It seems like I am traveling a lot lately. It is hard to believe that my semester abroad is beginning to come to an end (just 1 month left). April is going to be the busiest month yet for traveling and exams, but I’m ready for it.
Wednesday 3/29/17
Once again after our German class on Wednesday, we boarded a flight from Cologne to Prague and landed around 20:30 (8:30PM). Prague is the capital of the Czech Republic and has an approximate population of 1.3 million people. Prague is famous for its Old Town Square, Red Roofs, and the Charles Bridge. In the Czech language, Prague is called Praha. The Czech language was completely different from what I have ever seen. It was not similar to German, Spanish, or English so I had a hard time telling what things were. After we landed, we headed to our hostels and rested for next day. Initially, I planned to go on this trip with 2 other people from Indiana University, but 2 other people from the University of South Carolina were going to Prague during the same time so we traveled all together.
Thursday 3/30/17
Day 2 in Prague began around 8AM. We decided to do the free walking tour of Prague. The free walking tour covered the Old Town Square, View of the Charles Bridge, View of the Prague Castle, the Old New Synagogue, Old Jewish Quarter, St. Nicholas Church, and information about the aftermath of WWII and the Prague uprising. The walking tour was good since it was free (not including tips) but I don’t think I will do another one since I could see more in the same amount of time. After the tour, we headed to the John Lennon Wall. Before we could reach the Lennon Wall, we had to cross the Charles Bridge. The Charles Bridge is a historical bridge that crosses the Vltava river in Prague. The construction started in 1357 and was finished in the 15th century. This bridge was flooded with tourists and street vendors (you want to be careful with your belongings since pickpockets are common, especially in Eastern Europe). The Lennon Wall was something I was looking forward to in Prague. It was once a normal wall but had since been filled with Lennon inspired graffiti since the 1980s. In 1988, the wall irritated the communist regime (still in control of Prague) and some Czech students wrote things that
the government did not agree with which caused clashes with the police. Once news got out that
the police beat students, thousands of people from the Czech Republic came to the Prague Castle (home of the government) and pushed for their freedom from the communists. Finally, after 1989, they were finally freed from the communist rule. After taking tons of pictures at the wall, we headed for the Dancing House. The Dancing House is unique because of the architecture. It is all twisted and non-traditional. We then headed back to the Old Town Square. In the Old Town Square, there is the Astronomical Clock and Bell Tower, Church of Our Lady before Tyn, St. Nicholas Church, and since it was near Easter, they were setting up the Easter Markets (sadly they opened April 2nd, which was just after my visit). The Astronomical Clock is a medieval clock that was installed in 1410. It was pretty neat to watch it go off. Just before dinner, we got a traditional Czech dessert called the Trdelník. Since it was hard to pronounce, we called them turtlenecks haha. The Trdelník is a spit cake made from rolled dough that is wrapped around a stick, then grilled and topped with sugar and a walnut mix. There are several different options for the filling and I chose chocolate. They were so tasty! That night we decided to go to a traditional Mexican restaurant since Germans are not very good at making Mexican food. The Mexican food here was delicious.
Friday 3/31/17
Day 3 in Prague began around 9AM. We planned to meet up with the people from South Carolina at 10:30AM so we decided to go adventure before meeting up. We walked to Letná Park, which is a large park overlooking the city. The morning was sunny and warm (perfect for a hike). We then met up with the two girls that attend South Carolina and walked up the Astronomical Clock Tower. Since it was located in the heart of Old Town, every angle was beautiful. You could see tons of red roofs from various Prague buildings. It was definitely worth the trek up. After the Clock Tower, we wanted to take in more of Prague’s views so we hiked to Prague Castle. Prague Castle is on the opposite side of the river as the Old Town and is situated on a hill overlooking all of Prague. Prague Castle is a complex that is the official residence of the President of the Czech Republic and it is surprising that tourists can walk right up to the building with only a simple bag check. We kept walking a little further to go to Petrín which is a large hill in the center of Prague. There is an observation tower on top but we found an open area that would have just as good views so we sat down in the grass and talked for an hour or two. It was just so beautiful out and so warm. The sun made everyone happy. Before we knew it, we needed to head back to the Old Town so we could catch the train and bus back to the airport. Sadly, it was time to go back to Vallendar. We were scheduled to arrive in Cologne, Germany around 22:15 (10:15PM) but we landed earlier at 21:50 (9:50PM). We didn’t want to wait for over an hour for our scheduled train so we ran down to the train station. Luckily, we made it to the earlier one which put us back in Koblenz at 23:30 (11:30PM) and took a Taxi back home. Over 1200 miles roundtrip later, we finally made it back to our apartments around 0:00 (12AM). This trip had been one of the best ones yet! I’m really enjoying my semester abroad and I’m getting sad that it is coming to an end. The weather in Prague was also very beautiful with temperatures reaching 70 degrees.
Saturday 4/1/17
After sleeping in from an exhausting trip, I signed up to help set up for the last WHU party of the semester. This time the Tauschies (or exchange students) hosted it so we were in charge of setting up and cleaning up. Our theme was pajama night. I originally signed up to help from 12-15 (12-3PM); however, the equipment came early so they texted everyone to come at 10AM. The only thing was that just before I left for Prague, the WiFi stopped working and was still not fixed (so I never received the message haha). I showed up at 12 and most of the work was done but I helped as much as I could. That night, I reminisced on my first WHU party and how many friends I met.
See you soon, but not too soon
-E