Don't Worry, Mom: 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