I successfully got through my first week of classes! I'm sure you all want to know everything about all my classes since most of you cannot get enough of school, so I'll tell you all about them =D. But first I'll show you a picture of a couple new friends to draw you in:
In the middle is Tyler, my pal from Czech class. We found a fun spot called the Motor Cafe which has vintage furniture and motorcycles inside. We spent the majority of Wednesday doing work over coffee and ham and cheese sandwiches, which I'm sure will become a routine. The girl is Eva, my newfound Grinnell buddy. I have no clue how we never met at Grinnell since we were clearly meant to be friends. We have the same strange sense of humor and though I'm pretty sure everyone else thinks we are the least funny people ever, we're pretty dang hilarious. Here's another picture to convince you I do more than go to class despite the rest of this blog:
These lovely ladies are my roommates (minus Sommer) about to try our first taste of Becherovka. On the left is Jeanette, the other Grinnellian whom I room with. I can tell we'll hang out a lot when we get back to Iowa next year. Next is Eva whom I've already mentioned. On my other side is Maddie who goes to American University and lives upstairs. She's a great sightseeing buddy and I'm pretty sure we'll stick together on all our travelling adventures. Finally, on the far right is Alyssa who lives in the other room with Sommer. She's really fun, smart, and a great roommate.
Ok now to the more intellectual stuff.
My first class is Czech, which you all know about already. Jiri is still a great teacher and person, nothing new there. The class still doesn't really feel like a class at all. Actually none of my classes really feel like classes here, more like occasional lectures informing us about this beautiful place we now call home. Maybe that will begin to change as the work piles up but hopefully not. Czech class feels more like an opportunity to learn the language we hear everyday than a required class. The first quiz was a breeze (easy A woohoo!). Hopefully it continues to be easy but helpful in developing my elementary Czech. I've definitely gotten better; I feel confident ordering food and saying how much money I want to leave in Czech. Unfortunately I don't think I've completed a single conversation in Czech despite my efforts. Most of the time the waiter or waitress has figured out we're American from the start, and despite my efforts to order in Czech (Dam si Gulas a vodu prosim), they respond in English to my disappointment. More recently I've succeeded in my attempts to appear Czech, though my ruse is ruined with a final question like, "for here or to go" or, "what size" to which I bow my head in shame and respond in English. Regardless, I'm determined to learn more Czech and succeed!
My first actually new class was Resistance and Dissent from Nazism to Communism. Our professor is exactly what you would imagine for a dissent course: she has bright orange hair and showed us a music video of her band. The readings look amazing, covering everything from graffiti to rave culture. Even more exciting are the field trips we have planned. We're going to some sort of resistance themed concert, a film festival called One World, and a trip to see some graffiti in person. For our final assignment we have two options. The first choice is to write paper on a person or movement of our choice, which would be great if it wasn't overshadowed by the awesomeness of choice two: a creative project. We're allowed to create some piece of dissent art instead of writing a paper? I mean hellooooo! Is that even a choice? Maybe I'll try my hand at graffiti... We started discussing large dissent movements in the Czech Republic beginning with Jan Hus who was the Czech equivalent of Martin Luther. We also learned a bit about the assassination of Heydrich (the Nazi leader in the Czech Republic) which was carried out by three Czech paratroopers. Hitler responded by arresting 13,000 people before laying the blame on the town of Lidice (which I'll be visiting in March). Lidice faced the wrath of the Nazis: all men over 16 were killed immediately and the children and women were sent to concentration camps where most of them met the same fate. Our professor asked us if we thought it was worth it to sacrifice all the people of Lidice to kill one Nazi leader. Though it's an interesting question, it's not one I feel I am equipped to answer, at least for now. I know next to nothing about Heydrich's atrocities and even less about the town of Lidice. Honestly I'm not that interested in hearing what a bunch of American students think about a morally ambiguous Czech event seeing as none of us can possibly have a valid opinion supported by evidence. I would have rather heard some Czech opinions or learned some of the facts about the event first. Fortunately what our prof lacks in prompting discussion she makes up for in sheer awesomeness, and as long as the readings are interesting, I'm all in. (That was a long explanation, I better make the rest shorter).
My next class was Prague, Vienna, and Budapest: An Intellectual History. Our professor for this class is pretty interesting. He speaks very slowly and pauses a lot, but has some great things to say. He has a very strange sense of humor (it might just be a Czech sense of humor) which I find funny albeit though everyone else seems to find only inappropriate. I'm the only one who actually laughed when he sarcastically talked about the Austrians as victims while a picture of Austrian women waving Nazi flags and looking very thrilled was projected behind him... maybe I'm a bad person, but I think I heard some nervous chuckles from the back of the classroom, so at least it's not just me. I'm fully aware that not every Austrian was as thrilled to have Hitler in their country as the women in the picture were, and I figure my professor is also aware of that fact. Anyway, the readings in this class range from city planning to philosophy and politics. Should be very interesting. Our prof informed us that the class should be fairly easy, and the tests are all in multiple choice... what? I'm excited to read Metamorphosis by Kafka this week. (See much shorter)
Next up was our mandatory Cultural and Political History of East Central Europe. This class brings me right back to my IB European History class. Our professor is the typical history type, older white man with a good mustache. He's also extremely intelligent, needing no notes for his lectures. Knowing that he has all this stuff simply stored in his head keeps me totally engaged. It's also very cool learning about 20th century European history with more emphasis on countries like Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic. I don't think we mentioned those countries more than a few times in my former European history classes; they were simply roped in with the Eastern forces. I'm trying to soak up all the information I can and I can't help but wish my memory was more sponge-like.
Finally I got to my Czech Film class. After already sitting through two hour and a half lectures I was a bit worried about sitting through another three hour class. My worries were quickly put to rest as the class started. Our prof is a very hip young Czech woman with a short cut and plenty of energy. We watched two short films (one is called Tripe and Onions, czech it out (hehe get it?)) which were both really fun to pick apart and discuss. We are assigned one Czech film a week, so I'll tell you all about those when the time comes.
Side note to Mom: Only one of the films we watched is on the list (Loves of a Blonde), but I might sign up to present on that one, we'll see! I'll let you know which other ones are worth watching as I go.
Overall I really enjoy my classes, though they are definitely different from any other classes I've taken. It's mostly very strange to have class for so long. Three hours is a very long time to sit in one room, regardless of how interesting the information is. It's also strange only having class once a week. The once a week schedule also means we will only meet about 13 times in total. I guess I'll get used to it. Mostly classes just feel like something I'm doing on the side while I enjoy my time in Prague. I think that's how we're supposed to feel, but it is extremely strange. The reading is also pretty weird, largely due to how spread out our classes are. My general day consists of getting up, going to the gym, eating lunch, heading to a class or two, coming home to dinner, and going to bed. I spend some freer afternoons at cafes doing reading. We have Fridays off for the most part so those days are spent doing readings almost all day. Our first free weekend is next week, and I'm planning on doing all the Prague sightseeing Rick Steves suggests. After that I'll spend the free weekends doing short trips outside of Prague. So far I've planned a trip to see a couple castles, and a trip to a student town called Olomouc. A few people are planning bigger trips to places like Copenhagen and Turkey, but I think I'll pass. I figure my big trip was Berlin and it turns out I don't have a bottomless bank account. I'm still open to the idea of doing a slightly bigger trip at the end of the semester to somewhere in Slovakia or Slovenia. We'll see I suppose.
I guess I should mention the gym that I've joined. It's small, but fully stocked with all the machines and weights I need. I started my weightlifting schedule on Wednesday which was pretty amusing. The weight area is full of tattooed men and soccer player types, so I should fit right in (with the soccer player types that is). The only other women who seem to do any weight lifting are strange wrestler types who stick to the barbells and occasionally wrestle with each other... it's pretty strange and awkward. I'm also the only one who seems to wear appropriate exercise attire (or the American standard of exercise attire I suppose). I'm the only woman who wears shorts, and no one else wears running shoes either. The closest shoes people seem to have are indoor soccer shoes, but most people wear other types like sketchers or wrestling shoes. I even saw a man on the treadmill in crocs once. I don't think any of the other women at the gym sweat either. A few of them get a solid glisten going on at the treadmills occasionally, but I feel a bit isolated as I'm actually sweating bullets while I work out. I figure it means I'm actually an athlete, so I don't mind too much. I got some strange looks squatting free weights too. I took the rack over from a thoroughly tattooed man and piled on about the same number of weights, so I guess the strange looks were justified. I'll just keep wearing soccer shirts so they know I mean business. =)
Last night Jeanette, Eva, and I met up with a Grinnell alumni of 2010 named Zac. He took us out to a hooka bar called the Big Lebowski which was a really fun hole in the wall type place with an equally fun bartender. He was just in the area doing some work and contacted us. It's so cool that you can really find Grinnellians everywhere, and the conversation runs freely and easily. Gotta love Grinnell.
We're leaving for Cesky Krumlov tomorrow so I'll spend my night packing and finishing up some work. I'll be sure to take lots of pictures and post again after the trip.
