#7- First Field Trip!

Our first field trip of our semester abroad was to the biggest city in the Czech Republic, Prague! It was a four-day weekend, and just as we were growing accustomed to Olomouc, we left on Thursday. It was a weekend of many lessons from our wonderful leaders Martin and Jan. The first lesson was figuring out how to work the train system here in Europe! Riding a train was a bucket list item I've always wanted to do, and I finally checked it off. We learned how to buy tickets and find our way in the stations. The trains were very comfortable and we got to sleep for most of our 2 1/2 hour rides. 

On our first day there, we had about an hour-long walking tour through New Town and Old Town in Prague. They are essentially two different neighborhoods, which were originally different towns but now have run together. After both of those, we ended the tour at the John Lennon wall. It was incredible to see all of the graffiti, art, and quotes. The wall is a symbol of peace and an outlet for those to speak up for what they believe in. After the John Lennon wall we walked on Charles Bridge for a while and took lots of pictures. That night, we decided to all hang out together and play games. We ended up staying in our hostel rooms, and it was so much fun! Never have I hung out with people from all different walks of life and enjoyed myself so much. On Friday, we visited the castle and the cathedral in Prague. The president resides here, and we got to witness a changing of the guards! Both the cathedral and castle are architecturally breathtaking. On Saturday, we all rose early to catch a train to Dresden, Germany. This was one of the last places that the US bombed in WWII and it was so interesting to see all the rebuilding and growth after the damage from the bomb. We also toured a Lutheran Church, which was so nice to see, as I am Lutheran and it is different from all of the Catholic Churches we have visited! The building itself was rebuilt after the bomb with some of the bricks from the old building. Finally, we headed back to Prague on Saturday evening for our last night in our hostel. On Sunday, we toured the Jewish Quarters in Prague. It was a somber day and very upsetting to see the names of something like 80,000 Jews who were killed. The Synagogue, cemetery, and museum opened my eyes and left me speechless.

At the end of the tour of the Jewish Quarters, we headed home to Olomouc. It was such a great learning, bonding, and fun experience to be in Prague for a few days with my class! I even got to see an old friend from UNK who was vacationing in Prague at the same time. I am surprised every single day how amazed I am and how blessed I feel to be here. Looking at our calendar in the future for other trips and such, I cannot help but feel so fortunate for this opportunity to learn in such a worldly way. It is an experience unlike any other! I left with a very full and happy heart, and a noggin full of more interesting information about the beautiful Czech Republic! 

John Lennon Wall

Jewish Cemetery

Statue of Martin Luther, Lutheran Church

#4 Language Issues

            Wow…language barrier, where do I begin? There is so much I can say about anything and everything that it renders me almost speechless. I have decided to do my first post on the language issues that have presented themselves in this first week. 

            Upon arrival, in the airports, I was immediately surprised at how little English everyone knew. Now, I like to think I have traveled a lot (Europe twice, Mexico, Dominican, Jamaica...) but it never ceases to catch me by surprise at how much I depend on other people knowing English! Especially here, in the Czech Republic, where tourism may not be as high as it is in other larger countries, the English is hard to communicate with. Everything is written in Czech, and there are no translations to English (think museum information, tram time postings, signs, GROCERIES!, menus, push/pull doors, etc.). 

            The next eye-opening moment I had about the language barrier was going to the supermarket, called Globus, with my roommate. We were trying to get the basic parts of a college-budget grocery list. Our list included some peanut butter, ranch, fruit, ramen, mac-and-cheese, sandwich stuff, milk, and cereal. Here’s what we actually got: ramen, sandwich stuff, milk, and cereal. There is no ranch (a staple in my diet), macaroni and cheese, granola bars, and peanut butter (PS- thanks mom for sending the package of food!). Additionally, when we got here, we couldn’t read anything. We basically have had to guess on what we are getting both at the grocery store and on a menu at a restaurant! While it was exciting, it was also a little scary! 

            Finally, I personally believe the language barrier and issues have caused a rift between the Czech people and Americans, specifically our yearly study abroad group. We have no idea what they're saying, even basic words and phrases, and they get frustrated I'm sure. I bet that I would get angry trying to communicate to a new batch of Americans every single year! I have heard some Czech people speaking about Americans in the Czech language and I'm not so sure it was a good thing! While we are taking an intro to the Czech language class, it is very difficult and we will not learn everything necessary to live completely comfortably here.

            Despite the language issues so far in the Czech, we are making great strides to learn more and more Czech words, and are learning how to fend for ourselves! Also, we have met so many great fellow Czech students, and they have opened our eyes so much! I can tell we are going to come out with some great friendships. We have had some fantastic Czech helpers, along with our supervisor/professor/advisor Dr. Larson. So far, this has been a fantastic learning experience, already, and I can’t wait to see what the next two months will hold! 

Below, is the ONLY translation into English that was at the basilica Svaty Kopecek (Holy Hill) in our town Olomouc. There were hundreds of informative boards and pieces of information, but, this was the only piece of information in the whole place I could understand.