oh hey central europe?

Wow. The last week and a half was so obscenely full that I'm not even sure how to start. Since the last time I updated, I've been to Krakow, two seperate Slovakian cities, and Vienna. I took more photos than I can fit on my computer or my hard drive (legitimate issue. hoping I can purchase a hard drive in Prague for less money than I could in the US). Therefore, any photos from the trip are only going to be stolen.

I need to do an EXTREMELY quick run down so that my incredibly amazing week and a half makes it in here, but i also have sort of an obscene amount of homework/Czech studying that I'm clearly not doing right now, so it's going to go like this:

POLAND: We went to Krakow. It was really cold. Everything was cheap. It was really pretty. It felt less...colorful than Prague? We got to take a tour of the Stalinist district in communist-era cars (which I can't wait to show a photo of, but it's not happening right now). A Polish student offered to show us around one day, so a few of us took a little mini tour with him. The Jewish quarter sort of reminded me of a really artsy, trendy street in Portland. A lot, actually. It was really cute. We went to a pub with over a hundred kinds of beer. Note to Portland, brew honey beer by December.

I feel you can sense the tropical breezes of Poland in October, even just from the photograph.

I also went to Auschwitz & Birkenau on one of our days in Poland, and honestly I don't really want to write about it in this blog. Not because it was too upsetting to talk about or anything (though, of course, it was incredibly upsetting) but this just seems like a weird medium on which to discuss it, and if I'm going to talk about it I don't think I want to do it when I don't know precisely who I'm talking to...not that I think masses of people are reading this blog. All I mean is that, I have a lot of thoughts on the experience, and I do want to discuss them, but I've even felt sort of weird talking about it on the phone to my parents. I want to wait until I'm with people in person to talk about it, I think. I'll just say - it was a very long day, I think going was the right choice (I was on the fence until the last minute, honestly), and I will never go again if I have the opportunity.

SLOVAKIA - pt. 1 - CIERNY BALOG: BEAUTIFUL COUNTRYSIDE. We stayed in a ski resort and mostly were hanging out with this non-profit. The landscape in Slovakia wasn't what I was expecting; it sort of reminded me of how I always imagined Scandanavia.

Like, what? Who goes on a hike that looks like this? Interspersed with all the trees? Only to return to a farm full of cuddly cats for a goat cheese making demonstration?

People like to make fun of Zoe and me, because we get excited every time we see a cat. BUT LOOK AT THAT CAT. You would snuggle that kocka, too.

We got to spend a lot of time outside. We played on a super old train, we went to a museum that was also a hike that was also on the most frigid day of my life but was still awesome. Also, fun fact: in Slovakia, the polite thing to do when greeting someone is to offer them food and shots of incredibly strong liquor. So if you don't like taking shots of Becherovka at 10 AM, do not go to Slovakia. Also, good call on eating red meat again, Naomi. Literally, like, every hour on the hour there is a new mysterious animal that has been prepared for you to eat. There was pre-dinner sausage and pre-sausage pasta and pre-pasta booze and pre-booze booze. Similar to the aforementioned host family dinner party, but the dinner party did not involve a log-throwing competition (the prize? shots of Becherovka. Don't worry) or any stilts.

Stilts, you ask? What stilts? Ah, these stilts. A normal post-lunch, pre-sausage activity. Of course.

Really, though, I loved Slovakia. Everyone was so warm and excited to share with us. And when I say share, I don't just mean an entire cow and 3 gallons of 90-proof liquor, but seriously, their culture, their homes, everything. We also got to learn some folk dances, which was both hilarious and a blast.

 

SLOVAKIA - round two - ZILINA: Most of what we did in Zilina (which is the second-biggest city, next to Bratislava) was visit this really amazing train station-turned-cultural center. It's really amazing. They have art classes for kids, a gallery, a coffee shop/pub, a film-screening theater, a blackbox theater, and tons of legal grafitti walls. I WISH I COULD SHOW YOU PICTURES BUT I CAN'T.

The other thing we got to do was go to this amazing book-maker and take a workshop with her. It REALLY made me want to take book arts at Redlands, which I should know I don't want to do unless I have a semester where I don't take any other classes (jokes) because my friends who took it sort of drowned in it, even though they made really cool things. They did a whole workshop with us, which was amazing! 

(Jenna, myself, Claire, Morgan).

Working hard.

One of my books!

VIENNA: I was only in Vienna for a day and a half, and it felt even more brief, so I will give you the quickest rundown of all: EXPENSIVE, beautiful, cultural, friendly, warm (people, not weather, jesus), falafel, EXPENSIVE, favorite art museum ever (Kunst Haus, google it), mozart's house, EXPENSIVE, expensive, where is all my money?, expensive, falafel.

WHAT ELSE IS THERE TO SAY? I'm over halfway done with the program, and I feel like the second half is going to zip by. The academics are really overwhelming, which I guess is good, but right now feels a little scary (says Naomi as she updates her blog). We have only now gotten a studio space to do our art stuff in, and our exhibition is two weeks from today, so...we'll see about that? BUT, in other news WE HAVE A STUDIO. IN PRAGUE. THAT'S OURS. IN WHICH TO DO ART. WHAT. I'll take photos. And put them on my non-existent hard drive.

Other than that, I am still loving it here. The weather is turning, and this city wears gray really well. I'm excited for snow, which is supposed to start in less than 3 weeks, apparently. I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing for my independent study project. 

Mir v dusi, punks.