I wrote this email to my friend Jess, and I realized that it really summed up the great time I have been having here. I also supplemented it with some of my favorite pics from the trip thus far. "I love living here Jess, this city makes me feel free, this town just gives so much independence...and it feels alive. I always thought it was funny when people described places with genders, but Prague is definitly a woman, and she is strong and independent and vibrant and beautiful. I probably sound crazy... My Czech intensive class went well. It was only [View Full Entry]

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This Saturday we went on a trip with the school to Kutna Hora, the Bone Church. The church was constructed centuries ago, but some random guy decided to unbury a bunch of bones from victims of the Plague and make crazy structures on the inside. It is suspected that there are enough bones in the church to comprise over 40,000 people. It was a weird feeling to be inside. I didn't take any photos but Josh did, so these are all his photos. We also were given two hours of free time to wander Kutna Hora the city. Most boring city [View Full Entry]

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I realised that some people read this blog and are interested on how they too can study and enjoy this beautiful city (like Stephen). I am studying through a program called ECES (via the academic school AIFS). There are hundreds of us, mostly from America but also all over the world. There are a ton of classes to take and no matter what your major may be it is easy to get classes to count for something. My roommate is a biology major, my suite mate is a music education major and I am studying international economics, so there are many [View Full Entry]

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We went on a field trip yesterday to the tallest building/tower in Prague. Its called the TV Tower and it is quite hideous looking. It looks so bizarre next to the rest of the Prague landscape of really beautiful old biuldings. Even more bizarre, an artist decided to construct seven foot long babies and place them on the tower. It only costs about $3 to go to the top and you could get a visual of the entire city from the top. There was also a beautiful old cemetery next to the building from the 16th century. Most of the cemetery [View Full Entry]

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We went on a trip this weekend to Brno, the second largest city in Czech Republic. Its located in Moravia which is south of Prague. Brno appeared to be a mini Prague but nice. We found fabulous Indian food one night for dinner and as my friend John described it, "it was definitly in the top three best meals of my life." We hada great time wandering around taking in the old buildings. Saturday we went to the musuem and battlefield of Auschelitz, where Napolean fought the three kings, or the three musketeers if you ask Jess. Napolean won, just in [View Full Entry]

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It snowed two days ago and it was beautiful...but cold. I took a bunch of pictures while I was walking from the market home to my dorm. Bread, cheese and salami have been the majority of my dinners along with bananas and apples. Sometimes its supplemented with food bummed from other people's rooms. I am enjoying my Czech language professor, he takes us out on field trips everyday practically. Yesterday we went to a pub so we could learn how to order properly. I am getting used to the area around my dorm better and finding places to buy food nearby [View Full Entry]

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We started intensive Czech language today (Ahoj means hello, informally of course) and wow...this is going to be difficult, but I think it will be worth the challenge to be able to communicate with the Praguonians (?). Just trying to speak the language really helps gain the respect of the people and lowers your chances of being ripped off by taxi drivers and restuarants. I took a picture of my view from the front steps of the Charles University building where my classes are, it is so beautiful, and I get the same view from the window of my classroom...which can [View Full Entry]

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Oh my goodness, I live in the most beautiful city in the world!!! I love it. We got in yesterday and today we had a walking tour around to the most important places, such as the k-martesque grocery store, the post office and the school building where our classes are. We sat through a four hour lecture on the do's and don'ts in Prague...last night I guess we did a few of the don'ts, like don't take a taxi from the city center that's shady or don't go out without identification on you. Who knew? The architecture here is amazingly beautiful...its [View Full Entry]

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Our group of about one hundred visited London for two days. We saw all the important landmarks and went on an intense bus tour. My favorite part was the Tate Modern and their giant slides. For the most part I was too anxious for the upcoming trip to Munich and Prague so London didn't really excite me, as you may be able to tell by the pictures...it was a running joke. We did have great Indian food one night and pub food another night...just to get the experience. The wind was crazy, and we found out later there was a hurricane [View Full Entry]

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This morning Jess and I woke up, looked at a map and decided to head to Bern, Switzerland. A little spontaneous yes, but super exciting! The hostel we stayed at was amazing!! Beautiful location, brand new building, nice facilities...one problem was a lack of a door on the shower room, which meant preteen boys got to see me awkwardly try to dress myself under my towel, but besides that... Bern has been my favorite place ever!! Bicyclist heaven, this place is a delight to walk and ride in, except for the ridiculously steep hills. The absolute best part of the city [View Full Entry]

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