Social Life (6)

                Being so far away, the social life here is something that I rely on to get me through and distract me from my homesickness.  I have met many new people and gained many new friends while on this trip.  One thing that seems to be a struggle is the fact that we all like to group together and hang out altogether.  We love to go to festivals, out to eat, wonder out around the town together, etc.  Many times we run into the problem of finding enough room for all of us to fit in one place together or all of us being too noisy.  Sometimes we choose to spend a relaxing night together by having a movie night and all cuddling together to watch a streamed movie.  Some other nights, we also enjoy going to one of our favorite clubs, 15 Minut or Belmondo, and enjoying a couple drinks and dancing.  As much as we love spending time with each other, we have also enjoyed meeting new people from different countries as well.  While we are here we are connected with a group on campus called Erasmus.  Erasmus is a student exchange program in Europe.  We have had some events joined with them and have been able to meet other students studying abroad from their homes as well.  Many of us also have Erasmus students as flat mates so we are able to see them on the daily and they come hang with us.  Since countries and towns are so close to each other in Europe many students, including us, spend their weekends traveling to new places so most of the social life goes on during the weekdays.  Mondays and Wednesdays are the main days that people get together to hang out.  This is the opposite of the Kearney.  As much as I miss my friends and family in Kearney, I am glad that I have had the opportunity to meet new people from different towns and countries while on this trip.  Going out and having a social life with friends helps make this time go by faster and also helps create many new memories to add to this overall experience.

A group of us with some of our France friends!

A group of us squeezed into a booth for lunch one day!

A group of us at one of our favorite clubs 15 Minut!

Academic Life (2)

So far the academic life here in the Czech Republic is way different for me compared to how it is back in Kearney.  Here we do not start class until 3 in the afternoon and go until 7 at night.  In Kearney, I enroll in morning classes and am often times done by early afternoon.  While here, as a group we are all taking classes involving the Czech Republic’s History.  We start the day off by having a guest lecturer come and teach a lesson on some aspect of the Czech’s history.  We have had a variety of topics taught so far.  Some examples are, Political systems, the European borders, Architecture, Religion, etc.  The next class we have is Czech language.  Czech class is definitely the most fun.  Even though trying to learn a new language is extremely difficult, it is a good upbeat class to have in the middle of two lecture classes.  Learning a new language takes a lot of time and repetition.  Along with learning the new language, we also have to learn the pronunciation of every letter, the different rules to pronunciation, and how to spell the words.  So far the hardest part is learning how to pronounce the words for me.  Our last class of the day is taught by one of our two academic coordinators in the Czech, Martin or Jan.  So far these classes have focused more on Religion, mainly Judaism. 

                The classroom structures of the lectures here are taught way different from the ones I have in Kearney.  The lectures here mainly consist of the teacher standing or sitting in the front of the classroom speaking about the topic, often in a monotone voice.  Sometimes powerpoints are used and sometimes the teachers just talk without any props.  The lectures where the professor just talks are the most difficult for me.  In Kearney, many of my classes are big on classroom involvement, hands on learning, communication and the teachers are energetic about teaching.  Compared to this, my classes here are harder for me to retain the information.  I am definitely a visual and hands on learner so the classes that are more for audio based learners are a challenge for me.  Overall, it has been interesting to learn about a new country’s history and what has molded them into how they are today.

Schedule of classes for one week

Czech language books

Personal Excursions(10) -- Spring Break!!

Before leaving to study abroad I had not traveled much.  Most of my vacations consisted of visiting a boarding state of Nebraska and an occasional farther special trip.  All of these trips of course I accompanied someone else who had already planned it out and had the budget worked out.  This study abroad experience has really tested my comfort zone and traveling skills.  The past two weeks I was gone traveling.  The last week I experienced a spring break for the first time by traveling to three different countries.  I started off spring break by taking a train to Rome.  While in Rome I was able to see and tour Vatican City (St. Peter’s Square, the Museum, the Sixteenth Chapel, and Saint Peter’s Basilica), the Colosseum, The Roman Forum, the Trevi Fountain, and the Pantheon.  After Rome we headed to Paris.  We had an interesting start to Paris when it took us three hours just to find our hostel.  Paris kept my feet busy by taking them to the Castle of Versailles, The Eiffel Tower (3 times), the Catacombs, Notre Dame, the Paris Opera House, the Louvre, Pont Des Arts ( the love bridge of locks), and to outside of Napoleon’s hospital and castle.  After Paris wore my feet out, Barcelona decided to take them next.  Barcelona was a whole different scenery.  Everything looked so tropical and peaceful.  We visited La Sagrada Familia, Park Güell, Christopher Columbus Statue, the boardwalk and obviously the beach.

I learned a lot about traveling during this last week.  Some lessons are, make sure you have the directions to your hostel, make sure you find all of the directions you will need previous to leaving for the day or to the place, make sure you know how you are going transport yourself, make sure you double check the directions of the tram you get on, make sure you double check your flight numbers before confirming a flight so you don’t book the wrong one, and many more.  The most important thing I learned is that is hard to plan and figure out every detail to your trip and you often forget to look thing up and one of the previous will happen to you, but when that does happen you just need to make the best of out the situation and remember it as a good memory to remember always of the trip.

Trevi Fountain in Rome

Colosseum in Rome

Eiffel Tower in Paris

Catacombs in Paris

Beach in Barcelona

La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona

Cultural Comparisons (5)

While studying in the Czech Republic, Olomouc has become my new European home.  Olomouc is just like my normal home town, it has restaurants, a shopping mall, a post office, a university, a community, transportation, etc.  Although it has many things in common with Kearney and the United States, I have also noticed some significant differences between the two.   Here are five main differences I notice.

1.       Smiling and Loudness                                                            

      It is common for people in the Czech to often have straight faces and not smile often.  They also are very quiet while in all public places. This is often hard for my friends and I to follow along with.  It is normal for us to smile and laugh a lot no matter what setting we are in.  At one of our first lectures we were even told that many Czech people think Americans are fake because they always try to come off as happy.  I personally love to be with friends and laugh and I believe that that is how we should live our lives.  It is definitely a struggle sometimes not to be too loud on trains or the tram or in the store or restaurant.

2.       Bathrooms

To me going to the bathroom is part of your everyday life.  Well most public places in Europe do not like to make it that easy.  Most common places here will make you pay to go to the bathroom.  Common places like gas stations, airports or train stations, park bathrooms will all make you pay to use.  I have definitely learned the lesson the hard way to make sure you plan your bathroom trips accordingly.

3.       Transportation                                                                               

Back home the main form of transportation is driving a car around. The normal thing to do when you turn sixteen and get your license is to get a car or atleast be able to drive a car around for yourself.  Well here in Olomouc the main form of transportation is the tram system.  Not many people own cars and just use the tram system.  The trams are nice and handy that you can just get on anywhere and ride to where you need to go, but you the hardest part is learning the tram times and having to schedule to make things on time by the tram schedule rather than being able to leave whenever in your own car.

4.       Dogs

One thing I love about Olomouc is that you see dogs everywhere!  I love animals so I love seeing the fury characters always walking around with their owners.  The funny thing is that a lot of the time I do not see them in the common places you would think.  I have seen many dogs in airports, grocery stores, malls, the phone store, etc.  The dogs literally can almost go everywhere with their owners.  I have also noticed that the dogs here are a lot calmer here and are trained super well.  Seeing all of the dogs sure do make me miss my at home!

5.       Beverages                                                                            

Well I hate to admit this but the saying that “Beer is cheaper than water in the Czech Republic” is true.  This has been something that has been hard for me to get accustomed too.  For example, when we go out to eat back home I would always order water, one, because it was free and two, just because I like to keep myself hydrated and do not drink a lot of caffeine or anything else.  In Olomouc, if you go to a restaurant and want water you will have to pay about $3.  A normal beer in Olomouc is around $1.  To save money and stay away from other liquids, I have started to carry a water bottle in my purse and just fill it up in sinks or anywhere I can find to keep myself hydrated.

Daily Life in Olomouc (1)

It is crazy for me to believe that I have now been in Olomouc for 3 weeks.  My time here seems to be flying through.  Although I have only been living here for 3 weeks, I have grown to notice that I refer to Olomouc as my home.  Especially when we go on field trips to other cities or countries, I notice myself saying I cannot wait to get back home to Olomouc.  Over the past few weeks I have grown a comfort for this beautiful city. 

My schedule pretty much consists of the same thing every day/week.  In the mornings I tend to sleep in until I either, wake up on my own or until my alarm goes off late morning.  The mornings and early afternoons is when we have the most free time.  During this time we often like to go into town and explore the city.  Sometimes we go to different shops or the shopping center or other times we like to just walk around and look at new things.  One day before class, Kara and I were wondering and found a beautiful park right behind our class building.  Every now and then we also go get a bite to eat before class.  We have found a few cheap stands that tend to be our favorite go-to spots for food.  Monday through Thursday we have class from 3pm – 7pm and on Fridays we have class from 10:30am – 1:00pm.  All of our classes are located in the same classroom in the history building of Palacký University.   Our first class is normally some sort of history class, then our next is a Czech language class, and our last is something that is taught by one of our two main professors, Jan and Martin.  After class we are free for the rest of the day.  My roommate and I normally try to come back to our room and make some supper to save money.  After that we either hang out and relax in our room for the night or we go hang out with other people on the trip and do something with them. 

             

   My daily life in Olomouc is a lot different than my life in Kearney.  In Kearney, my day is filled with school, work, meetings, and homework.  I do not have as much free time and have to make time to hang out with friends.  I also am used to waking up early and going to class right away in the morning, then having a little time in the afternoon before work.  Here in Olomouc, my life is way more relaxed and stress-free.  People here live at a way slower pace and relaxed lifestyle.  It has made me realize that I need to slow down and enjoy the beauties in life rather than always stressing myself out and ignoring what is right in front of me. 

Field Trip : Prague and Dresden (7)

          One of the many benefits of the Czech Republic study abroad program is the opportunity of field trips and being able to travel to different parts of countries to also further our knowledge of them.  This past weekend as a class we traveled to Prague, Czech Republic and Dresden Germany.  I had already spent a weekend in Prague before the program started so I was interested in to see if anything seemed different and to see the different parts of Prague that I missed on my previous stay.  This last trip we stayed in a hostel right in the center of Prague.  It was a short walk from our hostel to Wenceslas Square (the new town square).   During this visit, there were many colorful decorations and booths set up in Wenceslas Square and Old Town Square to celebrate Easter.  One fun fact that we learned for Martin was that men used to gently beat women with sticks to receive candy during the Easter holidays.  

Our first day in Prague (Thursday, March 26th) we toured New Town Prague, Old Town

The John Lennon Wall

Prague, Charles Bridge and the John Lennon wall.  Charles Bridge is a famous bridge in Prague that crosses the Vltava River.  It used to be the only solid connection between the Prague Castle and Old Town Prague.   The bridge was beautifully made and has amazing views of Prague and the river. The John Lennon was started as a symbol of hope and peace during the communist period.  

View form the top of the Petrin
Lookout Tower

The next day (Friday, March 27th) we visited the Prague Castle (Pražský hrad) and the St. Vitus Cathedral.  After visiting those, a small group of us decided to trek up the streets of Prague and go climb the Petřín Lookout Tower.  The walk up the tower was scary (coming from someone who is afraid of heights).  Although the walk up and down were freighting for me, the view at the top was way worth it!  I never really realized how big and spectacular Prague was until I reached the top and looked outward.   

Frauenkirche Church

The third day of our field trip (Satuday, March 28th) we took a train to Dresden, Germany. Dresden was bombed by the U.S. during WWII.  While in Dresden, we visited the Frauenkirche Lutheran Church that was bombed and mostly destroyed during the war.  There was only one corner still standing from it.  While in Dresden we also walked past the Opera House and then had the choice of visiting the Historical Art Gallery or The Historical Museum of Saxony.  

Names of the Jews who
died on the walls of the Synagogue

On the last day of the field trip (Sunday, March 29th), we explored the Jewish Quarters of Old Town Prague.  The Jewish Quarters is where all of the Jews were kept during WWII.  During that time there were around 115,000 Jews kept there and 85,000 of them were killed.  To honor all of those who were killed during that time, the names of those who lost their lives are written all over the walls of the old synagogue.  It was interesting to visit the Jewish Quarters, but was also very depressing to read and view the suffering that they went through.  Overall, this field trip taught me even more about the history of WWII and the Czech Republic and also makes me realize how much more I should appreciate my life, even the little things and how I have been blessed to live my life.

#4 Language Difficulties

Czech Alphabet

        When I decided to journey across the ocean and study in a different country I had no clue what to expect.  I did not know how the living situations would be, the living style, the transportation, but most importantly the communication.  I consider myself a friendly person and love meeting and communicating with others, so the difference in languages made me nervous.  While living in America, communication had always been easy for me.  Majority of the people that surrounded me had always spoken the same language as me so I grew up having an English language comfort zone.  After landing in Switzerland, my English language comfort zone was broken.  We arrived and all I saw were signs that I could not understand and bunch of sounds that I could not comprehend.  I felt like a lost puppy. 

        The first few days in the Czech Republic we did a lot of exploring.  Along with the exploring we did a lot of wondering and questioning, “What does this sign mean?” “I wish I could read the tram schedule,” “What does this menu say?” etc.  Right from the start we were thrown into a whole different culture that we did not understand.  Every place we walked into, we struggled to communicate with the locals and natives.  People do not realize the importance of communication or how much we take it for granted until we place ourselves in a whole new surrounding. 

Everyday Czech Phrases

        Two days ago, we began our first lessons in Czech language.  I have always heard that the older you get the harder it is to learn a second language.  I never really knew what that phrase meant, but now I do.  When attempting to learn a new language, it is so easy to just think of how to pronounce a certain letter they way you learned at a young age rather than in the new way you are learning.  Each language was so many different little rules that you have to learn; even certain letters having more than one sound.  Learning a new language will be extremely difficult but it will be worth the extra studying to be able to communicate with others from all around the world more efficiently.