This was fun at first

I'm trying to avoid packing! So what better to do than type out a blog? A well thought out blog that takes a large portion of time to complete would be best I believe. Now don't start making assumptions! I am mostly packed but I'm down to where I have to decide exactly what I need to keep out and stuff is getting tight to fit and it's really not fun anymore. It was tons of fun when I first started! Who remembers that I was going to spend my last week traveling?! Doesn't matter. Here are the highlights.

Paris --
-Amazing sites!
-Underground smells terrible!
-We stayed in a weird hostel that was kind of like a hotel and a little iffy.
-The first night we weren't able to book a hostel because everything had been full so we had planned to just sleep in the airport BUT we found out that booking a room for 2 at a hotel was really cheap. So I had to sneak in! It was exciting!
-The food was wonderful.
- The Catacombs are apparently a very secret thing. We hunted and couldn't manage to find where they were! The street signs kept talking about them but they were nowhere to be found.
- I got a lot of souvenirs

London --
-I am in love with this city!
-I saw the Queen!!! The change of Parliament happened to be going on while we were there, so the Queen was being paraded around in a carriage.
-I saw Harry Potter. Okay... maybe he wasn't the REAL Harry Potter, but he looked JUST like him!









-The Tube is my favorite subway system!!!
-I bought a ton of souvenirs!

Dublin --
-I wish we had stayed longer so we could have spent some time OUTSIDE of the city.
-I really love Ireland!!!
-Dublin seems to be all about the Pubs. I am not complaining.
-I love Irish accents!
-I saw a leprechaun! It may have only been a man dressed up as one, but it totally counts!
-I bought a TON of souvenirs! Again.

Well I suppose this is enough. I DO want to come home tomorrow so I better get to packing. In about 7 hours I will be on a bus and on the first little leg of the journey home. <3 Home!

-Jessica

Packing to go home....

Today I started the long and tedious process of wrangling all my stuff up and trying to fit it into all of my suitcases....it is not fun...not fun at all!!! Sorry I haven't posted in a while we have just been so busy. In the past two weeks I have...gone to a waterpark...seen a movie, Robin Hood (in English with Czech subtitles), seen a church full of bones, went to a castle with bears in the moat, saw a cool Baroque theater, had a bonfire, and rafted down the river (well more like floated singing Disney, Lady Gaga, and Shania Twain). Lets just say it has been one of the best two weeks of my life!! I am so excited to finally go home but I will miss the awesome group of people that have been a huge part of all my memories these past two and a half months, it definitely wouldn't have been the same without them. I will never forget them or this experience as long as I live and it has definitely been an adventure. Well I suppose I should go back to packing.
-Bernice

Pictures as promised

Here are the pictures I promised earlier...

Olomouc

Krakow/Auschwitz

Free Monday

Today we don't have class!! YAY!! So what better to do then update my blog! So this weekend we went to Krakow as you have all probably read on Jessica's post. So I will just add my favorite. The salt mines were pretty legit...my favorite part was the church all made out of salt. It was just gorgeous there were scenes, for example The Last Supper, carved into the walls on the side, beautiful chandeliers down the middle, and the alter area was just spectacular. Sorry we had to pay to take pictures so I don't have any proof but it really was pretty.

My favorite part of Krakow was the Polish food...especially pierogi, seriously one of my new favorite foods!! What is peirogi you ask...its a dumpling stuffed with good stuff...my favorite was the ones stuffed with pork. It also had carmalized onions on the top. Seriously delicious! I had this for three meals...the best though was at this little ma and pa restaurant me and my friend Jenny went to. Not only was it amazing but it was cheap. Jenny also had mashed potatoes and they seriously tasted like my Grandma Tycz's mashed potatoes they were so so good!

The last day we visited Auschwitz. I cannot even begin to put into words how solemn and sad a place this was. Its a place I am definitely glad I have visited in my life but the deaths and abuse that occurred there make me question how humans could do something this destructive to another group of human beings. I was brought to tears many times realizing the significance of where I stood and the exhibits in the museum were just heartbreaking. One of the worst was that of children's shoes and clothes that had been collected. Realizing how many innocent children were killed deeply saddened me. Another of the more sad exhibits was that of human hair. The Nazi's would shave and cut the hair of the prisoners and then collect it and send it to textile companies. Some of the hair never got sent and is now on display and it just makes you realize how many people were killed for no good reason. The trip back to Olomouc was very quit and somber.

Today I have finished my one paper so that is a relief and the plan is to go to the waterpark here in Olomouc later this afternoon, which I am super stocked about. Time to make lunch now. Soon I will put links up for my pictures some from Olomouc and some from my trip to Krakow.
-Bernice

A place that reminds me of home!

So we all know that Loup City is the Polish capital of Nebraska, right? I wish I could say, "Well I was in the REAL Polish capital!" But not quite. I was in Krakow though! I may not be able to speak to anyone and I may not be able to read anything, but the food was something I knew about! Who doesn't love a delicious Pierogi, am I right?









So other than eating Polish food we did actually learn about some things. We went to a church, a museum, a church museum... That's Europe for you. But our first day in Poland we visited the Salt Mines. They're cold and salty. I may or may not have tasted the wall. I think almost everyone in our group licked the wall at least once INCLUDING our trip leader, Barbara! The mines were amazing, it's pretty much it's own little town down there. It has a bar, a restaurant, some shops and a church! Aside from people living there permanently it has everything, if not more, than Ashton does! It also has dwarfs... They are born from eggs I'm told.










I think the most memorable part of our visit to Poland was our trip to Auschwitz, there are really no words to describe how you feel walking through the camps. This trip is something I've been looking forward to since I found out I was coming here. On the right side of this picture, between the tracks, is where everyone was unloaded from train cars and sorted. Those who were not fit to work where then walked down this road to the crematorium. As we were walking back a friend and I were talking about how so many people walked this little road just like we did, but none of them walked back like we were. A very sad thought, the whole experience was extremely surreal.












On a happier note it is Mother's Day and I need to go call my mom!

-Jessica

Moving In!

So I am here in Europe and all my stuff just got moved into my new house back in Kearney!! I must be magical or have an amazing set of friends and family! Shout out to all those who helped move me in!! I wish I could be there but at the same time I'm really enjoying my time in Europe! On Friday a bunch of us girls went Go-Kart driving and it was a total blast! It was in this parking garage on the top floor and looked pretty new! We might have to hit that up again before we go back to the U.S. On Sunday almost the entire group went to support our friend Kane, also a member of the group, who is playing rugby for the local rugby club in Olomouc! I have never been to a rugby game before and it was super confusing but a lot of fun to watch! Their team even won which made the day that much better! It was also cool to see most of the group there to support him, it shows that in the short time we have been here we have all become really good friends. It will be sad when we all have to say goodbye when we get back. I think I'm going to spend my last month enjoying becoming better friends with everyone in the group and making some more awesome memories! This has really been an amazing blessing and I have been having a time of my life. Now time for some more homework and laundry so I can get ready to hit the road again to Krakow on Thursday!
-Bernice

Not much time left!

I realized today that there are only 30 days left of our semester! I'm both happy and disappointed about that. The other students are starting to pack up and some are moving home. Their semester is coming to an end now. In the next month we are going to be so busy that the time is going to fly by! We have group trips to Krakow, Auschwitz, Kutna Hora and Cesky Krumlov. We also have a whole week free for whatever we want! Kelly and I are making plans to go to Ireland, Dublin and Paris. I'm actually looking up flight information as soon as I'm done writing this entry. We also found out that on Tuesday we are going on a little extra field trip to a local castle. We leave for Krakow on Thursday and we will be gone for 4 or 5 days. We're going to Auschwitz on this trip too! I'm pretty excited about that!

We also just found out that there are a LOT of really awesome things in Olomouc that we didn't know about! We knew there was a Zoo but we also found out there is a ropes course and a go-cart track! We've been packing in the fun events since we got back from Spring Break because I think it really hit us that we're running out of time.

On Wednesday I went to a futbol (soccer) game! It was the local team Sigma Olomouc, and the game was a really great time. Today we went to race some go-carts and tomorrow we might go see a movie. We are for sure going to a Rugby game on Sunday and we are thinking about going to the Zoo on Monday. It's going to a busy weekend and after Thursday a really busy week of traveling.

-Jessica