Vienna and Venice

On April 10^th, we all loaded onto a bus and headed to Vienna, Austria for our second field trip. We all had to pack about 2 weeks worth of clothes into our book bags because after we spent two days in Vienna, we were headed to Venice for a couple of days and then had ten days to spend on Spring Break however we chose. When we first got to Vienna, it immediately started down pouring and hailing. We walked quite a few blocks, and by the time we got to our destination we were all completely soaked from head to toe. It’s a good thing I never take the time to fix my hair since I’ve been over here!  I loved the rain, and my friend Jess and I had a good laugh attempting to run on the muddy cobblestone while keeping up with our group sprinting ahead. We had to change our plans due to the weather, and our leader Jan (pronounced Yon) took us to the Imperial Treasury. This treasury contains incredible riches from the Habsburg Empire from the past one thousand years. In the multiple rooms, we got to see amazing artifacts such as the Scepter of Austria and the Imperial Crown of the Holy Roman Empire. We saw robes from past rulers and incredible medieval jewelry.  There were rooms and rooms full of beautiful relics, and it is unfathomable what the worth of just one of those rooms is. I learned a lot about the Habsburg family just from listening to our leader Jan, who seems to have an endless amount of knowledge on every single subject.

After our visit to the treasury, we headed to a restaurant where I ordered traditional Austrian goulash. Similar to the Czech, Austria’s definition of goulash is much different than ours. This dish contained amazingly tender roast beef with a fried egg on top, along with potato dumplings and two sweet pickles all covered in dark gravy. It was so good, but the portion was a little too small for me. Ever since I have left the United States, I swear my appetite has tripled. What once could have sufficed as a small meal in America is now a second mid-morning snack to me. I’m definitely following my Grandpa Cook’s orders and gaining weight! In Vienna I also had my first bite of a cookie in the past month. It was the first chocolate chip cookie I’ve even seen since being in Europe, and my roommate Molly was generous enough to share hers. It’s funny to see what foods you miss when they’re no longer easily available to you. I could write an entire blog post on the food I miss from America.

After lunch, we headed to the St. Stephen’s cathedral. This gigantic cathedral has a beautiful multi-colored mosaic roof and an incredible baroque-style interior. We didn’t spend a whole lot of time in the church, and I wish I’d done some research beforehand so I could have appreciated it more. After we visited the church, we were allowed to do whatever we wanted so we split up into groups and walked around Vienna a little more. To be honest, I wasn’t incredibly impressed with Vienna the first day. It was dirty and cold and didn’t seem to have as much beautiful architecture as what we were used to in Prague. I was definitely ready for day two in Vienna, hoping to get to see more of what the city has to offer.

St. Stephen's Cathedral

The next day, the entire group walked to the main square and had a choice between four different museums. I chose to go to the Kunsthistorisches museum or the Museum of Fine Arts. This gigantic building made it feel like you were walking through a time machine. It started with Egyptian art, clothing, and tombs (I saw a mummified cat!), and then went through Greek historical items, and then onto Roman artifacts. This museum also had items from the Habsburg Empire, and it just further demonstrated the unfathomable wealth of the Habsburg family.  In the upper part of the museum was a beautiful gallery displaying several centuries of different styles of famous art. It was also really neat because scattered throughout this part of the museum were art students that were recreating some of the famous works. Their talent was amazing, and I took the time to sit and watch some of them work for a while. The museum had so much to see, and it was all so detailed and beautiful. Even the ceilings were incredible, and I think that the rooms could’ve been completely empty and just had the ceilings to display and I still would’ve been amazed by this museum. The entire experience was overall very overwhelming because of the insane amount of visual stimuli and small details. I wish I would’ve had an audio guide to get more information out of it, but I truly enjoyed the experience.

Admiring the ginormous art in the Kunsthistorisches museum

After the museum, the group caught some sun by lying in the front lawn of the museum. It was a beautiful day and it’s the little things like that that make me so happy that I chose to study abroad. I’ve never been happier. Jan then lead the group to a really adorable open-air food market that had everything from dried fruit to fresh octopus. It was here that I tried my first authentic Austrian wiener schnitzel and I paid way too much for it. All along I thought that a wiener schnitzel was a fancy hot dog or sausage, but it’s actually pretty much just an overrated breaded beef patty. Although I wasn’t incredibly impressed, I can now say I’ve had the real thing! After that, my friend Jess and I got the best dessert I’ve had since coming to Europe. It was a flaky pastry filled with vanilla pudding and five or six different kinds of fresh fruit on top. Amazing. I really could write an entire blog post on food. Food is what I’ve spent a large portion of my money on here rather than mementos like I should be. Guess I’ll have a nice round face and a couple extra pounds as a souvenir instead!

First authentic (overpriced and overrated) Austrian wiener schnitzel

The group then headed to the palace of the past Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary, Elizabeth (or Sisi) of Austria. This was where I probably learned the most throughout this entire fieldtrip. We each received an audio guide, which allowed us to take our time throughout the exhibits and learn facts about the empress that was assassinated by a needle file. Elizabeth had a very interesting story, and experienced a difficult life. Apparently because of her shyness and withdrawal from the public eye, she wasn’t extremely popular while she was alive. Elizabeth then became a symbol of beauty and grace after she was killed, and was portrayed in a much different light that didn’t realistically match to who she actually was. She became an icon represented in literature and the arts, and even has a large number of chapels named after her. We went through the palace that had rooms marked off where you could see how their home was once decorated. They had extremely beautiful furniture and stunning paintings, and I truly enjoyed this part of the field trip.

After that, we broke off into smaller groups again and were allowed to do what we wanted. We spent some time in a beautiful park, and then headed to a market that was full of handmade jewelry, food stands, and Easter goods. At this market I got my Austrian children’s book from a very nice older woman that didn’t speak a word of English. A kind Austrian couple translated for me, and I bought my favorite book so far. We ended the day by just hanging out in our hostel, and I was the most exhausted at the end of this day that I have been since coming to Europe.

Venice

The next morning we got up early to head to Venice, Italy. Our drive was about six hours and I spent a large portion of it sleeping on the floor of the bus. That is, until I woke up at one point and saw a huge cluster of ants right in front of my face and found some crawling up my sleeves. Yikes. Other than that, the bus ride was great because of the beautiful view. We got to drive through the Alps, and I loved seeing the little villages throughout the mountains and on the riverbanks. We also drove through a lot of tunnels through the mountains, and I thought that was pretty cool.

When we first got to Venice, we didn’t get the best first impression of Italy. Jan got yelled at by an Italian cop for parking in the wrong place to unload our bags, and with the time it took the policeman to go out of his way to be rude to Jan, we could’ve unloaded the bus and been on our way without any trouble. It was pretty entertaining to watch and Jan handled it very well. We then dropped our bags off at our hostel and Jan took us through a Jewish ghetto. It didn’t quite have the same effect on me as the one in Prague did, but it was still very interesting. We then wandered some more through Venice and found out how incredibly easy it was to get completely lost. There are no cars in Venice so everything is just footpaths. I’m so glad some people in our group are good at navigating because coming abroad has further confirmed my belief that I was born without a trace of an internal compass. I’ve definitely been struggling and it gets pretty embarrassing. 

My favorite picture of my favorite city

We then broke off into small groups and found an amazing pasta place. It was homemade and owned by an Italian family. Best pasta of my entire life. And of course, being in Italy, we followed it up with a huge cone of Italian gelato. Probably couldn’t have been happier. We then continued to get lost and pretty much just spent the rest of our day wandering and getting more and more lost. Venice was by far the best place to be lost in though because it was so beautiful and I got to see some really awesome things. It has been my favorite city I’ve ever been to, so far. I love the water and the colorful houses. I took a lot of pictures, but obviously none of them can quite beat seeing it in person. Later that night we ordered Italian pizza and got yelled at by the owner of the hostel and got threatened to get kicked out the next morning. That ended the day on an interesting note!

The next day we gathered as a group again and went through Doge’s Palace. This Venetian gothic-style palace was absolutely beautiful on the inside. The ceilings were covered in ornate golden decor framing beautiful paintings of past rulers, people of historical importance, and famous Biblical and Greek mythology characters. We went through institutional and governmental chambers that served the Venetian government for centuries. These rooms also contained medieval weapons and famous Biblical relics including the Holy Lance or Spear of Destiny that is believed to be the spear used to pierce Jesus’ side when he was on the cross. (It’s been proved that it’s not the actual spear, but still very cool.) 

Doge's Palace

After that, we got a lunch break and ordered gigantic pieces of deep dish Italian pizza. It was really good, but I have to admit it didn’t stand a chance up against my mom’s homemade hamburger pizza. Then, of course, we had to get another round of Italian gelato and tiramisu. We then got very lost again, and finally found our way back just in time to meet back up with the group to go through the St. Mark’s Basilica. This was such a cool experience because it was Palm Sunday and I got to spend it in a very famous European church. Unfortunately, we weren’t allowed to take any pictures, but we each received a blessed palm. We went through the church pretty quickly because there were so many people trying to go through it, and then broke off into smaller groups again. A group of twelve of us then decided that it wouldn’t be a legitimate trip to Venice without an authentic gondola ride! We split into groups of six and it was such a cool experience. Our gondolier was so fun and sang us his favorite songs in Italian. It was great being able to see the stunning city of Venice from the perspective of the water.

First gondola ride

I wish I was better at explaining in words just how happy I have been since coming here. It’s really incredible how little things like just wandering around and noticing the little things can make me so grateful for the life I’m living. There have been so many times throughout each day that I’ve been here where I catch myself smiling for no reason. Doing what you’ve always dreamed of doing is the best feeling I’ve ever experienced. Haven’t even left Europe yet and I already can’t wait to come back.

            A blog post will be up soon about my crazy experience for spring break, but for right now I’m headed to park on this beautiful day. Thanks so much for reading!

First Field Trip

We finally have had our first “field trip” of the semester! We got up early on Thursday morning to leave for Prague to get some guided tours and to have some free time to ourselves to explore the city. On the train ride there, I was separated from the group and had to sit in a “box” with five other people—none of which spoke any English. It was an extremely uncomfortable situation because I don’t know if I have mentioned this before, but a lot of Czechs do not like Americans at all. Once they hear you speaking American English, or see that “deer in the headlights” look when they speak to you in Czech, you are treated differently (in a lot of cases—of course there are a ton of friendly Czechs as well). So for two hours I sat silently on a train while they obviously talked about me in Czech and constantly gave me dirty looks. It was pretty frustrating because the announcements on the intercom were also in Czech and the attendant who kept popping in and asking us questions barely spoke any English either. I know that I can’t expect anyone to speak English here because that is not their first language, but it definitely can make things uncomfortable. I’m experiencing what it feels like to be the outsider, and my ride on the train helped me understand what foreign exchange students coming to America must feel like. It was pretty difficult, and I can now definitely sympathize with what they must go through in their first few weeks in the United States. It was not very much fun, but truly a great learning experience.

Thursday afternoon after we made it to Prague, we went on a guided tour with a few of our professors from Palacky University and learned about various statues and old buildings. My memory is so awful, and I wish I would have written about all of this immediately after it happened. We got to see the famous John Lennon wall and it was really beautiful. I forgot my camera in the hostel that afternoon, so you’ll have to Google it to see how great it was. After that, we went to eat lunch and I had amazing roasted duck with Czech dumplings and cabbage. I’m getting so spoiled here concerning food. (Although nothing quite beats my Grandma Cook’s cooking.) I’m going to have to make a ‘before’ and ‘after’ picture showing all of the weight I’ve gained. Seriously. After lunch, Kaitlyn Taylor and I wandered around the city and did a little bit of shopping. Later that night, we met up with the big group and went out on the town.

On Friday, we continued to go through more guided tours into the Prague castle and multiple cathedrals. The stained glass in these cathedrals was absolutely stunning. A few months ago, my mom taught me how to make a stained glass angel for one of my friends, and let’s just say she ended up doing most of the work! Stained glass is very difficult to work with, and now that I’ve attempted to make something out of it I have even more respect for these gigantic windows within these churches. My favorite was St. Vitus cathedral of Prague—it was amazing. Once again, pictures will never do any of these places justice. After we went through the cathedrals and castle, our tour guides led us to a part of Prague that was once the servants’ living quarters long ago. They turned all of the tiny houses into really cool little shops with handmade goods from Prague. Later that night, I tried sushi for the first time and we headed to bed pretty early so we could catch our train to Germany in the morning.

St. Vitus Cathedral full of tourists and some stained glass pictures

The next morning, we were on our way to Dresden, Germany. I found it somewhat difficult jumping from one country to the next, and caught myself saying “děkuji” (thank you) and “dobrý den!” (hello) to German-speaking people on multiple occasions. (I’m not quite as bad as my friend Jess who said “sí!” instead of “yes” or “ano” to a Czech lady in a store :) ) I just had to laugh at myself in these situations. I’m trying my best! In the afternoon, we got to choose between an art museum and a castle. I chose the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister (Old Masters Picture Gallery). I got to see very famous and beautiful art that I had learned about in my art appreciation class my freshman year of college. My favorite was the legendary Sistine Madonna, also called La Madonna di San Sisto, that was completed in 1512. This is a ginormous oil painting by the renowned Italian artist Raphael. It has so much symbolism and meaning behind almost every detail in the painting, and I had studied this painting in class so it was pretty amazing to be able to see it in person. We weren’t allowed to take pictures in the museum, so I will be attaching a photo I got from the Internet. 

Sistine Madonna by Raphael - My favorite in the museum

After we took our time through the art museum, Jess Vettel and I wandered around Dresden for a few hours, found an interesting mall, and had a really amazing lunch at a small German restaurant. Then, the entire group met up in the town square and climbed to the top of the Dresden Frauenkirche—a beautiful church that was destroyed by bombs in 1945 by the Allies in World War II. The church has now been completely reconstructed, and gives an amazing view of Dresden from the very top.

View of Dresden, Germany

After that, we met back up in the square and realized we only had 5 minutes to run across town to catch our train. If only I could’ve seen from another perspective how ridiculous all twenty-seven of us looked sprinting through the crowds. At one point I realized I had just ran straight through a dance competition! It was pretty embarrassing—especially because the entire time I was holding a half-eaten ice cream cone and had an overstuffed backpack on. Though some of our group was pretty stressed out about getting to the train on time, the entire time I could not stop laughing at how stupid we all looked. Unfortunately, our sad attempts at running were not enough, and we missed our train by just a few minutes. We had a couple of more hours to kill in Germany, so we chilled at an outdoor pub and walked around the train station. Though it was somewhat inconvenient at the time, I think it’s a pretty funny memory and a good story. Also, I decided a while ago that I am going to collect children’s books from different countries, so with those two extra hours I found a great book to add to my collection. It all worked out in the end.

The next day we headed back to Prague, which you can read about in my last blog post titled “The Jewish Ghetto of Prague.” Overall, it was a really great weekend and I can’t wait for my next adventure.

Jewish Ghetto of Prague

On Sunday, March 30^th we got to take a tour through the Jewish ghetto in Prague. Hitler did not destroy the synagogues and Jewish buildings during World War II in Prague because he had sadistically hoped to preserve them in order to create a future museum to represent the “extinct race.” The conservation of these buildings has now given the people of Prague a way to make a memorial for Jewish Czechs that were murdered during the time of the Holocaust. The first building we went into was the Pinkas synagogue that was used to honor 80,000 Jewish Czech victims. Every single one of their names is painted on the wall along with their date of birth and their date of death (if known). I honestly don’t know a word I could use to describe what I was feeling while walking through this large building. The walls were completely covered in names of innocent men, women, and children that were brutally murdered for Hitler’s hope for a “pure” race. We couldn’t take any pictures in the synagogue, but I will attach some photos that I’ve found on the Internet. It was such a moving experience, and the entire time I felt like I had swallowed a gigantic rock.

Farther away look at the thousands of names written in memory of those murdered.
(Not my photographs)

We’ve all sat through Holocaust lectures and have maybe even seen some famous Holocaust movies such as “Schindler’s List” or “The Boy in Striped Pajamas,” but almost nothing can compare to actually being able to personally see the names of thousands of people who had ambitions, fears, friends, hobbies, crushes, memories, and hopes whose lives were cut short far too soon. I saw the names of a seven-year-old boy, an 80-year-old woman—all who didn’t deserve the horrifying death that they received. Some names that I saw that really stuck with me were those of people the same age as me. I feel like my life is just getting started, and I have so taken for granted the freedom that I have and the chances I’ve been given. It was so sad to think that those people missed out on the best time of their lives. The large walls were completely covered in the small print, and although this was a beautiful memorial, it still makes me sad to know that so many will go unremembered. After leaving the synagogue, I couldn’t recall a single name and it made me feel sick to my stomach. Those people deserve so much more.

The upper part of the synagogue also contained colorings and drawings of Jewish children that were living in the Terezin ghetto during the time of World War II. They were amazing to see—some were very dark and truly expressed what that child was feeling, while some were vibrant and colorful like a normal child’s would be. The colorful ones absolutely amazed me—the fact that these children could look past all of the suffering that they were experiencing and actually be able to attempt to function as a normal, happy child. There was actually a poem written by an 11-year-old Jewish boy named Frantisek Bass that had died in Auschwitz that really spoke to me. The last two lines of the poem were, “I shall always be oppressed // I shall always live again.” These two lines were incredible to me, and showed me the hope that these children possessed. It was truly remarkable and incredibly inspiring.

Outside of the synagogue, we walked through a large Jewish cemetery. This cemetery was completely overcrowded with hundreds of headstones that looked like they had just been thrown into the ground haphazardly. They were basically overlapping each other, and had no rhyme or reason to their placement. Tens of thousands of Jewish bodies were layered underneath those headstones—carelessly and without a proper ceremonial Jewish burial. It was an extremely overwhelming and heartbreaking experience.

Hundreds of Jewish headstones

After the Pinkas Synagogue, we went through another synagogue and some Jewish museums that had old religious artifacts. I learned a lot about the Jewish religion, and got to see some very old and beautiful architecture. This entire experience was just a small introduction to what I will experience when I go to the extermination camp, Auschwitz, in a few weeks. I know that it will be a life-changing experience, but to be honest I have very mixed feelings about it. I know that everyone should see Auschwitz in order to begin to understand what the Jews went through and to let the reality of the Holocaust settle in, but I’m very nervous. I think through our history books and lectures we’ve all known that the Holocaust was awful, but still have not been able to completely wrap our minds around how atrocious it really was. I look forward to going, but dread it at the same time. 

Coins, notes, and rocks left on the headstones to show respect

Another blog post will be coming very soon to talk more about our weekend in Prague and Dresden, Germany. Thanks for reading!

Feelin' Lucky

This morning all of the girls slept in late and then we decided that it would be fun to head to the main square to eat a gyro for lunch. When we first walked into the gyro shop, it was unusually packed with people and I considered suggesting a different place to eat so we didn’t have to wait in line. Then we heard people speaking perfect English without any accents! We were all so excited to see Americans that we instantly started talking to them and asked where they were from. They said that they were high schoolers from Idaho. It was so awesome to be able to speak to someone outside of our group without any language barrier whatsoever. We were then waiting in line when all of a sudden I heard a girl from behind me yell, “No way!” I then turn around to—seriously, I’m not making this up—my 3^rd cousin Beth Warner from Idaho! I was completely shocked. To see Americans was one thing, but to actually be RELATED to one of them was absolutely crazy! The odds of us being on a continent other than the U.S. at the same time, the same country, the same town, the same block, and even the same RESTAURANT at the exact same time were absolutely amazing! We haven’t seen each other in years, and it was one of the craziest things that has ever happened to me. She was traveling with a group from her high school for spring break through parts of Europe. She had to catch a bus shortly after we saw each other, and I wish she could’ve stayed longer so I could’ve showed her my favorite parts of Olomouc. I told my friends that I wish Beth and I would’ve bought a lottery ticket together after that!  That’ll be an awesome story that we’ll have, and I’m looking forward to telling my great aunts and uncles that Beth and I share about it! Seriously so cool. 

Hope you have an amazing adventure, Beth!