usually I just order a pivo, so this is pretty easy for me. After the drinks are served, they ask us what we want to eat which is what happens in the US as well. When the food is served, they usually don’t come back to the table until the plates or glasses are empty. Even after they clear the table, they allow us to visit and drink as much as we’d like until we are ready to pay. I like this way of serving a lot because we can just get up and pay whenever we are ready- weather it’s as soon as we are done eating, or if it’s an hour later, they don’t really mind. Lunch time in the Czech is when everyone eats their main meal. If we are eating at a restaurant during lunch hour, the servers like to get us out of the way as soon as possible, just so they can keep their restaurant full and busy throughout lunch time which is totally understandable. I like to think that I have grown accustomed to the restaurant etiquette here so the next step is learning how to order my meals in the Czech language.. I’m still working on it. 

After a month in the Czech Republic, I have adapted to the differences but I still find myself missing home. This makes me appreciate what I have back in the US a lot more! By the end of my journey here in Europe, it will be hard to leave but I think I will be ready to go home to my friends and family and my comfy bed! I've also decided that the first meal I'm going to eat when I get home will be Raising Canes. :)

Prague, Prague, Prague

Oh, Prague... you have my heart. 

As you may know from my previous post, I have already been to Prague a number of times. This last weekend, I went back for a third time. This time, we took a field trip with our professors and learned a lot more about the history that is Prague.

Before our trip, we watched a movie called Anthropoid which is based on a true story about one of the roles Prague played in the Holocaust and World War II. Czech commandos planned to assassinate Reinhard Heydrich who was a high ranking German Nazzi during WWII. After successfully assassinating Heydrich, the commandos took refuge and hid under the Orthodox Cathedral of Saints Cyril and Methodius in a crypt for 6 hours while the gestapo searched for them. After hundreds of gestapo stormed the church, all of the commando agents are killed in a fierce battle.

The memorial located in the crypt of two agents
 that Jan's great-aunt offered her home to.

When we got to Prague, we checked into our hostel and then we took a tour of the Orthodox Cathedral where the commandos took refuge. We went down into the crypt where many of the commando agents were killed. There was still damage from the gun shots, and there was a memorial for every agent who was killed. No words can describe how I was feeling in the moments I spent in the crypt.

One of our professors ancestors played a big role in this mission. Jan's great-aunt harbored two of the agents before the assassination took place. Jan told us about his family's involvement and we were all very moved by his story. I can't even imagine being in Prague during the war or being in a situation similar to Jan's great-aunt. It makes me very thankful for the life that I live.

After we took our short tour of the church, our professors gave us some free time to go to the mall, get some food and then rest for the long day of walking we had ahead of us. Since I've been around Prague a time or two, I knew all of the good places to eat. Some of us girls went to Las Adelitas which is an amazing hole in the wall Mexican restaurant. The pomegranate margaritas and chicken burritos are to die for! We walked back to our hostel and spent some time bonding with one another in a crowded room with many beds. We suddenly received a text from Jess, who was on a conference call for her internship in Illinois. She was at the McDonald's around the corner using their wifi, because the connection at the hostel wasn't that great. A couple of homeless men came up to her and asked her for money so they could buy food. She sternly said no and they left her alone for a while. They ended up cornering her and tried to take her phone, laptop and her wallet. Jess yelled for help and no one would respond. Finally a couple tried to get the attention of a security guard and got her out of the situation. Jess luckily contacted one of us who had wifi connection so three girls ran to McDonald's to help walk her home. Although this mishap was terrifying, we all learned a valuable lesson that night. We learned that we should never go anywhere alone, no matter how comfortable we feel. Using the buddy system is key when traveling in a foreign country because the chances of someone trying to take your money is very slim when traveling in groups. We were all very thankful that Jess made it back to the hostel safely and unharmed and it was safe to say that we were not going back to that McDonald's for the rest of the weekend.

Statue of the Crucifixion which replaced
a wooden cross in 1629

The next morning we woke up to rain, but we met up around 10:00am which was awesome because I'm sure you all know by now that I need my sleep. First we walked across the Charles bridge. I had been across the bridge a handful of times by then, but this time was different. This go around, we had our wonderful professors with us so they could tell us about the history of all the statues along the bridge. I even had the opportunity to touch the Martyr of the Confessional statue for good luck! I'm crossing my fingers that I don't end up losing anything else while I'm abroad. Next, we walked down to the John Lennon wall where I got just a few more pictures. The wall is constantly changing every day with new art pieces and signatures of the people that come to visit it. It was cool to see how much it had changed in just two weeks.

Because it was cold and raining, we found a small coffee shop to get some shelter and a bite to eat. We realized we were missing someone from our group. We got ahold of Abbie who was left behind on the Charles Bridge while she was taking selfies (a typical Abbie thing lol). When our whole group got back together, we headed up a huge hill to see the Prague Castle and Cathedral. Walking up the hill was well worth it because the view was BREATHTAKING. We were all taking pictures of the views and getting some selfies in as well. Then, Maekayla realized that her purse was open and her wallet was missing. I tried to retrace our steps to find it but there was no hope. With all that was going on, someone had managed to unzip her purse and take out her wallet. She froze all of her cards and tried to contact her dad back home but it was 6:00am there so he was asleep and the banks weren't open yet. Luckily, no one used any of her cards and she got them replaced and sent to her as soon as possible. We all learned that we all needed to hold on to our purses at all times. After that, I started to zip my purse up in my coat, just in case the good luck from that statue didn't work.

Jan, Jess, Martin, Professor Biggs and I at the pub

After spending a couple of hours touring the Prague Castle and Cathedral, we walked to get some food. We ended up at this burger place that was pretty expensive but well worth it. They made us all pay together at the end, which is a little different from what we are used to. Tasha was a saint and put it all on her card, and we all just paid her for what we ate. Every time we go to a restaurant here as a group, the servers don't like it when we all pay separate. Usually it isn't a problem to go up to the counter and pay separately, but there were about 10 of us eating together that day so the server made us pay together. We had the rest of the day to ourselves, so we decided to relax because our feet hurt from all of that walking we did. Later that night, we met up with our professors and they took us to one of the first pubs in Prague. After a few beers, everyone decided to leave except for the 4 of us who stayed for a few more lol.

DRESDEN, GERMANY

Statue of Martin Luther in front of the church

Early in the morning we hopped on a bus to go to Germany. The bus ride wasn't too long, but it was long enough for me to get a short nap in. Once we got to the main train and bus station, I bought a post card to write to my friend Cortney back home because she loves Germany so I figured I'd send her a little something from there. We walked to the church and saw a statue of Martin Luther and then split up for lunch. After lunch we walked through the church which had been destroyed and rebuilt with the remains and it was still as beautiful as it was before based on the pictures that were on display. After the church we walked around and saw some more beautiful buildings. On every corner there was a new street artist singing and playing music for money. We got to choose if we wanted to go to an art museum or an armory, and I chose to go to the art museum.. there were so many floors filled with works of art and sculptures. Most of it wasn't in English so I had to think of my own interpretation of the art piece, which I didn't mind at all. After a long day, we went back to Prague and spent our last night in the city roaming through the Easter celebration- which reminds me a lot of Czech Days in Wilber. It made me feel at home. :)

The old Jewish Cemetery in Prague

Our last day in Prague was short lived, but it was a very humbling experience. We toured the Jewish quarters of Prague. Right when we walked in, the walls were covered in the names of those murdered in the Holocaust. It put into perspective of how many people were murdered during the War. The names were also played on a recording 24/7. We walked outside into the old Jewish Cemetery. I stayed close to our professor, Jan, as he talked about the history of the cemetery. Here's a little something I picked up on. During the War, the Nazi's buried bodies in this Jewish Quarter as a "trophy" for them to look back on. After the war, it was turned into a cemetery and more of a memorial for the Jews that lived there. In this cemetery, there were 8 layers of bodies buried and the headstones were placed on almost every square foot of the cemetery. Jan continued to explain the rituals of a Jewish burial. Typically, after death, the body would be prepared and buried at the next sundown, so most bodies were buried same day of death, unlike a christian burial. Something else that is different is that their feet would be placed at the tombstone so if they were ever resurrected, they would stand upright and see their name on their tombstone.

Before this, I had never seen a Holocaust memorial before, but only learned about it and saw pictures in my history classes. It was a very big eye opener for me to see all of this in person, especially to see all of the names on the walls of the Jewish Quarter. It really did put things into for me and it will be an experience that I will never forget. Later in the semester, we will be visiting a concentration camp, located in Poland. This will be something that I never thought I would be prepared to see, but I think this trip to the Jewish Quarter and Cemetery will help me be a little more prepared.

Overall, for me anyway, this trip to Prague has been better than the last two. I appreciate Jan, Martin, and Professor Biggs for showing us around Prague and putting up with us especially when we show up late to almost everything. We've put them through a lot in the last couple of weeks but we are very grateful to have them by our sides even if it doesn't seem like it. I am already learning so much, and I'm ready to explore more of Europe with them and the rest of our group from UNK.

Stay posted, because I will be taking a weekend trip for Easter break to Barcelona, Spain!

Thanks for sticking with me through this very long blog- you're a real trooper if you're still here.

Ciao!

Daily Life Abroad

Ahoj, from Olomouc, Czech Republic! The past two weeks I have spent abroad have been a whirlwind of emotions and experiences.

We decided to arrive in Prague a couple of days before the official meeting date so we could see if we could manage to travel on our own for the first time. Everything was going well... we got through customs and found our luggage at the airport, exchanged our money for Koruns, made it to our Airbnb apartment, and found a bar with some authentic Czech food and pivo. All was well. We went to bed that night exhausted from 11 hours of traveling.


The next day, we tried to navigate our way through Prague with 15 minute Uber rides and crazy drivers, and the ability to only say thank you in the Czech language. We went to the John Lennon Wall first, which I was very excited to see because I LOVE The Beatles. The wall was covered in beautiful graffiti and art which reflected the peace and love that The Beatles portrayed in their music. I think that people from all over come to this wall to find a peace of mind, like me. The artwork that embodied the wall made me think about the life I live. It's crazy that something just as simple as graffiti on a wall can make me and the others that visit it forget about all the evil in the world and focus on all of the beauty.


Later in the night, we met up with some other girls in our group, had dinner and then went over the Charles Bridge to go out for the night. Up until this point, everything was going great... the city was breathtaking and the food was delicious. I had forgot to take my passport out of my wallet that night (of course) and it ended up falling out and was gone forever. A passport is definitely not something you want to lose, especially when you're in a foreign country. I stayed fairly calm throughout the next week until I could make it back to Prague and get a new one at the United States Embassy.

So in the meantime, we met up with our group and traveled to Olomouc, where we would be living for the next three months. Emily and I were dead tired and just ready to go to bed as soon as we got our room assignments. We put away all our clothes, made our beds and found out that there was no wifi in our dorm. We both felt a little homesick and we weren't able to talk to anyone from home without the wifi so we called it a night and tried to get a decent amount of sleep. We started classes the next day and took a tour around the town of Olomouc. We learned how to use the tram which is now our only way of transportation besides "going by foot" (a little Prague Uber joke). I didn't know it then, but the 2 and the 7 trams became my best friends.


I guess I should talk about the amazing food I have been eating. At most cafes and restaurants I'm able to find sandwiches, pizza, pasta, and burgers (all of my favorites) But I've been wanting to try something different while I'm over here. My favorite traditional Czech meal that I have had so far was duck, dumplings (potato dumplings and bread dumplings) and cabbage. This is a little different than what I'm used to back home- but that will be a whole other blog post because I could talk forever about Wilber and our Czech heritage. But I'm excited to see and taste some other traditional meals from the other countries we visit.

Tomorrow, we are traveling back to Prague (the third time for me) for class. I have already seen a lot of Prague, but I am excited to learn more about the history from my professors and I'm interested to see more in depth of what I just browsed before. I can already tell that Prague will be one of my favorite places, and most cherished places even though it took my passport haha. Prague is a symbol of where it all started and where it will end at the end of May, so I am very grateful for this city and what it has yet to bring for me.