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