Angela's Year: the blog post

I am graduating in four days. This is a crazy thought. After four fantastic years at Lewis & Clark College, I am done with my formal education. Here's an update for those of you keeping track.

THE PAST YEAR:
I completed my BA in International Affairs. My thesis was on civil society, economic development, and democracy in Czechoslovakia. Of course.

I served all year as editor-in-chief of the Pioneer Log, Lewis & Clark's completely student-run weekly newspaper. I wrote a lot of interesting stories that raised quite a buzz around campus and beyond... my favorites are in my online portfolio. The Pioneer Log also went to Arizona this year; I applied for a grant to take some staff to a college journalism conference.
Our other big event was the student government debate, which I moderated, with our business manager, for the second year. It was actually greatly well-attended this year, which is exciting for LC's apathy.

I also guest blogged this year at my friend Cary's unofficial Lewis & Clark blog, about having my own office in our student center.

I was a news intern in the fall for OregonLive.com, the website for the Oregonian, the largest newspaper in the Pacific Northwest. I blogged for OLive, which was a lot of fun and a great learning experience.

I was a resident assistant all year, for my third year; I live in the dorms and help students by giving them advice, planning events, and keeping people safe. It's a job I love and I love my coworkers. My best program this year was a national parks awareness program, that involved make-your-own trail mix, Ken Burns' new PBS National Parks documentary, and letters to the government asking them to care for our national parks.

I was published in our school's literary magazine for a poem I wrote in Prague, and in our school's theatrical expression journal for a short play I wrote called "Acing the Interview."

I also worked, for my fourth year, in the Information Technology department at LC. I was promoted last summer to an assistant field technician. This job involves installing and fixing hardware and software on institutional computers--and hanging out with a bunch of cool nerds (see right).

THE NEXT YEAR:
Living: School is over now, though, and so are all of those above things. I am now moving on. I have a house with my friends. We are living in Southwest Portland in a very 1970s home with 5 bedrooms and 3 living rooms; an entire floor of the house is wood-paneled. And we have some pretty awesome wallpaper.



Work: I will be working my life's fourth and fifth internships this summer.

The first is at Oregon Business, a monthly magazine serving Oregon's business leaders. I will be their online editor, composing a daily e-newsletter (sign up!) and weekly blog posts.

The second is at the Portland Mercury, an alternative newsweekly with which I am in love. They put out a print product, but also have the most popular blog in Portland; "Blogtown, PDX," which is a lot of fun to read... and now write for!

Play: My band will be putting out our first CD in the next couple days. Aubrey & I recorded the record, called "Beta Testing 1-2-3," over winter break, and her boyfriend Jake Kelly mixed it for us. Our buddy Jon Ransom put together the cover art, which I think is fantastic.

Aubrey & I are a nerd rock band, and write songs about video games and computers and love. It's great fun. We've been contacted by a few venues to start doing shows, so that will happen once moving and car buying all calms down. Keep an eye on our MySpace for updates - there are also songs and videos there.



Lastly, my boyfriend Nate and I have been together for eight months now. He is a computer science major and a really swell dude.

Back!

I'm back in the USA!!!

Two things I have noticed -
1. cashiers are soo nice here. people are smiling and making small talk. Hooray for customer service!!!
2. the recession! There are no christmas lights or people shopping anywhere! I didn't expect to see this so... obviously.

Anyway - happy happy, I am home after a fun delay/flight bump/30 hours of awakeness... There is a chocolate cake here and mom and I are working on Christmas.I am so happy to be able to sleep without earplugs - there are no drunk clubbers singing right outside my window.

Can't wait to see y'all!

family together at Christmas

There is only a week left!

I am going home in 8 days. This is a crazy thought - my time in Prague has been spent. I am furiously studying for my finals now, after which I will be furiously packing and moving out and cleaning... but for now...

I'm looking back on what I've learned...

• The effect of national identity on the personality of a people.
• How Europeans (and ex-pats) feel about America - and more specifically, our new President-elect.
• That journalism means something completely different in places where democracy is young.
• The history of art in the Czech lands. And, that I really like art - though I may never be able to produce it :)
• At least 3 new perspectives on Stalin and communism in Eastern Europe.
• The history of Prague and the Czechs - in art, fiction, journalism, and politics...
• Lots of fun facts about Prague, Dresden, Berlin, Athens, Finland, Estonia, Slovakia, and Krakow... including where the big churches are.
  
• That I can learn languages (and German wasn't just a fluke) - I think I might try to pick something else up when I get back (Arabic? Spanish?)
• That I can show up somewhere and start my life from scratch with no contacts or language skills (as long as I have a map!) - and that it is completely possible to communicate without language. mostly.
• That I can cook for myself - even if it's mostly disgusting and bland :)
• How people/I search for the familiar in foreign places (see: bohemia bagel).
  
• How crazy drama gets when six 20-year-old girls live in an apartment together for 3 months.
  
• And - on that note- how to say "it's complicated" in Czech. (to je komplikace)

See you soon!!

Karlovy Vary/ Carlsbad

We took a program day trip to Carlsbad, the Czech Republic's biggest and most famous spa city, located about 2 hours out of Prague. There was snow cover - something we probably won't get in Prague because of the river. Only 7 girls from our program and Marta, a leader, went on the trip - and what a fantastic day it turned out to be.

We started at the Moser Glass museum. Moser is something Czechs are very proud of. The museum had lots of glass unmarked in cases, and then videos playing on the wall, one in each room. We had to wait for the video to get to the beginning countdown and then push a button on our audioguide, in order to get any information. But it was cool information.
For example, there were the award-winning giant snifters, a set of glasses designed by a Moser business man that won an award at some exhibition in Paris. Each glass has a name/personality: Fellow, Long Face, Moon Face, Stout Gentleman and Big Bertha. Apparently, there are clubs and such devoted to the giant snifters, or there were a century ago. That was exciting.

the giant snifters

Moser also designed a "cup of the allies" during WWII. It was a single cup out of a single piece of glass, but it is separated inside, so each of the leaders, Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin, could drink their national drink out of the same cup. Very symbolic. (What is the national drink of the USA?)
After the museum, we visited the glassworks, where we saw artists at work making vases and giant snifters and tumblers and such. Unlike what I assume would happen in the states, we pretty much could walk around the factory however we wanted, and we weren't really warned about the ovens or bright fires. Also, there were people smoking inside and the glassblowers were drinking beer. It's laid-back here. In some ways.

the Moser glassworks

On our way out, we ran into a big dumpster filled with discarded glass, on its way to recycling. The girls got really excited and took little pieces (I was not as enthused, and as a result was one of the very few who did not sustain glass-dumpster-related injuries). After a while, our tour guide came back out of the museum and gave us each a glass pig, and told us she was worried about us cutting ourselves so we should stop... :)

Next stop: Becherovka Museum. Becherovka is a Czech liquor, prioduced only in Carlsbad, distinctive for its spicy taste. As our tour guide told us, it is 30% alcohol, 10% sugar and contains over 20 herbs and spices. It was created by an apothecary and is supposed to have medicinal qualities - a lot of Czech women and men, old and young, drink a little Becherovka every day.
As we toured the museum, a guide told us about the history of the Becher family and showed us the barrels that Becherovka is kept in. Along the walls of the museum and throughout the factory there is 9 kilometers of pipe through which Becherovka travels during its various phases of production. Becherovka is exported, our guide told us, and showed us a map, but 80% of the liquor produced is consumed in the Czech Republic.

Na Zdravi! to your health!

At the end of the tour there was a documentary and tasting. The tasting was neat - there are specially made little porcelain cups for Becherovka and three types; lemon, original, and a cordial. The documentary was amazing. It was narrated by a time-traveling scientist, Dr. Christian Fobrig, who apparently was friends with all the generations of the Becher family, from 1807 through the empires and the wars and everything. He was amused when troops on the front at WWI requested the liquor to be sent to the front, and was worried when, under communism, the family tried to bury the secret recipe. Thrill!

We then took a walk down to the mineral springs. There is a special glass you buy, and then walk along to many different fountains along a promenade and sample and sip the different mineral waters. The waters are warm and bitter, and no one really liked them... but I tried - they are supposed to be healthy!

me and my little mineral water glass - it is porcelain and has a straw-handle

one of the mineral fountains

We got back to Prague at about 6:30 - unfortunately 30 minutes too late to see the Christmas tree lighting on old town square. But we walked through and saw cute families and children and smelled the delicious cinnamon and gingerbread being sold at the stands.
Now Breanne and I are going to watch the West Wing.

There are some more pictures in the album here:

Karlovy Vary/Carlsbad

Happy Thanksgiving, Prague!

the cranberry sauce had pomegranate seeds... the best idea since cranberry sauce itself!

We had an amazing meal last night. A bunch of Americans in my study abroad program met at an apartment for a fantastic Thanksgiving pot-luck. There was so much food! It was amazing, and authentic, and charming.
I made gravy as a contribution... it didn't go too well but... maybe next time?
Here is a slideshow! It's full of joy. I want to see your thanksgiving pictures too.

Culture-iffic

Sunday night Ellie, Bre and I went and saw Okkervil River, an indie rock band (that Ben really likes). It was a fun show. I haven't been to a little concert here so it was neat. It was held in a sort of club, in a basement below a bar, which itself was below a very fancy cafe with a separate entrance and all. The club had cool furniture, very modern though, as noted by the band, it was "Jim Beam" themed.
The show was fun, they play good music, we took a poster.
On Monday, my media and democracy class took a field trip to the headquarters of "Radio Free Europe" which is now many things and "Radio Free" for many places, but not Europe so much, since "Europe is free." We talked to the director of Radio Free Iraq, who was a cool Russian guy. He told us about their service, which is compiled in Prague and sent to Iraq via satellite, for safety reasons. They only have about 7 people who have to put together a 5 hour broadcast 7 days a week. Which is crazy. They also have something like 27 correspondents in Iraq who file reports. He talked about the situation on the ground, where now 4 major attacks and 100 people kidnapped a day is considered a vast improvement over the past few years.
The RFE building itself involved a lot of security - we had to give them our passport numbers several days in advance and went through metal detectors and such. Apparently, this building would be the target if Prague ever had a terrorist attack, not only for its symbolic importance but also just because of all of the things that go on there - Radio Free Afghanistan, Iraq, etc.
The RFE building itself is historical and rather intimidating.
Media and Democracy, as a class, has gotten interesting lately - I had to turn in my paper (and I must give a presentation next week) on an issue in journalistic ethics - mine was "Lying for the story". I read two case studies about journalists who were deceptive in their methods to get information that the government was withholding. The first case study was about a guy who snuck into (the office part of a) prison during a riot to find out about a hostage situation - and the other was about a reporter who pretended to be a mortician to access the morgue during Desert Storm, because he suspected combat casualties were being underreported. Apparently "reputable" papers don't go for any undercover journalism, although it does get published elsewhere... and there are lots of arguments on both sides considering duty to the truth, freedom of press vs. government, endangering others... ask me about it sometime :)

In art class today we went to "trade fair palace" (Veletrzni Palace) to see some modern arts - Cubism, Abstraction, Expressionism, Impressionism, Surrealism - it was pretty great. The museum is big and "a functionalist masterpiece" - it was built in the 20s and opened as an art gallery after communism.
My favorite part was a bit on set design for the theater - there were a bunch of little dioramas displaying sets for plays, designed by one of the Capek brothers (Czech playwrights who invented the word "robot"). There was some really crazy stuff, with false perspective, sloping floors and big staircases.
I was also impressed by the collection - there were paintings by Monet, Van Gogh, Degas and Picasso - including this one:
Art history is fascinating. Story about Czech art history - under communism, art essentially stopped. The only style allowed was "social realism" - this was the case everywhere communism ruled. My art teacher, a tour guide, everyone here who talks about this style basically laughs and talks about how terrible it was. The idea was just to glorify communism. My teacher said today that "mediocre artists used it as a way to become the official artists of the state." The paintings really are awkward - smiling workers and the communist flag, etc - but I find it so funny how appalled the Czechs are by the whole movement. Especially since in Russia - according to Mark's blog and pictures - the soviet art is still everywhere.

an awkward communist painting (not one I saw, but those were awkward too)

more social realist art from the Museum of Communism in Prague

After communism, Czechs were behind the modern art movement, according to my teacher, and are still working to catch up to the cutting edge.

A Beautiful Weekend (a real blog post, for once)

It's winter!!!

Winter has begun! and Breanne and I bought a 2-day pass for the Prague Castle Museums, so this has been an actually interesting weekend at home.
Yesterday we had a relaxed breakfast, then took a tram up to the castle and learned about the history of Czech royalty in the "Story of the Castle" exhibit. We then visited the Romanesque basilica of St.George... and when we came out it was hailing/raining and so very cold!

the gargoyles were breathing icicles... so cold!

We didn't have umbrellas or rainproof coats (although all the czech people did, and were not surprised by the sudden change in weather..) so we ran to the tram and were very very wet by the time we got home. But we put on some dry clothes and made dinner... fish sticks and rice and green beans. mmm comfort food.

This morning we woke up and there was a dusting of snow on the cars on the streets. Snow really doesn't stick on the streets... but you can get the idea and that's what counts.

the view out our window onto the fresh morning snow

Then I turned in my second article for the paper - it's about the student council President and honestly I have just lost interest... but I'm glad that's finally done.

We returned to the castle and visited the portrait gallery and national gallery, full of all the most famous Czech paintings. It was so nice and culture-y. And we also toured the palace, home of the great big royal ballroom thing (also where they threw people out the windows during revolutions, but no big...).

isn't this room nice? not bad to be royalty...

Then as we left the museums to go home... it was snowing!!! So beautiful!

St.Vitus Cathedral, in the beautiful wintertime

Cassie, Ali, Breanne and I made a big "breakfast for dinner" (ok, they cooked and I dj'd...) and listened to Christmas carols.

Ellie, cooking up some potatoes

You can find my youtube playlist for the evening here... it was an 'eclectic variety' (we don't have the comcast cable music channels, so we have to make it up). I call the mix "Christmas at Home: when home is full of weird college-aged girls who have been away from America for 3 months."
Billy Idol's music video for "Jingle Bell Rock" was probably the biggest hit, although the animated gifs in the "feliz navidad" video we found were PRETTY FANTASTIC. And if you've never seen the David Bowie/Bing Crosby duet of "Little Drummer Boy".. prepare yourself.

After dinner Ali, Cassie and I took a nice walk around town and saw everything dusted with snow... the ol' Jan Hus statue, astronomical clock, Charles bridge, churches, Winceslas square... it's a whole different city now.

good ol' Jan Hus... all covered in snow

What a nice night... but I miss my family and all our traditions at home. I will miss thanksgiving... but won't Christmas be great!!!

Love!! Please leave comments if you can!

(if you want to see the rest of the pictures I've been taking here in hometown prague... here is the place: link)

Midterm Week

Midterm week is over already - can you believe it?
The answer is no, you can't.
I had three midterms - Media & Democracy, Czech, and East/Central European politics. They were all ridiculous and not too hard. A bit upsetting that they weren't what was advertised, and thus not what I studied for... but it'll be fine, moving on, moving on.

I didn't tell you about this weekend: it was nice, we went to Cesky Krumlov, which is a UNESCO-protected heritage town. Very pretty. That's pretty much what it was. Pretty. Look at our happy faces blocking the view of the pretty town.

(Whitney, Cassie, Me, Allyn, Ali, Breanne)

After that trip, I studied and studied until about 2 hours ago when I went in for my last midterm, and now I'm done.
We had a guest speaker in Media & Democracy on Monday - a former reporter for Radio Free Europe who talked to us about how the current state of Europe can be best interpreted whilst remembering the history (Hitler and Stalin, in particular). But we did get her to talk about as well RFE - of which she is a fan - and she believes (as many do) that we should have more independent, external journalism not financed by companies. RFE didn't have to make money, it just wanted to tell the truth (of course a somewhat subjective and pro-America truth, but it balanced Soviet propoganda well). We just need some other planet to come in and finance some media for us, so journalism can have some of the economic pressures removed. I will be working on this for you. You're welcome.

So... break starts now! Friday Allyn, Breanne and I are supposed to be leaving for Athens. However, Greece right now is in a bit of a... well... this:
which is somewhat discouraging. There is a strike, there are riots, protests, throwing of things, tear gas... we will hope this calms down, and that there are flights flying. On a brighter note, the weather's in the low 70s.

Vysehrad

My article is now up at: At the Lennon Wall, our school paper. There are, as always, some edits that I'm not happy with, but you can pretty much get the idea.

If you are a college-y person, you should check out Cary's video blog. He made it for admissions at Lewis & Clark.

It's fall here, and it is Beautiful. Breanne and I took a little trip up to Vysehrad, a public park and the site of a medieval castle and fortification. During the Czech national revival at the turn of the century, it also became a symbol of Czech nationalism and there is now a graveyard there where lots of Czech intellectuals and artists are buried (but no politicians!). It was a really pleasant experience. Here is a slideshow:

And here is a poem (I haven't been writing daily, alas.)

Vysehrad above the city, October 17
Fall smells the same, anywhere there is fall.
The leaves are different shapes here, but I still think
of raking a big pile at the foot of the slide, and coming out with maple
stems in my hair and dirt-tasting
crunchy leaf crumbs in my mouth.
The busts on the graves of all
the Czech intellectuals peer
above their leaf cover and gaze at eachother, and the
pilgrims, and the neo-gothic
cathedral.
Fall, a wedding with brown dresses,
seasons deciding whether
old or new copper fits in.
And every park in Prague has a dog,
a baby carriage,
and a lone old woman.

Home from Poland

Hi y'all!
We went to Krakow this weekend. It was really fun, and I have lots of pictures and lots of stories to tell. Unfortunately... I also have a lot of homework... but here are the highlights!
We took a sleeper train:
We saw a DaVinci painting at a museum: We saw an amazing gothic cathedral - inside was all painted up:
We saw another cathedral, where the pope used to chill: We saw and purchased some cool Polish crafts from the famous "Cloth Hall"
We sampled local cuisine:
And we enjoyed clear and beautiful weather the whole time.

Here is a link to the album with the rest of my pictures from this weekend:

Krakow

Or just watch the (captioned!) slideshow below:

Holla back, Mary, holla back.

This weekend my roommates were ALL gone traveling about. I stayed home (which turned out to be a wise choice, they seemed to experience some weather and complicated traveling logistics unpleasantness). It was so strange to be here all by myself - and without the internet it would have been very, very lonely.

Alas, I have the internet. So.
I worked out and watched Colbert a lot... it's a pretty good life when you get to do that... (although mid-weekend I ran out of fresh Colberts, so... it got pretty rough...)I had a great time having the kitchen to myself... I made some chicken with jar of Indian sauce, burned some rice into the bottom of a pan, started drinking tea instead of coffee... I also got to do some laundry... I guess all of that is pretty mundane, but it's mundane and IN EUROPE! so, take that!

I took a long ride around Prague in the tram, saw some more outside-the-city sights that you don't really see on foot. Not everything in Prague is restored and old and beautiful... but it's all got different charm. I saw some billboards, which I hadn't seen for a while, as well as a bunch of old communisty buildings and some really cool graffiti.
Yes. I also did more exploring of downtown, and I am really getting to know the statues up atop the churches. I really like them.
I like the style, I think it's Boroque, of the saints chillin on top of the church, looking down and blessing everyone, or giving a shout-out, or saying "holla atcha boy" or, you know, whatever your beliefs interpret... At any rate, they really make me smile.
Last night all my roomies got home! It was very, very, very exciting. I missed having people here sooo much. Today classes began again, and in Media & Democracy our guest speaker was Jan Urban, who was a big deal dissident during communism in Czechoslovakia - he worked, among other things, with bypassing censorship by publishing books secretly and smuggling them about. Here's a really short biography, if you're interested: http://www.nyu.cz/Members/jurban
He had a lot to say about the role of journalists, and how politics is for dummies, and also spoke about his regrets and what he would have done differently with the dissident movement, knowing what he knows now. He said that things are clear when you are working against something- but the problem came for the Czechs when the Soviet Union collapsed, and people did not know what they wanted, only what they didn't want. He regretted broken promises made to the Czech people about the setup of the new government - and that the communist party was not immediately disbanded, and all of its property distributed to the victims of the oppressive regime.

This weekend all of my program is going to Krakow, Poland! The next weekend we are taking a day trip to Cesky Krumlov, a little town with a castle outside of Prague. Then... it's mid-term break, and we are going to Athens or Barcelona, then I'm visiting dad in Helsinki and dad's visiting me in Prague (or the other way around), then Mark is visiting from St.Petersburg... and after that I have no plans (other than turning 21!!!)

My complete photos from this weekend are added up (here).

Peace!

This weekend, I took a picture of myself on the Charles Bridge, because I was all alone.

so vikend?

It was a long and tiring weekend - we went out at night, saw the debate live at 3am, and we went to Karlstein castle to a wine festival/renaissance fair the next day.... we saw Leonard Cohen that night... we walked, we danced, we adventured.



Highlights summary:
- going dancing Friday night (and enjoying it), and then at 3 am going to an English bookstore/bar to watch the Presidential debate
- music at the festival (including some Abba karaoke) - we heard them singing a folk song we learned in Czech class! Holka Modrooka.....
- going to the Leonard Cohen concert: 7th row on the floor, chilling in the green room, meeting the backup singers with awesome accents, taking a little tour of the awesome hotel they were staying in.

- meeting Breanne's friend Rosie, who came to visit as she is studying abroad in Salzburg - she was really fun!
- going back to our usual coffee shop haunt - Bohemia Bagel - last night, and finding my way without my glasses (but I cleaned my room today, so I found them for class).
- today in Media & Democracy our guest speaker was the Czech equivalent of the NPR Congress reporter... she talked about the nature of reporting for radio, and how hard it is to get the Czech Prime Minister to talk to you :)

The photo album (this time with some videos!) is here: click

So long, farewell, until we meet again...