Finally Updating!

I apologize for not updating everyday, but I finally had time tonight so here's the recap of the past few days:

Saturday:

It was the big day trip to Cesky Krumlov, a UNESCO World Heritage site near the southern border of the country. Our train left around 7am so everybody had to get up very early. The ride took about 4 hours and I think I slept for 3 ½ of those hours, lol. When I woke up, I was able to get a few pics of the countryside. It was a bit of a walk from the station to the city center, but it’s a small and lovely town. There are a lot of cute shops and a medium-sized castle. There was also a local band playing near the castle; I was able to record a little bit of their music using my camera. We had a private tour of the castle which had beautiful rooms except for the awful bear-skin rugs :( After the tour we could go exploring and shopping (I bought a flower-patterned teacup and saucer set), but then had to meet for lunch around 3. We were given a little more free time after eating, but we had to make sure we went to the train station on time because if anyone missed it there was no other way to get back to Prague. The train ride back to Prague was really uneventful because most people slept, myself included. I got back to the residence hall around 11 and immediately went to bed.

Sunday:

Sunday was a very emotional day; we went to Jewish Prague. It’s a small part of Prague where the main Jewish community used to live; they were harshly persecuted and today the Jewish population is pretty small. We saw some beautiful synagogues, the Jewish cemetery and a Holocaust museum. There was one synagogue that had the names of the Jewish Czechs who died at concentration camps written on the walls and it just chills down my spine because there were nearly 70,000 names written. The museum was also very hard because they had a room filled with paintings and drawings drawn by children while they were awaiting transportation to Auschwitz. My family knows that I don’t cry very easily (my nickname is the Ice Queen), but just 30 seconds in that room and I was bawling my eyes out. The rest of the afternoon was much lighter as we went to an Italian restaurant and eat pizzas and calzones; the food was delicious. The evening was relaxing as I just stayed at the hall and listened to music and read a book.

Monday:

It was back to classes today with the lectures focused the domestic policies of Central Europe, but the professors were a little dry and one professor talked very very slow. We’re talking about 5 words per minute, lol. We went to Café Slavia again for lunch and then it was more classes. We finished classes at around 5:30 and I went straight back to the hall because I really needed to do laundry. I had to get a key to the laundry room from the reception desk and it was 40Kc for 2 washers which is around $2.30 in US dollars. The room was a little creepy because it was down it the basement, but the loads only took 30 mins. The real surprise came when I found out there were NO dryers. I didn’t know what to do until I went back to my room and finally realized what the cords hanging from the ceiling were for—to hang clothes! I took pictures because it was funny to see all my clothes hanging in the air. Unfortunately, it hasn’t been very hot here so it took until Wed morning for all my clothes to be completely dry.

Tuesday:

Today the lectures started at 9:00 instead of 9:30 and it was funny to see all the people who came in late because they hadn’t looked at the schedule correctly. The lectures were all about the shift in media coverage and journalism in the post-Soviet countries. The lectures were actually very interesting especially when we discussed the role of freedom of speech in Russia. The day seemed to go by quite quickly and I went out to a nice small pub-like restaurant for dinner with some of the members from the group.

Wednesday:

Today is my birthday! I am now officially 22 years old though I really don’t feel any older. Everyone wished me a happy birthday and I learned that in Germany the custom is to give the birthday person a handshake. I was so confused when my friend Ully stuck out his hand and he began to laugh when I just stared at him; Elena had to explain that I was supposed to shake his hand :) I went out to an absolutely fabulous lunch with 5 other people and we ate at the Allegro restaurant in the 4 Seasons hotel. It’s the only restaurant with a Michelin star in Central & Eastern Europe. The food was amazing and I had a great time with my friends. After lunch and the rest of my classes I had to run to the T-mobile store to buy more minutes for my phone so I could call home. I called in an early night and just hung out with Elena in my room before sitting down to write this.

I promise to write tomorrow! (We visit the Zoo!)

Love,

Marisa

Finishing Up the School Week

Hello! I hope everyone is doing well and took a little time out of their day to pay respect to those who died 8 years ago. It’s a little weird to be in a foreign country for 9/11; there’s hasn’t been any mention of it here though I did talk with the fellow Americans in the group this morning. Anyway, here’s how yesterday and today went:

Thursday:

Breakfast (which is the same thing every morning: lots of bread and meat, a hard-boiled egg, juice, and cereal) and then off again to the university. The first lecture was a little boring and dry, but I tried to take as many notes as I could. We went to Café Slavia again which is okay because it’s just around the corner so it’s convenient and the food is very nice. My friend Elena and I each ordered a slice of cake after and mine (chocolate raspberry) was quite delicious. Back to classes where the lectures got a little better though the day seemed very long. I finally headed home at around 6 and the rest of the group starting getting ready for the big pub and club night. I really am not a drinker or a clubber so after talking it over with Elena we decided that we wanted to stay home and have another free night. We went to Tesco (a big supermarket/Wal-mart) to pick up some dinner and then headed back to the hall. It was really nice to have the hall floor quiet for a few hours and to just relax and go to bed early. I asked a few girls from the group the next morning about the clubbing and they said it was really bad because the DJ’s only played old 80’s music. So I think staying home was the right choice.

Friday:

This morning classes did not start until 10am to accommodate the students who stayed out late, but 9 students still did not show up for class (apparently they just slept the whole day). I felt very refreshed today and enjoyed the classes which focused on the different political parties that are found in the Central European countries. For lunch we had a nice picnic at a park by our building; we were down by the river and the view was incredible. I could’ve sat and stared at the scenery for the rest of the day. After that, it was back to class and then back to the hall. I usually take the bus and metro to get home, but today I took the tram which was a nice experience. However, the transportation drivers in this city can drive quite crazily; they break fast and hit the gas even faster. Nevertheless, I was able to see a whole part of the city that I hadn’t. It’s now around 10:30pm here and I’m going to get ready for bed soon because we all have to get up very very early tomorrow morning. We take a 7am train to Cesky Krumlov which is a city in the southern part of the country where we’ll spend the entire day.

I’ll write again soon.

Marisa

Another Quick Post

Hello again! I'm sure most of you reading this probably figured that I just wasn’t going to write anything, but I have a really good reason for my absence: I’ve only had the internet for 2 days! You could only purchase the internet at the reception counter for a few hours a day and so I finally got up early enough to buy it before classes started in the morning.

So now that I have it, let me recap the last few days in Prague:

Saturday:

At around 2:30pm I left the hotel where I had been staying (since I had already been in Prague a few days before the program started) and took a taxi to my new residence hall. I was a little worried about the ride because taxis have a really bad reputation in Prague, especially when it comes to overcharging tourists. After getting reassured that my driver spoke a little English I felt more at ease. I knew the ride should take around 30mins, but I was really surprised at the size of Prague. I knew the section of Prague I was supposed to go to so I kept looking out the window. I finally ended up in the outskirts of town in a mainly residential area. My driver pulled into the right street, but there were a ton of small buildings and I could not see any numbers on them. Apparently, neither could he. He pulled the cab over to the side of the street and when he got out I was so worried he was going to make me get out too and find the building on my own. But there was no reason to worry because he said he was just getting out so he could find the building for me; I was really surprised (and thankful) he was going the extra distance to help me. He finally found it and helped me take my luggage to the front door. If anyone ever plans on going to Prague make sure you use the yellow taxis that have “AAA” on the side because their drivers are simply the best! When I walked in I was greeted by a woman named Adriana who is one of the organizers for the program. She helped me sign in and get my room key and bed sheets because the woman at the reception desk does not speak any English. Unfortunately, I had to carry my 2 heavy suitcases and shoulder bag up two big flights of stairs before there was a floor with an elevator. (Though calling it an elevator is a bit of a stretch). I found my room and met my new roommate. Her name is Merle and she is from Germany. We hung out in the room for awhile and then it was time to go to dinner. It was a traditional Czech pub and Adriana and Monika (another organizer) had already ordered for everyone. The food is definitely different: a lot of bread, meat, and enormous amounts of sauce. When we got back to the hall it was time for bed.

Sunday:

Sunday morning we had a tour of Prague. It is a beautiful city and I took a ton of pictures. After our tour we came to the university where we will have our lectures: Charles University. It is the oldest university in Central Europe and was first established back in the 1300s. We had our orientation session and our crash course in the Czech language. It is quite possibly the hardest language ever! Afterwards, I went with a small group to another Czech pub and then we explored the city for a few more hours.

Monday:

Monday was the first day of classes. The journey between our school and our residence hall is about 35-40 minutes. That includes taking a bus, then switching to a subway and then walking for about 15 minutes. We had a session on the brief history of Central Europe then we went to lunch at a nice place called Café Slavia. After lunch, another lecture then I had to rush back to the hall to change into my opera clothes. We went to the Estates Theater and saw Don Giovanni which was written by Mozart; it is quite humorous. Don Giovanni is a man who enjoys sleeping with women and keeps their names in a book (it has over 2,000 names from all over Europe). He upsets one particular woman and she sets out to expose him to the world and get her revenge. It was originally banned in Austria so Mozart came to Prague and it made its debut in the same Theater in 1787. After the opera it was back to the hall for bed.

Tuesday:

I had class from 9:30 until 12:30. Then there was a picnic in a park near the university. We then had two more sessions of class. After that we were free for the evening. A group of us has dinner at a lovely little cafe. I ordered a chicken salad which tasted like something I could eat at home so it was pretty good. Then I went to the Palladium shopping mall with my friend Elena because we needed to get our pictures taken for the bus/subway tickets. The man behind the counter did not speak English so I had to take out my passport to show him that I wanted a small picture like that one. It took some time, but we finally got the pictures. The mall is pretty big with 6 floors and so we went to the top floor to have dinner. There’s a restaurant called L.A Finger Food and the number 14 was called the “Sacramento” so I had to order it. It was a fried chicken breast stuffed with ham and cheese with a vegetable salad. It was very tasty! After dinner we returned to the hall to just relax and go to bed early.

Wednesday:

We had our normal morning lecture from 9:30-12:30. In this session we learned about the EU (European Union), though a lot of the information was stuff I already knew from my EU class that I took at OSU. We then had lunch at Café Slavia again. The afternoon session has been the most fun in classes that I have had so far. We had a mock European Council and represented 6 European Countries: the UK, Germany, Bulgaria, France, Spain, and Poland. The best part was that I wasn’t a country; I was one of 4 Presidents on the Council! (though technically I also represented the Czech Republic). Our task at hand was to set the budget for the EU with very specific amounts allotted to different areas for 2010-2016. This was a very hard task. I had to take notes of all the requests by the countries and they each had 1 min 30 secs to tell us where they wanted the money to go. Myself and the other Presidents then had to take the information and give budget proposals to all 6 countries. We had about 4 different proposals and we argued, negotiated and compromised for about 3 hours before we finally set the budget. After that there was a scheduled sporting game, but as most of you all know, I watch sports, not play sports. So a group of us went to get something to eat for dinner and then spent the rest of the night talking and listening to music at the hall.

I’ll update later with today’s activities.

Love from Prague,

Marisa

I Finally Have A Blog!!

Thursday, September 10 (in Prague)

So I first would like to apologize to everyone because I said I was going to create a blog for my trip and it's taken me nearly a week to start, but hopefully it's all worth it. Posted below is my schedule for the entire 2 weeks.



My Schedule:

Day 1 – Saturday September 5^th 2009

• Arrivals and Registrations
• 20:00 Welcome dinner and party

Day 2 – Sunday September 6^th 2009

• 11:00 – 13:00 Walking Tour of Prague
  
• 13:00 – 14:30 Lunch
• 14:30 – 15:00 Orientation session
• 15:00 – 17:00 Czech Crash Course
• Evening: Free program

Day 3 – Monday September 7^th 2009

Topic: History until 1989

• 09:30 – 12:45 Overview lecture on the history of Central European region incl. its relation to Germany and Russia
• 12:45 – 14:30 Lunch Break
• 14:30 – 15:45 Workshop 1 – Central Europe and the Sowjet Union (inc. Prague Spring 1968, and „Velvet Revolution 1989“)
• 16:15 – 17:30 Workshop 2 – Focus on Germany (Berlin Wall, RAF and left-terrorism of 1970s, Willy Brandt and Ostpolitik)
• Evening: Opera- Don Giovanni

Day 4 – Tuesday September 8^th 2009

Topic: History since 1989

• 09:30 – 12:45 Overview lecture on the history of Central Europe since the fall od the Iron Curtain
• 12:45 – 14:30 Lunch Break
• 14:30 – 15:45 Workshop 1 – Central Europe and the post-soviet countries
• 16:15 – 17:30 Workshop 2 – reunited Germany and the new democracies
• Evening: Free Program
  

Day 5 – Wednesday September 9^th 2009

Topic: Political systems of Central European Countries

• 09:30 – 12:45 Overview lecture on the political systems in the Central European region
• 12:45 – 14:30 Lunch Break
• 14:30 – 15:45 Workshop 1 – Focus on Central Europe and the new post-soviet states in Europe
• 16:15 – 17:30 Workshop 2 – Focus on Germany and Austria
• Evening: Free Program
  

Day 6 – Thursday September 10^th 2009

Topic: Central European States` Foreign policy

• 09:30 – 12:45 Overview lecture on the Central European States´foreign policies and their priorities
• 12:45 – 14:30 Lunch Break
• 14:30 – 15:45 Workshop 1 – Central Europe and Germany – „Troublesome Past – Bright future?“
• 16:15 – 17:30 Workshop 2 – Central Europe and Russia – „Difficult Partnership“
• Evening: Prague Nightlife and Clubbing (guided tour) :-)
  

Day 7 – Friday September 11^th 2009

Topic: Central Europe and the European Union

• 09:30 – 12:45 Overview lecture on this issues (incl. different stages of European integration process)
• 12:45 – 14:30 Lunch Break
• 14:30 – 15:45 Workshop 1 – Czech Presidency of the EU 2009
• 16:15 – 17:30 Workshop 2 – EU and national interests
• Evening: Free Program

Day 8 – Saturday September 12^th 2009

All-day trip

• Český Krumlov – the most romantic town and an unique architectural jewel (UNESCO List of the World Cultural Heritage)

Day 9 – Sunday September 13^th 2009

Jewish Prague

• 10:00 – 12:00 guided tour showing you Prague`s Jewish past
• 12:00 – 13:00 Luch break
• 13:00 – 18:00 Jewish Museum - discover on your own the Prague`s most visited museum located on 6 different sites (incl. tickets for synagogues and old-jewish cementary)

Day 10 – Monday September 14^th 2009

Topic: Central European States` Domestic policies

• 09:30 – 12:45 Overview lecture on on the Central European States` domestic policies and their priorities
• 12:45 – 14:30 Lunch Break
• 14:30 – 15:45 Workshop 1 – discussion on current domestic politic issues
• 16:15 – 17:30 Workshop 2 – discussion on current domestic politic issues
• Evening: Free program

Day 11 – Tuesday September 15^th 2009

Topic: Central European economy and economic development of the region

• 09:30 – 12:45 Overview lecture on on the development of Central European States`economies 1945 – 1990s, incl. different transformation processes
• 12:45 – 14:30 Lunch Break
• 14:30 – 15:45 Workshop 1 – YES or NO to Euro
• 16:15 – 17:30 Panel Discussion with top-czech businesspeople on current economic issues
• Evening: Film projection

Day 12 – Wednesday September 16^th 2009 (My 22nd Birthday!)

Topic: Global challanges in the time of economic crisis

• 09:30 – 12:45 Overview lecture on the current economic development of the Central European region
• 12:45 – 14:30 Lunch Break
• 14:30 – 15:45 Discussion with business leaders and economic experts from government
• 16:15 – 17:00 Discussion with business leaders and economic experts from government
• Evening: Free Program
  

Day 13 – Thursday September 17^th 2009

Topic: Central European Media since 1990

• 09:30 – 12:45 Overview lecture on the development of the Central European Media landscape since 1990
• 12:45 – 14:30 Lunch Break
• 14:30 – 15:45 Workshop 1 – German media enterprises and their interests in Central European states, esp. Poland and Czech Republic
• 16:15 – 17:30 Workshop 2 – Russia and the Freedom of Speech
• Evening: Free program

Day 14 – Friday September 18^th 2009

Topic: Culture and Arts

• 10:00 – 12:45 Guided tour in the National Gallery of Prague with the focus on the development of Czech and foreign fine art during the course of the last two centuries
• 12:45 – 14:30 Lunch Break
• 14:30 – 15:45 Workshop 1 – Franz Kafka and central Europe
• 16:15 – 17:30 Workshop 2 – Current trends in the Central European art and design
• 18:00 Closing ceremony and reception and boat cruise
  

Day 15/16 – Saturday/Sunday September 19^th/20^th 2009

• Free program
• Departure

I'm leaving Prague on Sunday morning.