A bittersweet end.

We started our last week together travelling around southern Bohemia. We spent this week in Litomyšl, Kutna Hora, Česky Budejovice, and Česky Krumlov. I absolutely loved Česky Krumlov. Such a cute, little, fairytale town. 

Views from the castle in Česky Krumlov.

In Litomyšl, we toured the cathedral, the castle district, and spent the afternoon slowly wandering around the tiny village. We had delicious meals, found a cute Choco Cafe, and went out for drinks that night. We stayed at the YMCA, which was a really cute little place to stay in the castle area.

The castle.

Our delicious dinner and dessert.

The next day we headed for Kutna Hora. Having been to Kutna Hora last summer, I was excited to see St. Barbara's Cathedral again, and this time we toured the old silver mines in the city. That was a really cool experience. At times the path was tiny and narrow and I think I had to duck the whole time but it was fun. I can't even imagine having been down there with nothing but a candle in the medieval times. Scary. 

That evening we all ordered pizza and had some local wine, playing fun games and enjoying our last nights together.

On our way to Kutna Hora, we stopped at this little spot. It used to be a village, and is now a memorial. During WWII, the village was burned to the ground and everyone was killed because of suspicion that the villagers were involved in the assassination of the highest German official in the Czech Republic. This also happened in one other Czech village.

Memorials were the houses used to be. Each stone showed the names of those who lived there.

Touring the silver mines.

St. Barbara's Cathedral in Kutna Hora.

That next day, we left for Česky Budejovice to tour the Budweiser Budvar brewery. I had a lot of fun on this tour and we got multiple samples :) Our guide was the sweetest older man, and he was funny. We walked through the brewery, learned about the brewing process, I'm a pro now thanks to Budvar and Guinness and my home brew, and it was a really fun afternoon. 

The cutest lady serving us tasters.

Pivo prosim!

We left for Česky Krumlov that afternoon, got checked into our hostel, and wandered around the city. It was really like a fairytale village. We popped in and out of shops, they had so many jewelry shops for Czech garnets, had a trdelník, and eventually made our way to dinner at a cute medieval place. There weren't any lights, only candles and a fire, but it was a cool place and the food was good. After dinner we headed to Apotheka, a vintage cocktail bar were we had a few drinks and just talked. I had a basil martini, YUM. This was my favorite day, just wandering around and enjoying the city. 

Our hostel balcony.

A vanilla cream trdelnik.

Basil martini. YUM

On our last day, we headed for a tour of the castle, and went rafting. The castle was beautiful and we had some great views of the city and the Vltava river. Česky Krumlov has a rich history, and you could tell that it was wealthy city back in the day. We saw the castle theatre which was really beautiful and we learned how plays and operas were orchestrated during the renaissance times. That afternoon, after waiting out the rain, we all went rafting. It was pretty cold, but there may have been some liquid courage involved. It ended up warming up, and our rafting trip was really fun, even though I practically broke my knee cap, lol. 

The castle. 

Beautiful views.

Waiting out the rain, with beers of course.

Ready to go rafting!

That night we headed to dinner for our last group dinner of the trip. We had great Czech food and wonderful company. It's bittersweet that our time together is coming to an end. Tonight is my last night in the Czech Republic. I can't believe how fast this program has flown by. But I'm excited to spend these next couple weeks checking the rest of Europe off of my bucket list. I'm so excited to spend the next month living out of my backpack, but I'm sad to leave Olomouc. I'll miss this little city and everyone so much. Who knows when I'll get back to the Czech Republic and to Olomouc. Until then I'll be loving this next week in Spain!

Ahoj!

Here's my update from week 4 of being abroad! I just returned to Olomouc (very, very early this morning) from a weekend in Budapest, Hungary. It was a blast. Between the Hungarian food, the natural thermal spas, the nightlife, the Hungarian wine, and the city itself, I enjoyed every minute in Budapest. We ate way too much goulash and spent an entire day soaking in the spas (it's recommended that you only stay in for 20 minutes) but it was a weekend I'll always remember and I am glad that I got to check Budapest off my list.

At the Fisherman's Bastion in Budapest

St. Stephen's Basilica

The Buda side of the Danube

We arrived late on Friday night, and immediately got checked into our hostel, which immediately was taking us out on a bar crawl. We stayed in a typical Budapest party hostel, that pretty much means that cleanliness was substituted for fun. Budapest is famous for it's "ruin bars", meaning that they pretty much turned some abandoned buildings, stores, and lots in the Old Jewish Quarter into the coolest bars I've ever been in. Most of them are multiple stories, with many rooms, and filled with vintage furniture, a DJ and a bar. Think of an entire building of flats converted into one big bar. It was so edgy and cool, I was in love. So that first night we hopped from ruin bar to ruin bar with everyone that was staying at our hostel, mingling and just having a great time.

On Saturday, we got up early, hit the free walking tour (a must for every city) and spent the day exploring. We learned the history, saw some beautiful sights, and took everything in. We had delicious Hungarian food, Hungarian wine, gelato (lemon basil and elderberry flavored :)) and just truly enjoyed the city. That night, we had once again more Hungarian food, and headed for a boat tour on the Danube. I had constantly heard from others that Budapest at night seems like a completely different city. If Budapest wasn't the prettiest city during the day, at night, it was completely captivating. All of the buildings and bridges were lit, and it was absolutely gorgeous. It was at night that Budapest was just extremely beautiful.

St. Matthias Church on Castle Hill

I loved the architecture of this one. Budapest has a lot of Turkish influence which is the style of the roof.

Me lovin' Budapest

A cute cafe outside of the National Theatre.

Some champagne at the start of our Danube River cruise.

The Budapest Parliament building all lit up at night. Gorgeous!

On Sunday, we headed for the spas. Another absolute must in Budapest. We spent the entire day just hopping from pool to pool, enjoying the steam rooms and sauna, and soaking up the sun for the first time since we've been here! That's one thing I do miss, sunshine. The weather in Budapest was wonderful. We spent our last night at a really nice restaurant, just enjoying dinner and company, and then we headed to the town square and drank some Hungarian wine for our last night in Budapest.

Szechenyi Thermal Baths

We had the BEST Hungarian dinner our last night. I had goulash, and this dish, which was goose, goose liver (surprisingly delish!) and vegetable risotto. Paired with some Hungarian wine, of course!

As much as I am enjoying our weekend excursions and day trips, I also love my daily life in Olomouc, and truthfully miss "home" when I am away on the weekends. Taylor and I love our little flat, and our flat mates are extremely nice as well. One girl is from Spain and the other from Italy. We also have a lot of fun here during the week, and there is always a lot going on on weeknights as I think most students travel on the weekends.

I also really enjoy the classes as well. Truthfully, most of them make me wish I had been a history major. Our lecturers are always incredibly intelligent and you can just tell that they are excited to share their specialty with us. While all of the courses are based Central European history, we have had courses in economics, government, religious history, and many more topics. I think what keeps me so interested in each topic is simply the fact my ancestors experienced everything that we discuss. I constantly find myself thinking about my Grandma and her parents during our lectures. We watched a wonderful documentary about a man that is rediscovering his Czech roots and I was just fascinated about how closely it resembled the stories I have heard and now the villages I have seen in the Czech Republic where my own ancestors came from. Aside from the fact that this man's father was a wealthy Czech politician, whereas mine lived in tiny villages and sought better opportunities in America, rather than leaving because of oppression.

But truthfully, I think that is why I love being here. I love the food and the culture, because I have a little bit of it at home. I am just fascinated by everything, and learning all that I have about the Czech Republic really puts a lot into perspective for me. I now understand why my Czech ancestors settled in Nebraska, and I now understand why my family loves their Czech culture so much. It's truly something to be treasured. These four weeks have been everything I imagined. Now, they just need to stop going by so fast! We are going to Auschwitz in Poland this weekend, and then I am meeting Thea in Prague for dinner and the opera on Sunday!

na shledanou nebraska

Found this gem while scrolling through my Tumblr feed in the Chicago airport. Here's my blog where you can listen to me gush for the next three months about how much I love everything that is going on around me. I am extremely excited to begin this experience in Olomouc, Czech Republic!

After a long day of flying, I was ecstatic to be back in Prague. There is just something about that city, that I absolutely love. It never gets old. This time around, I got to stay in Thea & Rudi's new flat and even show the city to a few of my friends, David and Hana. We took a walking tour of the city, hit the pubs and clubs, and ate a lot of good food in our time in Prague. We learned a lot and had a lot of fun, and I was happy to have them there with me. One night at the flat, we even made homemade schnitzel and spätzle, which is a traditional German dish with homemade noodles and stinky mountain cheese. It was amazing. I was really thankful that I had my sister living in Prague, not only because I got to crash on her couch, but she was hospitable to my friends and helped show everyone the ropes, even those from UNK that I had just met. 

During our week in Prague we hit all the sights, like the Prague castle, the Lennon Wall, the Jewish Quarter, and Old Town Square. I was surprised by the amount of tourists in the city this time around, though. The city is just as crowded as when I was here in June, but I am thinking it's because of the Easter season. 

Found my favorite beer, Matuška!

St. Charles Bridge

Hana and I on St. Charles Bridge

Old Town Square

The Easter markets in Prague, and Olomouc as well, are so cute. They build little wooden houses, and each one sells sausages and all kinds of delicious dishes and desserts. I even tried the mulled wine which was the perfect way to keep warm. The Czech's love their Easter traditions, even though they are a very secular country. They say that the young Czech boys make a long stick out of twigs and decorate it, and go from door to door and whip the Czech girls on the butt, haha. And the girls paint eggs, which you can find in all of the markets. They say that Easter was one of the only celebrated religious holidays during the Communistic times, but they called it something like "The First of Spring" so the traditions lived on.

Had to have a sausage at the Easter Markets 

Thea and I at the Easter Markets in Old Town Square

Next, it was time to head to Olomouc. I was so excited. I knew my sister had saved this Czech city for me to discover on my own, and with all of things I had heard about it, I was ready. We were all so tired on the bus but we ended up talking the whole way about how excited we were. When we finally arrived, a group of us just literally dropped our bags in our rooms and headed to town to meet some local Czech students that would be showing us around the city for a beer. We had fun just talking about what the semester would look like and getting to know each other.

This first week was full of tours, history, orientation meetings, sight seeing, welcome parties, food, beer and one very fun Olomouc style pub crawl. I think Taylor and I, my roommate and partner in crime, finally unpacked our suitcases just a couple days ago. We just wanted to see and do everything., including learning about the city from our professors and leaders, but also from the locals. We definitely love the nightlife in Olomouc. It's been a blast. The students here are so welcoming to us, it's so fun getting to know them and asking them questions about their lives and for advice.

Where I have class!

View of the town square from the town hall

The cathedral

Taylor and I at Holy Hill Basilica

Dr. Pepernik giving us a tour of the city

Olomouc, as a city, is a such a gem. I think there is something to be said for the fact that aren't many tourists and hardly anyone speaks English. I feel like I am getting the real Czech experience. As beautiful as Prague is, if you don't ever get off the beaten path, you are never challenged to learn the language or the locals. Olomouc feels authentic to me, and I really like that. And it's incredibly cheap. We can eat huge Czech meals at nice restaurants for about $6. A taxi home to our dorms costs about $2. And the lunch specials are amazing! Pivo, soup, and a main course for about $4-5. It's insanely cheap here.

This first week was incredibly fun, and I can already feel myself settling into this new home of mine. I feel like I already know the city. With the help of the locals, I have discovered cafes, restaurants, and pubs that have become my favorites. I can't wait to keep exploring this city and immersing myself in the culture for the next three months. I already know that I'm going to come home 10 pounds heavier, but I don't really care. "Do the thing you are supposed to do in the place you're supposed to do it". Here, that means lots of pork and potatoes.

But in summary, I am glad I have experience with the culture in the Czech Republic and in Europe. I have my family to thank for that, because duck, sauerkraut, and dumplings is served at every family Christmas. I love the food, the people I have met, and I haven't really had any problems or too much of "shock". Last summer with my sister really helped with that. I haven't had any major problems with the trams or currency, and I even know a few of the Czech dishes when there is no English menu, which is pretty often here. I knew coming back to the Czech Republic that I would feel comfortable. 

I really look forward to learning more during my time here. Jan and Martin are extremely knowledgable about every topic you could want to know, and so far the Czech language class has been difficult but fun. The classes have been interesting and we have been having a lot of fun this first week in Olomouc. I am so glad that I chose to come back and can't wait to see what this semester in Olomouc brings!

Taylor and I at an Irish Pub called The Black Stuff on St. Patty's day! 

We eat way to many late night kebabs, but they are delicious here!

This pub crawl was on the syllabus I swear!

This was a really sweet vintage market in Olomouc. I got a vintage jewelry box and a jean jacket for about $4. I love how cheap everything is here!