Mucha Museum

Breanne and I went to see the "Mucha Museum" today. Alphons Mucha is one of the Czech Republic's proudest sons.

Highlights for me: his "arts" series, including Dance:
And poetry:

Bonus!

We went to a Christmas concert at the national theater today.

I saw "Twilight", that new vampire high-school drama movie, on Friday. It was dramatic, and the cinematography was fun. Playful. Not so typical. I don't know if I'd recommend the film but it certainly did benefit from the big screen.

And.. here is a fun picture from Saturday:

dumpster diving at the Moser Glassworks

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)

Mark visited and then we went to Berlin

Here are the photos!



And now... I think I'll just post Mark's blog from the visit (haha). He's got an interesting blogging style. But it's funny, and thorough... and I need to be working on a project :)

Russia NOT RUSSIA PRAGUE 75.5,76

11/11/08 (Mark arrives)
That evening we took the "metro" to some cathedral with a neo gothic exterior and an art neuveau interior and toured the graveyard. The whole yard was paved, the graves were stuck so close together that there was no grass or bare ground, and the entire place took on the look of a statue park.

On the way back we passed through a childrens' lantern festivil. little kids running aroun waving sharp sticks at eye level, it was adorable.

12/11/08
2:32 pm

spent the morning walking around west Prague. I went through the big castle. Then I met up with Angela and we went up the Eiffel tower (small version) and saw the city.

Shower, Big Metronome and then I get to go to a class for 500 of these Czech dollars.

9:31 PM

I almost didn't make it to the meet up point in time because I got lost another four times and went in circles at least twice on my way back from the metronome. It doesn't help that it seems to get dark here earlier than it does in Russia. Also I was startled when a little child jumped out from behind a car and barked at me.

I then sat in the best class I have been in in over 2 years. It was a lecture class about the rise and fall of sovietism in eastern European countries throughout the cold war. It was a great perspective to get because I've heard little about it in America and the Russians don't talk about it at all when they talk about the period.

Russians have never ever mentioned their eastern European occupations in any exhibit on the soviet union or Russian history that I have seen in Russia.

Every country has their own information biases.

Tonight I'm going to try clubbing for the first time ever.

Russia NOT RUSSIA PRAGUE BERLIN 75,76,77,78

13/11/08 7:00 PM

Angela and I saw a CG Czech movie (feature length, cartoon comedy, had it's own plot and love story and things) about the construction of the astronomical clock. It was strange, I'm not sure where I can begin with it. Of course it doesn't help that we can't speak Czech but that probably wouldn't have helped that much anyway.

I'll just list things that the movie had:

Talking goat
romantic interest who steals nails from coffins to make money? maybe to help her gigantic preacher father?
a young man who owns the goat and loves the romantic interest and who is a great wood carver.

I'm still a bit unwell from last night, but lets continue.

So the great wood carver comes with his talking goat(male voice and character but female goat, he milked it at many times in the movie) to find work in Prague...

No, I'm not even going to try. It's too weird.

Tomorrow we leave at 5:40 to go to Berlin, 2 days, what will we do to fill our time?

***

14/11/08

Berlin

We arrived at around 2 and found that our hostel is not at all like how a hostel is supposed to be. The lobby is amazing and is decorated with fountains, pianos, and lounging space. Angela booked beds in a 6 dorm but we ended up in a 4 bed room which looked exactly like a hotel room; it even had a TV. Thanks to Angela the room only cost us the price of the 6 room which was 12 euros a night.

After buying food at the grocery store, we licked the Brandenburg Gate, we saw some guy dressing manikins up in costumes for posing in pictures. We passed the decorated British Embassy and a wall which had a relief of Lenin on it on our way to Checkpoint Charley. We visited the Wall museum which was very very big for what we were willing to do (and extremely crowded, that is there was exhibits and translations smashed 30 or so to a wall of a room, it was very exhausting).

Relaxed for hot chocolate, went to the bob store (an independent design store, featuring only artists from Berlin) where Angela bought several surprisingly good presents for other peoples, we found what I thought was the "topography of terror" but was really an empty lot (it was dark already so it was herd to tell what was what).

I'm pretty sure that at this point we visited one of the most amazing chocolate stores I've ever visited. They had Chocolate monuments, a titanic, and a volcano (all of which 4 feet by 4 feet by 3 feet). I walked around with my mouth open the whole time I was there.

Relaxing some more, we meandered around the area and saw some pretty cool stores and monuments (churches, opera houses, theaters and such).

We headed over to the Sony center to see if any movies were playing, on the way there we passed some sort of weekend winder festival which included a sledding hill. The Sony center looked alright but most of the area (large buildings) were vacant of stores and things and the sony center's choice for cobblestones was awful (think slippery cheese graters on the ground). Both the new bond movie and "Burn After Reading" were playing but, because we missed the 8:15 show, they were playing at 10:30.

To make the most of the night we wandered past the Brandenburg gate again and through the amazing Jewish memorial to the capital building.

The jewish memorial is a field of square columns which don't look that impressive from the outside (maybe like a graveyard) but the varied columns hide what the ground does and the memorial actually goes something like 18 feet below street level. The effect is that one goes in and gets lost in a haunting dark forest of Grey walls. (Grey is a proper noun? What?)

Anyway we went up in the capital building and saw the city from the glass dome.

The movie theater was amazing, the seats were the most clean and comfortable that I have ever sat in in a theater. We were shown commercials first, there was a jeans commercial, a few feel good beer commercials and an ice cream commercial with an actress from desperate housewives, at the end of which, the curtains closed and the lights turned on to reveal a man selling the advertised ice cream. In our state of mind, that was quite funny. we saw was "burn after reading" and it was quite crazy. Very enjoyable but "holy cow what the...!". It was an interesting movie to say the least.

***
15/11/08

Berlin

We started this day by going to the wall memorial which showcases a complete wall system (the wall, the killing field and the back fence), The memorial also included a rebuilt and re-excavated church that was demolished for the wall. (the church is a round stone building under a wooden fence cage which gives it a fuzzy appearance)

Walking from the memorial we passed a redecorated and pretty attractive (beautiful? mearly interesting?) Jewish synagogue. Because of the Neo-Nazi problem jewish memorials and monuments have permanent security forces guarding them (this one had two uniformed officers walking back and forth across the front, the cemetary has a plane cloths policeman)

Form there we visited a series of markets ("hackers market" is the incorrect name I remember) where we lunched and looked at German crafts (by the way, Germans are very very nice).

we then visited the "East Side Gallery" which is a 600 meter section of the wall which is used for murals (many about the wall and the division of Berlin, they seem caught up on this wall thing).

At this point we visited the bombed out church and it's style-shattering modern bell tower (Germans seem to like sharp juxtapositions of style).

We were getting pretty tired, so after quickly visiting the victory column we returned to the coffee shop at checkpoint Charley and I had an orange chocolate hot chocolate (Belgium orange chocolate).

Bought souvenirs for my host family, wandered a book store for a few minutes, kicked a church, ate curry wurst, rode the double Decker city buses (sitting at the very front) from one end of the line to the other and back again. It was a joy.

Back to the Hostel to celibrate Angela's 21st birthday with lift (a mineral water apple juice mix) and marshmallow-cream filled chocolates and "The Office" "30 rock" "The Daily Show" and "the Colbert Report". Hooray!

Catsup

First of all, here is a cool commercial for "Skoda," a Czech company.



Good work, Skoda!


Next: pictures from Helsinki!

Election

It's 5:06am here in Prague. I napped from 9pm-midnight to stay up all night for the election - and it's over! Obama just won. MSNBC is having a great time and Chris Matthews is going completely insane.
Night!

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.

A quick mid-week update

I've added some more pictures to my Prague album here:

PragueLife

And let's see... we may be going to the debate at 3am tonight, Obama is majorly leading in the numbers (I really hadn't been watching the polls, so this came as a surprise), I put my address up here on the blog main page so it's easy to find (cough cough). Now I will reheat my chicken stir-fry and have my afternoon classes!
Sometime tomorrow maybe my story should be up on the school paper website, At the Lennon Wall, but I don't know when exactly.
I have solid plans for break - bought my plane tickets to Greece last night! I also have my flight to Helsinki booked, and I think Mark & I will be heading to Berlin when he comes down from Russia.

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.

Thursday is my Saturday

Here's what I did so far today:
Woke up, read the news online
Worked out
Took a shower and cleaned my room a bit
Went to the grocery store (someone asked me for directions while I was walking down the street!)
Made lunch (stir-fry chicken & broccoli, and rice)
Ate lunch & grapes while watching Colbert & The Daily Show.

This afternoon I may do some work on my article and my exciting new Politics essay assignment... walk around the city... hang out with my roomies...
and? I don't know.

I guess I just live here now.

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...

William Randolf Hearst and other light classics

Happy Tuesday, everybody!
Life as an aspiring journalist has been going pretty well for me lately. In Media & Democracy class yesterday, we watched Citizen Kane and discussed it. It was a really neat film, and now I know who Orson Welles is! (other than "another guy who cameo-ed in the Muppet Movie")

Last night I went to my second student council meeting - I was assigned to cover the "Student Council Beat" for my Reporting class, and am supposed to write a story about the student council, their obstacles in creating a cohesive community at Anglo-American, and their attempt to overcome these obstacles through club parties. After the meeting I interviewed the President, who had a lot of opinions and concerns and is a very cool guy.
Today I was supposed to have an interview with another student council member (who also happens to work at the library and is very friendly), but I canceled it when EVERYTHIHG CHANGED.

My teacher sent out an e-mail to our class asking for someone to cover the upcoming US election--actually he said "BTW, anybody noticed we have an, um, election coming up rather soon that will have a major impact on the future of the world?" I responded that I was kinda sorta interested, and had just requested my absentee ballot with the help of some organization with a booth at a coffee shop-- see?
So he told me to scrap my student council story and work on this one. So my deadline is shorter than it was, and some of my work is gone - but I have a substantially more interesting story.
My teacher asked me to write an informational blurb (but he said "graf") for American students about getting an absentee ballot, which I just wrote and he just posted, and you can find here: http://www.lennonwall.net/ More on this topic to come!

In other journalism news, I am in the process of writing a short article for the PioLog about my study abroad experience - it is really hard to find a focus but it's coming. Apparently the PioLog had some weird printing issue this week, so I don't know when the next paper is coming out... but you'll be informed. Because you care!

Other than that, I have been enjoying my camera and trying to notice new things and new angles in Prague on my daily walk home from school. I go the same way, but I see new things--it helps that every building in this city is decorated from top to bottom and there's a statue around every other corner. Walking through the touristy old town square on Monday, I was amazed at how different it all looks from behind- I walk through there every day but saw it in a whole different light when it was framed this way. So, there's that.

My pictures from this week so far are up in an album, with captions, here: http://picasaweb.google.com/angelar.w/PragueLife#

hearts!
-Angela

PS - I did taebo twice so far this week, just following muted videos on youtube and putting on my indie/hipster music nice and loud so my apartmentmates don't judge me. It's fun, but it makes me feel pretty un-coordinated... who can kick and march and punch and twist all at the same time?
Also, I made myself fried chicken for lunch, to cancel that out.

Dobra Kava = good coffee

More more more!
I only have tonight, and then I'm done with classes for the week, Again. On Monday, we had a visiting speaker in my Media & Democracy class: Iva Drapalova, who was the AP bureau chief for Prague during Soviet rule, 1968-88. She had a lot of great stories, about being tailed by the secret police, about working for people who she never spoke to, and about journalism being a really poorly paid field. She was really witty and fun (and 84 years old!), and honestly quite a bit more interesting and well-spoken than my actual teacher, who is probably a great journalist, but not a great teacher, especially of philosophy.
Czech class has been really cool this week; our teacher is out so we were placed in a different class, which is quite a bit more organized and fast-paced. We are learning adjective endings, numbers, and restaurant vocab. Today we learned a couple other phrases as well:
Jsou zamilovani. = They are in love.
Laska je slepa. = Love is blind.
Miluju te. = I love you.
In Prague Art & Architecture yesterday, we took a walk through the city to see the gothic architecture, and then went to the National Gallery, which is held in a former convent. It was cold... but interesting! We saw the evolution of Gothic art from functionalist to emotional, and the shift of feelings from peaceful reverence to suffering, in the faces of statues and paintings. We saw about 20 statues on the same theme; Madonna and Child; and our teacher explained in detail the significance in each tiny difference. It was fastinating, no lie.
I have reporting this afternoon, and then East-Central European politics tonight. If I can survive through that my roomies and I are going out for traditional Czech dinner! Huzzah!

Here is a slideshow of MORE pictures, this time, from Breanne's camera. There are pictures from Dresden & a couple from Prague near the end of last week. There are some pictures of me&the roomies, and some of my NEW CAMERA. :)

I wish I was a nun so I could shed my bad habits

Week 2 of school is complete, and was quite good. My classes look like they will be completely possible, perhaps even easy - but I'll still be learning a lot.
I am sick-as is Breanne-with a cough/throat thing. I'm doing the water-tea-juice-soup thing, and I hope it will blow over. I do NOT want to try doing the doctor-in-a-different-language thing. All respect, I hate going to the doctor in the first place. It makes me very uncomfortable.

Looking through the lens
I’ve noticed that I see a lot more of the city when I don’t have a camera. I can just, look, not like a tourist but like a person. There are a lot of different people here. The Czechs seem very set in their ways, like they know where they’re going, and like they aren’t real eager for anyone to disturb that. Shopkeepers, foodsellers, all kinds of cashiers just really seem to wish like we knew what was going on. They’ll just roll their eyes as we count out money or look at them puzzled when they say something in Czech. Sorry, Czech people!
The people are really happy, though, too. Maybe not immediately friendly (although we’re told that they become friendlier once you get to know them)… but they look peaceful. There are so many couples in Prague! At any time of day and any part of the city… you can’t walk three steps without passing a happy couple holding hands or kissing (hella PDA out here, yo). How sweet.
And the sculptures! When you focus on the big attractions, I think you can miss the little ones… everything here is covered in paintings and statues. I’ve walked to and from school several times now, and each time I see a new saint standing next to me or looking down from above a door.
All of that being said, I think I’m going to buy a camera this weekend, in…

DRESDEN!
Ali, Ellie, Breanne, and I are going to Dresden this weekend, for Breanne’s exciting birthday bash! I went to the train station all by myself today to buy tickets. They were a little more expensive than I anticipated ($60 each round trip)… I probably said something wrong and didn’t get the right discount. We are staying in a hostel, which I also booked this week, called Mondpalast, in the new town.
I am learning more and more about this whole traveling process. For example; hostelworld.com. This site is a fantastic resource, as there are many, many up to date reviews and ratings for pretty much every hostel out there; it’s a wonderful way to get the best deal. The reviews also mention the little useful things like “there are a lot of stairs,” “bring your own sheets!,” or the little extra fees they will tack on at the last minute. All good information. However, I also learned that hostelworld.com’s reservation system may not be the way to go; both times I’ve booked hostels, the kind of room I wanted was shown as full or unavailable, but booking through the hostel’s official website has provided a cheaper price and the exact room I was looking for. Good deal!

Studies
I am pretty much the star student in my journalism class (because I am the only one who has done journalism-type-stuff before, and speaks English as a first language…), which is fun… I went to the Student Council meeting last week and am preparing a story on how the Student Council president, Mario, is using club parties to bring together students at AAC, since there are no other big events. AAC suffers from residing in rented rooms of a building; it is in a great location, but there is no common relaxin’ space for students to chill during classes.
Czech is really fun. We sing every Wednesday and have learned two songs so far. We also learned numbers yesterday, which has already proved useful. I went to the convenience store up the street, and when I went to purchase something the woman didn’t use the cash register to ring me up (since it was just one item), so she just told me the price. Usually, I cheat and look at the screen, where the numbers show up, but this time I actually understood her! I think progress is going to be visible.

Perspective
All of the hanging out with Americans, and talk of travelling, has made me start thinking about what my goals are, what I should really be getting out of my time here. I think I should try to get out more, alone, see the sights in Prague, and try to befriend some Czech people in my classes. I’m obviously not going to get the same cultural immersion experience as I would with a host family… but I should really try to do everything I can to take advantage of this unusual opportunity… 3 solid months in a foreign country.
I know that my East Central European politics class is going to give me perspective I could never get in the US. The students are very outspoken about their opinions, and we are seeing a lot the way that history is taught differently in different countries.
One time at Powell’s there was a book like that, that had selections from history texts all over the world… I couldn’t find it the next time but I should try again. It’s such an interesting concept; facts, history, just the simple truth is different in different lands. How fascinating.
And speaking of perspective... I have added a list of links to the right of some other blogs. Breanne is my roommate, so you can check up on her version of events on her wordpress. Mark, who goes to LC with me, is in Russia right now, and you can read his adventures (notably, his humorous misunderstandings with his host mother) on his blog called "my head hurts." Lauren, another LC-er, is having "Adventuras en Chile" - she writes absolutely beautifully. And then there is the news from Prague, and my favorite web comic, xkcd. So....enjoy the internet!

See y’all laters!

Your heart knows what's good for you

Hello good people. Last night, my roommates and I went out to get some 'typical czech cuisine'. Although we didn't find the place we set out to... we ran into a nice place out of the tourist-y parts, where we got some mostly good Czech food (I would not recommend the "fried curdy cheese...). My apartment mates are a lot of fun. We've gone on quite a number of excursions together. Here we are at a pub:And there are more pictures in an album here: (link)
Today I went off on my own to get some reading done and exploring in. I get much more of the "Prague" feeling when I walk around by myself. I went to "Bohemia Bagel" and did my East/Central European Politics reading. Bohemia Bagel honestly is about as American as it gets in Prague... there are bagels, American bacon, even apple pie... but it is really nice, and really grounding. It makes me feel less isolated to go to a familiar place like that. The music, I think, was my favorite part. They played "the end of the world as we know it," "everybody hurts," and, most wonderfully, "True to your heart," the Stevie Wonder & 98 degrees song from Disney's Mulan. Life is GREAT.
I then walked to school and checked out Kafka's "The Trial"... I was trying to read it at home before I left, but I got busy, and I was also being all ambitious and trying to read it in German. I think I'll calm down and do English first.
I took a tram up to Petrin... that nice park on a hill, and sat in a more secluded area, read and wrote a postcard. There are parts of this city that are just beautiful and tranquil and lovely. I can see why people wrote short stories here. The scenes are worth capturing.
I am really finding my way here. We live really close to the centers of both old & new town... and are a scenic 20-minute walk from school. I think I will be very comfortable with the layout here by the time I go home.

Goddamn goddamn it seems

The past few days have been kind of up-and-down. I lost my camera… it got taken at some point when I was walking around and shopping with Breanne yesterday. So… that’s a big bummer. I’ll be working on getting a new one in the next couple weeks, I guess. I can’t live without documentation!

Classes
So I’ve now had all my classes. Reporting seems like it’s going to be really great. It’s basically the main journalism course, and we will be writing the school’s online newspaper, “Behind the Lennon Wall.” The professor is a really cool guy who knows his stuff about journalism… he used to edit the Prague Post, which is the big English-language newspaper in Prague. I’ve decided to seriously start working toward a career in journalism, so I think this class is going to be a big step toward knowing what on earth I’m doing.
My final class of the week (Wednesday nights!) is East-Central European politics. Our teacher is a young-er Welch guy, and he is awesome. The class seems like it is going to be essentially a complete political history, told from the perspective of those countries caught between Western Europe and Russia. The teacher is really funny, and sounds exactly like Eddie Izzard. He is very enthusiastic. I was pretty exhausted by the time I had the class, but I think it will be a really great chance – studying perspectives on history and politics is going to be really different, with students from all over the world! There are people from Serbia, the Czech Republic, England, Slovakia, Cuba, etc… and only 4 Americans. This is going to make for some very interesting discussions, methinks. Even just the first day got some people really riled up, but our Prof seems like he can handle it, and he doesn’t feel bad telling people when to shut up.

Home Front
Things are going really well in the apartment. I love all my fellow house-peoples and it’s a really chill situation. I’ve been doing a bit of minimalist cooking, and I even did some laundry! One of our program leaders came over and labeled all the dials and buttons on our washing machine, so I went ahead and tried it; and it worked out fine! We had been calling the washing machine “the death trap,” because you have to open the metal spring-loaded grate and stuff your clothes in… and it seems likely that it could get caught or stuck or something. We all lived through it, though. And living without a dryer isn’t too bad.
My roommates are talking about travelling, and I’m thinking about this too. I am concerned about traveling with too many people; there are a lot of plans circulating in our program group for trips with 6-10-more people… and I just don’t want to do that. Big groups just don’t get to do as much… there’s more waiting and decision-making time lag and all… I think I would rather travel alone than with 7 college-age Americans with different interests and goals. Maybe I’m just totally misanthropic, but… it’s how I feel.

The Real Home Front
It has been really good talking to people! I’ve had a chance to chat on the phone with Grace, Mark, Aubrey, and the parents… the phone was a fantastic invention. It’s very real and personal and makes the distance not so far.
That's all for now. Stay in touch!