10. Cycling Through København, Denmark

Thursday, April 30th, Maddie Parker and I headed to Copenhagen, Denmark. Maddie's cousin lives there, so we were able to stay with her, and have her show us around. It was nice seeing the city with a local, Maddie and I definitely could not have navigated around by ourselves. Friday, May 1st, was a Danish holiday. They celebrate the workers, so we headed to a park where there was music and lots of food and drink vendors. The next day, my Swedish friend Isabell was kind enough to take a train to Copenhagen for the day. We met in high school three years ago where she was an exchange student, and we've kept in touch ever since. It was so nice to see her again and spend the day with her.

(Isabell and I on top of the Rundetårn, an astronomical tower built into a church)

While she was here we went to Freetown Christiana, which is a self-proclaimed autonomous neighborhood started in 1971 by a youth rebellion. Currently there are about 850 residents there today. It was very much a hippie town where cannabis was tolerated. They have a main street called Pusher Street, where a lot of marijuana is sold. They are very strict about people not taking pictures in that street. The cannabis situation has caused many conflicts, police raids, and negotiations.

 We also went on a ferry ride which started in New Harbor. We were able to see the opera house, the Royal Palace, and Our Savior Church. Sunday we headed to the Little Mermaid statue made famous by Hans Christain Anderson's fairytale. 

  (New Harbor)

        (The Little Mermaid statue)

(Hans Christian Anderson's memorial statue)

We then headed to Tivoli Garden, which is an amusement park and pleasure garden. We also went to a cemetery and the atmosphere of it was so lively. It seemed more like a park than a cemetery, many people were bicycling around there. The graves were also very different from ours, family members were able to personalize it by planting trees or flowers. It was a very pretty, peaceful place. By personalizing the grave I think it would make it easier to visit the deceased. 

  (Picture taken at the cemetery)

In Denmark it is very common for people to ride bikes everywhere. Maddie's cousin, Liv, was able to find us some, so we felt like locals for the weekend. From what I noticed, cyclers have the right-a- way to drivers. Many times parents had carts in front of their bicycle holding their children. Liv also said that it is also common for parents to leave their sleeping babies outside in the stroller while the parents are sitting in café or if they just go inside their homes. The parents leave a baby monitor attached to the crib and let their babies soak up the sun. It was very odd to hear that that was a normal thing here.

 

All I all, København was an awesome experience, it was even better to be able to see friendly faces (Liv and Isabell). It is a beautiful city and may be one of my favorites so far!!

28 more days! Next stop Poland!

2. Dva plus Dva je čtyři (2+2=4)

I know it may seem like we don’t have any classes, due to all my fun pictures on Facebook, but we actual do have studies. Monday-Thursday we attend class from 3-7:15. And on Fridays we have class from 11-1:30. Our first class is a lecture class, which usually consists of guest speakers. We have covered various topics, from the Czech System of Government and Politics to Islam in Europe. We usually all take notes and just listen for that hour and a half. Our guest speakers are all mostly native Czechs, so they have a little accent, but they are still understood very well. Our next class is Czech language although it was tough at first, it is slowly getting better. Currently we are learning how to conjugate verbs, and the correct uses of masculine, feminine, and neutral nouns. Our teacher, KP, is very patient with us and we all enjoy her. For our next lecture we either have Martin Ebel or Jan Stejskal give us our lecture. Those two are our main instructors and they also take turns going on field trips with our group. So far we have taken three field trips and have two left to take.

On Fridays we watch educational and historical movies. This last Friday we watched “The Cremator”, and it was about a man who had been called to serve for Hitler, he was going to be the head master of the mass cremation. He was married to a half Jewish woman, making his two children a quarter Jewish. He knew he couldn't work for Hitler if he had any Jewish connections, so he set out to kill them. It was a very disturbing movie to watch.

Our three classes are all in the same building, in the same room. That makes it nice, so we don’t have to try to navigate around the large campus. There are a lot of other students around our building also. Native Czech students can go to any Czech Republic school and not have to pay for it, which makes me jealous. We have 13 class days left, and 36 days left here in Europe. Time has flown by here, and I can’t believe we only have five weeks left! 

6. Social Life

So far I have been to seven different countries, and each one was a different experience. The social life in Europe is very different from the US. For instance, when college students want to go out, they do that during the week days. Weekends here are for traveling home and seeing family. Also clubs are everywhere in Europe, in Kearney there are only bars. But here there are DJs and big dance floors. And every Monday and Wednesday two different clubs take turns throwing parties for each country. Last Wednesday was Italy, Mexico, and Turkey night. So people from those countries get to choose music to play and have a couple of different drinks from their country. People also dress in their flag colors, and there is an option to get their flag painted on your face. American night is coming up, so some people from our group has been planning the music and drinks. It’s fun to experience other people’s countries.

Italy/Mexico/Turkey night
Italy's flag was painted on our faces

            People are so friendly here and more than willing to help you. A lot of times when we’re looking at a map, locals will just come up and ask where we need to go. They are so friendly. “Travel is a smile that leads to a conversation in broken English. It’s the epiphany that pretty girls smile the same way all over the world.” After having the feeling of being so lost and not understanding street signs, I would not hesitate to help another foreigner. It’s nice to see friendly smiles that has definitely helped me feel more at home in Olomouc. I can’t even count how many times locals have gone out of their way to help us navigate, I think it has happened in every place we have traveled to. We are now halfway through our program, and it doesn't feel like it. This experience has flown by so fast.

42 more days until I’m back to the US! 

10. Mind the Gap Please!

London, England, where to even start. We arrived in London at 1:00 am Saturday morning, and took a bus to the train station at 5:00 am. We had four hours to kill in the airport, all tried to take naps, but the cold hard ground was not an ideal place. There were so many other people who had the same thought process of napping. Our bus ride from the airport to the train station took about an hour and a half. We then got an underground tube pass at the train station and started to navigate our way through London. The underground tube seemed to be the main transportation throughout London. Before and after every stop, the intercom would announce, "Mind the gap please", which was the gap between the tube and the sidewalk. That saying was also on many t-shirts and key chains. We probably heard it about 100 times in the day and a half we were London. Our first mission for us four girls, Anna, Maddie, Erica, and I, was to find The Windmill Hostel. After a couple different stops in the tube and a 10 minute walk we arrived at our hostel. But to our dismay, the doors were locked, the lights were off, and it was in the sketchy part of town. We decided to head back to Victoria’s train station and find another sleeping arrangement for one night. We ended up founding a really nice hotel near the train station that was close to our bus stop. By this time it was already noon, so we decided to make our way to Queen Elizabeth’s Tower and The London Eye. We didn't really have a strict schedule, we just wandered throughout the city. Many times we were questioned every turn we were making, but it was all part of the experience. I wasn't too worried about where we were going, so I enjoyed getting semi-lost in London. On our way to the London Eye we came across the Tower Bridge, St. James’s Park, Buckingham Palace, and Shakespeare’s Globe. We walked a total of 14 miles that day! I only know that because my phone has an app that tells you:) We also stopped for fish and chips, because you can’t go to London and not have that! I’m not normally a fan of fish, but this was really good. 

We girls were able to ride in the London Eye, the view was so awesome from above! We asked a couple people before if the ride was truly worth it, some thought no, but I think it really is. It was kind of a dreary day, but all the parks we saw were still very pretty and had colorful bloomed flowers. After a long day of wandering we slept in our fancy hotel. The next day we only had about five hours to kill, so of course we decided to go to King’s Cross Station and take a picture with Platform 9 ¾. This was used in Harry Potter, it was their platform into Hogwarts. It took about 30 minutes to ride the tube to get there and 30 minutes to wait in line for a picture. We also walked through the train station that was used in the Harry Potter films. I love Harry Potter so it was really cool for me to see all this.

Flying into Hogwarts! 

 By the time we got back Victoria’s train station we only had about two hours left. We decided to play it safe and just walk around the near streets. London was a quick trip, but I think it was worth it. I enjoyed walking around, I definitely would go back and spend more time there. I think our group only just skimmed the top of it all. The whole time I was in London I still couldn't believe that I was actually there! For our first personal excursion planned all by ourselves, it went alright. The only thing I am disappointed about is not seeing Hogwarts Studio tour, we looked into buying tickets, but they were sold out for the weekend unfortunately. Tomorrow we head to Vienna, Austria for two days, Venice, Italy for three days. And then after, our 10 day spring break begins. A group of four of us are headed to Naples, Italy and Barcelona, Spain! We’re hoping for nice, warm weather!!

Typical tourist photo 

View of the Tower Bridge from our boat cruise

56 more days 'til I'm home sweet home! :)

1. Living as a local

Daily life for the locals here in Olomouc is very different from an American’s daily life. People are always walking everywhere, you do see some cars but I think majority of the people walk here. The cars that are driving, drive so fast. You definitely have to look four or five times before crossing the street, because it seems like the drivers don’t care. Trams are the common way around town. There are a lot of different routes, so you have to know which tram goes exactly where. One day our group was headed to class for the first time by ourselves and we took the wrong tram, so we had a nice little adventure through a park. We weren’t off track by too much though. Trams can get super packed, and they have limited seating. The only times someone would have to give their seat up would be for the elderly, a pregnant woman, or someone with a baby. Other than that, you kind of keep to yourself.

The currency is also very different here. They call it korunas, one koruna is worth $.03 US dollars. So the exchange rate here is really good. You can have a whole meal, food and drink, for only about $4. Groceries are another thing that are different here. If you want to use a cart, you have to pay for it, about 10 korunas, which is $.39, but when you’ve never had to pay for a shopping cart, it seems pointless to start now. You also have to pay for plastic shopping bags to bag your groceries. My roommate and I just decided to buy a recyclable bag to reuse. Globus is like our Wal-Mart. It has everything in it, and it is always a maze when I go in there. I can never remember where anything is at, and I can’t even read what the labels say. You either have to look at the pictures on the label or it’s a pick and choose game.

            My daily life in Olomouc consists of waking up, going to our favorite café, Café 87 for some coffee, and just walking around or finding something to do until class time, which is at 3 and goes until 7. We have two lectures a day with different speakers each time and a Czech language class. Then we are able to do whatever after class. Weekends here in Olomouc are very different. Most students studying here go home on the weekends. So weekdays are their time for fun.  Most shops are only open until noon and none are really open on Sundays.

            Food wise we mostly go to café or restaurants because we don’t have much of a kitchen here at our dorm. Our best option is ramen noodles in the microwave. They have a crepe stand right by the university, and they are the best things ever. Nutella crepes have been my favorite ones so far. We also found the best gyro stand, that's our typical late night food run. They have even memorized our orders... which may be a bad thing. When we go out to eat, it is not uncommon for people to not tip their server. Most servers don’t expect a tip, and if you do want to tip you usually just round up maybe 5 korunas. One thing I find odd is that you have to pay for ketchup. Each place is different on how much they want to charge, but it has never been free. They also don’t have ranch at all, so that makes me upset because I love ranch.

Holding the greatest food invention ever... nutella crepes!

            So far living as a local here hasn’t been bad. I haven’t had one bad experience, everyone around the university is super friendly and will help you if you have a question. The other day I asked a guy if he spoke English, and his response was, “Well yes of course.” (With a Czech accent) I felt dumb for even asking. This whole adventure seems to be flying by, I can’t believe I’ve already been here for a month. I cried when I got here, and I know I’ll when I leave.

Tomorrow a group of us head to London for the weekend!

Only 60 more days until I’m home sweet homeJ

7. Prague/Dresden

Thursday, March 26, I took my first train ride to Prague with the rest of the UNK group. Upon arriving we got to our hostel and took a tour of the city. I had already been to my Prague with my parents, so I kind of already knew my way around, but this weekend, they had Easter markets and decorations set up. It looked like a different city, there were so many tourists, way more than when my parents and I came.

Our group wandered to the Charles Bridge and toured the Prague Castle. We didn't have any tour guides when I was with my parents, so this time it was nice to learn about the historical side of the castle. We had free time afterwards, so a group of us decided to trek up to the monastery. It was quite the uphill walk. But once we reached it, the view was definitely worth it. Prague is such a pretty place to admire from above. 

View from the Monastery

We then wanted to go to the Petrin Tower, so we climbed up that, and got another wonderful view of the beautiful city. After walking 10 miles, a couple girls and I decided we wanted to treat ourselves. So we found a Thai massage place and choose to get a fish pedicure. We had to stick our legs inside a fish tank, while these little fish ate away dead skin on your feet and legs. It was the most unsettling thing I have ever done in my life! I had to sit through it for 15 minutes, I almost couldn't take it, and it was so unbearable! After a long day we headed for bed.    

This was my face 99% of that 15 minutes

            Early the next day we headed for Dresden, Germany. We toured the Martin Luther church, a museum, and other sightseeing attractions. We were able to climb to the top of the Martin Luther church, the sight was so pretty, but no pictures could really do the justice. Actually, any pictures that I have taken from this trip have not done the justice of how beautiful this country is! We were only in Germany for 5 hours, it was a quick day trip, but I can now say that I have been to Germany.

            We then headed back to Prague for the night. In the morning we toured the Jewish Head Quarters. There was a memorial set up there with Jewish children’s drawings, one topic asked was, “what do you miss from home?” It was sad to see that little kids drew their own bed, or drew their mom. It brought tears to my eyes. We also went into an old Jewish Ghetto, and painted on every wall was a name of a Jew that had died from the camps. All together there was 85,000 names! It was a shocking experience. We then headed back home for Olomouc. I feel weird calling that my home, but it is for the next two months! Next stop is London :)

64 more days until I come home! 

4. Language Issues

Can you believe I have already been in Europe for 2 weeks! It seems crazy, but I feel like I have been here a lot longer. The language barrier is much bigger than I originally thought. I didn't really prepare myself well enough. I didn't think about how there would be no signs in English or how the Czech language is not in any way similar to the English language. We have started our Czech language classes and as of right now we are just trying to get down basic phrases and learning the alphabet. Most of their alphabet is consonants, for example, zmizlina, which translates to ice cream, is full of them. And even though we have some of the same letters, they aren't pronounced the same, like the letter "c". Here they pronounce it like "ts". And depending on the marking above it, it can be pronounced differently. It's an interesting language to listen to.

Our first day of the language class was overwhelming and very difficult. But we have a great teacher who is patient and helpful. Hopefully when I come home, I can be able to understand and speak some Czech well. When we go to pubs, cafes, and restaurants our server usually starts speaking Czech right away, which we don't understand. So our response is, "Englisky?", or just "Hi". Some Czech natives have really good English and others can't speak a word of it or understand it. It's really hard to order food because sometimes the menu isn't translated, so it's kind of a guessing game, and you just hope for the best! But I usually just go for pizza:), which is the same for both languages. And you can bet we learned what beer and wine were the first day we were here, pivo and vino. Everything here is a learning experience with trial and error. For me it's definitely more error than anything! 

I'm excited to see what else Olomouc has to offer, so far it's been fun:) 

Until next time!