It's my last day in Prague and I have decided to spend most of it in our flat and be with Petr, Hanka, and Afrika instead of running around the city desperately trying to absorb everything. This will, obviously, be my last post from Prague this semester, so I'll do my best to make it a good one. There is a lot to fill in from the last few weeks since my previous entry. After the return from Bratislava, I had a week and a half to complete my final project. I thought this would be an easy task, because I [View Full Entry]

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It's been awhile since I have made a post. Honestly it's a combination of busyness, laziness, and a camera that ran out of batteries. No worries though, I'll catch all of you up right-quick now. I've been in Bratislava for two weeks to the day working on my final project. I've been following around a man named Marek Hojsik who is an expert on the subject I'm working on, and meeting many interesting people, and reading through a lot of information. However, that's the more mundane stuff that's not very exciting for you to hear about I'm sure. On Monday (Nov. [View Full Entry]

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The past two weeks have gone by extremely quickly, ever since we returned from Poland it seems like the semester is suddenly drawing to a close. In a way, that's true, because this week (Nov. 5- Nov.9) is the last week of class for our program. Consequently, the past couple of weeks have been full of homework and studying for exams. So, for you suckers who are going to school back in the States, I can now empathize with you, sort of. Along with homework and such, I've been in a mad rush to figure out my final project. For those [View Full Entry]

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I spent this past week with my classmates touring three cities in Central Europe besides Prague. First there was Bratislava in Slovakia, then Krakow in Poland, and finally back to Slovakia for a brief stay in Zilina. The travel was not too difficult because our director had all of our travel and accommodation arrangements made before hand. Language was a small issue in several restaurants and things. While Polish and Slovak are similar to Czech, there are some slight differences. Combined with our extremely rough Czech, and the fact that very few people spoke English, we found ourselves i [View Full Entry]

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The week was pretty uneventful for the most part, lots of schooling and the like. On Wednesday evening I went to an experimental performance with some pals from school. It was partly a puppet show, partly an acrobatic event, and few parts of film collage and audience interaction. It was a very strange show, but that is what is what I have come to expect from Czech Theaters. On Thursday there was some free time, so I headed of to the Prague zoo. Admission was cheap, but the exhibits were pretty super. In one area, 'the nocturnal zone', there are bats [View Full Entry]

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Ahoj everyone. I missed last weeks blog entry because I was out of Prague in a city named Ostrava. My program arranged this visit for me as a 'regional homestay'. All of my classmates were spread out over the entire country, living and meeting with different people, and experiencing a new place. Ostrava is an industrial city in the Northeast side of the country. Originally, it was founded by coal mines, and thus its history is much less romantic than that of Prague's. I was sent to the town because of it's large Roma (Gypsy) community, and the programs they have [View Full Entry]

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I spent the whole week in the city doing many school related things. Our program has kept us busy with trips to theaters to see shows, films, and discussions with many people from many different organizations around the Czech Republic. With all of these activities, I have begun to get accustomed to finding my way around town with the public transportation. The metro is pretty simple, there are three different lines that branch out in different directions, and they all intersect to form a triangle in the center of the city. I still have not had time to do most of [View Full Entry]

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Prague isn’t as big as you would think. I can walk across half of the main city in a little less than half an hour. However, just because it is small doesn’t mean there isn’t a lot to see or do. Nearly every city block has an alley that leads to smaller roads with cafes, shops, and little markets, and certain parts of the city are so honeycombed with these streets that the maps don’t even bother to show them. I have been here since Monday evening, and this entire week has been set aside for my ‘orientation’. As far as [View Full Entry]

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A little less than two weeks until I leave for Prague, and there are still many things I don’t know yet. For instance, what is the Czech language like? In my head it’s a mix of Russian and German, with plenty of aggressive consonants mixed in for good measure. Where will I be living? For some reason, my program refuses to tell me that before I arrive, which makes me wonder if they think I wouldn’t come if I found out in advance. I also know very little about Czech history, culture, geography, etc., but I hope to pick up some [View Full Entry]

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