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.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Monday, February 4, 2008
"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.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
in libris, veritas; in kava, vita
[in books, truth; in coffee, life]- "The Globe"
Well tonight marks the eve of our first overnight adventure outside of Praha. We are all pretty tired and horrible at packing which makes for an interesting combination. Good thing its only for a weekend.
I thought I would do a quick little update before Berlin:
Last night I just couldn't 'mecca it'. Mecca is a club that we have been going to every Wednesday night. It's fun, but it is quite the intense scene. I made about half way up Machova and then realized that my body couldn't actually physically make it there. So instead, Moose, Ash, and I enjoyed a hilarious evening of Arrested Development and a cozy bed. Since staying in is such a rarity here, I've come to appreciate the feeling even more.
So much so that this morning was not as brutal as anticipated since I had to wake up early to finish my roll of film for photography. In an effort to complete something on my list of things to do in Prague before I leave, I decided to go to the sex machine museum and take my last few photos. Johanna was supposed to come with me but at 8:30 this morning, it turned out I was in this alone. Super sketchy... and weird... especially because I was the only person in the entire museum.
For my class 'Kafka and his Contexts', we had to read 'The Judgement' which I have never read before. But we still have yet to remotely discuss it. I wrote about how last class we went to visit Kafka's birth place, well today we did a walk around Old Town Square and saw the different apartments that Kafka lived in and the schools he attended. Seems to me like Kafka's Contexts are taking priority over Kafka himself. I'm not complaining. It's also weird because one of the buildings my professor took us to today was the same building where the notary is located and I had just been there earlier this morning to get something notarized for my (still non existant) visa.
I have been researching various bookstores/cafes here in Praha and after photo today, Johanna and I decided to wander over to The Globe which is conveniently located near one of the metro stops. It was just what we both needed -- a very relaxing atmosphere with delicious food and great books to peruse. I definitely want to go back -- hopefully we can make it one of those "usual" places.
Well, as the washing machine perpetually spins since it won't open for me, I must go forcefully attempt to pull my clothes out. (Laundry is very difficult here in Prague, just so you know). And then I shall get some sleep only to wake up at 4:15 am to train it to Berlin!
Na schledanou for now! I will update again after the weekend.
Well tonight marks the eve of our first overnight adventure outside of Praha. We are all pretty tired and horrible at packing which makes for an interesting combination. Good thing its only for a weekend.
I thought I would do a quick little update before Berlin:
Last night I just couldn't 'mecca it'. Mecca is a club that we have been going to every Wednesday night. It's fun, but it is quite the intense scene. I made about half way up Machova and then realized that my body couldn't actually physically make it there. So instead, Moose, Ash, and I enjoyed a hilarious evening of Arrested Development and a cozy bed. Since staying in is such a rarity here, I've come to appreciate the feeling even more.
So much so that this morning was not as brutal as anticipated since I had to wake up early to finish my roll of film for photography. In an effort to complete something on my list of things to do in Prague before I leave, I decided to go to the sex machine museum and take my last few photos. Johanna was supposed to come with me but at 8:30 this morning, it turned out I was in this alone. Super sketchy... and weird... especially because I was the only person in the entire museum.
For my class 'Kafka and his Contexts', we had to read 'The Judgement' which I have never read before. But we still have yet to remotely discuss it. I wrote about how last class we went to visit Kafka's birth place, well today we did a walk around Old Town Square and saw the different apartments that Kafka lived in and the schools he attended. Seems to me like Kafka's Contexts are taking priority over Kafka himself. I'm not complaining. It's also weird because one of the buildings my professor took us to today was the same building where the notary is located and I had just been there earlier this morning to get something notarized for my (still non existant) visa.
I have been researching various bookstores/cafes here in Praha and after photo today, Johanna and I decided to wander over to The Globe which is conveniently located near one of the metro stops. It was just what we both needed -- a very relaxing atmosphere with delicious food and great books to peruse. I definitely want to go back -- hopefully we can make it one of those "usual" places.
Well, as the washing machine perpetually spins since it won't open for me, I must go forcefully attempt to pull my clothes out. (Laundry is very difficult here in Prague, just so you know). And then I shall get some sleep only to wake up at 4:15 am to train it to Berlin!
Na schledanou for now! I will update again after the weekend.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Lost in Translation
[["The door was the way to... to... The Door was The Way. Good. Capital letters were always the best way of dealing with things you didn't have a good answer to." ~Douglas Adams (props to Nancy :)) ]]
I'm proud to say that, tonight, two and a half weeks into our abroad experience, Johanna and I successfully made a home cooked meal. While mine merely consisted of a bag of frozen vegetables, rice and eggs, it still felt good to sit down for a well-balanced meal. I feel like so far on this trip we have been scavengers- searching and grabbing any morsel of food we can find. It's basically like perpetual weekends on the dark side. But, yea, it was definitely nice to come home from a long day of internship and classes and just sit down at our kitchen table and eat. I'm getting sick of going out to dinner or just stopping on the street and picking up a sandwich.
Yesterday was the first day of my internship at The Prague Writer's Festival. The office is conveniently located about 5 minutes away from the NYU Center, so it won't be a problem going right from or right before classes. The office is in a really great area of the city, one which I hadn't known existed until yesterday. I'm pretty sure the hours I will be going to the office are Mondays 3-6 and Tuesdays 10-1. It's great because a lot of the work that I have to do can be done while I am laying in my bed. Perfect. The president of the Prague Writer's Festival is absolutely brilliant and he has interviewed and spoken with so many famous authors (Rushdie, Atwood, Schneider, Burroughs, Auster...to name a few). I think I am going to learn a lot of useful and interesting things by working closely with the festival and it will also hopefully help my Czech!
The main thing I am working on right now for the internship is correcting the english translation on the website. It's so weird though - I almost feel bad translating the English because it's almost as if I am re-translating the translation. Someone has already taken the Czech website and translated it into English and it is my job to correct the existing English; however, the problem is that some of the English is incomprehendable. I feel like by the time my 'translation' is through, the original meaning of the Czech will be twice removed. But, oh well, I guess there isn't really anything I can do about it since I can't read Czech.
So as I find myself lost amongst both English and Czech translations, I have also found myself lost amongst the labryinth-like city streets of Prague. Two weeks ago, my biggest fear was getting lost on a side street alone. While that fear still remains (don't worry, Mom), I have found a sort of peaceful angst when it comes to wandering the streets of Prague. Since I now know the general direction in which I should be heading, I love exploring and venturing off on my own. I feel like the only way to truly feel comfortable in a foreign place is to get lost and find your way.
Today on the third day of classes we went on our first field trip to a Kafka museum and we saw the building where Kafka was born. I could do this whole field trip thing...
I'm proud to say that, tonight, two and a half weeks into our abroad experience, Johanna and I successfully made a home cooked meal. While mine merely consisted of a bag of frozen vegetables, rice and eggs, it still felt good to sit down for a well-balanced meal. I feel like so far on this trip we have been scavengers- searching and grabbing any morsel of food we can find. It's basically like perpetual weekends on the dark side. But, yea, it was definitely nice to come home from a long day of internship and classes and just sit down at our kitchen table and eat. I'm getting sick of going out to dinner or just stopping on the street and picking up a sandwich.
Yesterday was the first day of my internship at The Prague Writer's Festival. The office is conveniently located about 5 minutes away from the NYU Center, so it won't be a problem going right from or right before classes. The office is in a really great area of the city, one which I hadn't known existed until yesterday. I'm pretty sure the hours I will be going to the office are Mondays 3-6 and Tuesdays 10-1. It's great because a lot of the work that I have to do can be done while I am laying in my bed. Perfect. The president of the Prague Writer's Festival is absolutely brilliant and he has interviewed and spoken with so many famous authors (Rushdie, Atwood, Schneider, Burroughs, Auster...to name a few). I think I am going to learn a lot of useful and interesting things by working closely with the festival and it will also hopefully help my Czech!
The main thing I am working on right now for the internship is correcting the english translation on the website. It's so weird though - I almost feel bad translating the English because it's almost as if I am re-translating the translation. Someone has already taken the Czech website and translated it into English and it is my job to correct the existing English; however, the problem is that some of the English is incomprehendable. I feel like by the time my 'translation' is through, the original meaning of the Czech will be twice removed. But, oh well, I guess there isn't really anything I can do about it since I can't read Czech.
So as I find myself lost amongst both English and Czech translations, I have also found myself lost amongst the labryinth-like city streets of Prague. Two weeks ago, my biggest fear was getting lost on a side street alone. While that fear still remains (don't worry, Mom), I have found a sort of peaceful angst when it comes to wandering the streets of Prague. Since I now know the general direction in which I should be heading, I love exploring and venturing off on my own. I feel like the only way to truly feel comfortable in a foreign place is to get lost and find your way.
Today on the third day of classes we went on our first field trip to a Kafka museum and we saw the building where Kafka was born. I could do this whole field trip thing...
Sunday, January 27, 2008
I love lazy Sundays. In Prague, the fact that literally everything is closed on Sundays gives me the perfect excuse to stay in bed, which is much needed after we attended the pub crawl last night. Monday is Rachel's birthday so we decided to celebrate it on Saturday night with the pub crawl. Isaac, the crawl leader, met us in front of the astronomical clock at 9:30 pm and from there we crawled to various pubs in Old Town [most of which we have already been too, so at least we know we're hitting the right spots].
Before the debaucherous events of the crawl, Johanna, Tessa, and I had such a wonderful day. First, we all went to purchase our train tickets for Berlin next weekend! I'm really excited that we are actually following through with plans... that is definitely something new to me. We are leaving at 6:25 am on Friday morning [brutal!] and then coming back to Praha on Sunday night. Luckily the superbowl doesn't start here until 2:30 in the morning so we'll be back in plenty of time.
After finding one really great vintage store, we have been a mission to seek out others. Yesterday we had great success. Not only was the store incredible, but we also befriended another owner. She is from California and has been living in Prague for a few years now. Every American or Australian that I've met so far has been so friendly. Honestly, being over the pond, I feel like I am actually learning more about Americans than about the Czechs themselves. I guess that isn't a bad thing, just not what I would have expected.
In an effort to try and do something cultural everyday, we decided to check out the Lennon Wall, which is right off of the Charles Bridge. It's actually in this amazing area that we had never seen: it's much quieter, and less touristy than Old Town Square.
It really is an amazing thing: the Lennon wall first started in the 1980s because students would write Beatle-inspired quotes on the wall as a means to non-violently rebel against the communist regime. Now, the wall is a representation of people's graffiti from all over the world. It's really neat to see how so many different people come to one small wall and continue to reflect the ideas of peace.
While walking to the tramvaj from the Lennon Wall, we found a beautiful park with tons of benches. I was so happy to see more than one measly tree in one concentrated area. As beautiful as the buildings are here, I do still miss being in the middle of the woods at Hamilton.
Before the debaucherous events of the crawl, Johanna, Tessa, and I had such a wonderful day. First, we all went to purchase our train tickets for Berlin next weekend! I'm really excited that we are actually following through with plans... that is definitely something new to me. We are leaving at 6:25 am on Friday morning [brutal!] and then coming back to Praha on Sunday night. Luckily the superbowl doesn't start here until 2:30 in the morning so we'll be back in plenty of time.
After finding one really great vintage store, we have been a mission to seek out others. Yesterday we had great success. Not only was the store incredible, but we also befriended another owner. She is from California and has been living in Prague for a few years now. Every American or Australian that I've met so far has been so friendly. Honestly, being over the pond, I feel like I am actually learning more about Americans than about the Czechs themselves. I guess that isn't a bad thing, just not what I would have expected.
In an effort to try and do something cultural everyday, we decided to check out the Lennon Wall, which is right off of the Charles Bridge. It's actually in this amazing area that we had never seen: it's much quieter, and less touristy than Old Town Square.
It really is an amazing thing: the Lennon wall first started in the 1980s because students would write Beatle-inspired quotes on the wall as a means to non-violently rebel against the communist regime. Now, the wall is a representation of people's graffiti from all over the world. It's really neat to see how so many different people come to one small wall and continue to reflect the ideas of peace.
While walking to the tramvaj from the Lennon Wall, we found a beautiful park with tons of benches. I was so happy to see more than one measly tree in one concentrated area. As beautiful as the buildings are here, I do still miss being in the middle of the woods at Hamilton.
Friday, January 25, 2008
Kutna Hora
This is probably going to be a boring post, but I just wanted to mention what we did today. It's 5:45 on Friday evening and we just got back from Kutna Hora- a medieval town- where we saw St. Barbara's Church which was absolutely beautiful:
The tour was a little longer than I would have liked. I wish we could just go to some of these places and explore on our own rather than have to follow a tour guide. We spent like 20 minutes in one tiny room-- I need to just go and look at everything at my own pace.
But after the church we went to lunch and then went to the Bone Church, the reason why I truly went to Kutna Hora today. I am really happy that I decided to bring out my camera for photo today. I can't wait to develop the pictures and see how they came out. I took some pictures, or I should say Danielle took some pictures, with a digital camera of the bone museum:
So overall, it was a good first day excursion-- I'm looking forward to going away for the weekends now though.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Favorite Word in Czech- Okurka
[[okurka: translation: cucumber]]
At Hamilton I always have such strong ambitions to attend guest speaker lectures and other cultural events that the school offers. I plan on going, get excited but then at the last minute I tend to get caught up, or usually too lazy to lazy to walk from the dark side to the Chapel. So, I have to say that I am pretty surprised, yet proud at how we have been forcing ourselves to go to any event that sparks interest. It's easy to just hang out, but I've felt so good after going someplace important every day here. The latest cultural event I've attended was last night's showing of the documentary "Fighter"- a movie about life in Central Europe for Jan Weiner, a Jewish man who successfully escaped Czechoslovakia during WWII. Jan Weiner actually came to the NYU center to present the film and later answer questions. The movie was so moving and had an even greater impact on the audience because he was there in person. The movie is about him retracing the steps of his escape-- and you literally see the places where his friends and family were killed and where he himself almost died. After watching this movie, things started to hit me. I am truly starting to understand the lost sense of identity that these people have incurred as a result of living under the communist regime.
Anyways, so after receiving an email about internship opportunities in Prague, I couldn't resist applying for the Prague Writer's Festival. I really didn't want an internship but this one just seemed so cool. After meeting with the head of the festival yesterday, it seems like it is going to be a really great experience, but a little more intense than anticipated. I am basically the editor of the website... I think. We'll see next week when the internship actually starts. But here is the website if you want to check it out: www.pwf.cz
Crazy update: I've been feeling a little lack of protein in my diet. So while out to a lovely romantic dinner tonight with Johanna, I made the bold move and ordered a chicken kebab. Not too bad... but of course I thought some of it was undercooked.
Tomorrow is our first day trip excursion compliments of NYU. We are heading to Kutna Hora at 8:30 in the morning. I cannot wait to go to the bone museum...
At Hamilton I always have such strong ambitions to attend guest speaker lectures and other cultural events that the school offers. I plan on going, get excited but then at the last minute I tend to get caught up, or usually too lazy to lazy to walk from the dark side to the Chapel. So, I have to say that I am pretty surprised, yet proud at how we have been forcing ourselves to go to any event that sparks interest. It's easy to just hang out, but I've felt so good after going someplace important every day here. The latest cultural event I've attended was last night's showing of the documentary "Fighter"- a movie about life in Central Europe for Jan Weiner, a Jewish man who successfully escaped Czechoslovakia during WWII. Jan Weiner actually came to the NYU center to present the film and later answer questions. The movie was so moving and had an even greater impact on the audience because he was there in person. The movie is about him retracing the steps of his escape-- and you literally see the places where his friends and family were killed and where he himself almost died. After watching this movie, things started to hit me. I am truly starting to understand the lost sense of identity that these people have incurred as a result of living under the communist regime.
Anyways, so after receiving an email about internship opportunities in Prague, I couldn't resist applying for the Prague Writer's Festival. I really didn't want an internship but this one just seemed so cool. After meeting with the head of the festival yesterday, it seems like it is going to be a really great experience, but a little more intense than anticipated. I am basically the editor of the website... I think. We'll see next week when the internship actually starts. But here is the website if you want to check it out: www.pwf.cz
Crazy update: I've been feeling a little lack of protein in my diet. So while out to a lovely romantic dinner tonight with Johanna, I made the bold move and ordered a chicken kebab. Not too bad... but of course I thought some of it was undercooked.
Tomorrow is our first day trip excursion compliments of NYU. We are heading to Kutna Hora at 8:30 in the morning. I cannot wait to go to the bone museum...
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