It's Midterms Week!

You know what that means! Procrastination at its finest. I’m just kidding I’m going to get to work as soon as I update all my blog readers about what’s been going on this past week in Prague. It’s just so hard to study in Prague, but I’m powering through it.

And, this post marks the halfway point in the program yet I feel like I just arrived in Prague! So sad. Time seriously moves way too fast here. I’ve been warned about this before, and now I understand why. I swear the clocks move faster in Europe. Here are some photos in dedication to my study abroad that I’ve taken around Prague recently:

On Wednesday, I went to a Plastic People of the Universe concert at Vagon (see photo above). PPU is a very old Czech rock band that I had been learning about in one of my classes. It was very fun to see them perform life, even if all the members are in their late 60’s.

Thursday night I celebrated my 21st birthday with 16 of my good friends at Sudicka. Sudicka is definitely one of my favorite restaurants in Prague. We then went to some bars around the Zizkov area. It was great to have all my friends hanging out in my neighborhood for once. It doesn’t happen too often since Praha 3 is a little further away from the main bars and pubs that everyone goes to.

On Friday, I decided it’s time to start working out more so I went bouldering for the first time at a place somewhere in Praha 7. I really enjoyed it, actually. It may just become my new thing. That evening I was a bit tired from my birthday the night before, so I went to see Franky’s band (Franky works for CIEE) also at Vagon. It was very, very fun and I loved all the energy and crowd-surfing that filled the room, even though I personally was pretty tired.

Saturday was the day I hit up all the exhibits I’ve been too busy to visit that past two months. I went to see the Dali and Mucha exhibits, and at night went on a ghost tour. A little creepy, but perfect preparation for Halloween (esp. since Halloween is not a big deal here, it was fun to do something Halloween-like).

Sunday was relaxation day, because I’ve been studying all week. (Ok, I did go see a movie, Alois Nebel, but it’s Czech and might be up for an academy award so that distraction wasn’t my fault).

To end this post, I’m going to give you 15 facts I’ve learned so far from my 2 months in Prague:
1. Czech language is harder than I initially thought, and a lot people speak less English than I thought.
2. Before the program we were told that Czechs are very serious and hardly smile. That’s only true of the old generation.
3. Saint Wenceslas and King Charles IV. They’re a big deal to Czechs.
4. About 58% of the Czech Republic is atheist or agnostic despite all the churches, synagogues and religious iconography.
5. You can legally download almost anything you want from the Internet. However, it is illegal to upload material.
6. Czech’s don’t really celebrate Halloween (which made me very sad).
7. The word for robot was invented in the Czech Republic. It stems from the word that means, “to work.”
8. The original Budweiser comes from the Czech beer Budvar.
9. Peanut butter can only be found in select stores in the “international food section.” My Czech buddy was baffled at the idea that Americans eat it from the jar with a spoon.
10. Sometimes when orange juice is advertised as 100% orange juice it ends up being basically Sunny-D. Gotta know which ones are the good ones!
11. PDA is everywhere!
12. So are dogs.
13. The tram system is so much easier than I though 2 months ago. It just takes getting used to.
14. Graffiti is a big part of the subculture.
15. Prague has a pretty awesome medieval history.

Wow, I already know I’m going to miss Prague a lot. Gonna make the most of the rest of my stay here.

Na Shledanou,
Lesia

Budapest, Magyarország!

Shout out to my Hungarian friend Jake Wolter! I visited his homeland of Hungary last weekend. And Jake, it's awesome you need to go there! For this blog entry, I'm going to just give you a quick rundown of my trip to see how this post will turn out. Just want to say though real quick that Budapest is beautiful and I'm so glad I decided to buy my bus ticket on a whim at midnight the night before. If you’re ever near eastern/central Europe, I’ll be disappointed in you if you don’t visit this city. Enjoy!

Transportation: Orange Ways Bus System (7 hrs each way, 40 USD)
Lodging: Tiger Tim’s hostel the first night, Boulevard Hostel the second night. My first hostel experience!
Travel buddies: Wyatt and Ariane
Hotspots visited: St. Stephen Basilica (though its not technically a basilica I’ve been told), Royal Palace, Parliament building, St. Martin Cathedral, House of Terror, Jewish Town, Dohány Street Synagogue, and Szechenyi Baths (a must), among many others.
Favorite dish: A hamburger I got near the hostel (I know, how Hungarian. But it was sooooo good). And Hungarian langos (fried bread with sour cream and cheese)!
Favorite Hungarian drink: Bull’s Blood, a type of red wine.
Words I learned: A word that sounds like t-shirt means ten beers…. And I swear I knew more words, but a week later its hard to remember.
Facts I learned: In Hollywood movies aliens often speak Hungarian. It's the 4 or 5 hardest language to learn. Hungarians have an extremely rough history yet are very nice, friendly and helpful people. There's not really much crime in Hungary other then pick pocketing. Hungarians are very proud of all the Hungarian inventors/inventions. Big thanks to them for soft contacts, the refrigerator, the Rubik’s cube, etc. Also it's very easy to get around Budapest. They have a great transportation system but you can also walk everywhere. And, of course, the ruin bars in Jewish town are awesome.
My best photos:

Closing remarks: My last day in Budapest, Wyatt, Ariane and I got a bottle of bull’s blood red wine and some cheese and sat down by the Danube by the Parliament building. Our timing was perfect because we got to see the sunset and, just as we were about to leave our spot, all the lights of the city slowly started turning on. It was beautiful.

I think this may have been my favorite weekend trip thus far. If Hungarian wasn’t so hard to learn I’d maybe even consider living there for a little.

Na Shledanou,
Lesia

Prague Today

17, 10, 2011

Today was an amazing day to be in Prague. In between my two classes I took a walk along suicide bridge in Vysehrad. I hate that it's been given that nickname, but the view is amazing. (post pictures soons). I can't believe it took me this long to finally walk across it. There is a pretty little park at the end of it, too where I sat down and read a little. After my class, I decided to explre my little neighborhood of Zizkov. And, I not only found a cute cafe with a very good music playlist, but I found a great burger place for about 65 CZK. Right now I'm just sitting in the cafe, drinking my Irish Coffee doing homework :)

Design Week: Prague vs. Vienna Showdown (and Forum 2000)

Before I tell you about Forum 2000, I just realized I went to Vienna 2 weekends ago and never told you about it. I don’t know how I let that one slip my mind. Well, the primary reason why I went there was because Bara really wanted to visit Vienna design week before Prague’s Designblok started the week after so she could compare the two. I’m glad I went because I not only went to Vienna, but I got to compare the two as well. And, before we went to Vienna, Carly, Bara and I had a nice little pit stop in Bara’s little Moravian Village of Kvacice.
There’s only so much one can say about a little Czech Village, so here are some pictures to do the talking for me:

And now on to Vienna. It is beautiful. Vienna kind of reminds me of Prague if all of Prague’s buildings turned white and if Czechs gained a wee bit more fashion sense. I wish I got to spend a little more time there to appreciate the city in full, but to be honest I missed Prague a little. There’s just something about this city. Here’s a photo of Vienna. Pretty but no Prague, right?

As for Design Week in Vienna, I was a little disappointed. Most of the exhibits were a bit hard to find and not very impressive. The coolest thing I saw was probably the furniture made out of recycled material. In Prague, however, there was not only interesting furniture but plenty of jewelry and artwork as well. Designblok in Prague was also much better organized than Designweek in Vienna: I didn’t have to hunt for the different exhibits and there were at least 50 in each building. Overall, it was still worthwhile to see both and compare. And Carly and I managed to visit a gallery featuring Jan Švankmajer and Salvador Dali. Both were very cool.

And now, for those of you that aren’t familiar with Forum 2000, it is basically an intellectual conference whose main goal is “to identify the key issues facing civilization and to explore ways to prevent the escalation of conflicts that have religion, culture or ethnicity as their primary components.” There were plenty of very impressive people there (such as the presidents from Georgia and Kosova, among other brilliant professors and leaders). I found most of the panels I went to very interesting. My favorite was a discussion about Corruption and Society focusing mainly on Russia and China. Another great thing about Forum was the food. So good. I got well fed, well educated, the opportunity to see Vaclav Havel (though he spoke Czech so I didn’t really understand him despite my month+ of Czech language class). Overall, a very excellent experience.

And that’s all the blogging I’m going to do for tonight. I have to study for my Czech quiz and then leave soon to go meet up with my “Czech Family.” (I feel like I just got adopted). And tomorrow I leave for Budapest! I have a nice long bus ride ahead of me.

Na Shledanou,
Lesia

A Hezký Víkend in Český Krumlov

A nice, relaxing weekend well spent in the beautiful small town known as Český Krumlov.

So this weekend was a CIEE trip to Český Krumlov in Bohemia. It was for the history classes, but I decided to go anyway because I’ve been hearing nothing but good things about the little town. And it was pretty picturesque.

The first day we walked around a bit, saw the castle and climbed to the top to get an aerial view of Český Krumlov. We watched a video inside the castle that showed pictures of how Český Krumlov looked like in the past. In my opinion, not much has changed. Český Krumlov reminds me
of a summer home that people visit to escape busy city life. Except extremely touristy. There were literally penzions (small, locally-owned hotels) on every street corner. Bara told me that in the summers her family would raft into Český Krumlov. And since it’s also located along the Vlata it is even possible to get to Český Krumlov from Prague. Overall it takes about 5 days, but I can imagine it’s pretty fun to just float and camp every night. I wish the weather were warmer/I wish I had 5 days to spare to enjoy a little adventure down the Vltava.

And afterwards we had free time in which my friends and I decided to do a little shopping (I finally bought a new pair a mittens which I’m very excited for). And afterwards we went to dinner at a place called Jail. Apparently, like the name cleverly suggests, it used to be a jail. It was decorated in a very medieval way that made me feel like I’ve gone back in time. They also cooked their meals on one large grill. I got the half chicken and it was delicious (but nothing will ever beat Oktoberfest chicken). When dinner was over we went to a little bar called Horror Bar. It was very Halloween appropriate complete with real life teenage Goth kids. They loved the Dracula room.

The next day we walked around a bit more in Český Krumlov, saw the old Baroque theater, the Photo Atelier Seidel exhibit, and the Egon Schiele Museum. My favorite part of the day, though, was my free time spent in the castle gardens. I also discovered another great beer in Český Krumlov: Eggenberg Dark. It’s like Guinness but maybe a bit better. Too bad it’s brewed only locally in Český Krumlov. I sadly may never encounter it again.

On Sunday we had a tour of the Bohemia Regent Brewery and headed back to Prague. It was good, but no Eggenberg.

And tonight is one of my friend’s birthdays so I’m off to I.P. Pavlova for dinner. I’m also going to Forum 2000 tomorrow so check out my blog in a few days to hear all about that.

Na Shledanou,
Lesia

Narwhals

When I have time I'll write a longer post but for now I just need to share with you the fact that I touched a narwhal's horn today. It was at the monestary by Prague Castle and it was magical. Wednesdays are quickly becoming my favorite days of the week. No class and only field trips. And narwhal horns :)

SLAVIA!!

Sorry I meant to post this Tuesday but my internet was pretty bad so it's gonna be a week late. Hope you're all not too upset!
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So I never made it to Berlin this weekend and instead spent my time in good ol’ Praha. Considering I was one of the four people on my program that didn’t go away for the weekend, I decided to do a little exploring around my city mainly alone. And I learned something very valuable: Mexican food in Prague is nothing like Mexican food at home, especially burritos. Friday I spent my evening at a Latino Food Festival. Though the music was fun, I’m not sure the 100 CZK entry fee was worth it.

On Saturday I made an excellent discovery. And, like many great discoveries, it happened by accident: I found out where to buy Gatorade and Powerade in Prague! After searching for weeks I managed to stumble upon both of them the same day. From what I know thus far, Gatorade can only be purchased at Subway and Powerade at any Relay located inside the metro. Yes! So proud of myself on that one.

But that’s not all for my Saturday. I also attempted to go to yet again another wine festival (surprise!). This festival was said to have primarily plum wine and other foods/beverages made from plumps. Well, I’d love to tell you it was an amazing time except for the fact that I never was able to find it. I searched all over Petrin (where it was said to be happening) and when I couldn’t find it I just decided to climb the tower. A very good decision:

Afterwards, after a quick glass of burck at the bottom of the tower, I left for a flea market on Americka street. Well, what was said to be a flea market turned out to be another Mexican food festival (arriba!). I learned my lesson the first time and didn’t buy any of the food, though I must admit it looked a lot better than the food on Friday. They also had hummus! The first time I’ve seen it in Prague! I also managed to watch the sunset near Charles Bridge.

Sunday was also relaxing, misleading and full of new discoveries. I was supposed to go to a “Pig Slaughter” (I hope it means what I think it does), but when I finally found the place the “slaughter” ended up being your average barbeque. Apparently it is the tradition in the Czech Republic to slaughter a pig every winter. However, as my Czech Buddy Bara puts it, pig slaughters are just an excuse for older Czechs to get very drunk. Since the Sunday slaughter wasn’t a traditional one, she invited me to the slaughter in her little village in Moravia. I’m not sure when it takes place, but some time in the middle of winter.

Overall, though, Sunday wasn’t a complete waste. The “slaughter” aka barbaque was held in Zlute Lazne which is actually a bar/beach. I’m glad I explored that area a bit because now I’m definitely returning for some tropical drinks and sand volleyball.

Also on Sunday I went to 2 art galleries with Bara: Museum of Young Art and an Architecture exhibit whose name I can’t really remember. Both exhibits were very interesting and I learned all about David Černý, famous controversial Czech artist and sculptor. His works are all over Prague and they’re actually quite amazing. I highly recommend looking him up to see some of his work!

The highlight of the whole weekend, however, was the Slavia versus Sparta fotbal game. I was told to cheer for Slavia by a number of my bias Czech friends and so I did. Well, my team lost 0-3. The game was still very exciting, despite Sparta’s not so PC cheers against Slavia. People got very rowdy; you should have seen the police. Some people even though it was a good idea to throw sparkles onto the field.

And today, I went Paddle Boating (for the second time actually, but this time I had my camera).

This coming weekend I have plans with Bara and Carly to drive to Vienna with Bara’s family for design week. Should be very interesting. Tell you all about it once I return.

Na Shledanou,
Lesia