A heavy heart- Auschwitz

Blog #8
Field Trip #3 (9)

"The one who does not remember history is bound to live through it again" - George Santayana 

As I sit here on the bus ride back to Olomouc trying to wrap my head around the place I just saw, I am in complete shock. I have learned about Auschwitz several different times throughout my academic career as well as written a research paper on this horrific event but nothing prepared me for actually being there. I am going to try and explain what I saw today in as much detail as possible but I know that no words can fully describe the events that occurred in that place.

Auschwitz is located in Oświęcim, Poland. It was originally a prison built before the war but after Nazi invasion they turned it into a concentration camp. Auschwitz I was this camp and the first one we saw. There are total of three camps, the other two were built after the war started. Auschwitz I held around 20,000 prisoners including Jews, gypsies, homosexuals and political prisoners at its highest point. (This number does not include the other two camps that were built later.) People were brought to Auschwitz from all over Europe. In the first group of people who were brought to the camp during Nazi control, 300 of them survived. They survived 4 years in the camp and a few are still alive today.

When we first walked in through the famous "ARBEIT MACHT FREI" arch I immediately got chills. When people would arrive on trains they went through a selection process right outside this gate. They were lined up and a physician would take one look at them and point left or right. He was picking out which ones he thought looked strong enough to work. Only 25% of all people survived this process. The rest were sent straight to the gas chambers. They didn't even set foot in the camp. Anyone under the age of 14, the elderly, pregnant, and mentally ill, or people seen as unfit to work were sent straight to the gas chambers.

There was so much obedience because of all the lies the Nazi's told the prisoners. They told them that they were going to a place where they could live and work in good conditions with other people like them. All the propaganda got Jews to even buy their own train tickets to get them to the camp. This was all part of the master Nazi plan. They were so good at this plan they literally got people to pay their way to their own murder.

The train cars that brought prisoners to the camps held about 80 people in each one. There were no windows in them so they couldn't see where they were going. They were not fed, had no toilet use, and were crammed with their luggage for days on end. Sometimes prisoners were in there for 5-7 days straight. Often times more than half of the people wouldn't even survive the train rides there. A train that came from Greece lasted 9 days and only 30% of those prisoners survived the train ride, then only 25% of those survivors made it through the selection process. You can see how quickly these people were killed in the most inhumane ways possible. 

A train car that held 80 people and their luggage for several days straight.

The prisoners that survived the selection were taken then to be stripped of their luggage that they brought with them. The Nazi's collected all of this and took it for their own use and stored it on site and or sent it back to Germany for use there. They took everything from them, even things like pots and pans and hair brushes. They were given a pair of pajamas that were their only clothes. They had a symbol on them which told everyone why they were in the camp. (Jew, homosexual, political prisoner, etc.) They didn't have any underwear or socks and sometimes didn't even have shoes. They were given a number that was then tattooed onto their arms, and all of their hair was shaved off. They lost their identity when they walked in. From that point on they were only referred to as a number. 

These pictures are just small fractions of the amount of items collected from people killed just from Auschwitz alone.

Each person was instructed to put their name and birthday on their luggage before it was taken from them. There was a whole hallway of luggage, many of which were babies and young children that were taken straight to the gas chambers. This hallway was only one train load of people's luggage.

A hallway of human hair. They cut it off to send to Germany to be used in factories to make carpet.
(picture from auschwitz.org because photos in this room weren't allowed)

40,000 pairs of glasses

prosthetic legs and arms and crutches

 A whole hallway of shoes on all sides. 

Hair brushes and combs

Pots and pans prisoners brought along. They were told they got to keep all their belongings when they got here.

The prisoners that were sent to the gas chambers were told that they were only going to take a shower as to not create panic. In Auschwitz I they had one gas chamber that could kill 1,000 people at a time. These people were told to undress in the room outside the chamber and then walk in where they were all killed with zyklon B poison. This suffocated them inside the chamber. The poison stops the oxygen from flowing throughout the body. It took 12 cans of the gas to kill all these people in 20 minutes. After the time was up, they let the chamber air out for a little while and then it was the job of some prisoners to carry the bodies out of the chamber and cremate them. Often times the bodies were found in a few big piles after the gassing process in the chamber. The weak (elderly and children) would die first at the bottom of the pile and the stronger men would climb on top of them to try and reach the ventilations at the top. There was no escaping though. The prisoners who carried the bodies out and cremated them also had to go through all of the clothes they took off and take out the valuables. This process also included shaving women's hair off before cremating them, taking out gold teeth, jewelry, prosthetic legs, etc.  The Auschwitz I gas chamber only had the capacity to cremate 300 people in 24 hours so it would take about 3 days before they could bring in another 1,000 more people. This was not efficient enough for the Nazi's. This was the main reason they started to build another concentration camp. They decided to build Birkenau located 3 kilometers away from Auschwitz. 

Auschwitz I gas chamber. 1,000 people were killed in this room at a time.

The vent where the Zyklon B was dropped in.

Actual cans of Zyklon B. 12 cans were needed for every 1,000 people.

Where they cremated bodies. They then used the ashes for fertilizers around the camp to get rid of the evidence. 

The living conditions in Auschwitz were completely inhumane. They were treated way worse than animals. They worked for 12 hours every day and came back to rooms that were holding sometimes 10 times more than their capacity. They were given three "meals" a day which amounted to only about 250 calories. Breakfast included a mixture of mostly water and a little bit of coffee. Lunch was almost always rotten vegetables and for supper they were given one piece of black bread and maybe a piece of cheese or a teaspoon of jam. These rations were only supposed to allow people to live for 2-3 months. The Nazi's calculated exactly the amount of calories it would take to keep them alive for a while but to eventually kill them so they could be replaced in the camp. 

A replica of what a normal living cell at Auschwitz I looked like. 

There were "hospitals" in Auschwitz that were anything but hospitals. They did many horrible experiments on prisoners including trying different ways to sterilize prisoners. They wanted to eliminate the Jews and this was one of the ways they were trying to make that happen.

Anyone that tried to escape, show resistance, or break any rules were tortured. There were three different types of torture rooms in Auschwitz I. There was suffocating, standing and starvation rooms. In the suffocating rooms they would put 40 people into a very small room and seal off the whole room and slowly one by one the people would suffocate to death. In the standing room, they would force 4-5 people to stand in them all night after their 12 hour work days. They would repeat this process every night until they died. The last form of torture was starvation. They would leave people locked up in a room with no food until they died. If a prisoner tried to escape, they would randomly pick 10 people from their living area and all 11 of them would go into a starvation room until they died. They used this tactic to try and have them rat each other out if they heard of someone planning to try and escape. Public and private executions were also carried out regularly. If they wanted to make an example of what would happen if you disobeyed they would hang you in front of everyone. There was also a wall made out of a mixture of concrete and straw to absorb the bullets where prisoners would line up for executions completely naked and a guard would go one by one and shoot them in the back of the head.

Three standing rooms in the building used for torture. The walls went all the way
     up and the prisoners were forced to crawl in a little passageway on the floor and stand
in these rooms with 4-5 other people all night. 

The wall where people were executed.

Where public hangings took place.

The camp was surrounded by double barbed wire fence with a lethal voltage. Many prisoners would run into it as fast as they can because it would kill them instantly instead of having to go through any more torture. Suicide was unfortunately a much better option.

Just when I thought that it couldn't get worse, we went to Birkenau. The camp specifically designed for extermination.

Auschwitz-Birkenau

Like I said before the Nazi's did not feel like it was efficient enough to kill 1,000 people every three days. They took over some farm land near Auschwitz I and turned it into a camp. They burned down the houses of people that lived there and were farming and used their tools and anything else they wanted to to help them make the camp. 

Birkenau was over four times bigger than Auschwitz I with five gas chambers on sight and over 300 buildings. The living conditions here were worse than Auschwitz... if that is at all imaginable. For example, there were three levels of bunks in each of the buildings each having about five people in a bed about the size of a 'twin size' bed. There were only three toilets for every 8,000 prisoners and they were only allowed to use the toilet twice a day for 30 seconds. Often times when they were sleeping people on the top bunks would vomit or go to the bathroom and it would fall down on everyone else sleeping below them. The prisoners would be shot immediately if anyone saw them trying to go to the bathroom during work or any time other than their allotted time during the day. As crazy as it sounds, the people who had the job of cleaning out the toilets were said to have the best job. There wasn't a sewage system installed until almost the end of the war so people had to climb down into the toilets and clean them by hand. They would fill up a bucket and hand it to somebody above and they would dump it in the ditches surrounding the camp. These people were said to be the most safe from the Nazi's because none of the guards ever went in the bathrooms because of the smell. They also had constant access to the toilets so they could use them whenever they needed.

The outside of one of the prisoner cells.

Where the prisoners slept. The bunks were taken out but there were three levels of beds. About five men slept in each small bed. You can see the brick furnace run down the middle but it was never used. The only protection the prisoners had from the cold was the wood walls. 

There were three rows of these toilets in the building. People who had to clean the toilets as their job would lift up the ring at the front of the picture and climb down in it and dig it out by hand. 

The gas chambers were hidden in the woods at the end of the camp. They were surrounded with big trees and flowers as to not raise suspicion. When prisoners were brought here, they again were told that they were just taking a shower. They took off all their clothes and walked into the chamber where there were even fake shower heads installed to not create mass panic. Again workers were assigned to carry out the bodies and clean up the blood and vomit left behind. These gas chambers had cremators in them as well but they could burn 1,000 bodies in 24 hours- much more than Auschwitz I. Other prisoners jobs included taking the human bones and crushing them with their own hands and tools because they don't burn going through the cremation process. They would take these bones and ashes and spread them out in little ponds around the site. They used to human ashes as fertilizer as well. The Nazi's killed the prisoners who worked in the gas chambers very often because they didn't want any eye witnesses if something were to happen. They would gather all of them in there for a "meeting" and then lock them in there and kill them. Their replacement's first job was to dispose of the bodies of those workers previous to them. 

The gas chambers were all destroyed by the Nazi's 1-7 days before the Russians came and liberated the camps. They tried to destroy as much evidence as possible.

Where the prisoners would walk in to the chamber.

What is left of one of the destroyed gas chambers.

When the Nazi's knew that the Russians were coming to the camp they had all the prisoners they thought fit march to other camps. 56,000 prisoners walked to other camps during what was known as the "Death March". All the rest they thought wouldn't make it were left to die in the camp. 

There is a memorial between the two main gas chambers at the Birkenau camp. Right after the war was over the Polish government started planning a memorial for all of the victims at the site. 20% of the Polish population was killed at Auschwitz. It is a sacred place to commemorate the 1.5 million lives that were lost at Auschwitz during this horrific event 75 years ago. 

I left with such a heavy heart today and wish that everyone had the chance to see this place. There is nothing like it and the feelings of being inside there are indescribable. We need to learn from our world's history so that it never repeats itself. The 6,000,000 people that died in this camp and all the others will never be forgotten. 

Not everything can be learned from a textbook

Blog #7
Cultural comparisons (5)

After being out of the United States for 52 days I feel like I can talk thoroughly about the cultural differences I have noticed here in the Czech Republic in comparison to the United States. I have been taught in school some differences and heard about them on TV but there is nothing like being totally immersed in a different culture. In a way it changes you, and you can't get this knowledge through a textbook. 

Although I have traveled to lots of different countries during my time in Europe, Olomouc is starting to feel like home and I am really getting used to it! There were cultural differences that jumped out at me right away and others that took a while to notice. 

Some cultural differences that I noticed right away..

1. The buildings aren't as modern on the outside. They have a more gothic/medieval time period look to them. Lots of these buildings have been preserved and others have been reconstructed to look like buildings from that time period. In some areas there are more modernized buildings going up. For example in Olomouc, there is one skyscraper on the skyline. There is much debate as to whether these buildings should be allowed or not because some say it takes away from the historical aspect of the city. 
2. The vehicles people drive are much smaller, almost everybody drives cars. I have yet to see a truck or anything bigger than a crossover type vehicle. 
3. Smoking is allowed almost everywhere.
4. The main form of travel throughout the Czech Republic is trains. I have never ridden in a train until I came here.
5. They do not use condiments like we do in the United States. This one was really tough for me at first! (I eventually just bought a bottle of ketchup at the grocery store and started carrying it around with me because you have to pay a lot for a little amount of it at restaurants.)
6. They play English music almost everywhere. The same songs that are hits back home everyone loves here too. I have heard "Uptown Funk" probably one too many times but I can't complain because it is usually the only English we will hear in places outside of school.
7. Tipping at restaurants is much different. Waitresses don't depend on tips for their salary so it is not expected to leave a tip. A lot of the time though we round up 5-10 Czech Korunas.

Some differences that took me a while to pick up on..

1. People don't really smile when you walk by them on the street, when you're checking out at the grocery store, or ordering at a restaurant. Coming from small-town Nebraska this was very different for me. It was awkward at first when I would make eye contact with someone and smile like I would back home. A lot of the time people give you a really weird look or look the other way really fast. 
2. According to some studies, the Czech Republic is the most atheist country in the world. We learned that Prague is about 80% atheist which is so sad because there are so many beautiful churches that do not get used. In class we have talked a lot about this and a lot of families believe there is a higher power but do not believe in a specific God. Also, many people like to keep this part of their lives private anyways so it is hard to know exact percentages for sure when it comes to religion here.
3. There aren't any drive thru fast food restaurants. Here in Olomouc, there is a McDonald's but it doesn't have a drive thru and that is about the only American-like fast food restaurant in the whole city. 
4. Things we take for granted back home including bathrooms, water and condiments are not free here. It is your lucky day if you can find a bathroom without having to buy something to use it or find a place that gives you a free glass of water for your meal.
5. The term "the customer is always right" doesn't really apply here. It is pretty much the exact opposite actually.
6. People here don't seem to be on a tight schedule. In America, everything seems to be go-go-go all the time. Here people take long lunch breaks, sit down and drink their coffee instead of getting it "to go", rarely work on weekends and seem much more laid back.
7. Health care is unbelievably cheap in comparison to ours. We have talked about this in class some, and although I don't know all the details behind why it is so different here one of our professors gave a statistic that the United States spends almost triple the amount on health care in comparison to many European countries. I am especially interested in learning more about this topic because of my medical career path!

All of these things have really made me step back and look at the American culture. It has been the only thing I have really known for 20 years and living in a place where things are so different has opened my eyes to a different way of thinking. The "American way" isn't always the right way as many of us tend to think. I was one of those people before coming here and I am so thankful that I have had this opportunity to change that.

I have heard that after an experience like this you go through culture shock again going back to America. I can believe it now because I am getting so used to this way of living! The only two things I am really missing (besides my family and friends) is a car to get around in and some foods. I think I have forgotten what ranch and buffalo sauce taste like so I am really looking forward to that. Other than that though, I am completely content with the Czech culture and way of life and will miss it when I return to the United States.

It's all about the people you meet along the way

Topic of my choice - spring break 
Blog #6

It will be hard to ever top the spring break that I just had here in Europe. It was filled with sight seeing, beaches, sunshine, good food and even better company. My experiences in Naples, Italy and Barcelona, Spain have shown me how many amazing people are out there. I am going to highlight the best things that happened otherwise this blog would be a book! 

We started our spring break flying from Venice to Naples. When we arrived in Naples we were a little taken aback at first. The city looked kind of rough and we quickly learned to not judge a book by its cover when we found our hostel in Naples. The hostel we booked on hostelworld.com had amazing reviews and was voted the #1 hostel in the world several times. We were so confused because it looked like someone's home but the second we walked in, we realized it basically was. The man who runs the hostel, Giovanni, welcomed us in just like we were family. He sat us down, got us a big glass of water and took out a map of the city and started highlighting. He pointed out the areas we had to see, the areas to avoid, best places to eat and the quickest ways to get places. I would have normally paid someone for the kind of information he gave us, but he did it all just because he wanted us to have a good time! Right after that he offered to cook us lunch and teach us how to make Italian Gnocchi. We couldn't believe how friendly he was and we immediately felt better about everything. 

That day we went on to see the Archeological museum, the underground aqueduct and ate at Sorbillo's Pizza which was voted the best pizza in Naples, and where pizza supposedly originated!

The crew in the aqueduct below Naples.  

Sorbillo's Pizza in Naples! It was so good even the Pope has eaten here!

Our second day in Naples, we had all planned out thanks to Giovanni! We took a bus up to almost the top of Mt. Vesuvius and then walked the rest of the way up to see the top of the volcano. We also visited Pompeii. This was the second time I had been to Pompeii but I think I had a whole new appreciation for it this time being older and because of all the history I have studied the past month here in Europe. We met two people in our hostel room that wanted to come with us so all of us had an awesome time traveling around Naples. 

At the top of Mt. Vesuvius!

The volcano!

Exploring the Pompeii ruins. 

We found Nebraska in Pompeii!

That night we had an awesome dinner with our two new friends. We all got along so great and it seemed like we had all known each other forever. We all decided to go to an island together the next day that Giovanni recommended which was known as "Italy's secret island".  The island of Procida was about an hour ride on a ferry from Naples. When we got to Procida, we were absolutely amazed by how calm and beautiful it was. There were no tourists, we were seriously probably the only ones on the island. The locals were so nice to us and the views were breathtaking. We stopped at several little shops on the way to the beach to get stuff to have a picnic for lunch. When we got to the beach there was a pier that we layed all of our stuff out on and enjoyed strawberries, bread, cheese and olives looking out on the ocean. This was my favorite part of the whole trip. The sun started beating down so we went for a swim in the water and got a tan on the beach! I honestly couldn't believe that we were some of the only tourists on the island because it was the prettiest place I have seen in Europe. 

The beautiful island of Procida!

Our Picnic on the pier!

Sadly after a full day on the island we had to head back to Naples. We got to spend all day there but we wished we could of stayed for more. That night we went to a restaurant that served us a four course meal for only about 15 dollars! It was so fun to socialize on our last night all together. 

The next day we spent exploring Naples and going on a route that Giovanni told us would cover the best of the city in the least amount of time. We made stops at Christmas Alley where they make figures of celebrities and for nativity scenes, the Duomo cathedral, the Church of San Francesco di Paola, and some souvenir shops! We also spent time getting our bags all packed up to travel to Barcelona the next morning. 

Some funny figurines of celebrities in Christmas Alley.

Having fun with the panorama feature on our iPhones. We found our clones :)

Enjoying the view on our last day in Naples.

Naples would not have been the same if we hadn't had the knowledge of Giovanni and the friends we met and spent our days with. We were so lucky we stumbled upon these people cause they made Naples unforgettable. 

We were pretty sad in the taxi ride to the airport but excited to get to Barcelona! We stayed at a beach hostel which was about a two minute walk from a local beach. It wasn't touristy at all! We were pretty tired from the day of traveling so we just went for a walk on the beach that night and got some dinner! One thing I thought was really neat about Barcelona was that there were people exercising everywhere! You couldn't look around without seeing people on a run or doing workouts in the park or sand. They even have free exercise equipment built into the concrete on the beach! Oh and they also had free public water fountains, this was a first for us in Europe! 

This exercise equipment was everywhere along the beach!

The next day we were rested up and ready to go and see Barcelona. We were in a pretty good location so we decided to walk to the main attractions. The weather was beautiful so it was really enjoyable to see the city by foot. We admired the Sagrada Familia for quite a while. It has been under construction for over a hundred years but many are predicting that it will be finished in about 11 years. In 2026 it will have been 100 years since Gaudi's death and they want it to be finished by that year. The rest of the day we spent shopping and stopping at touristy things on our way back to the hostel. 

We only had two days left in Barcelona and we knew we wanted one of them to be spent completely on the beach! So we decided to to do a little touristy stuff one day and a beach day the next. We went to Park Guell which is a park made all of mosaic stones on the outskirts of Barcelona. It was absolutely beautiful and we even hiked through the trails around the park. After that we played sand volleyball for the rest of the night on the beach! Our last day we literally didn't do anything other than soak up the sun and pack for our trip back to the Czech Republic. It was a perfect way to end spring break and after two and a half weeks of almost constant traveling its safe to say it was nice to be back in Olomouc!  

Park Guell!

Had to say goodbye to a beautiful beach and city. 

Austria and Italy

8) Field trip 2
Blog #5

Our class took its second field trip this past week to Vienna and Venice. On Tuesday the bus picked us up from our dorm and we set off for Vienna, Austria. It was only a three hour drive so it went pretty quickly! We had a great view along the way of the Czech countryside and had fun conversation with our classmates.

After we got to the city and got checked into our hostel we made our way to the main town square. We had to go down one of the busiest streets in Vienna full of stores, markets and restaurants making it difficult to not stop and look around! Our class got to the main square downtown and went out on our own for lunch. We found a pizzeria that was extremely fancy (almost too fancy for us) with really good pizza!  

Our first stop after lunch was a museum in the treasury of Vienna. The Kaiserliche Schatzkammer Wien museum was full of royal jewels, mideval outfits and many religious artifacts. I thought it was amazing how the long royal robes, military armour and crowns were kept in perfect condition. I am learning so much relating the things we talk about in class to the things we get to go out and see in real life.

The Maria Theresa statue in downtown Vienna.

One of the many well preserved decorated robe.

We spent the rest of the day exploring the city and walking around on the main strip. 

The next morning we got up and saw a white stallion horse show. We were kind of disappointed because it turned out to be just a practice but it was still interesting to watch the trainers perfect the horses stances and work on their routines around the facility. After the show we went to a little cafe where we met a German couple sitting next to us. They spoke very little English but it was still so interesting to pick up bits and pieces of what they were saying and was one of the best conversations I've had with people while abroad. It was like there wasn't even a language barrier at all. We eventually ended up using an app on our phone to communicate a little better but it was so awesome how interested they were about our study abroad careers from the very few words we understood between each other. They were so sweet and it just shows that kindness is the same in all languages. 

The weather this day wasn't the best so we ended up going to another museum we were completely surprised by. The Haus Der Musik was so much more than we expected it to be. This museum was full of classical composers and some of their most famous works and possessions. What I loved most about this museum though was that a lot of it was dedicated to the science of hearing. We got to be in a room where it replicated what it sounds like to be in the womb and played with lots of interactive computers that explained different parts of the ear and how we hear certain sounds. 

Part of the inside of the Haus De Musik.

For the rest of our last day in Vienna we wanted to kind of walk around and see more of the city so we just wandered and ended up running into some beautiful buildings and fountains and of course did some more shopping!

The next day we took off from Vienna early in the morning for Venice, Italy. It was a seven hour bus ride but was probably the most scenic one of my life! We drove through a lot of Austria, and northeastern Italy.

Our view of the Alps from one of our stops in Austria.

When we arrived in Venice we had to take a train to get to our hostel downtown because the bus couldn't take us close enough because of all the rivers through the city. We got settled into our hostel and our teacher took us to St. Marco's square in downtown Venice. He had told us that it is very hard to navigate around the city and he was more than right. There is almost no layout plan to the city whatsoever with all the rivers and winding streets. Once we got there, he let us have the rest of the day to explore. He told us that the best experience in Venice is when you get lost and have to try and find your way back. You go down streets you normally wouldn't and see different kind of shops and find the best restaurants. He was right again because that happened to us several times. It was kind of frustrating trying to find our way around but we saw some really neat things along the way. While we were exploring the city we decided to take a gondola ride. We knew we wanted to do this but we didn't want it to be super expensive. There was a group of five of us that all got on the same gondola ride so it was a much more reasonable price! It was such a fun experience though. We almost tipped the gondola getting in, had some fun conversations with the driver and got a great view of Venice!

Lauren and I by the marina in St. Marco's square.

Crossed gondola ride in Venice off our bucket lists!

The next day we decided to wake up super early in the morning and beat the crowd to some of the pretty places in Venice. That was the best decision we made on the whole trip! The view we had of the sunrise on the water was perfect. We got great pictures without tons of people in the background and couldn't believe how peaceful it was. I also got to try my first cannoli ever for breakfast!

Beautiful morning looking out on the grand canal!

My first Cannoli!

A comparison of St. Marco's square (the busiest part of the city) from when we were out in the morning to how crowded it was at noon!

That afternoon we went through a museum in St. Marco's square and saw a lot of Italy's history in art and also toured the prisons underneath the museum. Funny story actually... we got lost in the prison for quite a while, but after a short panic we found the stairs to get back to the main area. 

We literally got lost inside the prison in Venice. 

For lunch that day we found a little place off the main tourist area by the water. I had the best seafood pasta I've ever had in my life with a great view. It will be hard to beat that! The rest of our day we decided to spend on other islands. We bought a public transportation boat pass to take us around. We had heard that the island of Burano was one you had to make a trip to. It took us about an hour to get there on the boat but it was well worth it. It was picture perfect Italy. We walked all the way around the island and stopped at several little shops in under two hours and then head back to Venice. 

Italian pasta and wine with a great view!

The beautiful island of Burano.

This was our last day in Venice before spring break and I was so sad to leave! I wish I would have had more time to see Venice and more of the islands surrounding it. It is such a beautiful place and one that I will definitely visit again if I have the chance!

Team No Sleep: London!

10) Personal Excursion 
Blog #4

This past weekend a group of us traveled to London, United Kingdom for a quick little get away! This was the first trip that I had ever pretty much fully planned without the help of a travel agent or my parents. A group of us girls set everything up including busses, trains, flights, taxis, hostels and bought tickets ahead of time for things like the London Eye and a night river cruise. All the hard work paid off and we had a pretty smooth trip! We finished up with class around 1:00 pm on Friday and were at the train station ready to leave for Prague by 3:45. It's always a little stressful when you can't read the boards telling you which platform your train is coming to because it is in Czech but we managed to get on the right train! 

When we arrived in Prague we got a taxi to the airport. They tried to charge us way too much but after watching my dad in these kinds of situations, I have learned that most of the time you can get things for a lot cheaper. We ended up getting the price down a lot and saving some money! We got to the airport and took off for the London Stansted airport. 

Since we weren't arriving until around 12:45 am at the airport, we decided that it wouldn't be worth it to get a hostel before we caught our bus into London at 5:30 am. So we planned on sleeping in the airport. Of course all the seats were taken so we literally attempted to sleep on cold tile in the bag drop off area in front of an airline check-in area. All part of the experience right!? 

We left the airport really early for a bus ride into town. Ryanair, the airline we flew with, only flies into this airport which is about an hour and a half outside of the city. We arrived at the Victoria train station in downtown London at around 7:00 am. We wanted to find our hostel so we could drop off our bookbags before we started our day. We bought an all day tube pass to get us around and when we found our hostel way on the outskirts of town, nobody was there. We knocked on the door several times and didn't hear anything. It looked more like a pub than a hostel so we decided we wanted to find something else. We went back to the train station where a nice person helped us book a 4-star hotel not too far away. We had to pay quite a bit more but it was definitely worth it! 

After that minor setback we were finally able to start our day in London! We were all pretty exhausted but so excited to be experiencing such a beautiful city. We started out not really knowing where we were going, but made our first stop at the London and Tower's Bridge. It was a pretty cloudy/foggy morning but the view was still amazing! 

We knew we wanted to start making our way to the main attractions but we didn't quite know how to get there. We ended up seeing the top of the London Eye from pretty far away so we just followed it all the way there. We stopped on the way, however, to enjoy a Fish and Chips meal. I can definitely tell why everyone says you HAVE to try it there. It was so good!

After walking several miles and getting lost a few times we made it to the London Eye and Big Ben area. It was pretty crowded but we got some good pictures and admired the view from several different locations. We then got our tickets for the London Eye that we had purchased in advance which saved us about an hour in line AND they were cheaper! That's a win win if you ask me.

Our View from the top of the London Eye!

Before our river cruise we had some free time to explore. By this point we were borderline delirious from being so tired but we kept going and went on to see The Buckingham Palace and walked through some beautiful gardens and parks. I had never seen such pretty flowers!

Our view of Buckingham Palace from St. James Royal Park!

Had to take a picture in the telephone booth.

The night river cruise ended up being much more than I expected. They took us in a boat along the river and pointed out some of the top attractions and the history behind them. It was too cold to sit up top but we enjoyed the view from the warm comfy seats inside the boat. It was like a different city at night, everything was lit up and absolutely breathtaking!

After the the cruise we all agreed it was time for some much needed sleep. We made our way back to our hotel and after walking 14 miles in one day, we could finally relax! The hotel was one of the nicest I had ever been in. We definitely treated ourselves to that one. 

The next morning we woke up early to start our day because we only had until 2:00 pm in London before we had to catch our bus back to the airport. We knew we couldn't fit much into our schedule for the day so we decided to go to King's Crossing train station where the Harry Potter 9 3/4 platform was located and get a big lunch before our journey back. We got to the train station at a good time and only had to wait in line for 30 minutes to take a picture. Usually it is at least double the time! We then made our way back to the Victoria station and ate at a cute little cafe before getting on our bus. Then we were off for our trip back to Olomouc where again it seemed like we went on every form of transportation possible (bus, airplane, taxi, train) getting us back in the middle of the night. 

Off to Hogwarts!

Reminiscing on the trip today I learned a lot during this experience. It's important to have a plan and to know all the places you want to cover. We kind of went in with a 'go with the flow' mentality and although we covered a lot of stuff I think we could have made better use of some of our time. We got lost several times but I learned that is is ok to walk up to random people and ask how to get to the nearest underground tube station. I am now more confident in my travels. I feel more comfortable planning trips and being able to navigate around in a big city. I also learned that it would take about two weeks to cover all that London has to offer. Since we were only there for a day and a half it looks like I will have to go back someday! :)

Spring break starts tomorrow and I will be traveling to Austria, Italy and Spain for two weeks! I am really getting used to living out of a suitcase! :)

Neperlivá voda, prosím (Still water, please)

Academic Life
Blog #3


I have been in Olomouc for almost three weeks now! I can't believe how fast it is going already, it needs to slow down! I have been attending school through Palacky University and have really been enjoying the classes that our Nebraska group has been taking. The first week we were here, we had several guest speakers through our orientation telling us how much we would fall in love with the city and the university. This video was one of the first things we watched when we got to Olomouc and I don't think it could describe the city/university or our experiences any better. 



Every week day we have class for about four hours in the afternoon. We have three different classes including Czech language (which is unbelievably hard), history and culture. I have really enjoyed our professors so far. They really try to keep us engaged with activities so it isn't just straight lecture all the time, and they speak great english. We study things that we are actually going to see on our field trips so we really can draw connections between the lectures in class and the monuments, buildings, statues, etc. we see while we are out and about. How cool is it that we are close enough to take field trips to some of this world's most historical places!? We have studied some events that I have had lectures on in the past but it is like a new story when you hear it from another perspective and how their particular country handled it. I think this experience so far has helped me become more open minded as well as opened my eyes to see how much even little things affect each country. 

Czech Language as I mentioned before is pretty difficult. On our first day in Olomouc I remember one of the guest speakers at orientation say "You will quickly find out that us Czechs make everything much more complicated than they need to be." It seems like that is the case with the language as well but I have been able to start picking up bits and pieces of conversations. (Hello, please, my name is.., random food words, bye). Also, if you have been following my blog, you know how I have been having problems getting non-sparkling water when I try and order just a plain regular water. I have finally learned how to ask for still water in Czech so I no longer have to suffer trying to drink it sparkling. (This happened to me probably 10 times before I figured this out.) Neperlivá voda, prosím :)

A really cool thing that happened to me was becoming suite-mates with some pre-med students. There are two girls in our suite that have been studying here for a couple years now and it is neat to compare some of the classes that I have taken as a pre-nursing student with theirs and to talk about their future in health care and what it will be like for them to be doctors in this country. I was not expecting to run into this opportunity but I am learning so much about how the health care system works here and how it is different from ours!

Olomouc is a University City as the video above kind of talks about! 1/4th of the population is college students. Most students from the Czech Republic stay here for college because they receive free tuition. (How nice is that...) After talking to several local students it seems as if the trend here is going home on the weekends and doing the more college life/hanging out with friends during the week. Since the country is so small and the train system can get you anywhere in the country in about three hours tops, it is easy for them to get home for the weekend quickly. 

We have language homework on a regular basis but that is about the only outside of class work we have had to do so far! I am really looking forward to the things we have on our list to study this semester and the three field trips we have left that accompany those topics. But we have the next two weeks off for a field trip and spring break so we will pick back up with the studying mid April. :)