Also, you can follow my daily activities by looking at my Twitter account. Microblogging at its finest.
Today I went to the Observatory Tower above Prague. I walked up a huge hill and then climbed the tower. The view was worth it. I could see all of Prague and some of the countryside with mountains in the distance. I also discovered my camera has a panorama setting. Check it out:
More pictures are available on Picasa here.Last weekend I went to a wonderful town in Moravia (eastern Czech Republic): Olomouc. It's a college town and a professor we met there, Donald Roberson Jr., told us it's what Prague would
be without the tourists. It used to be quite the religious capital of the country and was once fighting to be the capital but lost.I have uploaded pictures of the Olomouc trip to Picasa, and you can find them here.
It's the "town of seconds:" the second astronomical clock, the second university, the second capital. It was gorgeous and quiet. Food was also inexpensive and delicious. We went in a group and by the end of it I was ready to slap some of them, but that's how it goes sometimes.
And poor Lucy ended up in the hospital: she fell on the cobblestone with her hands in her pockets and busted open her lip, nearly breaking her nose. She also broke her camera. Aside from the camera, she is doing much better now.
I also attended a football game, Slavia vs. Tottenham. We ended up on the British side, who we could understand (mostly) and who sang taunts that included, "Your father is a (something) and your mother is a whore." They only sell nonalcoholic beer and overpriced sausages, but it was a worthwhile experience. I got there after the game started and was somehow never charged for my entry. Oops.
After the game, the British side had to wait fifteen minutes while the other side left so there wouldn't be any fighting. Pressed against the gate, they sang taunts and I thought a riot might start. But the gates opened and they dispersed.
This last week was also the second week of classes and they went a bit better than the first. It was more than just introductions this time. We also saw the Cubism museum for my theatre class, which was interesting as well.
On Friday we went to Terezin and a glass blowing factory (pictures here). The factory was very cool: we got to watch people blow glass and some of us got to try it. I didn't; I was scared. But it was a good time anyhow.The concentration camp was eerie. It's hard to imagine all those horrible things happening there. They didn't kill people in the huge amounts like in other camps, but between the town's Jewish Ghetto and the Small Fortress, nearly 40,000 people died.
I felt it would be disrespectful to take pictures, so I only took one. Someone brought their cat to the grounds, and I took a picture of him. It seemed appropriate.
*phew* That was a summary of everything I've done. I've also met some Russians at an event for a different international program, and I am still singing karaoke every Monday night at Blind Eye.
