A Winter Wonderland in Prague

This weekend a small group of us decided to take a trip to Prague in the Czech Republic. I realized as I sat aboard our plane Friday morning that I was completely unprepared for the trip. Yes, I had packed everything I needed, passport included, and I had ways to get money, but I had failed at something very important, the language. I hadn't taken the time to learn anything about the language, the history, or the culture, and I began to really regret it. When I came to Spain, I at least knew the basics-hello, goodbye, thank you, etc. But, I didn't know any Czech and luckily for us, the majority of people also spoke English, and were willing to speak English to us. I really would have liked to learn the key phrases, such as hello, goodbye, thank you, and good morning/afternoon just to be more respectful of the culture. One of the cool things about Prague was the plethora of languages you heard walking along the streets, English, Czech, French, and many others.

Prague was breathtakingly beautiful and the snow made it into the perfect winter wonderland. The city was very colorful with amazing architecture in every building. The pictures I took (and I took a lot) really do not do the city any justice, but I tried! During our time in Prague we visited: the Charles Bridge, Old Town/Old Tow Square, the Castle, the Lennon Wall, and other places we found along the way. All of the streets were cobblestone and it was all very quaint.

One of the things I wanted to do while in Prague was eat a Czech meal. The first night we ate at a nice restaurant that was more touristy, but I had Goulash with bread dumplings and Creme Brulee for dessert. Saturday night we went to a bar-like place that the manager of the hostel had recommended. I'm not exactly sure what I got, but it was something like beef in a cream sauce and bread dumplings. The dumplings were delicious and just like the recipe of Gram's that Mom makes every New Years! Dale and I also stopped in at a cafe and had a fresh baked apple streudel and coffee, which I drank almost black (I had to add a lot of sugar to stomach it), but it was all delicious!

I bought a lot of trinkets on this trip and can't wait to show them off when I get home! Speaking of trinkets, I'll get back to all of the pictures I took! I didn't take my camera out Friday night because I wasn't sure what we would be doing, but I made up for it Saturday by taking almost 400. I will spare you from looking at all of them, but will give you a nice sampling :) Okay, so it's a little bit more than just a sampling, but I couldn't help myself! Enjoy!!

 

 Our view from the Castle!

 The Saint Vitus Cathedral

 

 Katerina and me with a view of Prague

 Katerina, Kaycee, and I

 St. George's Basilica

 Prague carved into wood

 A different take on stained glass

 One of my favorite pictures from the trip!

 John Lennon's Wall

 Once a Peace Girl, Always a Peace Girl!

 Astrological Clocks

I hope you enjoy the pictures and can get a taste for the colors and architecture! I really enjoyed my time in the Czech Republic, even though smoking is still allowed almost everywhere, even in restaurants. Each time a group of us goes some place new, we are able to pick up the metro system and the city more easily.  I always feel accomplished when I figure out how a new system works, especially coming from an area where the only public transportation is the city bus!

I hope everyone has a great week!

xoxo
Kelcey 

Carlos, Felipe, FrancOH MY...

This week has already been stressful and it is only Tuesday! Two weeks ago today, I had my first test in my Spanish Culture and Civilization class. This test was based off of a PBS documentary we watched in class on Muslim influences in Spain. New testing methods, new professor, new country...what is there to lose? Like always I wanted to do my best, but, with it being the first test, I knew it probably wouldn't be the exact grade I wanted. It always takes a test or quiz to get adjusted to the new professor and in my eyes this was more of a quiz than a test, as it only counts for 10% of our grade.

Anyways, today was our midterm. In the first month of class we covered topics from 1.2 million BCE and the Homo Antecessors through 1975 and the death of dictator Francisco Franco. Our midterm was to basically memorize all of the dates (around 72, but who's counting?) and the names to go with them. Do you know how many Carlos', Felipes', and Fernandos' there are? There weren't as many Fernandos' as Carlos' and Felipes', but nevertheless, it was very easy to get them confused, especially when it jumped from Carlos I to Felipe II (who was the son of Carlos I and Felipe I was the father of Carlos I). Just writing about it gives me a headache! Needless to say, I studied, and I studied A LOT! Every time I looked over my notes I seemed to switch dates and names around and make everything a jumbled mess in my head. But, it's over and done now, and I actually think I did pretty well! I'm sure I messed a few dates up, but that was bound to happen. Hopefully getting the test out of the way will make the rest of my week easier and less stressful.

A small group of girls, Dale, Katerina, Kaycee, and myself, are taking a trip this weekend to Prague. I am SO excited. I plan on getting bread dumplings during one of our authentic Czech dinners, because what kind of trip would it be to go to the Czech Republic and not get dumplings?!? Not only are we going to Prague this weekend, but I booked my trip to Rome last night! Rome was one of my top places to visit during my time abroad. I am so glad I have the chance to go!

Stay tuned because I will definitely be posting pictures when we return on Sunday! Hope everyone has a fantastic week!

xoxo
Kelcey

Weekend Adventures

Today Dale and I decided we would do a little exploring and shopping around Barcelona. We had originally planned to go on a day trip to Tarragona, a city built on the Mediterranean by the Romans, but we have both been suffering from headaches for the past few days and decided it would be in our better interest to sleep in and take the day fairly easy, little did we know that sleeping in wasn't in the cards for us!

Tomorrow marks the start of Carnival in Barcelona and the people have already begun celebrating! People are dressed in costumes and face paint and many other interesting ensembles. I haven't quite decided if I like it or not, but only time will tell! The Residencia is situated next to an elementary school and our rooms are right next to the play ground. We were awakened (not early, but early enough) by the sound of music (such as Gangnam Style...yes, it is a fad here too. I can't get rid of American music) and cheering from the kids next door. Don't get me wrong, hearing the laughter of the children is one of my favorite parts of the day, but seeing as I was fighting a headache, I was slightly annoyed today. Anyways, we decided we would head out about 1 and see what we could get into. We headed out to Glories which is un centro commercial or mall. We weren't really looking for much in particular. I knew I wanted a new pair of shoes (a girl can never have too many and I only packed 4 pairs) and a jacket that a girl in our program had. The first store we went in had the cutest clothes, but was a touch pricey. However, I had yet to purchase anything besides essentials in Barcelona so I felt I could splurge a bit. I bought a cute dark blue/possibly black jacket with brown leather trim and am so excited to wear it! After making our purchase, we decided it was time to eat lunch and ended up at a noodle restaurant where you could choose your type of noodle and sauce. It was pretty good! Next, we headed to an area called Diagonal so we could look for shoes. We came out of the wrong exit and ended up at the higher end shops that we couldn't afford, but could ogle at through the windows. After walking around for awhile we decided we would head to a different stop to try and find something to eat for dinner. Little did we know, the real adventure was about to begin!

Neither of us had been to this stop before so we chose an exit and decided we would wander around looking for cafe or restaurant. We found a place to eat that had Black Bean Paella, or that's what we thought it was. Dale and I always have a fun, yet awkward time, when we go to dinner together. We walked into the restaurant and sat at a table and began looking at the menu. The menu at the tables in the front, however, wasn't the official dinner menu. So when it came time to order and we asked for paella, the guy went further into the restaurant to grab the dinner menu. We ordered the black bean paella, patatas bravas (potatoes with hot sauce), and bread. The patatas bravas and bread were delicious! However, the black bean paella wasn't truly black bean paella; it ended up being paella with shrimp and some other unidentifiable sea creatures (I think octopus?) and some kind of black sauce on it. Dale is vegetarian so as soon as she scooped it out and noticed the shrimp she couldn't eat it. That left me to eat a huge pan of paella myself! Dale was asked repeatedly by the waiter if she liked the paella or not, and she replied with the usual "I'm full from the appetizers!" but I'm pretty sure he didn't believe her. I managed to eat her portion she had spooned out and my portion, but I was stuffed by the end of it! I have plenty of leftovers that I can hopefully share with some of the other students in the program. Dinner definitely got awkward when the man from the table behind us watched me scoop Dale's portion onto my plate because she wasn't going to eat it. The conversation that ensued between the waiter and the old man was pretty interesting. The main thing I caught was about la morena (which means brown hair), so after that we quickly paid and left. After dinner I had my first Spanish cafe con leche (coffee with milk) and it was delicious. Definitely don't want to make a habit of drinking them since I don't drink much caffeine normally. They will be a treat!

I hope everyone has had a great week and will have a wonderful weekend!

xoxo
Kelcey

El Museo de Dali

Today we visited the Salvador Dali museum in Figueras, which is the town where Dali grew up. Before he died he wanted to create something that would help the cities economy, and thus created his bizarre museum and theater. Dali was a rather odd man. He suffered from paranoia and it showed in some of his works. However, I don't think I took pictures of any of the pieces exhibiting it.

We didn't really get a chance to explore the town of Figueras as our time there was limited, but from the few hours that we spent, I can tell you one thing, it is VERY windy! Partly because Figueras is only 20 km or so from the Pyrenees Mountains, to which we have a trip in March. The drive to Figueras was beautiful! Tons of old stone homes and gardens.

Here are a few of his pieces:

The theater:

 The Cadillac is made so when a coin is inserted, it rains on the inside.

 The dome made to resemble a fly's eye.

 Dali is buried in the museum.

 A painting of his wife, Gala, which when looked at from 18 m away is also Abraham Lincoln. He chose Abraham Lincoln because Lincoln abolished slavery.

It sure has been a long week since the last time I blogged! We returned home from Paris and I had my first test on Tuesday. At some point between the cold of Paris and the stress of a test I came down with a cold or virus of some sort. I am still working on getting over it, but it sure has put a damper on the weekend!

I hope everyone's week was wonderful and your weekend is equally as great!

xoxo
Kelcey