Just call me Amanda Kogleova

Greetings from Prague! I know that it has been a while, but I am really learning my way around this place and that takes time does it not?

Hannah and I finally did receive our money from school. We had literally spent the last of our cash when the financial aid came through. It was indeed a happy day with much rejoicing. Now we can feel free to ask questions such as, “Where do we take the trash?” or “Can I get a new pillow case?” Being able to enter and exit the building with our heads held high (sans the sunglasses or hats) is also quite freeing.

I have been here for well over a week now and I feel like I am finally getting the hang of things. In comparison to my extended time in Western Europe and the UK, things can be very different here on the East side.

I started my internship with The Museum of Decorative Arts Prague last Monday and so far I have felt swept up in everything. On my first day, I was introduced to Tereza (the woman with whom I have been corresponding with) and she showed me around the department that I will be basing a lot of my research from: prints, posters, drawings, and photographs. I spent most of my first day meeting far too many people to remember (all who had names that were pronounced too quickly for me to understand) and I left the museum feeling exhausted, overwhelmed, and eager. The museum doesn’t have a lot of work for me to do because I don’t speak Czech, but they have really given me the liberty to ask questions and they have been more than helpful with resources.

The museum staff has been so kind to me and has even helped me get my transit pass and library card! Hana, the Secretary to the Director took me to lunch the other day in an unusual place. She took me to a cafeteria in one of Prague’s government buildings. She told me I would like it because they hadn’t changed the look since the Soviet Union was in power. She also told me that the food was going to be very Czech so needless to say, I was looking forward to my authentic Soviet/Czech experience. After walking past security, Hana led me down a number of white corridors that seemed to go nowhere when all of a sudden we stepped into a bland room where people were eating off trays and conversing animatedly. There were three options (all in Czech): Beef with gravy and rice, beef with sauerkraut and beets, or pork intestines with sauerkraut and dumplings. I decided that I would go with the beef/rice/gravy option being that it felt the most safe while Hana opted for the intestines/sauerkraut/dumplings option (I had a bite, it wasn’t bad). The décor of the room was nonexistent and it was a rather bleak little place, but the whole meal only costs 80ck which is about 3 dollars US. Czech food tends to be pretty heavy with lots of gravy or sauce and not much meat. You don’t usually find fresh fruits and vegetables in traditional Czech cuisine and there was not fresh fruit or vegetable to be found in this little cafeteria anywhere.

The museum has an INCERDABLE collection unlike one I have ever seen before. It is a museum of decorative arts, so they have anything from furniture to jewelry. They have an incredible collection of glass work as well as an amazing fibers display. Probably the collection that surprised me the most was their collection of clocks. There is a whole room devoted to displaying some of the most ornate, jewel encrusted, and detailed clocks I have ever seen! There is even a collection of pocket watches that just blows my mind! Needless to say, I am going to be spending hours admiring their permanent collection.

On my second day, I was grateful to slow down a bit as I sat with the Secretary to the Director, Hana, and talk about the inner workings of the museum. She helped break down what each department did as well as individual roles within those departments. I of course was so excited and nervous (being only my second day) that I tried writing down everything I could so as not to be over stimulated like I was the day before.

The museum is located right in the Old Jewish Quarter. A little known Prague secret is that you can get the best view of the Old Jewish Cemetery (with graves dating back to the 13^th century!) from the women’s bathroom in the Museum. Jews come from all over the world to visit the cemetery and the multiple synagogues in the area almost as a sort of pilgrimage because Prague was once one of the most important Jewish centers in Europe. Two-thirds of the Jewish population of Prague (about a quarter of a million in the Czechoslovakia all together) perished in the Holocaust and there is now only about 3,000 Jews remaining in the Czech Republic today. I have taken the liberty of walking through the streets of the Jewish Quarter many times now and I can feel the somberness and importance of the place. There is a general sense of solemn calm that you can feel as you look over the cemetery and watch men wearing prayer shawls and yarmulkes wind their way along the path amongst the headstones. I plan on taking a day to tour the Jewish Quarter and its synagogues to better understand the history of all that happened there.

I will leave you with one small anecdote: women in the Czech Republic add the suffix ‘ova’ to the end of their last name to signify their feminine standing. It made so much sense when all of the women I kept meeting were Januskova, or Koenigsmarkova. So from now on you can call me Amanda Kogleova. Hahaha

Poor In Prauge

I never thought I would be the kind of person who would dodge their landlord. Alas here I am. I have been in the ever decorated city of Prague for 6 days now and Hannah (my roommate) and I find ourselves in a bit of a pickle. We were informed that our financial aid was to be dispersed on the 9^th of September, and seeing as this is the majority of our funds for this trip, we have a bit of a cash flow problem. Our lovely university failed to inform us that we don’t actually get any money in our accounts until 3 to 4 business days after the money is credited to us, which didn’t happen until today (the 14^th). We are down to the wire. We have been unable to pay the landlord (called Alexander) and therefore have been dodging a meeting with him. We feel awful and have updated him various times that we don’t have the money yet. He has been so kind and gracious to us, but we feel awful. So awful in fact that we are afraid to ask anything of him until we are paid up. We don’t know where garbage goes, there is a pile of smoke filled clothing (Czech people smoke a lot) waiting to be washed, and we have been eating a steady diet of ramen noodles and Coke Light. There are security cameras on either side of the entrance to our building as well as one in the entryway. I have developed the habit of hanging my head and practically running in the building to avoid being seen on the cameras. It is truly the most pathetic thing I have ever done, but what can I do?

Thankfully we picked the right country to eat and travel in. Every metro/tram ticket is only 26 kc (about $1.10) so getting to work has been cheap. We have also been frequent customers of the little convenience store on the corner where the Indian man with the two thumbs on one finger holds friendly conversation while we pick out the cheapest things we can find. We haven’t had the chance to ask the man his name, so we have taken to calling him “two-thumbs”.

I work in a beautiful part of town full of many museums and galleries that I am dying to visit for my research. When I get off work, I find that I have no money to pay for the entrance fees for the museums and I take the train back to the apartment so I can sit on my bed and watch the Muslim TV programing from Germany that we have that has a call to prayer every hour or so. This is my most effective way of not spending money. I do enjoy checking my bank account every 5 minutes to see if by some “Christmas-miracle” I have funds, but alas, nothing yet.

These next few days should prove to be interesting and really boring without any money. I know that money is coming, and when it does, Hannah and I will have a glorious day picking all of the most expensive things at “two-thumb’s” store! Can anyone say SHOPPING SPREE? Oh what a day that will be!

-A

Finally Czeching It Out!

My stylist and I: both grinning like idiots because we have no idea what the heck is going on.

The final cut!

Greetings (finally) from Prague! The past few days feel a bit like a whirlwind. Hannah and I flew from Paris a couple of days ago to Prague and pretty much happily collapsed. We first arrived and were so shocked because this place is nothing like Paris. I know this goes without saying, but we were both so tired that we didn’t know what to expect.

First of all, I know enough conversational French to get me around Paris. It was easy to order food, ask for directions, and say please and thank you. When Hannah and I got here we had literally no idea what we were doing! Secondly, we were both so tired from our packed week in Paris that we were not thinking our sharpest.

Much to our pleasant surprise, the people here have been so incredibly friendly! A woman (who didn’t seem to know any English) grabbed my arm as I was getting on the Metro and gestured to the other train, the one that I was supposed to get on. At another point, Hannah and I were bewildered, map in hand, and totally lost. A really nice guy stopped and asked if we needed help and also let us know not to cross over tram tracks because we could get a ticket. After being lost for about 30 minutes (which feels like eternity with our 45 pound backpacks on) another man pulled out his own map (far more specific than ours) and told us exactly what to do.  The people here have been wonderful!

We arrived at our apartment building and met Alexander our landlord. He filled us in on what we needed to do and where we could grocery shop in the area. He also told us what trams to take to get to our respective jobs. We were taken up to the top floor by Svetlana, one of the gals who works here, and we were dazzled. Our apartment is so amazing! It is a studio with a bathroom but it is so spacious! It is in the roof of the 5 story building so one side of the whole apartement is slanted with big sky lights for windows. Our cealings reach about 20 feet up and there are old wooden rafters that cross all over with 4 supporting beams that touch the floor. We have hard wood floors, a full kitchen ( all brand new with a dishwasher!) and a bathroom that even has a bidet (we don’t know what to do with it)! We have all new furniture including a black leather couch! We feel like queens in such a neat space!

We both slept in yesterday and decided to venture out in the afternoon. I really needed a haircut so I asked Alexander where to go and he gave me directions. Call me a crazy person, but I thought it would be fun to get my hair cut in a foreign country! Upon arriving at the salon, I found out that my stylist didn’t speak a lick of English so it was a lot of hand gestures and pointing at pictures in magazines. My haircut turned out great! He did a great job and I didn’t even catch his name! I think he was more nervous than I was about the whole thing. It was quite the experience.

Oddly enough, there are about 25 American students staying in this building for the next 2 months, and even more oddly, they go to Carlton College in Northfield, Minnesota. As if my world couldn’t get any smaller! In addition to the Carlton kids, there are all kinds of English guys staying here for their “Stag Dos” (or bachelor parties as we call them) and one such group is staying in the apartment right next to us. They come home about 5am absolutely rambunctious and loud enough to wake the dead while Hannah and I lie awake listening to them make monkey noises. They really do make monkey noises. One of the guys from the group said that when they get out of hand they make monkey calls at one another. It would be more entertaining if it were not 5am.

So there you have it! My first impressions of the place that I will be calling home for the next 2 months!

-A

Delicious Eats in the City of Lights!

One of my favorite things about Paris was the food! It was so good in fact that it gets its own post! I tried so many different things and ate at so many different cafes. It is impossible not to find a place to eat in this city. Besides having an amazing local cuisine, there is Indian, Italian, and Chinese food here etc. etc. The minute I arrived, I realized that I wanted to try all kinds of food while I was here. I had the opportunity to eat so many amazing things and I am grateful for it! (My stomach is too!)

Café Dining

Paris is known for its café dining and the amount of options are endless. Within a block you could find upwards of 25 different places to eat. Most cafes are small and it is preferable to eat outside and sit facing the sidewalk so that you can people watch. The French are such great people watchers and they sometimes share entire meals without ever facing their friends in order to people watch. We had all kinds of waiters: snobby, friendly, funny, caring, etc. and we enjoyed (for the most part) getting to know some of them. I went to an Italian place in the Montmartre district and had the most incredible pesto I have ever eaten! It was creamy with lemon and basil throughout. It was amazing. Our group was taken out to a Belgian restaurant one night by our advisor and I had the most interesting dessert. I ordered what I thought was some sort of caramel/apple tart and ended up with something a little different. I did get an apple tart but it was surrounded with some sort of a burnt caramel sauce. It came with a little side dish of what the waitress was calling “crème”. Much to my surprise, it was in fact sour cream (like what we eat on tacos) and I was supposed to dip my tart in the burnt caramel and then the sour cream. Being adventurous, I took the plunge and tried it. I cannot explain how intensely good the flavor was! It was as if the sour cream, burnt caramel, and apples were long lost siblings reunited at last. Simply amazing!

Street Food

This is the French version of fast food. Thanks to Paris for being a super ancient city, there are no drive- throughs anywhere, and with so many people on foot, they just grab a bite to eat from the various street vendors. Crepes are one of the big things to get. You can get anything from Nutella and bananas to ham and cheese on your crepe and they are made fresh before your eyes! Another thing that a lot of the vendors sell are long Paninis. Imagine a foot-long super thin Panini. They have crispy bread with melted cheese and whatever meat and vegetable inside. They are delightful! Gyros are also big here but instead of pita bread, you get a baguette. Devine!

Market/Grocery Eating

Probably one of the most surprising things to me about eating in Paris was how affordable food in the grocery store and market were! First of all, wine here is soooooo good and cheap! You can get a great bottle of French wine (something we would pay about 30 dollars for in the States) for 6 Euros and under! Wine is drunk with everything here. I felt like I constantly drank wine here. There are no liquor laws in Paris, so you are allowed to walk around with open containers any time of day (as in a lot of Europe) therefore it is not a surprise to see people sharing a bottle in the middle of the day on a bench somewhere. The cheese is so varied and delicious. I had everything from goat cheese, to brie, to Munster, to a really really strong one that I don’t know the name of. Here is the crazy part: a triangle of brie that would cost about 10 dollars in the US was 1.95 Euros!!!!!!! Often, 5 or 6 of us would go into the grocery store grab wine, cheese, fruit, a baguette, and some chocolate and head to the nearest park or our terrace to enjoy our spoils. We would also stop by the patisserie to get a delicious tart, or chocolate croissant.  The act of everyone trying each other’s food and drinking out of the same bottle of wine (for lack of cups) was a bonding experience. In true Parisian fashion, we actually slowed down to enjoy our food and each other. It is probably one of my most favorite ways to eat.

Food was a big part of the culture in Paris and I really enjoyed trying so many different things! I even had escargot (snails) and liked it! I now demand that everyone go to Paris and eat as the Parisians do!

-A

My Parisian Holiday

I have never been a great blogger or journal-er or whatever you choose to call someone who writes frequently. I have this idea in my head that if I actually sit down for 5 seconds to write things down, I will miss something amazing and life changing. I have been in Paris for the past 6 days and I have felt just that.

In a city as culturally vast, historically significant, and amazingly fun, the idea of sitting still for a moment to write sounded like the last thing I wanted to do.  I feel as though I have been here for months at this point and I have grown quite accustomed to the Parisian way of life.

Upon arrival, I did not like it here. I have spent my whole life hearing about how the people in Paris are really rude and how they want nothing to do with Americans. Of course I found this to be widely true. People don’t smile here as often as Americans do, and they certainly don’t want much to do with you if you don’t speak English. So me being the smiley, limited-French-speaking, American girl I am, I did not quite feel in my element. This is not necessarily a bad thing because one of the biggest parts of travel is to discover the customs and ways of another culture. Someone who came and spoke in one of our classes today said, “you can hate Parisians all you want, but without them, Paris would not be what it is.” So true.

I cannot imagine being here less than a week to really appreciate this city. There is so much to do and see here that it would be impossible to get a taste for things without being here for this long. I saw the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triumph, Sacre Coeur, Montmartre, Notre Dame, Luxembourg Gardens, Moulin Rouge, The Louvre, and the Catacombs. On top of all this, I had daily classes and meetings as I organized my studys for the semester.

There are 19 other students doing projects in the program with me. We had weekly meetings last semester to prepare for this Fall, but we never really got to know one another. Well, I can definitely say that throwing 20 college students together in a city like this will allow for some serious bonding. Our group got on so well that everyone seemed to hang out with everyone. We went in groups to dinner, monuments, museums, and to hung out on our beautiful terrace overlooking all of Paris and the Eiffel Tower. It was so wonderful! There was a particular night where about 13 of us bought a bunch of wine, cheese, olives, and bread and headed down to the Eiffel Tower to sit on the lawn next to it and laugh for hours while we watched it sparkle every hour, (on the hour). We then proceeded to ride back on the Metro and sing songs at the top of our lungs…..a very American thing to do indeed. I felt like as everyone got to know each other better, we genuinely became more interested in one another’s projects. I could not have asked for a more wonderful group of people to experience Paris with!

The weather here has been absolutely breathtaking this week (up until today when if finally rained) so traipsing about Paris was not a hard thing to do. Something I have really enjoyed about watching the Parisians is the fact that they actually slow down to enjoy life. In the US we are in such a big hurry to get everywhere and pack a million things into our schedules that we often miss the simple pleasures in life. Just walking through the parks in Paris you can understand this. There are all kinds of people (rich, poor, and in between) that are sitting on the grass, eating, reading, playing chess, or holding hands. Time seems to slow down and things are quiet and peaceful. I can see where so many artists found inspiration for their subjects in the gardens of Paris. I would like to adopt this way of enjoying life more.

Everyone is in love here. I have never seen  people love each other so passionatly. Parisians are not afraid of PDA and it does not matter what age people are, they will show it.  I had the opportunity to watch so many people making-out on park benches, waiting for the train, on the train, and eating dinner that it doesn’t even phase me anymore. Not only were people affectionate with romantic relationships but also with family relationships and friendships as well. There were so many fathers and daughters walking hand in hand, and friends arm in arm. It was really sweet!

It is true that Paris is best at night because the city never sleeps. People are out walking around all over the city till the wee hours of the night. I never really was out past 2am because the streets tend to get a bit sketchy (even in the nice area we were in) later into the night. Fortunately for us, we had an amazing terrace (7 floors up) that overlooked most of Paris including the Eiffel tower that we could watch sparkle every hour so being up late was no problem! It was magical!

Perhaps now you can see why I didn’t have the inclination to write! I had so much fun and I have decided that Paris is like a theme park for adults!

I will try to post more little Paris anecdotes as I think of them, but for now it is Bonsoir as I head off to bed to prepare to go to Prague tomorrow!

Au Revoir!

-A

My friend Hannah and I at the Louvre.

Iceland

Well folks, I made it. I have finally started my journey! It is about 4:35am as I sit in the lobby of the hostel (the only one at the moment) because of jet lag. I flew overnight from Minneapolis to Reykjavik yesterday, and not wanting to waste any time I jumped right into sightseeing. I didn´t sleep for something like 30 hours!

I had the opportunity to go to the Blue Lagoon which is a man-made geothermal hot spring spa. They bring incredibly hot water up from 2800 meters under the earth´s crust, mix it with a little cold water,  and presto! You have an amazing mineral bath. The spa is also equipped with a massaging waterfall, steam caves, and a sauna! Because of the minerals, the water looks like a milky sea-foam green and the water feels thicker. There  are bins of silica mud placed around the pool that come naturally from the spring that you can rub all over your face and arms as a mask. This mask is incredibly purifying and I can say that my skin is the best it has ever looked today!

Being one who has never been to a spa, I was impressed. The lagoon is outside and it is surrounded by moss-covered rocks and mountains. The temperature is cold (even though it´s summer) at about 50F degrees and the wind is pretty prominent being surrounded by the ocean on all sides. Since being here in Iceland, I feel like I am on another planet. Everything looks so foreign! I have never experienced a landscape like this!

I met a couple of gals here in my hostel: Shannon from Ottawa, Canada and Nikki from Melbourne, Australia. We went to the Blue Lagoon together and got on quite well as we talked for hours while we turned into happy pruny people. One of my favorite things about traveling is all of the wonderful people you meet! We then proceeded to dinner at a fish and chips place (chips (or fries for all you americans) are like glorified potato wedges here.) After almost falling asleep in my dinner (I had been awake for 30 hours at this point) I walked back to my hostel and fell asleep within seconds.

Everyone that I have come across here speaks English. With tourism being their biggest import, it is clear why they speak English. The Icelandic dialect is so close to what the Vikings spoke that Icelanders can actually read old Viking manuscripts today! The people here are incredibly beautiful and have a look that I have never seen before and everyone is so friendly! Most people here (85% I am told) believe in fairies, trolls, and magic. They won´t cross certain bridges because they think that it has been cursed by a fairy etc. All in all, Iceland is one interesting place that I would highly recommend visiting!

öööðððððææææææææ ( icelandic keyboard talk)

-A

Great Peace. New Places.

Here I am. The night before I leave: Clothes scattered on the floor, laundry in the dryer, and a general sense of peace sweeping over me. With all of the hectic-ness of planning a trip of this scale, I am surprisingly collected. No frazzled hair or dark under eyes. No stressed out tears or last minute panic.  Everything feels kind of normal like this is what I am meant to do. From the minute I felt led to take this semester abroad, I have been very confident that I was meant to go. Anxiety never seemed to hover long while planning everything this past spring and summer and my biggest qualm has been the ever present heat this summer. So here I am with great peace setting out into new places!

Začátky (Beginnings)

The Charles Bridge In Prague

Hello world! I have been trying to think of what to call this blog for some time. ‘Prague Blog’ was the obvious choice considering that I will be living in Prague and that I have a love for all things corny. It is here that I will hopefully be able to share my adventures, trials, discoveries, and transformations as the next four months unfold. So many people have asked me what I am most excited for on this trip and I honestly have no idea because I have no idea what to expect. I am the kind of person who can’t anticipate an experience this big, so I simply wait until I am on my way. I (most likely) will get so excited on my red eye flight from Minneapolis to Iceland that I don’t sleep a wink!

I will be living in Prague most of the time (2 months) doing an independent study on the Soviet Union’s effect upon art that was created in the Czech Republic specifically during the Velvet Revolution. I have an internship with the Museum of Decorative Arts Prague and I am absolutely in the dark about what I will be doing there. I could be giving tours, assisting curators, moving displays, or mopping the floors. This is possibly one of the most mysterious parts of my trip and since I don’t speak a lick of Czech, my first day will be worth noting.

As of now, I feel like a bit of a dunce. I have traveled extensively before and been prepared, but this time I feel like I am going into things with a blindfold on. The next few days will be quite telling as I move out of my apartment and spend too much money on things that I need. I am just hoping that by next Tuesday I will be ready to fly out!

So here I am. On the cusp of adventure and ready (almost) to take the plunge!

-A