The Past Month

Written: 16 November 2011

Holy cow. There is so much to catch up on and so much to write about. It’s been about a month since my last update, but since then, I’ve traveled to Halle-Westfallen (a small town in Germany), Berlin, Krakow, Auschwitz, Brno (second largest city in the Czech Republic), Mikulov (wine country in the Czech Republic), Vienna and Amsterdam. This weekend I am traveling to Budapest and on December 15, I will be visiting Barcelona and Paris for a few days before flying home to Pittsburgh on the 23rd. I will spend 24 hours at home before flying to California for the holidays. Oof. I’m not sure where to start, but I will say that writing down all of my travels is simultaneously helpful and makes my semester seem even more whirlwind-like than it feels. I have about five weeks left of my program, which relatively isn’t much time. Sometimes it still feels like a lot of time; sometimes I can’t believe I’ve been here so long, sometimes I can’t believe I have so much time left. Now that I finally feel at least partially assimilated, and comfortable with my life, in Prague, I can comment more generally about my experience here.

I believe that when you study abroad, the two most important factors are a) the location and b) the program. In terms of the latter, it has been a slight disappointment. Classes are interesting, but we’re cooped up in one room for all of our classes, at times from 9am-7pm. I wish we had access to a library or had class at Charles University, where we’re technically enrolled as students. I’m not complaining about this part, but the workload is significantly less strenuous than it is at school. However, I still feel as though I’m learning a lot – truthfully, just as much as a I learn at school, albeit very different kinds of things. This makes me feel both heartened and frustrated – while I’m glad to be learning so much, I now know that to learn a lot doesn’t necessarily have to equate with being stressed all the time and staying up all night to cram (neither of which college forces students to do, duh, but you know…)

Anyways, so yeah. My day-to-day life is a little mundane, but it’s “a little mundane” in Prague, so it’s amazing. To get to class everyday, I have to take a tram that crosses over the river and there is a phenomenal view of the castle and every time it takes my breath away. I was nervous at first that I would become desensitized to it… not happening. It’s just beautiful. Everything in Prague is beautiful, really. The buildings --  not only the architecture, but the engravings and friezes on almost every building; the lighting in the city is spectacular, even when it’s dark, the castle and Charles Bridge is still lit up -- it’s a very modern city (I mean, relatively) but there’s still some beautiful parks and grass areas where people hang out.

I also feel as though I’m making more friends. It sucks because there’s only twenty people on my program, but -- even though my living situation is a little rough -- I’m really lucky to live in the same building as most of the film kids. I’ve become really close with a few of them and have made friendships that I’m sure will transcend the program. Falalala.

I’ve been oscillating a lot between feelings of wanting to go back to school and wanting to do anything but go back to school. Un/fortunately, as I’ve been having a better time here, those latter feelings are starting to become stronger. C’est la vie, though. I'm so excited to go home, just not really back to school.

Okay, but anyways, now moving on to my crazy adventures. I guess it doesn’t make sense to try to attack them all at once, so maybe I’ll just address them generally. Out of the cities I’ve been to so far, the one that I’ve enjoyed the most was Berlin. This, I’m sure, had something to do with the fact that I stayed with my good friend in her lovely apartment and went through the city under her lovely guidance, but Berlin was really great. The people were interesting, friendly (well, at least compared to Czech people) and the stores and shops were very “me” (ew to that description, but actually). I also absolutely loved the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin. It was called “The Tribue to the Murdered Jews of WWII,” which, surprisingly, was actually the first memorial or public space where I’ve seen Holocaust victims referred to as having been “murdered.” Perhaps this was true partly because it was in Germany, but this was up and away the most moving and the most stimulating Holocaust memorial I’ve seen during my time in Europe, as well as in the United States.

Despite my love for Berlin, I don’t know if I would have enjoyed it as much to study abroad there. A few criticisms I had of the city was that a) it was in the Eurozone, and therefore obscenely expensive and b) reminded me too much of America (it’s interesting because Western Europe doesn’t seem like America to me; Berlin reminded me of America, specifically D.C.).

Funnily enough, the only city that I’ve visited where I not only could imagine myself studying abroad, but could potentially see myself enjoying more than a semester in Prague, was Krakow, Poland. Interesting, right? I don’t know what it was, but the city was beautiful, it was cheap, the stores and coffee shops were unique and colorful. The city had a great ethos to it that I really enjoyed. I wasn’t sure if I would perceive the history of Krakow (and Poland, in general) as interesting or disturbing, but it was much more so the former. On the Friday night we arrived, we attended what were essentially Reform services in the basement of a restaurant. The rabbi was a woman, and she played guitar, and sang tunes and melodies that I knew and could sing alone with. It was a really moving and wonderful experience -- almost everyone there could speak English, and there were a few British and American people in attendance who were now residents of Krakow. (Some of them had also moved with their young children who sat through services -- soo cute!) 

After the service there was Oneg Shabbat, where people were able to mingle and talk. I asked both an American and British man (the British one had brought his young son) why they moved to Krakow despite everything that happened here. Their responses were pretty much verbatim, when they explained to me that they did not move themselves and their family here despite what had happened, but instead because what had happened. As one of them explained, “If myself as a Jew does not move to Krakow, then who will?” It’s true. In Krakow, we went on multiple tours where we learned that in this city alone, pre-WWII, there lived 64,000 Jews. After the war, about 300 remained. 

Rough stuff. Of course, then we went to Auschwitz-Birkenau and that was a-whoooooole-nother ball park, but you know. I don’t really feel like talking about it now; it’s been a few weeks, but it still doesn’t really seem processed yet. I’m not sure, I don’t know how to talk/think/feel about it.

After Auschwitz, I also went to a few places in the Czech Republic. Brno is the largest city in the state, second only to Prague, and is apparently home to some beautiful churches. I didn’t particularly enjoy Brno, or maybe I just compared everything to Prague, in which case, there was no comparison. Of course, my program was also there for a grand total of 23 hours, so that may have been why, as well.

We then traveled to Mikulov, which is wine country in the Czech Republic. We were a little bit late for wine season, but the small town was beautiful, and surprisingly hosted the Czech Republic’s largest Jewish cemetery, as well as a magnificent castle. Mikulov, along with Cesky Krumlov, is the most popular tourist destination in the Czech Republic besides Prague, and are the places most people visit when they are in Prague for extended stays.

Finally, Vienna. As some people on my program said, “Prague is the poor man’s Vienna,” and in many ways, that’s true. Everywhere there is a sense of royalty and magnificence. The architecture is almost gaudy in its ostentatiousness, and there’s gold and copper-turned-aqua and stone engravings everywhere. I went to the Belvedere Museum, which was renovated from its original use as a Hapsburg King’s summer “vacation” home (it’s a mansion about a dozen times over.) That was incredible and the artwork in it was phenomenal. A lot of Klimt.

We also visited Austria’s National Library in Vienna, which was, in a word, spectacular. It was the most beautiful library I’ve ever seen before, but also, maybe because I’m a nerd, the most beautiful room(s) I’ve ever seen before. If The Beauty and the Beast was ever a real life thing, then this library would be the Beast’s secret library. I can’t even begin to describe it. I put pictures of it on my Flickr, I think, and you should see them. It’s exquisite. It felt like an enchanted library (and upon such realization, I obviously decided I wanted to live there.)

So yeah, moving on... finally, after about a week and a half break after this trip (but not really break, because visitors came and stayed with me in Prague for that entire time!), I left to go to Amsterdam. I really liked Amsterdam! The weather was beautiful: sunny and crisp; the leaves were changing colors, the canals were all gorgeous. There were some buildings that were super cool looking, but there were also much more industrialized, kind of ugly looking buildings, like the ones in downtown Pittsburgh. Tourist-wise, I went to the Anne Frank House/Museum and the Van Gogh Museum. Both were great in their own way. I love Van Gogh and it was really moving and wonderful seeing so much of his work. It also was a great experience going to the Anne Frank House -- kind of rough and emotional, but I’m really glad that I went.

I stayed at my friend’s apartment who is studying abroad there, and there was an enormous windmill right next to his apartment which just seemed so Amsterdam. The culture seems great, and everyone rides bikes, which is fun. Walking past the Red Light District was weird and SO interesting, from an intellectual standpoint. It was just bizarre seeing sex being sold so openly and in such a capitalistic way. Just very interesting. (I found out that there’s also a ‘Blue Light District’ for gay and transgendered prostitutes.) Speaking of which, the gay club scene was soo much better/more fun than it is in Prague. Actually, there really isn’t a “gay scene” in Prague -- Prague is actually somewhat homophobic compared to the rest of Europe, though pretty on par in terms of racism (and by that I mean racism is well and thriving).

In Amsterdam, Christmas’ protaganist is called Sinterklauss, and instead of having elves, Sinkterklauss has one aide named, when translated, “Black Peter.” Black Peter is broadcast as Sinterklauss’ “slave” and it is he and he alone who prepares the presents for the children. It is important to note that a Black Peter sign or toy is hung in about every single shop in Amsterdam. Furthermore, Black Peter is not, as one may expect, a black man. Rather, he is a white man in black face. (This is all completely true.)

You would think that maybe people would realize how totally and utterly offensive this way, and perhaps try to stop the disgusting amount of propaganda and capital spent on promoting Black Peter, but no. The opposite is true, in fact, on the Sunday that I was leaving, there was a Sinterklauss Parade where families with young children came to watch Sinterklauss and Black Peter on floats; there were balloons and music, etc. It is customary for little children to dress up and I saw dozens of these little blond, Aryan children running around the streets of Amsterdam in FULL BLACK FACE. And nothing was “wrong” with it! I honestly could not believe it.

Ah, Europe. Homogeneity: while perhaps not a catalyst for (though in all truth, an argument could probably be made), certainly no help in the eradication of, racism. Also, sexism, Islamophobia and anti-Semitism are big things here, too, but those are stories for another time.

So anyways, yeah. That’s pretty much some of my adventures in a nutshell. Tomorrow at 6am, I’m taking a bus to Budapest. Should be co0o0o0o0ol.

Oh, man. I do love Prague a lot, and I don’t really want to go back to America or back to Grinnell. But I do really miss home, with that term encompassing my physical home, family, friends, pets, etc. I’m very excited to see everyone and do some other, annoying, typically American things (like go to the movies! THERE ARE SO MANY GREAT MOVIES COMING OUT! I can’t wait. Meryl Streep better win that Oscar this year.)

Okay, love you guys. 

Sorry if this post sounds really weird, I’m really sleep-deprived and am currently watching this horrendously disturbing Czech film for my Film Analysis class called Birds, Orphans and Fools. Don’t watch it, ever. 

K love you bye!