It came to my attention that I never blogged once I returned from my six months abroad. And the return home is a very important part of the process. It was great to return home. I don't think I have ever wanted a big fat juicy hamburger and greasy french fries so bad in my life. And thank goodness for coffee to go and kitchens that contain more than a hot plate. I am also so much more thankful of American grocery stores. I can read the labels and I don't have to pay extra money for a bag to carry [View Full Entry]

---

---

My dad came into to Prague to visit this week. We stayed in Prague fro two days. Went south to Ceske Budejovice for a daytrip and then headed to Budapest. We did a lot of fun stuff in Prague besides the general touristy stuff. After taking my dad around to Prague Castle, Old Town Square, Vysehrad, Wencelas Square and the like, we went to Letna Park, walked through the entire park - hoping to see maybe a foot left of the Stalin statue that used to be up there (but were disappointed to find an unworking giant metronome). Then we [View Full Entry]

---

---

It has come to an end. My semester in Prague is over, but it was wonderful when it lasted. I learned so much about myself, this culture and humanity in general over the course of the last four months. I learned about so many great Czech authors from my classes (besides the famous Kafka to Kundera) there is Hrabel and Tropol too. I also got to visit places all over the Czech Republic outside of Prague and meet people from all over the world. Perhaps the best part of my study abroad experience was all the great friends made. I [View Full Entry]

---

---

I know learning- bleck! But wait, this is interesting learning. This week for my Reading Prague class (a class where we read about Prague, specific places in time and what not, then go visit them) we went to the Czech suburbs. Now, I know what you American Foreigners are thinking, suburbs, wow that sounds like outlet malls, cul de sacs and perfectly congruent houses lined up for days near large forst perserves, however; in Europe suburbs have a slightly different feel. In the states we tend to think of the inner city as the "rough" part of town and the [View Full Entry]

---

---

Picnicking at Vysehrad Europe » Czech Republic » Prague By Jenifah April 22nd 2007 Jennifer Clessas So, last time I blogged I tried to inform ou guys about something interesting in Prague and got attacked for it, so I will go back to showing you beautiful places in Prague and nice pictures. I love Vysehrad!! I went back to Vysehrad two [View Full Entry]

---

---

This weekend Jess, Miles, Josh, and I went to Amsterdam. We took a rideculously long busride from Prague, I think it was about 17 hours there (we hit traffic) and 16 hours on the way back, so we pretty much spent the same amount of time in Amsterdam as we did on the bus, but it was totally worth it. I think Amsterdam is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Its a pretty strong competitor even against Portland (Oregon). The whole city is built on canals and people ride their boats down them like they're just strolling [View Full Entry]

---

---

Easter in Krakow and Auschwitz-Birkenau Europe » Poland » Krakow By Jenifah April 8th 2007 Jennifer Clessas Besides being deathly ill this Friday and spending a total of about twenty hours on a bus, Poland was great. We visited the city of Krakow, which seemed to me like a cleaner, more modern version of Prague. We also ate some pretty incredible piero [View Full Entry]

---

---

Chapter four contains the climax and conclusion of the journey. We flew into Athens at 7 in the morning and had flights out at 4 the next morning so instead of getting a hotel or hostel, we decided to save money and hang out in Athens/ the airport and left our backpacks in lockers at Athens International. We took a taxi into the city because as long as you split them four ways, taxis are actually cheaper than everyone buying individual metro tickets. The first thing we decided we needed was coffee and food, and low and behold when we [View Full Entry]

---

---

Yes, I spent my Spring Break this year in the beautiful Greek Isles. I went with Josh, Miles and Jess. We spent three days on the Island of Kos and almost one full day in Athens. Where to start... well, we decided to book the cheapest tickets we could find on Aegean Air, thus we ended up in Kos, an island we knew nothing about except that Hippocrates, the inventor of modern medicine, was from there. We ended up flying out of Prague around midnight via Athens and arrived in the middle of Kos island at about 5 AM. We [View Full Entry]

---

---

...instead we got the best view of the Czech Republic yet. Jess and I went to Karlovy Vary this weekend, a spa town two hours West of Prague. The story of the town is that Charles IV was out hunting in this area when one of his hunting hounds saw a stag and began to chase after it. The dog bounded through a hot spring and got scalded and Charles IV decided that the spring contained healing waters and since then the town has been frequented by Royals, celebrities and general folk searching for "the cure" or "the source" as [View Full Entry]

---

---