FINAL blog

This blog is a summary of everything schoolwork, social life, packing and traveling, money, and the must-do's. This is for those wondering if they could, should, or want to do a study abroad in the Czech.  I hope you enjoy my take on things over here and find this useful :) 

PACKING AND TRAVELING:

Packing for this trip was seriously one of the most challenging things ever!! I packed and unpacked about 50x before I left and that was a huge mistake! PACK ONCE right before you leave! The one thing I wish I would have brought that I failed to is my big hoodie and left a bunch of the others home! I also wish I would have left at home the cosmetics and preparatory items (lotions, perfumes, hair supplies) I used most of it once or twice that’s it! The only thing I feel like for linens that I “needed” was a towel I brought two of them one for my hair and one for my body could have got away with just one.  Im super glad I brought pictures, and keep sack things like that! And also extra head phones, chargers for my phone (broke 3 of them). I wish I would have left at home  CLOTHES I didn’t need near as much clothes as I brought, I DID wear all the clothes I brought but I did not need them by any means.  My travel tips are simple, have a buddy,  it makes the trips better and time more efficient to have someone to talk to.  I preferred taking the bus long distances because it got to places faster it seemed like for me  and use Student Agency when taking mini trips or as often as possible.  I do recommend using  the train when going to like Olomouc to Prague or in between places as such.  I recommend the salt mines they were so beautiful, a true beauty. Budapest was amazing so much to do and the night life was fabulous!

SOCIAL LIFE:

I did not go out and party so meeting new people was kind of hard, but we did get the chance to meet a few check students. Martin and Jan set up a meeting with ISHA (Czech students) and they told us about them and talked to us a little about Czech life. I spent a large amount of my free time getting lost in Olomouc or wandering around seeing what I can find. What better way to spend your time then discovering something new!!!  Is there anything you regret not doing more of in your free time?traveling to other places, and getting lost there.  I really think that some of the best events were ones that wer not intended to ”impress us”. During orientation we went on this trip to the caves, no one was impressed and didn’t care to be there.  But one of the better events they told us about was the may day celebration, and  the garden party.  Embrass the time over here!! Take all the chances you  can explore Olomouc! Get involved with events, the things that were least likely for me to like I loved the most!!

SCHOOL WORK:

My academic experiences did not changea  whole lot in any way! I am close with my professors back in the states and I was here as well!  2) Grading. I feel the grading here is pretty standard for college classes! If you do the work there is no issues you slack off and try to sneak by you will not and you will fail!  3) Study habits. I SERVERELY INCREASED my study habits  I do not learn history very well so I studied and did a large amount of research while over here! 4) Library. I never went to the library for anything.  The think the language barrier that I felt with some of the presenters in our lectures were difficult to overcome.  Most spoke pretty good English but I feel like there were a few that were hard to understand! I also believe that the professors that sat down and preached to us on what ever their topic was, was a hinderance. I felt like they were not interested in the topic and it was boring!

MONEY & COMMUNICATIONS:

I recommend having around $3000 so about $250 a week, it worked well for me to had this much, it was not hard to come up with this amount and it was comfortable enough of an amount that I never worried about not having enough!! And half the time I didn’t use all of that money on food or whatever so I spent it on shopping and going to do things.  I did not exchange any money before the program I figured I could just pull from the ATM when I got here and that worked out well for me.  Once I got accepted in to the program I went and set up a travelers account at my bank! I ONLY used that debit card while I was over seas and each week I would pull money out so I got charged once a week the over seas charges!! I never used a credit or check while I was over here. I accessed all my money through  ATMs.

                On books I bought two copys of the required book a kindle version and a hard back! And im glad I did I lost the book for about 4 weeks  :( so im glad I had the back up, which is why I had the back up. School supplies I spent about $20 I bought a few good pens and pencils and a 3 subject notebook, a folder for papers and some note cards and I was golden! FOOD!! I spent about $100 on food when I ate out often in a week but if I went to globus  (shopping center like Sam’s club) I would only use about $50 a week! I didn’t use any money on entertainment really. Travling I spent on the whole trip about $700 on traveling! A few planes trains and bus’ not horrible but I didn’t do a large amount of traveling!!  Toiletries were not expensive for me over here at all, they are very comparible to American prices for that area of supplies! I hated washing my clothes by hand! ( my roommate and I did that for the first half of the trip), the second half I decided I was WASHING in a washer! And I spent about $7 to wash and dry my clothes every time but this includes laundry detergent! So about every two weeks  $15 for my two loads! I communicated back home through facebook, facetime, and skype, and imessage! Free for all of them! And as long as the internet was working I was able to do as such!

                A few last things: I recommend an umbrella not needed but came in handy rained a large amount for us and I would severly limit the summer clothes to bring over I only wore short two times over here the whole time! Expect the unexpected! Nothing makes since for a while and enjoy that, all the new experience I got because I understood nothing and nothing was “going right” were truly the best times!

MUST DO’s

1-      Get lost in every place you go.

2-      Take the off the beaten paths they usualy can lead to places that are hidden and have great views.

3-       May day celebrations: they were a blast! So much to do so much to see

4-      Hang out with Czech’s they know where all the fun stuff is and when to go to places.they know there area let them help!

5-      I kow this is cheesy: but take one morning when you don’t have anything the next day, and just watch the sun come up and just realize where you are and take it all in :) real eye opener!

6-      HAVE FUN!!!

In my recent andventures I have went to Terezin, A salt mine, Shindlers factory, Auschwitz, and many hours on the road! YET AGAIN!!  As though im glad the trips are getting more and more interesting im wishing most were not so depressing!!! As such trips mentioned most have a bad taste to them.  Even though these trips are my favorite!

SO let’s start: Terezin-was a holding center during World War II, this was not a concentration camp though strongly involved with the Holocaust! I enjoyed my day trip to Terezin because it was an interesting twist to the Holocaust that I was not aware that existed!

After we headed out on our trip to Poland we made a quick stop to a Iron Factory! It was pretty cool to see how the process worked then. The Factory has now been turned into a museum.  They took was through the steps and what each part did of the factory. Super interesting. 

The salt Mine was amazing. I was not realt thrilled when I found out we were going to spend THREE hours looking at SALT!!! If I must say not thrilled! But to my surprise, that was one of the coolest trips that we have taken on this trip.  The Salt Mine was in Krakow, Poland.  I like Poland there currency sucks but Poland was nice. We spent four days in Poland.  Ok back to the Salt mine. We get there and its raining and horrible weather, Martin tells us it is extremely cold in the mine so we are not thrilled about that either. So we get in the mine finally and its not even cold what so ever! IT was perfect  :)!  I think im getting married there (future note for my husband).   I was even a brave girl and licked the wall, yes it ws pure salt! It was soo cool, I loved the mine definatily  worth going to. I just shows you should never make an assumption on a place before you go to it.

                While in Poland we also went and seen Schindler’s factory.  Which I hope is now put on the schedule for the rest of the study abroad Czech students.  This factory is not a museum. It goes through the 5 years when Krakow was over taken and ruled by Nazi’s! The museum had real sounds (just like if you were there in that day and age) . I really enjoyed this museum for the content that was in the museum and the sounds and videos that were there. But the museum I thought was a little confusing on the lay out and I felt I missed some of the museum do to this.  Reguardless I enjoyed the portions I got to see. :) I for sure recommend this museum.

The best yet worst part of the trip to Poland was to go to Auschwitz!  I have learned a large amount of information on Auschwitz leading up to this trip. But I was not prepared like I thought I was, this was a very moving trip. (MOM if I ever get you to Europe you are going on your own to Auschwitz, sincerely, your Daughter) :) just a little message.

 Auschwitz was not the emotional roller coaster I thought It would be but there were a few parts that im thinking oh my gosh how could someone be such a horrible disaster and be ok with themselves.  I was HORRIFIED, about this experience and intellectually and emotionally I couldn’t handle going back, it would be to much. The hardest parts were when I saw all the hair that was there, the baby clothes and shows, these babys are my nieces age and i imagined as I was looking at these items that they were my nieces ages they had no life didn’t know right from wrong and still were being brutaly killed and beaten because of something they had NO control over. And as we went from room to room and I was seeing names like “Weiss and Cohn” it tore at the heart strings a bit more every time.  I HATED Auschwitz, it made me and makes me sick to think of what happened there. 

                We also visited Auschwitz II- Birkenau this was where  Nazi’s planned to ease congestion at the main camp. Himmler intended the camp to house 50,000 prisoners of war, who would be interned as forced laborers. Plans called for the expansion of the camp first to house 150,000 and eventually as many as 200,000 inmates.  An initial contingent of 10,000 Soviet prisoners of war arrived at Auschwitz I in October 1941, but by March 1942 only 945 were still alive, and these were transferred to Birkenau, where most of them died from disease or starvation by May. By this time Hitler had decided that the Jews of Europe were to be exterminated, so Birkenau was repurposed as a combination labor camp / extermination camp.

I strongly feel this tour was way to rushed and should have been taken on a much slower pace.  TO truly soak everything in and experience what they had to experience even if its just for a moment, it is so important!

In my recent adventures I have went to Terezin, A salt mine, Schindler's factory, Auschwitz, and many hours on the road! YET AGAIN!!  As though im glad the trips are getting more and more interesting i'm wishing most were not so depressing!!! As such trips mentioned most have a bad taste to them.  Even though these trips are my favorite!

SO let’s start: Terezin- was a holding center during World War II, this was not a concentration camp though strongly involved with the Holocaust! I enjoyed my day trip to Terezin because it was an interesting twist to the Holocaust that I was not aware that existed!

After we headed out on our trip to Poland we made a quick stop to a Iron Factory! It was pretty cool to see how the process worked then. The Factory has now been turned into a museum.  They took was through the steps and what each part did of the factory. Super interesting. 

The salt Mine was amazing. I was not realt thrilled when I found out we were going to spend THREE hours looking at SALT!!! If I must say not thrilled! But to my surprise, that was one of the coolest trips that we have taken on this trip.  The Salt Mine was in Krakow, Poland.  I like Poland there currency sucks but Poland was nice. We spent four days in Poland.  Ok back to the Salt mine. We get there and its raining and horrible weather, Martin tells us it is extremely cold in the mine so we are not thrilled about that either. So we get in the mine finally and its not even cold what so ever! IT was perfect  :)!  I think im getting married there (future note for my husband).   I was even a brave girl and licked the wall, yes it ws pure salt! It was soo cool, I loved the mine definatily  worth going to. I just shows you should never make an assumption on a place before you go to it.

                While in Poland we also went and seen Schindler’s factory.  Which I hope is now put on the schedule for the rest of the study abroad Czech students.  This factory is not a museum. It goes through the 5 years when Krakow was over taken and ruled by Nazi’s! The museum had real sounds (just like if you were there in that day and age) . I really enjoyed this museum for the content that was in the museum and the sounds and videos that were there. But the museum I thought was a little confusing on the lay out and I felt I missed some of the museum do to this.  Reguardless I enjoyed the portions I got to see. :) I for sure recommend this museum.

The best yet worst part of the trip to Poland was to go to Auschwitz!  I have learned a large amount of information on Auschwitz leading up to this trip. But I was not prepared like I thought I was, this was a very moving trip. (MOM if I ever get you to Europe you are going on your own to Auschwitz, sincerely, your Daughter) :) just a little message.

 Auschwitz was not the emotional roller coaster I thought It would be but there were a few parts that im thinking oh my gosh how could someone be such a horrible disaster and be ok with themselves.  I was HORRIFIED, about this experience and intellectually and emotionally I couldn’t handle going back, it would be to much. The hardest parts were when I saw all the hair that was there, the baby clothes and shows, these babys are my nieces age and i imagined as I was looking at these items that they were my nieces ages they had no life didn’t know right from wrong and still were being brutaly killed and beaten because of something they had NO control over. And as we went from room to room and I was seeing names like “Weiss and Cohn” it tore at the heart strings a bit more every time.  I HATED Auschwitz, it made me and makes me sick to think of what happened there. 

                We also visited Auschwitz II- Birkenau this was where  Nazi’s planned to ease congestion at the main camp. Himmler intended the camp to house 50,000 prisoners of war, who would be interned as forced laborers. Plans called for the expansion of the camp first to house 150,000 and eventually as many as 200,000 inmates.  An initial contingent of 10,000 Soviet prisoners of war arrived at Auschwitz I in October 1941, but by March 1942 only 945 were still alive, and these were transferred to Birkenau, where most of them died from disease or starvation by May. By this time Hitler had decided that the Jews of Europe were to be exterminated, so Birkenau was repurposed as a combination labor camp / extermination camp.

I strongly feel this tour was way to rushed and should have been taken on a much slower pace.  TO truly soak everything in and experience what they had to experience even if its just for a moment, it is so important!