Pictures from Poland

Ok, so I don't have a lot of photos from Poland, but in my defense, we were only there for like a day. Also, I find myself leaning towards uploading the photos I find amusing or interesting, so if you want to see more of the actual buildings or town, just let me know, and I can upload those as well, no problem. It was snowing/slushing almost the whole time we were there, but we had fun. So, same drill as before... :)

1) Part of an indoor market, that is usually an outdoor market, that is under construction right now. So, there is only a very small part of it open right now. However, when it is open, it is a huge market and center for trade.

2) A water spout designed like a dragon. In fact, I have seen lots of imitations of dragons, so I have this growing feeling that I might in fact see a real dragon while I am here! I am getting more and more excited!

3) Awesome chimney!! I mean seriously, why don't all chimneys look like this?

4) Inner courtyard of the school where Copernicus studied.

5) Inside of St. Anne's Church, with a view of the main dome.

6) Main nave of St. Anne's Church. This church was actually really cool on the inside, I thought. I really like the fact that the colors are so light. It was really non-oppressive, which is a change from what you usually see over here. So, I liked that someone was different and innovative, and decided to create something refreshing.

7) St. Mary's Basilica.

8) Our walking encyclopedia, Z.

9) St. Florian, the patron saint of Poland, who was a fireman in real life apparently, and so is the patron saint of firemen as well.

10) The inner side of the wall to the city. You can see the ledge where they used to run back and forth to deliver messages from one side to the other. Also where the archers stood. I thought it was really cool.

11) The Great Barbican, also really cool.

12) Pierogis, a traditional Polish dish.

13) Carly, can you see why I love her?

14) Our bread and "butter" knives.........a little overkill I think.

15) Favorite people...from the left...Carly, Vaughn, Robbie, Miranda, Bridget, Stephanie, and Kim.

Non-essentials

Hello all! I am just going to briefly fill you in on a pretty typical, not very exciting week. I will be in Vienna tomorrow through Sunday, so I want to get this all updated before then, even though it might not be the most interesting thing you have ever read. :) Also, I have uploaded some pictures from Krakow, and just in case you were wondering, I don't have any pictures from Auschwitz. I don't think that it would be right for me to diminish what happened there. Pictures are a cheap imitation, and the experience of those people should not be cheapened. Anyway, let's get on to this past week. Monday is actually turning out to be my favorite day of the week. I know, I know, I can already hear the gasps of astonishment, so let me explain. My class on Monday doesn't start until 2 p.m. so I get an adequate amount of sleep before I start my day. Second, I am absolutely in love with the subject matter of my class. Never before have I sat through so much learning and actually been upset when the class is over. I constantly crave more information about what we talk about in class. It is really kind of strange. Forensic psychology is my new found passion! This past Monday we profiled a crime scene...how totally awesome is that!!! However, I do have a midterm next week, so keep that in your prayers! I started reading my article on psychopathic personalities, and I love it so far. I am like five pages into it and I already have questions that I want to discuss with my teacher. I honestly, think that I might end up doing something related to this when I graduate. But we'll see. After class I went to opera with Carly, who I really like! I think Carly and Rob are tied as my favorite people on the trip. I am going to be really sad when I have to say good-bye to them. The opera we went to was called, The Bartered Bride, and I really liked it...mostly because it had a happy ending :) The first opera that I went to see was horribly depressing. However, I have to say that I really, really enjoy the opera. I went to see one ballet and didn't really like it all that much, but I really get immersed into the operas. I really like how emotional they are. Again, not in a sappy way, but in a, "I really feel like I can identify with the characters because they convey emotion really well with their voice," kinda way.

Tuesday was also pretty interesting. I got my grade back for the presentation that I gave last week, and I have to say that I was a little disappointed with it. I am going to email my professor and hopefully try to get it raised a bit. But Tuesday night I got to go to home group for like the first time in two weeks, I think. It was really great. It turns out that Chris is an amazing guitar player and an even better singer, so home group was focused a lot more on worship this week, which is what I love most. I left feeling really uplifted and encouraged, but also challenged. Plus, I am getting to know the people there a little better, so it was a good time. :) Then after that, I got talked into going out with a couple girlfriends. And I literally mean I got talked into it, I got ready in like 10 minutes. It was a pretty relaxed night of drinks and dancing. And dancing is another favorite of mine, so I had fun. Got back pretty late again, but I was really tired when I got back so I had no trouble falling asleep, which was a huge blessing. Wednesday was pretty boring. After my theatre class, which is my second favorite class, I went to copy an article at the AIFS office, and then walked around the Easter Fair that is all over town. I got a present for a friend back home, looked at all the souvenirs I wish I could get for myself, and then headed back to the dorm for the rest of the night. My kinda day really. :) The weather here has been really great lately. We have hit 60 every day this week, and today it was like 65! So, after class today, my friend and I went and sat in the sun on the banks of the river for an hour or two. We did some reading, talked, and just relaxed under the sun. It was really nice considering that I am getting sunburns when I wear t-shirts because it has been so long since my skin has seen any sun. We will just take it a little at a time, and soon I won't glow in the dark anymore. I will spend the rest of the night packing, and hopefully get to bed early since we are leaving for Vienna at 9:00 a.m sharp tomorrow. I am sure that Vienna will be gorgeous, so I will try to update soon after I get back. Stay tuned...

A week full of stress and followed by the drinking holiday of the world...St. Patrick's Day!

Ok, so the last post ended on a kinda a depressing note, so I will keep this one lighter. Also, this one might be a little long, cause I am going to cover the whole week. I want to get caught up once and for all...minus the pictures of Poland that I intend to post soon. So, I left off last Sunday, when we got back from Poland. On Monday, in my Selected Topics of Forensic Psychology class, I had a group presentation to give. We were presenting on the different individual views of juvenile delinquency, and it was over an hour long presentation. The class wasn't until 2 p.m., but our group was up from about 8 a.m. on trying to prepare for it. A couple of of us were in Poland, so that is why we weren't able to work on it before then. Anyway, the presentation went pretty well I think. Forensics has actually become my favorite class. I hadn't ever really explored the idea of forensic psychology before this class, but I have seriously considered getting my graduate degree in something related to this area of study. I find it absolutely fascinating! To prove my point, Carly and I are giving our final presentation in this class on Psychopathic Personalities, and I am absolutely pumped about it. Our presentation has to be about an hour and a half long, and I am looking forward to it, and our 80 page article on the topic. Yes, I know, this makes me certifiably odd. Anyway, Tuesday wasn't much better...in fact it was much worse. I had to give a 50 minute solo presentation on Language Acquisition and Socialization of children...yeah I know, I didn't have any idea what that meant either. Regretfully, I now know way more than I ever wanted too. While I did make the time limit, I have to honestly say that it wasn't the most interesting presentation I have ever given. I made myself bored. When presenting, that is usually not a good thing. However, I gave it my best shot, and it is behind me now...I can only hope for the best.

Needless to say I got like five hours of sleep a night for like three days preparing for all of those presentations, so when St. Patrick's Day reared it's pretty head on Wednesday, I was ready to loosen up a little. There were half-off cocktails at an English bookstore/bar...and so a couple of friends and I spent our afternoon there...who passes on $3 mixed drinks?? Long story short, I left there feeling much more relaxed than when I arrived. I left the group a bit early because I had to go to another one of my mandatory theater performances for my Theatre Analysis class. We went to go see Fragile, a forty-five minute, non-verbal performance. It was physical theater, so there was a lot of...let's call it abstract...movement. It was all in all a decent performance, but I was still very "relaxed" during it, so that probably clouded my perception a bit. After the performance, I went back to the dorm...it was like 9 p.m. at this point...to take a shower before we headed out to SaSaZu for the night. SaSaZu was the place to go on St. Patty's Day because you got in for free before midnight if you wore green. However, since green is my least favorite color ever, I had to pay. This club was huge! It was my first time there, and there were probably over 300 hundred people in that place...and it was only like half full! I hung out with Stephanie, who is cool but a little awkward, and Robbie, who is probably one of the funniest people I have ever met in my entire life...no joke. I was with them most of the night, but it was a kinda lame night. I had more fun when we were pre-gaming earlier at the Globe...the bookstore/bar place. The music that they were playing was really terrible. It bordered on folk music sometimes, which is just unacceptable club music. So, Robbie and I decided to leave around like 2 a.m., we just couldn't handle the lameness anymore :) I am going to be really honest here, and hope that your judgement isn't too severe, but the next morning I had the worst hangover. I couldn't even open my eyes cause my head was pounding so hard. So, I ended up not going to my class on Thursday. I never want to be that hungover again...totally not worth it. I couldn't even function until like 3 in the afternoon. I spent the rest of Thursday in a cafe doing some busy work, like figuring out my schedule for next semester, and labeling some pictures that I had just uploaded. So, I had a semi-productive day. I went to bed super early that night.

Friday, I went on one of Z's tours. I don't think that I have mentioned this yet, but Z works with AIFS (the program I am here with) and every Friday he does walking tours of different parts of the city. Z is like a walking encyclopedia, so if you are going to go on a tour...go with Z for free and learn more than a guided tour could ever hope to teach you. I have been on one or two of these before, but this past Friday, Z took us to the National Military Museum, and then to this memorial on a hill...I can't remember what it was called, but the largest equestrian statue in the world was there. There were only four of us on the tour. Robbie, Brigitte, Elina (one of my suitemates) and myself. Z was actually telling us that he was really surprised at the lack of turn out there has been from our particular group of students. He said that never before have so little people turned out for the cultural events like operas, walking tours, ballets, and cafe outings. He said last semester they didn't have enough tickets for the students who wanted to participate, and this semester, they don't have enough students for the tickets. So, you can see a little bit the type of people that I am dealing with here. They like to party, but they don't really give a rip about the city. It is frustrating sometimes. However, Robbie and Brigitte are usually at all the outings, so the three of us have become pretty good friends. They are both from the University of Tampa. After the tour, Robbie and Brigitte and I had dinner at McDonalds and then came back to the dorm. I left shortly thereafter to see a movie with Carly. We saw Daybreakers...the vampire movie. Now, before you say anything, it was one of the only...and I mean the only...decent movies in the theater here. However, I will say this, Iron Man 2 comes out here in less than a month! That's right be jealous!!! Don't worry though, I promise not to spoil anything for you guys :) Anyway, Daybreakers wasn't terrible, and I like hanging out with Carly...so it was worth it. If you aren't already aware from my last post, I only got like three hours of sleep on Friday night because my roommate legitimately snored for over six hours. So, I was productive and updated my blog at around five in the morning here. So, following my three hours of sleep...and not consecutive hours I might add...I got up at 10 a.m. to go the zoo on Saturday!!! It took us about an hour to figure out how to get there, but once we arrived it was pretty great. We saw some pretty crazy things from both animals and people alike, and Robbie literally had us laughing for like five hours straight with his running commentary on everything we saw...the fact that I was to exhausted to think straight probably helped his cause though. The zoo here is pretty decent, we saw tigers, lions, polar bears, snakes, elephants...you know, the usual. But, I will say that there facilities are huge. It took us a solid five hours to see most of it. But, I had a great time! Spent the rest of the evening doing laundry and trying not to fall asleep on my feet. Got in bed around midnight after a very nice chat with my parents...who are still trying to set up skype...*sigh* But, it's cool.

Today, I wasn't very productive. I went to church this afternoon for the first time in two weeks, cause I have been out of town, and it was really good to be back. I saw Chris, who I haven't talked to in forever, so it was good to catch up with him and see how he has been. Then, I just came back to the room and chilled out for a couple of hours. I don't really have a lot of work this upcoming week, so I didn't have any homework to do. I went out for a glass of wine with my friend and her parents and a couple other girls. That was pretty fun. Her parents are funny and it was really fun making them laugh by telling them some of our ridiculous stories, like how you can buy beer at McDonalds. And, now it is really late...cause it takes me forever to write these posts, so I am going to head to bed. Sorry this is so long, but I just wanted to get everything said before the new week started. But I will say that I think spring has finally come to Prague!!! Stay tuned...

Poland!!!

Well, it is almost five in the morning here, and I have to say this might be one of the only times when I haven't been able to fall asleep no matter how hard I try. The fact that my roommate came home drunk again and has been snoring for over an hour straight probably doesn't help. If I ever marry someone who snores, it will absolutely be the death of me. So, since I have all this extra time on my hands right now, I thought I would take this opportunity to post about Poland...I need to get caught up on here anyhow. So, Molly left on Thursday morning, and I left on Friday morning for Krakow...and I do mean morning. We had to leave our dorm by 8 a.m. sharp, because it was between an 8-9 hour bus ride to Krakow. And for those motion-sick prone among us, it was not a fun ride. The good news was that I slept through most of it on the way there. We arrived in Krakow, which by the way, is not the capital of Poland (it is actually only the third largest city in Poland, but definitely the most historical), at around 4:45 p.m. We had an hour or so to get ourselves situated in our rooms before we were to meet back down in the lobby. When we met in the lobby at 6 p.m., Z and Jana (who are with AIFS, and take us on all our trips) walked us to the center of Krakow and pointed out the available restaurants where we could eat, and jazz clubs that we could visit if we felt so inclined. So, a group of us decided to head to a traditional Polish restaurant to try some pierogis, a traditional Polish dish. Pierogis are essentially dumplings filled with something or another, usually meat or potato. The first night we were there, I tried the Russian style pierogis, which were filled with potato and cream cheese. They were really gross...really. But, the second night we were there we went back to the same restaurant and I had the pierogis that were filled with meat, and those were actually really, really good! So, if you ever find yourself in Poland, try to the meat pierogis, not the potato...I learned the hard way. After dinner, we found a neat little dessert shop and had some light desserts. Then, we decided that we wanted to find a jazz club to go chillax in for a couple hours before we returned to the hotel. As we were wandering around the main city square in Krakow, we turned down one of the side streets that looked promising. It turned out to be way more promising than we thought! Poland has, by far, the coolest night scene of any city that I visited so far. They hire people to stand on the street and invite you into their club by telling you how awesome it is, and giving you coupons for drinks. There was no cover charge at any of the clubs either. So we went to about three different clubs, one of which had lasers and a fog machine on the dance floor...SWEET! We stayed out till about midnight, and then decided to call it a night since the tour the next morning was at 10 a.m. Since, we only had Saturday to actually tour around Poland, Z and Jana set up a morning and an afternoon tour that would go to different parts of the city. The first tour was focused around the center of Krakow, and the historical buildings in the "downtown" area.

Some of the main sights that we saw on the first tour were as follows:

• The Great Barbican of Krakow: Krakow's main city gate, which was built in the 16th century. It is a circular marvel of military architecture.
• Florianska Street: The street leading to Poland's main square, named after St. Florian, the patron saint of Poland.
• Rynek Glowny - Main Market Square: The main square of the Old Town in Krakow. It dates back to the 13th century, and is approximately 430,000 sq. ft. It is the largest medieval town square in Europe.
• St. Mary's Basilica: Built and then rebuilt in the 13th and 14th centuries, respectively, it is particularly famous for a wooden altarpiece carved by Veit Stoss. The coolest thing about it though, is that every hour, a trumpet signal is played from the top of the tallest tower. The tune breaks off mid-stream to commemorate the famous 13th century trumpeter, who was shot in the throat while sounding the alarm before the Mongol attack on the city.
• Sukiennice: This is easily one of the most recognizable places in Krakow. The "Cloth Hall" as it is called in English was once a major centre of international trading in the 15th century.
• St. Anne's Church: One of Poland's most beautiful Baroque churches.
• Jagellonian University: The second oldest university in central Europe. Among its famous students was the astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus.

These were definitely the main sights on our tour, but we also saw a couple smaller churches and buildings along the way. I did not attend the second tour because I had to bring schoolwork with me. I had a presentation the following Tuesday that was supposed to be a minimum of 50 minutes in length, and since Molly had been here the week before, I was seriously behind on preparation for that. So, I spent most of the afternoon working on the powerpoint for that presentation. I joined some friends for dinner and dessert again that night, but we went back to our hotel soon thereafter because we had to be up early on Sunday again. On Sunday, we had to be out the door of the hotel at 8 a.m. We were going to see Auschwitz, and then we would return back home from there. Auschwitz was about an hour outside of Krakow, and it is actually an umbrella term for three separate camps within about two miles of each other. We visited Auschwitz 1 and Auschwitz 2 (also referred to as Birkenau), and they are only about a mile apart. I am not going to say much about the time I spent in these places, but I think that Z, our guide, summed it up nicely...we were in the antechamber of hell. It is absolutely impossible to describe the way I felt in this place. It is almost as if the whole atmosphere hasn't changed since the war. It was physically hard for me to breathe while I was there. It was the hardest I have cried in a long time, and even as I write now, there are tears streaming down my face. The torture the prisoners were put through, the courtyards that were full of blood from executions, the gas chambers, we saw all of it. Not only video, but the actual rooms they were kept in...the rooms that still had fingernail marks on the wall, the courtyards where hundreds of thousands were shot, the gallows where thousands more were hung. I had never questioned how and why God would allow the Holocaust until that day. And I don't think that issue will ever resolve itself in my mind for as long as I live. I don't really want to talk about it anymore. After those walks, we got back on the bus and drove back to Prague. I did some more homework that night, and then hit the sack, cause I was exhausted. And that pretty much sums up Poland. I will update shortly, about the most stressful week ever that followed our return...stay tuned.

Ok, a lot of these are actually pictures of the same thing, so I will group them together so that the descriptions don't get very tedious. And they are in reverse chronological order...so #1 happened last, and so forth.

1) The National Theatre...it used to be white.

2) I have no idea what this building is, but it looks sweet! I think it actually is something pretty significant, but I haven't been able to figure that out quite yet. No worries though...I will discover its identity.

3) Molly and I in front of the Dancing House.

4-6) Various shots of the Dancing House. Number 6 is one of my favorites, because it shows the side of the building opposite the glass building, and I love the windows on this building. They stick out from the sides almost like a cartoon...I think the effect is really cool to look at.

7) Molly beneath the Dancing House.

8) Changing of the guards at the castle.

9-11) The Lennon Wall...I absolutely LOVE all the colors!

12) This is a great story. So, I ordered Turkish coffee at a cafe in Karlovy Vary, while we were waiting to get our massages. I didn't know what Turkish coffee was, so I thought I would try it. I had not sipped out of the mug at the point this photo was taken. "But Jessica," you might ask, "why then is the mug not full?" Well, I will tell you, it was full of coffee grounds. Apparently, what Turkish coffee actually means is that you grind up half a mug's worth of coffee beans, pour hot water on the top, and then mix it together and serve. The expression, "Drink this...it will put some hair on your chest"...totally applies here. So, I proceeded to extract all the grinds I could, and then I spelled out my name. I didn't actually drink any of it. The waitress didn't think it was quite as funny as we did, but she did laugh as much as Czech people are able to.

13) This a shot of me drinking mineral water in Karlovy Vary. It's kind of a shame that it's not a video, cause then you could have seen me immediately spit it out, since it tasted similar to sucking on a lead pipe...only stronger.

14) Karlovy Vary in a blizzard.

15) Molly and I on a quaint street in Karlovy Vary.

16) The awesome place where we had tea and gross pancakes.

The rest of the week with Molly!

Ok, I posted some pictures from Molly's time here, and some of the places we saw. On Monday, we woke up early, before my first class at 2, and headed out to do some sight-seeing. First, we went to Charles Bridge, and walked from one side to the other...which I had never done. Then, on the other side we found our way to the John Lennon Wall. According to Wikipedia, the Lennon Wall used to be a normal wall up until 1988. In 1988, the wall was a source of irritation for the then communist regime of Gustav Husak. Young Czechs would write grievances on the wall and in a report of the time this led to a clash between hundreds of students and security police on the nearby Charles Bridge. The movement these students followed was described ironically as "Lennonism" and Czech authorities described these people variously as alcoholics, mentally deranged, sociopathic, and agents of Western capitalism. The wall continuously undergoes change and the original portrait of Lennon is long lost under layers of new paint. Even when the wall was repainted by some authorities, on the second day it was again full of poems and flowers. Today, the wall represents a symbol of youth ideals such as love and peace. It is full of John Lennon-inspired graffiti, and pieces of Beatles songs. Then we went up to the castle, and walked around inside the cathedral, and watch the changing of the guard...which was actually really cool! Then I had to go to class, so I took Molly to the Palladium, which is our five story mall, where we planned to meet up after my class. Molly, being ingenious as always, found her way to the National Museum, and took a tour. She said it was really cool, and I plan on going there sometime while I am here. Then we went home, so that I could do some homework...soooo lame! On Tuesday, we both left at the same time, but I was going to class, and Molly was going back to the castle. She totally impressed me by how well she got around on her own. I don't think I would have been that brave. And, it took me like two weeks to figure out how to get around, and she did it in two days!! After class, we met up and went to the Dancing House...which might actually be my favorite thing that I have seen since I have been in Prague. It was way more impressive in person than in the photos! This might be a weird thing to say, but it was really emotional to look at. Not in the sense that it made you emotional, but that I really felt drawn to it in a kinda inexplicable way...I don't know how to explain it. But then we went exploring around that area a little bit, but most of the old places we came across were closed. So, then we went to the National Theatre, which is one of the coolest/oldest buildings in Prague. But, Molly just wanted to take pictures of it, so we didn't stay there very long. Then we had to head back to the dorm because later that night we were going to see Czech theatre performance...meaning the whole performance would be in Czech. It was required for my Theatre analysis class, and Molly wanted to tag along. It was a three hour long, dialogue-heavy play. So for three hours I had no idea what was going on, minus the fact that there was some pretty hilarious physical comedy. Molly slept through most of it :) Then we went back to the dorm cause I had to write a two page paper analysis on the play for class the next day.

Wednesday, I went with Molly, and showed her around the Jewish quarter a bit. While I was in class , she went into one of the more elaborately decorated synagogues, and did some shopping for the folks back home. We had coffee and cake...which is a really popular afternoon event here...at the Grand Cafe Orient. The cafe is particularly famous because it is decorated in the cubist style from the early 1900's. It was really nice, and I hope to go back before I leave. Then we went back to the dorm. Our plan was to go out later that night, so that Molly could check out some of the clubs. Before that however, she used my suitemate's ticket to go see a ballet in the National Theatre...and I think she really enjoyed it. So when she got back from that, we got all dressed up and went out. The night turned into the biggest epic fail ever, with one exception. As we were walking from place to place, trying to find some place that wasn't totally lame, we were asked to join five separate groups of guys and party with them. Thinking the night would turn out better, we denied them all, but I am thinking in retrospect maybe we should have said yes to one of the less sketchy ones. We got back around 2 am, and just went to bed since Molly was leaving early the next morning. We got up at 7:30 and finished packing her up. I walked her to the bus station (I couldn't go all the way to the airport, cause I had class again), and waited with her till the bus came, and we said our goodbyes. I was so happy that she was here, but totally exhausted when she left. However, I wouldn't trade our 7 days together in Prague for anything!!

More posts shortly to come, after all, I have been to Poland and back!

Karlovy Vary continued

Ok, so I totally ran out of steam on the last post, my apologies, but I figured that I should finish the weekend, so that I can more clearly focus on everything we did during the week in the next post. So, I believe that I left off Friday night after we got to the apartment, which I know I have said was pretty legit, but it is worth noting again.

Saturday, we slept till about 11 am, and then leisurely got ready until about noon. That is what happens when poor, tired college students travel...the day starts at 12 and ends at 12....unless night plans have been made. So, we made our way into town to look for breakfast. After walking for about 10 minutes, we stumbled upon the "Cafe and Tea Room" establishment. We each ordered a different type of tea, since they had a ba-gillion to choose from, and we actually got our own teapot. It was really cool! So we had a mini tea party, with pancakes (crepes) and tea...it was so girly, I loved it! After breakfast, or technically brunch, we headed out in search of place to get facials. We wandered into a couple places, but couldn't really find anything like what we looking for. Our wandering led us up what could only be described as a mountain. We were looking for a spa parlor, and we kept following these really vague signs all the way up this mountain. It totally wasn't worth it either. We got a couple good pictures out of it...discounting the fact that most of the town wasn't visible due to the semi-blizzard that blew through town while we were there. Eventually, we stumbled across a Thai massage parlor, and they were offering hour-long massages for a pretty good price. So, we gave up on facials and decided to get massages instead. We had a couple hours to kill till our appointment, so we did some souvenir shopping. When in Karlovy Vary, one essential souvenir that you have to get is a mug with a built-in straw in the handle. Like I said earlier, a lot of people are sent here for health reasons, and one of the things they often do is drink the natural mineral water. It helps with internal problems or something. So, you take your mug to one of the several fountains around town, fill your mug with mineral water,, and sip it through the day. You are not supposed to have too much because too many minerals will harm your body. After we each got a mug, we walked over to one of the fountains that wasn't frozen, since it comes straight up from the ground, and thought we would try the water in our mugs. I took a little in my hand first, just to see what it was like, and it was one of the most disgusting tasting things that I have ever put in my mouth. Filling up my mug was out of the question at that point. So we just did some photo shoots around town, and then headed back to the Thai massage parlor for our appointments.

The next hour includes one of the most bizarre things I have ever experienced. A Thai massage, my friends, is not like a regular massage. Not at all. First, you have to wear a very loose-fitting white cotton t-shirt, that was missing the bottom half. So, essentially it is a belly-shirt. Then we had to put on dirt-colored capris with a 15-inch in-seam...at least. There was no elasticity at all in the waist, which was actually so high, that it met up with the bottom of the t-shirt. We had to tie a drawstring around our waist in order to keep our pants from flat out falling off. We did not realize that this was how the outfit was to be worn...so we had a lot of assistance from the Thai women...who laughed at us...several times. Then, we were instructed to lay down on the floor...on a mat...that was only two inches think. The Thai woman assigned to me had, and I am not exaggerating, metal implants in her finger tips. As I write this, there are at least five visible bruises on my body, and I do not bruise easily. Thai massage is a mixture of pilates, wrestling, and karate. Stretching should be done prior to the massage, as well as after, in order to be able to walk the next day. Also, those with low pain tolerances, should steer clear of this sort of "relaxing" experience. Parts of me felt better after the massage, other parts...not so much. I am excited that I was able to get a Thai massage, just to say that I have had one, but I can honestly say I will probably never have another one again. After our adventure with Thai culture, we had to immediately go back to our apartment get our suitcases and get to the bus station. It turns out that the bus station we went to was not actually the main station, just a decoy meant to throw innocent tourists off the trail. Well....it worked. We were at the imitation bus station when the bus that we were supposed to get on pulled up. We asked if it was the bus that went to Prague, and the broken response was something like..."Not here...300 meters (points)." So, we managed to decode this after the second bus came, that there was another station 300 meters down the road where the buses to Prague were leaving from. Our station was only a drop-off point. So we power-walked to the other station, but it was too late. We missed our bus. After calling for several numbers for the bus agency we were booked with, we learned that we would be able to board the next bus, we would just have to pay for new tickets. That was a bummer, but at least we didn't get stuck in Karlovy Vary. It was actually a very appropriate ending to our trip, I thought. I thoroughly enjoy when things don't go according to plan, so this trip was a success in my book!

We got back into Prague around 9 pm. We proceeded to go see Alice in Wonderland with a couple friends at 10:30 at the awesome theater, because I really wanted Molly to see just how amazing this theater was. She was impressed. It was actually a better movie than I thought it would be, and I have decided that I would like a cheshire cat. The cat was my favorite character in the movie :) Molly didn't like it as much, so I would have to say that it might be a hit-or-miss movie depending on what kind of expectations you have for the movie. Mine were pretty low, so the movie exceeded them. The best part of the whole day though was the tram ride back to the dorm after the movie. The metro stops running at midnight, and so everyone has to ride the trams after that. Therefore, the trams are usually very crowded. However, on our tram, we ended up standing right next to a man (who I think was homeless) who "played" old-timey blues songs. He had a guitar, but all the strings were broken, so he turned it over and used it as a drum. The trumpet/trombone instrument was all him though. He could imitate it REALLY well with his mouth. So he would play his guitar-drum, and trumpet through his mouth to these really great songs. It gets better though. There was a guy and his friend on the tram, and they were pretty drunk, and so the one guy starts singing along in English, doing his best Louis Armstrong impression, and he was actually pretty good! So, we were serenaded all the way back to our dorm. It was really, really fun!

Sunday we just slept in late, went to church, and then I had to do some homework, so Molly watched a movie. That pretty much sums up our exciting weekend. Stay tuned for the adventures of the week!!

Molly's arrival and our exciting adventure in Karlovy Vary

Hello again, thought I would give everyone an update about the exciting adventures that I had over the weekend. It never fails that when Molly and I are together we have some of the CRAZIEST adventures. We live a little on the wild side (not too much :) ), and most of the time it results in a multitude of great memories. And this time was no exception! She was scheduled to arrive Friday morning after about a 15 1/2 hour travel day, however the adventure started before she even got here. Apparently, there was someone on her flight from Philadelphia to Germany that was having seizures/convulsions and so her plane had to make an emergency stop in Manchester in order to let him off of the plane, and to refuel. As a result, she missed her connecting flight from Germany to Prague. I, however, was unaware of this whole situation and went to the airport to pick her up according to her originally scheduled flight. I waited, and waited, and I thought maybe her bag got lost or something. Her mom called my phone about 45 minutes after I was supposed to have picked her up, and told me about the mishap in London. Her rescheduled flight wouldn't arrive in Prague until 2 pm. It was currently 10:30 am. So, I went back to my dorm and wasted a couple of hours until I had to go pick Molly up for real. It was kinda funny to explain to my roommates, who knew I left to go pick up Molly, why I had come back without her. Long story short, I made it back successfully with Molly the second time.

We had made plans to leave later the same day for the town of Karlovy Vary, a smaller town about 2 hours and 15 minutes away from Prague. It is probably the most famous spa town in the Czech Republic due to its abundance of natural hot springs. Long ago, miners used to be required to spend two to three weeks there a year in order to let their bodies unwind from their back-breaking work. Don't you wish this tradition was still practiced today?? Anyway, I thought a relaxing spa town would be a good way for Molly to get over her jet lag, and you know, the rest was just an added benefit. Our bus left at 7 pm, so by the time we got to Karlovy Vary, it was about 9:30 pm. We met up with another girl, Kim, who had gone on an earlier bus and was going to meet us there. Once we were all unloaded from the bus, we set about trying to find our apartment via the directions they gave us on the internet. This town is about two square miles I would say, and we pretty much saw most of it as we searched for our elusive apartment. The first part of the internet directions said..."go through the underpass." Guess how many underpasses we saw in 45 minutes...0. I don't know how, but we managed to stumble upon a really sketchy looking underpass about 20 minutes away from the bus station (which we learned later wasn't really the bus station...just a cheap imitation). In my infinite wisdom, I said..."Oh, I bet that is the underpass we are looking for." So we walked under it...feeling very accomplished. Once on the other side however, none of the further directions we had made any sense. So we kept wandering until Kim was like, "Ok, Jessica, I think it's time you considered asking for directions." Very cold and very lost, I consented. We walked into the next hotel lobby we saw, and met a very nice and very attractive front desk clerk who was about our age. I am sure we were quite a sight as well. Having ridden on a bus for two hours, and then walking around for and hour in the cold before we walked into this establishment. We attempted to ask him if he knew where we could find our our apartment. He had never heard of the place where we were staying, but googled it anyway. He spoke pretty decent English, which we found out he had studied from about 4th grade, but didn't really practice it ever. He was really great, because he printed us out a very detailed map showing us how to get to our apartment. Which as it turned out was about 20 steps from where we got of the bus....which wasn't surprising...these things just happen to Molly and I. The apartment was only advertised by a single piece of paper in a window that said AB Apartments. I think we were lucky we found the place at all. By the time we got to our apartment...which was in fact an apartment, and not a hostel, all we wanted to do was go to bed. This place was so cool though. It cost $19 for the night, and there was a kitchen and a living room, and everyone had their own bed! It was so great! If I ever go back to Karlovy Vary I would stay there again.

I am actually tired of writing, and the rest needs to be said with energy, so I am going to stop this story a bit early and update it again later...........the suspense will be great!

The week at a glance...and a volunteering nightmare!

Hello everyone, so I am going to do a quick update, because honestly, other than the volunteering escapade, the week went by without a hitch. It went by really quick in fact, but that is probably because I have been looking forward to tomorrow since Molly arrives! Anyway, I had class on Monday and Tuesday like usual, but the good news is that I have officially been accepted into both of those classes! I was still on the waiting list for them at the beginning of the week, but now I have all the classes that I wanted. So thank you for your prayers!! Tuesday night, I went to home group again, but I met up beforehand with a girl that I had met on Sunday at church who said she wanted to go. So I offered to kind of "go" with her. Even though we really just met outside of the apartment. I actually had a really good time there. I have gotten to know one of the members whose name is Gabriella, or Gabby. She is about 30 I would say, and her past is chalked full of spiritual battles and turmoil. She used to be into the occult before Christ redeemed her. She is Czech but speaks pretty good English. It was just really cool, because we were talking about one of the boys she is working with who is exhibiting very destructive behavior, and when I was offering her some encouragement, she (and this is unheard of for Czech people) asked if she could give me a hug! I was like, "of course, you never have to ask for a hug!" And a few other things happened, but long story short I really felt like we bonded. It was a great experience.

Wednesday I didn't have class because we only meet every other week, so I had the morning off, but I was planning on going to my first volunteering assignment that afternoon. I met up with two other girls who were going to the same place I was, and we left around 3 pm. We knew it was going to be a bit of a commute to the orphan house where we were going, so we left about an hour before we needed to. It ended up being about a 50 minute commute, and we were just barely within the town limits of Prague when we reached our destination. However, we were about an hour early. So we wasted some time around walking around the town, and then headed back to the bus stop where we were supposed to meet with the girl who would take us to the house. We were told that we would be working one-on one with one of the kids, helping them with their English assignments from school, and helping them to use English in conversation. However, I quickly found out that this was not accurate. What actually happened in a nutshell was that I ended up working with about 2-6 kids, as they were in and out the whole time. Also, the caretakers for the children had been informed that we would speak fluent Czech, so no one in the whole house spoke English. In addition, instead of the 1 hour commitment that they had told us, we ended up being there for two and half hours. The entire thing lasted about 6 hours from start to finish. I was physically and emotionally exhausted, and I don't think that I will be returning. We had one week to decide whether or not to sign the contract, and I don't think that I will be committing my time to this during the semester. I had really wanted volunteering to work out, but I just don't think I can handle that on top of everything else that I have on my plate being in Prague. Hopefully, they will be able to find someone to take my place without too much work.

Today I have spent most of the day preparing for Molly's arrival tomorrow. I just finished planning our one night trip to Karlovy Vary, one the most famous spa towns in the Czech Republic. The whole trip, accommodations and travel, cost only about $26 dollars a person. Not bad at all! I am going to take Molly to a ton of popular tourist sites that I haven't even been to yet, so I am sure that the next post will be stuffed full of information! So get excited!

Prague pictures at last!

Ok, this is a really random assortment of some of the photos I have taken here in Prague. Some of them, like the laundry photos, are just to get you acquainted with my living situation and such. I will update again tomorrow probably to let you know how my first week of classes went. I need to get a lot of this little information out of the way, because Molly, my best friend, is coming to visit on Friday!! And I know that it will be a while before I post again once she gets here. I just have to say that I am sooooo excited that she is coming I can't hardly even stand it! Anyway, there isn't any specific story or sequence behind the photos, so just enjoy their randomness :)

1) Black and White photo of the main school building of Charles University, Faculty of Philosophy, where I take some of my classes. I am on the beginning of the bridge which would lead up to the castle.

2) Closer-up photo of the school building.

3) For those of you who might not be able to read the words in the picture, it says "Karlovy Lazne, The Biggest Music Club in Central Europe." It is five stories, and each story features a different type of music. My favorite floor was the oldies mix floor, where I heard "Surfin' in the USA" and "Cotton-Eyed Joe." It really doesn't get any better than that, my friends! "Cotton-Eyed Joe" in Prague...who would have thought?

4) Jewish synagogue from the Jewish quarter.

5) View of Prague Castle from Charles Bridge.

6) This is the Black Light Theater that I went to a few weeks ago.

7) Advertisement for the show I went to see, Aspects of Alice.

8-10) These next few pictures are from the Jewish cemetery in the Jewish quarter. People have been buried there since like the 16th century. I think I wrote some more on this in a previous post.

11) Me inside St. Vitus's Cathedral.

12) Main hall, or nave I think it is called, of St. Vitus's Cathedral.

13) I love this picture! My friend and I were there at the perfect time, because the afternoon sun was shining through the stained glass windows on one side, and this picture doesn't even do justice to the beautiful colors that were reflected off the stone.

14) Me in front of the main doors to the cathedral.

15) The front of the cathedral.

16) My friend Stephanie and I with the Cathedral in the background. She was the one who explored the castle with me.

17) Disclaimer: The reason I have a ridiculous amount of pictures of the cathedral is because I thought it was the castle. My friend and I were walking through the cathedral, and we were like, "it's really weird that they would call this a castle when it looks so much like a church...." Turns out it was a church...go figure! It was a little embarrassing :) But now we know, and that's what is important.

18) Stephanie and I when we first spotted the "castle."

19) The laundry room clothes-lines, a.k.a. "the drying machines."

20) The one washing machine...told you the situation was tragic :)