Prague Field Trip

                 Last weekend, beginning Thursday March 22^nd, our group had a scheduled field trip to Prague. We also took a quick trip to Dresden, Germany on Saturday. It was a class trip, so everyone that is studying abroad came on this trip along with two of our Czech professors, Jan and Martin. Here’s a few things we did on this great trip to Prague.

                  The trip was a bit hectic when we first arrived in Prague. It turns out one of our classmates hopped off a station or two too early. Luckily for her, she was still in Prague and not in some other city. That would have been an expensive cab. After we got everything figured out and everyone settled in the hostel, we began our field trip. It started with a walk through some of the new town in Prague. We stopped and looked at a few building that had been occupied by Nazi forces in World War II. One of which was a building that the SS used to torture and get information from members of the resistance. We also walked by a few buildings that were used by the communist party and Soviet forces when they had invaded Prague and the rest of Czechoslovakia. One of which is still used by the Czech communist party today. We then walked to a church that also served as a Czech World War II memorial. The Czech Orthodox Cathedral of Saint Cyril and Nethodius is a church that hid resistance forces from the Nazis after the assassination of Reynhard Heidrich. Read up on Operation Anthropoid to learn more about this. The church had a memorial and we were also able to go inside and see exactly where the resistance fighters hid under the church. After this tour, we were given the rest of the day to explore Prague.

Memorial for the heroes of the Heidrich Terror with bullet marks from the standoff between Nazis and the resistance fighters

                  The next day we were headed to the Prague castle. We started with a walk across the famous St. Charles Bridge in Prague. It was a great opportunity to get some pictures while also learning a lot about the history of both Prague and the bridge itself. After getting across the bridge we took a detour to see the famous Lennon Wall. It’s a wall that was filled with Lennon-inspired graffiti. It was a way for students to take a stand against the communist regime which saw it as a horrible symbol of western capitalism. This wall led to many clashes between students and police. The face of John Lennon has been covered up by now, but it is still a place for messages of peace.

A group of us with Dr. Biggs on the St. Charles Bridge

My attempt at an artistic photo of the John Lennon Wall

                  After we got away from the bridge and the wall, we finally made it to the Prague castle. This is currently the residence of the Czech president. It is the largest ancient castle in the world. It also surrounds St. Vitus Cathedral which is a beautiful gothic Cathedral. We made our way inside of the Cathedral first and were given the chance to see the tomb of St. Wenceslas. We then walked into the castle and got to see the room where the Defenestration of Prague began. It was a small room where some noblemen and a scribe were thrown from a window but survived a 20 meter fall. It was pretty scary to look out of the window and see how high the fall was. After making our way through the rest of the castle we took a quick tour of St. George’s Basilica. This is the oldest church in the Prague castle. It was quite small but beautiful none the less. Once we all finished this tour, we were given the rest of the day to explore the old town of Prague. Everything was really beautiful and I know I’ll be back to see it again.

St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague

                  Saturday started with us getting on a bus to Dresden, Germany. We arrived in Dresden a little before noon. After we all got a quick bite to eat we visited the Dresden Frauenkirche Lutheran Church. It’s a large church that was bombed and destroyed in World War II but then finished reconstruction in 2005. Using the original prints of the building, they rebuilt the church and even used some of the original blocks along with a few original standing structures that were not destroyed in the bombing. After touring the church, we were given the option to either visit a picture gallery or an armory. I decided to visit the armory because it held a collection of ceremonial weapons, armor, and historical textiles. It had many beautiful pieces and descriptions for almost everything. There, I was able to see a full set of ancient ceremonial armor and dress. I also saw ceremonial weapons such as swords and jousting lances, all of which were very intricately detailed. After leaving the armory, it was time to go back to Prague for our last day of the field trip.

Dresden Frauenkirche Lutheran Church

                  On the last day of the trip to Prague, we visited the Prague Jewish quarter. This is an area of Prague the was used as a Jewish ghetto from 1096 until the 1800s. When we first got to the quarter we had to wait in line to get in. We then toured an old synagogue that is now a memorial for about 78,000 Czech Jewish Victims of the Shoah. It was a very impacting experience to see all of the names written on the walls of this synagogue. After this we then toured the old Jewish cemetery. This is Europe’s oldest Jewish Cemetery which was used from the 15^th to the 18^th century. It is unknown how many graves there are because after running out of room they would bury people in layers and some areas are 6 layers deep in the cemetery. After walking through this very crowded cemetery we walked to the next synagogue. This synagogue happens to be the oldest active synagogue in Europe which was built in the 13^th century. It was quite amazing walking into a building like that and seeing that history.

The old Jewish Cemetery

The oldest active synagogue in Europe

                  After seeing the last synagogue, we were given a little bit of free time before heading back to Olomouc. It was nice to come back and relax in my dorm. I am beginning to enjoy coming back to Olomouc and knowing where I need to go. I am starting to really enjoy my stay, and Olomouc is becoming more and more familiar. Thank you for reading. Also, a big thank you to Jan and Martin for all of your help and patience this last weekend. You guys taught us so much while making it more fun than I could have hoped for. Also thank you to Dr. Biggs who loves learning just as much as he loves teaching. I could not have asked for a better professor to come with us on this trip. I can’t wait for our next field trip together. Na shledanou!

Daily Life

Hey everyone. This blog that I am doing is the first of a series of blogs that are required for one of my classes. My topic for my first blog is about my daily life so far. However, I would like to start with a funny story about my first days here.

In the days leading up to the Czech Republic Study Abroad experience, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. It felt like I was going to come over for only a few days. I thought maybe I would look at a few tourist traps, and then I would try a couple different drinks obviously. I just wasn’t grasping that it was for three months, and I thought everything would go so smoothly. Boy was I was wrong.

On Wednesday March 7^th, 2018, I arrived at Eppley Airfield for my flight to take me away. The three-month trip started with me being told, at the gate to leave Omaha, that I could only take my personal item on the plane because they ran out of room for anymore carry-on bags. The kind worker told me that I would see my luggage in Prague. It was at this moment that I realized, this trip to Europe was going to be exciting. I would now like to fast forward to me landing in Dublin for a connecting flight and sprinting through the airport and making it to my flight to Prague with literally less than a minute to spare. Fast forward now again to me waiting in Prague for my luggage on Thursday morning. After 20 minutes of an empty belt at baggage reclaim had passed, I decided to ask a woman at a desk if I was at the right place. The very impatient Czech woman, who didn’t seem too thrilled that I only knew English, was then telling me she doesn’t know what happened to all of my luggage. I gave them the address to the hostel I would be staying at and hoped for the best. It was not until Saturday night, the night before we all got together to leave Prague, that I finally saw my luggage. The first thing I did was hug my bags while being laughed at by the desk worker that gave them to me.

While that story might make it seem like I am struggling, I am not. Every day that I have been here has been an adventure. Simple things, like trying to order food, have become some of the biggest challenges. First off, beer is cheaper than water. Whether this is a good thing or not, I am not sure of yet. While the beer here is great, it’s nice to drink something to keep me hydrated rather than make me intoxicated. But as the locals say, na zdraví. While the drinks are great, the food is even better. Much like Nebraska, almost every dish has meat and a lot of it. It is also very cheap. A large meal and a generous glass of beer only costs about ten dollars at the nicer places. It can be even cheaper at a lot of other restaurants. The Czech Republic is awesome!

The great food and drinks at low prices make me sad that I am going to leave. I just wish I could say the same about the weather. So far it has been pretty cold, and it has precipitated on most days. I have yet to go a day without needing a jacket or coat, but I have been told that will end soon. I really hope so because I had enough snow back in Nebraska. It makes it a little tough to get around Olomouc because I have to walk everywhere that the tram won’t take me. Luckily for us, the tram has a stop right by our dorms and another right next to where we have our classes. I wish I could say that I missed living in a dorm but I would rather have a house. I am staying in a dorm style room with my roommate, Nick. Lucky for me, my roommate and I get along great and share a lot of common interests so I think we’ll grow pretty close during this semester abroad. The other UNK students are also staying in dorms, and all of our rooms are pretty close to each other.

However, we don’t like to spend our nights in the dorms when we can be out exploring the town. The night life has been a lot of fun and it’s been a great way to meet other students from around the world that are also studying at Palacky University here in Olomouc. There have been organized parties where we were given the chance to meet some other students. There are also a few clubs in town. One of which had a theme night for all the students from Turkey. It was a lot of fun and I hope we get to do an American night. It would be a great way to show everyone a little bit about America.

While being here has made it tough to socialize with my friends from Nebraska, it forces me to talk to new people and really not dwell on life back home. It helps me really focus on life in Europe, which is why I came over in the first place. I can really say that I have enjoyed almost every minute of my study abroad experience thus far. Sure I have had my fair share of struggles (like losing my luggage), but they have been so much fun to laugh at the next day. I’ve been trying new foods and seeing new things every day and, I can’t get enough. I am excited to see more of the world and learn more about other cultures. Na Shledanou! (That’s “Goodbye” in Czech)