Maxine
Hello all! I'm writing from Prague, where I'll be studying abroad from July 8-August 5. I'll be updating everyday (or at least ideally every other day...) to let everyone know what I'm up to in Europe. Hopefully I'll even post pictures as well! Thanks, and happy reading!BlogInPrague
Travel Blog Posts
August 4th 2006
last night was so much fun! we ended up at this club called "duplex" which apparently is where bruce willis parties in prague, and also mick jagger had a birthday here or something--- i just danced the night away with my friends- it was a great time. we ended up getting to meet up with our friend misa (see picture) and it was so great getting to see her again. so yes, my first club experience was a very positive one- i realized it's going to be kind of strange going home and not being able to drink or go out to clubs for another year. i'm all of a sudden going to feel very young, especially when my close friends will all be turning 21 this year. anyway... today is my last full day in ... read more
August 3rd 2006
today was pretty much our last day of class- tomorrow we'll just meet at a cafe to discuss all of our papers (i.e. the lectures we've heard over the past 2 weeks). so today we had 2 lectures, both of which i found really interesting because they dealt with current social issues, and a visit to the national museum, which i did not find so interesting. the first lecture was on the roma minority, or what the group known to most american as the "gypsies" (that name is technically quite incorrect actually). i really had no knowledge of the hardships this group has faced in europe- or where they came from (northern india). they have actually been named as an official "nation" (they have their own language, flag, anthem, etc.) but no state. i.e.-- the speaker ... read more
August 2nd 2006
today instead of having lectures, malvina and marketa decided to take us a typical bohemian town in the czech republic, kutna hora. it's a small town, but quite adorable and very historic. the architechture spans various time periods (baroque, gothic, etc.)- and it actually originally was founded as a silver mining town. we had about a one hour bus ride, and got there at around noon. so we walked around for a little bit just checking out the town- and then we were hungry around 1:30 so we went for lunch. marketa made the mistake of mentioning a mexican restaurant- so of course we went there for lunch lol. it was a very interesting experience- we referred to our food as "czech-mex"--like, dionne and i shared veggie fajitas-- which looked like stew veggies in a pan. ... read more
August 1st 2006
we were a little nervous about today because we realized on our schedule that we had 3 lectures plus a visit to the musuem of communism (we just thought it sounded like a lot!) but everything about today ended up being really enjoyable. after breakfast (they now have peach juiceboxes! yummy!!) and got ready, we were off to class. it was a marketa lecture today (yay!! we love her and think she should come be a professor at mizzou)- she talked with us a little bit about czech foreign policy, especially about joining the EU. our next lecture was actually this guy who had come to speak in our other class, so we were a little annoyed at first. but actually, his presentation this time was more interesting-- apparently he was able to be more frank ... read more
July 31st 2006
today wasn't the fullest day- we had a malvina lecture in the morning (so it wasn't the most exciting...), then about an hour and a half break in which we went to H&M (i bought a cute purple/brown striped tank for $7!) and got some lunch. then we went back to school for a guest lecture. it was actually pretty interesting-- he was from this research company, and actually tailored his presentation a little bit for us since we're advertising students (well not me, but you know...) so he talked about brands, brand loyalties, etc.-- then he tied it into the CR and talked with us about reasons why czechs are less brand loyal than other western nations. after the lecture we went to tesco (this crazy awesome grocery/department store) for a bit, and then came ... read more
July 30th 2006
today was our day to visit the jewish quarter! since it's sunday, we decided to sleep in a little bit and leave the dorm at around noon. so of course instead of sleeping late i woke up at like 8:30 (silly, predictable me). we went for breakfast at around 9:30, and then i played around on the computer for a while (i downloaded a free episode on iTunes of this cool new show on bravo called "tabloid wars"- pretty neat show) and actually did my reading marketa gave us. (i was glad to do that, so i could at least feel productive lol) so we left the dorm and headed for mustek so we could grab a quick lunch and then head over to the jewish quarter. i was really looking forward to visiting (and kind ... read more
July 29th 2006
we decided a few days ago (because we like to have a set plan) that we were going to visit terezin on saturday, and the jewish quarter on sunday. so last night we made a plan to leave at 9:15, ride on the metro to the bus station and then take the hour bus ride there. we hoped to make a 10:00 bus, and then figured we would just take as long as we wanted there and then come back in the late afternoon. i was really interested to visit this concentration camp, because i had read about how this was the nazis' model "jewish town" and that it was fixed up for propoganda purposes. rick steves said that they even feature films that the nazis played for the red cross to convince them that they ... read more
July 28th 2006
so i'm postdating this entry, because last night we stayed out kinda late and i didn't feel like writing before going to sleep- since we're leaving in a few minutes to visit terezin. so i'll start working on yesterday's now... we didn't have class until 11:15, so we slept in a little bit which was very nice. we listened to marketa lecture about the "normalization period" in the czech republic. this was so interesting- and i really learned a lot. basically, the communist part was thriving in the czech republic during the 50s and 60s, but it was basically a totalitarian regime. finally during "prague spring" (the first half of 1968) the czech republic was finally in a good place, until august when the soviet troops invaded. they said they were only going to stay for ... read more
July 27th 2006
today we didn't have class until 2:00, and so my posse and i decided it would be a perfect morning to visit the castle! although we planned to leave at 9, we ended up leaving around 9:30- plus we had to catch the metro to mustek (old town metro stop) which is 2 stops away from malostranska (the metro stop for the castle) because dionne needed to cash her traveler's checks at citibank which doesn't charge a commission-- so anyway, we didn't end up arriving there until close to 10. we were a little worried about the time, but ended up being absolutely fine and got to see everything we wanted to see! we bought the B ticket, which grants access to st. vitus cathedral (the mondo site of the castle grounds), the tower in the ... read more
July 26th 2006
dear diary... lol- just kidding. (little inside joke for my posse in the czech rep.) tonight we got back from olomouc-- not the most "exciting" town (as far as tourist attractions and things to do at night go) but it was pretty exciting in that i had 2 drinks last night! (another first in the alcoholic world for maxine) we took a 10:00 a.m. train yesterday, and arrived about 3 hours later. malvina and marketa took us to our dorm so we could dump our luggage- it was 2 to a room! which worked out very, very well. yay for dionne getting her own room (another little joke for my posse)! they took us to lunch at this cute, cheap pub to grab some lunch-- i had kofola (which if i haven't mentioned is this awesome ... read more
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