and the excitement continues....

There is so much to report! Last Friday marked the last day of the Czech Intensive course... phew! I learned a lot but 5 hours a day, 5 days a week is a bit intense for sure! After class, Olivia, Gina and I bought some juice boxes of wine and Olivia made breaded chicken. By the way, all that we have to cook with here are two hot plates- making any kind of exciting dish almost completely out of the question. I miss having an oven, but experimenting with the hot plates has been fun as well. After we ate up, we grabbed our bags and ran (literally, we were a little late) to the train station. We bought a group pass to Ostrava and then ran to the train. Ostrava is a town about 4 hours north-east of Prague, by the Polish border. It is known for its "kicking night life" so we thought it'd be a good way to wind down after two weeks of being high strung. If the picture above works, that is one that Gina took of me on the train. I havent uploaded mine yet and on top of that i've been having a bit of trouble getting them on the internet in the first place but i'll try to work on that soon and get some more up for your viewing pleasure.

Ostrava was fun and all, but I had a lot more fun on the train. The train was packed so we had to sit in the hallway with a bunch of other people. This gave us the opportunity to not only practice our Czech, "Pardon.. mluvite anglicky? ne? okay... kde to pivo?", but also to meet some English speaking Czechs who were eager to tell us about their country. Most notable would be 3 boys coming home from a concert and a man who didnt speak English but spoke French.

Ostrava itself was exactly as it had been described, there was one street just filled with bars and night clubs. I didn't find it all that exciting and as a result became a little homesick. I jumped on the next train back to Prague and was in my (slightly uncomfortable, but very welcoming) bed by 10am on Saturday.

Oh! I forgot to mention the TV tower. There is this HUGE, space craft looking tower poking out of the skyline on the other side of the city. If I understand correctly, it was built by the communists. It seems to pierce the sky, it is so large. Here are some pictures, borrowed from the internet:






After '89, a contemporary artist fashioned black babies that now "crawl" all over the tower, celebrating the rebirth of the nation. Here are some close-ups:




I walked to the tower with Olivia and Mikey and we went up the the 8th floor (the highest floor you can go to). The view was MAGNIFICENT. You could see all of Prague. Also, they had maps of the area pointing out the important buildings and what they were and why they were important. Very cool.


Classes started yesterday and so far they are going well. I've decided to continue on with the Czech language throughout the semester so hopefully I'll have a working knowledge of the language when I return and I can annoy you all with it ;). I also had my Alternative Czech Cultures class yesterday and I am SO excited about it. The teacher seems really great and the class in general very interesting. she grew up during the communist era and was part of the punk scene so she has a different view of what it was like trying to rebel under such controlling times. I think I'll get a lot from this class. Today I have my class titled Bohemian Literature: From Kafka to Kundera, and on Thursday I will have Gender and Post-Socialist Transformation.

yesterday, Olivia and I found a store that sells only locally hand-made garments. I didnt buy anything yet because I wanted EVERYTHING!!! I hope to go back and support the local arts soon, though... Also, we stopped for a beer afterwards and ended up talking to a guy from Scotland! He said, "WAIT, you speak czech AND you have a map?" Which was all very flattering, of course. Anyhow, he showed us where his favorite places in the city were on the map and so now we've got some more adventuring to do!


Hope everyone stateside is doing well!! I love and miss you all very much!!


-virginia