Even though classes have
officially started and I am beginning to settle into a routine, I can’t help
but continue to feel like this entire experience is unreal. I am truly on
“cloud nine” here in Prague, and the view is great.
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| Grant, James, Grace, Postman, Dani, Chelsea, Rachel, Me, and Andy enjoying the view from the Castle |
Last weekend, we went to Český Krumlov (aka “Sexy Croutons,” “Crispy Croutons,” “Creaky Kremlin” and a variety of other nick names by my friends and I due to our inability to pronounce anything at all in Czech). It was the culmination of our two week UPCES orientation. The town is in the south of the Bohemia region of the country and is a beautiful medieval town and a UNESCO World Heritage site.
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| Castle Tower |
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| Český Krumlov |
Although the weather was far from ideal, it seems to have been raining pretty much nonstop for the past two weeks in the Czech Republic, I thoroughly enjoy my time there. We did a lot in twenty four hours, including eating at a local brewery, exploring one of the Hapsburg’s castles, and climbing to the top of the castle tower—I won’t let a knee injury keep me down! The view from the castle tower was breathtaking. It felt so good to be able to climb up and to have that experience, considering I had thought that my knee injury would be holding me back a bit.
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| The View from the Castle Tower |
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| Me at the Castle |
One of my favorite parts of the entire weekend was getting to know our new Czech friends who came on the trip with us Ondřej and Adela. While they were not in the same tour group as us, we had lunch and went out together at night. We spent the night talking about everything from differences in our everyday lives, to our schooling and personal values and beliefs. It was great to get to know both of them and I am looking forward to hanging out with them more over my next few months in Prague.
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| Grant, James, Grace, Me, and Dani at Dinner in Český Krumlov before meeting up Ondřej and Adela |
While the town of Cesky Krumlov was incredible, the thing that surprised me the most was how much I enjoyed the bus ride there. The views looking out the window of the country roads of the Czech Republic were breathtaking and pictures do them no justice. It is nice to know that, going forward, bus rides to faraway places will not only be a time to reenergize, but to also see a part of the country I would not see otherwise.
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| The Countryside of Southern Bohemia |
Like I mentioned earlier, classes started this week. On Tuesday I have my first session of Comprehending the Holocaust (which as my professor pointed out is an unfortunate name for the class, considering the incomprehensible nature of mass murder—he suggested that “Comprehending the Holocaust?” might be a more suitable name). The class was quite heavy (as most all of them will be, I presume), and I needed some time to chill after before heading back to my apartment. So after a necessary trip to Tesco (a large convenience and food store in the center of the city, just a few blocks from school—I needed a travel coffee mug for the mornings), I decided I would experience the freedom of having my knee brace off and take the long stroll home instead of taking a tram. The timing of the walk was truly perfect because it happened to be about 17:00 (5:00 PM if you’re speaking American) when I left Tesco, so by the time I reached the bridge that crosses over the Vlatava to get to my neighborhood of Prague, the sun was just starting to set. With no real urgency or destination, I stopped for a bit to take it all in. The bridge offers incredible views of the entire city, and while, like every good view, a photo never does it justice, I took a snapshot to capture the moment. This is my home for the next three months. After so many plans, and so many worries, and so many thoughts, I am actually here. Living the dream I have had of studying abroad literally since I was a small child (yes—I was the type of kid who thought about these kinds of things as a small child).
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| The street that my tram stop is on |
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| A beautiful sunset over the Vlatava |
Sometimes all it takes is a nice walk and some great views to put you right back up on cloud nine.
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