We're Going On A Trip

After 2 weeks of no classes and traveling around, it’s time to reflect on the school trip we took to Vienna, Austria, and Venice, Italy.

            When we arrived in Vienna we checked into our hostel which turned out to be very nice. The next day we went out to visit one of the castles of the Habsburg’s. The family was ridiculously rich and had a lot of possessions that have become property of the state now. This is due to the fact that they were forced out of their ruling and when this happened they did not have time to gather all of their things. Walking through this museum of stuff, mostly useless random things, I was baffled by the amount of money in this place. If I could sell just one earring in one of the many sets that were housed here, I would be able to pay for college, a house, a car, and still have money left over. This was truly an interesting experience. Thinking about all the poverty in the world, we have people who had and still have this amount of money that could easily solve a whole lot of problems with a fraction of their money.

            After that our group split up and got to enjoy a variety of museums. I choose to go to the Natural History museum, which was a great decision. While we were there we saw everything from different types of rock, jewels, and gems, to all types of animals. My favorite part of the whole museum was the dinosaur section. While I did enjoy the bones and cool dinosaur finds, the most fascinating thing for me was the life size dinosaur that moved and made noise. I was so entertained with it, like a kid in a candy store. We did not have near enough time to see it all but we sure tried. While we walked through we took many pictures and had fun.

            The next day we headed out toward Venice. We left super early for a 7 hour bus ride. Around lunch time we stopped to grab a bite to eat and luckily we got a wonderful mountain view. When we got there we got settled into our hostel and then headed out for a short tour of the city. This is where our guide Jan left us to fend for ourselves. Venice is actually made up of over 100 islands. This makes it very easy to get lost but in the end getting lost was a good thing. We were able to find food and get the layout of the city.

            Our next day out in Venice we visited the palace of the Duke of Venice, which again was a Habsburg. The palace is right on the Grand Canal in Venice, which made for a pretty view. This building was very ornate, just like all of the things we saw in the museum in Vienna. There was also some very pretty artwork throughout. However, the last thing we saw in the palace was the jail. This jail was a long trek but worth it in the end. Jan showed us the window where most prisoners saw the last of the outside world they would see. This was a sobering thought because even though these people had committed crimes they would not be able to see anything but the prison again.

            This trip gave me good insight into how greedy people can be. All the money in the world would not cover the price of the things I saw on this trip and that is truly shocking to me. This being the halfway point of my time here, I have come to the realization that the Czech Republic has a deep and long history that most people don’t even know about. This country maybe small but they have been through a lot like the Nazi invasion, communist rule, and dealing with people like the Habsburgs. The Czech Republic should be given more historical attention than what it is getting now. It is truly sad that in America we don’t focus more on worldly history. America is great and it’s wonderful that our students are learning about our history but there is a lot more going on outside the US boarders that could potentially affect the United States.

Heart Drop

            A three hour bus ride and we were there, Auschwitz. This is something I can honestly say I was looking forward to experience during this program. However, after being there I realized I only need to experience it once. The moment we pulled up my heart immediately sank. If this was not an eerie enough place already it was raining and gloomy, with birds flying around making their noises. We started making our way through and saw some of the most horrifying things and heard about the people’s time there.

            We made our way up to the gate into Auschwitz. Inscribed on the gate are the words “Arbeit Macht Frei”, which translates to work will set you free. This of course was a lie because most of the people who entered did not make it out. Over 1 million people were killed at Auschwitz. We visited many of the barracks that had displays of not only things that were found after the liberation but also pictures that were found of this horrible occurrence.

            The things that were found ranged from shoes, glasses, pots and pans, and luggage.

            After making our way through Auschwitz we made our way over to Birkenau, which is just right up the road. This camp is bigger than the first and had separate sides for men and women. This camp was also less preserved than the first because when word came of the allies coming to liberate the camps they started destroying the buildings and moving people to another camp. The moving of these people was known as the death march because most of the people either died on the way or couldn’t walk any further and were shot. This was due to the fact that the Nazi’s did not want any survivors to be a tell all to the allies.

            This whole experience made me reflect on things I complain about every day.

How can I justify complaining about the food I get at a restaurant that just isn’t good enough?

Prisoners of Auschwitz typically got three meals a day and they weren’t nutritional. For breakfast they got a liter of coffee or tea that was typically not actual coffee or tea. Lunch consisted of vegetable soup which consisted of rotten vegetables. Dinner was typically a piece of bread, which was mostly saw dust in order to save supplies, and jam.

Most of the time I get more than 3 meals a day and they are big meals. They are warm and nutritional. I will never ever complain again about a meal.

How can I justify complaining about my sleeping conditions?

            Most of the time the prisoners slept on the floor with a straw bed. In Birkenau, we saw the women’s arrangements, which were basically bunk beds without the bed. It was a platform that multiple women would have to shove onto and sleep with multiple people. A lot of times they would wake up next to someone who had passed in their sleep due to starvation or dehydration or poor hygienic conditions. The beds were typically covered in lice.

            Most of us let’s be honest have a twin bed or bigger all to ourselves. We complain when the bed is just a little hard or too soft. But we don’t wake up to death, or lice, or the fact that we are in so much pain lying on just wooden bunks.

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”     -George Santayana

            This is a great quote that really stuck with me. In the very first barrack we went in this was up on the wall. It is good for us to remember the past no matter how horrible so we do not end up in a situation like most of Europe did. I will forever remember this experience. It left me nauseous and light headed, with my heart so far down in my chest. This is the first time I have ever experienced my heart drop.

Home Sweet School

School has always been a necessity for me. If I wanted to get where I wanted in life it was necessary that I spent the thousands of dollars on an education where only half the classes apply to my major. However, here in the Czech Republic, Czech students go to school for FREE. Free tuition has always been something that Americans have hoped and prayed for and in Europe it’s a reality. Even tuition for those of us who aren’t Czech is super reasonable here. For a bachelors in English the tuition is 750 euros which is the equivalent of $854.51 for the whole year. It honestly makes me question my school choice and how much money I am spending on college.

Here in Olomouc classes are typically an hour and a half long, which is somewhat comparable to my courses back home, maybe even a little better. One of the main differences in my course work is that I have classes back to back that don’t start until 3pm and get over around 6:15-7:15pm on Monday through Thursday. On Friday, I have class at 10:30am and get done at about noon, which to be honest isn’t too bad because then I have the rest of the day to do some site seeing or begin some travel. I didn’t get to choose my courses so we didn’t have much say on when they were or what they were, but overall it isn’t a bad set up.

As for teachers in the Czech most of them are soft spoken and have A LOT to say. It can often times be hard to concentrate on what’s going on. It is very easy to get distracted and not pay attention in the classroom because they allow you to have your phones and computers out at all times. However, we all do our best to pay attention and be respectful to the professors that gave up their time for us and often times struggle to get through a whole lecture in English which is understandable of course.

 The classrooms are set up very similar to those in the United States in that the teacher is at the front and the students are in rows of desks. While this set-up is getting less popular in most of my college classes it is a commonality here. I am studying to become a teacher back in the States and it is proven through a lot of research that most students do not learn well in rows. The better set-up is when they can collaborate with others in the classroom, not only the teacher but peers. Here you can see that learning is uniform. However, I had a teacher here last week tell us that he has the capability to take his students out to cafés and beer gardens for class when it gets nicer. Whereas, in the United States that is frowned upon, the students must stay on campus for class and there is no other way about it in most cases.

While I am enjoying the more laid back approach to college in the Czech Republic I will also look forward to my return. It will be nice to get back to outspoken teachers, who provide me with just the information I need and adapt to my learning styles. While I may not enjoy spending the thousands of dollars on school I will appreciate the American standards of schooling and getting back into what I am use to. I am grateful for this experience and am glad that I am being pushed out of my comfort zone but nothing can compare to my home sweet school.