Where in the World is Lindsay
Find out what I have been up to while I have been abroad!
5/31/2019 0 Comments Last Bit of Time in the CzechMonday 5.13.19 Woke up and studied/ wrote my outline for my in class essay! Today is our last day of classes, WHAT THE HECK!? How did I get here already?!?!! We had Czech class first and we got our tests back, I got an 83% which isn’t great but I’m really bad at retaining other languages so I’m pretty okay with it! The three who got almost 100% (Lauren, Rachel, and Erica) got books to continue learning the language from Pavla Pavaklava! Then we all got buttons that said “I speak Czech! Yak se maś?” Then it was time for us to write our essays… I wrote about the refugees crisis and I don’t think I wrote it that well. We only had an hour and, yeah, oofta… not great. Then I headed back to the dorms, made some supper, packed, and worked on more homework! Then we played “True Czech” which was a game of reminiscing!! We had to answer questions about Czech language, history, and memories from our trip! Oh my gosh it was so fun!!! Tuesday 5.14.19 We got up and went to load the bus at 9. We were all kind of frustrated because we had no idea what the itinerary would be at all, we didn’t know when we we leaving yet alone where we were going… we knew nothing. Because of this we were all just throughinh random clothes in since we couldn’t look up the weather of the places! We got on the bus and I passed out! We showed up at a little town and saw a church and a castle there! We were all pretty tried and it was coming out as silliness there was a lot that was happening and everything was supper funny for no reason other than us being so tired! On of the girls thong broke as she was wearing it and there was a sticker on one of the guys’ back in the moment it was all really hilarious! There was a little theater and it was so pretty and it was one of six that is still standing from that time period in Europe (1 of 2 in the Czech Republic). Then we ate lunch, I got soup and schnitzel, yuuuuum! Back in the bus. Quick stop in a small village called Ležáky that was destroyed by the Nazis Because the citizens had been harboring the parachuters from mission Anthropoid. We got back in the bus and made our way to the town we would be staying in for the next couple nights! We were in a really nice hotel and I was roommates with Logan and Sarah. We had free time so Sarah and I relaxed for a bit until we went to go hang out with Seth. We only had the three of us and one deck of cards and we didn’t know what game to play for so we looked up how to play old maid. Played that for a hot second and then went to bed. Wednesday 5.15.19 Woke up for breakfast, oh my goodness so much food!!! We all ate and then got on the bus to head to a different section of town. We toured a church. There were some skulls of i think dead saints and one of them looked funny like a little pirate, ARRRRRRRG! Then we went to the bone church! Fun fact, 6,000 peoples bones were used in decorating of the bone church! Afterwards we went to yet another church. This one had really cool stain glass windows! Then I went to lunch with Cici, Alex Sara, Annalise, Lauren, Kirstin, Cody, and Sarah! I got an amazing spinach and cheese stuffed chicken breast with boiled potatoes and a side of garlic soup! Then we walked around the city for a while before we had to meet the rest of the group for our silver mine tour. It was actually really fun! We didn’t lick the walls this time but we did get fun white coats and hard hats with lights on them. There were a few areas that were a bit of a tight squeeze where I had to turn sideways or squat down to get through but it was fun to explore the caves! When we got out we were free to roam around. Sarah and I went back to the hotel and played cards with the Logan, Seth, and Julian for a while until we got hungry!! So Julian, Seth, Sarah, and I went out to a little Chinese place and got some grub! It was really yummy, Seth got the at chicken curry and wow was it tasty!! We headed back to the hotel and I just hung out and FaceTimed in the room while the others went to the bars! Thursday 5.16.19 We ate breakfast and got back on the bus. We took the bus to another town that was still renaissance looking. We walked around town a little bit and then Martin and Jan got stopped by the police in the middle of town. Apparently our bus was parked in a spot that It couldn’t be parked in so they worked it out and we went on our way. We walked through a park area and over to a lake where there were a ton of little baby duckies swimming around, so cute!!! Then we were released for lunch. Seth, Sarah, Lauren, Logan, Rachel, and I tried to go to a burger place but it was closed like closed, closed. Closed down closed so we moved on! We found a different place that had a peacock sitting on the roof so we thought that would be a good place to eat! We got in a there was a lady from Council Bluffs, yes, Nebraska! What the heck!!? Small world. She was having some trouble with her phone and noticed we were young and English speaking so she asked us for help and it turned out that she was from Nebraska too! We ordered and got our food and I got a fish. It what a whole fish with the head and everything. I couldn’t do it… I felt barbaric tearing into it and I ended up crying. I couldn’t eat it so I ate the potatoes instead. Seth and Lauren got similar dishes and they really liked the fish so I gave the meat to them. We left and met up with the rest of the group and we were next to an ice cream place so I got some gelato and we headed back onto the bus and made our way to our next destination. Which was the Budweiser Budvar Factory. Some fun facts that I learned was that 40,000 bottles created per hour, Hops grow about 20 cm a day, and that they reuse old glass bottles that have been shipped back to the factory. It was really cool seeing it all happen but there were hardly any people workers, there was just a lot of machines at work so it’s a bit unnerving to think that we don’t really need human workers that much anymore. After that Jan and Martin has their second encounter with the cops. We weren’t quite sure what was happening but Marketa told me that there was a Polish man who was lost and he couldn’t speak anything other than polish so Jan and Martin apparently could so they were translating from Polish to Czech for the officers. We went on our way to Česky Krumlov. Once we got there, we got checked into our hostel which was pretty small. Our group basically took up the entire thing so that was cool! I shared a room with Cici and Sarah and once we got our stuff all in the room, Sarah and I left to walk around the town for a bit. We went with Julian, Logan, Kira, Rachel, Erica and Kristina to look at some souvenir shops and explore! After a while we wanted to eat so we looked at prices and ended up eating at a spot by our hostel. It was some pretty yummy food but a bit expensive for all that it was! We went back to the hostel and ended up playing hearts until the late hours of the night with Julian, Seth, Logan, Sarah, Kira, Erica, Kira, and Rachel. It was a pretty good game even though I lost REALLY bad the first round. It was great to just sit and be with each other! Friday 5.17.19 First stop of the day was to the Krumlov Chateau which was a castle. We walked around and were learning stuff about the castle and then we came into the room of the queen I think she was, maybe princess anyway she was not a looker to say it lightly or maybe the artist just didn’t like her that much because her portrait was pretty sad not trying to be mean! There were some pretty cool rooms but there was this really pretty room off of a bigger room and it was filled with beautiful colors and an amazing light fixture! Oh it was so pretty! I wish I had a picture but we weren’t allowed to take pictures in the castle! The next room had a golden chariot that had a bunch of naked ladies on it. Me and the other art majors looked at it and then looked at each other because the breasts of the ladies were completely wrong. It looked like someone made a ball cut it in half and stuck it on the chest, they were really bad. After the tour was over, we were released for lunch. Seth, Sarah, and I went back to the hostel to make ourselves a little lunch and not have to pay as much for it. We stopped at the grocery store next door and got some ramen and other food and ate up! Then at 4 we met the rest of the group in the hostel and walked over to the rafting place which ended up being literally right next door. We split into groups of five and one group of six. I got to be with Julian, Sarah, Seth, and Lauren!! Great group of people, I couldn’t have asked for a better crew! We started off in last place (and Lauren in the front of the raft standing and singing Colors of the Wind) but made our way up close to the front. It got to a point where I had to pee pretty badly so we found a plot of land and pulled off. There was an old building type thing that I was able to go behind. Kira, Erica, Rachel,Kristina, and Logan came and ended up stopping in their raft and using "the restroom" too. Seth didn't realize Kira was behind the wall and ended up walking in on her, Sarah got spotted by some hikers while she was going. We stayed at that spot for a while and we danced, I tried to learn how to line dance- that didn't happen, chatted, and just had a grand ol time! After being there for a while, we decided to move on and head on down the river. Once we got a few minutes into our adventure, we saw a little stop with a campfire, dog, and it also had a bar. So we stopped as per the request of some of our group. I got some chips and a drink and we sat around the fire and chatted until we saw the rest of our group coming down the river too! WE waved them over, they stopped and we hung out at the campsite for a while! The man there offered us hotdogs and boy were they good! It really made me miss summer though and made me excited to go back and camp! We must have stayed there too long because our rafting company had called the guy and was going to come pick us up there. Our group did not want to do that so we got back on the rafts and made our way down the river! We got done and unfortunately, Erica lost her phone in the river. We took the vans back to our hostel and my body was so tired that I took a shower and just conked out while everyone else went to go eat. When I woke up it was about 10 pm. It seemed like no one was to be found until Seth, Sarah, Cici, Sara, ,and Kirstin came back. I chatted with them for a while and then went to bed. This was our last night together on our trip…. Kind of sad!! Saturday 5.18.19 Just a travel day, we made our way back to Olomouc and was there by 2pm! Awesome!! Sunday 5.19.19 Sarah and I started off the day by being productive with Lauren and Kirstin and we went to the laundry mat for the last time to do our laundry! It took waaaaaay longer than it should have. Annalise ended up coming to do her laundry as well so we just hung out waiting for our laundry to finish up. Lauren was working on her evaluation questions for the study abroad office and started crying because of one of her answers. We all kind of made fun of her for it but then we wanted to hear what she had written and we had to convince her a little bit before she finally said that she would. Of course Sarah, Annalise, and I started crying too but in our defense, Lauren was crying as she was reading the answer AND it was a very sweet and sentimental message. So there we were all standing/sitting in the laundry mat crying. Our laundry finally got done so we headed back to the dorms to hang dry them. Sara, Annalise, Kirstin, Lauren, Sarah, and I were going to go get Burgr for one of our last meals in Olomouc BUT yet again it was closed...this is the second time this has happened to Sarah and I. Lauren was really in the mood for a hamburger so she, Sarah, and I were going to walk to The Buns while Annalise, Sara, and Kirstin went to eat at the Vietnamese place. Lauren, Sarah, and I didn’t get very far before we gave up and went back to the Vietnamese place. We just figured The Buns would be closer as well and then we would have to walk back anyway. When we got inside the Vietnamese spot, we couldn’t find the other three anywhere soooo we just picked a spot, sat, and ordered. A few minutes later they stroll in and we were like “what the heck!? Where did you go?” They just had to go to the ATM, thankfully there was an extra spot at our table where Annalise sat and then a small table for two right next to our table where Kirstin and Sara sat! As always, the food was amazing!! While Sarah, Lauren, and I were paying the other three left. We thought they were just waiting somewhere in the lobby or outside the restaurant but when we got out there, they were no where to be found. We were all going to go to a coffee shop and work on our blogs and final paper but neither Lauren, Sarah, nor I spend a lot of time in coffee shops so we didn’t know where they were at and so we just walked around and found something that seemed cafe-ish but it was outside so we figured we should move since we needed to charge our computers. As we were discussing leaving we see Annalise walk by! Thank the good Lord above! She knew where the other two probably were and led us to the cafe they were at. On the way, we passed by The Buns where we were going to go eat earlier and, yep. It was closed. We got to the coffee shop and stayed there for about 5 hours just working on all of our homework. While we were there, there was a small rainstorm that passed by and oh my gosh! It smelled like Nebraska rain and I felt at home, it was so good. Sarah and Lauren left to go attend church at one of the Catholic Churches in town. I stayed at the coffee shop and worked on my paper until about 6:30/6:45 ish since they closed at 7 pm. By then we were all pretty hungry and decided to go get supper Sara, Annalise, Kirstin, and I went to a little spot that essentially look like a stone underground bomb shelter with wood benches and tables, it’s a pretty cool and cozy spot! I got fried cheese for the last time and we had some long conversations about a ton of stuff including Ouija boards, spirits, and beliefs in general. We must have been there for a long time because while we were siting there talking, Sarah and Lauren came walking in from church! They sat and talked to us for a bit but the four of us left and went back to the dorms shortly after they got there. I finished up my paper, packed, and hung out with people from my group before going to bed. It still hasn’t hit me that I’m leaving so soon! Monday 5.20.19
Holy cow! Last day in Olomouc!!! I got everything packed and ready for my last week in Europe! Annalise came up to “the 5th floor penthouse” to see Lauren. They were going to do some last minute shopping around Olomouc and since I didn’t have anything else to do and Sarah had left with some of the group to watch the last episode of Game of Thrones at the school, I asked if I could go with them! They said yes and after Lauren was finally ready, we headed out!! Our first stop was at a little coffee shop to meet up with Sara and Kirstin who were finishing up blogs and such. Kirstin was telling us (mainly Lauren) about their EXTREMELY QUICK flight change- 45 minutes. We weren’t quite sure if they would be able to make it or not but we were helping them strategize on how they possibly could make it. Annalise and I left and we going to meet up with Lauren after she was done talking with them! We first stopped at the restaurant we had the going away party at tonight because Annalise was the party planner and had to go in to preorder our appetizers. I helped pick out the food (kind of) and it was really difficult trying to communicate with the waitresses. We definitely had to use the translator app A LOT. We finally got the deed done and we headed to a lot of smaller shops around. Annalise has a bit of a list of things she needed/ wanted before she left and I just had one thing, I wanted a University Shirt. We went to H&M and she looked for an outfit for the party- thankfully she did find one! I don’t find anything that I liked unfortunately, but it was still fun to shop around! We went to the university store and I got my shirt and by this time we both had to go to the bathroom and Annalise was getting hungry so we stopped by our school building (the history department) to use the restrooms, get one last picture, and then we headed to Fancy Fries. I had already eaten but I couldn’t pass up Fancy Fries soooo I got a small thing of them with original sauce and melted cheese (YUMMMMM!) and then Annalise and I headed to the lower square to eat them by the fountain! We kept trying to get in contact with Lauren but weren’t able to and we were going to get some ice cream but didn’t end up doing it… last thing we did was look at a jewelry store that looked super cute when we saw it from the outside a few days ago. I went in and wasn’t going to buy anything but ended up with a ring! Oh well! I love it and it is now my Czech Republic/ Olomouc ring and will forever remind me of this place that became my home away from home for 3 months!! Before we headed back, I was going to try to get my nails done so Annalise headed to the tram stop and I went to the nail salon but unfortunately they didn’t have time to take me as a walk in so I walked out and saw people still at the tram stop so I RAN (about a block) to try to make the tram and I FREAKING DID IT!! WHOOT WHOOT!!! I saw Annalise was on the same tram so after a few stops, I moved up to where she was at and talked and rode the tram with her all The was to Neserden Crematorium (the dorms). I got back and got ready for the party with all the other girls in my flat! We all left for the last tram that would get us to the party by 6, when it started and on our way over we see Julian and Mel (his girl friend who came to visit him) walking up to the dorms. Julian apparently thought the party was at 8 not six… of course he would! Then we saw the tram was pulling out and we all had to start running to the tram just to make it! How fitting that that would happen! We finally make it to the restaurant and we started getting our appetizers. The first one was like toast with a meat concoction. It honestly looked like a can of dog food was opened and pooped onto the plate. We found out later by Momma T that it was indeed raw meat. I tried it and it was surprisingly really yummy!! We also had little sausages, pretzels, ribs, and garlic fries as appetizers. I got a cherry beer which was good and then I just kind of walked around the room talking with the different groups of people! After we had all paid, we went to the lower square to take some nice group pictures. The I went back to the dorms with Lex, Griffin, Sarah, Ria, Tiffany, Mary, Seth, Cody, and some of our exchange student friends. We hung out and talked and reminisced and listened to music for a few hours and then we took the tram as far as we could to 15 Minute which is a club in town. (The first one I went to in Olomouc at the very beginning and then now the last one I went to… I only went to it those two times..) As we were walking all in a group to 15 Minute, it hit me that this was our last time all as a group together and that I am actually going to miss these people a lot. I started crying and Annalise and Lauren were not having it… they were trying to shut me up and remind me that we still had time together blah blah blah but I was really sad and crying. I finally pulled myself together before we got to the club but when we got in and I got on the dance floor I looked at my wallet and noticed that my debit, credit, Drivers license, and Student ID cards were all gone. Awesome… so I went around asking people if they had seen them and no said that they had. Now I was crying for a different reason… Orhan saw me and was determined to help me find them. He walked with me as we retraced my steps and he was praying, I was praying. I was crying and he was trying to comfort me and we were asking people on the street if they had seen my cards and finally we found one so we kept going and then we found another and so we keep going and we find the last two! I was so freaking happy that I started to cry yet again… Orhan and I went back to the club and as people in my group left I was crying with them as we were saying our goodbyes. It was a rough night emotionally. I finally left with Sarah and a few others, we walked with Orhan and we stopped and we got Kebabs for the last time. Sarah and I spit one as we made our way to the bus stop. We took the bus as far as we could and then we had to walk the rest of the way to the dorms! We were a bigger group but we all kind of naturally spit into smaller groups of two instead. I waked with Ria and we talked until we got into the 5th floor penthouse. I got ready for bed and then Lauren came into Sarah’s and my room for the last time and she was sad so we were sad and more tears came until it was time to go to sleep. I’ve said it so many times on this trip but I was honestly blessed with the best group possible and it made this experience so much more amazing. There was no drama with in the group, we all got along, we all could intermix and hang out and have fun together and all in all I just got placed with amazing people. I am truly sad that our little Czech family is going to be spit up.
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5/10/2019 0 Comments A Busy Last Week in OlomoucTuesday 5.7.19 We woke up and got ready to meet the rest of the group who wanted to go Paintballing. We met Momma T outside of our dorms and she walked us to the paintball place which was less than a 5 minute walk, i had no idea that it was so close to our dorms! The people who went with included Lauren, Kristina, Lex, Annalise, Alex, Rachel, Julian and Pops (who made up the red team) and Seth, Logan, Griffin, Cody, Sarah, Kira, and I (the yellow team). The paintball place had a guard dog named Jerry and he was so sweet! He just wanted scratches and to be pet and of course we all obliged! We got all geared up and split into the two teams and got prepared to dominate each other!! The first round I was doing so good! I had shot some people and got them out and I was in until the end until some people from the red team yelled at me from the side lines and told me that I had gotten hit on my gun and I was like ugh fine what ever so I reluctantly left the battle grounds. I thought that they had seen the splayer on the neck of my gun where someone had shot at me and it didn’t hit my gun but it did splatter some paint on it but there was also a big orange blob on the sock of the part that held the paintballs and that’s what they thought was where I had gotten hit but all of our paintball paint was yellow so that was old and I “got out” for no reason. I was TICKED!!! But whatever it’s fine. Sarah carried our team to the end and won the round for us! The yellow team dominated once again in the next round then the red team came back and terminated yellow- woof!! We played one more round outside before playing the inside corse and i think it was a tie? Then we did the indoor course… I shot two of the other team and then a few minutes Lex got me in the leg from a hole in the wall so I got out and OW that HURT!!! Honestly doing the indoor course made me think of all the servicemen and women who are sent into real life situation like that and I appreciate them so much more for doing that! I mean I was nervous to peek around corners and if I got shot it wouldn’t have real consequences, it really takes courage to do what they do and I cannot even imagine! We as a group didn’t like the indoor course as much as the outdoor one so we did about two more regular rounds outside which I did okay at but I kept running out of ammo so Sarah gave me some of her during the rounds and then I bought some more paintballs. Then we did a death round to get rid of our leftover paintballs so even when we got out we just had to go back to the colored flags at the beginning of our barricades and then we would be in again, we were only truly out when we ran out of paintballs. In total, my team DEFINITELY DOMINATED! We totally won most of the rounds making us the overall winners! We got our gear all cleaned and off , paid, and left. Some of us went back to the dorms but there were a handful of us that decided to go out to eat. Seth, Lauren, Sarah, and I went to Bistro, a local restaurant, with a few more people but they had a shortened lunch menu so they all left and the four of us stayed to eat. Lauren and I split a pizza that had ham, corn, and cheese and was delicious and a meat dish! After lunch we went back to the dorms to get our stuff for class and then headed to class! The rest of the day I spent working on homework and trying to get all my stuff on my todo list done! Wednesday 5.8.19 Today was National Holiday (Victory Day) so that means NO CLASS!! Whoop! I slept in and let myself wake up naturally which was absolutely awesome! Sarah and I started off the day by doing our laundry at the laundromat! While we were there, we met a girl who was doing to professional school over here! She asked us where we had eaten and oofta, she had a lot more places on her list and almost all of them were places that we haven’t even heard of so that was interesting… After we finished and hung it in our room to dry, we met up with Seth to go get lunch at Burgr. We took the tram downtown but unfortunately it was closed so we decided to go eat Vietnamese! I got a “salad” which had noodles, beef, veggies, and a peanut dressing and oh my goodness it is soooooo good!! Afterwards Sarah and I went to a coffee shop for few hours to work on homework while Seth went back to the dorms! After we got back to the dorms Sarah and I waited for some of the other girls to get back from dartying (day-partying) so that we could go watch the sunset at Holy Hill. I went to Holy hill with Seth, Lex, Orhan Sarah, and Cody. When we got there Kira, Kristina, Rachel, and Erica were already there waiting for the sunset as well! We sat up there for a little bit but i was cloudy and could so we just enjoyed the views and then went back to the bus stop. The next bus didn’t come for another 25 minutes so we just hung out chatting until it came! On the bus back into town there was a lady who we weren’t even sitting by nor interacting with. We got off at the same stop she did and she started to “yell” not at us directly, I don’t know how to explain it, it was almost like when a drunk girl is aggravated and starts going off but isn’t yelling and isn’t yelling at a person, more of just the world. A local told Orhan that she essentially said (in Czech) “F***ing Americans, speaking F***ing English, go back to your own F***ing country, why are you F***ing here.” We thought it was funny so we shrugged it off. We went back to the dorms to study more and we studied Czech language while we got ready to go out! It was our last Belmundo night/ clubbing night and it was the Erasmus Goodbye party! Ria, Lex, Tiff, Mary, Lauren, Kirstin, Erica, Rachel, Griffin, Annalise, Sara, Cici, Sarah, Orhan, Canadian Zach, and I went out and it was such a fun night!!! Erasmus handed out white t-shirts for friends to sign and, well, that turned into using the markers to sign peoples bodies… SARAH WAS TATTED! I only had a few marks but Sarah’s lower back, tummy, and upper back were full of words and pictures!! We stayed out until 3:30 and got taxis back to the dorms and went to sleep! Thursday 5.9.19 OH my GEE the Czech final was today! I Studied as soon as I got up! We went to class and during the first lecture, I studied Czech! Then we had Czech language class. The first half was review and then the second half was the test taking. During the review my confidence plummeted! I was feeling okay but then after going over the stuff I was not sure about what I did or did not know and that mixed with not knowing what would be on the test was making me nervous. It was finally time to take the test and I did it, I don’t know how well but I did it! I am pretty sure I missed at least 10 points but I just need a 70% to pass so we will see come Monday how I did! After class, I talked to some of the other people and I am pretty sure we were all kind of in the same boat on a lot of the sections of the test! I was just relieved that it was over and done, now all I have left test wise is my in class essay and my out of class essay paper! Sarah and I went to the post office after class so that she could send off a few postcards which stamps are ridiculously expensive! It was crazy! After she was done, we met up with Lauren and Annalise for super at local bar and restaurant for some more traditional Czech food! I got chicken schnitzel and Lauren gave me some of her boiled potatoes. It again was so good, I really love schnitzel, I am going to miss it! We had a reservation at Na Břehu Rhôny which is a tap your own wine bar in town so the four of us met up with Sara and Kirstin and sat, drank wine, ate creme brulee, and talked for a few hours! It was such a cool idea and awesome atmosphere! There were three cupboards one white, one pink, and one red corresponding to the type of wine that was in the cooler. Then the wine glass had two marks on it and you would write the number of the wine that you tried and the amount that your tried and tally it all up at the end and pay for it! It was very easy and fun and they worked on the honor system, I kind of wish there was one in Kearney or Omaha because it was such a nice system! Then we headed back to the dorms and relaxed a bit and hung out with Orhan and Seth for a hot second before going to bed. Friday 5.10.19
I did not want to get up but I did… finally. We got ready and headed to our last day of classes! There was only one class so we got out at 11:30 which was really nice!! Sarah and I headed back to the dorms. We got off the tram at the Globus stop and headed to Globus for the very last time. We got snacks for our weekend trip as well as candy/ chocolate to take home to family and friends. We left, headed back to the dorms, and I made us some buttered cheesy noodles for lunch! I got packed, marked some more things off my to do list, FaceTimed Isaac, and then Sarah and I took the tram to the train station. We took our train into Prague and we had about 2-3 hours of a lay over before we needed to be at plane station. So we went and found ourselves some Czech food because I really wanted some schnitzel and I have limited time to get traditional Czech schnitzel! It took a bit but we finally found a little place and I got my schnitzel!!! It was pretty good, not my absolute favorite one I’ve had, but still good! We then made our way back to the train station and found the bus that takes you from the train station to the plane station, got on it, and it took us where we needed to be! We had no complications getting through security except that Sarah got a red light when she went through the body scanner thing but all was good, they checked her and she wasn’t a threat! We got in and found our terminal, we sat there for a while and when we looked back we saw Cody, Julian, and Amelia (Julian’s girl friend) just sitting there so we went over to them and talked for a it until we had to get in line to board! Unfortunately Sarah and I were sat different places on the plane so we got separated once we sat down. We had our two hour flight and got into Barcelona at 12:20. 5/10/2019 0 Comments A Somber Time in PolandSaturday 5.4.19 I got up at 7:30 I got ready, worked on homework, and ate breakfast. We got on the bus at 9 and I slept and worked on some more homework. After a few hours, we had a pit stop at McDs. They are soooo much nicer here I just don’t get it- i wish the US had nice fast food places like that!! We drove a few more hours to Krakow. Once we got there, they parked the bus and we walked to hostel! I had somewhat high expectations since the last few we stayed in as a class were so nice… this one was fine but I felt like I was in an old grandmas spare room also Seth and Logan read reviews of the place online and there was mention of bed bugs so we all checked our mattresses and they seemed fine so one can hope and pray!! I shared a room with Sarah and Rachel! We had free time for lunch which was only about 40 minutes so we Rachel, Sarah, Kira, Kristina, Logan, Erica, and I tried to find a place. When we finally did we felt like Nuisances. We got there and they didn’t have menus on our table so we took some from the next table over, we flagged them over to order our drinks and lunch, we had really anxious vibes, we asked for our check before we got our food so that we could just jet out when it came, and we also requested that our food be put in boxes, it was just a lot. We did not make the meeting time so Pops came and found us and we left as soon as we could! Also while we were there, there was an old gypsy lady who was walking around begging for food and Kira and Kristina were telling her no but I had made eye contact with her and was just nodding my head at her even though I couldn’t understand what ever language she was using. While I was doing this, Kira kept saying no and she finally said it really aggressively and the gypsy lady pushed her, yelled something, and walked away! We then headed out and made it to our Schindler's Factory tour. It honestly felt surreal that the Holocaust could have actually happened. I feel so far removed from it that it just feels like stories and so surreal that this was an actual event in history! I walked around reading as much as I could but I was one of the very last people in our group. Kira and I were both going pretty slow trying to take it all in. Damien, Jan’s 10 year old son who was on the trip with us went back through to see how many people were left to finish. When he found us, he told Kira and I that we needed to hurry up. It was so cute, he stayed with us and kept making us move faster so I didn’t get a lot out of the end of it but as a whole the tour was really good! Afterwards, Logan, Kristina, Erica, Rachel, Kira, Sarah, and I walked around and found a little gelato place and then continued to walk around the city until we ran into more from our group (Ria, Tiffany, Lex, and Mary). Sarah and I latched on to them and we went to and sat at a bar, they drank some alcohol and I stole water from the bathroom sink! I eventually ordered some tomato lentil soup which was really yummy! The bathrooms were mixed restrooms and it was not weird at all! There was a point where I was washing my hands and a guy came in to use the bathroom and it was totally causal, it isn’t like I felt threatened or weird about it so that’s cool! I was really enjoying the great conversation. We talked about a lot of hot topics and it was interesting to see what everyone else’s thoughts were on the topics! After a bit, we went to another bar and ran into more people from our group including Griffin, Pops, and Seth. I hung out for a bit but Seth and I left after a while to go back to the hostel and got ready for bed. Sunday 5.5.19
I did not want to wake up but finally did. I got ready and went out to get breakfast at 8:30… but there was not really any breakfast left so I had a ham, cheese, tomato roll up, tea, and a little bit of leftover cereal. We met up as a group and headed to the bus! We did a quick 15 min ride over to the town that the salt mines were located in went on a salt mine tour. On the tour we were encouraged to licked the walls because they had salt on them! I totally licked the wall, like a lot of the walls… they were very yummy walls. After the tour we got back on the bus and drove the 15 minutes to get back into town. I had lunch with Sarah, Sara, Annalise, Lauren, Kirstin, Alex, Cici, and I. I got the traditional polish soup, ribs, and a yummy starter bread with cream cheese spread then at the end, they gave us a digestion shot of something that was supposedly supposed to help with our digestion which I definitely needed because I was stuffed to the brim! We were running a bit behind but then we met the rest of the group at the hostel to go on our walking tour. Jan led us in the rain to a castle and a church. At this point all of these Catholic churches are starting to look the same UNTIL we went to Saint Mary’s Basilica! It was my favorite church that we have been BY FAR!! It was so beautiful, there was gold all over and beautiful vibrant colors and the ceiling was a deep blue with gold stars that made you feel like you were under the night sky! Oh my gosh I loved it! Then Seth, Sarah, and I found a little market and so we shopped around a bit. After that, we went into a shop that had polish pottery! Holy WOW the pottery here is so amazing it is breathtakingly beautiful! We then stopped at hostel to drop our stuff off and then I went back out to eat with Seth and Sarah. I got a marg for Cinco de Mayo and cheese cake, I was still pretty full from lunch, so that was my supper! They went on to bar hop and I went back to the hostel and worked on homework! Monday 4.29.19
We had Language class today, I am not really retaining new information… just trying to remember the old stuff I’ve been taught. It’s making me nervous for the final… I don’t feel like I really know all the things I should. After class, I got dessert with Annalise, Sara, and Kirstin. After that I worked on homework and went to bed. Some of our group went out to a club and there was some pretty big drama between our group and some of their Italian friends. I woke up at 4am to Geo and Kirstin in a yelling match, we are pretty sure one of the girls got drugged, and it was just a really messed up situation! Tuesday 4.30.19 We had to wake up early for a field trip to a castle in a near by town. We had about a 45 minute bus ride and I used it to blog and sleep! Surprise, surprise. We got to the castle and there was a little chocolate shoppe in the cafe so I got two little piece of chocolate and they were very yummy! Before we went in we started a little game of tag and were playing that in the court yard. We got inside the castle and had to put slippers over our shoes. I loved it!!!! With the slippers, I was able to slip and slide around on the hardwood floors and I was having a blast with it!!! I didn’t get a whole lot from the tour but there was a really pretty ballroom with fire doors and each door had gold embellishments over it representing the four seasons. There was also a very impressive library! After that we went to lunch. My little group went to a restaurant/ brewery. The meal started with cauliflower cheese soup and then I ordered their stuffed chicken with boiled potatoes and their light beer. Oh my goodness their food was SOOOO YUMMY!! It was easily one of my top meals that I’ve had over here! After that we met up and went to the gardens again we played tag a bit. Some people fell in the mud trying to get up or down a large land mound. We looked around and hung out and then headed back to Olomouc for class. Class was SUPER INTERESTING today, Martin talked about the Holocaust and I just thought it was very interesting. Afterwards, I had Mexican food with Sarah, Annalise, Cici, and Alex. No, it’s not really like American Mexican food. Chips and water are not free, they aren’t as fast, no margaritas on the menu, the food doesn’t have the same taste- it’s more bland, no Hispanic workers so it’s even less authentic, and there’s no Spanish music playing in the background. Once done, I went back and worked on homework! Wednesday 5.1.19 Woke up at 7 am AGAIN to be in the bus by 8am for a fun excursion. It is Labor Day here and because of the National holiday, we don’t have any classes. We paid for a guided tour of the hydro plant which I wish we wouldn’t have because i didn’t find it that interesting and I was falling asleep from being so tired! Thankfully after the tour, we had ended at the top of a mountain and we got to hike down it which was freaking Amazing!! I had so much fun! Some people took scooters down others wanted to take the ski lift (but had to hike to it) and others including Sarah, Momma T, Seth, Mary, Lex, Ria, and I hiked all the way down. There was still snow on the mountain at the top and because of that there was also a bit of mud so many people slipped and fell in either the snow or mud- I did not! It’s all about the footing! When we split from the others that wanted to use the ski lift, Ria found a trash bag and picked it up to help clean up the earth a bit! It became a game between me an her to see who could pick up the most trash and i think we all know who the real winner was in this situation- Mother Earth! We hung out in a little cafe at the bottom of the mountain until everyone was back and ready to leave. We took the bus back and got home around 4:30 and we all started getting ready for semi- formal that we decided to have!! Everyone was borrowing clothes from everyone and makeup and hair was getting done! It was like a mini prom! we all met up (Even Pops!) at 7 to go eat at a Vietnamese restaurant. After supper we went back to the dorms and some people changed but we just hung out until club belmundo opened/ would be poppin! So we were dancing in my pod to music and playing games and hanging out we also had some really yummy cake that Orhan had gotten for Brin (our American friend) who’s birthday was a few days ago! Finally around 11:20, we headed out to go dance some more! I got some water when we were there and there were definitely a few guys who questioned me on my choice of drink but oh well! I just love it so much!!! I left around 2:30 with Mims, Kira, and a new exchange friend that was talking with Mims who was on the baseball team here but is from Japan! We walked to the Kebab place and a huge chunk of our group was there! Orhan gave me a kebab because he owed me one and then we headed back home as a big group. We walked to the bus stop and Alex was having trouble with her transport pass so she had to pay to take the bus. We took it as far as we could to get as close to the dorms as possible but it still was a pretty long walk back to the dorms mostly because my feet hurt! But we finally got back and I went to bed. I did find our that there was more drama though- it’s crazy our group has avoided Drama the whole semester and we have been around it a ton this week! One of the Canadians (who’s girlfriend came over to see him and was out with us) had been cheating on his girlfriend while he was over here so another Canadian (one of his friends who is a girl) told his girlfriend because she thought the girlfriend deserved to know. Well the guy punched the girl who told his girlfriend. Orhan is not about men mistreating women so he stepped in and punched the Canadian guy and then a few girls from our group stepped in and stopped the fight from going any further and all of that happened at the Kebab shop just a few minutes before I got there so there was a awkward tension when I came in!! Thursday 5. 2.19 Thankfully I got to sleep in! After I was awake for a bit, Lauren asked if I would go for a run with her so I did! We ran on a path that went through a newly bloomed field and ran about 2 miles there and back. Then we had classes, came back and ate mac and cheese with Seth and Sarah. I tried to be productive but Sarah put on the movie Wonder Woman and we made popcorn so I was not as productive as I probably should have been but it was a good night! Friday 5. 3.19 Early start to the day-7:30! I met Kira, Erica, and Julian at 8:20 so we could catch the tram that would take us by a little bakery that we had to go to for Czech language class. We were to order from the menu telling what and how many we wanted and ask them how much it would cost. We all recorded each other and then emailed it out our professor. After we had completed our assignment, we still had about an hour before class so we went to a near by coffee shop in the lower square and we all got drinks. They got coffee and I got a “Miami Ice” tea which was a fruit tea. The gadget that they made the tea in was freaking cool!! It had the tea in in and then you put it on top of the mug and it opens a hole in the bottom and fills the glass and then you take it off when it is full enough- it was really neat! Then we headed to Class but we only had one lecture because the other class got canceled! So we headed to lunch and I tried the Napoli buffet which was Nepal food with Sarah, Kirstin, Lauren, Seth, and Julian. We had to split into two groups because there wasn’t an open table big enough to seat all of us! The food was really good even though I don’t know what anything other than the nan and rice was! We then headed to FlopShop which is a local shop of handmade stuff like jewelry and buttons and clothes and it’s just a cute store! I got some earrings with flowers in them! We then headed to a different department at PU so that we could be apart of a testing group for this professors research of the English language. I hope we helped… after word we went back to the classroom to watch Schindlers list. Then Sarah and I went back to the Dorms to have supper and work on blogs but we didn’t have to make any food because Tiffany had made too much pasta and since we left tomorrow she didn’t want to save it so she gave it to Sarah and I and Lex was getting rid of the cake from the other night! I worked on some stuff but a group of us (Cici, Alex, Sara, Annalise, Lex, Mary, Tiff, Griffin, Cody, Sarah wanted to go bowling so I went with! I played pretty bad and was working on stuff while I was there so i wasn’t as present as I should have been but it was still fun! As far as my interactions with locals, I have not had much when they aren't serving me food. I have "interacted" with them on the tram system! They are very quiet people, like EXTREAMLY quiet!! They keep to themselves. I've seen a lot of people with their kiddos and it looks the same as American parents with their kiddos, loving and some discipline. Honestly, that's about all I have observed about the locals! If you are thinking of doing this studying abroad program, here are some questions I answered for my program director: Packing:
You also aren’t going to a third world country, you can get a lot of stuff here in Olomouc like shampoo, conditioner, towels, medicine, and honestly anything that you may need. BUT girls bring your own feminine hygiene things- the tampons in Europe don’t have applicators. Bring luggage locks and padlocks. Luggage lock your backpack and bags when on the public transportation out of Olomouc (on weekend trips/ field trips/ spring break). The padlocks will come in handy in hostels. Social Life: 5. How did you meet other students? Just living in the dorms allowed us to meet a lot of other Erasmus students, the welcome party thrown by PU, going out- even to a bar just for karaoke, etc also allowed us to meet more students. To be honest a lot of times if you make good friends with a couple other students they will generally introduce you to other students. 6. How did you like to spend your free time and why? A lot of free time for me goes to time in the Bible or watching sermons online, planning (or helping to plan) weekend trips, FaceTiming family and friends, working on my blog posts, eating, hanging out with the other UNK students, and sometimes going out at night for a drink. 7. Is there anything you regret not doing more of in your free time? Took advantage of some of the night activity’s that Olomouc has- going to movies, the film festival, bowling, etc. 8. What kind of social, recreational, and cultural events did you like best? I like more chill environments where I can just talk and pick peoples brains. I love going out to eat or going for a casual drink and just chatting with a small group of people for a few hours! Recreational wise, I love going to the lake, now that it’s getting warmer I hope we start to go more!! 9. Any advice for future students regarding their non-academic life while abroad? Don’t let being tired stop you from going out and having fun! There have been a handful of times when people will be going to do something and I don’t want to go because I’m tired and they end up talking me into going and once we get where we were going I wasn’t tired anymore! Academics: 10. How do academics differ between UNK and the host institution? You only have three main professors: Martin, Jan, and Pavla (the language teacher). Other than their lectures all the other lecturers are guest professors. The classes don’t really pertain to your major unless you’re a History major but what you learn helps you understand the things you’ll see on the field trips! 11. Was grading different? I believe the grading verrys year to year with the professor but we are graded on four different things to make our final grade: our blogs, our essay question, our in class essay, and our 3 page research/essay paper. 12. Were your study habits different? Yes. I didn’t study nearly as much as I did in the states because I was directing my attention to other things but I hung that will come back to bite me in the butt come finals. 13. Was the library different? Unsure, never been. 14. Was computer access the same? I brought my own but there is WiFi in the dorms and in the classroom. There is also WiFi in cafes and places around Olomouc. 15. What enabled/ hindered your success? I was my own worst enemy here. I kind of put school second and experiences first and directed my attention to making friends, planning and going on trips and not studying, so I definitely hindered my success. But on a personal level I definitely grew a lot from this so I also enabled myself to grow while I was abroad. Money: 16. How much money would you advise students to bring? I brought about $5,500 and did two extra weeks (one before and one after classes began/ended) abroad. I would budget for $2,000 more than you think that you’ll spend just in case you need more then you won’t have to dip into your savings account. 17. How much host country currency did you take with you from the US? I didn’t take any but I would definitely suggest it and if you plan on going somewhere before the program begins take their currency with you as well! 18. How did you manage your money? (Credit cards, bank accounts, cash) I just kept an eye on my accounts with my bank and credit cards mobile apps. I didn’t have a budget but I also didn’t spend excessive amounts on food and clothes everywhere we went. I just tried to be a savvy spender. Communication: 19. How did you communicate with the U.S.? I personally used Facebook messenger or IMessage when I was on WiFi and that worked great! If I needed to communicate professionally I would email. Friday 4.26.19 Our first train was pretty normal, we didn’t want to pay extra to choose our seats so we just sat where we wanted to. We transferred trains and again we didn’t have chosen seats but THIS TIME it was crazy!!!! We ended up sitting on the floor of the train with the rest of the cheap chums who didn’t pay the extra money to sit in an actual seat… the train has people on the floor in every car it was so odd!! Thankfully with some of the stops there were enough people that got off so that Sarah and I could sit in actual seats!! Unfortunately, because our first two trains were running behind we missed our last train. Thankfully we were stuck in a really nice and pretty new train station! We got new tickets and got some quick food to go. We went to Weinerwald and got ourselves some good ol weiner schnitzel! By the time we got and paid for our food, our platform was on the board so we went ahead and made our way to the platform. When we got there, our train was waiting so we just climbed aboard, found some seats with a table, and ate our schnitzel. It was a pretty long train ride so I used the time to work on my blogs. When we made it to the city, we routed ourselves to and walked to Yoho our hostel. We got into our room and met our roommates Kate and Jahn. I worked on blogs some more and then to bed I went! Saturday 4.27.19 We slept in until 9:00 and then headed down to the main floor for breakfast. There was a free breakfast and a more extensive one for 4.50€. Since we were honking we figured we should probably pay for the bigger breakfast and get some good nutrients in for the day. I had some granola with milk and toast with cheese, tomatoes, and meat! After breakfast Sarah and I headed to the train station to get tickets the train we needed didn’t come for another 45 minutes and we didn’t want to go get coffee or anything to pass the time so we just sat and chatted and waited for the train together! On the train, the ticket checker told us the ticket we had would not work for a return ticket so we bought another one on the train from him so we could get home! The train ride up took us higher and higher into the mountains and oh my gee it was soooo beautiful! We got off at a stop that had a bus station and bought our tickets for a bus that would take us to the hike starting point! We had to wait for about 30 minutes for the bus to get there but then we jumped on! We were just chillin’ on the bus and Sarah started to notice that we were past our stop… the bus apparently doesn’t stop at all the stops for some reason we were apparently supposed to push the stop button in order to make the bus stop. We got four stops past where we were supposed to have gotten off before someone else pushed the button to make the bus stop. We got off with the guy and started looking around trying to figure out our next move. The guy must have been able to tell we were confused because he asked us if we needed some help. We told him where we were going and he said what we already knew that we should have gotten off about 4 stops ago. He then directed us back to where we were supposed to go and we thought he was showing a shortcut- not really sure if was or not but we didn’t have to walk along the highway for a bit so that was good! We did find a little snail on our walk back. We made it back onto the highway and walked ourselves back toward the stop we were supposed to get off at. Google said we had about an hour walk before we would get to the start of the trail so we just kept walking on the side of the highway. We stopped and took in some of the nature all around us and it was truly breathtaking. There was a rushing river, mountains, and trees and the sound of the water, wind, and animals was so relaxing! We probably looked like hitch hikers and we discussed what we would have done if someone would pick us up- we didn’t really come up with an answer to the question but no one offered to pick us up so it didn’t matter anyway! Finally after I don’t know how long, we saw a sign that said ----- (which was the hiking trail we were trying to find) was just a few kilometers ahead so we knew we were getting close! We kept on trekking and there was another sign with some trails on it buuut it didn’t have ------ on it. We decided to go and check it out anyway and to our surprise, it WAS the start of our trail. We got tickets and started our hike. The path began with a choice to go either left or right, we didn’t know the difference so we chose to do the left path first! It took about an hour but the views were soooo beautiful! When we got to the end, there was a sign for a café and bus stop which is what we needed but we still wanted to see the other trail so we hiked back through and this time it took about 15 minutes to do the trail. We got to the starting point and when down the right path. It was a lot shorter, we should have done that one first but how were we to know!? It just led to a gorge and you just kind of looked off the ledge and that was it! There was this really creepy straw (I think?) figure that was just sitting on a ledge… it CREEPED ME OUT!! We went ahead and made our way back through the other trail and past the sign that said Bus stop and Café. Past the sign, there was a huge metal gate and we were not sure how we were going to get around it. Sarah wanted to turn back but I insisted that we go closer and check it out first. Thankfully all we had to do was scan the ticket we had bought to get into the hike and we were able to get through. We made our way to the bus stop and hung out there waiting for the bus that came at either 5:07 or 6:45. We DID NOT want to miss the first bus and be stuck in this mountain town for another 2 hours. So for about an hour, we just hung out on the benches and ate our apples and granola bars for lunch and then went into the big field of flowers across the street and pretended that we were Maria singing to the children in the hills. Once it got closer to 5:07, we waited right by the bus stop sign in hopes that the bus would stop for us! While we were standing there, a lady walked by and looked at the bus stop schedule and pointed to 5:07, told us it would be here soon and then walked toward the café. We were hoping that the café people didn’t think that we were just loitering! The same woman came back to us a few minutes later and told us that she had to go into town and if we wanted to, she would drive us into town and drop us off at the train station. Sarah and I looked at each other, did some non verbal communication and eventually came to the conclusion of “Yeah, sure, okay!” So we walked with her across the alley where her van and home was and she opened the back door to her van and we hoped in. She went inside her house and Sarah and I started talking it out… “Do you want to go with her? Do you think it’s safe? She seems nice enough! Do you want to take the bus still or not? You decide.- No you!- No, you have more anxiety about stuff like this. You decide- No! You!- Okay we need to make a decision the bus is pulling up! What do you want to do? No I’m not deciding you decide!” At that point that bus left the bus stop and I told Sarah, “Okay well I guess our decision was made for us!” So we stayed in the van and the lady came out with her daughter and once we saw her teenage daughter, we felt a bit more safe! While she was driving us, she told us that she has to go two towns over so she could drop us off at the train station that the bus would have taken us to or she could take us to the train stop of the town she had to go to (that town is closer to Salzburg). Sarah and I decided to be dropped off in the town closer to Salzburg. We talked to her on the way there, she was from --- and her husband was from Croatia but we never got her name! She dropped us off at the train station and went on her way! At the train station, I called my mom so that she wouldn’t find out later that I had rode with a random lady! We talked while we waited for the train and when the train came, Sarah and I got on and rode it to Salzburg. When we got into town we decided to walk around a bit and see what the town had to offer! We first got some ice cream at a little shop so that we could use the restroom and then we continued to walk around. While walking around, we stumbled upon a wine garden! There were a ton of little booths with various labels and types of wine so we decided to have a glass. We got a rosé and went to sit at a table and chat! While sitting, we saw a bachelorette party! The bride was in crocks, a doctor's coat, paper glasses, a vail, and crazy makeup! They had a little tray of “goods” that they were selling including shooters, a man thong, and other crazy things! Sarah got a frank to munch on with her wine! We finished our glasses and decided to try a white wine before we went home! We got a glass of white wine and again just hung out! The bridal party had made a conga line and Sarah and I jumped in! Unfortunately, we couldn’t sing along to the song they were singing because it was in German! After that, we made our way back to the Hostel and just sat and worked on our homework some more. While working on our homework, our other roommates came in. Jan was in town to interview for a job and he got it so he wanted to go to the bar in the hostel during their happy hour and celebrate with a drink! We all went down and had a drink, we ended up j chatting and getting to know each other until about 2:00 am! We finally all went back up to the room and went to bed! Sunday 4.28.19
We started the day by getting ready and getting all of our stuff packed up! We said goodbye to our roommates and then headed down stairs to check out! We had the free breakfast which included toast, tea, and coffee. We ate our toast and drank our drinks and headed out to the bus station. We were trying our darndest to find this hidden bus stop looking at all the routes on the bus stops that we could see trying to find the one that said 52. We could NOT find it! Yet another kind local saw us struggling and pointed us in the direction he thought we should go. We bopped around for a while longer and then looked at the google map that our Paragliding guide had emailed us. Using that we were able to find the stop and we took the bus to the top of a mountain. On the way up we picked up our tandem paragliding people. Once we got to the top, they gave us different clothing items to help keep us warm in the air! I got a full body suit, gloves, and a hat and Sarah got a big coat and gloves. We both got our helmets on and were ready to glide! Sarah went first and then me and my guy went next! We ran forward, the wind took us back, we ran forward again and bam! We were off the ground and in the air! It honestly just felt like a giant swing in the air! The backpack thing that I was wearing was also a seat, it’s kind of hard to describe but when we got up there I was able to just sit and enjoy the views from above. I had to land for a minute so that my guide person could change the battery of the gopro but after just a few minutes we were in the sky again! We were up there for about 45 minutes and during that time I got to steer, we did tricks such as the tornado and a loop, and we also touched the top of Sarah’s glider. Apparently the “Austrian” landing is to land on a cow but we didn’t do that, we just landed on the ground! Once down there we took off our warm gear they lent us, paid, and got our pictures and videos! The guy who I glided with was kind enough to drive Sarah and I back to our hostel. We made a quick lunch of ramen noodles and corn that we had brought with us from Olomouc. When we were done we decided to explore the town a bit more. We walked to the where Mozart’s house was and stopped by a lot of souvenir shops on the way. There was a lot closed for the Sabbath which was probably a good thing for my wallet! There was a guy playing songs using glasses of water which was super cool! And we did walk by Mozart’s house before making our way back to the Hostel. We grabbed our stuff and walked to the train station! We had a bit of time before the train arrived so we got a panini to eat and sat and people watched for about an hour! There are a lot of interesting characters that come through! Our train finally arrived and we got on and I conked out. Unfortunately at one of the stops, there were a huge group of rowdy high schoolers that came on so Sarah and I decided to move. We got into the family section and then we were fine! Our connection time only gave us a few minutes to get from one train to the next so we waited by the door of the train, got off immediately after it stopped, found the platform of the train we were supposed to be on and RAN to it!! It was a bit ridiculous, Sarah and I were both sprinting and thankfully we made it to the train before it left! We got on, got settled, and I spent some time with God! The woman in front of us was having some major issues with her tickets. She had a pup with her so I’m not sure if that was the issue or what was happening buut there were definitely problems. We just had one last train and it was only for a 15 minute ride into Olomouc. We were back!! We took a tram to the dorms and slept!! 5/2/2019 0 Comments Daily Life in Olomouc4.22.19 Monday
We got all packed up and ready to check out. I think it’s starting to set in how much I miss things and people back home. By the end of spring break, a lot of conversations made their way back to things we miss about home: NE beef, ranch, Runza, our pups, etc. I don’t think I’m homesick really but I am excited to have those things again and am excited for what summer has to bring, especially an income!! We got free breakfast at the hostel- which was just cereal but that was fine with me! We hung out until about 11 and then headed off to the train station to make it to our 11:45 am train to Olomouc. We got onto the train and were pumped to get back to Olomouc. It is so nice to have a home base through all of this. Olomouc has become a true home away from home these last few months and I was jazzed to get to just be there and relax a bit. Once we got back I unpacked, ate and just chilled until bed! Tuesday 4.23.19 Whoofta! I was productive- laundry (party in the laundry room!!) worked on blogs. Went to lunch with Sarah Lauren Kirstin- had paninis. Lectures both dissed on Trump Martin talked about “the final solution”. Got free pizza for supper because some of our group was having a Game of Thrones party and watching the 2st two episodes of this season. while they did that Lauren and I went to Globus in the rain… so sad the weather is not springy Wednesday 4.24.19 Got my nails done! Went with Kirstin and Sarah mine were the only ones that looked good at the end of it… only $15. We had two lectures and I had to leave a little early from the second one to catch a train to Prague to see Anson and Joleen! I was really nervous about figuring out the trains by myself but through God’s grace, I was fine. It seems like an easy task but when it’s all in a different language it causes a bit of trouble! Made it onto my train and headed to Prague!! Anson and Joleen met me at the train station and it was honestly so awesome to be able to hug them. I love them both so much and being with them was a piece of home brought over to to the Czech for me. We decided to go eat supper so we navigated over to a restaurant and I finally tried schnitzel, it is sooooooo yummy. Anson and Joleen also tried some authentic Czech meals and we sat and talked. Then we went to “Good Food” a Trdelnik shop! Yuuuuuummm I couldn’t eat it all but it was so good! Not the very very best I’ve had but it was up there! From there we went back to their Air BnB and stayed up until 2 am just talking. It was so refreshing to have real and deep conversations with people who are close to me! By 2 am we finally went to bed! Thursday 4.25.19 Woke up and got ready so that we could leave the Air BnB by 8:30am! Joleen has found a breakfast place closer to the train station so we navigated that way we found it and it was a cute little mom and pop shop! I got a yummy breakfast platter consisting of bacon, scrambled eggs, and pancakes! We got to chat a little more until we had to walk to the train station and part ways! Unfortunately I had early class at 1:00 rather than 3:00. It was a short time with them but it was much needed and I think it’ll help me defeat homesickness until the end of the trip! I feel so refreshed being able to spend time with them talking, laughing, talking about home and Isaac. Ahhh it was so good! Friday 4.26.19 Class this morning was very interesting! We talked about the refugees and immigration issues related to the Czech Republic and the U.S. the professor was an amazing lecturer and I got a ton of really great teaching strategies from her that I would love to use in my classroom as a teacher when I have discussions with my class over various topics! She is on maternity leave from her Normal position as a professor but made an exception to come and present to us! Since she is still nursing, she brought her baby in at the end of class after we had taken a bathroom break! After class Sarah and I headed back to the dorms, ate a quick ramen lunch, grabbed our bags, and headed to the train station to go to Salzburg, Austria for the weekend!! … Continued in Salzburg blog post... My daily routine changes pretty often day to day. I usually make pasta of some sort with Sarah in our room and then once or twice a week we will eat somewhere in Olomouc! The weather has been pretty good, it’s starting to get a lot warmer which is sooo nice! Our living conditions are pretty good, we sweep and mop our room every so often because we have tile in our bedroom. One of the two bathrooms in our pod has a toilet that works only half of the time so that has been interesting to get used to but it hasn’t been to big of a nuisance. I definitely haven’t met as many friends as some of the other people have but I think it is because I don’t got out as much as the others. That seems to be the key to making strong international friendships over here! Thankfully I have gotten to know a few of the Canadians better and have gotten closer with some of the people in my group specifically Sarah. As far as a social life, night life for me is a once every so often thing but I do enjoy hanging out with people in their rooms and chatting it up. Another big “social” occasion is our planning parties for our weekend and other trips! I haven’t had issues with money other than the fact that I still have to use my currency converter to be able to tell how many USD anything is. It is kind of annoying having to pay for our laundry because it’s about 8 USD each time we do it so i can’t say that I’ll be missing that at all. I have had a few shopping sprees at the big mall, small mall, mom and pop shops and thrift shops in Olomouc which is supper fun! They have some great shops here! As far as getting around, I almost always take the tram and/or walk. 4.14.19 Sunday Good night of sleep, over 8 hours of it!! We got ready, packed, and checked out of our Hostel. We had to get back to Venice from the mainland so we took the train(we got one on one and then got off because Rachel didn’t think it was the right one- it was so then we had to find another train going to the same place and get to its platform before it left- it all worked out and better safe than sorry!) to the train station in Venice where our other train was departing for Florence! We waited for a while in the cold until our platform number came up. We Boarded the train, It was a little delayed but it was fine because we didn’t have a connection afterwards. On the train we had some good conversations, I blogged, and spent time with God. We got off the train and made our way to the hostel. It smells soooo bad!!! We waited for a long time- like 20 to 30 minutes just to be able to check into our rooms and take our stuff up! We finally were able to go to our room and Kirstin and Lauren got ready to go out on the town everyone else just went as they were. We were having trouble finding a place to eat because everything was closing at 3 and it was 2:15. We though that was really weird but we finally found a place that was open and I got a yummy simple cheese spaghetti that kind of tasted like Mac and cheese!! I also got a strawberry cheesecake that was also yummy. Then we headed back to the hostel to grab some stuff. When we headed out, it was raining and Seth got about 5 steps out before turning around. So it was just us Girls. We headed to the Accademia di Belle Arti di Fireze, the art museum to see Michelangelo's David. We had to wait in line in the rain and cold for about 30ish minutes and we were a little scared that the museum would close before we were able to get in and see David! We made it in and David was breathtaking!! By the time that we left, the rain had stopped so we walked around and shopped. We stumbled upon a Sculpture garden that had fake David and a really cool fountain with Poseidon in the middle. Right by the fake David, there were a few restaurants with out door patios. We picked the cheaper one and I tried bean and pasta which is a traditional Florentine dish and we split a bottle of red wine. Unfortunately, we Walked back. Ready for bed. 4.15.19 Monday Woke up and got ready. Lauren’s alarm is really obnoxious and woke up our foreign roommates. We thought they would hate us but they were totally chill about it! They said that it was probably better that they got up and left at 8. We walked to a huge sculpture garden. There was so much green lush ivy! The sculptures were also really beautiful! There was a spot at the top that had an amazing view of Florence! Us girls needed to head out to make sure that we got a good lunch and were able to make it to our meeting point for our wine tour. Seth wanted to spend some more time in the garden and since he wasn’t going on the wine tour he just stayed and we split off! We walked in the direction of our meeting point and just kept an eye out for a decently priced restaurant! We found a little place that looked pretty good so we stopped in to eat! I got a lemon tea in ice and oh my goodness I did not realize how much I missed iced drinks!!! I ordered a pizza with prosciutto, mushrooms, mozzarella, olives, and peppers. It was pretty good but the mushrooms tasted like fish for some reason- supper weird. So I had to pick all of them off and thankfully it got rid of the fish taste for the most part! From there we walked around the city to get to our meeting point. We noticed that a ton of businesses were closed which was interesting being that it’s Monday!! We finally found the busses for the wine tours. We talked to a lady and signed in to our 7 hour wine tour! We got some seats by each other on the bus. Kirstin has to sit by herself but made a friend with an older man named Sean! He was very kind and he was here with his mom because this is something she had always wanted to do! I was sat by Lauren and we both fell asleep for the 45 minute bus ride to the first winery! The guide said that they are a smaller winery that only produces about 20,000 bottles a year. We went in and sat down in the tasting room. They had a cat that kept coming in and it was such a sweetheart we were all so bummed when they took the cat out and away!! We tried 4 red wines and a few pieces of meats, cheese with vinegar, and bread pieces with oil. I really liked the oil on the bread pieces but the other girls liked the vinegar and ended up each buying a small bottle of it! The landscape was breathtaking!! It was honestly like a postcard. We got back in the bus and on our way to the next winery we stopped in a little town for a bit! We went to a little gelato shop and oh my goodness! It was sooooo good!!! I got lemon, dark chocolate, and cherry cheesecake flavor! YUMMY! We were also really craving water so I got two bottles of water and Lauren bought three! We got back on the bus and then they made an announcement that you cannot eat on the bus so if you have food (which Lauren and I did) you have to get off and finish it outside. That was a lot harder to do than it sounds because people were trying to get on the bus and we were trying to get off at the same time so it was just kind of a mess. Lauren ended up being able to get out but I just sat down in a random seat and decided to just make my way back to my seat because I wasn’t able to make my way through the wall of people coming in. We drove to the next winery and the bus had to turn around to be able to get into the gates of the winery so he was backing up and reversing it and there were cars getting backed up behind us in our lane and also in the other lane. Goodness it was crazy! There was also a curve and we were afraid that someone would just book it around the corner and hit the line of cars! Many prayers later we were fine and in the gates of the next winery! This was a bigger winery for sure! There we were given a plocenko wine and 3 reds. We were also given a slice of bread as a pallet cleanser, 3 slices of a salami type meat, and cheese! In addition to that they gave us cheese with a 12 year old and 20 year old balsamic vinaigrette and bread pieces with a garlic oil and regular olive oil coating. They were very tasty! We were able to ship bottles back to the US but the orders needed to have 6 bottles in them so we each bought a bottle of red and Lauren bought 2 and we were at 6! I’m excited to share some Italian wine with people when I get back! It was super convenient that Sarah lives in Omaha and we all will be flying into the Omaha Airport when we come back so we will just get them from her when we return! We started heading back but stopped in another little town. It was nice because we ending up chatting with a file from Canada who was studying abroad in Denmark! She was really cool and gave us some great recommendations for things we should do around the country! Then when we got back on the bus Kirstin talked to a girl who was sitting close to her who had just finished her study abroad experience in Barcelona so she got us some recommendations of what to do there! We finally got back and decided to look for a place to eat supper. We found a cute little place and decided to just go there! Our waiter was an old Italian man and he had a big attitude. He did not give good service but the food was good so it made up for it!! We ended up splitting a bottle of Pino Greshio wine and I got lasagna! It didn’t look super appetizing but it tasted sooooo good! The talk of the table was Notre-Dame burning down. We were all so sad about it and were in shock that it was happening! We also talked about some our past relationships and breakups and then the girls shared their crazy drinking stories! We walked home still telling stories and laughing at how crazy they were! We got back and got ready for bed! 4.16.19 Tuesday We had our alarms set for 9 so we got to sleep in a lot!!! It was so nice to be able to wake up naturally and then go back to sleep for a while before our alarm! We got ready, checked out of our hostel, and made our way to the bus station. We didn’t use a map or gps because we thought we knew the way… WE DID! My brain remembered which way to take us and we made it to the train station which I thought was pretty cool and I didn’t realize my brain could do that! When we got there, Kirstin, Lauren, and I were pretty hungry so we went to a Little shop in the train station. I got a Nutella croissant which was really good, it didn’t hold me over for long but that's okay, it held me over while we were waiting. We waited for a long while to get our platform number but it finally popped up and we headed to the train. We rode the train for about and hour and a half and got off in our next destination: ROME! We had McDonalds for lunch which was a bit of a deal. There was one McD’s in the train station and one just outside of it. The on inside the station did not look that big so we went to check out the other. Seth volunteered to be the one to walk over so we wouldn’t have to bring our suitcases over and possibly back with us if it didn’t work out. Apparently that one was smaller and more packed than the one in the train station so we walked back to the other, order, and find out there is seating upstairs. We got an uber to our Air BnB but when we got there, the cleaning people were still there. Because of that, we weren’t able to freshen up at all. We just left our bags in the room and left to go to the Vatican City. When we got outside of it, we got stopped by a really pushy tour selling person. He informed us that St.Peter’s Basilica wouldn’t be open tomorrow so we would have to go today if we wanted to see it. We took a step back from him to discuss as a group what we wanted to do but he continued to cling to us. Seth and Kirsten were getting really annoyed with him. Our group split Lauren, Sarah, and I thought that Seth, Kirstin, and Rachel weren’t going to even go so we went with the guy because we wanted to make sure we could go. They other three did go in and where as we spent $35 they spent $10. I was really annoyed by this because we would have gone with them if we would have known that they were actually going to go but that wasn’t made clear. It also didn’t help that I had just had a conversation about money with my mom about financial issues/ obligations so I was a little irritated. The three of us also felt uneasy until we got into the Vatican. I had an awful attitude, II wanted to go at my own pace, I only got 15 minutes in the Sistine Chapel, I couldn’t really understand the guide. I was trying to pray through my attitude but I was sooo frustrated with the whole situation and I wanted more time in the Sistine Chapel. The Basilica was cool and there was a choir singing in it- the acoustics are amazing. It was the most cool/impactful for Sarah and Lauren who are Catholics! We finally left and I was tried to simmer down. We walked to a place for supper and I did finally cool down a bit. I got pizza and the table split a bottle of Chardonnay, yumm! We got back to the Air BnB and chatted with Alyssa! It was great!! Then to bed. 4.17.19 Wednesday Slept in and woke up Naturally! Yay!!! Got up and ready at 8:30. We tried to figure out the washing machine but couldn’t figure it out and it was frustrating so we gave up. Kirstin, Rachel and I were the only ones still in the Air Bnb because the others had left early to go see the Pope speak. We left at 9:45 to get breakfast, I had a cannoli and a sugar donut! They were okay, definitely not my favorite though. We waited for the other three outside of the Vatican City since we were in the area anyway. It was like we were playing a real life game of Where’s Waldo trying to seek them in the huge mass of people who had also gone to hear the Pope speak. We finally found each other and decided to go back to the Air BnB so they could change and then we headed out for the day. We walked through Piazza Navona which just had three fountains, I am not sure what the historical significance of the fountains was but they were beautiful nonetheless. Then to the Pantheon the design was really cool, we also downloaded a free audio guide (Rick Stevens audio guide) onto our phones so that we could get some facts about the places we were going without having to buy audio guides. On our way past what we think was a parliament building or something, I saw three bags: one red, one white, and one green and it looked like the Italian flag. We walked past some of the ancient ruins which were cool I guess. Then to the couseum. There was construction around the blocks leading up to the Colosseum and blehk it made it ugly. We about got ripped off again by a seller guy but we told him that we like to wait in line and he left us alone after giving us a weird look. Some cool facts from Rick: 50,000 people could fit in the colosseum, tickets were broken pieces of pottery with seat and section number on them, they had concession stands and souvenir stands, all 50,000 could clear out in 15 minutes which is where we got the word vomit from because the term used to describe that process was- well I can’t remember but it had vomit in it in some shape or form. Then to the Trevi Fountain! I threw 5 euro cents in but I threw it over the wrong shoulder I guess… oops. I don’t know if that will affect me coming back to Rome or not, I guess time will tell. We had gelato again, so good!!! Chocolate and Banana is THE BEST COMBO! WE headed to and saw the Spanish steps, then headed back to the Air BnB. We finally got the laundry to work so we got to wash our clothes. The girls found a grocery store and left to go get pasta and wine. I made supper and we had some wine, watched Mamma Mia and the Parent Trap, and just hung out and talked and drank! It was really fun, it was getting late but the girls were still all talking and I didn’t want to miss out so I ended up falling asleep on the couch next to Lauren but when I woke up at 3:30 am I was by myself and so I went to go to sleep in my bed. 4.18.19 Thursday Kirstin’s 21st birthday Woke up at 5:30 am to get ready and leave by 6:30. At this point, our Clothes were still wet. I Packed everything up anyway and the. Just laid back down until it was time to leave. We took an Uber back to the train station. We and got McDonalds for a little bit of breakfast at the same spot we ate lunch the other day then we got onto our first train. I just slept on the train ride, once we got off we had to get on a different one to take us near Sorrento. We tried to find our train once the platform number came up. We were at the train that was 22T as the platform number but it looked pretty old and out of order and very Sketchy... We were super confused! We just waited there hoping that some other train would come along. Thankfully this Angel of a lady told us we were at the wrong spot and we needed to head to the tram that was behind the train which makes sense why it said T after the platform number!! We weren’t the only ones who were confused because we were walking in a herd of many others heading to the tram! We got on and took the tram and ended outside of Sorrento and had to figure out how to get ourselves into Sorrento! It took a hot second but we found where we were supposed to go. We had to get tickets for a shuttle bus that would take us to a tram station. Seth and Sarah left to go to Pompeii so we had to take their luggage eeeeek. We actually passed them walking when we were in the shuttle! When we got to the shuttle stop we had to walk up an incline- with all the baggage mind you- to got to the tram station. We got to the top and bought our tram tickets. The tram looked supper sketchy and was packed to the brim! We were squished in there like a little can of sardines! On the tram, we met Claire and chatted with and hung out with her on and after the tram. She walked with us to our hostel. Dragging the luggage suuuuucked! I had two backpacks, two carry on suitcase, a bag that was holding my blanket, and a purse on my so I looked like the biggest diva alive. My arms were killing me because the suitcases wouldn’t roll on the bricks that they use on the streets so I had to pull them. We also had to take the bags down an outdoor staircase so Claire helped a bit with that thankfully! We finally made it to our Hostel and dropped our stuff off. We relaxed for a bit and got ready for the day. We were all pretty hungry at this point so we walked around the main square. We found a cute place that seemed reasonably priced so we sat and got lunch. I got a yummy pizza and water. The other girls got drinks but they were all 9.5 euros or more and I didn’t want to spend that. When we were done we ended up going to a bar and just hanging out for a few hours. We all tried lemonchello- a Sorrento specialty and had Sorrento Sunrises! The bartender/ owner of the Horseshoe who we called “Bay-Bay” was cracking us up!! He was singing to us and chatting with us and we were just having an amazingly fun time there. We also met Shell and his wife who are from Norway. It was his birthday as well as Kirstin’s so he bought us a round of drinks to celebrate! After a while we did leave and just shopped around the Main Street for a while. We eventually made our way down to the shore. On the way down we met some girls from —- and they were very judgmental and kind of rude but oh well we weren’t going to let it ruin our day at all! We played with the sea on the shore for a while and I collected sea glass on the coast. After a bit we started to get hungry and decided to eat at one of the little restaurants on the coast. We asked a local which one to go to and so we went where they told us to- it was a good choice! It was a family owned restaurant and we met Val and Tony our servers they were so kind!!! I had the swordfish which they told me was caught fresh that morning. It was a cool experience to eat it but it wasn’t my favorite so I let Lauren have the other half and she gave me the rest of her seafood pasta! We went back to the hostel and got ready to go out for Kirstin’s birthday. We actually got a noise complaint because we had the Mama Mia playlist going and how can you not belt those songs out!?? So on our way out of the building there was this angry woman and the security guard that case up to us and he didn’t seem like it was a big deal but she was chewing us out in a different language. We were on our way out anyway so we just kind of kept leaving regardless of her yelling. Val actually met up with us and went out with us! We went back to the Horseshoe and sang Karaoke which was so fun! There were a lot of older couples but they were singing with and it was just an awesome time! We then went to a club (didn’t even drink there) it was pretty dead, there were like other people in there so we danced a few songs and then left. We got gelato on the way back to the hostel. We stopped back at the Horseshoe just to talk to some of the people that were outside. One of the guys that was outside stays in our hostel as well and he had heard the whole situation with the crazy yelling lady and he thought it was funny! Outside our hostel, we met some fun people and hung out with them in the lobby just chatting. One of them was Joseph the security guard from earlier and he said the lady was just a psycho blew the whole thing out of proportion. We also were hanging out with Enriquo and Pepe and Val. Eventually by like 2:30 am we went to bed. 4.19.19 Friday We slept in. Missed the boat tour that we were going to do by just a few minutes, it picked people up at 10:15 from our Hostel and we were down there at 10:30. Unfortunately they also pick people up from a dock (that was 10 minutes away) at 10:30 as well so we weren’t going to be able to make that either. So we made our way to the docks to see what tickets we could get. To the docks bought tickets for a boat to and From Capri. Went to go eat. Tired of Italian food… so I got a big ol burger!! It was really good for the fact that I had been craving one but it was nothing compared to NE beef. Got on our boat. There was a lot of confusion. We were supposed to go to this dock # but the long line of people said no it was moved over to a different one and so we stood in that line until a staff person said no now it’s at this one so we moved again and finally found our boat. We were on it for about 30 minutes before it started going and I passed out… the rocking of the boat put me to sleep. We got to Capri and it was so beautiful!!! We decided to got to a chair lift that goes to the top of the island! But to get to the chair lift we had to hike up this stair path. A LOT MORE STAIRS THAN WE THOUGHT! Kirstin and Rachel decided to turn back ⅓ of the way through to walk around in the town and go to the beach because Kirsten has a fear of heights and Rachel didn’t want her to be alone! Lauren, Seth, Sarah, and I climbed to the top to the chair lift. We met Angus an exchange student from Australia. When we got to the top of the stairs, there was a little town that we got to walk through with a ton of little shops! They were so cute! We got to the chair lift and rode it up to the tippy top! It was breathtaking up there! The sea seemed to go forever! We hiked around for a while before heading back down but we had a boat at 5 pm that we COULD NOT miss so we headed back down and it was so much easier coming down than going up— for me at least. I ended up going a lot faster than the other 3 so I got to the bottom and hung out on the beach until they came down and met me there. We hung out on big rocks/ boulders. I put my feet in for a bit it was so relaxing to just sit and watch the ocean and smell the fresh water and feel the breeze on my face! It made me really excited for summer and days at the lake!! We got some gelato before we had to leave and then got in line to board the ship again. Once again the rocking put me to sleep. We got back and found a cute little market place behind the main square and we walked around until we found a place to stop and eat! Seth and I split a pizza which was really good. At this point all pizza was about the same. We went back to the hostel and were going to meet up with some friends from Olomouc who were in Naples and were going to take a short ride over to hang out with us for the night. I ended up falling asleep and waking up at 11 pm and by that time we hadn’t heard if they were here or not so I just decided to go to bed. 4.20.19 Saturday Our last real day of spring break and our last hours in Sorrento! It’s so sad!!! I love Sorrento so much and fully intend on coming back, hopefully next time with Isaac- if he will come with me!! Our first order of business was to pack up and check out of our room. We headed to lunch at a little restaurant in the main square. It was so nice outside so we sat outside but we were sat in the shade so we we actually kind of cold while we were eating, it wasn’t to bad though!! I got a delicious lasagna that I was very happy with! Then we decided we should say goodbye to “Bay-bay” (the bar owner) at the Horseshoe Bar. We got there and Seth decided to head off by himself to see some gardens and other things that he didn’t get to see the past few days. So us girls went to the Horseshoe and both Shell and “Bay-Bay” were there!! I was sad saying goodbye to the bar and people that within a few short days we had so many memories with! We got a last Sorrento Sunrise (which is essentially just juice) and sat outside in the sun and talked to a Norwegian couple who was sat next to us! We said goodbye to Shell and his wife and got a picture with “Bay-Bay” and he got one on his phone to hang up in the bar! We felt pretty honored to be put on the wall!! Then we made our way down to the beach to say goodbye to Val! We sat down and he gave us complimentary glasses of Limoncello! We sat and talked with him and amongst ourselves for a while until we had to head back to the hostel to get our luggage and meet our car. Thankfully we didn’t have to drag our luggage back through the town because we had ordered a van service to drive us from our hostel in Sorrento to our one in Naples where we would be staying for the night! Again, I fell asleep in the van ride. I was really excited for my bed back in Olomouc and for some good sleep because I think my body was pretty tired from traveling for two weeks straight. We got to Naples and checked into our hostel. It was essentially a large warehouse room with individual pods that we slept in. It looked really futuristic and honestly kind of odd. The pod was the length of the bed and the width of maybe my wingspan- maybe! They were all white inside and they had a full length mirror, a small trash can, a small side time type thing, an outlet, and that was about the whole thing! Once we all got our stuff settled into our pods we went for pizza at a small pizza place about 1.5 blocks over! I got a pizza made with buffalo mozzarella, prosciutto, mushrooms, and basil leaves. We went back to the space pods, I got ready for bed, talked to mom and Isaac on facetime, and to sleep I went. 4.21.19 Sunday
It did not feel like Easter for me and it had me missing my holiday traditions back home. I didn’t get to dye eggs, take the siblings on egg hunts, go to grandmas for the big egg find, get dressed up for church and soak up the atmosphere of a church body celebrating the third day, spend time with family, etc. but it’s okay! I cannot complain, I spent Easter in Europe which is pretty cool. We started our day pretty early compared to what my body has gotten used to! I woke up at 4:00 to try to catch my mom with the family but they had left already so I talked with Isaac while I got ready because it was only 9 pm at home. We left our space pods by 5 am and walked to the airport which was basically attached to our hostel. We Got through security and everything pretty smoothly, found our terminal and waited to board for about 45 minutes. When we were boarding there was a beautiful flaming orange sunrise. Yet again I fell asleep on the transportation… I don’t know what it is cars, boats, planes, etc. I fall asleep on any and all means of transportation. So I had a nice 2 and a half hour nap on the plane and we landed in Prague, Czech Republic. Even though it isn’t Olomouc we all felt a bit of relief to be back in the Czech. From the airport we got an Uber to our new hostel and dropped our stuff off in the luggage room and headed out on the town because unfortunately we couldn’t check in until 2. We had about 6 hours to kill in Prague before we checked in so we started by walking around a bit. We found the Easter market (Easter is a big deal in the Czech but I think it is similar to Christmas in the US where it’s more commercialized than religious) but it wasn’t open yet. There was a large stage type thing in the middle that you could climb up into and see the booths from a higher angle so we went on that and people watched for a while. There was a woman with a bag of large cherry tomatoes and she popped them into her mouth and that was kind of disturbing to watch but it was also one of those thing you can’t not watch. I don’t know, it was strange. Seth, Sarah, Kirstin, and I all just watched her and then a few other people do some weird stuff and then we decided to leave. We were all getting hungry so we walked around to find a place with no egg breakfast options because Sarah doesn’t eat eggs. We finally found one and hung out in there for a while telling stories and talking. I got a super yummy toast with avocado spread and fried eggs on top! We just hung out and then walked around town after that. It was super refreshing not to have an agenda for once and just going at our own pace and allowing ourselves to wonder. We found a little shop called Local Artists which was a souvenir shop that had a bunch of handmade work from local artists in Prague. We all found something that we really liked! From there we walked around the Easter market since everything was open now. There were a lot of cute little shops and the food looked and smelled soooo yummy!! I didn’t get anything to eat there since we had just eaten but my nose was certainly happy! It was finally almost 1pm and so we decided to spend our last hour in the hostel lobby working on our blogs and other “to do” things. I fell asleep again… oops!! We got checked in and put our stuff away and I’m pretty sure all four of us took a nap, I know I did for sure! I slept for about 3 to 4 hours once I woke up we decided it was time to eat again. Seth and Kirstin has eaten at Fat Cat, a burger place when they were in Prague before so they suggested that we go there and Sarah and I were definitely on board for it! To fat cat we went! I got the Route 66 burger which comes with 2 chicken wings on top and is essentially a big cheese burger with a cherry beer and it was all really good! We decided that instead of going back to Olomouc the next day at 3 (which is when we had train tickets for) that we would cancel that and go as early at possible. We found some tickets for 11:45 and got those!!! After supper we had more roommates that Seth chatted with for a while. I FaceTimed mom and the family to see them and the Easter festivities. Then I got ready for bed and slept some more. 5/2/2019 0 Comments Daily Life in Olomouc4.22.19 Monday
We got all packed up and ready to check out. I think it’s starting to set in how much I miss things and people back home. By the end of spring break, a lot of conversations made their way back to things we miss about home: NE beef, ranch, Runza, our pups, etc. I don’t think I’m homesick really but I am excited to have those things again and am excited for what summer has to bring, especially an income!! We got free breakfast at the hostel- which was just cereal but that was fine with me! We hung out until about 11 and then headed off to the train station to make it to our 11:45 am train to Olomouc. We got onto the train and were pumped to get back to Olomouc. It is so nice to have a home base through all of this. Olomouc has become a true home away from home these last few months and I was jazzed to get to just be there and relax a bit. Once we got back I unpacked, ate and just chilled until bed! Tuesday 4.23.19 Whoofta! I was productive- laundry (party in the laundry room!!) worked on blogs. Went to lunch with Sarah Lauren Kirstin- had paninis. Lectures both dissed on Trump Martin talked about “the final solution”. Got free pizza for supper because some of our group was having a Game of Thrones party and watching the 2st two episodes of this season. while they did that Lauren and I went to Globus in the rain… so sad the weather is not springy Wednesday 4.24.19 Got my nails done! Went with Kirstin and Sarah mine were the only ones that looked good at the end of it… only $15. We had two lectures and I had to leave a little early from the second one to catch a train to Prague to see Anson and Joleen! I was really nervous about figuring out the trains by myself but through God’s grace, I was fine. It seems like an easy task but when it’s all in a different language it causes a bit of trouble! Made it onto my train and headed to Prague!! Anson and Joleen met me at the train station and it was honestly so awesome to be able to hug them. I love them both so much and being with them was a piece of home brought over to to the Czech for me. We decided to go eat supper so we navigated over to a restaurant and I finally tried schnitzel, it is sooooooo yummy. Anson and Joleen also tried some authentic Czech meals and we sat and talked. Then we went to “Good Food” a Trdelnik shop! Yuuuuuummm I couldn’t eat it all but it was so good! Not the very very best I’ve had but it was up there! From there we went back to their Air BnB and stayed up until 2 am just talking. It was so refreshing to have real and deep conversations with people who are close to me! By 2 am we finally went to bed! Thursday 4.25.19 Woke up and got ready so that we could leave the Air BnB by 8:30am! Joleen has found a breakfast place closer to the train station so we navigated that way we found it and it was a cute little mom and pop shop! I got a yummy breakfast platter consisting of bacon, scrambled eggs, and pancakes! We got to chat a little more until we had to walk to the train station and part ways! Unfortunately I had early class at 1:00 rather than 3:00. It was a short time with them but it was much needed and I think it’ll help me defeat homesickness until the end of the trip! I feel so refreshed being able to spend time with them talking, laughing, talking about home and Isaac. Ahhh it was so good! Friday 4.26.19 Class this morning was very interesting! We talked about the refugees and immigration issues related to the Czech Republic and the U.S. the professor was an amazing lecturer and I got a ton of really great teaching strategies from her that I would love to use in my classroom as a teacher when I have discussions with my class over various topics! She is on maternity leave from her Normal position as a professor but made an exception to come and present to us! Since she is still nursing, she brought her baby in at the end of class after we had taken a bathroom break! After class Sarah and I headed back to the dorms, ate a quick ramen lunch, grabbed our bags, and headed to the train station to go to Salzburg, Austria for the weekend!! … Continued in Salzburg blog post... My daily routine changes pretty often day to day. I usually make pasta of some sort with Sarah in our room and then once or twice a week we will eat somewhere in Olomouc! The weather has been pretty good, it’s starting to get a lot warmer which is sooo nice! Our living conditions are pretty good, we sweep and mop our room every so often because we have tile in our bedroom. One of the two bathrooms in our pod has a toilet that works only half of the time so that has been interesting to get used to but it hasn’t been to big of a nuisance. I definitely haven’t met as many friends as some of the other people have but I think it is because I don’t got out as much as the others. That seems to be the key to making strong international friendships over here! Thankfully I have gotten to know a few of the Canadians better and have gotten closer with some of the people in my group specifically Sarah. As far as a social life, night life for me is a once every so often thing but I do enjoy hanging out with people in their rooms and chatting it up. Another big “social” occasion is our planning parties for our weekend and other trips! I haven’t had issues with money other than the fact that I still have to use my currency converter to be able to tell how many USD anything is. It is kind of annoying having to pay for our laundry because it’s about 8 USD each time we do it so i can’t say that I’ll be missing that at all. I have had a few shopping sprees at the big mall, small mall, mom and pop shops and thrift shops in Olomouc which is supper fun! They have some great shops here! As far as getting around, I almost always take the tram and/or walk. 4/26/2019 0 Comments Field Trip #2: Vienna and VeniceTuesday 4.9.19 Woke up at 7 to work on my blog. Got ready instead which lead to me not working on my blog but I definitely should have. We Loaded the bus at 9am for a 2 hour bus ride. On the bus I did Work on my blog. We had a Pit stop which was really good because the bus ride and writing were giving me motion sickness so I bought a sandwich and lays to help. They did indeed help! We got back on the bus and I Blogged some more until I decided to nap for 40 minutes until we arrived! We stayed at the Wombat hostel. It was really cute and hipster inside. I was in a room With Sarah, Cici, and Alex! We as a group locked our stuff in the luggage room and headed to the center of town for lunch. I Ate with Lauren, Cici, Alex, Annalise, Sara, and Kirstin at a Vegan place that we didn’t realize was a Vegan place so it ended up being kind of expensive.. oops!! They had a hot and cold side and you could mix and match or get some from both or just one side but it was all really confusing so I just got lentil soup and YUMM it was soooooo good!! After that we went to a Chocolate shop and I got hazelnut ice cream. We then met up with the rest of the group to head to the Schatzkammer it was closed. Apparently they are open every day but Tuesdays. Martin said it used to be everyday but Monday’s and he wasn’t sure when it changed! So we were going to go to the Museums instead! But nope! We couldn’t do that because they were Closed too!! So we were given free time for the day and our group naturally split off into smaller groups. Some went shopping, others went to the “liquid zoo” aka the aquarium and I was going to go with the group going kayaking but Cody needed to get his medication at the Hostel first. We all walked back together and then found out yakking was not an option because it was still closed for the season even though the website says it’s open right now! So I went shopping instead with Cici and Alex and while shopping we found Lauren, Kirstin, Sara, and Annalise in a vintage shop! I stayed with Annalise and Sara. All of us ended up meeting up again soon after that anyway! We went into a store and it had 65$ Birkenstocks so got some. I have been wanting them for a few years but didn’t want to fork out the money because in the states the can be about $120!! We Found Kirstin and Lauren again! Lauren, Annalise and I into Zara’s. We were in there for a looooong time so the rest of our little group went to go eat. Once we were done, we tried to find where they were and we thought we had, but we didn’t see them in the restaurant so we just sat down and got food anyway! I tried escargot (but it didn’t even taste like seafood because it was so covered in cheese and herbs and such and then it’s also served with bread- it was really yummy though), a bacon quiche, and we shared an apple crape. It turns out we were in the same restaurant as the other girls! They came into pay and passed our table so we chatted for a while and then they left us! Annalise, Lauren, and I Talked for a long time in the restaurant, it was really nice to just sit and chill and chat!! We finally Headed back to the hostel. I Worked on my blogs. Then came Sleep!!! Wednesday 4.10.19 Woke up and got ready at 7:30am and met the rest of the group at 8:30. We all went to the all you can eat buffet style breakfast that our hostel offers! It was so good! I had granola, peanut butter and Nutella toast, pepper slices, a hard boiled egg, and mint tea! Yummy!! After breakfast we walked over to the Schatzkammer, museum that holds the different relics from the various empires throughout Austria’s history. There were also a lot of religious objects. The audio guide said that the more important relics that an empire owns the higher their status! Some of the relics that I thought were interesting was the nail that was said to have gone through Jesus’ right hand on the cross, a piece of wood from the actual cross, John the Baptist’s tooth, a piece of cloth from the tablecloth used during the last supper and one from Jesus’ loincloth cloth, and a piece of wood from the manger. I could see the nail possibly being the real deal- maybe but I highly doubt the other relics were. The piece of the cross where the nail supposedly went through was a perfect circle and it seemed to small for that huge nail to have fit through. The tablecloth and loin cloth were the exact same material and if all of those were a scam I have strong doubts that the tooth and wood piece are from John the Baptist and the manger. There was however a really cool ivory carving of the three men on the crosses and I had never seen a crucifix with the three crosses! It not only depicted the bodies extremely well (which the artist apparently was known for his mastery of depicting proportionate human bodies)but he also depicted the story well! Jesus was looking at the man on the cross who dedicated his life to God in that moment and that guy was also looking at Jesus. The other man was looking away from both of them. That was my favorite item in the whole place! After that we split into groups to go to either the Natural History Museum or the Modern Art Museum. Most of the people chose the Natural History Museum but Cici, Alex, Griffin, and I went to the Modern art Museum!! I loved the art in it!! After doing my senior show it was interesting to think of how the art was displayed and the thought process that went into that! There were also a lot of art that got my art teacher gears spinning and thinking of possible lesson plans! After we were done, we found a little restaurant around the museum and I got a really yummy vegetarian special of the day and our table split a plate of nachos that was so good!!! Cici, Alex, and I split from Griffin so that they could do some shopping! We went down the same strip that we did yesterday to find a ring shop and so the could maybe buy some stuff! Cici wanted a perfume and she found one she liked at Zara that was only 5 euros but she sprayed so many on her body that she couldn’t remember which bottle matched the scent. She gave up and we shop hopped a few more stores. She tried to look for a different one but she couldn’t find any that she liked that were cheap and less than 3 oz. so we went back to Zara and she thankfully found it on the first try! We never found THE ring shop but we stumbled across some other ones and I did get my ring. We started walking back to the hostel and Cici and Alex were hungry and I was hungry enough to eat something. There was a Vietnamese restaurant on the way back and Alex needed to sit down so we just went into that one! I got a soup and I did not really like it that much. I could see how others would like it but it was not working with my palette! I forced myself to eat it all and thankfully Cici couldn’t finish hers so I got a few bites of her meal as my last bites so the taste of the soup didn’t linger. We got back to the Hostel and they were done for the day. I wish I would have gone back out but it was starting to get dark, it was raining, I needed to work on my blog, and I didn’t know where everyone else was at. Compared to others in my group I feel like I had a dud day… the Art museum was amazing but after the Natural History Museum they found the Easter market, rode in horse drawn carriages, café hopped, and didn’t get in until 10 pm! After watching their videos and seeing their pictures I definitely had FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out). As a city, I don’t feel like I got to experience a lot of it, but it seemed cool enough! Thursday 4.11.19 We had to be ready and in the lobby by 6:45 am so it was a very early morning!!! We thankfully got breakfast and I had a lot of it again! Essentially the exact same thing I had yesterday. After breakfast we got on the bus and started making our way to Venice, Italy! The first two hours I slept, then we had a pit stop and when I got back on I worked on my blogs again. After another few hours we had another pit stop. We had Burger King for lunch which actually ended up being somewhat expensive! We got back in the bus to finish out our bus ride. There was so many beautiful sights, i felt bad for dozing off but i definitely fell asleep while looking out the window. We finally arrived outside of Venice and took a train to the island. Walking our suitcases through the crowds of people, narrow streets, stairs, and cobblestones was rough. We finally go to the hostel and split into group for roommates. I was in a room with Sarah. We went up to our room, dropped off our bags, and then met up with the group and went around the island to St. Mark’s Square to get tickets for tomorrow. We were then released for supper. Sarah, Seth, Julian and I found a place and I got pizza and split wine with Sarah. It was pretty good! We navigated back but it honestly felt like a maze! When we got back, Sarah and I Went up to Seth’s room played Hearts (the card game) with Sarah, Seth, and Logan for a while and then we went back to our room and to sleep! I looove nights when we just chill and listen to music and play cards. 4.12.19 Friday Woke up at 7 am to get ready. At breakfast I Ate a lot of yummy food!!! Went with the group again to Saint Mark's square. Saint Mark’s Basilica was a really interesting design and lots of gold. We were all a little bummed that the weather was as cold as it was. We were all hoping to be able to wear dresses and enjoy spring weather but nope not today. Then to Saint Mark’s Campanile which was a huge tower. It was soooooo cold waiting in the line to get to the top! We finally got in the elevator and warmed up for a split second until we got to the top and were chilly again! Oh well, there were amazing views at the top so it was very worth it! I went with Annalise, Sara, Sarah, Cici, Alex, Lauren, Kirstin, and Seth for lunch and to get some more yummy pasta. There was an Accordion player in the restaurant and he made it feel very Italian in there. I got ravioli and when we were done, Seth, Sarah, and I split from the group to go to the Guggenheim art museum. We were trying to navigate but we got lost there was a part that the GPS told us to go across but it was just a canal in front of us so that wasn’t going to work. We gave up and decided to walk around a little bit while we were walking around, we found Pops. We talked to him for a bit and when he found out we were wanting to go to the Guggenheim, he pointed us in the right direction. On our way we sat Cody and Julian! We finally got there and Saw art there was a ton of SUPER AWESOME art in there. Sarah likes Alexander Calder now because we went there together so I feel pretty good that I could introduce her to a new artist! We left the museum to meet Kira, Rachel, and Erica at the docks to go on a gondola ride! We decided to go on a 45 minute ride in the canals around Venice. Pops was at the docks too so he kindly took pictures of us in the gondola when we passed by the first three bridges! What an awesome guy, he’s the best!! Afterwards we just walked around taking in the scenes of Venice. Seth, Sarah and I split from the other three to go get gelato. When we bought some we tried to sit in the little space and the lady told us no but i think she was speaking mostly Italian because we could not understand and verbal language we just knew that the hand signals were saying, “you can’t sit with us.” So we just took our gelato outside and sat at their tables out there! Well she kicked us out of the outside part to! I don’t know, it was an odd thing! Thankfully we had already eaten mostly all of our gelato. Then we just looked around the city more and window shopped. Finally we went back to hostel to get meds for Seth and money for me. We Met up again at 7 to go eat supper. Finding a place was a bit of a deal because of it was graduation for I the high school seniors (at least I think they were High schoolers). They all had cute little leafy crowns with red ribbons in the back. We finally found a spot that was not infatuated with graduates and their families. I split a veggie pizza with Seth and then we came back ready for bed. 4.13.19 Saturday Officially half way through my trip as of today! What!? Sarah and I woke up at 7 am to get ready. As I was getting ready I FaceTimed with Isaac. Sarah and I met Seth at 8:15 am and walked to St. Mark’s square to see it without tourists. It seems so much bigger when it isn't flooded with boat loads of crazy tourists. On top of the fact that the island was so much less crowded, it was also so much more peaceful in the morning! We walked back and ate breakfast. After that my tummy hurt and I am not sure if that was just because I had eaten to much or what but my stomach wasn’t agreeing with something! We checked out today so we got luggage from our room, met the rest of the group in the lobby, and put our luggage in the luggage room. On the agenda for today: Museums. We had the choice between an art museum or a perfume and costume museum . Most of my group chose the costume museum. I of course went to the modern art museum along with Pops, Martin, Griffin, and Lex. My favorite exhibition was by Giovanni Soccol. He had two bodies of work one was “Labyrinths of Invention” and the other was “Theaters.” Both bodies of work were done in black and white oil paint on canvas and utilized strong light sources. Looking at the work transported my mind to a different place of wonder and excitement. I explored the labyrinth in my head deciding which path I would take, left or right. I could have spent hours in that one small exhibition alone, I loved it so much! Once we were done, we went to a coffee shop (that’s what the rest of the group wanted to do). As I am not a coffee drinker, I went across the lane to something more my style... a crape/ gelato place! I got chocolate banana and chocolate chip gelato… I LOVED the chocolate banana gelato- best flavor yet! Lex and Griffin were communicating with some of the people who went to the costume museum including Cody, Mary, Tiffany, and Ria. They ended up meeting us at the gelato place. We said bye to Martin went our separate ways. We decided we wanted to take an excursion to Burano just had to figure out how to get there. in and out of the bus taxi stop a few times pop was confused. He “figured it out” and lead us to a square with a few tourist shops. Pops was confused and “figured it out” and lead us to the “correct place.” We went in a circle and wound up in the same spot we just were. We were supposed to get the tickets in one of the little shops. Walk back to the dock we were just at and went in the waiting part again to get on the taxi boat back over to the stop by our hostel to get the other people who wanted to come with! We got to our hostel to get the rest of the people who wanted to go. Mary, Lex, Tiffany, Griffin, Lauren, Seth, Sarah, Pops, and I boarded a water taxi to go to the island of Burano off the coast of Venice. It was about a 45 minute ride over there and then we got to explore!!! The island was soooo beautiful and colorful and amazing!! We stopped at a pizza place to get lunch since we hadn’t eaten lunch yet! I split a pizza with Pops- I can’t remember what kind because I wasn’t able to pronounce it but it had mozzarella, tomato’s, and prosciutto. Yummy!! We walked around a bit afterwards and Seth, Lauren, Sarah and I found a little niche alleyway type thing and took some fun pictures!! Then we met back up with the rest of our group and took the water taxi back to Venice, went to our Hostel and got our bags from the luggage storage room and back to the docks. With Pops as our fearless leader, We found which dock we needed to be at for the right water taxi to the other side of the island. We boarded and holly gosh it was squished! We got where we needed to be and then took the train to the main land where our hostel was located. From the train we took a metro and then walked a bit to our hostel!! When we got there Kirstin and Rachel (who had already checked us into the Hostel) informed us that they had accidentally Locked all 6 room keys in the room… oops!! Kirstin went to talk to them and when she came back She told us that it was a $500 fine. We freaked out a bit and then found out she was just messing with us!! Phew! We went up to our room and Lauren, Seth and I headed out again for some supper. We were so hungry and there didn’t seem to be anything close or reasonably priced so we went to McDonalds. Wow I’ve eaten a lot of chain fast food here. We had to go through a sketchy parking lot area but made it the the Golden Arches. I had to use the restroom so while the others ordered I went to the back to go! There were some drunk girls younger than me walking - stumbling back and forth in and out of the women’s AND men’s bathrooms. They had guy friends in the men’s restroom apparently because they were falling on the boys in there. I think they also may have had one friend pucking or dry heaving in the women’s restroom. I got my chicken sandwich and they brought it out to me. It was good and then we headed back and got ready for bed! |
About Lindsay WarningHello all, I am Lindsay Warning! I am currently a senior at the University of Nebraska at Kearney majoring in Art Education with a K-12 teaching endorsement. Originally, I am from Holdrege, Nebraska. I have a little brother, Wyatt, who is 8 years old, a little sister, Jordyn, who is 5 years old, three pups; Tatter, Murphy, and Bella as well as my parents, Tiffany and Justin Warning. In addition to my fam-bam, I have an amazing boyfriend, Isaac and his wonderful family. God has greatly blessed me with a great family and friends! In my free time I love to hang out with Isaac and my friends, create art, listen to music, and travel. Archives |