Czech Pride

Something that I have definitely noticed through my history class and through touring sights, is the need that the Czech Republic has to feel like they are a country of importance. I mean, don't all countries want to feel like they've done something important? In my first history class, Petr talked about nationalism and I think every day since then has demonstrated it in some way without even intending. Very often, he will explain the importance of a memorial or the preservation of some sight as being most important because it leaves the lasting reminder that Czechs did something good to help, or suffered, like other bigger power countries during the world wars. The Czech Republic definitely did make some big contributions and sacrifices for each of the world wars-- I'm not trying to take away from that-- but I think that it is interesting what a big emphasis there is on having these memorials and such for the purpose of reminding the world that the Czech is not just some little country sitting in Europe doing nothing. Petr admitted to these places being put there more so for political purposes.

I think that Petr, and politicians here, are right on when guessing the perceptions that nations outside of Europe may have of the Czech Republic though. It's kind of sad, but unless you've been educated well on the ins and outs of the wars it isn't really evident to outsiders that the Czech Republic contributed so much. Often, people just think of the big power countries around Czech. I will admit to not having know the extent to which they contributed and sacrificed.

On the other hand though, after being educated on it and after having been exposed to the political reasons for historical memorials, it can be really upsetting that the great memorials I have seen for people who lost and sacrificed so much aren't wholly there for the purpose of remembering and respecting what they had to give up. In the last few days I've visited some really depressing places. To go to a concentration camp or to a town that was completely wiped out by the Nazis is not an exciting thing. You don't go to these places all hyped up and you certainly don't leave thinking about how much fun it had been. The memorials are not there for that purpose, obviously, but with the amount of emphasis from locals on how these sights are used to build up views of Czech power, I've been bothered by it. I would be surprised if memorials in other countries I've visited don't have a similar purpose, but I guess it has just never been presented so bluntly and that is I think what bothers me about it. Politics have so much power over everything that a country does, especially a small one like Czech which constantly tries not to be forgotten by others. The whole thing just makes me really sad for the people the memorials represent though-- had politics not had such an influence on the construction and preservation of these places, would as much have been put into them? I like to think so.

While on the topic though, another thing that has bothered me, is turning places of worship and sights of horrific events into tourists traps. Katherine and I have talked about this a couple of times now, and it has become another pet peeve of mine. It started with the churches we visited last week. There are so many beautiful cathedrals in the area that massive numbers of people scurry to each year. So what has happened is that you have to pay to get in, and then all around the cathedrals are tons of little touristy shops and such that are reflective of the cathedral. I understand paying to get it, as it helps with the upkeep of the cathedrals, so that is justifiable to me. At what point though does this all become inappropriate through? A cathedral is a place of worship, but these ones have turned into a museum of sorts that tourists just filter through. What about the people who practice religion in these places? I wonder how they feel about it, and whether they feel bothered, or maybe even driven out to another church because of the tourism. And with all the memorabilia outside of the cathedrals, I just wonder at what point it becomes not about visiting a historically significant cathedral but more about making a profit. I did not attend church regularly growing up, but even from that kind of upbringing it has become something that bothers me.

Lastly, I was really kind of bothered yesterday when we visited absolutely devastating sights of Holocaust events, and there were little carts set up to attract tourists. Again, I just wonder when it becomes inappropriate. I understand all the little tourists shops at places that you visit more for the purpose of seeing because they are interesting in one way or another. In my opinion though, it's absolutely inappropriate at places in remeberance of people who suffered so much. I think that the "official" sights were on board with my view, because it was more so on the outskirts of the sights that I saw this. I just think that it's incredibly disrespectful and was really bothered by it.

Bottom line of this post, I think: I am realizing my strong dislike for the tourism industry and how it functions. I've been to so many amazing places before, but have never felt like this. I wonder what I would think of those places now with this realization.

 

Keeping Up

I have so many great things to blog about from the last couple of days, but no time to sit down to write and go through photos... Today we visited two places hugely affected by the Holocaust, and just a few hours ago I was at Old Town Square to watch live viewing of the Czech vs. Russia Euro Cup game! Tomorrow I am off for a weekend trip to Moravia, the eastern region of the Czech Republic. I'm really hoping to have some time to catch up with this on the way there. I am definitely going to get to some more detailed posts about the last few days, but just wanted to check in and keep everyone posted! By Monday I will have some new stuff up!

Still having a great time-- which my lack of time to keep up with this blog can support-- and time is going by so fast! This week went by even faster than last, and next week will be short as well-- I leave for Dublin on Thursday afternoon! Three weeks from tomorrow I will be in Cape Town-- absolutely crazy!!

Not Enough Praha!

There seriously is not enough time here in Praha, aka Prague. Last night, my main group of friends and I sat down and made a list of everything we need to make sure to do before leaving the city for field study to Austria, Hungary, and Slovakia on the 23rd. There is just so much! Katherine had this map of places recommended by locals that are kind of like hidden treasures throughout the city, so between that and my Rick Steves guide book, we've got quite the list of places to visit!

It's probably about once a day that one of us makes mention of our fast approaching departure. It going to be tough doing and seeing everything else we want, even without traveling to other places. But, being in Europe and it being so easy to get everywhere, it's also really hard not to take advantage of that. If I had the time and money, I would so come back to Europe for a full year abroad! Or at least a semester . . . These five weeks are not enough!! I'll have my weekend in Ireland, if nothing else. After field study I'll have 3 days until I leave for Africa that I'm hoping to go to Krakow, Poland. The only other place I had really wanted to go on this trip was Germany, because of the German class I took at ASP. I literally have a sspecific day and a half for that if it's going to happen. So I'm playing around with train and bus times, trying to decide whether the cost will be worth the little time I'll have there . . .

Today we went to one of the hidden treasures from Katherine's map. It was this second hand store that gives all the proceeds to charities for people living with life-changing diseases. With all the shopping we're tempted to do, we figured this would be a good way to get something and not feel guilty about it. There were a couple of tops I liked, but the two I tried on fit weird in funny spots. I did end up on getting a necklace though! We are also going to a restaurant from the list tonight that is supposed to be good, so we'll see!

The Children of Terezin

Today we went on a field trip for my entire history class. As expected, we went to the Jewish Quarter. I was really excited to go because this is the one section of Prague I have had yet to really explore. We went to 3 synagogues, all of which were beautiful. It wasn't the beauty of these places that has really stuck with me though; what has stuck with me are the two memorials in Pinkus Synagogue.Pinkus Synagogue was built as a memorial to 80,000 Jewish victims of the Holocaust, from the region surrounding Prague. The main level's walls are painted with first the surname of a family, and then first names of individuals with birth dates and death dates following. The entire place is just covered in this! It was really a lot to take in. I started out okay, and was pretty much just looking around at all the names, but by the time we made it into another room full of names I felt really kind of overwhelmed by it. I've been to the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. before, but this one memorial was so much more moving than that entire museum had been for me. That is kind of a bold statement because of how impactful the Holocaust Museum is, but there really is no comparison. A part of that, I'm sure, is being physically in an area that was so heavily impacted by the Holocaust. It is such a different experience to be visiting a memorial for something so tragic right in the area that the tragedy took place. We weren't able to take photos in the synogogue, but here are some that I found online:

In the upstairs of the synogogue, was something even more horrifying. Friedl Dicker was a teacher at Terezin, a concentration camp in Northern Czech Republic. Terezin was considered by the Nazis to be a "good" concentration camp, if such a thing existed. Before being deported to Auschwitz, where she was certain to die, Friedl Dicker hid two suitcases full of the Terezin children's artwork. Right after WWII, the suitcases were found with over 4,500 drawings the children had created while at the concentration camp. All of the artwork on display reflect the children's views of the war, Terezin, hopes of returning home, death itself, and so on. Petr, my professor, explained that being a child there, your chances of survival were ultimately non-existent-- about 130 of 15,000 brought to Terezin survived-- so many of the pieces of art are literally all that is left to be remembered of these children.

It was really just so sad to see all of the artwork. Some of them were happy and more focused on before coming to Terezin or hopes for leaving Terezin, while others were just so truly morbid. I would look at each drawing, and then at the little plaque next to it with the child's name, birthdate, deathdate (if applicable, which most of the time it was), and then the title of their drawing. It felt so much more personal having a name to put with each drawing. I would look at the picture and then hope there wouldn't be a deathdate on the plaque when I checked. There were very few there that had been marked as survivors. Each time I found one, I personally felt some kind of sense of accomplishment for them, knowing that they had made it out alive. Most of the time though, I just felt so sad for the children and sorry for the unfortunate death they had faced. I had to really fight back some tears here, but I definitely wasn't the only one-- there was a lot of sniffling in the room. Again, I wasn't able to take photographs in the synogogue, but a quick Google search of the synogogue brings up a lot of results! Here are a few:

We go to Terezin (the town) on Friday, so I am assuming we will be visiting the concentration camp as well. I've also been trying hard to get together a trip to Krakow, Poland between ending the program here and flying to South Africa. Part of what I've been trying to do there, is visit Auschwitz. I think that today was a good taste of how awful it will feel to visit those places, and how emotionally tolling it might be. I kept it together fine today, but there's no doubt in my mind that actually visiting the concentration camps will be like this experience multiplied by a million.

The American Perception

I saw this post on my Facebook newsfeed this morning, and couldn't resist using it as prime example of what many people think of Americans. This particular post is really innocent ultimately, but is still representative of the image that many other nations have of American people. I've obviously edited it so that you don't know the poster's name or what they even look like, but all you need to know is that they are someone who lives outside of the United States . . .

In Prague, the most I've noticed it is in the way that so many people pretend not to speak English around us. I recognize that not everyone here actually does speak English, but there have been a few instances where we have been in situations trying to communicate with locals who deny being able to understand us, but then later on in the instance show that they do understand English in one way or another. It is like they see us as Americans and automatically want nothing to do with us because of the reputation we have. I have met plenty of friendly, helpful people (both English and non-English speakers) here, so I do not want to take away from that. This also isn't about thinking that everyone here should speak English; I don't think that and didn't come here expecting that. This is more so about how people recognize us as Americans and want nothing to do with us in any capacity because of it.

There are some definite ways that I have noticed people destinguishing themselves as Americans within my group. One thing that more and more is driving me crazy, is talking loudly in the metro. Here, communication is quiet and scarce in public places. So when I'm with a group of people-- large or small-- it has become irritating that they do not recognize this and continue to mark the entire group of us as ugly Americans. In restaurants too, of course conversation is encouraged here, but the atmosphere is so much quieter than we are used to. The people across the room don't want to hear your English chatter. In the moments between converstion in restaurants, it is amazing how much quieter the restaurant becomes.

I mention primarily marking ourselves as Americans through speech, but it really happens in so many different aspects of daily life. There is the typical American college student "biddy" wear-- short, tight, and revealing for going out, or even during the day if weather permits. Here though, that isn't the norm and just marks you as an outsider-- particularly, American! I'm also not trying to say that being American is a bad thing-- it isn't-- but, in my personal opinion, part of going to a foreign country is absorbing that culture and respecting it. We've been here long enough that people should have picked up general Czech public practices by now. Those who haven't, sorry to say so, but are a little ignorant, as well as a part of the reason why people like my friend above have the image of the ugly American stuck in their head as representation of our country as a whole.

This whole post has turned into somewhat of a rant, but is something that I think all of the people here, as well as anyone who goes abroad should consider carefully before leaving the U.S. When you go abroad, you are encroaching on someone else's territory, literally. And that someone else shouldn't have to change or be annoyed by you, the visitor. You need to, instead, be observant, accepting, and willing to adjust your own habits that interfere with the local customs. To not do that, you are being ignorant, not actually absorbing the culture which you came to absorb, and are giving all Americans a bad name.

It is just so sad that we can be picked out so easily for such stupid behaviors . . .

On a better note, I was mistaken for a local again yesterday!

Also, most people in my group aren't that bad. There are, of course, exceptions!

Visit to the Castle Part I

Today, Aly and I ventured through the Little Quarter to Prague Castle! The castle is settled way up on top of a hill. I think we may have taken the long way up, because we found a shorter way down. We made it up to the entrance at about 11am, went to grab our cameras, and Aly realized she had forgotten her memory card in her laptop from the night before. So right away we decided to come back another day for inside all of the castle structures-- which we have to pay a decent sized fee for. It was kind of a cloudy, depressing looking day anyways-- it started to rain a few times-- so another day would be nicer anyways. We still got to see some great views though! From anywhere along the main stretch of the Vltava River you can see the castle towering high above everything else, so it was nice to have the birdseye perspective of Prague from up there for a change!

We got to see the changing of the guards ceremony, not even realizing that it was about to occur. After making our way back down the hill, we tried finding the library that is downtown-- we have an exam on Thursday . . . We definitely found a library, but are not sure it is the right library. Katherine has already visited with her class though, so we are just going to ask her. In trying to find it though, we did get to walk around the Jewish Quarter a bit! I think (and hope) that that is where our field trip is tomorrow for class!

So, I may be procrastinating a bit from the readings I need to do in the next few hours, but I threw together a video of some of the things I saw today up at the Prague Castle. At the time, it hadn't occured to me of making this and posting it, so it doesn't have everything, but does include some of the sights, some live music, parts of the changing of the guards ceremony, and a foreigner trying to make friends with a stray cat-- the cat did not want to be friends . . . Enjoy!

 

Family Dinner!

All of my roommates got together for a "family dinner" last night. We didn't exactly stick to authentic Czech cuisine though-- we had tacos! It was good to have everyone all together again, because we really haven't done much together after finding our "groups". We all get along, but just hang out with different people most of the time. I feel like I still hang out a good amount with Meggi and Bree though . . . The dinner was good, but I feel like there was some underling tension. I'm not sure why or between who, but I definitely felt like something was going on. Don't let this alarm anyone back home, I'm still having a great time, I just want to keep this blog real by not sugar coating everything. So I'm not sure what's up, but the atmosphere felt way off . . . Still nice to do something together though! With everyone starting to travel at the end of this week, it will be hard to do more stuff like this.

 

 

Olszowy

So my first day here, I learned how to actually say my last name in true Polish. I completely forgot about it, but wanted to write about it now that I've remembered!

When one of the program coordinators here was doing attendance, he said it right and then started talking to me about my Polish name. In the states, my family pronounces it Ols-zowy, just like it's spelt-- so many people like to add in k's and other weird sounds though! In Polish though, it is pronounced Ol-sho-whey. But, for me, being a female, it is Ol-show-wa.

Olszowy, I learned, is a type of tree. Olszowy Kiesz is also a settlement in Northern Poland. It was just really interesting to hear from someone how to actually pronounce my name and what it actually meant!

 

Travel Plans!

So, just hours after my last post, a group of us all sat down together and made some travel ideas a reality! We will be going to Dublin, Ireland for a long weekend up and coming! I am going with Aly and Meggi, and Karen had already planned on being in Dublin at that time. I guess there's a literary conference and the Pope will be in Dublin as well that weekend, so it might be a little hectic, but still great.

We looked at so many different places before deciding . . . it started out with Aly and I agreeing to go to Istanbul, Turkey together. We both really wanted to go, but plane tickets to get there right now are way too much with having to pay for housing and food on top of it. So we eventually partnered up with some other interested travel people and literally looked for flights everywhere! We have a field study our last week here to Austria, Hungary, and Slavokia, so those neighboring areas are already kind of covered. Before coming here, I was super anti- travel to the stereotypical destinations, but it came down to either going somewhere stereotypical that we could afford, or not going anywhere. Within our budget range for flights, was Dublin, Paris, Amsterdam, Toulouse, Madrid and London. Logistically, Toulouse wouldn't work unless we skipped class on Thursday-- highly frowned upon, only having like 11 of them total. London would have been horribly expensive once we got there with all of the Olympic preparations happening. Aly had already been to Madrid. And Aly will be going to Paris later on this summer, so it didn't make sense for her to pay to go twice. So between Dublin and Amsterdam, we went with Dublin!

I personally am a little over 30% Irish, so I'm really excited about going! It was definitely a little chaotic planning it all out, but after all these days of planning I'm really just glad to have actual concrete plans. We're going to stay at a hostel right downtown somewhere-- it has a lot included with it and looks like a good place as far as hostels go. So we're really excited!

Aside from Ireland, I am hoping to make it to at least Germany and Poland. I am unoffically making it to Poland after the field study and before flying out to South Africa, I just need to book my train and such. I'm also like 25% Polish (and happen to have a crazy Polish last name), so Poland is the one extra place that needs to happen in my mind. Germany will be a little more difficult just because of time. Dresden is close enough that a day trip is easy to make happen, but I don't think I will have enough time to make it to Munich for an overnight. If I do go to either of those cities, that trip will have to happen next Sunday/Monday. There just isn't enough time!!

End of Week One

So I have officially been here for a full week! It's weird-- it feels like I've been here forever, but at the same time it doesn't feel like the other four weeks here are going to be nearly enough! I've met so many great people-- I don't think there's anyone here who I actually even dislike-- and in just this first week we've formed some really great bonds. We're in the process of trying to plan some trips to other European countries (more to come on that once it's official!), but there really is just one big weekend to go somewhere distant between all of the other field trips we have around Czech. We will make the most of it, but already I'm wishing that I had more time here. At the same time though, I have another amazing place to be once I have left the program here. It's definitely going to be bittersweet.

So yesterday, we went to Kutná Hora. It was actually really nice to get out of the city and see a bit of the Czeh country! It was a rainy, dreary day, but still a nice change of scenery. We went to the bone cathedral-- where masses upon masses of peasants who died from the plague long ago were picked apart and used to decorate this cathedral still used for funerals and such today. I could literally reach out and touch an actually skull if I wanted-- don't let that fool you into thinking I did though, I didn't! We also visited two other cathedrals that were just absolutely gorgeous! Last, and coolest of all (in my opinion), was the silver mines. We climbed 33 meters underground to see where miners used to collect silver in Kutná Hora. In some spots, I had to completely duck down as much as I could to get through-- and at 5'6", I'm really not that tall. I really liked walking through the mines. We stopped at one point and turned off our flashlights to see what true pitch-black is. I guess there were times when the miners would run into problems and be stuck in that pitch-black for a week, literally. That's not something I would like, but going down the the half an hour or so was a neat experience.

Bone cathedral:

Cathedrals & the countryside:

 

Today, we also had another chance to get out into the country. Honza, one of the staff members with USAC here in Prague, brought us on a hike! We took the train about an hour outside of the city, and then walked over to the next town where we had lunch and then went for the actual hike part of our day. It was only about 20-30 minutes of legit hiking, but was straight up hill for a huge majority of it. It was all worth it from the top though. We had some nice views of the countryside and the little town below where we had just had lunch. Kutná Hora had been great the day before, but can be touristy because of the attractions there, whereas today we saw authentic Czech country side.

 

In the week that I've been here, I feel like I've done so much! I really love being in the city! I've thought about grad school in a city somewhere before, but really think that this has been a good opportunity to test whether I'd really like that or not-- and I definitely would! There are a lot of things about the Czech people that are noticable here, which we've been told is a result of the communism that was here not so long ago. When Czechs are in public: if they're alone, they generally keep to themsleves even if they see someone they know, and do not make eye contact with other people on the street; if they're together, they do not talk a lot in public. We've been told that these habits come from people not wanting to draw attenton to themselves or to be overheard saying anything (and not knowing who hears), because when there was communism here, that was something they couldn't risk. So now, it's a part of the culture. There are certainly exceptions, but it's definitely been noticable.

With week one done, we now have week two to look forward to! I have my first history exam at the end of the week, followed by a couple of different field trips! I am really kind of behind on my photos, so I'm going to try to update those soon, so be on the look-out!