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.

Interacting with Czech People

Before I left home, I was a little worried about the language barrier and interacting with the locals.  When I landed in Germany I got a little worried about how I was going to communicate with everybody.  When I got off of the plane I had to go to a checkpoint and tell them how long I was staying and get my passport stamped.  This was my first real interaction with anybody from Europe and I was scared to say anything.  I walked up to the man in the booth and started with hello.  He looked at me and asked me for my passport, in english.  At this point I calmed down a bit and was relieved that he knew english, but I realized that since he worked at an airport, he probably talks to a lot of people that speak different languages.  After I talked to him, I got a little nervous again, thinking that I got lucky and found someone who knows english.  As I walked around the airport I didn't really talk to anybody except for my dad.  Once our next plane took off, the attendants and our pilot spoke english, but the same thing ran through my head that they knew english because they meet a lot of people, from a lot of different places.  My dad and I landed in Prague and called an Uber to get us to our hotel.  Our driver spoke some english, which made me feel a little better, and we arrived at our hotel with all of our stuff and in one piece.  Then we had to call our host because the door was locked and needed to get in to put our stuff away.  She also spoke english and at this point I was getting pretty relaxed about the whole language difference.  We started walking around Prague and meeting shop owners and restaurant employees who spoke english, so it was very easy to get around.  During my stay in Prague helped out a lot with being nervous and scared to talk to others.  Once I met my group and we made our way to Olomouc, I started thinking about the language barrier again, because Prague is the capitol of the Czech Republic and figured they get people from all over the world visit them.  That feeling of being nervous grabbed me again and I was waiting to see what Olomouc brought.  Once we arrived, our trip coordinator helped us get our sheets and room keys, so we didn't have to talk to anyone yet.  The following week, we talked to people who are use to speaking Czech and not english.  However, while we have been here, we have met many people who speak english and can talk to us.  It has been awesome to meet these people and live in an area where everybody is very nice and helpful, and can understand us.  So far, I feel like it is very easy to communicate with new people, and if we can't talk to each other, we can use hand gestures and pointing.  Pointing is a real lifesaver sometimes.  When we travel to new towns and countries we can still find new ways to talk to others who don't speak english, and we have picked up a few phrases here and there, and that has been very helpful.  I've heard about other people I know having problems with the language barrier, but so far I have been pretty lucky with it.  I am getting a little nervous for spring break though.  Although, we will be with our professors for the first half of our spring break, nothing to worry about hopefully.  I am very excited to see what Austria, Italy, and Greece bring, I'm ready to see if we can talk to others or find new ways to show what we are saying.  Also, if we get caught in a pinch, pointing can always save the day, because I'm pretty sure pointing is universal.  Besides the language differences, it is very amazing hanging out in a new culture.  We have the opportunity to meet a lot of new people along the way.  Our professors that we travel with and have in our classes are very nice, and teach us a lot about what we see.  Everybody here is very nice, and I haven't interacted with one person who seemed annoyed or wouldn't help out.  We did however run into one guy on the tram who was asking us why we chose to come to the Czech.  He didn't talk to us a whole lot about it, but was mainly just curious why here.  Other than that one experience though, I have had a spectacular time here so far and am very excited to continue this adventure.  We have a lot more planned to do before we head back home, and it all seems very very fun.  

My dad and I in Prague for the first time trying to figure out how to get around.

We met this guy but he wasn't much help.

Some pictures of our weekend trip to some catacombs. 

Going to Classes in Olomouc

We have been here for about a month now, getting use to the new culture and seeing some amazing sights.  While we are able to spend weekends and breaks in another country or city we still are taking classes.  We are taking four classes this semester for full credit, and so far I am loving these classes.  When we first arrived here in Olomouc we had a few orientation days to see the town and our classroom.  After those few days we started our classes.  One of the first classes we took was a Czech language class and so far we have only had it three times.  That class is pretty fun, we learn different vocabulary and phrases that help us with everyday life in shops and restaurants.  We haven't learned too many intricate phrases yet, so far it is mostly phrases like; hello, good day, please, and thank you.  I am having a good time in that class and it has been very interesting learning a new language in a classroom then hearing it out on the street.  We also have two history classes that we take, and we have these a majority of the time.  In these classes we discuss many aspects of central European history and World War II.  These are especially interesting because we are actually here where all of this transpired.  We are able to see where an old king lived centuries ago or the land where a battle took place.  Over here you can walk and see a building or pasture with historical significance every ten feet.  The history classes we take really help and point out these places.  In the month we have been here, we have talked about World War II in the Czech and we have seen the places that soldiers have stayed in and fought for their lives in.  We have stood in the same places that soldiers stood seventy years ago.  Our history classes have taught us a lot about the country and surrounding countries that we are living in for a few months.  One part of our classes that I enjoy is that we always have a class about the places we visit before we go.  For example, when we went to Prague a few weeks ago, we had a full class just about the history of the Czech Republic and Prague.  This made it nice because as we walked around for those few days we were able to see the places our professors had talked about.  Also, with these history classes we get to watch a movie about once a week.  Our first movie was about the soldiers who were Prague and carried out the assassination of Heydrich.  After the movie we went and saw this place.  The next movie we watched wasn't about a place that we were learning about or going to, it was a parody of American Westerns.  This movie was in Czech but luckily we had subtitles.  It was a very goofy movie that showed what others thought of the United States westerns at the time, and had some Czech political references in it as well.  Overall it had a few funny parts, but it showed how others viewed our movies from the time.  The final class that we take is this blog class.  We don't sit in a classroom for this class we just go about our lives with our other classes and travel then write about it.  I love this class because it is about what we spend our time on while we are here, and can give us the ability to look back on what we have done and share our experiences with friends and family back home.  So far we have written three blogs and have a total of ten for the semester.  They are typically due every week on Wednesday, however, when we have trips that make us leave during Wednesday they are due Monday.  All in all, I am having a great time in all of my classes and they are a lot of fun to be in.  I am learning about topics that I haven't learned about yet, or learning more about topics that I may have heard about in other classes.  During our semester here, we only have about thirty days of class for three months of studying.  I am having an amazing time here studying about all of this history, and I really love history.  I can't believe that we only have about a month and half left, but it will be filled with learning about new subjects and traveling all over Europe. 

Classes

This is one of the churches that we learned about during one of our WWII lectures.

These are just a few of the places that we have been learning about in our classes.

We also went to Munich and Salzburg this weekend for Easter.