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

Paris

Being in Paris was really cool but it was definitely the most touristy city I have been to so far. My favorite part of Paris minus the Eiffel tower at night was the Musee d' Orsay. Great artist like Monet and Van Gogh were in this museum and it was just so cool to see their original works. I remember seeing all these painting in Art classes with Mrs. Noecker but to see the real thing just took my breath away. I could have stood there for hours just examining the colors and brushstrokes and things like that. I don't even think I could pick out a favorite painting because I loved so many of them. If I would ever go back to Paris I think I would just spend all my time at the museums and skip all the other touristy spots. Although I had so much fun on spring break I was so excited to see the Olomouc sign when I was pulling in on the train. I have missed my little home away from home and I will not miss living out of a suitcase. Now back to school and homework but I'm ok with that for now. I only have like 31 more days here. I can't believe it has gone this fast!! Below are the links to my pictures from spring break. I hope you all enjoy!
-Bernice

-Vienna
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=37641&id=1317120081&l=ec08f01fdb

-Venice
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=38538&id=1317120081&l=b38b076e05

-Rome
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=38540&id=1317120081&l=a556a1bea4
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=38547&id=1317120081&l=d6535c65b8

-Barcelona
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=38561&id=1317120081&l=1cb058d234

-Paris
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=38565&id=1317120081&l=821504f651

Festa de Sant Jordi

So while in Spain on the 23 of April they had this festival called Festa de Sant Jordi. It is a festival celebrating the Patron Saint of Catalunya. On this day the men buy the women roses and the women buy the men books. There are rose and book stands everywhere along with thousands of people out on the streets. I saw roses of every color and even a rainbow rose. It was really cool to see a cities big cultural festival and how they celebrate that day. If your wondering no I didn't get any roses from a cute Spaniard. I know disappointing!
-Bernice

Ace at PT

Let's be honest, public transportation is pretty much nonexistent in Nebraska. What do we have, some buses? In the last week I have pretty much conquered every form of public transportation that there is. Buses, trams, taxis, trains.... and boats. Boat skills will only be handy if I go back to Venice. The fact that public transportation is just part of my life every day now is really strange when you think of how it doesn't even exist in my world usually. Clearly I'm going to have to continue traveling so I can use my newly developed skills.

I'm spending a few days in Prague right now. Exploring and buying things in a place that is CHEAP! I missed the Czech prices more than anything in our week and a half away on break. Tomorrow it's back to Olomouc!

-Jessica

Rome/Barcelona

When I last updated you I had just got to Rome. Well Rome was amazing on Sunday we went and walked the tour we took the night before to take pictures in the light. That took most of the morning and then in the afternoon we went on a tour of Rome by the same people that gave us the night tour. It was really awesome we saw all these cool sites including the Colosseum, Mouth of Truth, Jewish Ghetto, site of Julius Caesar's assassination, Pantheon. Piazza Venezia, Mussolini's balcony, Roman Forums and more. It was really interesting the tour guide Justin really knew his information and was really cute too...total plus!!
The tour started at 2 and ended at 5:30 so it was a pretty long day. We came back and ate, packed, and went to bed hoping that we would be able to get on the plane to Barcelona the next day. The next morning we got up early to go to the Vatican. There I went to St. Peter's Square and the Sistine Chapel, which was breath taking by the way I could have stayed there and looked at it all day. After the Vatican and a quick cheap lunch the group went to the Colosseum to tour the inside, which because it was culture week was totally FREE!! The Colosseum was just amazing and interesting enough they don't know how this amazing building was constructed, which makes the building even cooler. We then went back to the hostel to get our bags so we could go to the airport!
We got there and were so excited because our plane was totally flying! Score! To Barcelona we went. We got to Barcelona really late, so we basically just got to our hostel and slept. The last two day here have been spent like all vacaciones should be (look some Espanol) on the playa (beach). Well that and napping....totally relaxing!! Its really really pretty here and the sea is gorgeous all though it is quite chilly. The first day I got a little burnt but today I was fine. Tomorrow we are hoping to explore downtown and do a little bit of shopping. Adios for now!!
-Bernice

The Silver Lining

Even in all the disappointment of our plans being canceled and all the stress of creating a new plan, a little bit of light peeked through today.






A few of the students from our group found a hostel that is on the outskirts of Rome. It happens to have a beach. And they invited us for a visit. I spent most of the day laying in the sand next to the Mediterranean Sea. I also fully submerged myself in the salty, chilly waters. It was, by far, one of the most fun days I've had here so far. We turned Sam into a Mermaid. The day was a success!
-Jessica

Staying Positive!

In the words of Peter McKay, "The erupting Icelandic volcano achieved what world wars, terrorism, environment campaigns and even Britain's Got Talent all failed to do: it shut down European aviation".

So due to the shut down airlines EVERYONE is looking for a train. There are no longer any trains to Paris or Amsterdam, so those trips have been canceled for me. I have a ticket in my purse that will get me back to Vienna and from there I'm headed to Prague then Olomouc. It's too expensive and will take too long to get to the places we planned at this point. So we are nixing the rest of our trip and heading back to our dorms. Not exactly the most exciting Spring Break, but we are going to be making plans for our last free week and we will stop at a couple of the places we missed. Hopefully by then everything will be back to normal!

-Jessica

Eww Volcanoes!! LOVE VENICE!!

So I haven't written in a few days...I know so much for updating the blog everyday. Well its mostly because I didn't have free internet, so besides for a quick email to my mom that I had made it to Venice ok that was all my internet usage!

The last day of Vienna was actually pretty interesting because we went to this science museum with all these cool taxidermy animals...sounds kind of weird but it was actually really cool. We also went to this really cool local pub and the one guy that works there was from San Fransisco, it was a really awesome experience.

The next day we went on a SEVEN HOUR bus ride to Venice. It was a long ride but it was totally worth it to be in Venice! Venice was beautiful, gorgeous, fantastic and every other good adjective you can think of! I just want to live there!! Its soo pretty and as soon as we went to the main island on a train I knew I was going to love it! The first day we went to San Marco, the main square there and then went and ate the best spaghetti and lasagna I have ever had!!

The next day we got up nice and early to tour the old palace and church in San Marco square. After that the day got even better we rode a gondola, which even for 15 euros was totally worth it...only bad thing is that we had an old man as our gondola driver...but later in the afternoon it was made up for when this really cute gondola driver totally blew us a kiss and winked at us! He might have to be my new boyfriend! We sat at the pier for a long time and even saw this girl get pooped on by a bird. It was a relaxing/entertaining afternoon!

Today was the most interesting day maybe of all. We got to the airport only to find out that no flights were flying in Europe! Awesome! Stupid volcano in Iceland! So instead we hoped on a train in Venice and got to Rome in about three and a half hours. It has been an interesting day to say the least. We got here relaxed for a while then went on this really awesome night tour of Rome that included the Trevi Fountain which was really pretty at night. Also our tour guide Tad was so much fun and told us all kinds of behind the scenes information. Now its time for a shower and bed. Its been a really really long day for real! Hopefully this volcano ash will settle down so we can fly to Barcelona on Monday but for now I will just enjoy Rome and Italy. My favorite country on this trip so far!!

Awesome! Volcanoes!

So we don't really have access to the internet all of the time, and that's our main means of hearing news. Apparently a volcano erupted in Iceland? I found out this morning, soon before I found out my flight to Rome was canceled. So I'm stuck in Venice until midnight. That's the soonest we could get a train that cost less than 100 Euros. I'm sitting in a McDonald's. It's the only place we could find free wifi.

We took a boat taxi to the Airport, talked to a really rude lady at the information desk. Then I found the bus desk and we caught a bus to the train station about 20 seconds before the bus pulled away from the curb. We got to the train station and stood in a line that was so long that there were about 50 people out the door standing on the steps. Then after about 20 minutes we figured out there were fast ticket machines. After a crazy few minutes trying to figure out the machine we got the only ticket under 100 Euros. The train leaves at midnight. So we had roughly 7 hours to waste in Venice. We ended up walking in the direction to our Hostel and made a complete circle for the day. Then it started to rain.

We're going to hopefully get away with sitting in McDonald's for a couple more hours, stealing internet and keeping dry. As sucky as the situation is it's been kind of a good thing. We've met a bunch of people today that are in the same situation that we are. So far in McDonald's we have been asked if there are any free outlets by us, how to spell "hugs" in English, and what internet network we are connected to.

I won't get to make my trip to Pisa because we'll be out of time in Italy though! That's not very good news! And I found out just recently that there is speculation that the eruption that just happened could set off another one? Not anything I wanted to hear. More news when I'm in Rome!

-Jessica

Vienna...start of LONG vacation!!

So I am going to try to update you everyday during my great adventure of five countries in two weeks! This stuff is way more exciting then boring old school in Olomouc! Today we took a three hour bus trip to Vienna. We stopped for twenty minutes at this place on the highway it was really strange. When we finally arrived we got in our hostel and dropped our stuff off before heading to the center.
Our hostel is really nice it has two four person rooms, a living room with a table and a tv, a kitchen complete with a oven, microwave, fridge, and even a dishwasher!
Here are some pictures of it...




After that we went downtown and ate at this pizzeria it was the best pizza I have had over here. We then went to the old town center which was really pretty and walked around. We then went into this really beautiful church, St Stephan's that was to dark to take pictures in. On our walk back to the hostel my friends Jeana and Shannon and I went and got some really good ice cream and then did a little shopping. I got a really cute little dress to wear out with some leggings to go underneath. Now we are back in our room and hanging out for a bit before we catch up with the others for a few drinks. Well I have to go but hopefully another update from Vienna will follow.
-Bernice

Missing Home

Yesterday I got to talk to my mom side of the family on skype! It was so nice to get to see everyone and answer their questions. I really miss my family and can't wait to go back and see them!! I love them so much and would not be the person I am today without them. I wanna do a special shout out to my mom who without her I wouldn't be experiencing all the great things I am over here! Thanks mom!! It was so comforting to see familiar faces again and my little cousins just put a smile on my face! (Thanks Tia, Chloe, and Tyson). It was also really good to talk to my Grandma Tycz and yes I still claim her kolaches are much better than the ones over here! Although yesterday made me a little homesick, the excitement of spring break has helped a lot, along with the fact that I have to focus on the dreaded packing!! Hope all is well for my followers in the U.S. and my lesson for the day is let your family know how much you appreciate them because when you are away you realize just how important they really are!!
-Bernice

This stuff is never going to fit in this bag...

So I have to pack 2 weeks worth of STUFF into a little carry on bag. We have a mixture of flights and train rides making up our Spring Break, and since I'm cheap I didn't want to pay to check bags. So don't judge me if I wear a shirt twice without washing it! Now I bet you're wondering where I'll be adventuring, well I'll tell you. Bernice told you some of this.
Tuesday 13th - Wednesday 14th we will be in Vienna as a group
Thrusday 15th - Friday 16th we will be in Venice as a group

This is where our Spring Break starts! I'm heading off with Kelly and Shannon.
Saturday 17th we have a flight from Venice to Rome. While we are in Rome we are staying in a hostel called The Yellow. It has some really good reviews and is mostly students. I think most of the group is headed to Rome and staying at the same place!

On Tuesday the 20th we are flying from Rome to Paris! We are staying at a hostel called The Plug Inn. We're only there for 1 night; enough time to see the Eiffel Tower and then we're out of there. Shannon had an oops with her flights so she's actually headed to Dublin after that but Kelly and I are headed to...

Amsterdam! On a train! One the 21st. While we're in Amsterdam we are staying at this really awesome place. It's called Lucky Lake. This is what I'm most excited about. It's like a camp ground! And we have e-mailed with the staff and they seem really nice.

I'm pretty sure this is going to one of the most amazing times I have ever had, and I can't wait to show off some pictures!

-Jessica

Excited for Spring Break!

The last week has been filled with lots of school and schoolwork. Which surprisingly I am actually doing. Want to get a jump on these papers before I run out of time here. Time which is going so fast by the way. I can't believe I have been here for almost a month already! It seemed like just yesterday I was saying goodbye to my mom at the airport in Omaha! We had our first test last week in our Czech Language class and while it was only for us to see where we were at I did really good, so that gives me confidence going into the final test! Thank goodness for taking a language in high school because it makes understanding this language a little easier. Today I'm going to begin packing for my two week hiatus from Olomouc. Yes, I said TWO WEEKS, yikes and I have to pack light....something I seem to have a problem with...you should see my room! On Tuesday we leave as a class to a trip to Vienna, Austria (Yay to visiting another country...but I guess these next two weeks will result in visiting four different countries). We will be there for two days before heading to Venice on Thursday. After spending two days in Venice we begin our spring break, which I have been greatly anticipating every since I found out I was going on this trip in November. Most of the group is headed to Rome after Venice and we are staying in this really cool looking hostel called Yellow! While there we plan on hitting up Vatican City, which I am so excited for!! Maybe I'll even get lucky and see the Pope!! We will be in Rome from Saturday till Monday. On Monday night 7 of us are flying to Barcelona, Spain! Ever since taking Spanish in high school I have really wanted to visit Spain, so I am so excited that I have the opportunity to do so (and yes Mrs. C I will try to get you a menu at a bar de tapas). The group will be there till Friday morning and then leaving for Paris. My friend Jeana and I booked our flights at a separate time as the rest of the group so we don't leave until that Saturday morning. When we get there we hope to meet up with the rest of the group, who will be staying in the same hostel as us! I can't wait to visit the Louvre and the Eiffle Tower. I am hoping to get a picture ANTM (America's Next Top Model) style in front of the Eiffle Tower (just for you Renee). There was a little issue with booking a flight back to Prague (mostly the fact that I had a blonde moment and the calendars with dates to book the flight started with Monday being the first day of the week instead of Sunday). So instead of getting home on Monday like we needed to be we will be in Paris till Tuesday and have to miss some of lecture (don't worry MOM the lady over here with us told us not to worry about it)! So I will be traveling for a full two weeks..phew its going to be exhausting but a great experience at the same time! I'm planning on bringing my computer with me so I hope to be able to update you all on my travels during the next two weeks. Now its time to start the dreaded packing!!
-Bernice

Train to Brno!

Today I spent the entire day in Brno, another city in the Czech Republic. It is only a hour and a half train ride from Olomouc to Brno, and only costs about 15 bucks for a ticket. Kelly needed to visit the Mendel museum for research she is doing and I offered to go along to keep her company.

We have taken trains already, but the few times before someone has told us where to go. Today we were all alone, but we figured it out relatively easily. So with the train ride out the way we then had to find the museum. It rained on us as we were walking, and we actually ended up at the back side of the building to start. But by the time we figured out where the entrance was (after some slight embarrassment and giggling) the rain had stopped.

The museum was really interesting. Gregor Mendel is known for his work on heredity. You know, they guy with the peas? Well okay, maybe you don't. Here's a wikipedia page if you really want to know about him. Along with the museum there is also the garden area and... The Bee Houses. We all know I hate bees, but we had to go! I mean we were there! So check these pictures out! I hope you're proud, Mom!









This is the original bee house, the boxes in the windows have obviously been replaced. Mendel tried to cross breeds of bees, but because of how he tried to do so it wasn't a success, apparently bees breed about 10 meters in the air? News to me. (This is information given to us by the guy who showed us to the bee house.)









You might not be able to see the bees, but I sure could! And hear them! We walked right past these and as we were leaving the man giving us a tour knocked on a little box on the ground and said "This one has bumble bees. I'm not sure where they are right now though." He knocked on a box that should be fully of bumble bees! I'm not a bee keeper, but I'm pretty sure that's not a good idea!












This is cropped a little weird, but that's me... and those boxes of bees are right behind me! I'm even smiling!

New post about the upcoming Spring Break soon!

-Jessica

I'm a slacker. But I'm learning stuff!

So I feel really bad, I had all these intentions of posting a blog as close to every day as I could get! So I'm going to get on the ball and be better at that. I have plenty to talk about.

No one really cares to hear about classes though, so on to the good stuff. We missed Easter :( I was actually much more upset about that fact that I realized I would be. We didn't color eggs, but there is an even better tradition here. Apparently there is a pagan tradition of Easter whippings. On Easter Monday the men get to whip women (lightly) on the legs with sticks made from braided willow branches. The sticks used to be made by the men, but now you can buy them just about everywhere. We saw stands all over with these sticks, they were actually very pretty! Outside of the mall we found an old man who was braiding them himself and decorating them with ribbon. Kelly bought two of them to take home for her family. By the time I decided I wanted one I couldn't find a stand. Awesome luck.

Due to the pretty crappy weather Bernice and I chose to stay home on Monday and the report we heard back from the girls who bravely ventured out was that it wasn't nearly as chaotic as we had all hoped. I guess it's more of a family/friends tradition than a go-out-and-whip-every-female-in-sight tradition. I did see a couple men coming in and out of the apartment building across the street from our balcony. To be honest it made me a little nervous. I'm not a big fan of being hit with sticks, even if it's supposed to signify good health for me. I almost forgot the best part! Not only do men hit you with a stick, but you're expected to give them candy (used to be pretty eggs) after they hit you. I can honestly say this is a tradition I wouldn't mind seeing catch on around the States.


If you look closely you can see this is an old man on the tram, he is holding a whipping stick! (This picture was stolen from Jenny who's on the trip with us. Thanks Jenny!)


This wasn't ON Easter, but it is a tree decorated in the Easter market in Prague. The Easter decorations were beautiful there! Everything was bright colors and all about spring! There were also really awesome eggs that stood taller than me. Not real ones!


We went for a walk downtown in the center to see if there was anything happening. I found some shoes on a wire. Gang territory? Drug sales? All possible, it was a pretty sketchy alley that I found them in.


This isn't as clear in such a small picture, but these are the adorable flowers we found in the park. Kelly said they smell wonderful! There are the little blue ones and there are also tiny baby daisies. ADORABLE and very Spring Time!

Laundry Day!

Today was a pretty nice day and we all day dirty clothes so Bernice, our friend Kelly and I decided to do some laundry. There was a drier in the room we went to, but they charge you by the hour so it's easier and cheaper just to hang our clothes up on our balcony.
But maybe it isn't such a good idea for both Bernice and me to do our laundry on the same day. See it's in the forecast that it's going to rain tonight, so we hand to bring our laundry in, before it was dry. We started hanging up lines in our room, and the total number comes to, I believe, eight lines of clothes now hanging in our room.

Walking isn't exactly possible without going over or under at least 3 lines of clothes. We're confined to our beds until tomorrow. I really have no idea how we're going to get ready in the morning for class. And I REALLY hope that there isn't a fire because I'm not sure we could get to our door, but wet clothes should come in handy in that situation, right?! It's been an adventure!

This weekend is going to be an adventure for sure! We have some tentative plans for our long Easter weekend. The group has talked about having a pot-luck dinner, or just going out all together on Sunday. And Bernice, Kelly and I have talked about visiting the zoo because they have some special event going on this weekend (I'm not well informed, Kelly was telling me about it). There is supposed to be a castle really close to Olomouc that we have talked about visiting, and we also have talked about making a trip to the mall. So hopefully we're going to have a very busy weekend!

- Jessica

Picture links!

P.S. here are the links to my pictures for those of you who don't have facebook.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=35350&id=1317120081&l=ae1d348592
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=35415&id=1317120081&l=8f039de10e
-Bernice

Busy Busy Busy!

Sorry I haven't posted for a while I've been busy and sick!! Trying to get myself healthy, being sick is definitely no no fun!!! So last weekend we went to Prague and Dresden! It was a blast and so so pretty! We arrived to Prague via train on Thursday and checked into our hostel. I was pretty lucky I got a double bed to myself and got some of the best sleep I've had since I've been over here!! We then went to the town center and saw the astronomical clock go off which was actually pretty awesome. We then broke up for lunch where I had a hot dog (a staple in my diet here) and then I had the most amazing thing ever a chocolate covered banana-strawberry shish kabob!! Lets just say I thought I had died and gone to heaven....but nope I was still in Prague. While waiting to meet the group Jessica, our friend Kelly, and I sat down and we astonished when we could actually hear English from people other then those in our group. You see Prague is pretty touristy while Olomouc is not at all, so we are pretty used to not understanding anyone but each other. So it was exciting to understand people. Then we had to walk up the death hill! This "mountain," as I would like to call it, was so steep it made the campus hill (people from Hartington know what I'm talking about) look like a slight incline! And not only was it steep it went on forever and then we turned and there was another steep "mountain." After I finally caught my breath again (which might have taken a good 5 minutes, hey I'm out of shape) I got to enjoy this amazing view of Prague!! It is so pretty there I wish I could have taken you all with me (I will post a link to my pictures but pictures just don't do it justice). We then had the afternoon free which was spent wandering around. The next day we met to guess what? Climb up the DEATH "MOUNTAIN" again....since this is where the Prague Palace is!! Round two was a little better but only because I knew what to expect. We then saw a beautiful Cathedral on the Palace grounds, as well as the main palace itself, and some other interesting areas, including Golden Lane, which is where all the servants lived. We were then free again in the afternoon and that night a bunch of us went to a five floor dance club, where I got my groove on!!! It was so cool and we all had a bunch of fun dancing the night away. The only problem with staying up late dancing is we had to get up pretty early for our train to Dresden, Germany (thank goodness I could sleep for a while on the train). The day in Dresden was spent looking at this beautiful Lutheran Church and an art gallery in the old palace area. We got back an all basically went to bed after a long couple of days!! Sunday we got up and enjoyed a McDonald's breakfast and then went to tour the Jewish Museum in Prague. This was really cool and sobering at the same time. They have one building dedicated to all the people who died during the Holocaust, who were from the Czech Republic. They also had painting from Children who had been killed in the holocaust, that they had recently unearthed at one of the old concentration camp. That deeply saddened me and it was a very somber moment for me. After that we all went to the John Lennon Peace wall which was one of my favorite things we did on the whole trip. We even got to write our names on it which was pretty awesome. I also tagged my lovely Chi Omegas from back home that I miss so much. Then it was time to get back on the train and travel back to Olomouc. It was actually nice to be back at our "home away from home." I missed my computer and being able to communicate with my friends and family! Now back to the daily grind here in Olomouc!! Well its time for lunch, here I come salami sandwich and kiwi!!
-Bernice

No time!!!

I've been working my butt off to get a paper done and I haven't had any time to blog! But! I found a few minutes. We've doing so many awesome things. I've been pretty sick and that makes it really hard to fully enjoy everything. I found some Halls in a grocery store today! That's pretty much the highlight of today.

We've been cooking dinner because it's much cheaper than eating out, obviously. Monday we had French Toast, Bacon and scrabbled eggs. Tonight we had spaghetti. We have grilled cheese and soup on the menu for this week too!

Time for bed! New post tomorrow hopefully!

-Jessica

Countries

So today I was thinking about how I will be in a new country again this Saturday when we go to Dresden, Germany. As I was thinking this it occurred to me that after this trip I will have visited more countries in Europe then states in the United States. That is either really sad or really cool. I'm leaning towards really cool since there are many people that don't even get to travel outside of the country even once and I am going to be in approximately 10 countries within two and a half months!! I just thought I would let you in on this little fact I figured out!! I am all ready to go to Praha (Prague) tomorrow!! It will be fun to explore another city and see some amazing sites. Don't worry all I will take lots and lots of pictures and enjoy my time there!
-Bernice

Day of Class

Today was our first full day of class and stuff. The lectures were ok, the one was really interesting but mostly because we went over some of the things I learned in my political science class last semester so it was cool to expand my knowledge base of that specific topic. We also had two lectures today which is not common usually we only have one, so it made for a long day. Went to Globus again today...I feel like I must go there everyday or the day is not complete...but really I hope I don't have to go tomorrow. Tonight we experimented and made mac and cheese and hot dogs it was pretty good but what made it even better is we made it ourselves. Time for sleep soon and tomorrow I think might have a nap time scheduled in along with a trip to the park which I'm really excited for!!
-Bernice

Lazy Sunday!

So today I basically laid in bed all day and it was delightful!! Boring to you, yes, boring to me, not really! Yesterday we bought a switch (I told you it was a switch Jessica) so now we can both use the Internet in our room...YaY!!! We then went exploring to the mall. Before we got on our first tram this girl Jenny in our group told us to take the tram to the stop that started with a T and then look for a big pink bus. Well we rode that tram all the way to the end and there was never a stop that started with a T or a big pink bus, so big failure (Thanks Jenny). So then our new friend Kelly who was with us saw that tram number 1 had a stop with a T so we decided to take it, I mean what is the worse that could happen we would have to take the tram back the other way. Well finally we found the stop that started with a T and the big pink bus. We got on the big pink bus to take us to the mall Olympia and found out that if we would have just stayed at the last stop of the first tram it would have picked us up on the way to the mall. Oh well. So we went to the mall and ate at KFC which was delightful by the way and also gave us free refills and if you have ever been to Europe you will know why we were so excited about the refills. After walking around the mall for a while and finding lots of stuff that I was tempted to buy I went out of the mall empty handed (my dad would be proud or at least happy). We got home and were all about our computers since it was the first time we could both be on at the same time! Like I said today has been very uneventful until Jessica went to make a chocolate sandwich (Nutella and Bread) and found out our bread was moldy. It wasn't that is was moldy but it was moldy after THREE DAY of our purchase, I mean where is Sarah Lee when you need her and her non-moldy bread. But its about bedtime even though it is only nine...because we have to get up early and have a full day of class all day...OH JOY!! So na shledanou for now!

Toilet Paper

The first day in the Czech Republic I discovered in the bathroom of the airport that the toilet paper was a brownish-grayish color. Now this isn't exactly something I would generally think about being different from country to country, but it is! I was a little confused by the color because it kind of reminds me of recycled paper. And I wasn't sure I was okay with that. Well it got even better! We went shopping to stock up on the essentials (toilet paper being one of the items on our list). Well when we finally found the cheaper TP we noticed the pretty flowery pattern then someone pointed out that it is scented. SCENTED. Sea Breeze scent to be specific. Maybe this exists at home and I just haven't noticed, but this is a GENIUS idea. Maybe it's meant to be like an air freshener. Does anyone remember the scented toilet paper roll holder things? Same technique? I'm curious!
-Jessica

Quiet Day

Today was a pretty quiet day! Which was kind of nice because it allowed us to kind of relax and get organized. We got a tour of the library...we really didn't learn much we didn't already learn though. We had Czech language class this afternoon...I thought it went a little better then yesterday but you would have to ask Jessica. After class this guy stopped us to listen to him play the accordion and we happy obliged. One of the guys with us Kane even asked if someone would polka with him so I did. I might need to work on my polka a little bit more he was definitely better then me but I wasn't terrible. I guess that is what being Czech gets me. We then went to Globus (the Walmart of here) and picked up so stuff including nutella and bread so tonight we had what we like to call chocolate sandwiches...they were delicious!!! Tonight we have basically hung out in the room and caught up with friends and family since we finally have internet in the room. Tomorrow we have Czech language class at 9 to 9:45 and then are free for the rest of the day and since we got our tram passes today and don't have to pay for tickets anymore, I think tomorrow afternoon we are going to go exploring. It's getting late here and Jessica is already sleeping so I better hit the hay.
-Bernice

HAPPY ST PATTY'S DAY!!

Today is St Patty's Day. And it was also our second whole day in Olomouc. It was a LONG day, and very tiring. We had a guided tour of the city hall. It was beautiful! There are this amazing paintings everywhere that each have a story. We got to climb the tower of the astronomical clock which I think was 750 meters high. I don't exactly remember, but it was a LOT of stairs. And we had an adventure trying to find a cell phone. But that ended in success! We also had our first Czech Lesson today! It was not a success. I think that is going to be pretty rough, but I'm so excited to be able to speak a little. Maybe then I can stop having to just point at everything I want. Turns out pointing is the true universal language. I think that's about it, now it's time for dinner with the group!
-Jessica

First Full Day a.k.a. the day we were super successful...YAY US!!

So today was our first full day in Olomouc and it was super successful!!! But I will back up a little bit we left Omaha on Sunday at noon central time and after three plane rides (the longest being 8 hours) and a felt like 17 hours but was really only three hour bus ride to Olomouc. Last night we ate and unpacked and passed out because we were so so tired after our trip!! Today we had orientation which was good kind of boring but ok! For lunch we came back to our dorms which are a long tram ride (which by the way we mastered amazingly) from the university. We got these sandwiches but we just pointed at them because the lady didn't know any English!! We got back again successfully and then had this city tour which is kind of awesome. I, which I should clarify is Bernice right now, put all my pictures on facebook so if we are facebook friends you can see them. We then went to eat at McDonalds which is different then it is in the U.S.A. they have a McDonut. The we ventured to Globus also successful, which is like a Walmart! The day as a whole was successfully but now time for bed. Add more tomorrow. They are kicking me out of the computer room!! Bye Everyone!!