My last blog

After we returned from Cesky Krumlov we all said our goodbyes.  That was our last trip together and the end of our program.  Some of us left Olomouc to go meet family or friends and travel a little bit more before they came back to the States.  We were able to keep the rooms for an extra week and stay in Olomouc if we wanted to.  There was a small group that stayed for a few days and didn't travel anywhere after we got back.  I stayed in Olomouc for the last week and explored the town a little more one last time with a few friends who also stayed.  It was a lot of fun to walk around and reminisce.  As the week went on more and more people left until there were only two of us.  A small group came back to grab their belongings and then head back home.  On Wednesday three of us went to a movie at the mall just so we could see it before people back home.  All I did during that final week was go to restaurants that I liked and ate the amazing food one last time.  Once Friday rolled around we went to eat as a group one last time and then the four of us all left the following morning.  We all flew out of Prague, however, we all left a few hours apart so we didn't go together.  I left Olomouc at 7:30 Saturday morning by train and got to Prague at 10.  I had to take a cab to the airport, which was kind of expensive, but I made it to the airport so I was fine with it.  Now I checked my bags and went through security to my gate.  I was about three hours early just so that I had time if I made a mistake.  I made it to my gate with no problems and then found a seat and relaxed.  I had enough time for my layovers and I knew that it would smooth sailing once I sat down.  My plane was scheduled to leave at 2:30 but that didn't happen.  My flight was delayed until 4:10 and my next flight was suppose to leave at 5:20 from Zurich, Switzerland.  I didn't know if I would make it to my connecting flight, but somehow I managed to get there.  The airline waited for us to get there since there were about ten of us going to Newark.  I met a few people who took a vacation in the Czech and we all ran to our next flight together.  Once I sat down on my eight hour flight from Zurich to Newark I felt a huge weight lifted.  I knew I couldn't sleep on the flight because I wanted to start making the switch back to the US time.  I was lucky enough to have a lot of really good movies available on the flight, so I watched eight hours of movies.  Once I landed in Newark, I went through customs and then found the baggage claim.  Once I found the right spot I stood and looked for my luggage.  I stood there for about twenty minutes and didn't see my bags.  I ran into the same people that I ran to our connecting flight with in Zurich and they couldn't find their bags either.  We all went to the baggage desk to tell them that our bags weren't here and they said that they were still in Zurich.  I gave them my address and then found my hotel room.  I slept like a baby that night because I finally had a soft bed and more than one pillow.  I woke up at 5 the next morning and got to the airport by 6:30.  I checking into my flight and then found my gate and got some food.  I hadn't really eaten anything the previous day.  My flight was on time and there were no problems getting from Newark to Chicago then finally to Omaha.  I met my parents and my grandma at the airport and was very happy to see them after three months.  Now I'm back home and looking back at the last few months and I have to say that I would love to do it again.  It was a great experience to have and it was awesome meeting people that feel like family now.  I am really going to miss waking up everyday and being able to see them around town.  I'm going to miss going to class every afternoon and seeing them all joking around and looking up trains to go somewhere for the weekend.  I'm going to miss traveling all over Europe with my new friends.  I know it was three months, but I feel like I was only gone for a few days and I already miss everything about the trip.  I am very happy that I was able to go on the trip and meet twenty-two travel buddies.  I know we all had a great time and there were some bumps along the way, there were countless trains almost missed and days were we didn't know where to go.  We somehow always found the way back to our rooms and always managed to get our train just at the last second.  This trip really made me think about traveling and planning in a completely different way, and now I feel a lot more comfortable with planning.  I'm so glad to have almost missed trains and almost didn't book a room for us to stay in.  I loved all of the ups and downs on this trip and having to figure out how to get somewhere in the pouring rain.  Even if something bad happened we always got through it as a group and that made us grow as people and made us grow closer together.  It was really sad having to say goodbye after that last field trip, and talking about every adventure we had taken during our time together, but now we are back and have new adventures to tackle.  Some of us are moving on to med school and some are finishing up at UNK and moving on to full time jobs.  One thing is for sure, we will always look back at our old photos and our journals and remember the great times we had together in Europe.  It was an amazing experience with some amazing people and I wouldn't change a single thing about it. 

Final Field Trip in Bohemia

Last week our little group of twenty-three friends took our final trip.  We started on Tuesday and went to Kutna Hora and saw some pretty interesting places.  We arrived, settled in our rooms, and then we were set free to find something to eat.  Some of us went to a little pizza place that was pretty good.  After that we ended up walking around and looking around this little town in the Czech Republic.  On Wednesday, we started our tour of the town starting with a really pretty church.  Last week was pretty chilly and rainy, but it turned out to not be a problem.  After the first church we moved on to the Bone church.  This church has the remains of thousands of plague victims.  It was a very creepy place.  We were able to walk around in there for a while and once we left that church, we made our way to the cathedral.  It was very beautiful, it kind of reminded me of the cathedral in Prague.  We were cut loose for a few hours until our tour of a silver mine.  At 2 that afternoon, we went underground and had to navigate in very tight walkways.  We were only down in the mines for about forty minutes.  The guides gave us little white coats and hard hats with lights on them.  Once we came out of the mine we were able to walk around and mess around for the rest of the day.  A few of us went out to eat and then we took it easy and just spent time together.  The next morning we woke up and made our way to the Budweiser factory.  That was a very cool place to see.  We got a full tour of the factory and we saw where the beer was made and the process for the bottles.  We even got free beer! That was really cool.  We spent a few hours there and when we were done we looked around the gift shop for a while and then got back on our bus to head to Cesky Krumlov.   This was our last town we would see together as a big family.  When we got off the bus we were already soaked.  The rain was coming down hard and we were pretty far away from our hotel.  It was a lot of fun running through all of the rain and trying to not get too wet, but that didn't work our for most of us.  When we finally arrived at our hotel we were completely drenched.  Our clothes did not dry until later the following day.  I also took one pair of shoes and there was nothing dry on them.  The funny part of that was right when we got to our rooms it pretty much stopped raining.  Once again we were set free for the evening and we found some dinner.  This town was pretty pricey when it came to food, but we finally managed to find a cheaper place to eat.  I didn't do a whole lot the first night there.  I just sat around with some friends and we talked for a few hours.  The next morning we started our class tour of the castle, which was spectacular, and then a really cool theatre.  We spent most of the morning in the castle and the theatre.  Once our tours were over we were set free to find something to eat and change for rafting!!  Dane, Kody, and I started walking around and found a cool little market area and spent some time there.  We ate an awesome cafe and then changed into our swim trunks and tank tops.  The rafting started at 2 and ended at around 6:30.  We did get one break about an hour into the excursion.  We sat for about forty-five minutes and then hit the water again.  The river we were in was pretty shallow in some places and we got stuck on countless rocks.  Once we would get unstuck and kept going it was only a matter of time before it happened again.  At the three hour mark our raft started singing and annoying our friends in other rafts.  Probably our greatest achievement on our raft was getting through 99 bottles.  We sang that for half an hour on top of the forty-five minutes of singing random songs that we came up with.  So singing took a up a good chunk of time in the raft.  After that we noticed that the wind picked up and there was some pretty dark clouds rolling in.  Once we saw that we started rowing really hard trying to get out of the water.  We were close to the stopping point so we didn't have to go too far.  Once we got back to the rooms and changed we went out to eat and then just spent the night chatting in the hotel.  The next morning we met to go back to the bus and head back to Olomouc.  It felt like a normal bus ride, but it was our final time we would all be together on that bus.  It was about a four hour drive back home and we said some pretty emotional goodbyes to everybody who was leaving Saturday night.  We tried to have dinner with as many people as we could and then parted ways.  Sunday rolled around and about half of our group had left and half of the remaining people would leave Monday.  Now it's Monday night and there's only a few of us left here in Olomouc.  Some more will leave tomorrow and Thursday.  It's crazy thinking that just three months ago, 23 random people were throwing into an airport in a new country.  We have all grown to care about each other and always be there for one another.  Over these past months we have become one big family and I am proud to be a part of this family.  We really had a lot of fun here and learned a lot about each other, and how not to get too lost in new places.  We still got lost countless times though but that's what made the trip fun, getting lost together.  It sure has been a crazy trip but there were tons of memories made here. 

Kody, Dane, and I got a friendship necklace.  

Some of us were a little more stylish and bought some crocs for rafting.

Final days of class

Today we took our last final in our Czech language class.  Now we are finished with classes and only have one more field trip until our program is over.  It has been a really great time being able to take classes in a different country and being able to experience what it is like.  We had a few history classes that talked about World War 2 and our Czech language class.  I personally loved the history classes because we discussed a lot of the past of the Czech and the surrounding areas.  We learned about different empires that once controlled acres upon acres, and how their reign covered a vast majority of Europe.  Then we would talk about how that empire collapsed and a new power came into play.  The last three months have been full of traveling and learning about events and then seeing them in person.  It has been an amazing experience being able to be a part of this trip.  The history classes we took were definitely my favorite.  Next was our Czech language class, which was also a very fun and exciting class.  I loved learning how to say basic phrases to help get me around.  I felt a lot better being able to speak even a little of the local language.  At first the class wasn't taught very often because of our professors schedules.  Before spring break, which was our halfway point, we had only had the class about five times.  That was pretty difficult because we would have a week break between each class and would forget some things.  After spring break we started hitting Czech really hard.  Our first week back we had the class four times.  At this point in our semester we were no longer learning new material, but reviewing the old material for our final exam.  Every day that we would have that class we would discuss the same stuff over and over again, which wasn't a bad thing but I got pretty burned out after a few classes.  The more we went over the words and phrases more and more I did notice that I remembered something new every time.  As we approached the final test I started to get worried.  Our professors assured us that the exam would be a piece of cake and that we had nothing to worry about, but I worried anyway.  We finally got to the last class and we were told what to study for the following Monday.  Over the Weekend I started reading through my notes and book and tried to memorize as much as I could.  The test kept getting closer and closer and I was still worried about it.  Finally today came and we were ready to take this test.  I sat down and thought that I had probably studied all the wrong stuff and was going to fail.  When I got the test I looked at it for a little bit and thought to myself that this had to be just the first part.  I was handed two sheets of paper with no more than thirty questions on it total.  I immediately started filling out answers before I forgot what I had memorized.  When I got to the final page I flipped it over expecting there to be more on the back but there wasn't.  We were all a little surprised that it was that easy, and that we had worried for nothing.  Overall, looking back at our classes and our time spent in the classroom, I am very thankful for the trip and what these professors have taught me.   It has been a really great semester that was full of adventure and some homework.  Classes really have changed since we arrived here in Olomouc.  When I first sat down at my desk and pulled out my notebook I didn't know what to expect.  I was just ready to sit down and take notes then think about how my finals would turn out three months later.  I didn't realize that we would have this much fun with our classes.  Our professors were always super kind and would never hesitate to tell a joke.  Looking back in my notebook I can remember the days of class, sitting there with my friends trying to figure out how to make three hours not seem so long.  Now three hours doesn't seem so bad anymore.  I think I might miss these classes starting at 3 in the afternoon and going until 6:15.  We somehow got through all of it and now we are here. It felt like just yesterday that we were sitting down for the first time in those desks, and today was the last time we will ever sit in those desks.  This was the best semester I have ever had and it is thanks to all of my friends on this trip and the adventures that we have taken together, and I'm very excited that we get to go on one more together this week.   

First day of Classes

Almost our last day of classes.  I don't have a photo of our last day.

Krakow and Auschwitz

Over the weekend we took a trip to Poland and we were able to see some pretty amazing stuff.  The trip started off with a three and half hour bus ride and then we made it to the salt mine.  At first I didn't know what to expect out of a salt mine, but when we got there it was really cool.  The mines went nine stories down and we were able to see the first three levels.  I think that we went about 140 meters below the surface while we were there.  As we were walking through the first level it was mainly rooms and hallways that had been dug out so they could get the salt out.  This was really impressive because these rooms were really tall and we got to see how they kept the ceiling from falling down.  Once we left these rooms we walked into a room that had a little visualization of how they use to get rid of dangerous gasses in the chambers.  They would take small torches on long sticks and then put them in the chamber to ignite the gas and that is how they got rid of the gas.  We kept walking lower and lower into the mine and the rooms continued to get more and more beautiful.  We saw some statues of different people carved completely out of salt and different machines used to lift the salt from level to level.  They miners also had carved some chapels out of the salt and the first one we saw was very beautiful.  I didn't realize that some mines could look like this.  We got to about our halfway point and there was another huge chapel.  This one was absolutely stunning.  Every part of it was carved out of the same piece of salt.  We were there for a few minutes and then continued the tour.  We saw a lake and a light show, then we started to make our way back out.  After we left the salt mine we started making our way to the hostel.  We arrived at around 5 so we threw our stuff in our room and went to go find dinner.  Dane, Kody, and I went to a little Korean restaurant and ate some really good food there.  Afterwards, we started walking around and Dane and I found our way to the castle and the city center.  The two of us explored for a while and then started heading back for our hostel.  The following day was very interesting and sad.  We visited Schindler's factory Sunday morning.  As we walked through the factory and read about what had happened there and some of the history of Krakow I got chills.  There were stories of the people who worked there and of their families.  We saw different weapons from the Soviets and the Germans along with some living conditions of the Jewish people.  All of us could have spent the whole day in the factory to read all of the signs and information boards about all of the photos.  We spent a few hours there and then walked to the city center with our professors and then split up from there.  A small group of us had lunch then just started walking around.  We made our way back up the castle and took a break there to explore and look over the city.  The rest of Sunday wasn't too exciting.  We went to bed early because Monday was our tour of Auschwitz.  We woke up at 5 so we could get ready and get to the bus on time at 5:45.  It was an hour and fifteen minutes to the camp.  Once our bus stopped and let us off we had a small break while our tour guide got all of our supplies ready.  We grabbed our headsets and entered Auschwitz 1.  Our guide took us around the buildings and explained what each one was used for.  This part of the camp could hold up to 20,000 people.  As we walked through the buildings we saw a lot of photos of the people getting off the train and working.  We walked through the buildings where people were forced to sleep on the floors and cramped into small beds.  Some of the buildings had shoes from people who didn't make it and different possessions they had brought with them to Auschwitz.  This part of the tour lasted about an hour and half, then we made our way over to Birkenau.  Auschwitz 1 was terrible and gave us chills down our spines, but this part was worse.  I can't find the words to describe the feeling of stepping through the front gate and seeing bunk after bunk after bunk.  This part of Auschwitz could hold 100,000 people and most of the Bunk houses are gone now with just the foundations and a few chimneys left standing.  It is a haunting place that left us all speechless.  We didn't spend a lot of time there.  When we left and started making our way back to our hostel to grab our bags and come home we didn't really talk a whole lot at first.  Our trip to Poland was filled with history and was fun and very sad at the same time, but Auschwitz is a place that people need to see at least once in their life.  Krakow is a beautiful city with a lot of history in it and it was a good place to visit in our final weeks here in Europe.  This is our last week of class and we have a final this Wednesday and then the last final next Monday.  Next week is our last field trip around the Czech Republic, then a free week.  This trip has went by far too fast, but it was an awesome experience and I'm glad we still have a little bit too go.  

Daily Life 2

We got back to Olomouc from spring break about a week ago and had to resume our daily lives here.  At first I was a little nervous to get back and dive back into Czech language and staying in one place for more than a night.  We got back home and I unpacked everything then went about my day.  It was far easier than I thought it was going to be to get back in the groove of doing everything.  I did forget how to say hello and thank you for about a day.  Luckily, I remembered how to say most of the easy phrases we have learned so far in class.  Now that it has been about two months that we have been here, I am finally feeling comfortable moving around and talking to people here.  Once we got back from spring break I felt like I was coming back to my home and not just a college dorm room.  As I have been back I feel like life has gotten way easier than when we got here and even easier since break.  Life is a lot of fun here, being able to run around and know how to get places without asking for directions.  Also, it's nice knowing that getting lost isn't too scary anymore.  Other than moving around town on a normal day and finding places to eat and go shopping, there are plenty of new places to still explore here in Olomouc.  We have a few weeks left until it is time to pack up and go home, but this place feels like home now.  We still have about a week and half of classes left but that will go by super fast.  Classes are going well still.  They haven't changed much, we still have our history classes and our Czech language course.  Our language class is now just review for our final that is coming up in a little over a week.   We are all starting to plan what is going to happen when we are done with our semester, and where everyone is going.  I'm going to stay here in Olomouc for the final days and mess around with a few friends who are also staying here.  Being here for this long has really made me love this way of life.  walking around and just looking at buildings and walking into little shops on the street, and bumping into people that I know in town.  It has been so much fun so far to be able to experience all of this and get thrown into a new culture.  I enjoy this way of life and will really miss it once I get back home, but I'm also excited to be back to what I'm accustomed to.  I miss driving a car and being able to leave somewhere whenever I want.  I do enjoy not paying for gas though.  One thing that I am getting nervous about is the new sleep schedule once I get back home.  I got use to the time difference when I got here, however, going back seven hours might be a bigger challenge to get use too.  No day here is ever boring, we always manage to find something to do here in town.  Most mornings some people go on runs on a small country road.  It's not really a country road, just a road that isn't used a whole lot.  Other people sleep.  I am proud to say that I do both of those things.  Once a week I do laundry at the laundromat that is close to our rooms.  I'm also excited to do laundry for free once I get back home.  Most days are pretty easy getting around and doing simple tasks.  It's a lot of fun hanging out in cafe's or just walking around town and seeing all of the cool buildings or fountains in the city square.  Daily life in the Czech is loads of fun once you get the hang of getting around and learning some simple phrases to help out. 

Don't have too many photos of daily life, but some friends and I went to Budapest last weekend.

We had Tuesday off so we played paintball and had a barbecue. 

Spring Break

We just got back from spring break on Monday.  We had two weeks of spring break, the first week was some class field trips to Vienna and Venice.  It was incredible to see all of the amazing historical places in these cities.  Vienna was a lot of fun, we were able to go into a museum that had some pretty cool dinosaur bones and animals.  After the museum we pretty much got to walk around and do our own exploring while in Vienna.  Once we arrived in Venice we unpacked and found food.  It was some good food.  The next day we walked around with our professors for a few hours and saw a palace then a church.  After that we were able to split up into little groups and explore Venice.  A few of us went to lunch and then started walking around.  We mainly just went sightseeing and looked for some cool souvenirs.  We did take a ride on a gondola, and that was one of the most amazing things I had done in Venice.  It was twenty minutes of riding around the canals and seeing the city.  We passed by Marco Polo's house!!!!  I got really excited and had to go see it again.  Once my friends and I got off of the gondola we started looking for the house.  We walked around for about 45 minutes looking for it and we didn't stop until we found it.  Once we found it and my friends let me take a few pictures in front of it we went souvenir shopping.  It took us a while to find the stands that we were looking for and may have gotten a little lost in the crazy streets of Venice, but we found the right stands.  After the shopping we ended up sitting on the side of the street looking at the other islands that make up the city.  It was beautiful to look at and hear the water rush past rocks and hit the walls.  That day in Venice was perfect.  The next morning we parted ways for the second week of spring break.  My friend and I left for Rome that afternoon.  When we arrived we found our hostel and put our bags down for a few days.  The first evening there, we walked around and found the Coliseum!  We didn't go in that night however because we had plans to meet some other friends from our group the next day and go see it.  We started walking back and grabbed some food then met our friends back at the room.  The next day we met some people from our group at the Vatican to hear the Pope speak.  It was very moving to hear the Pope speak in person and see him.  Once he left his window we started walking around and seeing different things in the Vatican.  After about an hour we started walking some more and seeing more old buildings.  Later that afternoon we finally made it to the Roman Forum and the Coliseum.  I cried a little in the Coliseum and ended up being a tour guide for my friends and told them a few fun facts about the places we visited.  We spent hours in the Forum and the Coliseum, it gave me chills to see these places in person and know what happened right where we were standing.  It was an amazing thing to see though.  Once we finally left we ate dinner and then went to bed.  The following day some people went to Pompeii and the last four of us just walked around and looked for cool landmarks to look at.  That Monday went by very fast.  Once Tuesday rolled around my friend and I made our way down to Pompeii.  I also teared up there too.  I can't explain the feelings I had when we saw these places in real life.  I remember learning about them in classes, but actually being there is something completely different.  We were able to walk around the old town for about six hours!  Paige and I didn't even manage to see the whole town.  I did end up finding some of the bodies of the people who were covered in ash.  It was unbelievable  to see in person and know the history of this city, then show up and walk the same streets that these people did 2,000 years ago.  Once we left we had to go find our bnb where we were staying that night.  I couldn't believe that Tuesday was already gone and Wednesday was just a travel day.  We left at 7:20 that morning and didn't get to Athens until that evening.  My friend and I were lucky that our hostel was close to the metro station.  It turned out to be a super nice little apartment style place.  Our other friends showed up at about two that morning.  The following morning the four of us started walking around Athens and trying to figure out where we could get some food.  We found a little shop that had some great gyros.  After we ate we made our way down to the ancient Greek Agora.  Now, this place made me and my other friend Paige cry.  I still can't describe what I was feeling walking on these streets looking at these ruins, and trying to think what it would have looked like all those centuries ago.  We saw amazing temples dedicated to the Greek Gods.  We all spent a good chunk of time at the agora and once we left there, we made our way up to the Acropolis.  The walk looked like a long hike up the hill but it turned out to be a pretty nice little walk.  It was amazing walking through the front columns of the Acropolis and seeing the Parthenon for the first time.  We walked around and looked at all of the temples and ruins on the ground.  We found every info plaque that we could find and then went to the edge of the ruins and looked out over the city.  While we were looking around we saw the Acropolis Museum and decided to go there next.  Once we got into the museum, we found all sorts of artifacts from the Acropolis and we were speechless.  We messed around there for a few hours and looked at all of the statues they had.  Overall, Thursday was a great day.  The following day was spent on a beach in Athens.  It was kinda cold for a beach day, but it was still the most amazing beach that I have ever seen.  We were there all day and then moved back into the center of town for our last day.  The last day was spent back in the ruins for a majority of the day and just soaking everything in.  That night we were checking into our flights for the next day and it turned out that one of our flights was booked for the 29th and not the 22nd.  So we had to book some last minute bus tickets from Rome to Olomouc.  That was a very interesting 19 hour bus ride.  At least they had some good movies on the bus.  We arrived in Olomouc at 8:30 on Monday and it was a relief to be back in one piece.  Spring break was a huge success and I would go back to any of those places in a heartbeat.  I can't explain how beautiful and educational it was seeing these places in person and knowing what happened there.  It was really life changing.  Now we only have about 5 weeks left for our trip and it's kind of freaking me out.  There are a lot more adventures to be had over here though.  It's been absolutely amazing being here with all of these great people and experiencing all of these new places in person.  Walking where others have been walking for thousands of years really makes me emotional.  It was a good spring break, probably the best spring break ever!

We found the world's BEST fountain pen in Venice.

The home of Marco Polo

I had to take a class photo during the Roman Forum tour.

Gondola ride!!!

These statues are dedicated to the Iliad and the Odyssey 

The Parthenon

This little carving of a woman is 36,000 years old.  It is in the natural history museum in Vienna.