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