blog. (by vanessa)

Český Krumlov. This past weekend, NYU took a group of us to the beatuifully preserved Renaissance town called Český Krumlov. It is located about 3 hours south of Prague and it is often referred to as “the pearl of Central Europe”. The small town is surrounded by a big bend in the Vltava River (which is the same river that runs through Prague). Český Krumlov is so well preserved because it was basically forgotten after the medieval and Renaissance periods in Bohemia and thus experienced no damages due to wars.

This is the town of Český Krumlov: (Click on the Image to See Full Size)

No Czech town would be complete without a Castle (“Hrad” in Czech):

NYU put us up in the Traveller’s Hostel there, but somehow we ended up with the Apartment Suite complete with kitchen, 2 bathrooms, loft area, fireplace and 2 couches. Pretty fancy for a hostel room. As my mom would say, I am incredibly lucky. (click to see larger)

Myself, suitemate Amanda and Czech RA Lenka below the Castle Complex:

Playing around in the Castle Gardens (Did I mention that Fall is absolutely gorgeous here in Central Europe?):

Bozkovske Caves. Two weeks ago we went on an NYU day trip which included a tour of the Bozkovske caves of Northern Bohemia and a 3 hour hike through the woods. Sadly, the caves were a pretty big let down. They had paved paths and installed lighting which took away from the whole caving experience. The stalagmite (stalactite? i can never remember which one it is) formations were still very cool.

Pretty, pretty fall leaves (click to see larger)

We passed some pretty neat old farm houses on our hike:

Our NYU group (click to see larger):

Next Thursday we are off on our big trip: Fall Break! My ten days will be spent between Milan, Madrid and finishing it off with Halloween in Amsterdam. We have all of our hostels booked and  I will get to see a few familiar faces along the way: Meghan in Madrid and Christian in Amsterdam. Although, before I embark I have 4 midterms and 2 papers to get through. Yuck!

I will leave you with this great picture Dave took of (left to right) me, my roommate Becky, suitemate Amanda and friend Krista who lives upstairs (click to see larger):

Two weeks in. After 14 days of living in the Czech Republic, there are some things that I love and some things that have proven to be quite frustrating. For one, the Česky (Czech people) have been anything but welcoming. NYU warned us that they would be a bit more reserved than we are used to back home (example: no one speaks on the metro here), but it turns out that “reserved” was quite the understatement. The citizens of Prague have turned out to be flat out rude. I have been shoved out of the way when waiting for a tram, hissed at when I occupy one of the seats on the tram, and completely ignored when waiting in line to check out at the grocery store… to name a few instances. Now I understand that all of Europe looks down on us loud, annoying Americans, but I have never experienced anything like this before.

Here is a photo of the main transportation system here in Prague, they are above ground trams and they run all over the city.

The trams we use to get around everyday.

Classes started on Monday. It was actually quite comforting to get into a routine again. It made Prague start to feel more like home rather than a four month vacation. Classes I am taking here: Economic Principles, Czech Advertising & Society, Intro to Marketing, and Czech Art & Architecture.  The last one is the class I am most excited about: 50% of class time is spent actually touring the city. Hopefully by the time that everyone comes to visit in November, I will know ALL there is to know about this beautiful city. NYU held a really nice welcome dinner for us on Monday night. They served us a really great dinner and they had an open bar with all the Pilsner Urquel and Wine you could drink. Here is the first and only picture so far of Dave and me in Prague (I guess that’s what we get for being the photographers of the group) we are standing on NYU’s balcony that looks out onto Old Town Square (the heart of Prague).

Dave & Me at NYU Welcome Dinner

Here is my main group of friends here in Prague and one of our RA’s, Lenka (All of the resident assistants for our program are actually Czech students who go to school at the Charles University here in Prague)

My main group of friends

Food. Figuring out what to eat is maybe the most difficult thing to do here in Prague. This is definitely not a good city for a vegetarian– the Czechs are all about their meats and they are delicious. A typical meal you might find for about 50 Kc (~$3 USD) is Klobása which consists of a tasty sausage, some mustard and two slices of mediocre bread:

Klobasa Meal

But the other day we stumbled into a restaurant in Staré Město (Old Town) with a cheap Daily Special Menu. The only problem is that it was entirely in Czech. I decided to just go for it and I ordered Veprove Platek… lucky for me it turned out to be a slice of Pork and it was delicious and only 75Kc (~$5 USD)

Veprove Platek

Tourists. Dave and I did a walking tour from Old Town down along the Vltava river to Vyšehrad (the first castle and establishment in Prague) Here are some photos:

Prague Castle and the Vltava River

Dave and the Dancing Building

Street Market in Old Town

Really Neat Statue

Tourist

I added a bunch of stuff to my Calendar. Dave and I are hopping over to Venice for the weekend in two weeks! We actually got a decently priced hotel in Santa Croce on the Grand Canal. Anyways, I hope all is well back in the states! Ciao!