Long time no chat!

So a lot has happened in the past week and I haven't had time to actually sit down and type it all out.  Please bare with me if I start to ramble I just have so much to say!!!

On Thursday of last week we packed up all of our essentials into our backpacks and took off for a journey in Prague once again.  The train ride from Olomouc to Prague is about 2 hours, so it was the perfect amount of time to take a little snoozy and be refreshed for the day.  When we arrived to Prague we checked into our hostel, dropped our stuff off, and set off for the day.  Jan [Yawn] and Martin our fearless, genius, and organized leaders took us to the famous John Lenin wall.  The wall started to be painted on during the Cold War .  People would voice their opinions using their artistic ability in graffiti.  The Soviet Union painted a solid color over it every night and eventually it got to be too much to paint over the graffiti every night.  John Lenin is a huge part of this wall because he was a big icon at the time for peace and love.  As time went by and the communist regime ended the wall is now a place to mark your spot and say you were there.  When we were at the wall you could still feel all of the peace and love from people singing and expressing their feelings to one another.

As our tour came to an end a group of us went to seek out some grub.  We found a bagel shop and decided to take a peek.  I ordered bagel French toast and it was probably the best French toast I have ever had, I am going to have to try and remake it once I get back home.  That night we did absolutely nothing, but relaxed.  It was a nice to just chill, drink, and get to know more of my peers that are on this excursion with me. 

On Friday we took off on a hike to the Prague Castle.  We were able to go inside and see the multiple styles of architecture.  The Cathedral inside of the castle is breath taking.  The stained glass is so fine in detail for the specific people buried in that section.  The old kings and the saints are buried in the center of the church and it is a definitely a sight to see!

A group of us decided that once our tour was over we would go and experience the night life in the square.  Night life is different because the whole square is lit up and live music comes out.  We decided to get a delicious treat from a food vendor ( I got a honey coconut crepe, yummm!) and grab a beer to sit and relax and enjoy everything going on around us.  For those that plan on studying abroad or plan on traveling  to a foreign area for a long amount of time.  Remember to enjoy the little things and enjoy the life that is going on around you. 

We rested our eyes and prepared ourselves for Germany in the A.M. Once we awoke for the day, we took a two hour train ride to Dresden, Germany.  Sadly nobody stamped our passport to prove that we were in Germany, but I have all of the cool memories to share (:  We went to the castle museum and saw all of the armory and art work.  I wasn't allowed to take pictures, but I swiped one to be able to show you the amazing art. 

This is the coffin that they built for the dead.  The coffin was made of marble and shows some of the finest detail I have ever seen.  The armor that we saw was amazing as well.  I saw the different swords used for battle and ceremonial.  The blacksmith signed every sword he made and then put the name of who it was for on the sword as well.  I couldn't swipe any pictures of those, but I recommend for you to go if you ever have the chance!  Once we had seen everything in the castle museum we set off to find some lunch.  I was super excited because the place we found served vegetarian burgers! Not just a tofu burger, but black beans, corn, and other yummy ingredients.  Besides the yummy food in Germany the views from up high are amazing!  we climbed to the very top of the church and basically saw all of Dresden. 

We enjoyed our time in Germany, but it was time to go back to Prague.  On our way out we realized that we had five minutes to catch our train!  A memory that I will never forget is running through the square in Germany, pushing people out of the way to try and make it on time.  A group of five of us actually made it up to the train to watch it leave.  We sadly walked backed and had a two hour wait until the next train coming through to Prague came along.  So we enjoyed our time outside and enjoyed a beer while we waited.

On our last day in Prague we visited the Jewish Quarter.  Hitler kept this Jewish Quarter standing because he wanted this place to be known for the extinct race.  As I walked in tears immediately were brought to my eyes.  Thousands of people's names were painted on the walls of those who died, their first and last name, date of birth, and date of death.  Some of these names of the people I saw were only one year old... It really hit because this wasn't that long ago that all of this terribleness happened. 

 

 

Another room had art work from the children who died in the concentration camps.  A lady knew that the only way these children could cope with what was going on was to paint, draw, and piece together art work.  She stuffed thousands of these pieces into two suitcases and put them behind a wall so they would never be damaged.  As years went by and after the war was done people went back and found these pieces of art work.  The art shows everything from living situations to seeing people being shot and hung.  The most moving part of the whole quarter was the cemetery.  This cemetery is about 11 ft. deep and who knows how wide.  Try to imagine a hole being dug and bodies just being thrown in and piled on top of one another..  This is what it was.  They didn't care about placement or anything.  They just needed a place to put them.  Later on tombstones were placed everywhere they could possibly place them.  A lot of these tomb stones show the date of death, but not the date of birth.  The reason behind this is that some of these people said they were never born.  If they were to die for no good reason and nobody would remember them because they did nothing to be remembered for than they never lived in the first place. 

After wiping away the tears and packing up our stuff we headed back home to Olomouc.  Not a whole ton has happened in Olomouc.  I have learned the days of the week in Czech and got an A on the first quiz we have taken here.  The weather went from being super nice back to the rainy/gloomy clouds.  Which is fine because it was time for a relaxing day to get chores done and shop for some food to survive until this Thursday.  On the agenda is to leave for Vienna on Thursday go to Venice afterward and then head to Rome for spring break!  So be ready for some posts on that!


Random Thoughts Time!!!
1.  The elderly ladies have the style of dyeing their hair weird colors, like pink and purple.
2.  All of the dogs around here are never on leashes, but are all wearing muzzles.
3.  These dogs are allowed everywhere, including into restaurants.
4.  The driving in this country is worse than the city... If the car fits then it can drive there.
5.  Lunch is the biggest meal of the day, not dinner.  so if you ever travel here be prepared for everywhere to close super early and to just have beer for dinner.
6.  By the time we leave to come back home to Nebraska is when I will actually figure out the entire tram system. heehee!

Until next time! and remember to enjoy everything around you and to not take things for granted.  Enjoy it while you can.