Fall Break

arg. i have so much to fill you guys in on!

i suppose i will start with Berlin

Thursday morning I had a Czech test (it didn't go so well, I don't think. The teacher included information on it that she specifically said wouldnt be on there!). After the test I was really aching to get out of town, so I called Chad and said, "let's go." We went to the train station and got tickets for Berlin, woo hoo!! Mikey got a ticket as well, but he had to go to his afternoon class so we made plans to meet him at the train station. The train ride to Berlin was mostly uneventful, except for the hot wine (now I'm really looking forward to the hot wine stands that will pop up on street corners soon), an hour delay and a nice czech guy. We got to Berlin and it was cold and rainy, boo! We started walking around and exploring the city. Three hours later we were still walking and had still had no luck finding a hostel. At that time, we went to meet up with Mikey- he made it! I was the only one with a cell phone so we were a little nervous that Mikey would either miss the train or that something else would go wrong and we would have no way of knowing, but everything worked out just fine. After we got back to the center of town, we decided to walk around and find a bar. This was important because we knew at that point that we didn't have a place to sleep that night. After wandering around for a bit, a man pointed us in the direction of a Russian bar called CCCP.

It was really cool and really expensive. We hung out there for a while (got some REAL gin and tonics for once) and then, around 3, decided to head out in search of something new.


We went to another bar (something about Hamburgers? I don't quite remember) where we stayed until 5:30am. At that point, we decided to head back to the train station and look for a place to sleep. The public transportation had just started and so we bought full day passes and hopped on. The train station was not warm. The train station was not comfortable. We stayed there for an hour or two before we were freezing and miserable. Chad had the brilliant idea to sleep on the metro! The metro trains were warm. They were also comfortable. woo hoo!! We rode the train around for a few hours - switching trains every once in a while. When we came to enough to start adventuring, we went to get coffee (at Starbucks, and I also used their bathrooms to brush my teeth, wash my face, put on makeup and fix my hair) and then to check out Checkpoint Charlie and some other interesting sites in Berlin.

For lunch AND dinner we had 2 euro kebab sandwiches. In retrospect, I wish I had photo-documented this. But I didn't, so you'll have to use your imagination. The first one we scarfed down so fast that none of us had taken more than a sip out of our beers by the time we were done. We were hungry, I guess.




Luckily, the night before we had been able to get reservations at a hostel for Friday night. We checked in around 1 and immediately took a nap. That night we went out in search of a wine bar that we found in Chad's Lonely Planet. It was SO COOL.

It was like a big house party - Claire would have LOVED it. I almost want to start my own version so she can come, imagine that! Anyways, when you get in the door, you rent a wine glass for one euro. After that, there is a big counter filled with all sorts of wines. You can just go up and help yourself whenever you want! At the end of the evening, you pay what you think is fair for the amount of wine that you drank. Brilliant! I was really into the idea, not as much as Mikey, though (haha).

I almost forgot! on the way there we saw a hedgehog hogging some hedge. too cool!

I didn't take that picture, its from http://worcestershire.whub.org.uk, but thats what the little dude looked like.

After the wine bar, we decided to head to another bar called Astro Bar which was supposed to be decorated the way people in the 60s thought things would be like in "the future." It ended up being far away and not worth the venture, but the gin & tonics there were delicious and not so overpriced.


After that, we headed back to the hostel. what a mess! Mikey was wasted, we were all tired, it was freezing and we couldnt find the hostel. I got a bit cranky... to say the least. We finally made it back and curled up under warm sheets, mmmm. On Saturday we went on a walking tour of Berlin, it was very cool. We saw the Berlin Wall and a bunch of monuments and such.




On saturday afternoon, Mikey and I left Chad and caught the 4 30 train back to Prague. We got back and I went right to bed.

On Sunday morning, I woke up very early and headed out to the airport to pick up MOM!!!! She got in around 6 30 in the morning so when I picked her up we went to breakfast. Afterwards,I got to play tour guide and show her around the major sites in Prague. For dinner, we went to the Hanging Cup and had traditional Czech meals. Then we went out for FaBuLoUs Mojitos! They are crazy about mojitos over here, and now I know why!

Monday morning we continued our exploration of Prague by checking out the Prague Castle. Afterwards we wandered around and saw the Old Jewish Cemetery. We got the ingredients to make our own mojitos which we attempted before we headed to the Globe.

Tuesday morning led us to Vienna!!! Austria is beautiful. It is also cold and rainy, haha! The first night we laid low and went to a cafe where we sat, talked, munched on appetizers and played checkers (i won).
That night we stayed in and got a much needed good nights sleep. On Wednesday we got Wiener Schnitzel and decided that it is terribly overrated. We saw the St. Stephen's Church in Vienna (St. Stephensdom).

We went shopping (woo hoo) and stopped in for a successful-shopping drink at a cool local bar. Next, we went to the Albertina and say Monets, Manets, Picassos, Degas, Munchs and a whole host of other incredible pieces. After wards, we got tickets for the ballet the next night.


On Thursday we checked out Cafe Delgas, the catacombs which I cannot remember the name of off the top of my head, and the Upper and Lower Belvederes. On the way we came across Karlskirtche Church, which was amazing.


The Belvederes had another incredible collection of masterpieces, including all of the artists featured at Albertina as well as van Gogh, Mucha, and more. How inspiring!!

We went back to the hotel, cleaned up, and headed to the Staatsoper (State Opera House) to see Coppelia. How cool!! I love ballet. we drank champagne and i ate caviar. it was very first class. Afterwards we went to an amazing dinner at a microbrewery/restaurant across the street. it was delicious!


Friday morning we trained our way back to Prague. Having seen most of the major sites, we checked out some restaurants. I certainly ate well this week!!

This morning Mom had to go home :(

I had a ton ton ton of fun with her though, woo hoo!!


love you all!

-virginia

fall break

im in Vienna right now - so far, so good. Oh my goodness, I have so much to share. Unfortunately, it will have to wait. I've got pictures and adventures to fill you in on, though. I'd type it up now, but the keyboard won't change to English and it's a royal pain typing correctly.


€ ß ö ü µ ° ... those are all fun symbols.


cheers!!

-virginia

exploring more of the czech republic

Yesterday I went on another trip with the ECES program. Our first stop was Levy Hradec, specifically The Church of Saint Clement.

Levy Hradec is known as the place where Christianity began in Bohemia. People have lived at Levy Hradec since the 7th century, and the Church of Saint Clement was built in the 9th century. The building has been rebuilt twice, but the original rotunda stands (preserved by most recent additions protecting it). We walked around the cemetery surrounding the Church of St. Clement. I am always so taken by the cemeteries here. In Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Sabina describes Czech cemeteries as gardens and it's true. They are absolutely beautiful.
Many of them are old and huge, namely the Municipal Cemeteries in Prague. Most graves include a headstone but also a slab over the coffin. Families come and plant flowers and bushes and light candles. Many of the graves have glass boxes to hold pictures/candles/urns/etc.

After Levy Hradec, we ventured to the city of Melnik. This land was inhabited by Slavonic tribes in the 5th and 6th centuries. Of course, there is a castle/chateau here (apparently the main difference between the two is that castles have fortresses while chateau's are surrounded by gardens.

While we were there the owner of the castle showed up!! He was an aristocrat, for sure. I wanted to take a picture of/with him but I was too nervous to ask. He was a stately man, wearing a khaki double-breasted suit, dark brown leather shoes, and round tortoise shell framed glasses. He had his hair parted down the center and it flipped out a little at the ends. He also had a mustache. He spoke fluent English- almost without an accent at that! He told us about how his family owned 15 castles and how he had dropped by to check on the restoration of one of the facades of this chateau. After we toured through the chateau (my least favorite of them all so far- and the least ridiculous as well- no inlaid wood ceilings or anything!!) we got to go down into the wine cellar. Apparently one of the princesses (Princess Ludmila c.867-921) that inhabited the castle was serious about her wine. Also, within the family it was a tradition that on your 18th birthday you recieve 5,000 litres of wine that is 18 years old. I promise. I can't even make stuff like that up. That is a LOT of wine. I can only imagine renaissance BYOB parties, ha! We got to taste some of the wine made on the premises. YUM!

This is Gina and Mark tasting some wine!



Last night I ventured to a club called FUTURUM with some friends. It was 80s/90s night which was very fun, especially because not all of the music was American- they also played French hits from the 80s and 90s!! I like dancing, I had a lot of fun yesterday.




Well, hope you all are doing well!!

xoxo

I spoke too soon. This morning on the way to class I could see my breath! According to my suite mate, it usually starts snowing in October. oi!

In other news, I finally got a flickr account. I've posted 84 pictures there so far. I believe you can access it here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/14792772@N05/

enjoy!


xoxo

It's beginning to feel like fall.

Actually, the subject is wrong. In Prague, we've been getting 70 degree weather with clear skies one day and the next day highs of 55 with pouring rain. It's very confusing.

I've been so terrible at updating, but there is always something to do so I find myself with not a lot of blogging time. Even now I'm looking anxiously at the clock, knowing I have only ten minutes or so to get something out into the world of the internet before I have to head of to class (Kafka to Kundera). To borrow some lines from John Mayer:

I'm writing you
to catch you up on places I've been
...
didn't have a camera by my side this time
hoping I would see the world with both my eyes
maybe I will tell you all about it when I'm
in the mood to lose my way with words

---

That's not entirely true, either - I did document many events in photo format, but I haven't got time to upload them now (eek).

I dont remember the last time I posted so I'll give a general run down of what's been going on. Last Thursday, my friends and I ventured out to Rapture again. Rapture is an "indie electroclash dance party!!!" Right up my alley (although I'm still a bit unsure of what electroclash is, but it seems to be electronica rock from what I can gather). I ended up meeting a boy who is friends with Claire from William and Mary!!! What a small world! Apparently he moved to Prague after he graduated and got a job with an American marketing company based in Prague. Very cool.

Friday I slept in late and sort of lounged around for a while. Then I got a letter from the czech post office (all in czech) informing me that I had a package that they were holding hostage (although if i could translate it literally I dont think those were the exact words they used). Anyways, I walked down to the post office- it was a pretty long walk, but it was a nice day- and had an extremely crazy adventure. Once i got to the post office, I learned that- like the letter- nothing nothing was written in english, so instead I had to match words between my letter and signs and about 45 minutes later I finally had my package. It was the boots I ordered!! They are really awesome and I've been wearing them around a bit which I guess is kind of silly since it isn't cold enough for snow boots yet. Friday night I made dinner with Olivia, Mikey and Gina (everyone else was out of town for the weekend!) and stayed in and read. It was really nice.

Saturday, Olivia, Gina and I went to the base of an old statue of Stalin. The story is fairly amusing, actually. They erected this HUGE statue of Stalin (his nose was as big as I am) overlooking the city. Then they decided that maybe Stalin wasn't so great after all and they should take the statue down. But, given the Czech mindset and inability to admit they've made a mistake, they decide to take it down secretly. As if no one would notice that a huge towering statue had disappeared... they ended up putting a big tarp around it like they were doing construction on it. When they took the tarp down six months later, the statue was gone. The base was way too large to be taken apart without TNT- but TNT would have attracted attention so they left the base and now there is a big pendulum on it. The base offers beautiful views of the city- I got a couple of nice shots. Saturday night, Gina, Mikey, Olivia and I went to the Globe bookstore (where I beat everyone in Scrabble, woot woot). Afterwards, Jordan showed up and we stopped by a few bars in Nardoni Trida.

Sunday, I went to this amazing coffee shop that Chad and I had stumbled across teh week before. I plan to take every visitor to this shop. It is called "Dobre Traffika" which translates to "Good tobacco." They sell cigars in the front, but over all the place isnt smoky (and is also mostly free of tourists!). Very cool. Sunday night, I got everyone addicted to The Mighty Boosh. I am infinitely happy about that.

Yesterday was Forum 2000 and I'm really going to have to write another post about that entirely as I've run out of time. It was amazing- so cool!! I'm going to another panel this afternoon - Women and Gender in Peacekeeping. The one yesterday was Freedom and Responsibility in the Media.

Last night I went to see Stereo Total. It ruled.

more later!!!

xoxox

October

Today is October 2, marking, among other things, that I've been in the Czech Republic for a month now! It also means I'm a little under 1/3 finished with study abroad. Thinking about it kind of makes me anxious... I haven't left the Czech Republic since I got here - what if i don't get to see all the things I want to see?! I'm not that nervous about it, but I'm sort of kicking myself in the pants for not getting anywhere yet. In my defense, though, I have been all over the czech republic.

Classes are going really well so far- there is a lot of reading but overall it isnt strenuous and the readings are pretty interesting. A lot of the communication theory is almost identical to the communication theory i've been taught in Boston (which is not surprising because of global communications, and it wasnt that i was going to argue any of the theories i'd been taught, but it's nice to know they are universal). My czech class is becoming very grammar heavy, arg! The czech language has seven cases. I feel like i'm learning english grammar at the same time i learn czech. In the accusative, the direct object and the adjectives change- but not if the d.o. is masculine animate... and there is a different ending for feminine, masculine inanimate and neutral. And all the endings are different if it is plural. We havent even gotten to past and future (except like "Yesterday i stayed home- in which you use the form of the word twice- once in the past infinitive and once... i dont even know) Do you have a headache yet? Little kids speaking czech is extremely cool. It makes me jealous.

My Kafka to Kundera class is going really well. Right now i am reading The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Kundera. Infinitely cool as it is set in Prague for the most part. I'm enjoying it a lot so far- just a little bit more to go! One of the other authors we will read, Hrabal, came up in my Alternative Czech Culture class as one of the core founders of the czech underground during the communist rule. I love it when my classes overlap a little bit, I feel like I'm getting the parts to a puzzle that fit together.

Well, I've got some homework to get to before class.

AHOj!