This last weekend we took our first field trip, visiting Prague and Dresden, Germany. We travelled to Prague by train on Thursday morning. Once we arrived there, we checked into our hostel, which was right by Wenceslas Square. Two of our professors, Jan and Martin, took us around the city to see some of the sights. We visited the Astronomical Clock when it chimed, the Charles Bridge, and the John Lennon wall. Since it was Easter weekend, there were Easter markets all over the city, with stalls selling various souvenirs, food, and craft items. I had the best hotdog of my life there. There were also various musicians around the city. It was a really neat time to be in Prague, and I am glad that I was able to experience the Easter market. I was surprised at the amount of decorations and celebrations that they had for Easter, as the Czech Republic is a very secular country. Over 50% of the population is not affiliated with a religious denomination, and most of them do not believe in God. A lot of their Easter celebration involves pagan traditions.

                On Friday, we were able to explore the Prague castle. The Prague castle includes the palace, the St. Vitus Cathedral, St. George’s Basilica, the Golden Lane, and some museums and exhibits. The St. Vitus Cathedral was absolutely beautiful. In the palace we were able to see rooms that had been directly involved in the history of the Czech Republic. It is amazing when you see a building that has been around since the 13^th century or so. They have such a rich history here, and it is amazing to experience. In the United States it is almost impossible to find a building that has been around any earlier than the 1700s or so. Our country is just so young.

                On Saturday, we took a train to Dresden, Germany. Dresden is the capital of the German state of Saxony, and was the last city bombed during World War II. It was a very controversial bombing, as it killed around 25,000 civilians. They used some of the old stones that had been salvaged from the ruins to rebuild the new structures, so you can see buildings that are a mix of light and dark stones. A famous example of this is the Dresden Frauenkirche. It was originally a Roman Catholic Church, but became a Lutheran church during the Reformation. It was destroyed during the bombing, and was rebuilt in the early 1990s. We were able to climb to the top of the church, which offered an absolutely amazing view.  I was also able to visit the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, which is a famous art museum. I was able to see the Sistene Madonna by Raphael, which is apparently a very famous painting (I don’t know much about art). We had to take a train back to Prague that same day, and I was disappointed that we were not able to spend more time there.

                Before we went back to Olomouc on Sunday, we got to visit the Jewish ghetto in Prague. We went to a synagogue that had the names of all the Czech Jews that were killed in the Holocaust. I was told that there were 80,000-85,000 names. It was a sobering experience. We then went to the Jewish cemetery, as well as two other synagogues. One had been turned into a museum, and the other one, the Old-New Synagogue, is still in use. It is one of the oldest remaining synagogues in Europe.

The  Dresden Frauenkirche.

The view from the top of the church in Dresden.

The view from the top of the church in Dresden.

The John Lennon Wall in Prague.

The John Lennon Wall in Prague.

The Prague castle and St. Vitus Cathedral from across the river.

The St. Vitus Cathedral. 

              Transportation is another thing that I have had to get used to coming over from the United States. In the Midwest, we do not use a lot of public transportation. If you want to get somewhere, you pretty much have to have a car. It is not really an option to walk everywhere, as everything is very spread out. Here in Olomouc, you see very few cars, considering the number of people who live in this city. However, there are a few different forms of public transportation that the people here use to get around the city. There are trams, buses, cabs, and quite a bit of walking. Since I am not used to public transportation, it has taken me a while to get used to the trams, especially since everything is in Czech. Also the layout of the streets is rather complicated. It is not laid out in square blocks. People who know me well can attest to how bad I am at finding my way around places, but I can now find almost all of the places I like to frequent the most.

                Since everything is fairly condensed here, you just take the tram (or bus, or cab, etc.) to the area of the city you need, and then you walk around that area of the city. It results in quite a bit of walking each day. The area of the city that we spend the most time in is completely paved with cobblestones. That definitely starts to hurt your feet after a while, and a lot of the stones are loose. I often have to look down when I walk, to make sure that I do not trip over any. As a result, I often do not look around at where I am going, and it has taken me a while to figure out the city and how to get to certain places.

                Even if you do own a car here, you cannot get away from the walking, as there is not a lot of parking in the main part of the city. There are a few small parking lots, and a few places where you can park on the side of the road. Once you have gotten your car down there, you are walking everywhere else. This has resulted in some unforeseen difficulties. For example, when grocery shopping, they cannot buy a lot of stuff for the month, since they have to carry all those things all the way back to where they live. You cannot exactly carry 25 bags of groceries onto the tram. I imagine they have to go to the grocery store often, getting a little bit of what they need each time.

                However, this is not as big of a deal as it would be in the Midwest. Like I said before, everything is very condensed, so if you have to go somewhere, there is probably a grocery store within walking distance of wherever else you need to go. In the Midwest, you might have to make a special trip and drive all the way out to a store that is nowhere near wherever else you need to go. So in the Midwest it makes sense to try to get all your shopping done in one trip.

                Travelling here is much cheaper than it is back in the United States. I have tried to never take a cab in the United States, as I know it will be extremely expensive. Here, however, I can take a cab across town for around 100 koruna (about $5) most nights. Flying within Europe is also pretty cheap. For Spring Break I booked a flight to Dublin for about $90 including paying for a checked bag. I know I am starting to become spoiled with how cheap things are here, and it is going to be difficult to pay so much more for things when I return to the United States.

This is the Upper Square in Olomouc. As you can see, it is completely paved with cobblestone. This square is a good landmark to use when finding your way around this area of town.

This is Olomouc from the top of the tower of the Town Hall. As you can see, the town is not laid out in square blocks, which makes finding a certain place rather difficult at times.

               

                   For my first blog post, I decided to talk about the language barrier. This is the most trouble that I have ever had communicating. The other time I travelled internationally, I went to Costa Rica. I knew a fair amount of Spanish, and therefore did not have much trouble with basic communications, such as ordering food and getting directions. Coming to the Czech Republic, however, was very different. I did not know a word of Czech before flying over, so I could not even begin to identify what various things were. Many people here do know enough English to understand the basis of what I am saying. However, there have been quite a few people (mostly in restaurants) who do not know any English. In these cases, ordering food is reduced to pointing at menu items that I have translated for myself using the Google Translate app.  It is a new experience for me. I am used to always being able to communicate, and I have never really experienced such a large language barrier.

                Shopping has also been somewhat difficult. Everything is in Czech. When I go grocery shopping, I start browsing to see if there’s anything I want. The problem is, I can’t tell what most things are just by looking at them, and I can’t read the labels to figure out what they are. When buying milk, for example, it is very difficult to tell if you are buying regular, skim, soy, almond, etc. Since all the signs are in Czech as well, I can’t read them to figure out what is in which aisle. If I am looking for a certain thing, I just have to wander the store until I find it. I had always taken how easy shopping was in the United States for granted. I never thought about how difficult the most basic things (like buying laundry detergent or something) became once you don’t understand the language.

                We have had a couple of lessons in learning Czech, and it is a rather difficult language. Pronunciation has probably been the most difficult thing for me to grasp so far. Looking at a word, my brain automatically wants to pronounce it the way you would in English, but quite a few of their letters make somewhat different sounds. Some sounds are difficult for me to even make. We have learned a few basic words and phrases, in order to help us communicate a little better. The problem is, however, that even if we know the words, if we do not pronounce them just right, Czech speakers probably will not be able to understand us. Our professor was telling us that it is very difficult for native Czech speakers to understand foreigners speaking Czech. Since English is such a common language, and many people from many places speak it, we are used to hearing and understanding English in many different accents. The Czechs are not used to this, because not many people learn to speak Czech who are not Czech.  That makes communication even more difficult, and is kind of discouraging when you are trying to learn and use a new language.

                Hopefully as time goes on and I get more practice and learn more words, I will better be able to communicate. I have already learned how to ask for the bathroom, and hopefully soon I will be able to order food and ask directions. I know that I will not be fluent by any means by the end of the three months, but it is still nice to learn another language.

*The first picture is from Olomouc. The second picture is from Prague, of the river and the Prague castle.