A new territory

It's amazing how colds never go away.  It's been a good 5 days since I've been sick- which is really a damper.  Not to mention, I feel awful coughing the night away with a roommate two feet away from me.  But- I will prevail! :)

Yesterday was the first day of classes. It a nutshell: Czech and Central European History will be a tad bit dry- and full of *identity!* (I swear the teach said it 50 times...); Czech Language for every day use is the same as immersion, same class, same teacher, just more phrases; and Mitteleuropa is going to be interesting! The professor is French and a bit younger.  She really stresses getting to know Prague by going to cafes, pubs and beer gardens. In fact, me and a classmate Sam were talking about going to get a beer after class and asked her where to go.  She told us about this beer garden that was about a 15 min trek to get to, but she was headed in that direction so she would take us most of the way.  The whole way we talked with her, she's a really interesting person! She told us how to order the beer and where to take it- here you can walk around with a beer in hand. We ended up going to the hill that she told us about, it was absolutely beautiful! Goodness! The pictures don't do it justice:

Today I volunteered an hour of my time helping out at a high school nearby.  I went and spoke english with a class of czech students.  I wish we had something like this growing up- it was so helpful for these students to hear it from a native.  Cioa for now!

More Burcak (oh and a castle)!

Sorry for the delay in updating! The longer I'm here, the more it feels like nothing new is happening.  The immersion class is over- although rushed, it helped with every day events (ordering, numbers, hi/thankyou/please) but my czech is still awful and I end up reverting back to the phrase "mluvite angliscky?" Yes, it means- do you speak english?! Other than that nothing is new, a few new pubs, cafes, shops. 

Today I decided I needed a break from the group and ventured out by myself.  Since it was last minute, the Sunday before actual classes start, and I've never been to a huge train depot by myself, I decided to go to a fail proof castle 33 km (20 miles) away from the center of Praha. Karlstejn Castle was recommended by a English woman's blog, who (from my knowledge) has Prague pretty spot on- so I decided to take her advise. Much to my surprise, there was a wine festival this weekend! (It was destiny!) Right now everywhere in the Czech Republic, everyone is going crazy for burcak (boorchak)! It's also called "young wine" which (if I didn't mention it last week) is a wine where the grapes are still fermenting when it is created.  It tastes like juice- legit. Which I found this wine festival much more entertaining than Prague's! So this is what happened:

So I started out at the main station in Praha!

 And ended up in the country! I was walking over the main bridge in Karlstejn at this time on my way to the castle!

 Since I'm into rocks and what not, I thought it was a nice outcrop- I haven't seen much geology since Prague is so built up!

 Then all of a sudden, I hear these drums and see this on a side street....

 And a couple more minutes of walking I find the festival! On my way to the castle (they make drinking this sweet wine convenient!)

 I took my time through the festival- I thought it was going to be very "touristy" buttttt very few people spoke English.  It was more along the lines of the Renaissance Fair in Colorado- huge festival thingy, but mainly locals.
 I made it up the hill (it was huuuggeee) and had this view for a while:

 While the pretty rolling hills that are amazingly green were on my right, the actual castle was on my left:

 After seeing the castle (no pictures from inside) I took the scenic walk down to the festival again through the woods:

 It was a nice 7 to 10 minute walk down, which set me all the way back down the hill.  Where I realized how pretty the castle was again.

 But, I had to stop admiring how beautiful everything is, because the festivities were starting! I heard a whole bunch of drums and other instruments (wooden windpipes and what not). The Emperor was arriving! It was quite a scene!

 So I hung out more, bought some postcards for a few more people and tried to talk with some people (complete fail).  But, I decided since I did a good deal of walking I deserved a treat! This stuff is just absolutely amazing.  Annndddd it's not fried! YAY!  But the stuff is called trdelnik. I get through half of it and have to throw it out.. It's a bit too sweet for the whole thing.

I'll post the other pictures from the trip at a later time... It was a wonderful trip- I forgot how calming the country is compared to a big city! :)

vlk a pes a žirafa!!! (wolf and dog and giraffe)

Why no... I don't know the plural forms of the animals-  I'm not there yet in my studies.  But yes, I went to the 7th zoo in the world today!! And guess how you say zoo in Czech- Zoo! It made things easy when we were trying to find the bus to get there.  So the background to this story is Amanda and Sam went out to a bar last night, and met these three Czech guys.  Lord knows I can't remember their names- but they were taking a little brother (ten y/o) to the zoo today, and invited Amanda and Sam.  A & S invited me, so now we are a big group of friends! The guys are extremely laid back and fun, and they let me practice some Czech! The Praha Zoo is just gorgeous! The sad thing was we didn't get to see all of it, and it was a bit dreary and rainy, but a return trip is mandatory!

In other news, yesterday I went to a wine festival where they celebrated "new wine/young wine/living wine"- which is where they leave the grapes on the vine too long, causing them to fermentate themselves.  It was very interesting, but there was authentic music and treats (mouth is watering again) and some very very very good wine! We were also inside the palace (Czech Castle) walls, which is absolutely beautiful!  The weekend was great but another week of Czech intensive class is about to start.  I did well on the midterm (thanks for worrying about me!) and I've been practicing a bit! I'm hoping to be able to have a small conversation outside of class by the end of the semester- I think that is doable! I just got back from dinner with my dorm mother and a family that lives near by.  They want "babysitters" to hang out with their kiddos (10 y/o boy and 8 y/o girl) after school.  They really don't need babysitters, but they want their kids to practice English.  The family is extremely inviting and wants us to use them as a resource.  They invited us to Thanksgiving and weekend trips.  Also, its a great way for me to practice Czech, and I can do free laundry! (YAY!) The conversation today lead to a very intriguing possibility! There is a slight chance I might pick up rugby again and play a couple of times here! The dad is friends with a coach of a girls team- when he found out I played, he invited me to join the team for practice!

Today was a great day- and it's opening to all these great possibilities.  I feel like Prague is too big to see everything and to do everything, but today calmed me down and made me realize it's all about (as cheesy as it is) quality and not quantity! And with that being said- enjoy some pictures!

Palace Grounds

Zoo!

Zoo!

Palace Grounds

Sam and Amanda at the Zoo!

Almost fluent! (I wish)

This immersion course is kicking butt and taking names.  After the past 3 days I can actually understand some conversations about eating/food/dinner/restaurants, numbers, small talk and pronounce metro stations somewhat correctly! The language is difficult, but it's fun.  I'm in a class from 2 till 7, so I feel like I waste most of my day.  After 7 I am brain dead, so I go get dinner have a beer (pivo!) and then get to homework.  The mornings are spent walking around Prague, talking to myself and reviewing vocabulary. I am the only one of my group that really has the afternoon class, so I am mostly by myself until night time.

Everything else is going great. I'll update more later- sorry for not keep this up much! :)

Wake Up Call

** Big correction: Lidice is the town... (not Licide) and it is Heydrich is the last name! (Thanks David!)

Today was by far the best/hardest day.  I took a trip to the village of Lidice, about 25 minutes away from Praha.  Before today, I had never heard anything about this town- I chose it over another trip option which was a visit to Trezein, a Jewish Ghetto.  In my opinion, what could be worse than a Ghetto? Today was full of history, followed by emotion.  Lidice is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen,

Just a quick history- Hitler had a right hand man(who helped plan Hitler's Final solution) who thought too highly of himself named Reinhard Heydrich.  He was assassinated by two Czech men in 1942.  Long story short- Hitler decided to show the Czech people who they were messing with, found flimsy connections to the assassination and the village and told the SS to "kill all the men, send the women to Ravensbrueck, save the children who can be Germans and deal with the other children however you want." He also wanted the village leveled. That's exactly what happened- and today there are only a few women and children who survived.  All but 5 kids were killed the exact same day. The women, on the other hand, kept up hope they will be reunited with their families.  Over 2/3 of the women from Lidice survived the camp as well as the death march- never did they know everyone was previously murdered.

The village of Lidice is rebuilt on a different parcel of land.  They left the land of the old village to grow, as well as put memorials up.  There is a rose garden (that can be smelled from a ways away) with 300 different types of flowers, as well as other statues and memorials across the land.


We were honored with a survivor who was lucky enough to return home with her mother and older sister after the war was over.  Mrs. Sklenichova was only 16 (and 3 months) when she was taken away.  She was the dividing line between the women and the children.  She was also a daddy's girl, so it hit a little close to home- especially when I read a passage of her book about her memories before it happened. Below are some pictures from today- it was a great experience.  She is the author of "If I Were a Boy, I Would Have Been Shot..." The pictures cannot do it justice.

Mr and Mrs Sklenichova (She is the survivor).  They have been together for 50 years!

The rose garden. 

Hard to see (I know) but there is a cross, two white poles on either side and a thicket of trees in between.  This is where the men were shot by the SS.  They were shot in rose of 5. After they were shot, the soldiers would move two steps back and they would bring out a new row of 5 and lined them up infront of the dead bodies. The poles represent the wall, and the trees the men who died there. 

The beautiful country side of Lidice, where a village of 500 used to be.

Another rose garden picture. 

At the end of the rose garden, there was a sitting area in which the memorial gave respect to other cities and towns that were demolished/leveled during the war.  Once again, the green pasture in the background is where the town used to be.

Such pretty flowers! They were all so beautiful!

Pictures!

Oh Goodness-

My second official day here and I haven't gotten a good look at the city! It's so huge, I'm sure after 3 months I still won't see more than a quarter of it.

So right now I'm a bit jet-lagged, and I don't feel like writing much.  But enjoy some pictures!

Notice all the cables? They are for the trams.  This is in "Old Town" right outside the mall and close to where my classes are going to be.

A view from Charles Bridge.  

This is another part of Old Town. (I believe...)

A cute stream that feeds into the main river. 

This is just another view of the smaller stream.

From the top of a hill nearby.  This is pretty close to my dorm, maybe half a mile walk.  Soon I'll be able to describe each rooftop... 

And I'm off!

Wow!

I can't believe I'm already sitting here at DIA waiting for my flight.  I can't believe I've already been at DIA for a good 2 hours now! It's funny how many times I fly through Denver for a connecting flight.  This airport used to be home for me! There is no where to really explore, since I've already explored everything- but it is nice to stretch my legs and walk around.  I'm about to be sitting for ~13 hours total.

Once I get over to London, everything is going to be rushed.  I only have a 2.5 hr layover, then a 3 hour flight to PRG (Prague Airport), customs, 30 min ride to the school and then meet everyone. Since I'm staying in the dorm, it feels like I'm a freshman all over again.  :)  I have tomorrow "off" but I'm going to be doing visa stuff, getting unpacked and meeting everyone. Then we start orientation and trips! Yikes!

My nerves have finally subsided for right now, but I'm sure once I board the plane, I'll get all jittery again. I really have nothing to update/talk about.  I am just trying to pass the time for right now. The most exciting thing to happen so far is I saw a bird in the airport- a bit of a strange place for it!

Time for another walk.  Oh! And Happy Labor Day everyone! :)