Adventures to Bratislava, Prague, and Dresden!

Week 2: Field Trip 1 - Bratislava, Prague, and Dresden

Currently I am sitting on a train, drinking wine and eating cheese, on my way to yet another beautiful city while typing my blog- I would have to say life is pretty good! This week was full of lots of adventure and many trips! It started out with having Monday class cancelled so a small group of us decided that we wanted to take a short trip somewhere! We got to the train station early in the morning and bought a ticket to Bratislava, Slovakia. I was very interested to learn more about this country since it has such a tight relationship with the Czech Republic. Czechoslovakia split up into two separate countries in 1993. It was a peaceful break between the two counties and they still consider themselves very close friends. It was fascinating to learn about all of the similarities that these countries still share, but also the differences between each! We were able to visit St. Elizabeth’s Cathedral, St. Martin's Cathedral, parks, the President’s House, and many more historical locations. As the sun was setting we made our way up to the top of the hill to the castle and see a breath taking view of the entire city.

The Presidents House in Bratislava. 

St. Martin's Cathedral

St. Elizabeth's Church (also known as the Blue Church)

Inside of the beautiful Blue Church

One of my favorite views! We were able to make it to the castle at the top of the hill just in time for the sun to set! Such a beautiful view of the city of Bratislava. 

The Castle at Bratislava, Slovakia

We got back from Bratislava on Tuesday afternoon right before class, and then Thursday morning we back on a train again. Our entire group was on our way to the beautiful city of Prague. I absolutely fell in love with this wonderful, majestic, and stunning city! Although the Czech Republic is one of the least religious counties in the world, Easter is heavily celebrated here. The city was packed with tourist from every country who came to celebrate the holiday. Easter markets are in every square where you can buy hand-painted eggs, hot wine, sausages, tredelniks, crepes, and much more! All of these foods are so delicious and hard to stay away from! These markets are not the only way they celebrate Easter, there is also an unusual tradition that has been passed down for many years now. The tradition is that men take sticks from a willow trees and lightly “whip” the women with them and in return the women give the men a present. Although this sound horrible, it was started because they believed that the willow tree was good luck and that by whipping women with a part of this tree, it would bring fertility and good health to the women. Our group was walking in a square when a pack of little boys ran up to us and started whipping all of us girls with their sticks. It was very fun to be able to be part of their traditions!

The Easter Markets in Prague! 

All of the trees are decorated beautifully for Easter!

These sausages may be the best things ever from the Easter markets!

The willow tree whips sticks!

The beautiful hand-painted Easter eggs!

When we arrived Jan and Martin gave us a tour of the beautiful city of Prague. They showed us the Prague astronomical clock, which is an attraction to many tourist, and a huge crowd gathers every hour to hear the ringing! This is also the clock that is in the Harry Potter movies! We were also able to visit many cathedrals like St. Vitus, Tyn church, and many more. Then we made it to the famous Charles Bridge! It was crowed but very beautiful and so interesting to learn about all of the statues on the bridge. Later we found the John Lennon Wall where, like all other tourist, we all snapped many photos by all of the creative art.

The Prague astronomical clock!

The cathedral at Namesti Miru!

A stunning view of the Prague Castle and Charles Bridge.

I am in love with Old Square with the Easter Markets!

Our Lady Tyn Church in the Old Square at night! 

The three UNL students at the John Lennon Wall!

I love all of the little cafes in Prague!

A delicious breakfast at Cafe Louvre.

On Friday we all went to the Prague Castle. Although the walk up to the Castle was tiring and long, the sight at the top was breath taking. We could see the entire city of Prague from the top of this hill. Here we saw the changing of the guards, the palace, and The St. Vitus Cathedral. I can’t begin to describe the beauty and history that was treasured in each of these beautiful places. 

The Prague Castle! 

The Beautiful St. Vitus Cathedral where we attended Easter mass.

The inside of St. Vitus Cathedral is unbelievable! 

We took a short day trip to Dresden, Germany on Saturday. Like many places we have been before, the sights and history were unbelievable. We saw the Lutheran Cathedral with a statue of Martin Luther outside. This church was circular inside compared to the Catholic cathedrals, which are a knave style. This circular style was made to have more of a central and involved congregation. I absolutely loved how inviting and welcoming this stunning church was! In 1945, during World War II, Dresden was bombed and terribly ruined. This church was not able to survive the bombs and had to be rebuilt. We were able to climb to the top of tower at the church and see a majestic view of the entire city of Dresden! After that we visited an art museum and then roamed around the city. Of course we also ate way too much food! 

The Lutheran Church in Dresden, Germany.

The was the cross from the church when it was bombed. 

The view from the tower of the church couldn't get any better!!

Of course you have to eat a lot while you are abroad:) 

Sunday morning we were back in Prague, ready to celebrate Easter!! A couple of us woke up early and made the trek back up to the Prague Castle to attend Easter mass at St. Vitus Cathedral. It was amazing to be able to celebrate the most meaningful holiday in such a beautiful church. However, the service was in Czech so I had no clue what was going on. Also, since the cathedral was built in the 1300s it was so cold that we could see our breaths. Later that day we visited the Jewish ghetto in Prague. Here we were able to go to many synagogues. One synagogue was turned into a memorial and every Czech Jew that died in the Holocaust had their name inscribed on all of the walls. It was breath taking and heart breaking to see over 80,000 names bordering the walls of the synagogue. The upper level of the synagogue had a display of pictures that children drew about how they viewed the Holocaust. This display was absolutely humbling to see. We also saw the Prague Jewish cemetery. The cemetery was elevated because there are about six layers of bodies under each tombstone. It was such a shocking sight to see. This experience makes me eager to learn even more about the Holocaust and for our trip to Auschwitz in a couple of weeks.

The names of Czech Jews who died in the Holocaust are printed around the walls of the synagogue. 

A few of the pictures that children of the Holocaust drew. 

The Prague Jewish Cemetery. 

On all of our trips this week, we made sure to eat plenty of heavy Czech food and enjoy some of the most beautiful sights in the world! I can't wait for all of the other new adventures we have yet to embark on! 

Just some great Czech food!!

Shortbread pastery

Gnocchi dumplings!

Goulash and dumplings!

Now Therin and I have to go finish our bottle of vino on the train! Until next week! Na shledanou!

Czechin' out the Czech

Week 1: Daily Living

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!!