i'm not lazy, just disoriented

When in Rome...

[almost as old and lame as 'Czech me out']

It feels great to be sitting in my bed right now. I'm enjoy Prague as my home base. But, nevertheless, Rome was incredible. It has been so long since Robyn, Ali and I have been together and had a sleepover for three nights in a row. Honestly, I couldn't think of two better people for me to explore Rome with! After all, we were part of the Latin cult in high school. For real though, being able to see and touch the Coliseum, the Forum, the Pantheon and other ruins was such an unreal, yet very real experience. I have been learning about ancient Rome since I was in 6th grade and now I finally was able to actually see its physical presence. The fact that the Coliseum is still standing so that I can touch what was in existence over 2000 years ago is amazing to me. I asked Robyn whether or not we should give the gladiator thumbs up or thumbs down. She opted for down, but I didn't know if I wanted to see something that gory.


Robyn was a terrific tour guide this weekend - we were never lost and were always heading to another wonderful spot. We were also fortunate enough to have the most incredible weather all three days. 65 degrees and sunny. Friday night we went out for an authentic Italian dinner with a bunch of people on Robyn's program. Homemade pasta, delicious bread, and some vino was a great way to start off my trip to Italy.


On Saturday morning we woke up early to get to the Vatican by 10 am, only to find out that about 500 people had the same idea. We eventually made it into the Vatican museums which were absolutely stunning. I've never seen a building decorated so ornately. The museum itself was huge- so huge, that at one point I didn't think we would actually get out of the building since it had been so long since I saw an exist. One of my favorite rooms was the Hall of Maps-- which was one of the many long hallways which led from the museum to the Sistine Chapel. Talk about a sensory overload...Walking around the museum I honestly didn't know which way to turn. After the Vatican we walked to St. Peter's Square where coincidentally the Pope was speaking. Regardless of your religious values, seeing the Pope speak is such a spiritual and important event (and I can vouch for that).

Robyn wanted to show us the Trevi Fountain in the evening before dinner- so after a nice power nap, we walked over to the fountain and the Pantheon. The Pantheon is much larger than I imagined. I kind of wished it was raining outside because there is a large hole in the center of the roof of the Pantheon- so as to resemble some sort of invisible column (says Rick Steves). All three of us threw coins into the fountain- no worries.

Campo di Fiero: definition: basically the frat row of Rome, consisting of a square of bars and Americans studying abroad-- what a great place, especially The Drunken Ship. That might be all I'm going to say about that night.

On Sunday, tour guide Robyn brought us to this huge market right behind her apartment building. It was pretty similar to the market in Berlin, except it wasn't freezing. We purchased some pashmina's for 3 euro- some of which smell like fish and others which are fabulously soft. After the market, I couldn't wait any longer. I seriously needed to see the Coliseum. I'm pretty sure the Coliseum was my favorite site the entire weekend. I couldn't believe how the labyrinth-like floor underneath the stage of the Coliseum was still relatively in tact. I wonder how many prisoners were held captive down there.

On our walk from the Coliseum to the Forum, we really tried to imagine what it would be like to live in Ancient Rome. Good thing something funny almost happened on the way to the Forum...[robyn fell]-- she didn't really, but she almost did. Robyn, Ali and I chose a lovely patch of grass to lie down on in the Forum and read about its history. I could not believe that we were actually in Rome. This whole experience is becoming more and more surreal the farther along it goes. I just can't believe I am actually traveling this much.

In general, the main difference I observed was that while sight seeing in Rome, you are completely struck by awe. Everything is just absolutely amazing to see since Rome was such an advanced society. Whereas in Prague, many of the remaining historic sites remind us of the destruction that occurred.


[Quick and last side note: Traveling TO the Rome airport is not an issue, but BEWARE, when traveling FROM the Rome airport, arrive VERY early because the airport is a complete disaster. Ali and I made it though, whew.]

Here is a link to all of my pictures from Rome:

Rome

Jamie... You've got some 'splaining to do!

I can't believe how fast the weeks are going by here. Traveling on the weekends make the weeks seem nonexistant. I feel like we were just on the train home from Budapest and I am already leaving tomorrow to go to Rome! Fabulous.

This week, I decided to organize a little weekday night cultural event. The Black Light Theatre is one of those things that is just unique to Prague and I felt like we had to go see it while we were here. So after forcing people to buy tickets and come with me, the Black Theatre ended up being the most absurd thing I have ever experienced in my entire life. Honestly, I can't even come up with words to describe it. There's like two shows in one: one has a plot (kind of) and the other is just a black light show with people dancing. It's just unclassifiable. At one point, one of the dancers was sucking on a straw out of another dancers ass. Shortly after, it started raining on the audience. I'm not quite sure what the effect of that was. But the greatest line of the night occured when Amy turned to Johanna and whispered, "Jamie... You've got some 'splaining to do!". I did feel bad... But we all decided that in retrospect, we are glad we went because it was hilarious and something that we really should have just seen once. After the show, we took Molly who was visiting for the past few days (lucky her), to Usudu. This is my favorite place. It's so chill and I love the fact that it is becoming our usual Tuesday night place.

Wednesday was the nicest day we have had since we've been in Prague. The sun was shining and it was probably around 40 degrees. I only had one class so afterwards I decided to Czech out the temporary exhibit at the Museum of Decorative Arts. The exhibit is currently on Czech fasion in the 70s under Communism (obviously). Their fashion was influenced very much by the hippie movement in the 60s. The exhibit was small, but was a very pleasant way to spend my afternoon. But better yet, when I came home I decided to go for a run and search for the park that is right near our apartment. I was a little nervous to venture on my own since no one in Prague runs outside. It's a tell tale sign that you are American if you are running with your i-pod outside. Everyone just glares at you and I don't like running in public to begin with. But still, it put me in the best mood-- from the park, there is the most incredible view of the city.

So tomorrow Ali and I are going to visit Robyn in Roma. Haukeland would be proud. I can't wait for the Latin nerd in me to come out--the Colosseum, the forum, perhaps a day trip to Pompeii... it's all gonna be great.

buda buda buda buda buda buda peshtttt

Dobre vecer! [good evening]-- it feels so good to be able to speak [the little bit of] Czech again! It's so strange how Prague is definitely starting to become our home base. It's always a relief to return from a trip and be back in good 'ole Machova.

It's 11:30 on Sunday night and I just got back from Budapest a little while ago. Our train home was at 1:30 pm and we were true champs. We came about 2 minutes close to missing the train because we accidentally went to the wrong train station at first. Unbeknownst to us, there are multiple train stations within close proximity to each other in Budapest. I guess it's all part of this so-called "experience," but I have to say this lack of being able to understand other languages is getting really frustrating at times. But alas, despite our large group of 10 people, we somehow managed to sprint onto the train.

In general, I think that Budapest and Prague are very similar. Both seem to be relatively small and manageable cities. Since we took the overnight train there on Thursday night, when we arrived on Friday we were ready to start the day. [I would no recommend said over night train, yet it was an interesting experience]. We met up with Dan who has now been studying there for 2 and a half weeks. He took us to see The Millenary Monument which is right on the beautiful Andrassy Street.

From the monument there is a great view of the Budapest Fine Arts Museum and we walked to the Turkish Baths and saw the gardens at the agricultural museum. In the Fine Arts Museum there is currently a Medici exhibit which we went to see on Saturday. It was a fair exhibit-- cool, but not unique to Buda. The gardens surrounding the agricultural museum are beautiful. There's a little pond with some chairs and a dock. It was brutally cold outside, but we all enjoyed resting on the waterfront for a while. Apparently Budapest has the most sunny days out of any city in Europe. While it was sunny the entire time we were there, I could not believe how cold it was compared to Praha.




On Friday night we went to a great bar called Szimpla. It was very resemblant of ELS basement--barely insulted concrete floor-- and there were just tables and space heaters. There were just a ton of travelers like ourselves from all over the world. We met a great group of Germans, some Australians, Greeks and some other Americans. I think one of my favorite things about all this traveling is meeting all of these random people my age and getting to talk to them about politics, education and cultural differences.

Also on Saturday, in addition to the Medici exhibit, we went to The House of Terror. If there was one thing I would recommend anyone to do while in Budapest it would be to go see the House of Terror. It was the best exhibit I have ever seen in my entire life, both the content and the way in which the exhibit was set up. The museum stands as a memorial for the victims of the two terror regimes in Hungary and also serves to show what life was like in Hungary during communism and nazism. In the basement there are actual prison cells--it was appropriately terrifying.


I think one of my favorite parts of the trip was when we walked along the Danube River which separates Buda and Pest. The views of Castle Hill are incredible and it was just so surreal to be walking along the river. We couldn't believe what we were actually doing.


Today before our train we decided to split up so that we could each do what we wanted to do before we left. Amy and I decided to venture to the Hungarian Literature Museum. Although there was absolutely no English, I still found it fascinating to read about famous Hungarian poets and see photos and illustrations. The museum is named after the poet Sándor Petőfi. I cannot wait to read his translated poems when I get home.

That was longer than anticipated...

a rant

This is going to be a quick update, as it is 8:30 pm and I need to finish packing for Budapesshht. Our train leaves at 12:30 -- I hope this whole night train thing works out. I want to take a sleeping pill and just sleep the whole 8 hours but people warn you about theft. Gotta love Europe.

Anyways, today when I woke up I realized just how much I missed Hamilton. Just to refresh your memory, last year, on Valentine's Day, we had the first snow day in 21 years at Hamilton. With the three feet of snow that we woke up to, there were also bottles of Andre at 7 am, snowshoeing across campus, and jumping out of the third story of Milbank. We have not even seen one snow flake in Prague. As much fun as I am having, I can't help but miss being at Hamilton and everything that comes along with that. This is such a different experience than a semester at Hamilton--definitely not bad, but different [socially, academically etc]

Academically, I truly miss sitting in a class where I am intellectually stimulated. While it is great not having to do virtually any work, I wish I felt like I was learning something in my classes. In classes we only seem to skim over the surface of things. We'll read these really interesting novels by Kafka and Orwell for instance, but the class discussions never really get that deep, to say the least.
I will say, though, that I can't complain about the lack of work and the ridiculously low expectations that professors hold here.

Sorry for that rant. I'm done now. I shall write again when I return from Budapest!

Hey there, Visa, welcome to Praha!

My visa finally made its way across the pond yesterday! And inside was a wonderful chocolate valentine from my mom (Thanks, Mom!). It is such a relief to have the stupid sticker in my visa because now I can travel wherever and whenever I want. I also got a fabulous package from Nanners in the mail yesterday. Contents included: sideburns, dark chocolate, and a Mr. Rogers quote book. I honestly couldn't have asked for a better package.

This past weekend was quite debaucherous. My dad so wisely advised me, "Maybe, Jamie, you should stop burning the candle on both ends" -- I think I need to start practicing what he preaches. It was Danielle's 21st birthday so we had two visitors for the weekend (Abby and Abel). On Friday we decided to have a rather cultural day in Prague so we ventured over to the Museum of Decorative Arts. We only saw one of the permanent exhibit which I really enjoyed. Founded in 1885, the museum itself is absolutely beautiful and it displays pieces of European decorative arts that tread a fine line between fine and applied art. From rugs and draperies to clothes and bohemian pottery, there was a little bit of everything. I am definitely going to go back and check out the temporary exhibit which is "Czech fashion in the 70s". We also took our visitors to the infamous Lennon Wall and walked them across the Chuck Bridge. It's so cool being able to navigate our way around

I actually wasn't feeling too well this weekend so I decided to stay in on Friday night and get a good night sleep for Saturday. Since we've had such a good track record with pub crawls, Johanna took it upon her responsible self to create a pub crawl of our own for D's birthday. What a great night. It gave everyone who didn't go away for the weekend an excuse to all go out together. While I'm abroad, I'm not only making new friends from other schools, nor just getting to know people from a different country, but ironically, I'm also meeting more people from Hamilton that I wasn't very close to, which makes the anticipation of senior year even greater!

On Monday I decided that I wanted to get back on a good track and get my life together, so before my internship I went on a cultural adventure to the Mucha and Dali exhibits right in Old Town Square. Dali is one crazy artist. I was actually more interested in the photos of him then his actual paintings.

Much time has past since I started writing this entry-- so time might seem warped. But I just got back from a Datarock concert at Akropolis. What a great scene that was. Music- great. Crowd- fabulous. I need to make myself go to bed now because I skipped last Wednesday's class already and can't do that again...yet. But just so you know, Johanna was called up on stage for the last song. She's famous now and got to drink champagne with the band. What a gal.

Dobre vecer.

jak se mas?

Usually if I skip a class, I do feel some sense of guilt. But yesterday, being that it was the real "ASH" Wednesday, I just had to skip Civil Resistance. It would have been one thing if I just sat in bed all day, but Ash, Moose, Danielle and I went exploring and found the Eiffel Tower of Prague, better known as the Lookout Tower on Petrin Hill. To get to the tower, you have to walk up a ridiculous amount of steps. But the stairs wind through the woods and as you walk up you just have the most incredible view of the entire city. I can't wait to take my parents there. It was so nice to be surrounded by so many trees, yet also have the view of the city. We were also so lucky because it was the most spectacular weather- the sun was finally shining and it felt like a warm pre-spring day.

Last night, despite everyone's lack of desire to actually go to Mecca, of course we ended up there. But for real, that's it. I'm not going back. First of all, I'm sick of it. Second of all, it's not fun. Third of all, there are so many other places that I want to go to that I need to stop wasting my Wednesday nights at Mecca. Sorry about that rant, but it needs to be written in stone so then maybe I won't actually go.

Four classes on Thursdays have been tough, but I'm definitely getting used to it and its worth it since I dont have class on Mondays. This morning in Civil Resistance we watched the Oscar winning film, Doctor Zhivago which is about a Russian doctor who falls in love with a poilitical activist's wife during the Bolshevik Revolution. We only got to watch half of it but it was really good. We have been reading books and watching films that show very politically active people during the revolution. But this film was interesting because the Doctor did not have any strong political views. So you can really see how for people who don't want to be involved, they are really trapped amidst the violence of war.

"Remember that time in Berlin when..."

Oh, Mondays! [especially those Monday's that happen to fall the morning after the Super Bowl]! Our train came into Prague at 10 pm last night from Berlin and then we immediately changed and headed to Legends, a sports bar at which we had reserved a table, to watch the Super Bowl.

What a great game, although I will admit that I was too tired to stay till the end. Berlin really took a lot out of us, but it is really an incredible city. While more modernized and westernized than Prague, there is still a great amount of history and plus, the people seemed to be very friendly. It actually was very refreshing yet strange at how apparent the differences were between Czechs and Germans. While in Germany for only a few hours, we began to realize how much we were already beginning to assimilate to Czech culture, or at least becomes accustomed to many social habits unique to the Czechs.



We left Prague on Friday morning at 6:30 am and go to Berlin around noon. As we are checking into the hostel (Circus- incredible hostel) we coincidentally stumble upon Rachel whose 21st birthday it was! Her and a couple of friends from her program were staying in the same hostel as us. What a small world. It was great though, because they had already been there for a few days so pretty much knew their way around. They took us to Museum Island where we explored 2 out of 3 of the gigantic museums (Altes and Pergamonmuseum). The public transportation system was on strike all day on Friday so we walked everywhere which was really nice. The exhibits were mainly Ancient Greece, Rome and Egypt and a little bit if Middle Eastern Art, which was my favorite. The Pergamonmuseum is like no other museum I have seen before. Rather than just have small pieces of pottery or paintings etc, the Pergamonmuseum is made up of huge monuments and altars that someone purchased.

I had asked one of the RA's "If there was one thing you could go see in Berlin, what would it be?" and she had told me that we have to go check out the Parliament building (Reischtag Dome). They allow people to walk on top of the roof while Parliament is in session so that when members of the Parliament look up they remember that the people are "always above them". The whole concept is kinda neat, but apparently everyone who visits Berlin wants to do that so we ended up bailing out of the line to get inside the building. Instead, we went to see the Brandenburg gate which is really incredible. It's enormous!



Friday night, in honor of Rachel's 21st birthday we went out for Indian food and then did another pub crawl. We're thinking about trying to do a pub crawl in every city we visit. We have already met so many awesome people from the two we have done. In fact, Tim, our new friend from Australia met up with us in Prague last night. The first night in the hostel we got back to our room around 2:30 and we still hadn't met our room mates yet. We were in an 8 person room, but there were only 4 of us girls. In the middle of the night, we are awoken by the four Australian guys that are sharing a room with us. After waking US up, they fell fast asleep SNORING (very loudly).

On Saturday we woke up early to get the day started. We switched into a 6 person room with two boys from Australia. It's really incredible how many people we met at the hostel. And I love having conversations with people our age from different countries and seeing how they view Americans and the rest of the world.

Finally, on Sunday we decided to check out one of the flea markets that Berlin is known for. It was walking distance from our hostel and the sun was finally shining again. There were a ton of people, tchotchkies, and brats. It was very "Berlinesque"...I cannot wait to go back to Berlin at some point and spend a longer amount of time there.