Four Day Excursion

            This week we went on our first group field trip to Prague, Czech Republic and Dresden, Germany. It was a great experience with a lot of fun moments and also a few sobering moments. In this short four day trip we learned a lot about different religions in Europe, as well as World War II and the tragedies that went along with it.

            We started our trip in Prague and got a wonderful tour of the city. We got to see the multiple sections of Prague and hear the history behind each section. The city of Prague was originally four villages that later combined. We also got to see Charles Bridge, which is lined with statues and vendors. This is where we ran into five police office that surrounded us as we walked across the bridge. Later that day we went and had supper at Burger King (yes Burger King). This is where Emily, Preston, Cassie, and I met up with the Puerto Rican friends Emily and I had made in Salisbury as stated in the previous blog. We hung out with them for a little while at their hostel and then returned to our own to get some sleep for the night.

            The next day, our whole group met up again for a tour of the Prague Castle. It was an uphill climb to get to the castle but we made it. When we got there we started off the tour with a look at St. Vitus’s Cathedral, which was very ornate. After making our way through there we went and watched the changing of the guard. This is a fifteen minute ritual that is full of music and marching. We then continued on to the Basilica of St. George. This is a smaller version of the cathedral and had two different architecturally formed sections, one being the Gothic period and the other the Roman period.                                                                                                                                                                     

                                                          
                   

After seeing both of the churches we finally got to see the Old Royal Palace. Here we were able to see where they would come together for meetings, as well as the office spaces for members of government. In the office spaces they had painted on the ceiling the crest of all those who were at one time or another involved. The most breath-taking part however was the throne room which was also where they kept the crown and scepter used for coronation. Here Emily and I got yelled at for taking pictures, according to our guide Martin, it’s a security issue. At the end of the tour we went down Golden lane, which is a small street with little shops on either side.

After the tour concluded we walked the town for a bit and did some shopping. For dinner that night we had McDonalds (yes another American fast food place). When we got our food and sat down, Preston began making friends with a bird we now call Mr. Pigeon by feeding him french fries. We then headed back to our hostel because we knew we had a long day ahead of us. However, later that night we ended up going back to the McDonalds for cake and ice cream and to skype our loved ones because the internet at our hostel was awful.

We left the train station at 8:30 the next morning on our way to Germany. The trip to Dresden was just a day trip but we had a lot of fun getting to explore. When we first got there we got to see a beautiful Lutheran Church and learned that this is where Martin Luther started his reformation. Our guides Jan and Martin, explained to us that the Lutheran churches focused on the sermons which is why the pews were focused on a central point. This church was a lot more light and bright than the previous cathedrals we had seen. We later climbed to the top of the church and had an amazing view.

           

Later that day we went to visit The Old Master’s Picture Gallery, which is an enormous art gallery. It was floor on floor of amazing works of art dating all the way back to the 15^th century. It took us at least two hours to make it through the whole building. We could have spent more time there however we were on a time crunch. They had all sorts of photos with interesting names like “Man Holding A Black Cap”. It was well worth the time spent. We then returned to the train station for the trip back to Prague.

For our last day in Prague we visited the Jewish Quarters. This was by far the most sobering day out of the entire four day trip. The first building we made our way into was an old synagogue. The walls were covered in names, these names were of those who were killed in World War II. It was not only one floor of names but three. On the top floor there was a picture gallery of drawings made by children at the time of their experiences. Imagining what they had to go through made me cringe. At 11 years old and sometimes younger the things they witnessed were horrifying. The next stop was the cemetery, with tombstones going every which way. Here you would see rocks and little pieces of paper on the tombstones, these are the equivalent to flowers that would be brought to the grave in the United States. Lastly, we saw the oldest and still functioning synagogue in Prague. In the Jewish religion they have two separate spaces for men and women. While the men would get to sit in with the Rabbi women were typically in another room.

We then took the train back to Olomouc and I was sure glad to be back. While I enjoyed the history and culture we got to experience I missed our small town Olomouc and all the wonderful perks of it, like cheaper food and shopping. 

And We're Off!

            On Tuesday, March 8^th I began my long trip to the Czech Republic with my best friend Emily and our travel companion George. We decided we would take four days to travel before the program started which in some aspects was a great idea. However, at the same time we had some struggles that we could have lived without.

            We arrived at our first destination on Wednesday, March 9^th. The flight to Dublin was pretty painless minus the fact that it was a six hour long flight from Philadelphia, which didn’t include the hour and a half flight from Denver to Philadelphia and a four hour layover. While the flight was painless the afterward was what began our stressful situations. Emily had left her phone on the plane and we searched for it for a little over an hour in the airport until we just decided to file a claim. However we still had a wonderful time. We stayed in a wonderful hostel and enjoyed the sights and attractions of Dublin, including a tour of Jameson Whiskey and a visit to one of their historic jails. Our time there was brief but then we were off for our next adventure.

            Our next stop was Glasgow, Scotland, here continued our trials. We had already lost Emily’s phone and as you can imagine where this is going I lost mine on a bus in Scotland. Unfortunately neither of our phones are anywhere to be found. Nonetheless, we continued on not letting our bad luck ruin our time. While in Scotland we visited People’s Palace, which was a huge palace that was built so everyone could have a place to stay in a time when there was a lot of people and not a whole lot of room. Scotland has a very rich history and we were able to see this during our visit. 

            The last stop on our way to the program was by far filled with the worst of luck. This was the stop we were most excited about, London. We got to see Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Tower Bridge, Shakespeare’s Globe Theater,  and much more. However, trying to do all we could in one day we jammed three days of fun into one, which would in turn cause problems. We did manage to get almost everything done, the problem was the one thing we should have made sure we completed, we somehow failed. Emily and I officially have missed our first flight and with the stress of having to find a way to Prague on time automatically made us break down. Right in the middle of the airport as we are struggling to figure what was going on we bawled. Luckily we figured out a solution and we even had a nice lady ask us if we were okay. In the end though we just had to keep looking at the positive. First of all we got to see everything in London we wanted to. Second, we made the trip up to Stonehenge which  is spectacular and ended up making our Puerto Rican friends, Emilio, Joel, Paola, and Adriana.

           
                                      

                                                     

            Finally, we reached Prague. We got here and took the four hour bus ride up to Olomouc. Our first few days were full of adventure and a lot of orientation and tours. We got the privilege of touring their city hall, as well as the university we would be attending, and the city as a whole. The fun continued during orientation week with a variety of welcome parties and fun nights out with our group. However, being the grown up college students we are we had to start class this week with the Czech language course. While this experience has been slightly stressful, it has so far been well worth it.