Wandering Architect

Week 19: Ireland and the UK

2007-06-26T12:13:00.000-06:00

***Webshots free-bee album number 1 maxed out at 1000 pictures. Hence, checkout webshots album 2 link to the right for continued photo uploads or copy and paste this link: www.webshots.com/user/chic1015852 ****

Well... Ireland was spectacular. On Saturday I took a trip to Cork with my rail pass. My last trip with it. I'm a little sad my privileges of unlimited travel have come to an end. Anyways, I got to see a lot of the countryside. It is beautiful. Mostly green farm fields with hedgerow fences and either cattle or sheep grazing. You can also usually see some mountain range in the background. Cork was a lot like Dublin. Although these cities have large populations, they feel small because their centers have mostly three story or lower buildings. What you don't see is their sprawling suburbs. Anyways, I looked around Cork for a bit and then took the bus to Blarney to see the one and only Blarney Castle. It was nice to see a castle in the stereotypical sense of castles: dark stone ruins of a fortress variety. All the castles in central europe had plaster on them... they looked like villas. While at Blarney castle, I kissed the Blarney stone... its supposed to give you the gift of gab. We shall see. I did some more looking around in Blarney and bought a few 'special presents' before heading back to Cork and eventually on to Dublin. By the time I arrived in Dublin, I had already finished reading The Man Who Was Thursday by CK Chesterton. I had purchased it in Cork just before leaving for Blarney. Yes, I liked it that much. I highly recommend it.

Sunday I went on a tour of the Boyne Valley. I got to see the Hill of Tara- the ancient crowning place of Ireland's past kings. I also got to see Trim Castle (Braveheart was filmed here). Finally, I got to go to the Boyne Valley vistor's center and tour the Newgrange Tomb circa 5000 BC. Older than the pyramids, this tomb shows that Neolithic peoples had knowledge of the Winter Solstice. For the shortest 5 days of every year, the sun pours in each morning for 17 minutes through a window box looking due east. The rest of the year it is totally dark. The absence of smoke residue on the ceiling further suggests that no one ever went in the tomb except for this brief time each year, as it is doubtful that neolithic people had flashlights. :) Super interesting.

Monday turned into an all day flying experience. I left the hostel in Dublin at 9, got to the airport around 10. Waited for my delayed flight to leave. Arrived finally in London Gatwick around 2, and then took public transit for almost 2 more hours. By the time I was in my hostel room it was 4:30. Too late to do much, plus it was raining and I was beat. So I took myself to see the new Fantastic 4 movie, which is not all that fantastic, but had a lot of London in it suprisingly. Then I hit the internet, finished reading The Five People You Meet in Heaven, and went to sleep.

Tuesday was my big sightseeing day... Tate Modern had an amazing urbanism exhibit, and its free to get into! Then I took the ferry over to Tate Britain where I had lunch and did a quick walkthrough. After that I saw the Parliament building, Westminster Abbey, the London Eye (ferris wheel), Trafalgar Square, etc. I also had coffee, because that is what I do. Later on I came back to the hostel area and bought new bottles of sunscreen, bugspray, and all the other toiletries that were too heavy to come on my Ryanair flights.

I think tonight I will go back downtown and take some night photos. Tomorrow is my last day in London. I have to spend the night at the airport because my flight leaves at 6 AM and the metro will close at midnight. In a way it will be nice to not have to worry about waking up at 3 AM to leave. I think tomorrow I will see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace at 11:30 before heading over to the Tower of London, London Bridge, and the Design Museum. And maybe the Freud Museum. And thats all folks. Then I am going to AFRICA! I can't believe it. So until then, signing off... Sally.

Week 18: France, and Ireland

2007-06-22T14:16:00.000-06:00

Well my European adventures are coming to an end. France was just great. My first real stop was Bayeux in Normandy. I saw the D-day musuem, the American cemetery, and a 90 meter long tapistry almost 1000 years old depicting the history of the region. It was pretty sweet. Then I headed to Mont St Michel. The abby is pretty incredible, but the walk across the bay at low tide was the real adventure. I met two girls who were studying in Paris and we had a heck of a time. We returned to Paris together, and the next night they had me over for dinner, laundry, and internet. What a perfect combination. All in all, their hospitality was incredible. That day I went to the Louvre and saw the Mona Lisa, but it was the arabic art that was my favorite. I also saw the Paris Opera House, Sacre Couer, and Moulin Rouge.

The next day I toured Versailles with Ashleigh and Tommy, two Seattle natives that I was sharing a hostel with. That fulfilled my aspirations of seeing the home to Louis XIV and later Marie Antoinette that developed in European History AP sophomore year of high school. The audioguide was pretty good and the gardens were beautiful.

Brittany and Jeff met me that night at our budget hotel and we stayed up way too late just chatting. The next morning we went to see the Villa Savoye by Le Corbusier... we are talking architecture with a capital A. Its kind of a big deal. Then we saw pretty much every museum on the planet over the next two days (including pompidou center and the Musee d'Orsay), as well as going to the top of the eiffel tower, seeing the Arc du Triumphe, the Pantheon, Jardin du Luxembourg, Notre Dame, etc.

Thursday night was the Summer Solstice, and the scene of the night of music for Parisians (Fete de la Musique)... as the longest night of the year all the musicians perform on the street until the wee hours. Fun... except that I needed to get up at 5:15 this morning. And so the adventure of budget airlines begins.

Ryanair is so cheap. Supposedly. But they fly out of Paris Beauvais... a hour and 15 minute train ride followed by a 30 minute bus outside Paris. Oh and that 15 kg checked bag allowance... that wasn't per bag... that was total. So I had to pay 88 euro for my second bag to come with me. Painful, but I had no choice. And Im going to have to do it again when I go to London... sigh. So my flight is going to end up costing about the same as a regular one would have... oh well.

I can't be too sad right now because I am in Dublin. Despite rain, today was filled with exciting activities such as seeing the book of Kells, a book of 4 gospels made by Monks over 1000 years ago with detail that could barely be acheived today. I also toured Trinity College and got to see its old library... its "long room" is the largest single volume library in the world and its books (some 400 years old) are organized by size... so if you want to find one you have to know its exact dimensions and go around measuring. Pretty hilarious.

After that I took the Guinness factory tour. I enjoyed it... and the building is pretty neat. There is a light well through the middle of the building shaped like a large beer glass... its cool.

Oh, and when I got here I went through a small culture shock... I haven't been submersed in an english speaking culture in close to 5 months now... it was a shock at first but I have to say it is really nice now that I have had a few hours to get used to it. My brain doesn't have to work so hard all the time! Thats pretty much it for now. Cork tomorrow. Ciao.

Week 17: Europe Galore

2007-06-14T11:53:00.000-06:00

****EDIT****
To view photos click the link to the right under photos called webshots. Or just click the following link: http://community.webshots.com/user/chic101585

Just a warning though, they havent been rotated or sorted... sorry but I am doing this on the run. You get the idea though.
******

Oh the places I have been. Where to start? I guess the fact that I am on a very foreign keyboard is a good places to start. Please excuse typos... I am out of my element here.

So when I left Praha I headed to Cesky Krumlov which was really cool. It is a small town on the border of Austria and the Czech Republic. I checked out the castle, ate a local cinnamon roll, etc. This roll was literally a cylindrical piece of dough, hollow on the inside. Delicious. Then I headed on to Vienna. Meanwhile, my train was late so I missed my connection and ended up on a double decker bus to Linz to meet another train. This bus was insane, or at least the driver was. I was in the front on the top floor so I basically had a windshield and wiper all to myself. Me and this guy from Mexico were playing blackjack and chatting with these other American girls. Funny.

We lived to Linz despite feeling a little carsick, and I proceeded to hop a train to Vienna. Yeah railpass. I find myself in a car with a Nigerian footballer, or soccer player, who not only wants to go to dinner tonight in Vienna but also be friends forever. I find a way to get out of this, naturally. Vienna was cool, but just not really my style. I took a lot of neat night pictures of the architecture. I finished checking out the rest of the town the next day before heading to Bratislava.

Bratislava was ridiculous. I suddenly felt the power of eastern europe before I was off the train. But I had a good time basically running through it because I only had 3 hours there. They have a very traditional castle which was neat to see and I think economically the town is moving up. I bet in a decade it will be a totally different place. So I continued on to Budapest.

Budapest was a blast. I saw the sights, got the nightlife in, checked out the baths... everything. I really liked it there... plus they had a vegetarian restaurant... perfect.

On the way from Budapest to Lichtenstein I shared a night train car with a guy from Vienna. We watched Never Die Alone while riding through Austria. Bizarre, but in a good way.

I arrived in LIchtenstein at 5 AM... Buchs really. That is still Switzerland. But after a short bus ride or 3 I was hiking the Furstensteig... incredible. That was the first time I have ever had vertigo, and probably the worst time to have it. But I lived and I really enjoyed it.

So after seeing the rest of Lichtenstein because its that small that I could do it in a day, I headed on to what I thought was Berne, Switzerland. I ended up in Bremen Germany... NORTH Germany the next morning. Too far to go back, I decided to cut my losses and press on to Coppenhagen. After all, I had a Swiss cheese sandwich in Buchs, which is Switzerland, and it was the worst sandwich Ive had in a long time. I got to see all of Denmark from the train, but unfortunately not much Coppenhagen because my train was delayed due to heat affecting old train tracks and making the trains fun slow to avoid accidents. Sigh.

So I went to Luxembourg where I had a hostel waiting for me. Keep in mind I went HIKING 2 days ago now... still no shower... DISGUSTING. I was sooo happy to get to my hostel. And then I realized that Luxembourg is really really cool. Look up Luxembourg city.. its like a fairytale castle with a moat and everything. Amazing.

Then I hit Amsterdam. Did the Heineken Experience aka brewery tour. Saw Rijksmuseum, Vondelpark, Oude Kirche, Niewe Kirche, the Anne Frank Haus, and of course the Redlight district... ironically Oude Kirche is in it... hence accidentally wandering into it. I also checked out a Buddhist temple while I was over there, just for good measure. Finally, I finished my book A Prayer For Owen Meany... a tear jerker I will say. And then I went to see Oceans 13 at a Art Nouveau theater in town.

Today I arrived in Brussels. I like the town, and I really like the waffles. I don't like the rain... but I will live. Anyways, my fair share of internet time has more than expired, so Im off, but I just wanted to get some of that down before I forgot.

Laters, Sal

Week 16: Departure from Praha

2007-06-06T00:07:00.000-06:00

Wow. The last four months have been some of the fastest of my life. Things have wrapped up for me pretty well so far! On Friday my digital camera arrived at Fotoskoda all shiny and new for pickup. I got my last stipend picked up and turned in studio! Woof. All things considered I think it turned out rather well. Here is my final layout.

My professor didn't find the project "dirty" enough for the village... I'm hoping that must be some kind of translating error... but considering I basically whipped this thing out in 48 hours I don't feel too bad about it!

In any case, it was certainly an experience going to school in a different country. Things definitely run a bit differently, particularly in the areas of attendance, punctuality, and sobriety.

So Friday was a lot better of a day than Thursday was. I pretty much passed out from exhaustion in my clothes at 7PM Thursday and woke up at the crack of dawn Friday. I did a little surgery on my computer and got my spacebar in semi-working order again after removing a large chunk of something from its inner workings and finished my studio project. After I turned it in I went for a run, during which I had a spiritual experience of sorts. First off, I had a Rocky moment because I ran the whole loop and all the way up the hill without stopping... first time ever. This hill is massive... it took me a song and a half to get up it, but I made it. Yeah. Then I had to detour off my normal route due to some Harley exhibition going on and ended up running through this field of tall grass where I realized how much I actually enjoy running. Then finally on my way up the stairs I stopped and sat for a minute, not because I was tired, but because I didn't want to leave. And I think thats how I feel about Prague in general. Im just not ready to go.

Friday night was a dangerous combination or beer pong, a power hour, and Nebe... needless to say Saturday was not the most productive day ever, but I did manage do get one last round of laundry done and go see Swan Lake at the National Theater with Carrie and Emily. It was the only theater I hadn't been to yet... check that off my list. :)

Sunday I ventured off to Karlovy Vary to check out the sights, mineral water, and wafer cookies. Its also home to Beckerovka... it was pretty sweet. I got home in time to go dancing with Alena and Ondrej one last time.

Monday was full of goodbyes. Goodbye to Krystina at breakfast, Pavel at the park, Martin at dinner, Slava over a drink, my roommates in the kitchen, and others wherever I happened to run into them first. (some were coming in from a party as I was heading out to my train Tuesday morning lol) But lots of stuff got done that needed to happen. Bags were packed, much was thrown away. Mail forwarding was set up at the post office and my academic record turned in. My friend Scotty is being so kind as to take my laptop back to the states with him, so I don't have to worry about that. Brittany and Jeff are bringing my big roller bag to me in Paris. Currently I am sitting at my hostel in Vienna enjoying the sound of acoustic guitar from the bar. Its time for bed. Today was a fun day. I saw Cesky Krumlov, missed a train, took a wacky double decker bus, played cards with a guy from Tiajuana, apparently became lifelong friends with a Nigerian footballer out of Linz, and had some delish falfel for dinner. All in a days work. Also, some sweet night photos of Vienna were taken. But my internet time is up and its time to sleep!

Week 15: Berlin and the week of catastrophe

2007-05-31T16:49:00.000-06:00

Well, as promised this weekend I was whisked away to Berlin for a weekend of sightseeing. As frequently seems to happen, I managed to be at the right place at the right time and caught an annual unidentified diversity festival happening all weekend, complete with parade, live music, and blocks of vendors. All of this really means lots of drunk Germans. But lets not get ahead of ourselves.

We arrived bright and early... 5 AM to be exact. But it was worth it for the price... round trip bus ticket to Berlin for 40 USD. Can't beat that! Heather, Jared, and I hit the hostel to drop off our stuff before making our way to the zooliogisher garten metro stop and walking over to the old post office where our bike tour began. Randomly, Dave Armstrong SMS class '02 is giving the tour. How strange. Anyways, the tour was really informative, and involved a beer garden so I was all about it. Plus everyone loves riding bikes... especially members of the Buhler Bike Gang (Brandon and Laura if you are reading this, go us.) Later we headed back to the hostel and had a little nap before heading back out in search of dinner and other delights. The sights that night:

Sunday consisted of going to the top of Reichstag, or the House of Parliament, a famous work of sustainable architecture by Sir Norman Foster. Cheers, mate. I pretty much loved it, not going to lie.

We had lunch in front of the Bradenburg Gate where a massive stage was set up and bad covers of 80's American music were being performed. Not only did I hear Pretty Woman, but also Summer of 69. It was pretty strange. There were a lot of vendors selling international food... or so it seemed. Then we walked over to Checkpoint Charlie and got a better look at the remaining piece of wall.

From there we hit the Jewish Museum, another famous work of architecture by Daniel Libeskind (Denverites- think the Modern Art Museum that is all pointy... its the same architect). Anyways, the museum had excellent content and the architecture had moments that I found to be very well developed, but overall lacked clarity and justification. Do another draft next time Daniel.

By this time we were very tired and went off in search of dinner. This landed us amongst the festival. If we saw a lot of vendors before, they were nothing compared to what we entered into. Foods, beers, and goods from all the world could be found in the 4 city block area the festival was taking up. In addition, there was a parade going on that people seemed to jump in and out of whenever they felt like it. Live music was everywhere. It was a really good time but I got sooo tired....

Before we went home that night we stopped off at a pub our bike tour guide leader showed us. It was at the top of an old bombed out building near the TV tower and shared the space with an art house. There was a lightning storm going on and it was really cool to watch from up there while drinking a beer and shooting the shit. Here I am on the way out...

On the third day we headed first thing to the Checkpoint Charlie Museum. Wow. At first when we saw Checkpoint Charlie I was like ok, that was a little underwhelming. But the museum was so cool. The history behind that place is amazing and the museum tells you so many personal stories of how people crossed the wall with tunnels, zipcords, flying and diving contraptions... I really enjoyed seeing it all. It made me wish I had paid more attention in history class.

A quick walk took us to the Memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe, a controversial creation by Peter Eisenman. I found it very successful in accomplishing its goals in a straightforward manner. We lunched there before moving on to the northside of town for further exploration. Here I am on the first day riding my bike in front of it.

Basically after the we just wandered around for a while, drank beer and then ate dinner. That nipple is rather polished...

The famous TV tower...

And then we went to see the opera Salome. I really enjoyed it, despite not speaking any German. Following the performance we headed back to the hostel to gather our stuff and then hit the bus station to return to Prague. Another successful trip for the books.

Tuesday morning found me knee deep in credit card fraud. Apparently somewhere in the last week someone started making online purchases with my card at the most amusing places including family savers club, esssleep.com, and the south beach diet... Yes, funny choices of spending, but not such a funny situation. I officially have no credit card to fall back on for possibly the rest of the summer... not a good situation! So I had that turned off and then worked like crazy on studio all day (except for a run) before heading off to see a ballet performance of Cinderella! I LOVED it. Ballet is my favorite fine art I think. You get the music and the dance with acting too.

And then I came home and worked my little fingers to the bone in vectorworks (autoCAD for MAC). My project was due Thursday morning. Or so I thought. I have to do more work on it for tomorrow.

So to sum up the catastrophe: my cell phone is broken, credit card out of order, 2 broken cameras, 2 packages lost in the mail, one barely working spacebar, studio not done, 1 camera at the shop still.... and all of this is supposed to be resolved by Monday... its going to be a long day... and I said goodbye to Tomas today and almost cried... I'm going to miss Prague and the people I love here!

Week 14: Barcelona! (sang to the tune of My Shirona)

2007-05-24T20:51:00.000-06:00

Shortly after posting last week, we departed for Barcelona. Our flight left Prague at 1:30 on Thursday. All things went as planned and we arrived safe and sound to our hostel located just north of Las Ramblas. Here is a picture of the crew that went on the trip... not a bad looking bunch I'd say. :)

Our first order of business was getting some tapas and sangria and then heading for a stroll down Las Ramblas. We ate dinner at a completely random, non touristy restaurant where I attempted to translate the entire menu for my friends (which was actually in Catalan so the waiter had to tell me in Spanish first lol) and then strolled down the beach. Excellent first evening.

Friday we went to the beach and built an incredible sand castle. Of course, the engineering boys were more concerned with making a working moat, drawbridge, and defense wall than a castle. Ha can you tell which part I made?

After the beach we went back to the hostel and showered before getting some lunch and heading to the Sagrada Familia Cathedral by Gaudi (among others). Pretty impressive stuff my friends, let me tell you!

That night we did a lot of walking around on Mont Juic and watched the magic fountain go off. The next day we got up early and headed to Parc Guell, another Gaudi creation. I pretty much loved it.

"Czech" me out on the bench!

Later that day the weather took a turn so we hit the Picasso museum for a few hours and then did some sightseeing in that area. Jon got in a strong man competition accidentally and did pretty well... lol. That night we went out and experienced a little Barcelona nightlife...

Then next day I got up bright and early and saw the Casa Mila (yet another Gaudi project... my favorite one too!)

And the roof terrace!

After that we hit the Barcelona Pavillion by Mies van der Rohe- a must see for architects... then the boys and I headed back to the beach while the Heathers did more sightseeing on Mont Juic. After the ocean we walked by the Torre Agbar just for fun.

And then I had the most delicious dinner ever at La Fonda and probably ate the best dessert of my life... not even kidding. A quick midnight dip in the ocean and we headed back to the hostel for bed so we could get up early and catch our flight back.

We arrived back in Prague around noon Monday and I began another busy week. I had to get a new transportation card, study and take my Czech final, get a lot done in studio, turn in my urbanism final project, finish figure drawing for the semester, go running every day, do laundry, gather everyones photos, organize an office visit to Studio VM, and find a pirate costume to wear to the final ISC party of the year... a boat party on the Vltava River that was on Tuesday night (and also was incredible). Oh, and somewhere in there I found time to go to the premier of Pirates of the Carribean 3. Maybe that is why I only got three hours of sleep last night!

Currently I am really ridiculously excited about watching the two hour season finale of LOST, so Im going to call this post done so I can go to Delvita with Brittany and Jeff to get champagne and cake to have while watching it. Tomorrow I am having dinner with Larry, Katerina, and Daniel before they leave for the US. I am leaving for Berlin on a bus at midnight and will be there through Monday! Ahh... the crazy life I lead! Miss you/love you. Sally

Week 13: Prague (strange isn't it?)

2007-05-16T10:03:00.000-06:00

Ahh a nice weekend in. Friday night we hit the much hyped Cross Club... it was very cool. There were all these motorized engine parts all over the walls and ceiling with neon lights so it was crazy looking inside. But alas I have no pictures because one camera is out of commision, one camera is in the shop and won't be ready for 2-3 weeks, and the third, oldest camera of them all is currently in possesion of the US or Czech postal service... I don't know which is worse.

Saturday morning bright and early I went to the dress rehearsal for one of the orchestras playing in the Prague Spring music festival. Normally tickets are 2000 kc, but since a friend of a friends uncle plays in the symphony, we got in for free. I spent the rest of the weekend being the biggest vegetable ever because I was so worn out from all the travelling. That and I started running again. Sometimes it seems like that is the only way to spend time alone. Take tram 20 to the end, get off at the park and go for a jog down by the creek, through the rocks, past the houses, up the biggest hill God ever made (in Prague at least), around the lake and back on the tram. PS this is pretty much socially unacceptable because when people work out in Prague they always shower before getting on the public transit... Oh well. Its only a few stops and I don't care. Also, I think I am the only jogger out there. People either bike or walk. None of this breaking a sweat and running business.

Its funny, being in Prague is like normal life now. Everyone has pretty much settled into their routines of classes, grocery shopping, working out, homework and doing laundry. We have our Wednesday night ISC parties thursday night LOST viewings and our clubbing and thats about it. Nobody eats out because its expensive so we all make food in our little dorm kitchens.

On Tuesday Laura (my roommate from last semester) and LA (Lauren Anderson, college friend) came to visit during their end of semester travel bonanza. They were studying in Santa Chiara, Italy but their semester ended the first week of May. We had a fun time at the clubs on Tuesday night, doing a little sight-seeing, and then a blast at the last country presentation of the year.

So, Thursday, after I have another chat with my studio prof I leave for Barcelona for the weekend! There are six of us going... a nice, even number of people. Any more and finding places to eat is tough, but less than 4 is less fun as far as going out and stuff goes... I can't wait!

Week 12: Italia, the full version

2007-05-10T13:59:00.000-06:00

Ahhhh Italia. Buongiorno! Bella, bella, bella. Vabene. Alora. No bene. Gelati? Tiramisu? Pomodoro. Arrivederci. Ciao!

Yep, that was me for the last week and a half. What a fun time, minus the chaos that embodied the first 24 hours of our trip, starting in the train station at Prague. The genius behind the counter one day before gave us a ticket from Prague to Venice, not Venice to Prague. Hence, I spent a good 45 minutes arguing with a night manager before swapping phone numbers and agreeing to figure it out later (we had to buy ANOTHER ticket). That has turned into a one to three month process whereby we MIGHT get a 100 percent refund. Great.

So that cut deeply into the time that I should have been sleeping to wake up at 4:30 AM to make our 7 AM flight to Rome. Oh, the 7 AM flight that was delayed until 9:50 I mean. So we arrive in Rome 3 hours late, crazy with anticipation of the sights... but first to find our hostel. Two hours and two bus rides later, we arrive at Litus Roma. By Roma, they mean Litus, which is Rome's old port. Oh, our hostel is on the beach. Awesome. Except we are there to see Rome, not the sea. Another hour of public transportation passes to get to Rome. Not kidding at all. We hit the sites, hard. Then we proceed to have more public transportation issues later because the A metro line closes at 9 PM... who knew? We eventually made it back though, and after that our troubles were mainly over.

We had great weather our three days in Rome. I travelled with my friend Heather who is studying interior architecture at KSU.

The Colosseum, day.

And night.

The bridge to Trastavere at sunset.

St Peters.

Trevi Fountain.

After Rome we headed to Orvieto to relax a little and visit people from KSU who were studying there. There is actually a lot to see there, suprisingly. It is a beautiful little town on top of the hill. They made us some delicious pasta and peas dinner and then we went for cappuccino before going to bed.

Around noon the next day Heather and I headed on to Siena. (this is me and Adrienne at the train station)

Then it rained a lot in Siena. The next day we climbed the tower of the Palazzo Publico. SO COOL.

Here is Heather and I...

That morning we went on to FLORENCE! I got to see the David and the Duomo! (My life is complete!) We were there for 2 and a half days. On our list of sites include the duomo (and climbing through the inner and outer dome to the top high above Florence), the Palazzo Piti, Academia d'Academia, Palazzo Vecchio, Uffizi Gallery, etc. WOW we were busy bees on this trip.

Here are Micheangelo's stairs at the Laurentian Library.

The climb up to the top of the duomo... a very odd space.

Me at the top, before the rain!

A view from this Unesco world heritage fort we hiked up to. See the duomo?

My sketch of David since they don't allow photos...

The Ponte Vecchio...

We left Florence around noon on Thursday and stopped by Pisa on our way to Cinque Terre. Pisa is one of the most fun places to take pictures because there are so many interesting views and angles to explore, even without the "leaning tower." Here is the main lawn.

Columns on the tower. (yes for a low low price of 15 Euros they let you climb it... but hey, whens the next time I will be in Pisa?)

Ha I love this one... I was trying to smile, not look worried, but the rain made that kinda hard...

Trying to keep the tower from falling...

So we left Pisa and headed on to Cinque Terra... the coast of Italy south of Genoa, and one of the most beautiful places in the world. It rained... again (are you starting to see the trend?) but we decided to do the hikes anyways. Low and behold, by the time we got on the trail it had basically cleared up. We had some intense hiking involving a free beach that didn't really have a trail to it and even less of a trail on the way back up, but it was super fun. We also had some more delicious gelato because that is what you do in Italy when you are hot.

View of Vernazza, one of the towns, from the trail.

More in Vernazza.

The "free beach" where I slipped and fell in the ocean.

Me, Heather, and the two canadian girls we went hiking with from our hostel. We are dirty, and I am soaked, but still having a lot of fun.

The next day we departed for Venice bright and early. It was about a 6 hour train ride. We arrived excited and ready to sight see. But then we waited for someone to come check us into our hostel for an hour and a half... and during this period of time I dropped my camera, still in the case, again, and it broke, again. So I will be getting Heather's pictures at some point of Venice since I only have the 7 I took on the way from the train station to our hostel. Venice was incredible.

Our first day there we just walked around and took it in. Day two we hit the islands of Murano, Burano, and Torcello. Day three we did the attractions in St. Mark's Square and laid on the beach on Lido before taking the 16 hour sleeper train back to Prague. Oh what a trip. As amazing as it was, it was nice to come back and sleep in my own bed.

Then I checked my email and realized I had midcrits for studio on Thursday. So I cranked out a project in 2 days. And in between that I studied and passed my test in Czech language and did laundry. And then I slept all day yesterday.

I need to finish planning the rest of my travels at the end this week, get a lot more work done on studio, and get ready for Barcelona!!! (yeah, im going to Barcelona this weekend for 4 days, Berlin next weekend for 3 (we got bus tickets for forty dollars...), and then I have one weekend in Prague before I take off on my big adventure. Weeee! I hope everyone is well... its lunch time for me! Love you all, Sally.

Week 11: Italy

2007-05-02T13:45:00.000-06:00

Buongiorno! I know, I know, this post is early, but since I will be travelling this Friday and I don't know if I will have internet access this is my best shot at convincing you I am alive and well. Yes, yes, I am still in Italy, Firenze to be exact. It is almost 10 PM and I am just catching up on some email before hitting the hay. So far I have been to Rome, Orvieto, Siena, and Firenze. Tomorrow we head to Pisa and Cinque Terre, then Venice on Saturday and home Monday night.

Among my favorite things so far have been the Vatican tour I took of the museums and the Sistine Chapel, and La Pieta in St Peters. Also, the Colloseum, Roman Forum, Palatine Hill, the Duomo in Firenze, and the David have been among my favorites *of course*. I promise to make a really nice, lengthy, photo-filled entry upon my arrival in Praha, but for now I have to get my beauty sleep so I can see a lot of sights tomorrow! I love you all and miss you bunches! Ciao.

Here is a picture of Micheangelo's David I got off the internet, just to refresh your memories *we weren't allowed to take pictures of it anyways*

Also, this is the Sistine Chapel...

...and La Pieta. Sorry about the photo quality, I am doing this as fast as possible.

Week 10: Where does the time go?

2007-04-26T17:05:00.000-06:00

Well, I'm sad because I wanted to make another thorough entry because I have had so much fun in the last week, but unfortunately I am out of time. I just got back from the train station trying to get a mix up with the ticket back from Venice fixed and I still have to pack and be ready to leave for the airport at 5 AM, or 4 hours from now. : ( But, I AM going to Italy, so how sad can I be?

So here is a quick rundown of last week:

Friday: Museum of Modern Art
Saturday: Off to Doubice with Larry for Casper's Birthday Party
Sunday: Still in Doubice, a little off road motorcycling
Monday: Zoo with Pavel! Then to the Globe with Heather for dinner
Tuesday: Got a guide book for Western Europe, went to class, etc Finished reading Life of Pi (oh yeah, I just got it on Thursday too! Its very good.)
Wednesday: Bought falty train ticket and bus tickets for Berlin trip at the end of May, Class, booked France, Ireland, Belgium, UK, and Amsterdam hostels, Country Presentation
Thursday: Studio, Planning, nap, laundry, printing out trains and hostel info for Italy, Train station to fix error, PRESENT.

ack... I guess technically its Friday now. So here are the highlights of last week, just so you get a visual.

Week 9: Krakow, Dutch Ladies, Brno, Mayhem

2007-04-16T18:01:00.000-06:00

WARNING: Ridiculously long entry ahead... excessive use of ellipses probable.

So this has been one of the busiest weeks I have had since I arrived in Europe as far as school goes. But I didn't know that it was coming because the email from my studio professor that I got just before I left for Krakow was in Czech.

So I left with 26 erasmus students for Krakow on thursday night. We "slept" on the train. But with 8 people to a car, there was more general thrashing about, trying to get comfortable than sleeping. The first day there we dropped off our bags at our hostel, "the stranger hostel", and proceeded on our city tour. P.S. our hostel was incredible, I highly recommend it!

First stop on the city tour... the historic 15th century Collegium Maius where Copernicus studied... also they have their own cukoo clock there... every city's got one.

On the way to the next place we passed the "pope's window". Can you see it behind the nun?

Second stop, the Wawel! (Thats polish for castle hehe)

Here I am in front of the Basilica of the Virgin Mary. We were there on the hour to hear the trumpeter. Sweet.

Then we walked forever... and finally made it into the Jewish quarter. I went in my first ever synagogue. We saw the place where Schindler's list was filmed. Then we checked out the cemetery.

About 2 zillion miles of walking more and and a beer in the town center later we were back at the hostel... exhausted. And, we were just in time to leave for dinner with the "highlanders"... hahaha. So we did a little Polka and watched the Robbers Dance. The boys had a competition at it...

So we had a delicious polish dinner... well, mine was sort of delicious... but small. Sometimes, it sucks being a vegetarian. Then we went out for a few drinks and headed home by 1. We had an early morning ahead.

7:30 AM> me being semi-shook awake. Apparently I was supposed to get up a half hour ago. Luckily, I took my shower the night before like a champ and was ready ahead of time despite my slumber. An hour and a half train ride with a 15 minute walk brought us to the gates of Auschwitz I. They say "Work makes you free."

We couldn't take pictures inside the barracks where the museum was, so I will just tell you it wasn't easy to see. They had rooms just full of shoes, prosthetic limbs, and human hair. But the hardest thing to see was the files the Nazis kept on the individuals being held in the camp. They had pictures, dates of birth and death, professions, etc. Its hard to believe the Nazis could know so much about these people and not treat them as humans. This is Aushwitz I, the first, smaller camp. These barracks were originally for soldiers.

This is Auschwitz II- Birkenau. This camp was built after the war started, and this is where most of the million people who died at Auschwitz came. They call this the "death gate" where the trains came in, and many elderly, disabled, and children were sent straight to their deaths in the gas chambers.

Those who were allowed to work in the camp stayed in bunkers that used to be here. Now all you can see is the chimneys which were in the center of basically a barn where hundreds of people would live. All you can see is row after row of these chimneys.

Here you can see more clearly what the landscape is like today.

Finally here is the ruins of 1 of the 4 gas chambers at Birkenau. All of them were destroyed: 3 by the Nazis attempting to hide the war crimes, and 1 by the camp prisoners during an uprising.

We were so shocked by what we saw at these camps that we lost track of time and missed our train back to Krakow. So instead, we all crammed on a bus and got back about an hour late. We had a pizza dinner and then went out to check out the night life. Of course we were all exhausted from all the walking and not sleeping, so I can't say that I stayed out that late. I can say that Krakow downtown is almost like Bourbon Street in New Orleans, minus the strip clubs. EVERYONE is out... its crazy.

The next day we actually got to sleep, except the girl next to me had an alarm that kept going off, so I woke up at 8:30 and she kept sleeping. Grr... We headed to the Wielizcka salt mines around 11. It was about a half hour train ride.. nothing major. I have gotten very used to taking the train. It is so convenient! Here is the mine from the outside. It doesn't look like much, but it is over 130 meters deep... well thats how far we went. There are actually 3 more levels.

These other photos of the mine were taken by my friend Jeff because I didn't buy a picture pass. (fyi... i can't take the credit for their coolness) This is looking down the middle of the stairway... we walked down like 300 stairs.

He is a carving of a gnome. There were lots of them down there, as well as several chapels, a light show on statues telling the story of the mine, etc. Salt used to be so valuable that the salt from that mine was 1/3rd of the entrie country's revenue. PS. the mine is like 500 years old..... can you imagine being down that deep in the earth with the technology they had back then? They had to periodically light the methane gas that accumulated on fire to get rid of it. I would hate to be that guy.

This is one of the biggest rooms down there, a chapel where they still have mass once a week. The mine is closed, except for tourism, but the maintanence alone employs like 300 people. Its huugggeee.

Here is one of the ponds down there. I liked the reflections. Oooh also its really fun to jump on the dock because it makes the most incredible echo you have ever heard!

So I now know more about salt than I ever wanted to know. But thats ok, there are worse things in the world... like the tiny elevator 9 of us were crammed into to take us back to the surface. I am not claustraphobic, and I was still about to freak out. Eek!

After we got back from the mine we had another Polish dinner. They are really big on courses... like soup, then coleslaw, then main dish, then dessert. Its pretty cool to get to eat like that actually. Then, I asked one of the Polish people in the Erasmus club about this church Dad sent me an email about. We had heard something about it being the highest point in Krakow earlier during the city tour (the castle bell tower that we got to climb is the 2nd highest). I knew it was in the suburbs and might be hard to get to, but luckily the guy I was talking to lived one tram stop before it, and he happened to be on his way home. Actually, he had never been there before either, so he came with us!

The church is called St. Faustyny Sanctuary... or something like that. Its all different in Polish and English, so its hard to find it on the internet. Basically, its some really cool modern architecture as it is only 4 years old. When we arrived we were delighted to find it was the church's festival that day! I have never seen so many priests and nuns in one place in my whole life. Come to think of it, I may not have seen that many period! Here is one group walking down through the carnival.

It worked out perfectly to visit the church because we had like 4 hours of free time before we left. So really me, my Polish friend, and about 4 other Americans went to look at the church... some architecture, some not. It was really cool to see everyones reactions... only 2 of us were catholic so I liked seeing what people thought. Here is the approach to the church.

The statue on the tower. We wanted to go up it, but it was closed for the festival. Also, there was mass going on, so that might have had something to do with it. There were so many people at mass that they were standing outside listening to it on big speakers.

Here is a picture of the interior through a window. It is sooo gorgeous.

Here is a view of the outside from the side... sweet architecture. Even though we didn't go inside or up the tower, we were all glad we went that day and saw the church and its community at its best.

After seeing the church we took a scenic tram back to the city, got some ice cream (for the second night in a row), and headed back to the hostel and the train station. Here are some night shots I took on the way. This is the town center with its line of carriages.

This is the backside of the block our hostel is on from a large parking lot... one of the only ones I saw in the city.

SO.. we took the night train back from 10 PM to 7 AM. I slept a little, took a shower, ate lunch, and SUPRISE! Phone Call-There is a workshop I need to go to for studio every day this week and it started 20 minutes ago, Can I go? UM... can I just say how much I wanted to say no? But, being the sport that I am, and ignoring the fact that my professor always sends me emails in Czech that I can't read, I agree and head off to the "Dutch Ladies" workshop. Little did I know... ha Im giving a presentation monday and tuesday. By the grace of God I had just put my work into a powerpoint the week before, and I ended up looking pretty good because I was more put together than the other students who knew about it. What a blessing! It was kinda random that I did that... so go me! This is the work area our atellier is using on the 14th floor. Notice my computer is ridiculously small compared to everyone elses... (its the little white one) I miss my desktop, but this one is still working pretty well so its ok.

Here is the view back towards the castle from the 14th floor of our architecture building. Actually, I think it is one of the tallest buildings in Prague... maybe.

The studio space. The 14th floor is cool because of the round skylights... I feel so artsy in it... its like a palace compared to Seaton Hall.

So yeah, after the Monday presentation my professor, some colleagues, and I all went for beers. Turns out I had the only project that the critiquer actually liked... but I didn't know because all the criticism was going down in Czech and I put my headphones on. Oh yeah, I do that a lot because it doesn't matter if I listen or not... I don't understand. Tuesday went well also. I presented first, probably because I was the most ready... which is funny because I feel like I never do schoolwork. Ha oh well. I guess all that hard work back at KSU is paying off for me now. :)

Wednesday consisted of running to Tesco in the AM, Czech class, watching movie, a 3 hour nap, dragging myself out to the PM bar and getting home way too late to be getting up at 6 AM... so I got up at 7 instead... oops. But, I still made it to Brno with the rest of the group (I am that awesome) on Thursday morning so it all worked out. The reason it worked is because the bus got full and we had to take a later train, but I'm not complaining. :)

First stop, the Villa Tugendhat by Mies van der Rohe in 1930. Probably the most significant piece of modern architecture in the Czech Republic, not gonna lie. It was GORGEOUS. Pictures don't do it justice. It is closing for 2 years at the end of May for a complete restoration, so we were lucky to be here at the right time to tour it.

Here is the whole group of us that went to Brno at the Villa. We are all from KSU and all architecture students. Good times.

This is the backside of the Villa.

Here you can see the extensive damage the villa has undergone through years of neglect.

From the Villa we went and got some lunch at a local Italian eatery... mmm vegetarian pizza. Love that. After lunch we headed to this crypt that through some special ventilation system preserves bodies... I started wishing I had ate less for lunch very quickly...

This guy died back in the 1700's but he still has his skin. And it wasn't just him. There were like 30 people down there who have been dead for 250 years but you can still see their ears and toes and everything... only black. Eww. I wanted to get out of there pretty quick.

So we headed to the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul. It is the huge one you see in all the skyline pictures (just wait for it).

This is the inside of the church. Its pretty sweet. I am getting spoiled with all these amazing places.

Next stop, a cubist house that was semi cool. Then to the castle! We just kinda walked around the courtyards and the outside for a while.

I took a picture with this statue... it seemed like a good idea at the time.

Last stop: Town hall. We climbed the tower and then toured some of the interior galleries.

This is the "dragon" of Brno at the town hall. Also, that wheel on the back wall has an interesting story that goes with it. Apparently a man said he could cut down a tree, make a wheel out of it, and roll it the 40 km from his farm to Brno all in one day. No one believed him, so he did it. After his task was completed, the people insisted that it was impossible for one man to do so much work in a day and said he must have had help from the devil. They refused to ever buy any of his goods again. HA! That shows the value of hard work in these parts. :) jk.

Here is a view of the cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul from the tower of the town hall.

The castle from the town hall tower.

Before we left we had some time to kill, so we hit up McDonalds. Also, I bought a new book, Life of Pi. It comes highly recommended, so I am pretty excited about it. This last picture is of the sunset from the 2.5 hr bus ride home.

Ciao!

Week 8: Here Comes Peter Cottontail?

2007-04-10T10:41:00.000-06:00

Hmm... interesting weekend. Where to begin? Friday I didn't have classes, as usual. My friend Heather and I went out to lunch in the Jewish Quarter and did a little browsing in the shops around there. The cafe.

Beautiful Praha.

The castle from across the river.

Of course, Friday counts as the weekend, so there were tourists everywhere and we split pretty quick. That afternoon I got caught up on LOST with Jeff and Malcolm, and then met up with Cousin Larry around 7 for some drinks. He showed me around a bit and we got caught up...

Saturday I went to Kutná Hora with a huge group of people. When we arrived from the train (about an hour outside of Prague) we were suprised to see there was a fair going on... probably due to easter. Gingerbread is a pretty big deal here around easter- you are supposed to give it to your mom. Here is an example of a typical booth.

Also, boys have to get their whipping sticks to beat the girls with. haha.

I liked the juxtaposition of the cathedral with this crazy fair ride... somehow they just don't seem to go together.

The Kostnice bone church is also in the town... a mass grave for 40,000 people. The bones were arranged rather artistically/creepily in the early 1900's (For more info check the link in the sidebar). Here is the chandelier, perhaps the most impressive piece. Every bone in the human body is represented there.

This is one of the massive bells where most of the bones are stored.

Oh come on, he was cute.

The whole group on the stairs down to the chapel.

After Kostinice we headed a few kms on foot to the actual town of Kutna Hora where the main cathedral is, the Cathedral of St. Barbara. On the way we saw lots of smaller churches, such as this.

This guy tried to steal my sunglasses. They look better on me.

Yummy berries.

Sweet view back at the town.

St. Barbara and FLYING BUTRESSES! (yeay architecture nerd!!!)

The beautiful interior.

Kev getting crazyily blurred at the metro station. I want to try this pic a few more times and get the person standing to come out really crisp with everything else blurring but the reflections.

So we got home from Kutna Hora around 6. I had some dinner, watched part of a movie with friends and went to bed. The next day, easter, I got up and went to mass... it was incredibly croweded, as usual on easter, but always welcomed despite having to stand. That night I went out for a fancy dinner with a friend of mine. Good times, as usual. We ate at the Lexus restaurant! Czechs don't celebrate easter until monday, so I was up early monday morning to take the 8 o'clock train to Pecky where Katerina's mother lives. Here is my breakfast of champions on the train: a chocolate left over from dessert last night and a diet coke.

Now let me tell you I was terrified about Easter, especially in a village. On easter they hit the girls with braided sticks (lightly, unless they are adolescents, and then they hit hard). It is supposed to bring you better health and keep you from "drying up" and no I am not kidding. They don't usually stop until the girls give them something, usually an egg or a shot. If it is after noon, the girls can throw buckets of water on the boys (who are always drunk by this point). Anyways, I digress.

When I arrived at the train station, my Dad's cousin Larry picked me up on his motorcycle and we headed back to the house. We had a little breakfast and then went out with his 2 and a half year old son Daniel who speaks Czech and English. Here is the family during our walk, Larry, Daniel, and Katerina. They are adorable.

Here is Daniel swinging at one of the houses we stopped at... he is so cute.

So, was I beaten with sticks? Yes, but just a little bit. Me and Katerina got off pretty easily. Only one boy really hit very hard, and he only got in a few good whacks before we ran away. One little old man dumped stiny cologne on us, a moravian tradition that doesn't normally make it so close to Prague. We also had to drink... a lot. One lady made me do 3 shots of Slivovice (plum vodka) in a row, saying when will you be in the Czech Republic again? She has a point. Another boy asked me point blank if I was married. Everyone was having a great time though. The weather was gorgous. They also fed us, to keep us from getting to intoxicated. Daniel got a TON of candy and eggs, which I of course reaped the benefits from.

After going around with Daniel, we had a little bar-b-que in the backyard.

Potato salad, a traditional Czech stuffing, vegetable salad, veal, and of course Gambrinus were all on the menu. It was a lovely lunch. After a bit of digesting we headed to a neighboring town called Cesky Brod to do some sightseeing while Daniel was napping. Katerina and I got some ice cream, and we stopped at a cafe for another pivo. The statue in this picture is really important to Larry because he has seen a photo from WW2 showing american troops in front of it, proving that they did pass Pilsen, but probably for political reasons turned back. In any case, its a cool statue.

After the pivo we headed to the castle to check out the exhibits. Here is the door handle... just gorgeous.

We did some more sightseeing and just hung out after that talking. Cesky Brod is a known spa town and is famous for its mineral water. People are lined up at the faucets trying to get some. They even have this special little room to serve it, but it was locked when we were there. I really liked the glass in the dome.

So after a bit we went and got Daniel and took off for Prague in their car. I also got to see their flat, very cool. It was Katerina's childhood home too, actually, but they have since totally redone it. Daniel was so hyper, and there was an ongoing debate about it being due to chocolate or just general excitement (hehe), but he was cute to watch play. I watched Larry and Katerina's wedding video and ate their chips before Larry walked me to the metro station and I went home for the night. What an awesome day. But seriously I was soo tired, and then I couldn't sleep because I am still sick and coughing, so I reached for the nyquil and the benadryl and knocked myself out for the evening. I am almost out of nyquil though... I don't know what I am going to do if I don't start getting better.

Tuesday I stayed in bed all day long to try to get better. Wednesday was spent similarly, minus an excursion to the post office and the grocery story, and of course attending the country presentation that evening. This morning I spent an hour and a half actually working on studio... I know, I'm getting crazy!

Tonight I leave for Krakow around 8 o'clock. I think I come back some time Sunday evening... eep! Maybe I should know these things. Oh well. Alas, if there is an emergency, people can always call my cell phone, as I will not be checking my email. Thanks for tunning in. :)

Week 7: Catch Up

2007-04-05T05:51:00.000-06:00

Oh what a week. I guess a lot can happen when you leave the country for 2 weeks... oh wait... I have been out of the country for nearly 2 months now! It feels a little early to be doing this post because Greece carried over into this week a bit, but I'll go ahead and knock it out anyways.

This week was really busy for me. I got home from Greece on Monday and procrastinated until Tuesday night (writing blog posts, facebooking, doing laundry, sewing country patches onto my backpack, etc). I was pretty tired so I think it was a semi-acceptable use of time. Oh, on Tuesday I also sucked it up and bought a new digital camera. Its the same kind, but a new model... I don't really like it as well. Plus it was 300 dollars! Technology is way more expensive here. At least I can use all my accesories still (ie camera charger, spare battery, case, etc) Tuesday night I had to work on the America country presentation that we had on Wednesday night... also I had to study for a test in Czech class that we had on Wednesday and do some work for studio on Thursday since I hadn't even started my project yet. So all through Tuesday night and Wednesday I was running... and then of course we all got pretty smashed on Wednesday night because that is the point of the country presentations sadly. Here are some snapshots from early in the evening...

The other erasmus students before the presentation started. There were a lot more later, but this is still early and everyone here is on Europe time. You can see my shoulder on the left side... ie proof that I was there. PS this is the club in the basement of our dorm... craziness.

Me and the guys... sporting my new Greek tan :)

I just got done eating a sandwich from Delvita (the grocery store) for lunch... we are talking slices of cheese with little cheese wedges and sliced hard boiled eggs on a wheat bun with some mysterious orange colored spread... and Bohemia Chipsys flavored Pikantni paprika and Coke light. Not the most scrumptious lunch ever, but it will hold me over until dinner. Actually the chips are really good. So when I get back to the US here are the foods I am eating STAT: Chipotle, Tokyo Joe's, TACO BELL, thin crust vegetarian pizza, and some really amazing mexican food with that good red sauce... mmm. I also am going to have to locate some Greek restaurants asap.

As everyone probably knows this weekend is easter. What you probably don't know is that easter is a time to drink in this country. Its a little weird, but this is my understanding of Czech easter tradition: first off, nobody does any work for like 5 days... Thursday through Monday. Like people are skipping school today and its all out cancelled on Monday. Ok so anyways, the boys decorate sticks and the girls decorate eggs. Then the guys go around door to door and hit the girls with the sticks, and we are supposed to give them eggs and shots... its so random. I'm a little scarred, but since I am in the dorm maybe nobody will beat me.

Next weekend (13-15th of April) I am going to Krakow with ISC. It should be really cool... here is the hoaky isc description:
International Student Club at CTU and polish international student club inKrakow prepared for you really great trip to the nicest polish city. We will visit Krakow with its beatiful squares and old picturesque buildings. We will also visit a polish concentration camp in Auschwitz. And we cannot forget for the amazing and huge salt mine near Krakow where the monumental halls, rooms, tunnels and small lakes are made ... everything many metres under the Earth`s surface. You will feel like in huge halls of mysterious dwarfs. Enjoy the amazing Krakow atmosphere!
...I think its funny.

Here are some pictures taken with the new camera (the ones above are from a friend). First is a church around the corner from where I live that I saw on my way back from Laundry King...

Second is my plant, Vaclav Klaus in his place on my desk. I named him after the president of the Czech Republic. But I think most people prefer the plant to the person. :) Also notice I was facebooking... so typical.

Um score... this new camera automatically rotates my photos!! I am liking it better already... :)

Last thing... I heart my flatmates. Its so fun living with people with different customs than you. It makes every day a suprise. :) Granted, not all the suprises are fun, but at least it keeps things interesting!

Week 6: Greece

2007-04-02T12:04:00.000-06:00

When people ask me how Greece was I generally just say amazing. But that isn't really doing it justice. Its just a cop out I use because I can't find the words to describe how powerful of an experience it was. For me, standing at the Parthenon or looking out over the sea on Santorini was like being at Disneyland... only this Disneyland was real! The whole time I couldn't help but feel like a place like that couldn't exist naturally in the world. And yet it does.

We left for Greece at 11:50 PM on Tuesday night, and arrived at 3:30 AM Wednesday morning. A bus from the airport deposited us in the city center, near Plaka. We went to our hostel and dropped off our bags for the day. The plan was to watch the sunrise at the acropolis, but we soon discovered they wouldn't admit us until 8. So, being the cold Americans that we were, we went to McDonalds... :)

On the way to the Acropolis after breakfast. It is on top of a huge hill in the center of the city. We hiked around the north side to see the ancient Cycladic ruins that the Greeks built the acroplis on top of.

Sunrise over Athens.

The Curiatides at the Erecthion at the acropolis! We got free entry to all of the museums and ancient sites because we are EU students... go Czech Republic!

Me in front of the Parthenon... pretty much the pinnacle after taking 3 semesters of history of architecture!

A large group photo at the Parthenon. Of the 9 of us, only 6 went on to the islands. The others had separate iteneraries on the mainland.

The temple of Zeus... not at the acropolis, but very close to our hostel :)

Looking through a temple at the Agora of Athens.

The interior of a Greek orthodox church.

Sunset on the ferry to Santorini. We had our own little cabin with beds and a bathroom, so we saved money by not having to get a hostel that night. We could have taken the high speed ferry, but it was more expensive. Besides, the high speed one on the way back on Sunday was so bouncy... I was nearly sick!

This is a map of Santorin. The island's most impressive feature is its geography. On the inside of the crescent is cliffs high above the bay. On the outside are red, black, and white sand beaches. Our hostel was in Fira. The volcano is the large island in the center of the crescent (Nea Kamini). After the volcano and hot springs, we took our rented car, the "safari vehicle" from the southernmost tip around the outside up to Oia where we ate dinner and watched the sunset. Allegedly it is the most beautiful sunset on earth. I can't argue. Oh, also, I was the driver of the "safari vehicle"... driving in Greece was one of the most scary experiences of my life. :)

Morning on Santorini in Fira. See the Volcano in the middle of the bay in the background?

The cable car ride down to the sailboats taking us out to the volcano.

Me... on a volcano!!!!

Me and Heather riding our burros up the cliff after swimming at the hot springs and hiking the volcano.

A beautiful church on Santorini... almost all of the buildings are white and blue.

Sunset in Oia. Need I say more?

The restaurant we ate dinner at. Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie ate dinner at the same table we did. Also, Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants was filmed there. It was the most fancy dinner I have ever purchased for myself... and I was still sandy from the beach!

The next morning at our hostel. This is the last picture I took on my camera because the shutter broke... now I have to buy a new one, or pay 100 dollars and wait 2 months for it to be fixed. Yes, this trip was expensive.

Around noon on Saturday we headed to Ios, an island about 30 minutes away by high speed ferry. (pronounced ee-os) You can see Santorini on the horizon from Ios. Maybe it was the lack of cars on the island, or just that I wasn't driving any, but Ios was by far my favorite place. It was so quiet. The island is tiny! From Chora to St. Theodoti it is just a 15 minute walk (up and down a huge hill!) It was perfect. The beach we spent most of our time at (St. Theodoti) was a little bay... gorgeous.

We stayed at the number six hostel in the world, called Francesco's, and with a few like this its not hard to guess why.

Welcome to Chora, Ios.

Getting dunked... brrr.. but it was good because once I was all soaked I decided to swim out to a bouy. The water was soo clear that I could see the bottom at the last buoy. I thought it was about 12 feet deep, but after trying to touch the bottom I realized it was closer to 25 feet. Either way, it was beautiful.

Saturday night was our one night of going out in Greece... and I will leave that at that. :) The greek people are incredibly hospitable though. We went there at low season (high seaon starts next week after easter) so everything was cheaper. Also, we were 6 of about 20 tourists on the island all of whom were staying at Francesco's. We had so much fun together! At the beach we played a pick-up game of football... uh I mean soccer. Anyways, it was pretty much one of the most fun times I had the whole trip. Something about just having good times with a bunch of strangers with the sand and the waves... can't beat it.

Me at the beach on Sunday. We couldn't swim because we had to stay clean for the flight and ferry.

Oh man... I almost neglected to mention one of my favorite parts of the trip... the food! Vegetarian gyros, crepes, ouzo, greek salads, sandwiches, stuffed tomatoes... the list goes on and on. The last day we were there we had 3 meals in 7 hours just because it was sooo good and Czech food is so... not Greek. : ) And by the way, gyro is pronounced "yuro" and sounds just like the currency euro. None of this hero, jyro, eero business.

The way home was fairly uneventful. We were all tired and ready to go home, but those of us who went to the islands agree we planned it perfectly, and had just enough time at each place we went! All in all, it was probably one of the best vacations of my life.

Yamas! (Cheers, in Greek)

Week 5: Munich, among other things

2007-03-26T12:27:00.000-06:00

So last week Adrienne came to visit me in Prague, and then we went to Munich Wednesday through Saturday. I had a great time. But I am still sick... and I don't really feel like making an epic post right now. But I will put up a few pictures so you get the gist of things. These first ones are from when we are still in Prague.

Prague Castle at night.

Me, Adrienne, and Tomas.

Adrienne and Pavel.

Adrienne and I at Romeo and Juliette.

These ones are from Munich:

A giant fish almost ate me.

I forget what this place is called...

Hoffbrauhaus!!!

Olympic Park.

Allianz Arena.

Sandra, Sabina, Adrienne, and Dusty the rat. They are friends of Adrienne's family, and they were gracious enough to let me and Adrienne stay with them, and showed us around Munich and taught us to make Spaetzle. :)

Train ride home...

So yeah... I have a lot more pictures you can see when I get back if you like.... we had a really good time though. Now I just need to get healthy before I leave for Greece tomorrow night. I stayed inside all day today and rested to try to get better. Ok... so thats all for now! Peace!

Week 4: Its worth it.

2007-03-16T05:43:00.000-06:00

I am sick. I have been sick pretty much all week, but just not wanting to admit it to myself. I woke up around my usual 9:15 AM time today after having a dream about me, Wendy, and Lauren kicking each other. (don't ask me why, I couldn't tell you) I had breakfast and returned promptly to bed until now, around 12:30. For those of you who know me well, this probably doesn't sound that strange... but here I really never sleep past 9:30 and I rarely take naps. I'm not "really sick" by any means, just annoyingly sick because it is slowing me down. Anyways, that is the downside of living in close quarters with 6 other people and always using public transportation. What goes around comes around. Its worth getting sick to do all the things I have gotten to do. Besides, I really needed to make a new post, so it works out.

So a lot has happened in the time since the last post. Friday was spent planning my trip to Greece! The itenerary includes 2 days in Atens, 1 day on Santorini Island (there is a volcano there), and 1 day on Ios. The dates are the 28 of March through the 1st of April. I am soooooo excited! The whole thing, including food, flights, ferries, and hostels, should cost under 500 bucks, which is less than you could even get a flight for from the US. Friday night was spent hanigng out with a bunch of Scottish people who live in the dorms next to Scotty and with the "Spanish Speakers" (Latin Americans, Spaniards, and Catalonians even though they don't really speak Spanish).

Saturday I can barely remember... we watched KSU get beaten by KU again... and then we played uno and went to the pub in the basement.

Sunday I got up and went on a walk and then went to church. The english speaking mass isn't til noon here which is really nice because you don't have to worry about waking up early.

Me in my new european church clothes and my trusty/amazingly cute camera. :)

A decorative parking bollard.

A courtyard in front of the Cathedral (not the church I go to). Notice the castle in the background.

The Cathedral facade with a tower from the Charles bridge on the horizon.

The church I go to.

I like where the light hit this painting.

The infant Jesus of Prague.

After church I grabbed a bite to eat at my traditional favorite lunch spot, Bohemian Bagel. They have asiago cheese bagels with vegetable smears and bottomless fountain drinks with ice. **heaven** Plus its like 3 blocks from church... sooo tempting.

Around 2 I met up with my friend Alena. She is Czech but studied abroad in Spain for a year, so we speak in Spanish whenever we hang out. We went to a park called Letna that overlooks the whole city. It was the first real day of Spring here so tons of people were out soaking up the sun. I have a bunch of panoramic shots from different days, but blogger won't let me upload them, so I will have to show you when I get back if you are interested.

Here is a view of the city from Letna. The scale of Prague is small, mostly 4 story buildings, so it has a very different feel from most modern cities.

This is a view of the park at Letna with a cafe in the background.

So from Letna I went to dinner with Malcolm and Jeff at a really good Mexican restaurant around the corner from the dorm. And by around the corner I mean like 8 blocks, but this is Prague measurements, just like there is "European Time"... basically its impossible to be late. Anyways, after the delicious Mexican food, we decided we wanted some of the Cafe Louvre's amazing "Velky Cokolada" which literally translates to "Large Chocolate"... So this is a Pic of Jeff and the Cafe.

Finally around 10 PM I met Ondrej and Alena for some dancing at Popo Cafe Petl. Its a local joint hidden under the noses of all the tourists in oldtown. Its down an alley and in a basement and pretty much perfect. I love it.

Whew.. ok so that was Sunday. One crazy busy day. Monday, however, was also crazy busy. I woke up at 9:30 AM when Pavel called to talk about working out on Tuesday (we had made plans). He stopped by the dorm and we decided to go to the castle because I haven't been yet. Little did I know, the walk to the castle turned into a 7 hour walk. It was awesome though. I pretty much threw on clothes and we walked out the door. We didn't take any public transportation all day until we came home... so a ton of walking! Pavel knows a ton about the city because his Dad loves it and taught him about it, plus he is in architecture too so we appreciate similar stuff. (Pavel studied at KSU for a semester and dated my roomie Sten- that is how I know him) So yeah, we started at the castle.

The courtyard outside the castle "Hradcasnka".

Me and Pavel with Prague behind us.

A view of the Cathedral spires.

So this is pretty cool I think. I was trying to get a view into this chapel from the inside of a souvenier store. The shop keeper was so nice- she opened the door just for me and Pavel for no reason. We had to scoot a bookshelf out of the way to squeeze though, but it was worth it.

Here is the inside without looking through the grill... pretty cool. That lady made my day. :)

The interior of the Cathedral.

Going up?

Gorgeous statue on a gorgeous day.

The entrance to a park... talk about a sense of arrival.

The 1/3 scale replica of the Eiffel Tower that overlooks Prague... I still need to go in it.

The Planetarium.

The Strahov dorms... its a real blessing that I live in Masarykova. We had lunch at their Menza though, and it did kick the pants off ours. (menza=cafeteria)

One of three parks Pavel and I strolled through. This one is called the Star park because the white building at the end of the park is shaped like a star.

Another gorgeous park. This one has huge rocks that you can climb in it and mountain biking trails. There is also a pool filled with water from the creek you can use in the summer.

Whew.... I told you it was a long walk! ;)

TUESDAY: I have no pictures for Tuesday. I ran errands in the morning, went to my first figure drawing class, worked out with Pavel, and went out with Martin, Scotty and Malcolm for some drinks. Figure drawing class was hard! Not only is it a little awkward at first, but drawing people is just tough- naked or not. My teacher speaks only French, so that is awkward. Working out here is quite an elaborate process. You have to change there and have a towel and bring stuff to shower with etc etc... I think the reason is because people can't just go straight home from working out. They have to take public transit, and don't want to be stinky. Luckily, Pavel has a car, so I just waited to shower until I got back. Overall though, people here are much less shy of nudity. Its interesting to me how differently all the Americans feel about it. Its the result of being taught modesty I guess... I don't know. Its definitely confusing to me.

Wednesday: No pictures again. I was pretty sick, so after Czech class I got back in bed and slept til around 5. Then we had another country presentation party... yeah... I definitely dropped my phone in a beer. :( It was a little mad at me, but I think it is working fully again. If you want pictures of that, check the isc website. They post pictures from all the events on there.

Thursday: Well I hardly slept all night on Wednesday because I was so nervous about sleeping through studio. We had to meet at my Professor's house in Mukarov where my studio project site is. Let me just tell you I had no idea what I was in for. I had to get up at like 7, left the dorm around 8:15 and took the green line clear to the other end. Then I had to get on a bus for about 30 minutes, and then walk to Ivan Kroupa's garden... without an address. Luckily, a fellow student was on the metro with me, so I just piggy backed with him. I was offered coffee, apple strudel, and homemade alcohol when I arrived at 9:30 AM. The moonshine was a bit shocking to me... but I politely had a little sip, not knowing what was ahead of me.

After we were done there, we walked through the town to... you guessed it, a pub. At 10:30 AM! The town is gorgeous though.

So obviously I thought this was weird, and I didn't get anything at the pub. Meanwhile, everyone else is getting .5 L beers and potato rum shots (a left over from communism i guess). So about 5 of us are doing Mukarov for our project. The other 12 have other towns, so they start off on a walk and we are supposed to meet up with the later. We walk around Mukarov for a while to think about our projects. Then, its time for soup, and MORE drinks at 12. At this point I have just sort of given up resisting because, well why should I? So I get some very watery soup and a beer. I am starting to get to know the people I am with, and they are getting confident/intoxicated enough to speak english with me. Good times. It always takes Czech people about an hour to decide they want to introduce themselves, but after that they are very friendly. After lunch we start on our hike. I think the best way to describe the trip is a "long distance pub crawl." We start off through a field.

And past about 5 pond/lakes. Someone bought a bottle of dark rum and a litre of cola (hahaha but really... if you have seen Super Troopers you know why this is funny). So between the 5 of us both bottles disappear.

Cerny Vorady is where the next pub is... only 7 km more! (We had already walked about 5)

Through more forests.

Up and over one enormous hill and we arrive in the town. More beer ensues. Its about 4 PM. More beer. 5 PM. We set off again for yet another town and yet another pub, which by the way no one really knows where it is. Notice the sun is going down.

Right outside the final pub. Gorgeous. More beer.

At this point its like 7 pm and I am ready for this little "field trip" to end. About half of us hop on a bus back to Prague. I stop off the metro to get a smazeny syr and some chipsys as they call them, because both are delicious. Then I get back to the dorm, watch the new Lost on Jeff's computer and go to bed around 1 AM. Not a bad day... in fact pretty cool. Nothing here is what I expect it to be. Its crazy.

Tomorrow Adrienne is arriving from Orvieto. She is hangin out and seeing Prague with me until about Wednesday. Then we are going to Munich together. Scary... I don't speak German. But I guess I don't speak Czech either, so hopefully it will be OK. Anyways, I am super excited to see her. I probably won't get back from Germany until Sunday and then I am leaving for Greece on Tuesday night. Basically, there is a possibility I might not update for like 2 weeks, so don't worry if you don't hear from me. I am just having the time of my life, thats all. :) Thanks for the emails and comments! Talk to you later!

Oops! Address change!

2007-03-12T14:49:00.000-06:00

IMPORTANT: Um, sorry... apparently a number was transposed in the address of the dorm when I originally listed it. The CORRECT address is:

Masarykova kolej
Thákurova 1
Prague 6
160 41

No worries though. They said the mail should still get here, but that it will just take longer. So, so, sooo sorry about that!

Is this Architecture?

2007-03-09T04:44:00.000-07:00

If you ask me, Jan Kaplicky of Future Systems architecture has lost his mind. Sadly, this project actually won the contest for a new National Library here in Prague. I'm hard pressed think of a single solution less respectful to the character and form of the city. This is almost as ridiculous as the scene in the movie "Running with Scissors" where the father insists his bowel movement is a worthy subject for an altar to God.

It seems to me as if a massive pile of Gak just fell from the sky on to the model, and Kaplicky said 'DONE'. Unfortunately, it did not work out so well for him as it did for Gehry and the Chiat/Day building. Ghery allegedly chanced to set a pair of binoculars on the model and the client fell in love with it.

In many respects I can see Kaplicky trying to take Gehry's organic style one step further, but I question if that step is in the right direction. I also find much of Gehry's work unable to justify the costs associated with the form, often a form that does not perform.

I guess for me the big difference is I find Gehry's sense of form beautiful (see above), while I find Kaplicky's, at least in this case, clumsy and abrasive. I sincerely hope UNESCO does not go through with his submittal.

Week 3: Better and better

2007-03-07T15:24:00.000-07:00

Friday marks my third week here. Time is flying. Soon I am going to be travelling all over Europe, but for now I am just soaking in Prague. Also, I am becoming a shopaholic. Part of this has to do with not bringing nearly enough stuff with me, part with stuff being ruined in the laundry, and part because clothes are just too dang cute here. (and there is always an occasion to wear them) I bought new shoes today... my suede flats are gross... coated in city grime. So I got new ones :) Spending crowns seems much easier than spending dollars. 1 kc=$.05 USA Its dangerous. Here are some pictures from the week:

Crazy BMX biker. Click on the image to enlarge it.

A beautiful door.

View from under a bridge.

More crazy graffittie that I like.

Light in bar.

Martin and I after seeing a documentary at the film fest. (my Czech buddy)

The architecture building... (for some reason the pic didn't rotate and I am too lazy to fix it) My studio is on floor 12. I had my first day of studio today. I was 45 minutes late and only the third person there... oh wait thats because we are on Europe time. You have a good 15-30 minutes before you are actually late for anything.
There is definitely a pool table in my studio... sick. :) And you can open the windows... on the 12th floor... sooo weird. But also really really cool.

So.. I just got done booking my trip to Greece at the end of the month... um YAY! That is all for now... night!

Stinky Cheese and Sticky Skis

2007-03-05T01:21:00.000-07:00

Whew what a weekend. After the last post I had an afternoon of Deli-Dali-ing before the big trip. We had lunch at this delicious restaurant near the old square and then went to see the Salvador Dali exhibition (my favorite artist of all time). It was the first time I had seen this painting of his called "Portrait of Abraham Lincoln Gala Watching the Sea." When you look at it close, it is a woman looking out a window with lots of detail. From a distance of 20 meters, however, it is the portrait of Abe... and very trippy.

I also really loved this photograph of him holding an egg next to his face and looking through his fingers, but I can't find it online. So this is a good one for you to enjoy:

So anyways, after the exhibition Jeff, Emily, Brittany and I did a little shopping and then we headed back home to pack. Brittany and I were both going on the trip, so we left here around 6. After grocery shopping, driving, etc we arrived at the cabin. There were 9 Czechs in our group and 2 Americans in 2 little European cars (one person took the bus most of the way there), 5 mattresses, and 1 european outhouse. If I didn't know all of the people very well before we got there (besides Tomas and Ondrej), by the time I left we were thick as theives. I also learned a lot of Czech this weekend because not everybody's english was great and people just forgot a lot. It was soo fun though. On Friday night we went downstairs in the cabin to hang out with this group of cross country skiers who were staying in the room below... It was a great night. About 5 of the people there had guitars and they were all good at playing them. I think its safe to say everyone had a lot of fun.

This is me, Tomas, and Brittany.

Tomas with the butterfly he made friends with.

The next morning we woke up to a light snow. As we ate breakfast and began to get our gear together the snow picked up. By the time we left it was like a blizzard. The creek the next morning in the snow.

The tree out front before we went skiing.

The tree out front after we went skiing.

Breakfast, however, is where the stinky cheese comes in. Honza and Alejcka were eating this french cheese which smelled horrible but I decided I would be brave and try. Let me just say, I would not try it again if my life depended on it. Eww. I definitely had to brush my teeth after that. So later I made them eat cheddar just to get even. :) And as far as sticky skis go, that is part two of this dialogue. Brittany and I were planning on renting skis, but ended up just borrowing these really old ones that were at the cabin... well they hadn't been waxed in a decade. So we skied for about 2.5 hours before we gave up because the snow and ice kept collecting under our skis and we couldn't slide like you are supposed. It was fun though, and a really good workout. I had no idea you went up and down so much in cross country skiing.

Here is a map of the mountain we were on.

Alena with the other skiers in the backgroud.

The snow.

Me and Brittany at the pub waiting for everyone else to get done.

Ondrej and Alena hanging out at the pub.

The little town we were near.

Ondrej and Tomas with their pretty hairstyles.

Drinking hot wine and other delicious concoctions that evening.

After a lunch of Spagetti, or "Schpagetti" as the Czechs call it, everyone had a ton of energy. We all went outside and had a snowball fight, made snowmen, and I made a snow angel. It felt to good to have some carefree fun...

I thought we would come home around 4, but we ended up staying until about 10 Sunday night. Let me tell you I was suprised to hear when people started making soup for dinner, but its ok because I represented the Maddock legacy at hearts and beat everyone by over 40 points. I also won by shooting which I think earns me at least a few style points. :) Anyways, thats it for now.... I have to go to Tesco and do some laundry. I hope everyone is having a good day!

Cloud 19

2007-03-02T03:41:00.000-07:00

Honestly, I cannot believe what a great time I am having. I would say I am on cloud 9, but I think its gone further than that. The scale has been broken; I am now on cloud 19.

I have finally picked out all my classes. The schedule is:

Monday: nothing
Tuesday: Figure Drawing at 5:00 PM
Wednesday: Czech Language at 12:30
Thursday: Studio all day, except during History and Theory of Urbanism 2
Friday: Nothing

Basically that means: 4.5 day weekend every week! I couldn't be happier about that either. I'm a little freaked out about my studio though. I am the only foreign student in it, and the professor seems pretty ambitious. I am glad, because I do want to learn about Architecture while I am here, and about how it is for serious Czech students, but I also want free time... We will see how it goes.

Tonight I think I am going to the mountains with Ondrej, Brittany, and some of Ondrej's friends. I pretty much found out about it last night... I love the randomness. All of my Czech friends who studied at KSU (Ondrej, Pavel, and Tomas) have been awesome and so helpful since I got here. Oh, and I got in touch with "Cousin" Larry and we will probably get together sometime next week. (they are out of town)

Ok so here what happened the past week:

Monday: I spent most of Monday touring different studios. After that I just kinda hung out, made some spagetti, etc, until around 7 when we headed to Limonadavy Joes for Tomas' birthday party.. (see last post)

Tuesday: On Tuesday I did errands like paying for internet, going to studio classes, etc. Then I went to the mall at the Flora stop with Brittany and Emily. It was fun... we didn't get back until like 6. The second I walked in the door, my roommate Marina invited me to go eat some food that all the spanish/latin american kids were making. Turns out they were making a small feast including 2 batches of sangria and had invited pretty much all of the international students. I loved it. Random get-togethers are the best. After that we went and watched a movie because we were all pretty tired and didn't want to leave the dorm.
This is Natalia talking to a friend.
And here is a general shot of the atmosphere... pretty much awesome.

Wednesday: Wednesday was a shopping day for me. I really wanted a pair of jeans.. and ended up with jeans, 2 necklaces, and a purse. Maybe I should have packed more. :) I also did some more photography. It has been really rainy here though, so I haven't done a ton during the day. Every Wednesday night is a party here because there are country presentations followed by hot spot parties. This weeks was the Czech Republic. They did a great job and everyone had a ton of fun.

Here are some of the pictures I took:

A view into the Jewish Cemetary with the Synagogue in the background.

A window downtown.

An entrance to the cathedral.

The scariest stairway in the coolest shoe store ever. Hint: there are mirrors involved.

Thursday: I slept for a while during the day because I was kind of sick. I also got my studio figured out. At night we went to Popo Cafe Petl with Ondrej for Sangria and salsa dancing, but that didn't work out because it was packed. So we went to double trouble for some hot wine and then a cafe after that... good times. Sidebar: If you stay out past midnight here you have to take the night tram home. We did, of course, and on the tram there were these guys talking with really thick scottish accents, or so it seemed. Turns out they are studying at CVUT too... I swear the exchange students are taking over the city. Ok back to the main squeeze, I brought my camera out with me last night so I actually have pictures for once!

The Center at night. Sorry, its a little blurry.

Could I look more like a deer in the headlights? The girls out at Popo Cafe Petl.

The atmosphere in double trouble.

MMM! Smazeny Syr.. its street food: fried cheese on a bun with mayonaise. Its pretty much amazing. And Brittanys a loser for getting a sausage instead. :)

Ok well I am going out to get some lunch! Hope to hear from you soon! feel free to make comments :( (at least Lauren loves me haha)

Czechs can really dance!

2007-02-27T05:06:00.000-07:00

As you may already be guessing, the subject of this post is to applaud the Czech government for making ballroom dancing a mandatory subject of study in high school. Last night we went out for my friend Tomas' birthday party to Limonadavy Joe's. A band that he is friends with was playing Latin music and we had the best time. I don't think I knew I could dance before that because I never had a leader who knew what he was doing. And Saturday night we did a totally different kind of dancing at Lucerna, an 80's dance club. But it was still soooooo fun!

Oh, also today I had the Czech version of ramen noodles for lunch. Pretty tasty I must say... although it doesn't hold a candle to the real thing. I have been trying to save money by eating at home, but its not easy. We have seven people sharing a mini fridge, two burners, and a sink about the size of a bathroom sink. There is no oven and no microwave. But somehow it works out. There has been no squabbling about space, and I am really enjoying all of my flatmates.

And then I have some more pictures that Slava took from the hiking at Cesky Raj for your enjoyment. This first one is of the whole group who went on the hike at the very beginning while we were all still together.

Here I am doing some wimpy rock climbing. I need to get my arms stronger if I want to be able to climb well again.

This is an action shot jumping from one rock to another. It was actually pretty scary.

And the final pic... at the ruins at the end of the hike. Is it the beginning or the end?

Now I am off to check out another studio. We can go to as many as we want before we decide which one to take. So far there are no heavy favorites, but we shall see.

Orientation Week: Last day

2007-02-25T09:42:00.000-07:00

On friday we went on a day trip to the Skoda car factory, Cesky Raj, and Devicka Medieval Tavern. I had a GREAT day. The hiking was definitely my favorite part...

Ok well this is kinda random but it is the lobby of the dorm. Pretty sweet.

Part of the Skoda museum. They let us see the assembly line too but we weren't allowed to take pictures. :( It was really cool to see though.

Me with the first Skoda car ever made. As you can see, I am alive and well.

A close up of a retro grill.

And an interesting reflection.

The following pictures are from Cesky Raj, or Czech paradise.

I thought this was an interesting composition.

Some of the beautiful rocks. I have way more pictures than these if you want to see more when I get back.

Some artistic rock stairs.

Lichen growing on one of the rocks. I think it looks like a grassy field almost.

A view of the town below.

Me and some of the ISC boys.

More Nature.

A panoramic view from the top with some of my rock climbing buddies. I could go on a hike every day and never get tired of it.

Medieval Tavern Device. Notice all the skulls in the background.

A typical table.

A medieval torture device. Some of the guys who did this still don't have full feeling back in their fingers. Each person takes turn giving it a twist until someone gives up.

Its funny how everday the city gets a little smaller. Ports once known only via metro are connected by walking. Places known only by walking are connected by tram and so on. Already I am starting to feel like I live here. I think part of it is knowing where you are going, part is your flippancy towards the things around you. I find myself keeping my face relaxed, not smiling at strangers. The other day I saw people coming from the airport and they looked so ridiculous to me with their big smiles for no reason. Its only weird looking in the street. In a club, people smile the night away. Speaking of, last night I went to the best 80's club I have ever seen called Lucerna. The Czechs just go crazy for 80's music, and everybody just dances ridiculously bad. It was so fun!

Also, I did laundry today and it was like learning how to do it all over again. We had to haul it all about 8 blocks to the local Laundry King which sounds much nicer than it actually is. Then, their machines were very strange and I had to have the lady show me how to work them. But I have clean clothes now, so it was worth it.

School starts tomorrow and I don't know any of my classes yet. Oh well. I'm off to watch a movie and go to bed. I'll try to update in a couple of days.

Orientation Week, Day 4

2007-02-22T08:43:00.000-07:00

Oh Thursday... you are so glorious. Today has been the first day I have not been stressed out trying to get something done or figure out how something works. Actually, I have been trying to get this dang scholarship thing done, but it doesn't bother me much. I haven't really done anything today besides finish my book, fill out some paperwork, and work on the scholarship. Yesterday, however, was a very different story.

Yesterday I got to go to the policie station to get my visa validated. I was going to go with the group at 6 AM but, well for anyone who knows me, you probably know how well that went. So I went with another group at 9 AM instead... big mistake. We got there around 10 and they weren't handing out any tickets to get in line for supposedly another hour because too many people were waiting. So we went and walked around, which was cool because I hadn't been to that area of Prague yet.

Actually this is where we ate dinner one Tuesday night. It was a pretty cool place right around the corner from the dorm.

It was a very foggy day. You can barely see the broadcasting tower poking out of the ground.

This is a church designed by someone famous... don't ask me who.

broadcasting tower...

Here are some old people getting free massages. At first we thought it was a morgue with the bodies on display or some weird testing place...

These are the people I was out with.

Hey Baby!?!

A cool cemetery we walked by...

I just liked this building...

Some provacative graffiti..

Actually, there was graffiti everywhere. I think we were in the ghetto...

What would you do for a klondike bar?

So finally we end up back in the waiting room around 11. They were not giving out numbers. I started reading my book. 12 o'clock came. They started giving out numbers, but sooo many people wanted them! So far in the czech republic I have yet to wait in an ORGANIZED line. Everything is a first come, first serve type of deal only with a giant cluster of people... may the pushiest win. So of course I end up with number 640... with somewhere around 50 people in front of me. The rest of my group fared no better... we do not like pushing. It was the same when we signed up for excursions the other day... I'll talk about that in a sec.

This is the waiting room... very exciting as you can see.

We waited and waited. I promise we were not this happy.

Finally we got through at about 2:30. We waited all that time to get a stamp and a signature, and two copies of our passport made. Ridiculous.

So everyone was pretty hungry after that. We decided not to eat lunch in the ghetto and took the metro elsewhere. We stopped to eat at a place right by this church.

We ate at a non-touristy Czech restaurant. It was cafeteria style, so you picked stuff up and paid at the end. (Nothing is all you can eat or free here. You can't even get a cup of water free. And they don't have ice!!! :( The food was good, although mine was an odd combination because nobody here is a vegetarian. Potatoes with tomato sauce on top and spinach... thank goodness Stanley was there.. he is Czech so he helped me figure out something to eat! He also helped us all day at the police station... what a nice guy!

Speaking of nice guys, have I told you about my Czech buddy Martin? Well he is also really nice and has helped me with everything. He came over last night and we went to the pub in the basement for a while. Actually it was really funny because a bunch of people ended up down there and we were teaching each other tongue twisters in other languages... czechs cannot say aluminum lynoleoum 5 times fast!

Here are some other pictures from the rest of the day:

Yes, this is a real street sign... :)

Sunset.

Tomorrow I am going on an excursion with ISC to Škoda Mlada Boleslav & Drabské Světničky & Medieval Tavern Dětěnice
Sightseeing. Basically to the Škoda Fabric and Car Museum, walking in nature, and an evening in Medieval Tavern Dětěnice with unique medieval programme. Then on Saturday I am going to Karlovy Vary for sightseeing in the famous spa resort and Castle Loket. I would have gone on more trips but as I was mentioning the sign ups were really crazy and there was limited space. If you want to see more about these trips go to: http://www.isc.cvut.cz/en/index.php?sub=34&sub_sub=1372 Anyways, I will update you on those trips when I get back, probably on Sunday. Bye!

Orientation Week, Day 2

2007-02-20T06:36:00.000-07:00

Well everbody, what can I say? The last couple of days have been very busy, I dare say a bit crazed. BUT, I have been loving every minute of it. I am definietly still in the honeymoon phase of culture shock. I am having a hard time getting used to the hardness of the place. There are few pillows, cushions, grassy areas, carpets, etc, and lots of tile, concrete, and wood.

Other things that have struck me as strange include the lack of dental floss... anywhere. I forgot to bring some with me, and all I can find here is toothpicks... and that was after an extensive search! There is also something about the air here that gives me a runny nose every time I step outside. I know it sounds gross, but its really annoying! So I have learned to take tissues with me everywhere.

Yesterday I broke down and bought a cell phone. I put my little SIM card in it and it didn't work, so I was kinda stressed out because it cost around 50 bucks and the store didn't give me a receipt. But I went back today and the girl was really nice, the phone just needed to be unlocked. She apologized and fixed it. So far not speaking Czech hasn't put me at too much of a disadvantage because almost everyone who I have come across speaks some english. Oh.. and phone number here have nine digits plus a country code. Its strange, to be sure. My number is +420 775 329 758. But don't call it because it will use all my credit in pretty much a minute for international calls.

This is a little alley we went down while I was looking for a used cell phone at a second hand store.

Oh and one more thing. I don't think people here drink milk. And I am dying for a glass of skim. Alas... : ) Actually, people really just drink beer all the time. Pilsner mostly, and Stella, and some long one that I can't pronounce! Other than that, its mostly pop or water with gas (sparkling water).

So aside from getting my phone yesterday, I also got a watch and attempted to get my rail pass... but failed miserably and got it this morning instead. While we were looking for the place to get my pass, we got off at the Mustek stop and saw the big Prague Museum (I don't know the name off-hand) so I took some pictures, but we didn't go in.

The pickings are slim as far as vegetarian food goes, but I am getting along alright. Last night was our first ISC party at the PM bar downtown. They had this hilarious Queen revival band there. I got to meet up with Ondrej and Pavel (my friends who studied abroad at KSU last year) and also my Czech buddy Martin. Its crazy how many people I have met in the last 5 days! I know people from Finland, Russia, Spain, Mexico, France, etc.... and I keep meeting more and more people from Prague. I am having a great time and suprisingly am actually remembering people's names! In particular, I keep running into this guy named Slava all over the place. He is a Czech, and an officer in ISC. Its really weird, but we had lunch together today after yet another suprise meeting, so its cool.

Um... lets see.... oh. This morning we had our preliminary registration for the "fakulty architektura" which was almost a complete waste of three hours of my life. I really won't know what classes I am going to take until next week, but I think I will be taking a urban renewal studio, sculpture, figure drawing, czech language and czech culture.

Tonight we supposedly are getting the internet turned on in our rooms, but I bet it will be more like Thursday. Also, we are signing up for weekend trips with ISC at a 4:00 meeting. It should be a good time.

I really need to get better at making up titles...

2007-02-18T11:53:00.000-07:00

Ok first things first. If you want to see what I worked on last summer, watch Ronald Lewis on the Ellen Show, Mardi Gras edition on Tuesday, February 20.

Saturday night came quickly and I ended up going out with my Czech buddy Martin and some other Czechs I met in the ISC (International Student Center), as well as some other international students from Spain, France, and Finland. Martin has been REALLY helpful- he picked me up from the airport, helped me get signed in, and pretty much showed us how to do anything and everything we have needed to do.

On Saturday morning I woke up around 10:30 and went to mass in English with my flatmate Katie at the Infant of Prague cathedral. (Thats not exactly what its called, but I can't remember so we'll go with it.) The church was gorgeous but the pews were soooo uncomfortable and the kneelers were worse. Curiously enough, the backs of the pews had heaters on them.

This is a view of the alter area from where I was sitting during mass.
This is a view of the statue of the infant of Prague. I think Gran came to this church at one point because she gave me a book about it.

After mass we went to lunch were I had some alright pesto pasta. It was vegetarian, so that is enough to make me happy! It was actually pretty close to where I had lunch yesterday in a more touristy area. The food is more expensive but they have menus in english so it is convenient.

Once we had finished eating, we went in search of a coat because I was cold. It was a warm day, but the wind and shade made it chilly. I didn't want to wear my coat though because it smelled like smoke from last night, so I thought I might get another one. (One for smoky places, one for not so smoky places.) Unfortunately I didn't find one, but I did get a power adapter (which apparently is something totally different than a converter, but still necessary.) After that we went to Tesco which is the Czech equivalent of a Target but spread over 4 floors. I got some much needed things there like a little mirror, hangers, hair dryer, dishes, etc. And man am I loving the prices here.

My poor roommate (Marina). She is doing an English workbook as we speak. It has got to be hard not knowing English when that is how everyone is communicating who doesn't know Czech. It is kind of a double whammy for her.

So anyways, finally we got home with our stuff and I saw my friend Jeff in the lobby. He told me everyone was getting ready to go out in a few minutes so I decided to go with them. We ended up going to a pizza place around the corner that was pretty good, but was so much food that I had to get a box. So now we are back at the dorms and Malcolm is talking to his friends trying to figure out where we are going out tonight with his other roommate. Orientation week starts tomorrow and I can't wait to see what it will be like. Thats it for now, more later!

Oh P.S. My little 'cashew' bag is working out great. I also love the pop out map that Sarah gave me (my work friend). And, if you want to write me or send something the address is:

Sally Maddock
Masarykova Kolej
Thákurova 1
Prague 6
164 01
Czech Republic

Ok bye!

P.P.S. I got on aim and none of you were online... wah. Lauren- (I know it was better... hahaha)

Whew!

2007-02-17T09:15:00.000-07:00

Dobry Den! (Good Day) Ahoy! (Hi)

I am writing from my own computer this time. Oh, also we got our suitcases last night. We were all in the bar in the basement of our dorms when we heard the news, but we were so excited that it didn't matter. So I finally got to take a shower and put on clean clothes this morning. It was glorious!

This morning my new friend from St. Petersburg, Sergei, came by to help me fix the internet. He then asked me to go on a walk which turned into an entire day of sightseeing. Marina, my roommate from Spain, and his two roommates Jess and Nikolas from France came too. It was a day of many languages. Marina speaks Catalan because she is from Barcelona, and not very good English, so I talk to her in Spanish a lot because she can kindof understand it. The French people speak French a lot, but Nikolas' mother is American so his English is decent. Sergei speaks Ukranian, Russian, and English. None of us speak Czech, but Sergei understands a bit. We saw a ton of stuff today, including the Charles Bridge, the Jewish quarter, Frank Ghery's Dancing House, etc. The weather was warm, maybe 40. We took the metro to get downtown and then took the tram up and down the river.

My first impression of Prague was that it was a bit dreary. Of course, what isn't dreary in the winter? But then when I went downtown today I realized how cheerful a lot of it really is. Its still hard for me to believe that I am going to live here for such a long time. I'm sure it will hit me soon. Already I can tell I am going to lose a ton of weight while I am here. We walked for hours today, and I am not eating much because I'm not loving the food even when I can find vegetarian things. I have been eating these little loaves of bread I bought around the corner with apples that aren't quite ripe. By the time I get back to the states I'm sure a bowl of ramen noodles will be a sight for sore eyes.

Ok here are the photos for the day!

My in-flight entertainment. I finished reading the book on the plane. Oh, and the guy next to me was from Istanbul... it was pretty cool.

A view of the sunset over Chicago.

A view of the Sunrise at the airport in Frankfurt.

My dorm room. I was shocked at how nice it is. It is a corner room with three girls: myself, Marina, and a Turkish girl we haven't met yet. In our flat there are two other two person rooms that have a guy named Alexi, a girl named Jolie, and a girl from K-State who I had never met named Katie, and one more that I have never met.

The Pub downstairs. Who knew they would put a bar in a dorm? Seems smart to me! There is also a club and a restaurant in the dorm.

Prague castle in the distance.

The entrance to the Charles Bridge.

A sunny street across the river.

The restaurant we ate lunch at.

Me in front of the Cathedral.

The wall in the Metro Station.

Ok well I hope that is enough stuff to satisfy you for now. AIM isn't working here... I will be trying to fix it soon so we can talk. I love you all!

Dekuji! Ciao! (Thank you, Bye)

I have arrived!

2007-02-16T07:10:00.000-07:00

This post is going to be short because I can't get the wifi to work on my computer so I am borrowing one from a friend. I got here safely around 9:00 AM Czech time after a series of stressful flights which resulted in my luggage being LOST! Hopefully it will get here soon!

I love you all and will write more soon!

One day until departure

2007-02-13T21:21:00.000-07:00

I am definitely excited at this point for my trip. It doesn't really seem like it is happening, but I'm sure reality will hit me when I get off the plane in Prague. Prague is seven hours ahead of central time, eight ahead of mountain time... I am sure the jet lag will be something to contend with.

If you are interested in what I will be doing my first week at school (orientation week), you can click the following link to see the schedule as provided by the international student club.
http://isc.cvut.cz/en/index.php?sub=40
Our international club "buddies" will also be picking us up from the airport and taking us to the dorms to fill out papers and get settled, so that will be all taken care of.

I have been so blessed to have so many good friends helping me along the way this past week, especially Meg and Kristen who have hosted me for an entire week now. I will miss you all, but at least I will have Europe and Africa to console me! :)

Everything's up to date in Kansas City

2007-02-12T10:34:00.000-07:00

Yes, that is correct. I am finally in KC after a long Greyhound bus ride on Wednesday, and some time spent in Manhattan and Lawrence. I got to see all my friends from school, got all the shots known to man and malaria pills at the student health center, and failed miserably at finding a place to live next year. Now I am staying with my very good friend and ex-roomie Kristen. She and her mom live downtown KC near the plaza. Its a pretty cool area. Last night we went out and got pizza and Coldstone ice cream with a friend of hers from work, and then randomly saw the movie Babel. It was a very powerful film, but its plot had a few flaws. The film also had some very strong anti-American undertones to it which I found not necessarily inaccurate but odd none-the-less because the film is a work of fiction.

Anyways, enough about the movie. Kristen is actually getting ready to leave for Costa Rica for six months also and is flying out just 2 hours before me, so it all worked out pretty well as far as getting to the airport goes and that kind of thing. She is at an interview to get into nursing school in the fall right now so I have the house all to myself. Well, me, Tofu the cat, and KC the dog. :)

So now it will be just a few more days before I am outta here. Although maybe I should lighten my suitcase a bit before I go. It weighed exactly 50 pounds when I left Denver. :)

And I want to test out this picture feature so here is a picture of Meg and me at Houlihan's in Manhattan on Friday night with our "fancy drinks."

Slowly but Surely

2007-02-03T23:55:00.000-07:00

The time is near for the beginning of my journey. During the past month I have prepared extensively for the next six months of my life. All plane tickets have been purchased, as have rail passes and necessary luggage. I also purchased a new digital camera to document my journey. As a matter of fact, creating this blog was among the last tasks remaining to signal the time for departure. In many ways it feels surreal that I am starting my travels in 4 days.

I will try to update this page a minimum of once a week. I will also be able to chat online with skype or aim periodically (aim screen name: sleepyarchitect). Just for clarification, here at the dates of where I will be:

-Today: Denver, CO
-Wednesday, February 7th: Take bus to Manhattan, KS
-Saturday, February 10th: Go to Lawrence, KS
-Monday, February 12: Go to Kansas City, KS
-Thursday, February 15: Fly to Prague, Czech Republic to study at Czech Technical University for the semester

-Monday, June 4th: Begin traveling around Europe
-Thursday, June 28: Flying out of London to work in Uganda with the African Child Foundation (http://www.acf.org.ug/index.htm)
-Thursday, July 26: Leaving Uganda to go to Washington DC via London... visiting Jenn for the weekend
-Sunday, July 29: Flying from DC to Denver, CO
-Wednesday, August 1: Flying to Phoenix, AZ?????
-Monday, August 6: Arriving back in Denver, CO
-Saturday, August 11: Going back to Manhattan, KS to start the fall semester...