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

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.

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.

Classes... begin!

This weekend was lazy. I hung out at the house and went to the store a couple times. I bonded with my roommates... overall quite relaxing. We have been attempting to cook a bit with our somewhat limited utensils. We don't have a tea kettle or a coffee maker... no pans for the oven, etc... but pasta has worked so far, as has delicious Czech Ramen, and that's enough for now. I want to make some chicken, but I am scared at the supermarket, since I don't know what the packaging says... and I don't even know how to approach cooking a whole chicken... so, we'll see how it works without that, and how long I can last.
Yesterday, my classes began! We went to school early, because Breanne and I wanted to switch our schedules around a bit. Unfortunately, one of the classes I really wanted/needed for my major, Politics of the EU, is full! I switched it out for "Reporting", which should actually be great, since there are no journalism classes at Lewis & Clark. I'm a bit sad that I won't be able to fill that International Affairs requirement, though.
After the registrar, we hit up the library for textbooks. Here, we get textbooks and readers from the library... for free! We just have to return them at the end of the semester. Overall, this seems like a pretty good deal... No shelling out $600 for textbooks, and no heavy things to sadly depart from at the end of my time here.
My roommates and I then paid a visit to Bohemia Bagel for some coffee and, well, bagels. It's pretty cheap-ish (although it would be cheaper if we had a coffee maker... grr...) and RIGHT down the street from school... less than a block away. It seems like this will probably be a hang-out location all semester.
My first class is "Media in a Democracy". My professor's name is Bruce Konviser, and he is a freelance journalist from the US, living in Prague now for over 10 years. He has been in the Washington Post and on CNN, so I trust him to know what he's talking about. This class is about media ethics, and the role of media in a democracy. After a year at the PioLog, I think it will be really, really nice to discuss the issues of ethical and moral journalism... the duty of the media in the system, etc. It's pretty complicated, and I don't think we all really "get it."
Speaking of PioLog (being the Lewis&Clark school paper)... I miss it! I'm sad to be gone this semester, and I'm concerned that there won't be a good position for me open when I get back. I don't really want to edit news again, and I am nowhere near wanting to edit sports, features, or arts... but there's really nothing I can do; they need to give positions to people who are There. If I had my mac with me, I would offer to edit from here... but that's not really reasonable, since I'm completely out of the loop and the time zone. I really wanted to steal "back door"(the back cover, comedy page) this spring... but apparently they've offered that position to Ben. I guess I'll just have to fight him! :)
Back to Prague: Today, I had two more classes: Elementary Czech, and Prague Art & Architecture. Czech is a difficult language... but my professor seems like a nice guy who is very interested in us taking advantage of our time here in Prague. I hope I can be dedicated in challenging myself and learning as much as I can.
Prague Art & Architecture is going to be amazing. Today, the first day of class, our teacher took us on a walk up to Prague castle, where she talked to us about the Romanesque and Gothic styles on the churches up there. It was really cool! One of the big theses of her lecture today related to the "layering" of Prague's architecture. One building can show features typical of several different eras, as through the centuries, it has been renovated, repaired, and redecorated. For example, the St.George's Monestary was first constructed in the Romanesque style. A Gothic chapel was added a century later, and then a new Renaissance entryway was constructed centuries later.
Anyway... I love this class. I have never done art history before, and so far it's really quite amazing. I spoke to my Professor briefly about research she's been working on; currently she is specializing in the transition in the 1990s, directly after the fall of the Soviet Union. She said that there was a lot of change going on in that time, since during communism there was no private art market, no independent galleries, etc, and all of it thus needed to be created from the ground up.
Tomorrow is the first day of the rest of my classes: I will have "Reporting" and "East Central European Politics." Hopefully they will go as well as my first three have.
I went to TESCO (our wal-mart superstore) today to try and get some school supplies... and ran into the entirety of Prague, trying to do the same thing. Kids and their parents held lists of school supplies and were crowding the aisles picking out notebooks and pens. I was scared... so I went home. There's always tomorrow.
And here, my friends, are the photos:


Technical note: The photo captions should just "show up" now. I went back in time (to old entries) and fixed the other slideshows as well... to make them hopefully easier to use and prettier. I also added slideshows to old entries that didn't have photos... So... yay! Everything is documented now.