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!!