My Time

Finals are over. Finally. Papers are done. Finally. Traveling Europe is done. Finally. The weather is beautiful. Finally. I have time to enjoy Prague for what its worth. To explore parts of the city that I have not explored thus far. And I will have a companion who is a wonderful adventurer.

On the plane ride to Barcelona I reflected upon my stay here in the Czech Republic. Here goes:

The end is near. One week left, of CET at least. What a long strange journey its been (Office reference). I feel like my time in Prague/Europe was well spent, living in Prague was definitely a good choice, except for the weather situation. It sounds cliche but I learned a lot about everything this semester. Really. I feel like I’ve been gone for years, but at the same time, where’d my time here go?

It went to poland, Czech Republic countryside, Slovakia, Austria, The Netherlands, Ireland, Great Britain, and Spain. It went to tram rides and metro stops. It went to friends, old and new. It went to beer and wine. It went to visitors. It went to food, buying and cooking. It went to the Office and Weeds. It went to jazz clubs and dancing. It went to cold rainy days. It went to photography and painting. It went to not having a job. It went to hang drying laundry and washing dishes. It went to sunny days and turning 21 in a place where it doesn’t matter. It went to hand rolled cigarettes (mom don’t freeak out, I won’t come home with this habit). It went to getting lost. It went to making new friends from all over the U.S. It went to the Czech Language (and now it won’t get any more of my time). It went to birthday celebrations. It went to classes and films in arthouse theaters. It went to communism and democracy. It went to coffee. It went to plane and train rides. It went to emails, letters, postcards and skype.

And most of all, it went to me. This was a time about me. Selfish, I know, but when else will I have that chance. The chance to frolic around Europe with wonderful new people or see fire works over the Charles Bridge with my family. Don’t ask what my favorite part of my experience was because I really can’t chose and don’t want to be forced to. I think my time in Prague was mostly spend being silly and at times a little ridiculous. But thats ok, because after all, I am only 21, I have the rest of my life to be serious. : )

Final Photographs

This is the result of my final photography project for the semester. I used an alternative process called VanDyke processing and printed it on sensitized canvas.

Not what I expected, but good…

The new slogan for the Czech Republic ^. This weekend my family was here in Prague. We ate a lot and saw a lot. It is now full blown tourist season here. The weather was mostly wonderful with one little bout of rain, but there were plenty of museums to keep us busy. It was nice to have them here for a while…but I’m ready to have my own time here after the program ends. I’m ready to go home, but I’m trying not to push it because I know once I’m home I will wish I was back in Prague. Also, I have nothing set at home. I don’t have a job for the summer (I’m open to suggestions), I don’t have an internship (again, any connections would be wonderful), and I don’t have a place to live in August for the upcoming school year. These things have all been on my mind here, but I’ve been pushing them aside to think about what’s in front of me. Literally..like watching out for dog poop. I have yet to step in any, so I think I’m doing a good job. I just know that as soon as I get home, all of these things, these “real life” problems, are going to catch up with me. Compound that with being back in the wonderful suburbia of Oakland, and it makes for one fantastically fun summer. It will be nice to relax a little, especially in a house where I have a room of my own. I have already started compiling my summer goals list and hope that I have enough time to accomplish everything I added to it.

This weekend I’m meeting up with Kelly in Barcelona. I know that I will have a great time and this is probably the trip I’ve been most looking forward to, but it’s also my last weekend here. And to know that everyone will be here and I will not, is sad. It’s the last hurrah of the CET family and I’m sad I won’t be here for it. I’m sure we’ll still have fun next week, its just hard to know somethings going on and you’re missing it. Also I won’t be around this weekend to do work, and god knows I have more than I expected. I’m going to have a very productive Tuesday and Wednesday this week and finish up everything before I leave Thursday evening for Barcelona. It’s sad to think I won’t be around these people that I’ve shared the last 4 months with, but I know that when I go back to the U.S. I will have more friends to visit and more parts of the U.S. to see.

Traveling around the Czech republic and eastern Europe has made me want to see more of the U.S. The country is huge and I’m realizing how much of it I haven’t discovered. How much the culture varies within our own country, within the borders. I never had much desire to go to Montana or Nebraska or Kansas, but now I do. Not only because of the people I’ve met but because they are American’s too and their lives seem so different then what I know it to be. Listening to the ways people grew up and the ways other people live is interesting and makes me want to see that part of the country. I would like to say that I have been to and spent time in all 50 states. Not just the cities, but the country rural areas as well.

So in the next 10 years I would like to say I have visited every part of the U.S. New goal.

Prague for the weekend?

So this is the first weekend I’ve spent in Prague in a long time. It feels like I haven’t been here for a weekend since I got here. It’s unfortunate that the weather still isn’t as nice as I’d hope, but its getting there. My family comes this week and I’M SO EXCITED!!! Not only do I really miss them a lot, but I’m really excited to show them where I’ve been living the past few months. This place that has become my temporary home. I haven’t really gotten home sick since being here, but I do miss things about home (both DC and Oakland) and the US in general. I guess I just get home sick for the familiarity of things. When I want something to eat and don’t feel like cooking, its always a project to order at a restaurant, and take out doesn’t really exist here. Although most people speak english, I feel like it’s ignorant to assume they do.

But there’s a phenomenon here where people get offended when you try to speak Czech. I was ordering pizza the other day and practicing my Czech so I said “dva pizzu” (2 pizza’s in the accusative form because that’s how you order food, in accusative). The woman looked at me like I was crazy and asked if I spoke English. I said yes, and she said well speak it then. I was bewildered and a little embarassed. I had tried and she shot me down. Its hard because I’m not a tourist, I’m living here, I have an address, I’m learning Czech, and she just assumed I was a tourist. Then I was mad. Mad because I just don’t get Czech and people are just mean here. I’m trying! Ugh. This will make me think twice about getting angry with non-english speakers in the US.

On another note…this week was birthday week. Starting Wednesday night. It was a late one and I had a full day of classes Thursday, but when in Prague, right? You only live once. After not very much sleep I was proud of myself for waking up for a 9 am class (meaning I had to leave my apartment at 8:30) and continuing through 3 classes. Staying awake proved difficult and I practically fell asleep standing up on the tram ride back to my apartment at 4 pm. I stumbled up the steps to my bed and passed out for 2 whole hours. Like deep deep sleep. That rarely happens during naps for me. That night was a another birthday so out we went again. And Friday morning we had to get up early to go to Ledice, a small former town destroyed by the Nazi’s during their search for Heydrich’s assassin. The killed all of the men, sent the women to concentration camps and gassed the brown haired brown eyed children and sent the blonde haired blonde eyed children to German foster parents. Then they burned down all the buildings and houses, leaving nothing but some foundations. The story of the town is overwhelmingly sad. There is nothing left of the town but a memorial to the citizens. It is a green field spotted with foundations and various statues. There is also a museum on the premises about the atrocities that happened there. The museum was set up very well and was very moving. What I liked most was the old footage of Hitler and the town and Czech Republic in general. It is something that we don’t see in the US. Only in Europe can you go out partying and drinking only to wake up and go to somewhere as moving as Ledice.

So finals have started to become something to worry about. Well maybe not worry about, but consider. I have started writing final papers and finishing up projects. I only have two written in class tests, one for Czech Language and one for Politics. I’m more worried about Czech language and will have to study hard for that. Not so worried about politics considering I did way better than expected on the midterm. One thing at a time and it’ll all get done. But first family comes to visit! And I cannot be more excited. I still have some stuff to get done before Wednesday to make our weekend here more enjoyable : )

Hope all is well in the states and I have less than a month left here … yikes.

Foggy London Town (and Budapest)

Last weekend I went to London to visit my friend Katie from school. She is attending BADA (British American something about theater). She is studying theater and having a great time. The weather was gorgeous upon arrival early friday morning. We went to Camdentown, the area around her school with a lot of funky little markets and interesting people. I felt very un-stylish compared to everyone we saw. Everyone had a style (good and bad), but everyone had something. It was interesting to see, because Czech fashion is all bad and non existent. We’ll see what pops up when the weather warms up here. We also went to Primrose Hill, a park that overlooks London and sat in the sun for a while. It was nice to see something I didn’t get to see when I visited London last time in 2004…4 years ago. Then we went back to her apartment and met some of her friends and had fish and chips at a pub across the street. It was nice. Since everything was really expensive (club wise) we just hung around her flat.

The next day was a little cooler and rainy, but we went around the city and saw the main sights again. Just a quick overview and orientation. Then the fun part. We explored the Tate Modern museum for a very very very long time. It was amazing. It may just be my favorite museum in Europe. I didn’t get to go there last time so I was very excited. They also had an awesome exhibit about Du Champ, Man Ray and Picabia, the main leaders of the dada movement. I really find this artistic movement interesting because it was a reaction to a social event. They’re motivation and execution interest me more than the art. It is a little silly and when looked at with a detatched eye, I could understand why someone wouldn’t like it. But to me it is interesting. I had a background in what Dada is and how it started so this exhibit was interesting and took a different angle because it was about the relationship of the three artists and how their friendships formed themselves as artists. The influences they had on each other are astounding. There was one work by each of them next to each other, and I had a hard time deciphering who’s was whose because they were ridiculously similar. It was a very large and extensive exhibit that was well curated and nicely divided into time periods with fantastic quotes by all of the artists and of course their art works. It was glorious. We really spent over 3 hours there not realizing the time. It was late and on the way home we walked across the millennium bridge at sunset and stopped at St. Pauls which is beautiful. Then we bought some cheap wine and beer and hung out at the apartment again.

Sunday we woke up to 2 inches of snow and rain outside. We ate at cafe and I read my book until it was time to go to the airport. Nothing else to eventful but the plane ride home. Got back to Prague and felt home.

This past weekend was Budapest trip with the group. The weather was the most glorious fantastic wonderfully amazing weather I have seen in a long long long time. It was in the 60’s/70’s practically the whole weekend. Even at night. It made the whole trip so much more enjoyable. We also had a lot of free time to ourselves which was nice. Friday the group went to a place outside of Budapest called Szentender (? St. Andrews). The town was sickeningly cute like every other town outside of a city in Central Europe. There are no suburbs. The city ends and farms begin. It’s kind of nice, but strange because in the US the lines between city and town and village are skewed and blend together, but in Europe its very clear cut what’s what. We also did the Turkish baths. Basically a pool sized hot tub with and outside and inside and multiple pools, also men in speedos, I forgot we were in Europe. It was quite the people watching spot. Sunday we had a few hours before we had to get on the bus again for 8 hours (mom would have died) so we had a picnic in the park with some champagne and real cheddar cheese (it doesn’t exist in Prague)!! So good. Then we got on the bus to come home getting into Prague around midnight. Only to get up for classes the next morning. It was long day.

My family comes to visit next week! WOOHOO! I’m so excited to show them Prague and the places I’ve come to know and love. Its similar to having them come visit DC but much better. Prague beats DC in terms of the city, but not the people. After parent’s leave Kelly and I travel on to Barcelona! Then it’s time to go home. I have exactly one month from Thursday left. I cannot believe it. Time is flying, I’m going to continue to say it, because its true. The weather is finally getting nice here and I’m loving it. We ate lunch in a park today behind our school and it was fantastic. I’m looking forward to getting some color. I’m very pasty. Wearing a bathing suit was not fun.

Hope all is well in the states and I’ll see everyone in a month!

Also, my camera wasn’t working for Budapest, so I have no digital photos. Sorry : ( You’ll just have to wait for the prints.

Ireland

So time is flying. Literally. I feel like I have spent no time in the city of Prague. The first month took forever but since February I can’t seem to find a down moment. I don’t mind though, every now and again I have taken a “personal day” and done nothing but watched tv shows (ie. the office and weeds, I have finished all of the seasons I can get my hands on) or read a book or taken a nap. School is finally picking up too. It seems like everything at the same time, as always. Funny how that works… But with midterms now taken care of, I just have to worry about a final photo project and paper and a presentation and paper on The Joke by Milan Kundera, which I wanted to read anyway. I still don’t feel as though I am attending school. The situation with classes here is so bizarre and unlike any school setting that it’s hard to actually believe you are in college. Basically I have class on Monday and Thursday, but all day. Having Friday’s off is super nice and allows for some generous time to travel..leading to my next topic, Ireland.

Dublin is awesome. I really liked the city, and I recently learned that Ireland has the most “wealth” among the countries using the Euro (we just had a guest lecturer lecture us about the EU and its economy…it felt like macro economics all over again so naturally I tuned most of it out). Anyway, the trip was good, started off a little rough but overall excellent. Our plane was delayed leaving Prague by 2 hours, so instead of leaving at 8 we left at 10:30 pm. We passed the time in the airport fine, and finally took off. But just as we got to cruising altitude I felt the pangs of vomit rumbling in my stomach. I excused myself to the bathroom and was sick. I thought I felt better, but was sadly mistaken. Three more trips to the bathroom and I decided to sit in the back of the plane near it. Once I had nothing left in my stomach I thought I was good, but I was sadly mistaken. The flight was relatively smooth and I ate the same thing as Charlotte and she didn’t get sick, so it wasn’t something I ate. At this point I wanted to tell them to turn the plane around and take me back to Prague but I had to persevere (there’s my tenacious attitude, dad). I muster my strength and we’re the last people off the plane. Loaded with barf bags, we find a taxi and, after a very expensive taxi ride, we make it to the hostel (Globetrotters/The Townhouse on Lower Gardenier St.). It is now 2 am and the room is freezing (side note* I forgot PJ’s so I slept in my jeans) but I was so tired I just went to sleep.

The next morning I woke up feeling weak but not sick, which was good because we had a lot to do in Dublin. We got breakfast at the hostel and set out to see the sights. Trinity College and the Book of Kells, The National Archive of Photography, The National Photography Gallery and numerous cafe’s and random statues along the way. The weather was quite unpredictable as well. One minute it was pouring, the next it was sunny and hot. Very strange, not something we get in the states. We also did a lot of shopping (it’s cheaper than Prague and I found some great things) and saw a rainbow! Over a bridge! It was the biggest rainbow I have ever seen and also the brightest, each color was easily identifiable. No, we did not find a leprechaun or a pot of gold at the end of it, so please spare the jokes (Dad).

That evening we signed up to do a bus tour of the Wicklow Mountains and Powerscourt Gardens. We decided on the bus tour because the weather was so unpredictable that we didn’t want to get stuck outside in the rain, but wanted to see some more of Ireland besides Dublin. The tour was fabulous… It was nice to see the southern shores (cute little beach towns) and the mountains. Not only was it green, it ended up being sunny some of the time!  The Powerscourt Gardens are an old house and its gardens from the 13th century (http://www.powerscourt.ie/). There we had a great lunch (probably the best chocolate cake I’ve eaten in a while) and walked around the gardens and got to see the pet cemetery before it started down pouring. On the route back we went a different route through the mountains and saw a wedding going on at an old church that has a wait list for weddings that is two years long! Sign up now. As you can image the tour guide made many many many MANY jokes about his mother-in-law and marriage. Naturally this went over very well with the foreigners, I suppose marriage is something to joke about in any culture. The group really enjoyed it. After that we returned to the hostel and relaxed for a little. By this point the weather was nice again so we walked around some more, found somewhere to eat and then went to Porterhouse Pub (very large, touristy and very expensive, 4.5 euro for a small beer) but they brewed 10 of their own beers which is nice.

Sunday our flight out was in the afternoon so we only had a few hours in the morning. We went to the Modern Art Gallery (which was free and had a cool reconstruction of Francis Bacon’s studio) and the Writer’s Museum (including a free audio tour with the price of admission) because we couldn’t find the James Joyce Cultural Center). After that we got some lunch and ran into the stinky boys who were staying in our room at the hostel then left. Goodbye Dublin, I will see you again.

It was weird to be around people who were speaking ENGLISH! It’s funny how much I zone out on the trams here in Prague because I can’t understand anyone, but there it was good to overhear people’s conversations about what they did today, or how the weather was. Also Irish people are just friendly. Everyone was ready to help if we needed it and were polite.

This weekend it’s off to London to visit Katie who was here in Prague a few weeks ago. I leave early Friday morning and return Sunday evening. Next weekend we have a program trip to Budapest, which I’m really excited for, and then my family comes to visit, then Kelly and I satiate our love of traveling together in Bracelona, then my program ends and my friend Elsa comes to visit and then I leave! It’s all happening…

Easter Sunday and Monday

So I decided to go to Easter Mass on Sunday morning. I couldn’t find a church in English on the internet (Churches aren’t very technologically savvy). I decided to go to a big cathedral that we pass on the way to my friends apartment. It’s at Namesti Miru (Peace Square) so I hoped it’d be nice. It’s a beautiful building from the outside, very big, and I had never been inside but imagined it would be the same and just as decadent as the outside.

It was.

This was the biggest place I’ve ever been to mass at and it was damn intimidating. And of course I didn’t understand anything because it was in Czech, but it was Catholic, and being that I’ve probably gone to 320,493,834 masses in my life, I knew the procedure. When to sit, stand, kneel and respond (in English). Thank you parents : )

There weren’t that many people there, but my row was packed. I was next to two very old women who looked like they were from “the old country”. There were probably only about 20 pews per side but the space of the church was huge. Maybe the lack of people made it look even bigger and more intimidating. It came time for communion and I trembled as I said Amen and the priest put the host in my hand. I felt so out of place and uncomfortable it was incredible. The mass was nice and the space was beautiful, the stained glass kept me entertained during the words I didn’t understand.

The church was FREEZING. I’m used to masses at OLPH being packed and sweating my brains out because of the sheer body heat. I kept my coat and scarf on the entire time. I don’t know how these old ladies do this every week. The temperature added to the overall feeling in the church.

Also, there was a very very small child as an alterboy. He had to have been no older than 4. I’m not exaggerating at all. The rest of them were probably between 6-10. But this one little boy looked like he had just gotten baptized. I was amazed at how still and quiet he was the entire time on the alter. He also carried one of the big processional candles without burning the place down. I was impressed, but at the same time I felt a little awkward. No one else in the church seemed to notice or care, but I couldn’t help but watch him most of time. What went through his parent’s head? Who thought this was a good idea? But maybe he wanted to. Maybe one of the older alter boys was his brother and he wanted to wear the little white robe and sit in a chair too big for him and dangle his feet the entire mass..I don’t know and never will, but I was very taken aback.

This experience lead me to see why so many people don’t like Catholicism. It is very based on tradition and very ritualistic. Everything is done at a certain time, with certain words and actions. No change is tolerated. I can see how people become creatures of habits. It just seems odd that a religion that preaches such love and compassion is not as warm and welcoming as it should be. And yes, Catholicism has had its downs, but so does any institution, look at “democracy” and governments all over the world, especially in this part of the world. It also has its ups, all the great things it has done for the world and human kind. Some people take comfort in the traditional atmosphere, not me. I think that you can be religious and spiritual without having to be so outwardly action oriented (maybe not the right words). I think some of the most religious and spiritual people are those who internalize everything and turn it into practice in their lives. They believe in doing something because it’s the right thing to do. Spirituality is a very personal thing. I think that’s why I don’t like those preacher, evangelist extremist (Huckabee) people. There’s a difference between being spiritual and being fanatical.

So overall, this Easter was interesting. After mass I went to Ashley’s apartment where she made pancakes (American ones) that her mom sent her and we had maple syrup. We all ate them together (the whole apartment). I picked up some fruit for the pancakes and kinder eggs for everyone for easter since I miss getting and Easter basket. Then we just hung around all day and did a puzzle, played guitar and relaxed. It was wonderful. It was almost like a family holiday because it just felt like what Easter feels like at home. It was nice. Then we went out to dinner at Merlin’s (apparently they have good hot wings, but I don’t like spicy so I got something else). It was a solid Easter Sunday and I was happy about it : )

Central European Triangle Castle Tour Spring Break 08

10 castles in 7 days.

So after returning to Prague from a very very long 8 day trip with my program on our “spring break”, I feel like Prague is even more beautiful than before. Maybe because this is my new “home base” or maybe it’s because it really is the most beautiful city in Eastern Europe, but I really missed it. I didn’t realize how much until I left and came back.

Every day of the trip was packed with tours and sites and food and alcohol. It was exhausting. Even when we had free time it wasn’t spent sleeping in the hotels, it was spent seeing the sites of vienna, visiting the museums or walking around in the snow. The weather was awful pretty much the whole time except the one day we went into the Czech countryside to do a little hike and see some caves (Punkva Caves). They were awesome. It felt really nice to just be outside and be able to breath peaceful with the sun shining. I wore sunglasses for the first time since being here! Crazy.

So the places we went were as follows:

Trebic: A small town in southern Czech Republic. We saw a basilica, the Jewish quarter, and a synagogue.

Moravsky Krumlov: The home of Mucha’s Slavic Epic which is enormous and billiant (google it)

Brno: Museum of Roma Culture, tour of the city, went to a mexican dance club that night (pretty fun)

Kromeriz: The archbishop’s palace tour, stumbled on an easter fair market and ate a wonderful potato pancake and some candied street nuts..amazing. The smell is divine, really, that’s what heaven smells like.

Punkva Caves: caves. nature. wonderfulness. Castle Spilberk: An exhibit about functionalist architecture. The exhibit was kind of boring but an interesting concept and architectural movement.

Lednice and Valtice: Castles, minaret (a large tower built on the castle grounds by the royals just for fun), conservatory, gardens. It poured the entire day and we were outside pretty much the entire day. Tensions ran high.

Mikoluv: Wine tasting (fantastic old man who blew fire, everyone got very drunk that night, making the next day of tours just swell), tour of the town, the biggest wine barrel in Europe, another (get ready for this) castle, and Jewish quarter. This was by far the sleepiest town I’ve ever been to. The Irish pub closed at 1 on St. Patty’s day…

Devin: ANOTHER CASTLE! On the way to Bratislava we stopped and looked at this castle. I paid 10 crowns to pee (most expensive, usually its 3 or 4), but the castle was cool. Look for photos to come soon.

Bratislava: Tour of the city, ANOTHER CASTLE, lecture about Slovak economy (the educational part of the trip), a big church, and a big bridge.

Vienna: Tour with Wolfgang. We saw the most mozart look alikes in one square block, ate at some Vienna Coffee houses, had some sachel torte (famous dessert), and toured around in the sun, snow, rain, sleet, heat and cold. The weather was so unpredictable, one minute it was sunny and warm, the next snowing and freezing.

So that’s the short summary. I will try to post some photos but I didn’t have batteries in my camera for the first few towns. Also, on the way back to Prague, there was conveniently a 150 car pile up on the main high way so we had to take back roads through the Czech Republic to get pack to prague. Needless to say it took far to long to get home and I was getting antsy. We made it safe and sound and all is well. Since I’ve been back its been busy busy getting ready for the summer (jobs) and next year at school (class schedules, housing) as well as midterms this week in my classes here.

Next weekend Charlotte and I are off to Dublin and the next weekend I’m going to London to visit my friend Katie who is studying there because I got an awesome deal on a flight. Then traveling for the rest of my time here almost every weekend, then coming home. Time is flying.

Side note: Easter traditions here are weird. A boy buys something that resembles a pile of sticks tied together and decorated with ribbons and flowers. Then he goes around and whips (yes, whips) the girls he likes. In return the girls are supposed to give the boy eggs and/or pour water on them. I thought this was a joke, but its serious. People sell the “whips” on the streets and eggs in baskets. I hope that I don’t experience this tradition first hand…

Amsterdam ?

This past week has been surreal. Katie, my friend from AU, came to visit starting last saturday. She’s studying in London and had her spring break and decided to come visit me! It was funny showing people around here. It really made me feel like a “local” (I hate that word, but I can’t think of anything else right now) or an obnoxious tour guide. All I needed was a bright neon yellow umbrella. She was fun though. It was nice to see a familiar face here, especially someone who was super excited to see me too and see the city : ) We did all the touristy sites (Charles Bridge, Old Town Square, Malastraska, and the Lennon Wall), ate and drank a lot, saw some interesting theater performance and met some new friends at an awesome jazz club. Parents: when you come visit we will go there : )

Katie left on Thursday morning and Charlie arrived. I had class all day Thursday so we went out to eat with his friends from high school who are studying here as well. Friday I played tour guide again and we did the major sites, only to leave Prague at 5 to catch a flight to Amsterdam to meet up with our friends from AU who went there on their spring break. The flight went well and it was really nice to see everyone. It is difficult to coordinate things without cell phones, but I suppose that’s what people had to do before the 90’s.

We went to the VanGogh Museum, Anne Frank Huis (House), and did a canal cruise, which was pretty funny. We also rented bikes which was awesome and rode around Vondel Park for a while, very pretty. Everything was really really expensive and I kind of felt like I was in Disneyland, everything was really touristy. They are on the Euro so all the prices on the menu’s didn’t look bad, but then you convert them to dollars and it’s ridiculously expensive. I kept to my budget though, I even had some money left over that I’m going to save for when I visit another country that is also on the Euro.

The feel of the city overall is just very different from Prague, and even more different than the U.S., as all European cities are. I have no digital pictures from this adventure because I bought zinc batteries instead of alkaline..who knew there were different types that don’t work interchangeably. Oh well, I suppose you’ll have to wait till I process the film and print the photos and get to a scanner to put them online. That could be a very very long time, so don’t hold your breath.

I got back from Amsterdam at 10 Monday morning, meaning I left there at 6 am, getting up at 5:45 am. So I was pooped after that, and a long Monday of classes until 7:30 at night. Needless to say I slept really well monday night, which is the first time that’s happened in Prague in a few weeks. For some reason I just can’t fall asleep here or stay asleep. I’ve never had problems sleeping, but I think it has to do with my bed being uncomfortable.

And tomorrow we leave for the Central European (obtuse) Triangle trip with the program. We are traveling by mini bus with 15 students and 1 coordinator for a week to Brno and various UNESCO heritage sites in the Czech Republic, Bratislava Slovakia, and Vienna Austria for a day and a half. I wish we were spending more time in Vienna than Slovakia, but whatever. I’m excited to see those places but a little nervous about being on a bus with the same 15 people for a week. Just pray that the weather is nice. Trawinski’s: While in Austria I will keep an eye out for the Van Trapps and tell them grandma says hello.

I’m sorry this post wasn’t more intellectual or deep but my parents said everyone wanted an update, so here it is. Hope all is well in the states and I look forward to seeing everyone when I get home! More to come after we return from the triangle : )

“We can never forgive or forget, but we must live without hatred”

So since I’ve been here a month, I’ve already been two three concentration camps (Auschwitz, Birkenau, and Terezin). Although the first two are connected and not even a half mile apart and the third was a ghetto and work camp for political prisoners, they are still humbling and powerful to visit. Today we visited Terezin, a camp 30 miles north of Prague. This is where most of the Czech Jews and political prisoners were taken and held before the execution of the final solution, when all of them were sent to death camps like Auschwitz. Somehow walking onto the site, a compound that was built in 1780 to help the defense of Bohemia during the Prussian-Austrian wars. After that it was used by the Hapsburg family to hold prisoners and army offenders. It was also used in WWI to house the men who shot Archduke Franz Ferdinand that started WWI. Then the Nazi’s took it over for the use of a ghetto. The buildings are split into two parts, the Main Fortress (Terezin the town) became a ghetto (the holding point for jews) and the Small Fortress, the camp for Political Prisoners (anyone who outright disobeyed the law, they were killed immediately or worked to death). Also this is the camp that the Nazi’s showed to the red cross when they were inquiring about the concentration camps. It was painted nicely and the Nazi’s even complied a band and had artists and authors write plays and operas so that it looked like the Jewish culture was still in tact and that the Nazi’s were giving this town to the Jews as a gift.

Our guide, on this wonderful 60 degree day in late Februrary, was non other than a survivor of Terezin and the Holocaust. He is 84 years old and was 16 when he was sent to Terezin with his entire family of 50 (including extended family) of which only 3 survived, himself, his grandmother and his wife. His story is truly unbelievable. He was taken to the camp in the first batch of prisoners with 15 other men. When they arrived one of the men had written a secret letter to his family and dropped it in the snow hoping someone would pick it up and deliver it. It was picked up, but by a Nazi sympathizer who turned the letter over and all the men were executed except our guide and his friend. He thinks that is because they were carpenters and of use to the Nazi’s.

He was also part of the resistance at the camp. He explained that everyone in the resistance had a specific job and his was to find an escape route because the compound was built so long ago that there were secret passageways. Well, needless to say, he found an escape tunnel. But instead of just leaving once he was out, he went back to tell the others and they got guns so they could protect themselves once they were out of the tunnel because it was heavily guarded. Before they could actually escape, the “final solution” was put into action and he was on a train that was being sent to Auschwitz. But, being the smart man he is, he figured out which car was going to a different camp and he got onto that one instead. This saved his life because he would have been immediately sent to the gas chamber at Auschwitz. He was sent to this other camp where one night the soviet soldiers cut the power supply so over 100 people escaped because the search lights and electric fences weren’t working. This was his third escape.

While we were at Terezin, he took us to the execution field. It was literally a field with a tunnel (“the tunnel of death” to the prisoners) through a hill leading to it. As we walked past the gallows, he pointed out that he had built the steps and platform and he was not proud. Because he was a carpenter he built the gallows that killed his fellow prisoners. This man is truly incredible. On the way back through the tunnel he was walking ahead of the group and stood at the entrance to the tunnel with the sunlight shining through and it was a tear jerking site. The survivor walking out of the shadow of the tunnel of death. Breath taking. That is the part of all three camps that really made me emotional. You can walk around and see the baracks and the cells and the SS offices, but somehow that personal touch is missing. Maybe if I had a relative who was effected by it I would feel differently, but this man was the closest I have gotten. Seeing this man, who is full of life, living a “normal” life after this horrible atrocity, something completely unthinkable to our generation, walking away from death time and time again as if it is no great feat. That is truly amazing. And his final words to us on the bus ride home that we can never forgive or forget, but that a heart must be rid of hatred. That someone must still show love and compassion even after everything they have been through. To forgive and forget is something that is irrelevant but to live in love is something vital to human existence.