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)