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Published: February 13th 2008
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Kolik to stoji?
Means 'how much does it cost?' in Czech, but this was in the Vienna airport. Marion sent me these when I lived the in the States, so I was happy to recognize something when I got here. Firstly, there will be no puns on "Czech Republic". As much as I love puns, the "Czech/check" ones are way-overused.
Hello again everyone! I realize I've left many of you hanging, thinking I stopped blogging in The Gambia because I was eaten by a croc (which we did see but I didn't tell you about) or something. Actually, I just ran out of time to put everything down I wanted to. I assure you, though, if you have a chance to go anywhere in the world, my suggestion is The Gambia. But, I had my chance and took it. I was home in the US from May to December, and now, I've decided to study abroad in the Czech Republic for my spring 2008 semester. Why, you ask? That's a great question. Here are some of the many reasons:
-I know I will go back to Africa so why not go somewhere else while I have the opportunity during college?
-Maybe I just liked Africa because it was different, so what's to say I don't love another place just because it's not PA?
-I've never been to Europe, and the center of it seems a good spot.
-I wanted a
On the Way to Caves
We took a trip our first weekend to see the Macocha Caves and we were out in the woods. It was really nice to be away from the city for a while! challenge in the language area. I may teach EFL sometime in the future, and I hear there's a good lot of Slavic speakers who want to learn English, so I could get a head start on learning a Slavic language. But I absolutely wanted to go somewhere that would be rough with not knowing the language. What can I say, I like difficulty.
-This university had some classes I could take which were roughly related to my major.
-I wanted to go somewhere in Europe that is less popular with Americans. Granted, the Czech Republic is actually pretty popular, but most people go to Prague. I'm actually in the country's second-largest city, Brno.
-Well, that's most of them, I guess.
Let me give you the rundown on my travels/ first week here. Well, it was my first time EVER traveling alone (other than driving) and I think I did pretty well considering I know neither Czech nor German and I was all by myself. I flew into Vienna, Austria (which is only about 2 hours from Brno) and subsequently missed my bus. Eventually I made it onto a train to Brno instead and everything worked out. My completely awesome
Ooh, Water Caves!
Yep, it was a split between walking in the caves and a boat through the caves. Really cool! student tutor from this university met me at the train station and we rode a tram to a stop near my residence, which is a dorm where most international students live. My dorm is maybe a 6-7 minute walk up a huge hill but all around it are nice neighborhoods and I can also take public transport to above my dorm too and walk down. The first week was very hectic, and even included me going back to Vienna to apply for a Czech student visa (bureaucracies--hate them!).
Now, as for the interesting stuff, like, 'How's it going?' and 'What are my first impressions?'. Well, I kind of expected many things to look like leftovers from the communist era. Our dorms certainly fit the bill that way, but my room already feels like home. Other than that, the area, especially downtown of Brno, is surprisingly historical-looking and really beautiful. The university I attend is about 20 minutes away (involving a 10 minute walk, 5 minute bus/tram ride, and 5-10 more minutes walking), but it's maybe a 5 minute walk from downtown, which is cool. To describe my entrance in Europe, all I can really say is it's kind of
Hole to the Sky
Most of my pics didn't turn out to show how cool it really looked but this one was where there was a hole in the earth with kind of like a waterfall where you could see the sky even though you had just been underground. how I expected Europe to seem. Many people speaking many languages I don't understand, a lot of public transportation, a clear homogeneity of people the further you get from huge cities (like Vienna), and everything here has a history. Let me expand on that last one: I got a speech about the history of the Czech Republic from the sixth century the other day (it was a little rushed), but it just amazed me that people who live here know the story of the area for such a long time back, and even buildings are real old. It's kind of hard to explain my feelings on this, but I'll expand in another entry.
Some cultural tidbits: I learned in Vienna to stay to the right on escalators (which I had heard about before but never had occasion to use); you should like beer and pork if you come to this country--sorry can't comment on the quality of either, not used to them to know the difference between good and bad; many Czechs like to know your 'sign', as in your horoscope, more info on this at a later date; not much eye contact or communication between strangers in public--even
Where are we?
After the caves we hiked up a hill and that's where this is if I try to smile at people, no eye contact, I'm not sure if this is a Czech or a city thing.
I was pretty overwhelmed the first week with seemingly being surrounded by a language I didn't understand. It is especially difficult to take public transport without knowing the area, but now I feel like I've got a better handle on stops near me and the transport I can take to get places. I know a few helpful phrases (example: where am I, please?-- prosim, kde jsem?, and having a map is always good). I can also now read signs at stops that say where trams are going (direction) and the times, which is pretty convenient (obviously I've been raised a country girl). I'm taking a semester-long Czech language class, so that should be useful as well (I've already started but so far the only verb I know is "to be" and that can only get you so far). I've had some trouble with buying incorrect groceries, as things are usually only written in Czech and maybe Slovak. I was shopping for oil and bought vinegar instead (it was in the oil section and was four letters starting
Beer Time
After the hike, we went to a local brewery, Cerna Hora. Pivovar means brewery, I think (Pivo=beer). They gave us a tour and showed us all the stages of making beer, which smelled but was interesting! with "o", just like oil is!). Also, bought laundry clothes softener instead of detergent. Oh well! Everything sold in grocery stores here is in much smaller packages, which I think is because of a combination of smaller family sizes, smaller average incomes (I think), and city-living (most people have to carry things themselves instead of loading them into a car from Walmart, as many Americans do). It's way harder to write about differences between here and the US than it was between The Gambia and the US, but I think the real reason for this is not understanding the language at all. Anyhow, sorry for this very random and not-well-organized blog, but there will be better ones later, I hope!
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Jolene
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SO JEALOUS
Can I come visit? It looks so pretty. Can't wait until May!!!