Na Zdraví Pastrami

      I've made it to Prague and it's everything I hoped for and more! I've been nothing but blown away by this city, and I know I've only skimmed the surface.
      Because the city was behind in industry when WWII began, it was largely passed over by bombs, and is therefore still well preserved unlike many other European cities I've been to. Every building is beautiful in a very different way, and the entire city is a hodge-podge of architectural styles. I've seen everything from Renaissance to Cubistic, Gothic to Modern, and even Communist style popping up behind every turn, I don't think I'll ever stop finding new views to fall in love with. I've also adopted a strange love of doors in the short time I've been here. Some of the doors I've seen are so intricate and ornate, while others are minimalistic and simple. Overall, I can't stop taking pictures of doors, and I think I might come home with an interesting new collection =).

      The train ride from Berlin to Prague was really beautiful. It was much more mountainous than I expected which was cool to see. The first town we hit was Dresden which was gorgeous, maybe I'll go back sometime soon to really visit. We met up with the Vltava River, which eventually passes through Prague about halfway through the trip. As soon as we hit the river my eyes were permanently peeled to the window. The mountain towns lying right up against the river were picturesque and so peaceful. I would love to see the ride again during the summer when the trees are green and the sky is blue. Regardless, the snow and cold gave the small towns a special charm.
      I arrived at my apartment easily which lies within Praha 3, just a few tram stops from the center of New Town. The apartment is much larger than I expected. The kitchen is small but very Ikea-esque which I love. The living room is also large with a huge entertainment center but no entertainment to speak of hehe. There are two double rooms which are also quite expansive. My room has a balcony which will hopefully be nice when the weather is better in a few months. Though the kitchen, bathroom, and dining area are totally new, ikea-like, and updated, the rest of the rooms are much older. Our beds are extremely small, and pretty funny actually; they're really just glorified cushions on stilts. It doesn't really matter seeing as I can sleep anywhere (except airplanes as you might have noticed from the last post...). The apartment is quite lovely all things considered and pretty perfect for a four month stay.
      My roommates are great as well! The two girls in the other room are really nice, and strangely enough my roommate is from Grinnell! Jeanette and I know each other a bit because we're both close friends with Mark, but I had no idea she was coming to Prague. We don't know each other well at all, so it will be cool to make a new Grinnell friend. At first I was a bit bummed to be so close to another Grinnell student because part of the reason I was so excited for the program was to get some distance from Grinnell and meet new people. I quickly changed my mind, finding it extremely nice to have someone to relate to about Grinnell, home, and classes. You really don't realize how much we take for granted at Grinnell until you meet regular people hah. We also live with a Czech girl named Marquetta who has been great so far; she is so nice and fun! There is another apartment of girls upstairs in the same building. Another Grinnellian lives there (Eva) who I'm starting to think is pretty awesome. I've also become friends with a girl named Maddie who lives upstairs and goes to American University. We have all the same classes, and went sight seeing together on the second full day. Above that apartment is another group of six guys, one of whom is Czech. They're pretty hilarious and always up for fun; I can tell they will be a blast.
      On night one we went to a welcome dinner at the CET center and began getting to know one another. The CET center is one street off Wenceslas Square which is the center of New Town and where the Velvet Revolution occurred. The whole area was amazing right from the start, and my excitement grew immediately. There was an overwhelming number of film students at the dinner, but since then we haven't seen much of them; I think our programs are very separated. We tried to go out to a bar for some drinks after dinner but failed miserably at finding the place Pavel (the guys' Czech roommate) had told us about and quickly gave up since most people were were suffering from jet lag.
      After a good night of sleep we started orientation with a quick overview of the basic things we need to know to function while abroad, most of which I have already heard. Our director, Jiˆri, made a sassy comment about how we are the only group ever to have not gone out on the first night haha. I'm not sure if he was proud or ashamed. We got some groceries and went back to New Town for dinner. We quickly realized Wenceslas Square, which is beautiful and touristy during the day, transforms into a sketchy street at night. We finally found a place for dinner in a dungeon decorated with suits of armor and had some fun food. We walked around trying to find a bar, only to find ourselves failing again, though we did find multiple strip clubs. We were in a large group and Prague is one of the safest cities in the world so I never really got nervous. We even saw some women alone on the block and stopped worrying altogether until we realized they were prostitues (they were much more covered than any other prostitutes I've ever seen haha). We decided to head back towards our apartment and find the bar Pavel had told us about. We searched a few blocks and failed again, but finally found a sports bar which had good beer and a fine atmosphere. We were laughing that we are probably the only people in Prague who can't find a good bar, but still enjoyed ourselves, and vowed to plan better for the next night out.

      We had the next day off so Maddie and I took a stroll around Old Town following Rick Steves' advice. We saw the astronomical clock go off on the hour (quite amazing mechanics for the 14th century), looked into Tyn Church, saw an art exhibit called Post Velvet on modern Czech art, and saw a plethora of Medeval alter pieces at St. Agnes' Convent. We ended the day at Charles Bridge where we snapped some photos before our hands began to freeze, decided we had never seen any place more beautiful, and quickly got home. We grabbed dinner at Pizza Dali below our apartment which boasts Surrealist posters, 80s American pop music, great pizza, and the usual beer before meeting up with our entire building for a night out. We decided to celebrate Eva's 21st birthday and Pavel's 23rd by actually going out, letting Pavel lead the way to ensure success. We gave up trying to fit all 25 of us into one bar and split up, ending up at a really fun bar with a dance floor. We had a few beers and got to dancing. Eventually some drag queens joined the party which was a hoot. I'm pretty sure the other two Grinnellians and I were the only ones in our group that felt totally in our element, and was proud of my school =). We tried our first becherovka which was much sweeter than I anticipated. We decided it tastes just like Prague, and a bit like Christmas (interpret that as you will). I'll try to bring a bottle home to share my new drink of choice.

      The next day we had some more orientation and went on a scavenger hunt through town. We had a good time finding the random things on the list, and ended the day running up the hill to a monastery with a great brewery for dinner with the whole program. The beer was amazing and the food was equally good. A few others joined Maddie and I to bond a bit with the Czech buddies at a bar nearby after dinner. Our new Czech friends informed us why bar is great: they sell full liters of beer rather than the typical half liter. The beer came in what looked like a glass bucket with a handle, though I stuck to the usual half liter. Maddie and I stayed back with one of the guys in our building, Nate, to finish our beers and conversation and got directions for tram home. We left soon after and hopped on the train, only to find that the metro was closed because of some unknown emergency. We walked a mile or two back to Wenceslas Square to wait for the only tram we knew well because we had taken it the other night. We found out after half an hour of waiting that the 58 tram is only a night train, which means it only runs after midnight. We decided to go into McDonalds which was the only place open, where we got a burger and warmed up to wait for midnight. In another half hour we finally hopped on the tram getting home much later than we wanted, but laughed it off as a good story and fun bonding experience.
      Today we took a formal tour of the town which was cool, and started our intensive Czech class. We  have four hours a day of class for the rest of the week to get us started on the language. I really enjoy Czech and have found it to be surprisingly beautiful. My pronunciation is shockingly good, but the tricky part is yet to come. Apparently there are only three tenses in Czech (WHAT?) as opposed to Spanish which seemed to have endless conjugations. I initially thought the language would be a cinch when I learned this, but my hopes were dashed when my professor (also named Jiˆri) said there are seven cases. I don't even know what a case is. They don't exist in Spanish, English, or French. I think I'll be endlessly confused on that one, we'll find out later I suppose. Today we finished class by learning to count to ten. Turns out the word for four is absolutely impossible to pronounce. No really. It is spelled ˆctyˆri which is supposed to sound something like chtrji. The r sounds like a mixture between a rolled r and a jjj sound. Jiˆri 2 makes it sound so easy! I was trying to make the sound after class while waiting in the hall for our apartment to depart and Jiˆri 1 walked by and informed me that "It's not a rolled r!"... yeah yeah Jiˆri. He's so sassy, but that's what we love about him. We proceded to practice saying ˆctyˆri on the way home until we realized how funny a group of people saying the word four over and over on the metro would look.


      Overall I love love love Prague. It's beautiful, history rich, small, and cheap as dirt. A beer costs anywhere from 20 to 40 kc for a half liter, which is the equivalent of 1 to 2 dollars... Water costs more, so you really have no choice but to drink beer. Every meal I've eaten has fallen between 90 and 200 kc which is about $4.50-$10. What?! But what you still don't know is that dinner includes beer. Yes, you can get a full sized meal and a half liter of beer for under $10. It's unreal. I also bought some groceries (spagetti, sauce, cheese, lunch meat, bread, granola, yogurt, hot cocoa, juice, and cheese spread) for 350 kc or $19. This city is going to make me the biggest cheapskate ever (fingers crossed). I'm really excited for my normal classes to start next week, and I'm even more excited for our trips. We're going to ˆCesk´y Krumlov, Lidice, Terezin, Kutná Hora, Vienna, Krakow, Budapest, and more all covered by our program. They also are paying for us to attend an opera and either a soccer game or a hockey game. I might have to put in some extra money so I can get to a hockey game in addition to soccer, too much fun to say no.

      I have to get up tomorrow for 9:00 Czech class, so I better head to bed. Hopefully by the end of the week I'll be completely fluent. HAH.

Oh P.S. I forgot to mention the title of this post! On our first night I asked Marquetta how you say cheers in Czech so we could toast to a great semester with our first beers. She told us to say Na Zdraví which was immediately mistaken as Pazdravi and ultimately changed to Pastrami. Whenever we have a drink we all raise our glasses and cheer "Pastrami!" much to the amusement of our Czech friends. =)

The Fatherland

      I've decided that European countries can easily be compared to men despite the fact that most of them are referred to as women. Perhaps Germans call their country the Fatherland due to the easy man metaphor I noticed hah. Well this beautiful cold hard man named Berlin has some serious baggage. It's hidden right under the surface, though the city goes through the normal motions as though nothing has happened. Despite this effort the scars are clear: grey blocky buildings, broken remnants of a wall, shells of buildings torn and forgotten. The bandages are even clearer: new shiny architecture, clean smooth streets, spray paint, and memorials. Even the sites of remembrance hide the past. Terms like nazi, hitler, and war have become verboten, eerily missing from museums. I'm used to feeling so close to history when I visit Europe' it's what I love most about this beautiful complicated continent. In comparison, the USA seems like a wobbling toddler barely able to walk. I loved feeling the excitement and brutality in the colosseum of Rome. I was amazed at the sorrow I felt in Marie Antoinette's cell where she spent her last hours before losing her head, and was even more shocked when I felt the anger of the revolutionaries as I sauntered through her extravagant playground at Versailles. I felt the fear and tension in Anne Franks hiding place in Amsterdam. I was excited and a bit apprehensive to feel Berlin's history wash over and consume me but as I explored the city I couldn't felt the pain so clearly etched into the streets, walls, and faces. I got close once when I stumbled upon a picture of Hitler giving a speech in Lustgarten while meandering through the Topography of Terror. My eyes grew wide as I stared at Hitler's isolated figure standing on the spot where I had taken what I thought was a funny picture the day before. I shuddered at how I had laughed and literally frolicked through the grass laughing at Marx's quote about how revolution couldn't occur where people stayed off the grass. "What now Marx!" I thought... not so funny anymore. But I quickly pulled myself together and moved to the next picture. Though my numb feeling in Berlin could have been due to my fear of what I would find, I think it was largely due to the Berliners themselves. They try to move through their lives as if nothing has happened. Despite this facade, they keep their eyes pinned to their government, rarely smile, and speak only of the past in hushed tones; the pain is clear. They know history must never repeat itself and the entire city makes me feel likeI should tiptoe around. I've pledged to return in warmer days. I want to see the green of Tiergarten, sip a beer in a biergarten, and hopefully feel some warmth in Berlin.

      Kathleen and I managed to see nearly everything despite my lateness. After 20 hours of travel getting to Heathrow I was ready to hop on one more quick flight and end my journey. As snow started falling my hopes for a quick journey fell and I spent about 24 more hours in London (I anticipated two). I had failed two sleep at all, finishing two books instead, but I managed to pull myself together, find some miraculously remaining energy, and head into Berlin. We walked around West Berlin, picked up our passes, saw the Wilhelm Memorial Church and walked around what we thought was the huge shopping center called KaDeWe. We tried to grab dinner only to find we knew no German and our waitress knew no English. We picked random items on the menu, crossed our fingers, and vowed to google some basic terms when we got back. Or waitress brought out fish, a sour cream sauce, and potatoes. The meal was delicious and we laughed our way through. When we got home we found out that we had eaten in a small shopping building, not KaDeWe, in no way famous, and not on our list of things to see. We worried the trip was destined to fail much like the first few days.
      After an amazing night of sleep we headed out for our first real day of sightseeing. We went to museum island starting with the Bode which held mostly coins and altarpieces. Despite my lack of interest in this art period I recognized one piece: Ven Der Weyden's Deposition. We headed to the Pergamon Museum to be amazed at the huge Pergamon Alter and found our amazement growing when we laid eyes on the stunning blue Ishtar Gate. We moved to the Neues Museum to see the bust of Nefertiti and endless rooms of other Egyptian artifacts. As our hunger grew we quickly went through the Old National Gallery which held some lesser known impressionist art by some of the greats. After grabbing some quick sandwiches and warming up with hot cocoa in a little cafe we took the tram up to the Berlin Wall Memorial. As it began to get dark and impossibly colder we hurried along the path skimming the information. The walk was cool though we would have liked to spend more time really appreciating the site. We got dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant called Lemongrass Scent and went home.
      The next day we rose early to make our appointment at the Reichstag. We waited in the cold for half an hour for the door to open so we could get inside and get warm. To our horror we remembered that the dome has an open top, but we braved the weather to appreciate the view and listen to all the information on the audio guide. As we left the Reichstag we worried the whole day would be totally ruined by the cold as our toes and fingers began to numb. We succumbed and went into Starbucks which had a great view of the Brandenburg gate (haha). As we quickly warmed up we laughed at the fact that we were in a Starbucks and planned warming breaks into the rest of the day. We took a quick tram to the New Synagogue which was only partially rebuilt after the Nazi regime burned it down and headed back to see the Memorial to Politicians who Opposed Hitler, Memorial to Victims of the Wall, and Hotel Adlon where Michael Jackson dangled Blanket off the balcony. Then we warmed in a cool bookstore called Berlin Story, looked up at Humboldt University, and walked into the Humboldt Library where we got kicked out while looking at the stained glass window depicting Lenin. The memorial to book burning was too foggy to see into, so we went into Hedwig Cathedral before looking at the Kathe Kollwitz statue in the Neue Watch. We paid our way into the History Museum excited to get a refresher on the history we both had learned in high school. After seeing all the amazing artifacts from every period of German History we quickly saw the Humboldt box which was weird but free, the Berlin Cathedral which was beautiful, and Marien church. We finished out the great day at a decent Italian place where I finally ordered a glass of white wine (my first technically legal drink!). Our feelings about the trip finally turned up after our first totally successful day.
      The next day we went to Checkpoint Charlie which had a kitschy fun museum. We walked down to the Jewish History Museum which had some amazing information about how rampant antisemitism has been in Europe and ended with an even more amazing installation called the void. The installation had a skinny room with tall ceiling, cold cement walls and the floor was covered in metal faces with their mouths open in a mixture of shock and pain that gave off a disturbing sound as you walked across them. We walked up to the Topography of Terror which had some cool pictures and focused on the perpetrators of WWII instead of the victims, making it unique. Then we skimmed through the Stasi museum, grabbed some humorous toasted cheese sandwiches and walked up to the German Cathedral which had a museum on the German government which was all in German so we breezed through. We headed to a huge chocolate shop called Fassbender and Rausch and after perusing throughout the chocolate options we went upstairs to the cafe for some for chocolate mouse with raspberry jelly and a dark hot cocoa with rum. Delicious! Fully satisfied, and quite a bit warmer we hopped on the tram once more to arrive at Potsdamer Platz where we walked through the Sony Center and admired the capitalism driven side of Berlin. We walked down to the German Resistance Memorial which was also all in German and totally empty. Despite our total loss regarding the German language, the building was still cool because an attempt to assassinate Hitler was planned inside before the planners were caught and shot in the courtyard. We quickly caught Gemalde Galerie to see some great art, some of which I recognized, before some funny music blared over the speaker to kick us out. Kathleen and I joked that if the music hadn't taken so long we could have seen a couple more rooms. It didn't matter much though, seeing as Rick Steves ended his tour after the rooms we did see so we didn't feel too bad. We headed home to grab some great pub food and amazing beer at a place called Hirsch where the bartender was really nice and chose some good beer for us since we clearly had no clue what to order.
      Our final day began at the East Side Gallery. Despite the cold we really enjoyed the full mile long stretch of the wall taking pictures the whole way. We then headed to the Holocaust Memorial which was my favorite site on the whole trip. The museum was really powerful and shared stories of Jewish people in Europe during the Holocaust along with the numbers of Jewish people murdered from each country. I felt that the museum was the only one we visited that really evoked emotion. The memorial fit right in with the mood with minimalism that made it easy to relate to: just what I like in a memorial. We grabbed lunch next door at a pub where I finally had curry wurst which was really amazing, probably my favorite meal though it was so cheap, along with a big glass of beer. We stopped at a second hand shop to buy some bier steins as souvenirs before heading to the Charlottenburg Palace which we didn't go inside at Rick Steve's recommendation, though we did snap pictures. We tried to get into the Berggruen Museum to see some works by Picasso only to find it under renovation. We skipped over to the Scharf-Gestern Collection which held some cool surrealist art along with a section of works by Goya, Daumier, and Toulouse-Lautrec. We took the tram one last time to see the Kathe Kollwitz Museum, and after much searching found it, only to be extremely disappointed that it too was under renovation. Even worse we found out the exhibit opened back up the day we were leaving, such a bummer. We lightened our mood at the Erotic Museum which was extremely entertaining and somewhat shocking but very fun. We found the real KaDeWe bringing our trip full circle and ate at a pasta place on the top floor. We came home to pack and plan transportation before heading to the bar downstairs called Red Rooster to celebrate a successful trip with some beers and cider.

      Honestly at first I felt disappointed with Berlin, largely due to long flight delays and the cold. I was excited to feel the history of the city only to find that everyone including myself was largely numb to it all. But as I got to know the city better I found the current atmosphere to also be an interesting moment in history. Overall, I've promised to come back in warmer times and came to appreciate Berlin. I think that the cold and closed off man that is Berlin is fascinating in every way, and though he is hard to love, I intend to give it my all. This city needs and deserves some love. For now I'm excited to get to Prague. I'm hoping my new smaller and less tumultuous (though not by much) home will be easier to wrap my arms and head around. I can't wait!

Until then, Auf Wiedersehen Berlin and Dobrý Den Prague!
-Patty

The Beginning

         So  mostly this post is to a test so I can set up all the formatting stuff, but I'll try not to make it completely boring. I started actually packing yesterday; I set out all my clothes and important documents that I'll need while abroad. I thought it would be a challenge to minimize my wardrobe for a whole semester down to two suitcases, but I got everything laid out and the piles are shockingly small! Maybe they'll stop looking so small when I try shoving them into a suitcase heh. I also haven't set out any shoes and let's be honest that will he my real challenge.
         I got everything planned out for Berlin with Kathleen this past week so we have our daily itinerary and I bought my three day Belin pass this morning which will cover most of our sightseeing for three days and all of our transportation for three days. It's all beginning to feel very real! I've been practicing my basic German so I'll be able to order at a restaurant without sounding like an annoying America tourist. Besides, what fun is going to another country if you can't immerse yourself completely in their culture. My mom continues to encourage me to learn obscene terms hah, I blame the Italian term book we took to Rome which for some reason thought we needed to know how to tell someone we had strange infections and needed ointments. I think I'll stick to numbers, asking where the restroom is, and ording food.
         I'll run my last few errands in the next couple days like getting the buttons sewed back on my warm coat, checking the hours of German Museums, and getting my hair cut. Still haven't decided whether it's a trim or a full pixie cut chop... Probably just a trim hah.
         I'm getting so excited to be in Europe! Ever since I spent my first few days in Europe, in Amsterdam actually, I fell in love. I realized that I'm a European at heart and ever since I've dreamed of living there. Now that I'm actually getting old enough to seriously contemplate my future, I keep finding myself looking at internships, jobs, and a life outside of the United States and ultimately in Europe. I've already fallen in love with Amsterdam, Rome, and Paris, I'm ready to see Berlin, Vienna, whatever other towns and cities I'm able to visit, and most importantly Prague. I see this trip as my first real opportunity to truly live in Europe. I'm both excited and nervous to see how we will match up! Who knows, maybe I'll choose Prague as my future home. :)

For now I'll just run those last errands, desperately try to find a way to keep up with my American TV shows in Europe,  and dread the long flights in anticipation for what I know will be a life changing four months.

S láskou,
Patty