Na Shledanou a Děkuji

I’ve put off writing this blog for a while now because I really have no idea how to end things. At this point I doubt anyone keeps up with this anyway but I felt like there had to be some ending to this, some final words of wisdom, or some summary of the experience. The only problem? I’ve got nothing. I’m sitting here in my new (though actually quite old and kind of gross) kitchen in Huntingdon, PA, in the house I’m going to be living in during my fourth and final year at Juniata College, and I can come up with no inspiring explanation of my time abroad. Not because it wasn’t inspiring, or I gained no new wisdom, or because it just wasn’t that great. It’s exactly the opposite. Words don’t describe the last few months of my life. I keep running into people who politely ask me how the Czech was, and I respond with “Great!” or “An absolutely amazing adventure!” (alliteration fully intended of course) but how do you fit a semester where you grew in ways you can barely comprehend into a socially appropriate sentence, hell in over a month I havn’t even been able to put it into a blog post with no socially required word limit. In my first post on this blog I said I would most likely be thankful for getting myself in over my head yet again, and that is true but it doesn’t begin to cover how I feel. I’m thankful to have had the opportunity, disappointed I couldn’t stay longer, amazed at how different I feel on the other side, homesick for a country that isn’t actually mine, and struggling to fit back into my former life. So, I guess the way I have to end this is just Na shledanou a Děkuji.

100 Days

So today is officially my 100th day in the Czech Republic as well as t-minus 4 days until my wild European adventure with Molly which means roughly a month until I'm back in San Diego. So with that in mind I've been thinking back over my time here and I cannot believe how fast it has gone. It feels like just yesterday I was battling the Czech winter and trying to find my way around Brno. Now this city is my home away from home and my friends I've know for only a few months I feel like I've known forever. Since I've been here I've experienced new cultures, tried new foods, met new friends, learned a little of a new language, traveled constantly, went to class occasionally and learned ALOT. I learned that Czechs aren't always the most friendly people but make a damn good beer. I learned that no matter what you do, Europeans know you're an American. I learned the Irish are very friendly though the men lie a lot. I learned Spain has fabulous coffee. I learned running while abroad is much harder than it seems. I learned that my procrastination only gets worse in a new country. I learned that life is so much more interesting when you cannot communicate with the people around you. I learned the value of living in a country with a currency weaker than the dollar. I learned that even to this day communism still affects Central Europe's everyday life, evidenced in the mass amounts of Smazeny Syr I've eaten and the clearly communist designed dorm I live in. I've become more independent, more self-sufficient, more confident, and have decided I have no idea what I want to do with my life. I've also, if possible, fallen even more in love with life. So now after 100 days here I'm starting to pack, finishing up my final papers, saying goodbye to friends, and getting ready to backpack for 3 weeks. It's been a hell of a 100 days and I can't wait to see where else life takes me.

Adventures in Nudle: making friends and getting fed

By far one of the greatest things in the Czech Republic are the non-stop walk up food windows. They are all over the place, open late at night, perfect for 3 in the morning waiting for the night bus munchies (after a late night of studying in the library of course). They are super cheap with some pretty shady food along with some gloriously fried food. They are normally run by a vietnamese family, and are often serve various asian food. Granted, actually figuring out exactly what nationality it is supposed to be is near impossible except it is never Vietnamese, even if the owner is.

So, Saturday morning, after a late night...studying, we were catching a bus to Prague for the day. I stopped by a random "Japanese" non-stop, SuSushi. They serve sushi, though no sane person would ever get it. Anyway, I walk up to the window and decide for a change of pace to get some chow-mein type noodles. I've never had them before and the word on the menu is "nudle" so I order pronouncing it "noodle" which I thought was a solid guess for the pronunciation. The guy looked at me like I was crazy, so I repeated, and he continued to confusedly stare. Eventually I point and he goes "OH! Nood-lay" and proceeds to get my food while giving me a quick Czech lesson. After, we got back from Prague that night it was 3 am and I was starving, so I decided, with my new knowledge of the correct pronunciation of nudle I would go order some, I walk in and confidently order "Nudle prosim" and get a look of pure and utter apathetic distaste combined with a look that says "what the fuck are you trying to order" from the woman behind the counter. So, I try again, add frustrated with idiot american to the look. Eventually, she goes "nudle" pronounced exactly how I had pronounced it, and begins making it for me. This is the point that I become best friends with the other workers at SuSushi who begin asking me where I'm from, how much Japanese do I know, why don't I speak Czech, what I'm studying. Now whenever I go in there (even though we went over the fact I don't speak Japanese, and neither do they for that matter) they greet me with Konichiwa and give me extra nudle. Now I've managed to make myself hungary with all this talk of nudle, so I'm off to be fed.

Poland

I spent this past weekend in Poland. It was by far the most interesting trip I've taken since I've been here. We started the weekend by going to Auschwitz. After that trip I was convinced that would be easily the most memorable part of the trip. It would be impossible to explain or describe the feeling of walking through that camp, of standing in an actual gas chamber. I know I could not even begin to comprehend the scale of human suffering that place has seen. I honestly have no words to explain.

The next day while on a tour of the city of Krakow we got the news that the President of Poland had died in a plane crash. He was on his way to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Katyn Massacre where Soviet troops murdered thousands of the Polish Military and buried them in the Katyn woods. A country that was already joining together that day to remember those who died in Katyn were all of a sudden also mourning the death of their President. It was almost surreal to find ourselves all of a sudden in the midst of a national tragedy. Within hours every flag had a black strip attached or a black flag flying next to it. By that night there was a newspaper printed with information on the crash. Many people in my group attended a memorial mass that night and candles were everywhere. We saw more than one group walking down the street with a Polish flag draped in black in a silent march to pay tribute.

This trip was very different from any other I've taken thus far in my semester. It was a somber reminder of the darker moments in life. Though these darker moments should serve as a reminder to appreciate the lighter, more beautiful parts of life we often take for granted.

Life is Czech-tastic

While hanging out last night my friend Alejandra coined the phrase "czech-tastic" and I have decided to make it my life's mission to make it part of everyday use here at Vinarska and hopefully eventually spread it to the world. First a definition:

Czech-tastic: adj. used to describe something that is completely and utterly Czech, which may often mean it is weird, unnecessarily complex, or has a high alcohol content. Although it all must be fabulous in some way as well: that pivo is totally Czech-tastic.

So, some examples of things that are czech-tastic would be:

1. Czech Easter Traditions: a boy makes (or buys) a whip that they then use to go door to door whipping girls while singing easter carols, the girls then give them eggs or a shot. There is also something about dousing girls in water, still not sure about that one but I did get water thrown on me.
2. Czech Pivo: fabulous beer with a high alcohol content, I don't think I need to say more. Oh except they dyed it green the other day...Czech-tastic!
3. Czech Movies: these are harder to describe so I would suggest reading this movie summary of "The Buttoners" to fully understand typical Czech movies (its's short). Buttoners - Trailer - Cast - Showtimes - NYTimes.com
4. The SUPO system at Massaryk University: the University made me open a Czech bank account that they put money into, I then have to withdraw the money and deposit it in a SUPO machine that I can find around campus in order to give the money back to the school to pay rent.

Anyway, life is fabulously Czech-tastic. I head to Poland this weekend and I just was in Spain last weekend to see Biggs, my roommate from home. Here are some pictures:

YouTube - Barcelona to see Biggs

Springtime in Brno

This post will probably sound like I took it straight off of Biggs' blog but the sunshine has put me in such a good mood I don't even care.

Spring has finally come to Brno, it's in the 60's and absolutely beautiful. I was walking to class this morning after I had gotten off the tram and MGMT was blasting on my iPod and everything just seemed so perfect. I had my sunglasses on and no jacket. I almost completely blew off class to just walk around in the sun. I then remembered I havn't gone to any classes in about a week and a half and changed my mind. But after class I walked around for a bit, there were little easter stands selling eggs and traditional easter whips (it's a Czech thing) everywhere and everything was so much busier. I alsobought the new Stieg Larsson book today which I think I'm going to go sit out on my balcony and read.

Happy Spring everyone!

Life So Far

I've decided that since I've been here exactly 36 days now I would do a quick recap on my life thus far abroad.

Places Visited

-Vienna, Austria

-Prague, Czech Republic

-Budapest, Hungary

-Dublin, Castlebar, and Galway, Ireland

-Barcelona, Spain (this weekend)

Classes Attended

-probably less than ten

Homework

-Currently writing the first paper of the semester and so far the only homework

Books Read

-Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

-Girl who Played with Fire

-Summer Meditations, Vaclav Havel's book (in progress)

Cooking Prowess

-Still non-existent

Purchased

-One set of Soviet dictator themed bubushka dolls

For a little over a month in I'd say I wasn't doing half bad.

Also here are some pictures from my trip to Budapest over the weekend

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITUo-5XjZAA

And here is why Europeans hate us and why I don't blame them

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THyTnt00b5I&feature=related

Ireland

Here’s the deal. I just took a nice long, eventful trip to Ireland. I wanted to write a blog about it but to make it more reader friendly I’m going to number brief descriptions and below include (by matching number) a more detailed explanation of what happened. This way you can choose what seems interesting and it makes this whole process more effective (I hope).

Here goes:

1. We learned that you need to be 27 to rent an automatic car big enough for 5 people in Ireland.

2. Creepy overly drunk 60 year old men in bars can sometimes be the best tour guides ever.

3. I got chased by a cow that was protecting a castle.

4. I explored a shipwreck.

5. Met a dog who made a great tour guide.

6. I attended my very first (and possibly last) stag party.

7. We stayed in a castle that was cheaper than a hostel.

8. I almost got my nose pierced.

9. I had a pint of Guinness on St. Patricks Day in Ireland.

1. The game plan had been to rent a car in order to drive around the country. We went from Dublin to Galway to Castlebar and eventually back to Dublin. Driving was going to be the most effective way to do this until we went to Hertz rental and they basically laughed in our faces. On the bright side we met the nicest bus driver throughout our entire trip riding the shuttle to and from the airport. This led us to take the bus throughout Ireland, which was probably safer for us anyway.

2. When we got to Galway we met two fairly creepy extremely drunk 60 year olds in a bar who told us the best place to visit in Galway was one of the Aran Islands Innes Oire, they told us we would have the island entirely to ourselves and it would be one of the prettiest places we would ever see. Turns out they were totally right, I wouldn’t change my day in Innes Oire for anything and from then on out I decided to always take advice from drunk locals in the bar (something we continued to do).

3. On Innes Oire there was a ruin of an old castle we decided we wanted a closer look at. We went up, climbed over fences and up hills. Eventually we got there, my friend Elizabeth and I strolled up to the castle, around the corner, only to come face to face with a cow (not a bull mind you, a cow. The cow charged at us, and we went sprinting back around the corner and I went right over the fence, I’ve never been so glad to be a steeplechaser. It’s been decided that the moment of the trip we most wish we had a picture of was Elizabeth and me, running away from castle and cow, with looks of pure terror on our faces. It’s safe to say that was the scariest moment of my life.

4. On the far side of the Island was a rusted out old ship that we went and wandered through. It was so cool. Plus it had a gorgeous view of the Cliffs of Mohar. Thank god my tetanus shot is up to date.

5. Darby, the dog that we found on the island, decided to follow us around the rest of the day showing us the quickest ways around the island. Everyone is friendly in Ireland.

6. A stag party for those of you who do not know is a bachelor party. On our way to dinner after the island we ran into these two guys singing on the street, they shanghaied us into becoming their backup singers for wonderwall. Turns out one of the guys was getting married and they were having his stag weekend in Galway (stag and hen parties are all the rage there). So they invited us to join them for dinner and we ended up hanging out with about 20 guys, some of them Olympic rowers (though they were Irish and that was probably a lie), for dinner. They also gave us great advice about what to do during our stay.

7. We stayed at this fancy resort in Castlebar that was actually in a castle because they upgraded our sort of shitty hotel room to a swank resort/spa one for free. Since we were sneaking two people in, it ended up being cheaper than a hostel!

8. Unfortunately my friend got sick so we had to scrap that idea.

9. I don’t think that needs further explination.

Also, since some of you may not be my facebook friends and would like to see pictures (mother) here’s a slideshow I made with pictures from the trip.

http://www.youtube.com/user/walkysacynic#p/a/u/0/SzAumTMQB-0

Laundry

Laundry here is quickly becoming the biggest pain in my ass. First, due to the loss of some keys and the breaking of some machines, there is currently one washing machine for 200 people with one key to the door in my dorm. This means that no one ever knows where the key is. Therefore it becomes quite difficult to actually manage to do laundry. As a partial solution to this there is a laundromat/bar called "ClubWash" that the International Students Club advertises. They'll do your laundry if you bring it to them as well as pick it up from the dorm and bring it back to you. All for a pretty reasonable price. So due to the fact that I couldn't get the laundry key I decided to email ClubWash to get them to pick up my laundry. Unfortunately, due to technical difficulties, they were unable to pick up until wednesday but told me if I dropped it off before tuesday they would have it back to me by wednesday. So, because I'm desperately in need of clean laundry, I set out today for ClubWash around 1:30 pm. I hauled my laundry across town on multiple trams. Dragged it through a pretty sketchy Brno neighborhood to get to ClubWash, only to find that ClubWash does not open until 5pm. So I had to haul it back to my dorm and after all that effort I am still without clean clothes. Thank god for the shink where I've been hand-washing my clothing.

Chargers!

As I was on my way to class today, right as got off the tram, a guy walked by in a Chargers hat. Light blue, with a bolt on the front. It took a minute after I saw it to realize that it was weird, and that most Czechs aren't Chargers fans, but it was a nice reminder of home.

Nightlife

Okay guys, hang with me on this one, its a long one but I think it might be worth your while.

When I started this blog I wasn't really planning on sharing much about whatever nightlife I encountered, but the events of the last few days have convinced me that a blog was necessary. It all started when on a whim I decided to join a group of girls going to Prague to see Imogen Heap. So I booked my bus ticket and bought my concert ticket and was on my way. We watched an absolutely amazing concert by a very talented artist, who was at times a mere 5 feet away from us since we were that close to the stage. After the concert we got to meet her, then we wandered around Prague until our bus left at 5 am. Unfortunately since it was a Tuesday night, other than the clubs with the cover charges we didn't want to pay we had to go to casinos. Now Casinos are all over the place here and they're also bars, bars that are open 24 hours. So we sketchily hid out in these Casino bars for about 4 hours, eventually got on our bus, back to Brno by 9 am, and passed out until it was time to go out again.

Here's where it gets more interesting and less me bragging about Imogen, the International Students Club here hosts country presentations every wednesday where the various countries make traditional food and present about their country's history and what not. Then after everyone goes to Club Mandarin. Now basically every international student at Massaryk University is leaving the dorm we all live in at the same time to go to the exact same club. This results in a mass exodus. So, like the Jews out of Egypt we flock to the bus, where about 60 of us cram onto this already half full bus. So, imagine you are just an average czech citizen, on the bus at 10, and 60 drunk kids speaking about 15 different languages with about 30 different accents, none of whom speak czech get on your bus. Then to top it off halfway through the bus rid they all start singing, in beautiful voices of course, PIVO PROSIM, PIVO PROSIM, PIVO PROSIIIIIMMMMM (translated: BEER PLEASE, BEER PLEASE, BEER PLEEEAAASE). Well, some extremely fortunate Czechs get to experience that every Wednesday.

So, after fun and dancing everyone heads out in yet another mass exodus. This one though normally includes a stop at one of the many walk up food windows. This one being the hot dog one. Well, there's a sign over the hot dog stand that says "Po-Pa 8CK" with a picture of a hot dog (by the way for those of you doing the math, that would be less than 50 cents) so naturally for most of the time we've been here people have been ordering these "Po-Pas", because thats what the menu says...kinda. We've discovered the translation. Po would be the abbreviation for "Pondeli" or "Monday" and pa would be "Patek" aka "Friday". So, essentially they've been ordering Mon-Fris for about 3 weeks. Yet another way the language barrier makes life more difficult. Eventually the mass exodus ends back in Vinarska (the dorm) and life goes on (though not until the next afternoon of course).

First Week of Classes

I just finished my first week of classes here in the Czech Republic and have come away from the experience with a few enlightening tidbits of information. For example I learned that attendance is really optional, even for the professor. During the first half of the week I spent more time waiting for classes than actually in classes. Also, punctuality is not the most valued trait. My first class, the professor was about 10 minutes late, I soon learned that that was going to be pretty good. He went over the syllabus. End of class. Typical. Wednesday I had my next class. After traveling 45 minutes to get there, the prof never showed, I went and bought face paint so I could don my country colors at the party last night. Then this morning was the most productive, my prof for my first class was only 15 minutes late, we had a whole lecture, then my last class the professor was on time! I was a lucky member of the program to have the majority of my professors show up to class. Most of the program was out until 4 last night, a ton of people got up for the 8 am today, that prof must have had a late night too, he never showed, poor guys.

So long story short, the first week went well, and I don't think this semester will be too particularly taxing academically.

Also, on a quick side note, I have come to the realization that I will be living on pasta for most of my time here. Unfortunately, pasta sauce is not so common and pretty expensive. So as much as I enjoy the pasta with butter and garlic salt I've been eating, if anyone has any favorite things to put on pasta that don't come out of a can labeled Ragu I would sincerely appreciate you passing them along!

Grocery Shopping

Up until this point in time I never realized how important reading was to grocery shopping. I've been grocery shopping twice since I've been here and both times have been quite the adventure. What kind of cheese do you buy when you can't tell which is which, how about lunch meat, is it turkey, chicken, really bad ham? And milk. Is it whole, 2%, skim, soy? What if I was lactose-intolerant and needed soy, I couldn't read it and tell. Have you ever noticed how poorly labeled produce is. There was a row of apples, kiwis, and potatoes or some combination like that, all with dramatically different prices, but listed horizontally, while the row was vertical. Essentially, without knowing the czech words for the various produce you can't tell how much they were. Then I narrowly escaped buying shortening while trying to buy butter. To compound the fact I can't figure out what certain foods are, I have the added nuisance of having a limited kitchen. All we have is a fridge and hotplate. So, our ability to cook things are limited and when cooking instructions are in Czech, it makes figuring out what you can cook much harder. I bought some dumplings, they are the big Czech delicacy (aside from the beer which I also bought 500 mL for 50 cents) but have absolutely no idea how to cook them, much less if I even can without an oven. On top of all that, everything I buy I must be able to carry in my backpack on the tram back from the store. All in all this was an unforeseen complication to life, but weirdly enough I love it.

Shink.

This is my shink. Part shower. Part Sink.

A Few First Impressions

Dobre Den! I've been here in Brno for a few days now, unfortunately I've been without internet in my room until now. I finally have time to fill you all in on a few observations I've made about the Czech so far.

1. The Czechs are a surprisingly attractive bunch of people.

2. KFC either loves the Czech or Czech people love KFC, I'm not quite sure which is which but there are a ton of KFCs everywhere here.

3. Despite my finding out that my original assertion that there are no cognates in the czech language was wrong, I have found that Czech is possibly even harder than I expected.

I've been spending the last few days discovering these and many more interesting aspects of life in Brno, and I'm absolutely loving every minute of it. The program I'm in is amazing and I'm having so much fun with the other people. I've made friends with some pretty awesome Japanese people, I celebrated Lithuanian Independence Day with the lithuanians in the program, and I've even argued with a frenchman about politics. I feel like I've been running nonstop the last few days here trying to get everything taken care of, checking in with the police, buying more insurance, transport passes, registering for classes, going to my intensive czech class which is aptly named, it is intense. I've gotten a hang of the tram system, and after a few flaws with getting on the bus, I've managed that too. So, things are going swimmingly and I'll post again later!

Also, on a slight side note, this may be interesting to those of you who know what a clutz I am, which really should be anyone that's met me. On the tour of Brno today we were walking down the stairs at the tower in the cathedral and I managed to slip, go crashing down a few stairs, knock down a fellow member of my program and generally lose all sense of dignity. I survived and walked it off. So at the very end of the tour I was talking about how I'm such a clutz and I can't walk on ice to save my life. At which point I slipped on one of the patches of ice that line every street of Brno, and land on the same part of my ass I fell on in the tower. Suffice to say, I know have an impressive bruise on my hip/ass/thigh. JCXC, think that picture the volleyball team kept in the locker room. Everyone else, think an awful, very large bruise.

Ahoj!

Here We Go

Well this is it. Tomorrow I leave for the Czech Republic. My bags are packed, I have my visa, my boarding passes, my ipod is charged and I am ready to go. After months of planning, applying for the program, applying for my visa, picking classes and saying my final goodbyes, here I am, ready to start one of the great adventures of my life. And I couldn’t have planned a better last night with the family, watching the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. It was a great international moment that created a wonderful prologue to my semester abroad. So, here we go.

Vizum!

So excellent news to report. Today I officially received my visa (vizum, knock that up to 3 czech words I know now!) to study in the Czech Republic. After the long process of collecting letter that say I'm not a criminal, I have a place to live, I have insurance, I'm not a hinderance to society, copies of passports, birth certificates, you name it. Followed by a few weeks of waiting. It's official now. I"m going to the Czech!

Lesson Learned: University Bureaucracies are so much worse when you’re dealing with them in another language.

So I’m not even in the Czech and I am already in over my head. I have spent the last two days (in between driving my sister around and doing yard duty at St. Pat’s for my mother) trying to put down my housing deposit for the University. Well, as simple as that sounds it was actually quite complicated for me. It started out when I got an email from the director of the program reminding us all that it was due by the 10th, I may or may not have forgotten it existed. Anyway, I go and log onto the student website, which is actually much harder than it sounds. First, I have to type out the whole web address because these Czech’s can’t seem to figure out hyperlinks. So once I do that I spent about half an hour trying to actually log into the site. That particular issue may have been stupidity on my part since I spent most of the time inputting passwords that I normally use only to eventually find out I never changed it since I couldn’t figure out how exactly to do that the last (and only other) time I logged into this site. So, I’m on the site, I find the place to put down the deposit, I get all the way to completing to order only to find that I need a SUPO account to put down the deposit. I had no fucking idea what a SUPO account was, where to get one, or why I even needed one. After searching through old emails I eventually found the steps for that got it done. By the way, they like to pretend these sites are all in English, there are still a lot of necessary things that are in Czech. I eventually got it all taken care of though there wa a valuable lesson learned: University Bureaucracies are so much worse when you’re dealing with them in another language.
On a brighter note, I now have my first Czech friend. The Univeristy sets the internationals up with a “tutor” basically an assigned friend to help you assimilate and get around Brno. So Josef, my tutor emailed me today and we are now officially facebook friends and I’m already bugging him about what I need to do for registration. I am sensing Josef and I are going to become very close.
On yet another side note, my mother informs me that I’m not actually very clear about where I’m going. She seems to think people are not very well versed in Eastern European geography, particularly Czech geography. While I informed her she was obviously misguided, she was insistent and I find life is easier when my mother thinks I think she’s right. So I will be in Brno, the second biggest city in the Czech, (more information included in this handy Wikipedia link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brno) studying at Masaryk University. Also the Czech is next to Germany and Poland, which is a piece of information both my mother and I had to look up after I decided to go there (see map).