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Brett and Sylvia - Slovakia

From Brett -
Sylvia and I are a recently engaged couple moving to Eastern Slovakia for the upcoming academic year. It will be filled with traveling, wedding plans, and dissertation research in my case. I will be researching geographic changes in Catholicism in Slovakia and visiting church archives. Before my fellowship starts, I will be in Poland for a six week long language course. We've got an exciting year planned and are excited to share it with family, friends, and anyone else who might be interested to read about the places we visit. We enjoy questions, comments, and messages. In the past, this has been exclusively my blog, but now both Sylvia and I will be writing entries. We hope you enjoy!

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Joined on: June 2nd 2008
Last Login: November 7th 2009

Blog Entries: 27
Photos: 278
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Blogs & Travel Journals

by Brett and Sylvia, order by Date newest first.

By Brett and Sylvia
November 2nd 2009

All Saints Day in Slovakia Europe » Slovakia » Kosice Region

Flowers
By daytime on Saturday, the flowers are already beginning to accumulate.

All Saints Day in Slovakia, as well as many other Slavic countries, is a highly celebrated holy day. Throughout the entire weekend, Slovak families travel across the country to visit cemeteries where their deceased family members are located. Cemeteries overflow with flowers and thousands and thousands of candles are lit and placed on the graves. Families take time to meet together and take care of their family members' gravesites. Because some families must travel to multiple cemeteries across large areas of Slovakia, this begins taking place on Friday and doesn't end until late Sunday ni [View Full Entry]

By Brett and Sylvia
September 22nd 2009

Egypt, Hurghada, Cairo, Giza Africa » Egypt » Red Sea » Hurghada

Pyramids
The last wonder of the ancient world.

Since being in Slovakia is such hard work...Sylvia and I decided we needed to get away from it all and take a little vacation. I convinced Sylvia that Egypt would be very interesting, since the pyramids were something I had always wanted to see. We booked a trip to stay at a resort along the Red Sea near Hurghada and flew from Kosice on a chartered flight with nothing but Slovak vacation-goers. We arrived at the airport in Hurghada and then took a bus the 40km to our resort, which was really more like a compound. Since such resorts are basically [View Full Entry]

By Brett and Sylvia
August 21st 2009

The Wooden Churches of Slovakia Europe » Slovakia » Presov Region » Presov

Wooden Church in Bodruzal
The Slovak Greek Catholic Church in Bodruzal from 1658.

After finishing my class in Poland, I headed back to Slovakia. Sylvia and her family came to Lublin to pick me up. After one day back in Roznava, Sylvia and I headed to Presov, Slovakia so I could attend a research conference on religious geography in Europe. The conference went well and on the third day, we had a small group tour of some of the most important religious architecture in Northeast Slovakia. This region has a group of small wooden churches that were placed on the UNESCO World Hertiage List last summer while I was here. These churches are unique [View Full Entry]

By Brett and Sylvia
August 8th 2009

Majdanek Concentration Camp Europe » Poland » Lublin Province » Majdanek

Camp Entrance
The front entrance to the concentration camp.

One weekend, several of the students in our program made a trip to Majdanek Concentration Camp outside of Lublin. Majdanek was one of the very worst of the concentration and death camps set up by the Nazis during World War II. It stands on the outskirts of Lublin, which was meant to be one of the administrative centers of the Nazi regime after the war. This camp is strange in that it is near a major city, not in a more secluded part of Poland like Auschwitz. The camp was established in 1941, initially as a prisoner of war camp. Although [View Full Entry]

By Brett and Sylvia
August 2nd 2009

Kazimierz Dolny and Zamosc, Poland Europe » Poland » Lublin Province

Kazimierz Dolny
One of the most ornate houses in the rennaissance town of Kazimierz Dolny.

On the weekends during my first two weeks in Lublin, I made trips to two well-known towns nearby, the renaissance towns of Kazimierz Dolny and Zamosc. Both have retained to a large degree their renaissance architecture and character. Kazimierz Dolny, which lies to the West of Lublin, is known for its well-preserved Old Town as well as its unique renaissance style Catholic church and Castle Ruins. For much of the town's history, it had a large Jewish population and this remained the case until World War II. The Nazis used the town's Jewish population about about 1,400 for forced labor bef [View Full Entry]

By Brett and Sylvia
July 31st 2009

Summer Language in Lublin, Poland Europe » Poland » Lublin Province » Lublin

Katolicki Uniwersytet Lubelski
The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin. Where I suffer through Polish each day.

For those of you who might enjoy reading this blog, I am writing again now that I have moved to Europe for a year. I had a really busy and stressful school year. I finished all of my Ph.D. coursework and passed my comprehensive exams and proposal defense, so now I am technically no longer a "student." Of course, I haven't written my dissertation yet, so I'm a Ph.D. candidate. I received two nice fellowships to fund my year in Europe while I collect materials for my dissertation. Another bit of information, I recently got engaged to my girlfriend of two [View Full Entry]

By Brett and Sylvia
May 19th 2009

Starting Up My Blog, Again. Europe » Poland

So to anyone who has read my travel blog in the past, I last wrote in August of 2008. Since then, I have made some progress on my degree and am now ABD. I have a summer language fellowship program I am attending in Poland and also have a year-long dissertation fellowship lined up for the coming year. I will be living and doing research in Slovakia in 2009-2010. I am excited for all of the new experiences and am excited to share them on this site. In June, I'll be on my way!! [View Full Entry]

By Brett and Sylvia
August 8th 2008

Czech Republic - Southern Moravia, My Czech Relatives Europe » Czech Republic

Plzensky Prazdroj
The Pilsner Urquell brewery, home to the very first style of pilsener beer.

Our last stop on our two week long trip was in the Southeastern part of the Czech Republic at my relatives' house. We made one vital stop on our way through the Czech Republic at the Plzensky Prazdroj (Pilsner Urquell) brewery in the town of Plzen. While German and American breweries are often associated with Pilsner styles of beer, it was the Czechs who originally developed it and in my opinion, continue to produce the best (and of course the style of beer is derived from the name of the town). We arrived at the brewery in time for supper and [View Full Entry]

By Brett and Sylvia
August 5th 2008

The Netherlands - Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Den Haag Europe » Netherlands » South Holland » Rotterdam

Rotterdam Windmill
The Dutch actually have these windmills.

After leaving Germany, we headed Northwest to visit one of Sylvia's good friends in Rotterdam. On our way, I made Sylvia stop in the city of Arnhem so I could track down some World War II history. The city of Arnhem, as well as the nearby cities of Nijmegen and Eindhoven, contained bridges that were important Rhine river crossings. The allies attempted to capture these bridges in Operation Market Garden. This attack was the plot of the movie "A Bridge Too Far." After our time in Arnhem, we arrived at our destination. Rotterdam is famous for being the busiest seaport in [View Full Entry]

By Brett and Sylvia
August 3rd 2008

Cologne, Dusseldorf, Lennestadt, Martin Europe » Germany » North Rhine-Westphalia » Cologne

Frankenstein Castle Stairs
Me coming down from the castle tower.

Our next stop on the trip through Germany was to the town of Lennestadt to see my friend Martin. He was an exchange student in Harvard during my senior year and we became good friends. He and I played a lot of table tennis together and even won gold medals as doubles partners at the Cornhusker State Games. I last saw him two years ago when I was in the Czech Republic and we met in Prague. As we drove towards Lennestadt, we made an unexpected, but very interesting stop. I noticed that Frankenstein castle was only 4km off of the [View Full Entry]

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Brett and Sylvia - Slovakia

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