Although we have only been in Olomouc for one week now, I am already in love with it! The city is beautiful and full of so much history! I did not know what to expect before coming here, but it has been more than I have ever dreamed of. On Sunday night we were able to check into our dorms and get all settled in. The dorm rooms here are smaller than the ones at UNL, but I still enjoy them because they comfortable and already feel like a home to me. Our flats consist of two bathrooms, a little kitchen, and five dorm rooms. My roommate is Therin and we have four other girls that live in our flat that are also study abroad students. They are all so kind and I have loved getting to know them! It has been fun being able to talk to them and compare the different countries and lifestyles where we are all came from. Our group has also had the privilege to meet many students from the Czech Republic who are studying in the history department. These students have been so helpful and patient with us since we have arrived here! They took us on tours of the city and they plan fun events and parties for us to meet more of them and get to know them better. They were also able to help me celebrate my birthday this weekend, and made it one of my best birthdays yet!
We were able to climb the tower in the Town Hall to see a beautiful view of Olomouc! They are setting up the wooden shops for the Easter markets.
I love the beautiful colors of the buildings and the cobblestone streets.
The food here is amazing!! It is actually too good and I will probably gain a lot of weight by the time I come home. My favorite meal here so far would have to be the extremely tender steak with pepper sauce that I had at Drapal. I have also enjoyed the schnitzel, garlic soup, dumplings, beef tartare and kebabs. If you did not know this already, the Czech Republic is known for their beer. Here everyone drinks lots and lots and lots of beer. Water is not free here, which I do not enjoy, and surprisingly beer is cheaper than water. A beer here usually costs 35 Korunas, which would be around a $1.50 in US dollars. There are so many great restaurants around Olomouc. We also have been exploring many pubs and clubs. Each pub here is so different and unique than the others. On Friday night the Czech history students took us around on a pub-crawl and it was a blast to be able to see all of the different pubs and have special Czech drinks.
We have had a couple of classes now at Palacky University and I find them very interesting, and the professors are amazing! If you spend any time with our professor Martin, you will learn a lot! He is very knowledgeable and he will be teaching us a class about the Holocaust. Our other professor Jan will be focusing his class on many different cultural items. We are also taking a Czech language class taught by our professor Katka. I love the professor, but I am very frustrated with the language. It is a very hard language to learn and since I already pronounce many words wrong in English, it will be a struggle to get Czech down. The university here is pretty spread out around the city but all of the buildings are just beautiful. Our dorms are more one the edge of the city and we have to take a tram into the city.
The history building where we have our classes.
We have gone on many tours around this magnificent city and have seen sights that are just stunning. Compared to the weather we had in Nebraska when we left, it has been pretty cold here especially since I packed for warmer weather. However it should start to warm up soon! The Czech money here is called Koruna and right now it is at a pretty good exchange rate for us. One US dollars is equal to about 24 Czech Republic Korunas. Everything here is a lot cheaper than back home, which I love. Olomouc has a huge store called Globus and it is similar to a Walmart, but bigger and better. It is not too far of a walk from our dorms, and this is where we get a lot of our supplies and our groceries.
Saturday we were able to take a trip to Holy Hill and see the beautiful church!! Every detail is amazing! We also climb up to the top of a hill to see the Monastery and a beautiful view!
Holy Hill with the group!
Inside the church at Holy Hill. Every little detail was perfect!!
The group that made the hike to the top of the hill.
A church in Olomouc that is absolutely amazing!!
Before coming on this trip I did not know anyone else, however, many of us have grown together as a family in such a short amount of time. Getting to know everyone and their personalities has been one of my favorite things yet! I am excited to take on new adventures with this group and explore Europe!!
No comments:
Post a Comment