First Week In Olomouc

So, we've been in Olomouc for a little over a week now and we are all slowly getting acclimated to the town. We had orientation (or lack there of) on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. On Thursday we were given a tour of Olomouc and we were shown important churches in the town. The first church we walked into everyone gasped. It was the most beautiful architecture I'd ever seen. Once the tour was over we had to rush to our first Czech Language class. (Apparently, we were supposed to have two classes on Wednesday, but we missed those.) Our language teacher's name is Katka. She walked in immediately speaking Czech and jumped right into the lesson. We all were a bit in over our heads when we had to introduce ourselves in Czech. "Ja jsem Kaitlyn Taylor." I think that this class will only get more interesting as time goes on. It is one of the most difficult languages to learn. There are so many consonants together in one word and almost all of the words look like gibberish. The one word everyone has the toughest time with is crystal, spelled “křišťál.” It is literally impossible to say. Another thing about the Czech language is that there are other letters in the alphabet. For example, there are three different types of the letter ‘u’ and the only difference is the length you say the letter. After language class we had a political history class, yet again, over everyone’s head. It is very difficult to learn about Czech political history without any background knowledge. Still, we are learning useful and interesting information, but very hard to grasp in lecture form. After a long day of class, a group of girls and I decided to go have dinner at the local Chinese restaurant and then we all headed back to our dorm, Neredin (pronounced neh-jer-deen). Friday was more of the same stuff, class and relaxing. Stayed in on Friday night and just hung out with some of the girls. We all want to meet more international students, but it is hard because we do not have classes with them and we do not live with them. All of the international students are located in different dorms. We try to keep in touch with some of them using Facebook and we are all apart of the international group on Facebook, but it is still hard. We are just kind of put in the mix of all the students in the middle of their semesters. We are slowly adjusting to it though.

Saturday a group of about 6 of us headed to the local park to walk around. It was a beautiful day and the park is wonderful. We were able to buy a beer and walk around the park. That night we headed to a local Irish Pub called The Black Stuff, which has quickly become a favorite of everyone’s. We did a mini bar hop to another bar called Ova, which served probably more than 200 drink combinations. My drink was called “Hey Bitch, Come Here,” a little awkward to order, but it was delicious! Then after Ova we headed to a nightclub called Varna. It was a good time, but we all went back to the dorms early around 2 or 3am. Yes, that’s considered early. Most Czech students stay out until 5am, it’s crazy.

Sunday was another relaxing day. It was rainy, so we mainly stayed inside and hung out.

Monday, Abby and I went for a run in the park and it was beautiful, even though it was rainy. Before class a group of us went to Café 87, where I ate a strawberry croissant and had a honey coffee. Café 87 is also becoming a favorite among us all. Another favorite is the crepe stand that sits outside of Café 87. It. Is. Amazing. Strawberry nutella crepes are to die for. It is hard to resist buying one on the way to class.

Today, Tuesday, Jessi, Molly, and I went into town to go grab something quick to eat and we happened to run into a large group of high school students from Idaho. I do not think I’ve ever been so happy to see or hear other Americans in my life. For some reason, it was very comforting. Also, come to find out, one of the high school students traveling happened to be one of Jessi’s distant cousins! She was traveling with the high school group through Europe for 10 days and they just happened to stop in Olomouc for a quick bite! Seriously, what a coincidence.

On Thursday we will be headed back to Prague and to Dresden, Germany to tour the towns with our tour guides, Jan and Martin. I will hopefully have more to post after this weekends trip and hopefully have more beautiful pictures to add to my albums.

(Sorry for being all over the place in my writing. There’s so much to tell!)

                                               

(Everyone gasping in church)

                                                       (My favorite church in town)

                                       (The best crepe you'll ever have)

London

Finally getting a chance to blog! (this post might be a long one) Tara and I flew out of Chicago on Monday, March 10th to London. We stayed in London with a couple of Tara's friends for about 3 nights. We did a lot of sight seeing and walked over 7 miles each day. Although, I have never been to New York City I would assume London could be compared to it in terms of size and amount of people. So many people everywhere. I don't think there was a point where we weren't crammed on the tube or on the streets. The people were relatively nice and it was easy to navigate because we were still in an English speaking country and of course, Tara's friends helped. The tube (underground rail system) was an experience for me. I have never had to use a subway system, so that was a learning experience, especially because Tara and I got lost on our way into London from the airport for about 2 hours. Fun stuff, lugging our suitcases and backpacks up and down stairs multiple times. Also, whatever stop you get off of on the tube is like a different city. Some of my favorite areas were Oxford Street, Westminster, Picadilly Circus, and Coventry Garden. Coventry garden would probably be my favorite. They had a lot of outside markets and street performers, but it also seemed like an area that I could live in. We also had a chance to go onto the London Eye where we really realized how large London is. It's just massive. Although, it was only 3 days, I feel like we got a lot in and I got to see everything I wanted to see.

                                                                  (In the London Eye)

                                                        (Tara and I in front of Big Ben)

                                                    (Street performer at Coventry Garden)

We flew out of London at 7am Friday, March 14 and into Prague. Kami, our instructor, picked us up from the airport and took us back to our hostel. We stayed at the Mosaic Hostel, which I highly recommend to anyone. It was full of younger people, frequently had parties in the lounge area, great breakfast, and a great location. I napped for a bit and then left with some people to check out Prague. I immediately fell in love. Everything about Prague is beautiful. It is a touristy area, so a lot of English is spoken there, which was good for us. We went on a walking tour and saw all of the old areas of Prague, as well as the new. After the tour was over we decided to go have a tradition Czech meal. I got duck, cabbage, and dumplings. Literally, one of the best meals that I have had in a while. I am a huge fan of cabbage, so I think I will like a majority of the meals here. I also had my first Prague beer at this dinner. It was called Kozel and so far it is my absolute favorite! It has a slight aftertaste of coffee and unlike American beer it has hardly any carbonation. After dinner we went to a shopping mall called, Palladium. It was 3 floors and in a small area. Very different from an American mall. Once we finished looking around the mall we headed back to Mosaic and I went to bed. The next day in Prague we went out on our own and explore. We went to the big pendulum, which apparently is where a huge statue of Stalin used to sit. It oversees all of Prague and the view is breathtaking. We also walked across the Charles Bridge which gave us a great view of Prague as well. After that hike up there everyone was a little tired. We went back to the hostel and everyone rested for a bit. Then a few of us decided to go out on the town. The next day we were off to Olomouc!

                                                                  (Dinner in Prague)                                                              

(Pendulum)

                                                                     (Charles Bridge)

So far I am loving Olomouc. It is much smaller than Prague, but has just as much history. Got in on Sunday. Got our rooms all situated and then went into the town center where we had dinner. I had a stuffed chicken with a side of bread. Also, very very good. Then afterwards it was off to bed. Monday we had a lecture and then a small tour of Olomouc. We were able to go up the bell tower in the town center and get a full 360 of Olomouc and it was beautiful. Towards the end of the night we all went to a small club/bar. Our first night in Olomouc was a memorable one and I think everyone had a good time. Tuesday we had a small lecture in the morning and then we were off to go visit some caves in Sprava jeskyni. To get to the caves we had to walk through another town to get there. I can't remember the name of the small town, but it was a cute town with a small town square. We also passed by a spa, but it was not like a typical American spa with massages and facials. This spa was specifically for healing. People would go there for this special water. It apparently had some type of cleansing and healing power. We got a chance to drink that when we were there. It tasted like carbonated water with some type of mineral in it. A little bit of a bite to it, it seemed like. After that we finally arrived at the cave where we were lead on a 50 min tour. It was a cave that used to hold the water that we all drank, so that was interesting. Then we hiked all the way up this small mountain to view the deepest abyss in Europe. It looked like a massive hole in the ground. Afterwards we rode the train back into Olomouc where we had dinner and then everyone went to bed. So far we are all still trying to find our way around Olomouc and trying to get the tram schedule down. Tomorrow we have a tour of the city, so hopefully that will help us all out.

                                                                       (Health Spa)

                                                                             (Abyss)

(Olomouc Town Square)