Finally Home

Well, hello again. Upon request I’m writing one last blog now that I’m back in the United States. Right now I’m on a plane- on my way to DC for the summer. I just finished up two weeks back in Alabama. I have really enjoyed being home. Things are just easier here and I’m so much more comfortable. At the same time, I’ve been surprised to find that it’s taken some re-acclimation on my part to get back into the swing of America. I expected the transition to be easy and natural yet I found myself saying “Prominte” and “Dekuju” in the Atlanta airport, forgetting that it was okay to smile or even look at people you don’t know, not saying excuse me if I bumped into someone. It was unsettling but also rather telling that I’d adopted some European/Czech habits.

Through most of my stay in Europe, I was convinced I was miserable. And at times, I truly was miserable. I felt like I didn’t belong and I didn’t like the place I’d planted myself in. But I guess I did find something there familiar enough. That being said, I wouldn’t say study abroad was a bad decision on my part. I’m sure there were tons of students who enjoyed it more that I did but overall, I think it was a good experience for me. I learned a lot about myself, about Europe, and, surprisingly, about America.

I’ll start with myself. I have come to find that I like ketchup way more than I knew. This I learned from the severe lack of free and/or decent ketchup in all restaurants. I also learned that despite my interest in traveling, I am not the type of person that can just live anywhere. Admittedly, I felt more comfortable in Italy and Germany- more western countries- but I think I need to some extent the comfort of what I know. Moreover (and I don’t know if this counts as something about myself but we’ll put it in this paragraph) I learned the value of people- at least to me. Obviously people are important but I didn’t realize- or hadn’t thought about- how a certain person or group of people can affect a situation so severely. It’s hard to put into words but I know I couldn’t have made it through 4 months abroad without the great, albeit small group of friends I made in Prague. I also know that what consumed my thoughts more often than not was how much more I would enjoy sitting around doing just about nothing with Sean or my family or Briggy & Sunny than going out and seeing some new sight. Maybe that makes me boring or a homebody but I like to think it just makes me appreciative.

Concerning Europe, I am now very much aware that Europe isn’t some mass on the other side of the ocean. It’s varied beyond belief. Even going from Czech Republic to Germany felt like I was in a different reality. I also have found, and I know this sounds like the epitome of American arrogance, that despite those fears you hear about in Time, CNN, the Economist, etc- we really do not have anything to worry about concerning the EU surpassing the United States in terms of global order. I won’t go into great detail about it but seriously, the countries argue like no one’s business and efficiency is about 165^th on their list of priorities. A great number of Europeans, moreover, are still consumed with stereotypes of each other (these leading naturally to a great deal of animosity). I don’t mean to give Europe a bad report, though. The intensity of culture and national pride was inspiring and it was in many ways refreshing to experience people who were bluntly who they were.

Finally, America. I’ve lived here for the better part of 20 years but I don’t think until I went abroad did I truly begin to understand my nation. First off, the US is simply not another country on this globe. I did not have a single conversation with a European in which they didn’t mention the US with acute awareness. Most knew as much about the US as their own country. I knew we were important, powerful, or whathaveyou but I didn’t really understand what that meant. Moreover, we are simply different than other countries. Especially in US history classes, you hear our country called the “melting pot” full of diversity. And I thought, sure, we’ve got tons of people from everywhere. But that doesn’t really begin to cover our country because when you are in Europe, you talk about other countries like we do about other states. Different histories, traditions… a different culture. And yet we’ve managed to become a solid unit with so many transcendent commonalities. I know I sound like a superpatriot but I guess I sort of am one now. More than anything, Europe taught me to love America. Despite being 300 or so years old (??? Don’t really know) , the US really is amazingly fresh and innovative compared to the rest of the world. Good job US.

So back to abroad in general. My conclusions are this: It was a great experience even if in many ways it totally blew. I got to see so much, meet great people, learn about myself, and even find a little patriotism in my skeptical self. But it was hard and I don’t know if I’d do it again. Maybe it was worth it but I still don’t think I’m at the point to really make the conclusion. It was what it was but I’m glad to be home. Seeing my family was wonderful- I love them all so much- and it’s been nice to take a breather from constant translation of my words, actions, and thoughts. And now I’m heading to DC and I couldn’t be happier to be on this plane, heading that way.

A Bit More Stationary

As aforementioned, I'm not taking any more trips before I leave the Czech Republic but I feel like I can't just stop blogging while I'm still in Europe so I'm offering an update on my latest experiences. They aren't as exotic but they have been pretty interesting. I'm going with bullet points.

• I had dinner earlier this week with my Czech lady friend and her family. It's been really wonderfult to get to know real Czechs like Dana. This last visit was nice, as always. However, it got off to a rather strange start. I entered the apartment and immediately heard the husband yell something from the next room in Czech. Dana explained that she was sorry, he didn't have on trousers. No problem. I'll just wait in the foyer until he can skip on over to his room and get on some pants. So I begin to take off my shoes as is Czech custom when entering a home only to have Mr. Chrtkov come up to say hello. No, he has not yet put on pants. And yes, he wears tighty whiteys. Good times in Czech land.
  
• Yesterday, I went to a concert. Not just any concert, though. A Beyonce concert. Shelby's flat buddy (who is Czech) asked me to go with him because he had an extra ticket from his job at a law firm. The concert was great although the only concert I've been to was for Josh Groban so maybe I'm not the best person to critique the performance. The funniest thing to me, though, was that we were served white wine (we were on the private party/exec/rich people level) and food through the entire thing. So we basically got really classy during a Beyonce concert. In Prague. It was also really humerous to see Beyonce try and get some audience participation. As I think I've mentioned before, Czech people are rather reserved people. So when she told them to dance, sing along, or to answer a question- the arena got pretty awkwardly quiet. Poor Beyonce. Also poor Oto (Czech buddy) who didn't know a single Beyonce song/ who she really was. He had to sit beside my overly enthusiastic self the whole time.
  
• We also had another interesting adventure last night. Apparently the last day of April is always Witch Burning Day in the Republic. Yes, you read that correctly. They celebrate the fact that they used to burn innocent women by burning fake "witches" in these huge bonfires all over town. I pointed out to Oto that this was just a teeny bit strange to which he replied, "I've never really thought about it that way... it is very weird that we celebrate something we should be ashamed of. Oh well, we get the day off from work." Classic Czech response. Anyway, Oto insists on me and some of my friends seeing one of these bonfires. Turns out, these double as underground raves in the middle of dark parks near the castle wall. Our instructions as we enter, "If the police come, please run away. Go ahead and make a meeting point so that you can scatter." In an unlit park.
  

Those are the highlights for the week. 2 weeks left.

Gelato, Gelato, Gelato!

Well, here I am in Milan’s Bergamo airport, waiting for my delayed flight to schedule a time for us to leave this place. Not that I really want to leave… Milan was awesome. I just would like to not be in this airport. Oh well. Gives me to time to go ahead and get this blog taken care of.

My friend Melinda and I left Thursday for Milan. Our friend Marissa is currently studying abroad there so we met up with her and settled into her apartment. It was a nice change from sleeping in hostels with people we don’t know. Thursday wasn’t a necessarily busy day but we apparently did everything there is to “do” in Milan within that one day. We had our first real Italian meal (I got spaghetti… go with something I know), toured the Duomo, saw the outside of La Scalla (the opera house) and the Galleria. That night we had appartivo at a design museum.

This last part requires some explanation. First off, apartivo is this swanky Italian tradition in which you pay for one drink (less than 10 euro) and then have unlimited access to a buffet of snacks. As a college student, you do your best to make these snacks into a meal. Because there were so many people at this particular event, however, making a meal was challenging. We were literally scavenging for food as they brought plates of Panini bites, croquettes, etc. Nevertheless, it was an experience and a fun one at that. The design museum was also cool. Apparently we came on the 2^nd weekend of Design Week in Milan. This was fortunate for us because all the galleries and museums in Milan were open to the public. It also meant there were tons of people in the city which made everything seem more alive.

Moving on. Friday we decided to go shopping. We were in Milan, after all, and with every other Italian dressed to kill, we really felt like we needed to step up our game. This expedition ended up taking the majority of our day although we did manage to make it down to the canals before sunset. Oh, and did I mention we had gelato twice this day? Melinda and I were immediately hooked because, yes, it is simply better in Italy. I’ll just go ahead and admit that I overate every day we were in Italy and would have continued to do so if we’d stayed longer.

Speaking of over-eating, though, we had a lovely dinner on Friday night. Sean is partially Italian and some of his more distant relatives still live in Italy so Sean’s mom, Liz, got in touch with them and let the Martignoni family know that I was coming to Milan. I seriously owe Ms. Sullinger because the Martignoni family really did make our trip. Franco (the dad) picked us up at Marissa’s apartment for dinner around 6:30. It ended up that all three of us girls went, expecting to go out to dinner somewhere and each catch our own tab. This idea was erased as we pulled into Franco’s apartment complex. Feeling horrible for all bombarding their house but excited nonetheless, we were welcomed into their home and got to meet the whole family (Alda, Eleonora, and Pietro). They were such a wonderful family-so sweet and hilarious.

We had dinner after an hour or so and this was the true experience of the day. Apparently, Italians have a rather different order to their meals of which we not previously made aware. So Alda makes us these huge pizzas. Melinda and I assume this is going to be the entirety of the meal (no problem there… I love pizza) so we have 2 or 3 pieces each. Happy and close to full, we watched Alda remove the pizza only to bring out 3 more dishes! Of course, we eat a lot of each of these too. They were delicious. How could we not? So at this point we truly are full. This doesn’t stop us, however, from then having sugared strawberries for desert. Having finished those, we are content with our huge meal. Oh wait, then there is still a huge homemade tart to share and then 3 different types of ice cream to try. Those stereotypes about Italians loving their food- definitely true. And welcome about 3 pounds to my normal weight.

We also went out on Friday night which was… interesting. There were seriously girls dancing in cages at the dance club we went to and about 10 men for every girl present. Just walking around made me feel like I was putting myself on exhibition- all the Italian men are shameless about their staring at women (especially the American ones). It was fun though.

Saturday Melinda and I took a day trip to Genoa. In short, there isn’t a whole lot to see in Genoa, especially when everything is closed for Italian Liberation Day, and their transportation system is very confusing. Not to say it was a bad day. We had a lot of laughs (mainly at ourselves for missing 2 trains and getting on the wrong bus) and got to see where Christopher Columbus was born. Genoa is also on the coast so we got to be by the Mediterranean for a while. (Of course, we got gelato and frozen yogurt during our small trip as well).

Sulnday was a rainy day in Milan. We trudged through it to get more gelato, see a symphonic rehearsal at La Scalla, and browse a few more shops. Not too busy though very wet. Melinda and I then gathered all our things and headed to the airport. We nearly missed our flight (seriously the last people on the plane because they changed the gate without informing us English speakers). That brings us up to the present. I am back in Prague as I finish this blog. Less than 3 weeks until I’m home! Can’t wait!

In the Middle of Nowhere

I've now gotten into the habit of going somewhere every weekend and being consistently busy. However, since I have to go on an academic trip tomorrow (Saturday)I couldn't go anywhere big this weekend. Nevertheless, my friend Melinda and I decided to make use of our Thursdays off and plan a small trip. Where do we decide to go? Cesky Krumlov. What is there to do there? Nothing.

The town was beautiful but teeny tiny. There is a castle to see and also... oh wait, no, that's it. Just a castle. The castle did have bears,though, so we had something to keep us entertained for a little bit. We didn't do a whole lot. We mainly walked around, ate, and popped into a couple of local shops. Our hostel was interesting. The owner's name is Skippy- an eccentric half-Czech, half-Cuban woman who absolutely adores Amy Winehouse. The "hostel" is actually just her house with tons of beds crammed into it. It was an experience.


So not an action packed couple of days but another place I've seen in the Czech Republic. Enjoy the photos!

Easter Weekend

Well, another week down and another weekend outside of Prague. Since we had a long weekend for Easter, Missy, Joel, and I decided to go to Munich and explore a bit more of Germany. It turned out to be a pretty good time. The weather was wonderful (I got to wear dresses and flip flops the whole time) and since Munich isn’t filled to the brim with things to see, we got to take out time meandering about the city.

We didn’t get in until early afternoon on Friday so we headed to Hoftgarten – a garden near the center of Munich known for the Greek temple in the middle of it. We quickly found a nice patch of grass and fell asleep to the music of a man playing the accordion while wearing lederhosen. Welcome to Germany. Then we made our way over to the English Garden. This garden is the largest public garden in Europe, bigger even than Central Park. Moreover, it has a small river running through it that, at its mouth, is filled with rapids. So we get to this park to find men actually surfing on these manmade rapids. It was bizarre but also pretty cool. We spent the afternoon roaming the park and ended up in a beer garden (biergarten). We didn’t do a whole lot the rest of the evening. We got back to our hostel around 9 and pretty much just chilled. We’re not exactly a wild bunch, if you haven’t figured that out yet.

Saturday we went the Deutsche Museum (Germany’s science museum). We spent a couple hours playing our way through the exhibitions before grabbing lunch at Subway. *Again, we decided to go for cheap rather than authentic food… over the weekend we had Subway, Burger King, McDonalds, Pizza Hut, and random gyros at a place near the hostel* We spent the second half of Saturday at the zoo. Not exactly the destination of Munich but we thought it would be fun and the weather was so nice, we wanted to do something outside. Of course, we got a little lost on the way there but made in time to see the penguins get fed so it was a worthy trip. That night was again pretty lowkey.

Sunday was Easter. Admittedly, I was a little down to be so far away from my family. It was also Sean’s birthday which made me miss him more than normal (which is saying something). BUT what better to distract you from such sucky feelings? Oh, a 2 hour plus mass held entirely in German, of course. After searching forever, we found a mass online and headed out to it in the morning. We ended up at the wrong church and had to wait over an hour for mass to begin but enjoyed it (at least for the first hour) once it began. Apparently, a lot of people dress in traditional costumes on Easter when they go to church so we also had something to look at when we were completely clueless as to what was going on in mass. We made our way to Schloss Nymphenburg afterwards- a palace built by Ludwig I as a playground for his newly born son. Modeled after Versailles, it was beautiful and absolutely huge. For the evening, we went to another beer garden where we had liters of beer and pretzels twice the size of my head. Good German experience right there. Since Sunday was also Joel’s birthday, we took him back to the hostel and bought him a few drinks at the bar. Joel’s not much of a drinker so this was a rather comical experience.

Today, we tried to do a couple more things but apparently the Monday after Easter is a holiday in Germany so nothing was open. We just walked around Marienplatz and then made our way to the bus station. All in all, though, it was a good weekend in Munich. Glad I saw the city and escaped the cranky Praguers for one more weekend. Really, German people turned out to be very nice and I loved their outfits.

Holidays

Just wanted to say to everyone (since I'm in Munich and can't do it in person)...

Happy Easter!
and
Happy Birthday Sean!

I Love You,
Hannah

Moravia

I’m back from yet another exhausting weekend of travel. It being Tuesday, however, I’ve had time to recover from my journey and am ready for my next one (I leave for Munich on Friday!). I spent the weekend in Moravia which, contrary to what many originally thought, is not a Balkan state It’s the eastern part of the Czech Republic where there are two semi-cities (Brno and Zlin) and then a lot of teeny tiny towns. My favorite part of being in Moravia: the people there are MUCH nicer than the residents of Prague and most of Bohemia. Thank goodness.

So for the usual rundown: We left early on Friday and headed east. I’d like to say the countryside was beautiful but I actually slept most of the trip. Anyway, we arrive in a random town (which is what I will call most of the towns we saw as I do not remember their names) and get to have a lovely Czech lunch. This is the point where you recall that I don’t like Czech food. Then we go to view Mucha’s Slavic Epic which is a series of 20 paints that are 6 x8 meters. They were absolutely huge and we got a little history lesson of the Slavic peoples to boot. Then we headed to the town we were to sleep in. Our hotel was more of a bed & breakfast and was absolutely adorable with huge, spacious, clean rooms. I was a fan as was my roommate Melinda. Anyway, we searched out dinner and then were in for a real treat *note the sarcasm here*. CIEE had bought us all tickets to see a Czech punk rock concert comprised of 5 middle aged if not old men. The largest didn’t wear a shirt. And they sang in a different language. To a crowd principally comprised of people with Mohawks and a ridiculous amount of black apparel. We ducked out pretty quickly and called it an early night.

Saturday we got up early and had a pretty full day. We made our way to Zlin which is one of the larger cities in Moravia but still more like a town. We toured an animation/film school where we learned how puppet movies, etc are filmed. It was... interesting. Then after lunch we went to the Bat'a shoe museum. This part of the day was more up my alley. We concluded with an elevator ride to the top of their highest building (unsurprisingly, it was not tall at all). Coolest part of this, however, was the elevator itself as it was actually a man's office. Bat'a, the owner of the shoe factories Zlin grew up around, had his office installed as an elevator so he could quickly get to each floor and never have to leave the comfort of his own space.

The night was my favorite activity of the weekend- wine tasting. Our group split into two smaller groups and we each visited a wine cellar located underneath someone's house. Our host was this wine tasting champion of Europe who was exceptionally friendly and generous. We tried 10 different wines that he'd grown and made himself. Then he let us resample whichever ones we especially liked. Needless to say, by the end of our session, we were all a bit louder and more jovial than we had been upon entrance into the cellar. After we left, we decided to also try the wine cellar that the other group went to. We naturally had to try those wines as well. It was a good night.

Sunday was our last day. We had a "Czech day" according to our guide. The Czechs really really like nature and so she basically meant we would be hiking. We toured a chateau called Buchlovice in the morning that was beautiful. The gardens were filled with peacocks and all the rooms had their original decoration intact. It was a nice and calm tour. THEN we hiked 4 kilometers up a mountain to reach a castle. Of course, none of us were in our hiking gear so it was an amusing experience. The castle wasn't very impressive but did get rewarded with a Czech lunch. Although, I'm not sure that's really a reward.