10) Perosnal Excursions

Wow what a wonderful 21^st birthday weekend spent in London with my family! We had so much fun traveling around London with my family friends and staying in his flat. I arrived in London at 8:00AM in the morning and toured his flat while waiting around for more of his friends to show up. Our family friend name is Adrian and it was his birthday the day I arrived so the whole weekend we were celebrating each other’s birthday.

The first night I was there we ate next to the river and went to a play afterwards called Billy Elliot. Billy Elliot was a play about a boy wanting to be a dancer but lived in a mining town where it would never be accepted. After the show we went to a nice Irish pub and had drinks to celebrate Adrian’s birthday. Adrian is originally from Ireland but is teaching dance in London.  

               The next morning we woke up and walked next to the river until lunch time. For lunch we had afternoon tea at a place called Savoy which is a really nice old hotel. However, Adrian was ready to go to do his birthday shopping at D & G and Louis Vuitton. This was the first time I had ever got to go with someone to these kinds of shops. The shops closed in two hours so he was sprinting around the stores saying I want these and that. At the Louis Vuitton shop we got to sit in there private shopping room. Adrian must go there a lot because they all knew who he was and had a birthday cake and champagne waiting for all of us in the room. That night we ate at a salsa dance restaurant and dance the night away after we ate.

Sunday was my birthday and we had a great private room at an Indian restaurant called Amaya. Everyone surprised me with a birthday cake from the Savoy and gave me birthday cards. That night we all went to a restaurant called the blue bird which was where they built the fastest car in the world in the 1980’s. All and all the weekend flew bye but was well worth the hours of traveling.

Social Life

Today I will be writing about social life here on my study aboard. I think that social life is the most important thing on this study aboard. I love getting to know new people and learning about where they came from and there culture and history.

Not only have I gotten extremely close to the people that came here with me from UNK but I have met so many people from around the world on their Erasmus program. Everyone from the Erasmus program is so kind, they are here to learn but have a good time also experiencing another country.

The first people I met from the Erasmus program was my suite mates. Three of them are from France and one is from Turkey. Anytime I come back to my room we like to chat and see how each other’s days are going. Also whenever they are going to do something they invited Jon and me to go with them. So that leads me to meeting up with other Erasmus students that have a good time where ever they go. I have met people from Estonia, Slovakia, Italy, Korea, and Bulgaria.

I have gotten to sit down with each and everyone one of them and have conversations about their home life and there life in the Czech Republic. They always have a positive attitude and comfort you if you’re feeling homesick at all. I have come back to my dorm room after classes once and learned how to make crepes which will come very handy later in life.

I am very happy that they are here; I wouldn't want to picture what it would be like in Olomouc without these people here. They are always planning events for all the foreign exchange students to do. I think without them here I would be very bored on the week days. 

Field trip

            On this field trip our group went to Vienna the capital of Austria and Venice, Italy. The first day in Vienna we went to the treasury where all the jewels over the years have been collected. After we toured through the treasury I decided to walk around.

This was the first day where I started to really walk long distances throughout the day looking at everything. On my iPhone I have an app that tells me how far I have walked in a day. Before this trip I was averaging around 5 miles. But on the start of this field trip my daily walking doubled to 10 miles.

The second day of the field trip the group met and watched a horse show and toured the natural science museum. The natural science museums was my favorite museum I have been to on this study aboard.

The third day we packed up and went to Venice which took the number one spot of my favorite places in Europe. Venice has 117 small islands separated by canals and linked together by bridges. Our group had an amazing time, the first day we walked to the main square and was let go to go wonder off and get lost within this amazing city. With a few other people from the group we went on a gondola ride in the night looking at all the old buildings. That night we met up with some other people in the study aboard program and just wondered the city some more until our 1:00 am curfew. We stumbled across the main bridge and hung out talking there for a couple hours looking at the water and enjoying each other’s company.

The next day our group met up and did some more tours of museum and we were told ok you are on your own now. Have fun and be safe on your spring break! Everyone was really excited and we broke off into our groups that we were traveling with on spring break. I had an amazing time on spring break. My group went to Cinque Terre, Florence, and Rome for the week. One of the best spring breaks I have ever had. 

Academic Life

Over here in the Czech Republic I go to school Monday through Friday. There are usually three classes which include two lectures that are both an hour and a half. The professors giving the lecture are usually different each time so that gives us the opportunity to hear from all different thinking processes of different topics in the Czech. Some of the lectures have been about: the history of communism in the Czech, German Czech Relations, and religion. All of the professors are so excited to teach us about their topic. I can really tell that they do love teaching other cultures there culture. Learning is hard sometimes because the professors are translating into a different language and might have long pauses gathering their thoughts.

               One of my favorite professors that we have had a few times is Martin Lecbych. He has a very unique thinking process that makes you look at different topics in a whole new angle. Martin as we call him also travels with us on our field trips and is a guide that knows a lot of information of the places we visit.

Besides the lectures we have a Czech language class every school day for 45 minutes. This is my favorite class time, our professor is so nice and she makes us talking and having a good time. However, when I get back I will probably not be able to talk much Czech. The Czech language is extremely difficult to learn and we don’t have that much time to learn it. When I get back I will be able to say some basic sentences.

The last part of the academic life that is my favorite part about the program is the field trips. I have learned so much being able to go to the places we have talked about and seeing what it looks like in person. The field trips are truly a magical time going back into history and learning it at the source.

Daily Life

This week we just got back from our first field trip which was to Prague. I had a great time an our group has gotten even closer from the experience. I think I have finally figured out my daily life here in Olomouc. However, there is still some areas that can be improved with our group while in Olomouc.

Our classes begin at 3:00 P.M. most days so I usually wake up around 10 A.M. once a week I will go do my laundry in the morning but usually I start my day off in the DayBreak coffee shop. I know I go there often because the girl working there knows exactly what I want to order. After I have a coffee I make my way to town wondering around looking through shops. I do this until about lunch time and eat somewhere for about 75 Koruna to 125 Koruna which is about 3 to 5 dollars. The food here is extremely cheap compared to the USA. When I am done eating I make my way back to the dorms and meet my roommate Jon where we hang out and study a little bit before class. Class is about four hours long and in class we learn about the Czech culture, language, and the holocaust. All of the professors are very nice and love to teach us about the Czech Republic. Usually what happens after class is the group splits up and some go back to the dorm to eat and the others go eat something in the square. Depending on the day of the week tells us what we are usually doing for the night.

On Monday people can go out to a club called 15 minuts that holds a lot of dance parties for the foreign kids. Tuesday nothing is going on and is spent watching a movie in our dorm room. Wednesday there is also a dance party at Belmondo that people can attend. Then usually Thursday are spent in the dorm room. Once the weekend hits we go traveling with our group to different places. Two weekend ago we spent Friday and Saturday in Olomouc and the town was completely dead. Many students travel during the weekend so nobody is left around which can be sad at times.

I really am enjoying my time in Olomouc; however there are somethings I wish can improve. I feel we haven’t found much to around the town with our group. Usually it is just a few of us at a time going to hang out. I also wish that we lived closer to town. If we want to go into town it is just a 10 minute tram ride, that isn’t bad, but closes down at 11:30P.M. To end on a positive note I think with time we will find all the hidden secrets of this town and completely fall in love with it. 

All of the guys on the trip took a band cover picture in Prague!

Here is another one of us messing around in our Hostel. 

Locals

I have officially been in the Czech Republic for a week. I first landed in Prague and missed the other group of people that booked a van ride to the hostel. So after sitting and thinking for a bit I decided to get a head start understanding the public transportation system in the Czech Republic. I asked the information desk at the airport and she gave me a map of busses and trains to take to get to the hostel. Everything ended up going very smoothly I only had to try and communicate to one person to see if I was going the right way to the hostel.

After being in Prague for two days I realized how busy of a city it was. Before coming I could not find any information on the Czech Republic besides the Wikipedia page of how big the cities were. I had learned that in the Czech Republic they listen to American Pop music everywhere. Also at the movie theaters here there are many American movies in English with Czech Subtitles. For two days in Prague we walked around the city and found so many nice little restaurants to eat at. I was surprised with myself because I was nervous about how the Czech food was going to taste but after the first meal I fall in love with it. On Sunday we checked out of our hostel at 10 A.M. and had to wait in the airport for a few hours before everyone else showed up.

My first experience meeting a local Czech person was at check in for our dorms. Jon and I had gone to the wrong building number and a girl was very nice and took us to our dorm and showed us how everything worked. After unpacking we went to Globus which is the Walmart of the Czech Republic. On the way I saw a little restaurant on the side of the road. After getting back to the dorm I went to the little restaurant to get some food to eat. There I saw the same girl from earlier that helped us to our dorms sitting with Billy Yaw. So I sat down and started to learn about her culture.  Her name was “Yid-Kah” and she is from Brno which is about a 1 hour train ride from Olomouc. She talked about her family and schooling. Yidkah knows four different languages which blow my mind. Over the week she helped me with my Czech language class assignments. I am very grateful of getting to know a local. 

Plane Ride

The moment the plane took off. I felt like I was finally living in the present again. A while back I found a quote that was describing the way I was feeling. I will attach the image below. Back to the plane ride... No longer was I anxious about living in the future. I have been waiting so long to hop on this plane and take off to the Czech Republic. Many nights have been spent talking to people about my departure. I have also been working long weeks to save up for this trip. At this very moment I am on the plane writing my first blog. Study aboard have so much adventure and excitement. It is truly indescribable with words. The feeling I have on a study aboard is relief, enjoyment, excitement. Being here on this plane at this moment I have no worries at all in my life. I am just here enjoying the thoughts of the months to come. I am very excited about the group going on the trip and couldn't have asked for better people. I should be arriving soon in Chicago. After Chicago I will go to Canada then Germany and in 26 hours I will walk off the plane and be in the Czech Republic.