Culture Shock (Blog #3 Due April 5th)

5: Cultural Differences

The town of Olomouc is quickly becoming one of my favorite places, and I feel that the adjustment from America to the Czech Republic has gone pretty smoothly.  This does not mean, though, that there haven’t been any obstacles in the process of the adjustment.  Each and every day I am finding out more and more about the Czech culture, and just how different it is from America.  For this blog post, I will stick to some of the most shocking cultural differences that I have discovered:

Everything is cheap.

With the exchange rate of 1 U.S. dollar being 25 korunas (Czech currency), I was expecting things to be a little bit cheaper here in Olomouc, but I had no idea it was going to be THIS cheap!  On my first trip to Globus (the Wal-mart of Olomouc) I gathered lots of groceries, wine, shampoo/conditioner, body wash, and several other items to buy.  I was expecting it to be an expensive purchase, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was only 368 korunas, or about 20 U.S. dollars!  Most of my meals in the cafes and restaurants here are under 5 U.S dollars, and tipping is usually not expected.  With the prices being so low here, I am already dreading the higher prices of American products and food when I return home!

Everyone takes their time.

In America, everyone is all about doing tasks at the fastest pace possible. I even consider myself to be this way most of the time.  I, like many Americans, like to get things done quickly and move on to the next task as soon as possible.  Also, Americans love convenience.  By convenience I mean fast food restaurants, driving everywhere, and basically having everything delivered to them.  Here in Olomouc, it is almost the exact opposite lifestyle.  The people here take extended lunch breaks, rarely work at all on weekends, spend leisurely time eating their meals, and walk nearly everywhere.  It is very rare to see someone with a coffee “to go” because everyone spends their time relaxing and drinking their coffee in the cafes.  Whenever I have seen someone with a take away coffee, it has been an American.  This also goes for restaurants.  There are absolutely no “drive-thru” fast food style restaurants, as there are in America.  Even though Olomouc has a McDonald’s, there is no drive-thru window, and people almost always sit inside to eat their meals.  These differences really made me evaluate the average American lifestyle, and I am learning that it is okay to take your time and really enjoy the things around you.  This laid-back lifestyle is a wonderful change from the American lifestyle I am used to, and that is something I know I am going to miss.

Water is hard to find, and beer is cheaper anyways.

Trust me; I’m not lying on this one.  In most restaurants, beer only costs about one U.S. dollar.  Water, however, is a different story.  Although it doesn’t cost that much more than beer, it is often hard to order just plain tap water.  I can’t even count the number of times that I’ve asked for regular tap water in restaurants and ended up getting sparkling water-which I do NOT like.  Especially when I could have ordered a beer for less money!  I’ve gotten to the point where I just ask for Sprite or Coke because that way I will know exactly what I am getting.  On the plus side, the food here has been amazing.  I don’t think I can recall ordering a meal that I didn’t like.  Some of the best foods I have had here have been pizza, crepes, paninis, chocolate pastry twists, cheesecake and ravioli.  Hazelnut seems to be a huge food item here too.  I am constantly seeing Nutella, hazelnut chocolates, hazelnut flavored cereals/oatmeals and other hazelnut items.  I have to admit that I do miss some American foods, especially things like ranch and peanut butter.  The Czech people do not use many condiments for their foods, and when I have asked for condiments they either don’t understand or they bring it in very small amounts.

Religious views are different.

This was a hard concept for me to get over since I have been in the Czech.  Back in America, almost everyone I know is religious in some way.  I had only met one “atheist” in America, and I remember thinking about how strange their lifestyle would be.  I am not going to preach or anything, but I personally could not imagine a life without God.  However, in the Czech it is more common to not believe in a god rather than believe in a god.  We learned that Prague is about 80% atheist, while Olomouc is around 60% atheist. However, the word "atheist" takes on a different meaning here.  In America, we think of atheists as a people who are not religious in any way shape or form.  In the Czech, being an atheist does not necessarily mean you have absolutely no religious morals, it is more that you do not believe in a specific god.  Many Czechs do have some sort of religious/spiritual views, but they like to keep them personal and private. This whole concept was shocking to me, and it made me a little sad knowing that there are so many beautiful churches here in the Czech Republic that are not being used anymore.  Although it was unsettling, I definitely used this as a learning experience.  I realized that while I was in America, I was so wrapped up in the American lifestyle that I did not think about how different other lifestyles across the world could be.  I now understand how the Czechs can see "atheism" as a positive thing, while Americans usually look down upon it. 

Overall, these past few weeks have been such an incredible learning experience.  Being out of my comfort zone in a different culture has taught me how to adapt to new situations and learn from my mistakes.  I almost feel as though I was stuck in the thought that everything revolved around the United States, and now I have a brand new outlook.  It is so refreshing to have a new perspective on culture, and I can’t wait for what I will learn next. 

Prague and Dresden (Blog #2 Due March 29th)

7: Field Trip #1

I can officially say that our first field trip was a success!  I had been looking forward to going to Prague and Dresden, and I can’t believe it is already over. Even though I had already been to Prague just a couple weeks ago, I was ecstatic to go back.  I get the feeling that Prague is just one of those places you can visit over and over and always find something new and interesting to do.  I already felt comfortable finding my way around, and I was ready to explore more of Prague with the group.  Our adventure started early Thursday morning when we boarded the train from Olomouc to Prague.  This was the first train I had ever been on, and I really enjoyed it.  It was much easier than traveling by airplane, the views were amazing, and the seats were super comfortable.  When we arrived in Prague we walked straight to our hostel to check in and freshen up.  This was also the first hostel I had ever been in, and it completely exceeded my expectations.  It was clean, comfortable, and the staff was very friendly.  After a short rest in the hostel we were ready for our first tour of Prague with Martin (one of our professors.)  Martin took us through the Old Town Square, Charles Bridge, and finally the John Lennon Wall.  Although I had just been to these spots about two weeks ago, it was still just as breathtaking as the first time I saw them.  I also feel like I was able to appreciate them even more because I could spot other details that I had not noticed the first time.   From the John Lennon Wall we were free to do what we wanted, so a few of us went to find food and relax back at the hostel.  Later that night we met Martin again and the Astronomical Clock to go to a pub for a few drinks.  The next day was full of so many adventures, starting with a tour of the Prague Castle.  From the castle, a group of us decided to use our free time by finding the Petrin tower.   We knew we had to go uphill to get to the tower, but we did not know exactly which route to take.  We ended up getting lost, but it was completely worth it.  We found an amazing pizza restaurant and a beautiful view of Prague from the Monastery.  Eventually we made it to the Petrin tower, which is basically Prague’s much smaller version of the Eiffel Tower.  After climbing all the way to the top, we were exhausted and ready to head back to our hostel.  On our way back to the hostel, we walked past a Thai massage store.  Lauren, Mei and I decided to go in and try the “fish spa.”  This is where you dip your feet into a tank with these strange little fish, and they swim up to your feet and eat the dead skin off of your feet and legs.  I was a little nervous because I am so ticklish on my feet, but I was also excited to try something so different!  It was very uncomfortable, but in the end I was glad that I tried it.  Later that night, Erica and I decided that we wanted to try another new activity, so we went to a blacklight show.  The show was titled “Frankenstein” but it was nothing like the original Frankenstein that we were thinking of.  It was a confusing and twisted version, but it was really cool to see how the actors staged everything for the show.  I don’t really know how to describe it, but many of the actors wore all black and moved the props around so it almost looked animated.  

Top of the Petrin Tower

Fish Spa

 These first two days were fun and exciting, but the next couple of days were a little more emotional.  Saturday we traveled to Dresden, Germany to spend most of our day.  In Dresden, we first visited the Frauenkirche, a dome shaped church that was nearly destroyed by the bombings of World War II.  After seeing the pictures of the church when it was bombed, I was in awe at the fact that they were able to reconstruct the entire church to the way that it is today.  I thought it was really special that they were able to use some of the bricks from the original church to rebuild the new church.  The darker colored bricks are the ones that were in the original church.  Since we did not have much time in Dresden, we were only able to see one more museum before we headed back to Prague.  I was happily surprised at how beautiful of a city Dresden is, considering the fact that it was devastated by the bombings.  After about five short hours in Dresden, it was time to go back to Prague. Although we did not have much time in Germany, it was still an unforgettable experience.  We spent most of our last day at the Jewish Quarter in Prague, which was another emotional experience.  We learned that nearly 85,000 Jews had died in the Czech Republic during the World War II era.  The names of all of these victims are written inside of the Synagogue, which was a little hard to take in.  I could not imagine being as mistreated as they were, and it made my heart very heavy.  We also saw the Old Jewish cemetery, which was quite unique.  Since the cemetery space was so small and concentrated, there are tombstones scattered all over the surface and layers upon layers of bodies buried underneath.  This was one of my favorite things we were able to see on this field trip!

Frauenkirche

Old Jewish Cemetery

I am already reminiscing on the moments of this trip, and I cannot wait for our next field trip to Vienna and Austria!

Paris and Prague (Blog #1 Due March 22)

10:Personal Excursions
I have been anxiously waiting to post into my blog ever since I arrived in Europe!  I feel like I could go on and on about all of the excursions I have already done within the past 10 days, but I will try my best to keep it short and sweet.  Now that I am settled into my dorm, I have had time to reflect on the time I spent in Paris and Prague before meeting the UNK group.  On March 8^th, I arrived in Paris with my mother, brother, and sister in law.  We were super tired from the jet lag, but we decided to stay awake and explore the area around our hotel.  Since this was our first time in Europe, I think our excitement kept us going even though we were exhausted from traveling.  Our first stop was Notre Dame, which was absolutely breathtaking!  It is definitely one of those places where pictures just don’t do justice for how beautiful it really is.  The next day in Paris we visited the famous Louvre museum!  I was in awe at the crowds and crowds of tourists in the Louvre, but it was definitely worth the trip.  I also never thought that I would ever see the Mona Lisa in real life, but on this day that became a reality!  There were so many other stunning pieces of artwork in the Louvre, but I have to say that Mona Lisa was by far my favorite.  The last big excursion we went on in Paris was our trip to the Eiffel Tower on March 10th.  Although I have seen the Eiffel Tower a countless number of times in pictures, my jaw still dropped at that first glimpse I saw of it in real life.  It was one of those moments where I could not believe my eyes, and I must say it left me speechless.  After taking probably a hundred pictures outside of the Eiffel Tower, we got the chance to go all the way to the very top.  The views from the top of the Eiffel Tower were simply gorgeous, and I did not realize how big Paris was until I was all the way up there looking down at the city. 

The next morning we had an early flight to Prague, and I have to admit that I was very sad leaving Paris.  However, I was excited to be in the Czech Republic and continue to explore more of Europe!  Since we were in Prague, one of the first things we decided to do was go to a pub and try the world famous Czech Pivo (beer)!  We also stopped by the Astronomical Clock and walked around in the Old Town Square.  I could not believe the beautiful architecture in Prague.  It is truly indescribable, but if I had to describe it I would say it is something straight out of a gothic fairy tale.  We were once again tired from travel, so we called it a night and woke up early the next morning to explore more of Prague.  After miles of walking around the Old Town Square area that day, we were happy to relax on a dinner cruise boat along the river that night.  It was yet another spectacular excursion, and it was so fun to see the town of Prague lit up at night from the river.  The next couple of days consisted of more tours around Prague, including a tour of the Prague Castle, and some other big tourist spots.  On our tour of the Prague Castle I was continually amazed at all of the historical events that our guide told us about that had all happened in Prague.  I was also surprised to hear that the Prague Castle is the biggest castle in the world!  On top of the tour, we got to spend some time at the John Lennon wall and the church where the Infant Jesus of Prague is located.  They were both very interesting to see in person!  

March 15^th quickly arrived and I knew I had to say goodbye to my family and hello to my UNK group!  I was very fortunate to have spent all of this time with my family here in Europe, and it was so nice that they were able to drop me off at the airport and wish me luck on my adventure.  I am now settled into my dorm at Olomouc, as I mentioned before, and although everything is still in a trial-and-error stage, I am already having a blast.  I will be updating my blog as much as my free time will allow, but for now I’m Czech’n out!

Hi everyone!

I am so excited to be able to share my experience with you all as I spend a semester abroad in the Czech Republic! My journey begins March 7th, as I will depart for Paris.  After a few days in Paris I will fly to Prague to meet my group and start the semester! I will be posting weekly once I am settled in Olomouc, so stay tuned and let the adventures begin!