Rain in Croatia

I just finished a weekend relaxing in the sun on the beaches of Croatia! ...I wish! Unfortunately nearly all of the girls on my study abroad program decided to go to Croatia the one weekend that it was below 60 degrees and raining the entire time. We booked the trip in February so how were we supposed to know? It was a great weekend in a beautiful country, don't get me wrong, but as my friend Brooke put it, we are going back to Prague a little whiter than expected.

We came to Croatia through Bus2Alps, company that organizes group trips to places all over Europe. With one set fee we paid for a bus to take us on the 14 hour ride to Croatia and housing in a new hostel (we think it may still be in the process of being finished) that was really modern and even had escalators. Our bus left Wednesday night (don't worry, I don't have Thursday or Friday classes in Prague so I'm no skipper) and as I was packing on Wednesday I hoped and hoped that the weather forecast would be wrong, so I packed a bathing suit and mostly shorts for the weekend. Luckily I always overpack way too much so I brought jeans, leggings, and my light winter jacket as well.


We arrived in Croatia at 9am Thursday morning and left for white water rafting two hours later. I was extremely well rested considering I got my entire nights sleep on a bus. I was VERY nervous about white water rafting from one too many horror stories I had heard in the past, including Thursday morning when Brooke told us that she almost died white water rafting in Australia. So when we found out that these would be some of the weakest rapids there are, I was extremely relieved while everyone else wished we would be going on more of an adventure. I had a lot of fun white water rafting! Thursday was probably the warmest day of the trip and even at one point our guide helped us go under a tiny waterfall to cool off. However by the end the sun had gone away and we were all exhausted. Our guide could tell, and asked a motorboat to tow our raft to the restaurant for lunch where I ordered the fish. I found out that if you order fish in Croatia they literally give you a fish: skin, eyes, bones, tail and all. I've never accidentally eaten so many fish bones in my life but it was pretty good! After coming home and taking a much needed nap, we are dinner inside the ruins of the Dalmatian Palace. I ordered grilled escargot and will probably stick to fried escargot from now on. I didn't take a picture but it also looked like it had been pulled straight from the ocean.

Friday we went on an "island hopping cruise" with Bus2Alps. I added the quotations because we actually ended up only going to one island because we left late. Despise the fact that we only went to one island and it was pretty cold for a beach day, I loved laying on the pebble beach. A few of my more adventurous friends actually decided to swim but I really don't know how they did it! That night Bus2Alps took us on a bar crawl and we were able to experience the night life of Croatia and meet some of the other people on the trip!

Rosie and I on the island hopping boat!

Saturday was a pretty rainy day but we still got a lot out of it! I ate a delicious chicken wrap that the tour guide recommended and went to the the markets from there and got a few little souvenirs. Later in the day we went to a different pebble beach that was beautiful and had a ton of snails!

So many snails!!!

On the way home from Split on Sunday, we stopped at the national park in Krka. It was absolutely beautiful. The entire park was filled with waterfalls big and small, and I kept thinking of how amazing it would be if I could come in the summer and swim there. Also kept thinking about how scary it would be to fall in the water and to get swept away by the waterfalls...

The National Park in Krka

The rest of the trip was spent playing pictionary and hangman with Emily and watching the Hunger Games to try to make the second 14 hour bus ride a little bit shorter. Hopefully one day I'll make it back to Croatia on a beautiful summer day!

Exploring My Roots in Poland

The Great Barbican of Krakow

 Earlier in the semester AIFS took us on another trip, this time to Krakow, Poland. Since I have roots that trace back to Poland, I was really excited about this trip. The town where my ancestors lived was about 5 hours away from Krakow, but I am so glad that I had the opportunity to go see such a unexpectedly beautiful city! Our first day there the weather was absolutely perfect, and Z led us on walking tours in the morning and afternoon through the city. I had watched Schindler's List in the week leading up to the trip, and when we were walking through the Jewish quarter, Z pointed out a few things that were in the movie which was crazy to see in person. I'm happy I watched Schindler's List when I did. I had never seen it before, and it really helped prepare me for the things I would see on Sunday in Auschwitz.

While in Krakow, I tried a bunch of different Polish food, and the most interesting was the pierogi, which are a type of Polish/Ukrainian dumpling.We went to an outdoor market in Krakow, and the pierogis can't get more authentic than that!

The Center of Krakow

On the way back from Krakow, we went to the concentration camp Auschwitz. It was very fitting that the weather that day was especially gloomy, contrasting with the beautiful weather we had seen the day before in Krakow. Seeing Auschwitz was an overwhelming experience, and it was definitely very different than I had imagined. I wasn't sure what I had expected to see, but I was amazed that Auschwitz was in the same condition that it had been during World War II. Some of the buildings had been turned in to museums, which showed things ranging from pictures of individual prisoners to piles and piles of personal belongings that had been confiscated when people arrived at the camp, like glasses, crutches and prosthetics, shaving supplies, and suitcases. Before being deported to Auschwitz, the people were told to pack suitcases with their most precious belongings and to label their suitcases clearly. Once arriving to Auschwitz they were never given their belongings back, and they were sorted in an area of the camp called Canada.

A memorial: an urn of human ashes

These cans held enough gas to kill over 800 people in gas chambers

Glasses left behind at Auschwitz

Piles of suitcases that were never retrieved 

Inside the gas chambers

Inside the crematorium

"Forever let this place be a cry of despair and a warning to humanity where the nazis murdered about one and a half million men, women, and children, mainly Jews from various countries of Europe. Auschwitz - Birkenau 1940 - 1945"

A memorial in the place that gas chambers once stood

Remains at Birkenau

The most overwhelming moment for me was seeing a room filled with human hair. When women arrived to Auschwitz, they were forced to cut off all of their hair which was then to be used to make textiles. I had only expected to see a small pile of hair, just enough to demonstrate that the women's hair had been cut. Instead I was overwhelmed* by a seemingly endless room piled high with the hair of women and girls who most likely never made it out of Auschwitz. Each time I took a step further into the room, the pile of hair seemed even greater. I thought about how large the pile was, and how a body and a life were behind each head of hair. It was only a small sample of all of the hair that had been cut at Auschwitz because most had been used to make textiles, but it helped me put things into perspective.

Other than our group, the visitors to Auschwitz that day were mostly Israelis wearing Israeli flags. This was pretty amazing to see. It was as if their flags were sending a message to Auschwitz, saying "you couldn't stop the Jewish people."

*I know I keep saying overwhelming, but I really can't think of any other words to describe my feelings and emotions while visiting Auschwitz.

Longhorns in Europe

I thought I'd include a short post about longhorns in Europe. Since I go to UT, it is pretty exciting to have seen two longhorns since being here! The first was in Prague outside of one of my favorite Czech restaurants, Kulatak, and the second was this past weekend in Geneva, Switzerland!

Swiss Longhorn

Czech Longhorn

And finally one last longhorn, Jacob! One of my friends at UT who is studying in Paris came to visit Prague with his girlfriend, and here is a picture we took in front of the castle literally seconds before we were kicked out for closing.

Flashback to Moravia

 So it has been a while since my trip to Moravia actually happened, but I couldn’t let this blog go on before I wrote about it!

The Czech Republic is made up of two regions: Bohemia, which is where Prague is located, and Moravia. Even before my trip to Budapest, I went on an organized trip through AIFS to Moravia, where we drove through Brno, the second largest city behind Prague in the Czech Republic, and stayed in a family-run wine cellar after making several stops along the way and seeing a lot of beautiful churches and monasteries. We stopped in a town called Tišnov to visit a cloister with an amazing entrance named “Gate to Heaven”. Inside, some people from the group saw a group of rate with their heads chopped off. Our tour guide explained that once a year decapitated animals will mysteriously be found in the courtyard. I’m just glad that I didn’t see them for myself…

Inside the Cloister

We also stopped at Slavkov to see The Memorial of Peace on Prace Hill, the site of the battlefield where “The Battle of Three Emperors” took place. We watched a video and saw a presentation about the site, which apparently was referred to in the novel War and Peace. But due to the long bus ride and my inability to pay attention to anything history-related, this part of the trip would be better known as the part where Carly got lost in her day dreams…

In Brno, we saw the garden of Gregor Mendel, the father of genetics, and a museum about his works. I had learned about Gregor Mendel in my biology class in 9^th grade, so I was pretty excited about it! However, we only got there about 7 minutes before the museum’s closing, so we rushed through most of it. But luckily it was a pretty small museum and I was still happy to see it!

Gregor Mendel's Peas

Gregor Mendel Statue

We were only in Brno for a quick tour of the center of town, and from there we went to the wine cellar where we ate a home cooked meal and participated in a wine tasting. Before and after the wine tasting we were given bottles and bottles of wine, so needless to say it was definitely a fun night! I bought a bottle from the wine cellar, but I had to refrain from drinking wine for a while after drinking so much of it that night!

 The next day was my favorite! We first went to a beautiful church nicknamed “The Pearl of Moravia,” which was beautiful. I do have to admit that all of these churches are starting to blend together in my head, but I can see why it got the nickname! 

Pearl of Moravia

Afterwards we went to a complex of underground caves, which was the most incredible thing I have ever seen! It was pretty cold in the caves, but it felt like I was on another planet. Things like this absolutely amaze me and make me wonder how something so beautiful could form entirely on its own. There was a moment when we walked from outside from the cave to see most beautiful thing I have ever seen. We were still several feet below ground, but we could look up to see the trees above us. I wasn’t able to take a picture that could capture its beauty and I can’t really describe it, but a lot of us were almost brought to tears from its beauty!

Finally, we went to Adamov, a town in Southern Moravia. It was a pretty small town with not much to see other than the beautiful wooden Gothic altarpiece in St. Barbara Church. The altarpiece is called Zwettl Altar and is incredibly intricate and beautiful. 

Zwettl Altar

Spring is Here!

Well I wrote this post on March 27th and never posted it, and it has almost been two weeks since then.... so here it is!

It's already Spring! I cannot believe how fast this semester is passing by. What I can't believe even more is how the harsh winter --the harsh winter I had been warned about, with snow blizzards and a bitter cold, the one I parked a winter parka and a few pairs of thermal socks for, and that I had to mentally prepare myself for-- never came. Sure there were cold days, but I never saw snow fall once. How did I get so lucky to choose to come to Prague during their lightest winter while UT had about 5 "ice days" this semester? Aside from a few gloomy days of rain and colder weather, the weather here is starting to get really beautiful! A week and a half ago, I finally learned how to walk to places from my dorm. It takes about an hour to walk to one of my classes, but I pass the castle along the way and have a beautiful view of the city's bridges. And with the weather the way it has been, I feel like I'm not taking advantage of this beautiful city as much as I can if I don't walk to class. (But the first time I did, it was so windy that I was almost hit by a falling stop sign *twice*... I'm okay though!)

Easter Festival in Old Town Square

Last week AIFS took us to see another ballet, this time Don Quixote. I am pretty sure I read Don Quixote in Humanities class in 8th grade, but it was still kind of hard to follow along and I had to pull out a summary of the ballet after the first act. I loved the ballet, and it was much better than the one we saw in the beginning of the semester!

 

In my Jewish History of Central and Eastern Europe class, we have already had two "field trips" to the Jewish Quarter. I put field trips in quotations because it is literally one block from our classroom, which is pretty cool! The first trip was to see the old Jewish cemetery and the Old-New Synagogu
e, which is the oldest orthodox synagogue of its kind still used today. Yesterday our professor taught us about Jewish traditions in an old synagogue that is now a museum with information about the Jewish holidays and other customs all on display. I actually learned a ton and I'm so glad she took us here, because I've always been trying to learn more about the Jewish traditions that I haven't fully understood.

I only have classes on Mondays and Wednesdays, and since I've been traveling on the weekends I have been trying to make as much use of my Tuesdays as possible. I decided to make every Tuesday my "weekends" in the Czech Republic that I can't have while I'm traveling! Last week I went to Kutna Hora with my friend Adam. It is a town about 40 minutes away, and my two favorite things were the bone church and St. Barabara's Cathedral. Other Tuesdays I have been exploring new cafes in Prague and I plan on exploring Prague and visiting Pilsen and Cesky Krumlov in the Tuesdays to come!

I am currently in the works of writing about all of my trips I've been too lazy busy to write about so far, so hopefully it won't take another month for me to finish that..... Bye!

Budaful Budapest

I just got back from the weekend in Budapest (I actually wrote this Sunday on the bus, but I am just posting it today), and overall it was a great experience! We stayed at maverick city lodge, a hostel that was waaaay better than the one in Bratislava, and I thought that one was nice! 18 of us from the AIFS program came together to Budapest, plus a group of other Americans we know who stayed at a different hostel. Even though the group was so big, we managed to see a lot, have a lot of fun, and we all made it back alive! We took up 5 rooms in the hostel, with the exception of some random roommates here and there. Two of the rooms were randomly upgraded, with a flat screen, a loft, and the room to themselves. Not gonna lie, I was pretty jealous.

Alyssa and Natalie in their fancy upgraded hostel room.

After arriving Thursday night, we went out for Alyssa's birthday at the same bar I went to last year on the alternative spring break trip with Hillel. So many memories came rushing back, while making new memories at the same time with some great new friends. Friday we went to the central market, which was just like I remembered it. Exploring the entire market would take days, but I managed to find some souvineers and eat some native Hungarian food, fried dough which looks like a pizza with cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, etc on top. It was a LOT, but worth trying!

The central market of Budapest

fried dough....mmm

Afterwards we walked along the Danube to St. Stephen's Basilica, where we were planning on meeting for a free tour of the city. Unfortunately it started to rain so we explored the basilica instead. The inside was absolutely beautiful, and after walking up what felt like a million steps on a winding staircase, we were able to see the breathtaking view from the top.

From the top of St. Stephen Basilica

Next the group went to the Lukacs thermal baths. These naturally heated baths are supposed to be healing, and they were so relaxing. It was such an incredible and unique experience. There was even a whirlpool part, which was kind of like the lazy river at hurricane harbor.

 

Saturday was a beautiful day, and I am glad we waited until then to take the free tour. We crossed the chain bridge to the buds side of the city, which is known for being more mountainous than the Pest side, where we stayed. Ironically, the highest mountain only took about 100 stairs to climb. At the top was Matthias church, Fisherman's Bastion, some midevil ruins, the national gallery, and yet another beautiful view.

The tour guide told us to rub his belly and twirl his mustache for good luck, so we did!

"Shoes on the Danube," an incredibly moving Holocaust memorial

Saturday night we went to different thermal bath. This one was a bath party with a dj, flashing lights, and lots of crazy study abroad kids. It was fun, and the first person I met when I walked knew Madison (my roommate of the past 3 years)! Small world right?

I had big plans for today (Sunday) that involved seeing the Synogague, Heroes square, and parliament. Unfortunately the aftermath of the bath party made me not so willing to wake up as early this morning... I had already gone last year so I'm not too upset about missing it this time around, but it would have been great to go again!

That's all for now!