August 6–12, 2008, Number 195
Ahoj!
My love for Praha (Prague) is growing by the minute. This week was filled with some of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. Prague is an unending city filled with beautiful architecture, street vendors and art. A friend of mine who is in the program is also here studying music with the Prague symphony Orchestra. And through the Municipal House, where they play, we were able to get free tickets to one of the shows. Austin asked me and my roommate Holly to join him at the concert which was taking place at the Spanish Synagogue. The Spanish Synagogue is at the site of the oldest Prague Jewish House of Prayer and is stunningly beautiful after years of renovation to bring it back to its original Moorish style. It was great, we walked in with the band and were able to take pictures of how beautiful the building was as well as get the best seats in the house. Even more to our delight they were playing the best of Gershwin which is American music.
Getting around the city is becoming easier and easier by the day. The student metro pass is beyond worth it since our classroom is 30 minutes away from our apartments. The Metro is making it hard to gain my bearings though since you go underground and 3 minutes later you just immerge in a completely different area, which makes the city seem very disconnected. In order to gain some perspective on where I am we have started walking many places or using our passes to jump on the Tram's that go through the city. Of course on one of our excursions we found a mall within a 5 minute walking distance from us at Namesti Republika and the street leading to Mustek is filled with exceptional shopping. Steffie, Holly and I did a lot of shopping this week and found some excellent buys. I have so far judged my experience in every city based on shopping, eating, sites and overall splendor and Prague is fast reaching the top.
At home it was nice since we now have the internet which is making homework much easier. Previously we were expected to complete everything at school but unlike Michigan Tech and their 24 hour labs we had 4 computers for all 30 students and only the hours of 9-4 to use the computers. Needless to say it was practically impossible to get a computer let alone finish any projects or papers within the time allotted. The internet has unfortunately taken away from the original comradery we were forced to make through each other's company, cards and conversation. Our new ability to IM and surf the web makes it a little bit quieter than before. Of course this affects me the most since I don't have a laptop to use in the apartment. But my roommates have been very accommodating in letting me check my mail quite often.
Probably most exciting was the trips we took this week to Kunta Hora and to Moravia. The entire class went to Kunta Hora and saw a church that was decorated completely with human bones. In the middle ages a priest visited the holy lands and brought back dirt and spread it over the fields surrounding the church. The fields were then thought to be holy and burial there would insure your way to heaven. Obviously thousands insisted that the newly holy land be there final resting place. Many years later when no more people could be buried in the land they began to use their bones as decoration so that they may still be honored with a holy burial in the sacred place. Walking in to the church it looks like one of the many that we have seen all over the continent, but once inside the smell that is unmistakably morbid as well as the decoration is unlike anything you will ever see. Strangely enough for as morbid as the décor is it doesn't stretch past to eerie. Although you don't need more than 20 minutes to feel that you have seen enough human pelvis bones configured into flowers and it is time to leave.
We also had the option of attending a wine tasting weekend in Moravia the southern part of the Czech Republic for an extra 1000 krowns( 60 USD). The Czech Republic is comprised of two parts: Bohemia and Moravia. Bohemia is in the north and holds Prague as its center, and is unmistakably beer country. Moravia is in the south and boast beautiful lands, vineyards and wine for as far as the eye can see. It was best put by our director that people in Moravia drink wine so they are happy, while people in Bohemia drink beer so they are not so nice. Due to the lack of outgoing friendliness that I have encountered to this point I would have to say he is correct with his assumptions. I, of course, opted in for the weekend. We started off on Saturday and drove to an exhibit for Alfons Mucha (pronounced MooHA) , a Czech painter famous in his lifetime for his works. He comprised 20 paintings on the Slavic struggles through history and named them "The Epic". They chronicle all of the major events that occurred in the Slavic lands and the Czech Republic. Since 1963 the series has been on display in the castle at Moravsky Krumlov where we visited them. The paintings had to be showcased in Moravia due to the lack of buildings that would be able to house them in Prague due to their sheer size. The average painting was 20ft. by 40 ft. making the detail that was required in them next to impossible. After visiting the greats throughout Europe I have to say these surpassed my every expectation.
After Mucha, we visited a chateau on the way to the vineyard, where they had taken the gardens and created an unmanicured garden that the public could enjoy. It was strait out of the movie Pride and Prejudice, a personal favorite of mine. It came complete with a lake in the middle of the grounds, ruins spotting the land, along with mistletoe in the trees and animals around every corner. It was breath taking, the place that every little girls hopes to fall in love. We were there for nearly 2 hours and it still felt as though we didn't have enough time to see it all. We were running late though, for dinner at the vineyard, which was beautiful. We drove up and it was a small home, equipped with bunks up stairs for us to use. And the cellar was beautifully bricked with a fireplace at one end and a bar at the other. With long tables running the length offering plenty of room while we ate and sampled the wine. We had a dinner of Goulash of course, accompanied by a variety of wines that were all made on the premises. We ate all night then were promptly shown to a cellar where we had 20 wines to taste. By wine number 10 I am not sure I could tell the difference but I am sure that I had a wonderful time and it was beyond worth the extra expense.
At this point my head is still hurting from all of the wine but I am sure that the week will look up since a friend of mine, Niiko, is coming to visit this week from his study abroad in Finland. So I will talk to you soon!!
- Laurilee
- Michigan Technological University
- 1400 Townsend Drive, Houghton, MI 49931-1295
- 906-487-1885