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!