Becoming a Local (3)

 I cannot believe how fast the time has gone. I'm so sad we only have one more week left in the Czech Republic!  After being here for almost three months I would like to consider myself a "local" (although the actual Czechs may think otherwise).  I am going to describe how my viewpoint has changed from when I arrived as a tourist up until now.  

      

One thing that is different is my view of the dorms.  When we first arrived we were a little shocked because they were not at all what we were expecting.  I have now grown fond of my little room and flat mates.  It really does feel like home here.  That's another thing that's different.  Although I am excited to see my family and friends when I actually go home, I now refer to Olomouc as home whenever I talk.  After being worn out by field trips or long weekend trips I notice that instead of saying "I can't wait to be back in Olomouc," like I said before, I have started to say, "I can't wait to be back home."  

     Another thing that has become the norm for me is their currency. One U.S. dollar is roughly 25 Czech koruna.  It's typical to see things for 50-100 koruna, which, having the mindset of dollars, was a scary thing.  Our first few weeks I was constantly pulling out my currency converter to figure out prices.  Now I can look at Czech prices and know what they mean in dollars without really even thinking.  I have gotten so used to the cheap prices here that going back to U.S. prices is going to be very difficult.

     Although we often ate in our dorms to save money, we still went out enough that we were able to find some favorite restaurants.  We have seen kebabs in practically every city all over Europe, but nothing beats our favorite Istanbul kebabs right here in Olomouc.  They have a special discount on Monday's and we probably went almost every Monday we were in town.  They had our orders memorized; if that's not becoming a local I don't know what is.  

    These are just some of the reasons why I fell like Olomouc is home. I never knew I could this much love for a city in such a short amount of time.  I really fee like it has become my city and I am so sad that I have it leave it so soon.  There will always be a place in my heart for the city of Olomouc!

(9) Field Trip 3: Krakow and Auschwitz

     For our third field trip we spent the weekend in Krakow, Poland.   We hopped on our bus Friday morning and made our first stop at the Wieliczka Salt Mines in the suburbs of Krakow.  I had never been to any type of mine before so I didn't really know what to expect.  It turned out to be very cool! It was built in the 13th century and was used all the way up until 2007.  It was huge and had several rooms, chapels, and sculptures all made from salt.  Our tour guide was awesome and hilarious.  I even got a chunk of salt to take home for answering a question right!

My very own chunk of salt

     After our tour at the salt mines we headed into Krakow and to our hostel.  Once we got all checked in we were free for the rest of the night.  A group of us grabbed a map and headed to the city center for some supper.  We found a great little place off the square where we had some fish and chips.  I know, fish and chips, not the most polish thing to eat, but they were delicious.  After that we did a little more walking around the main square and then headed back to the hostel.  Our hostel was located in what used to be the Jewish ghetto so it wasn't very close to the city center.  However, it still had a lot of old Jewish synagogues near it.  We did a little exploring of the streets around there before stopping at a cafe for some dessert.  Next we went back to the hostel and just hung out and played cards.

Castle 

     The next day we met at 9:00 and headed to the castle.  We first saw the treasury and armory.  There were many old weapons and suits of armor.  It still amazes me that they really fought wearing those suits and carrying around swords or giant guns.  I can't even imagine how heavy it would be to fight like that.  Next we saw the rooms of the castle.  Almost every room was filled with wall tapestries.  They were all motifs of religious stories or kings in battle.  After that we headed to the square to break for lunch.  We went to a burger place that was recommended on one of our maps, and after eating there I can see why.  The burgers were practically as big as my head!  It was absolutely delicious but we were stuffed.  After we ate, a group of us met back up and walked to Schindler's factory.  Oskar Schindler was a German that employed Jews at his enamel factory.  Although being a Nazi he did not agree with their killing of the Jews and was able to save the lives of his workers.  His factory is now turned into a museum.  We got a chance to hear about the war from the Polish perspective, which was something new and interesting for me.
     After the factory we headed back into the city center.  We walked around the square and did some souvenir shopping.  One thing I noticed about the city is the clear difference in types of buildings in the center compared to where our hostel was.  The square had beautiful, big, architectural buildings, which I thought were all really pretty.  However, the farther away from the center, the less magnificent the buildings became.  I felt like you could definitely tell our hostel area was in the Jewish ghetto.  It had a completely different feel to it.  I enjoyed getting to see both types of the city.

'Arbeit Macht Frei' 

     Sunday morning we headed to the Auschwitz concentration camp.  This was one of the most humbling experiences of my life.  We first went to Auschwitz I, the first of the three.  As soon as we stepped through the gate with the inscription 'Arbeit Macht Frei', ("Work Makes you Free") I had goosebumps.  We saw where prisoners lived, worked, and were murdered.  We also got to see the cell where St. Maximilian Kolbe, a Polish priest who volunteered to die in place of a man with a family, was killed.  Next we headed to Auschwitz II- Birkenau extermination camp.  This camp was huge compared to the first and this is where the mass killing took place.  They had 7 different gas chamber and crematoriums where over 1.1 million people died.  All of the chambers were destroyed during or after the war so all that is left is the ruins.  They also tore down most of the "stables" the prisoners were kept in so all that remains is the chimneys.   No matter how many books you've read or movies you've watched, nothing can really prepare you for the feeling of being there.  Standing where the prisoners stood and were killed only 75 years ago is a memory I am never going to forget.
 

Auschwitz II- Birkenau death camp

A Day in Slovakia

Personal Excursion (10)

Majka and I 

When I was a junior in high school we had two foreign exchange students.  One was from the Czech Republic and the other from Slovakia.  I have been able to stay in touch over the years and with this trip I have been lucky enough to get to see them both!  Zuzana, the one from the Czech Republic actually studies here in Olomouc at Palacky University.  The one from Slovakia, Majka, studies in Bratislava.  This weekend I was able to head to Bratislava to visit her for a day and it was amazing!
     This was my first time traveling by myself and although it was a fairly easy journey I was still a little nervous.  Luckily it went very smoothly on the way there, I found all the connections I needed and made it there no problem.  Majka was waiting for me at the train station and after a long greeting with lots of squealing and hugging we headed into town.  We first walked along Obchodna Street, which is their main street that leads to the square.  It's filled with shops and eating places.  However, it was May 1st, which is a workers holiday, so a lot of the shops were closed.  We walked through the main square while Majka did her best to tell all about the city.  

     After grabbing some coffee we headed to check out her dorm and eat at the cafeteria.  On the way the one thing that really stood out to me was how green and full of plants the city was.  For being such a big city there were large areas of trees and plants all over.  Walking up to her dorm I felt like we were going through a forest! She lives up on a hill that they call student village because it has a ton of dorms and so basically all students live there.  For lunch we went to the cafeteria, which had lots of delicious looking choices, for very cheap.  We decided that since I needed to try fried cheese, which I had seen a lot of places but hadn't eaten yet.  It's basically a large square mozzarella stick, but it was delicious.  

Trying fried cheese

     After eating we went to see her dorm.  When we first arrived in Olomouc we thought the dorms here were, well, kind of crappy compared to back home.  Majka's dorm in Bratislava makes these look luxurious.  Their dorms are really cheap to live in so I guess it's understandable but back home we would think they looked like abandoned buildings.  It was a little bit of a wake up call though.  I know a lot of people complain about dorms back in the U.S. but they live in dorms like this and get by just fine.  

    After we left her dorm we headed to the Slavín War Memorial.  It is a huge memorial and cemetery for the soldier of World War II, up on a hill over looking the city.  It was very beautiful and peaceful up there and it had an amazing view of the whole city.  It was a very surreal moment for me.  When Majka and Zuzi left 3 years ago I didn't know if I would ever see them again, and now I've got to see them in their own country!  Back in high school we lovingly called them the foreigners and so when we met up I joked that it was just like old times, but now I'm the foreigner.  

Slavín War Memorial

     After the memorial we walked around for a bit longer and saw a few more things until it started to rain.  We met up with her boyfriend for supper where I had a traditional Slovak dish, halušky.  It's potato dumplings and sheep cheese and it's delicious.  Sadly after that we had to rush to the station to catch my train.  However, when we got there and I looked on the board to find my platform the train number was just blinking in red.  Luckily Majka was there to translate because apparently my train was cancelled at this station and I had to take a different one to a new station to get on the one that would take me home. 

      We sprinted to the train and a quick goodbye and I made it on just in time.  I made it to the new station found my correct train, got on and thought everything was good.  It was a little creepy because the train was practically empty.  I did not see a single other person or worker until about an hour in.  At that point I realized I was going to be way too late to make my connection that I needed to get back to Olomouc.  Luckily a worker (that spoke English) came around and told be about the delay and that I there was a later train I would be able to take back to Olomouc.  I got to the station where my connection was and had to wait about 30 minutes until we actually left.  Then, instead of just making stops at the main stations like the trains usually do, this one stopped at every little station, which was practically every 5 minutes.  What was supposed to be a 2 hour and 40 minute trip took me about 5 hours, but I finally made it back.  

Overall it was a wonderful trip.  I am so thankful I got to see my friend and experience yet another country!