Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Cesky Krumlov

View of the castle


River rafting


Budweiser Budvar




Kutna Hora

The castle
St. Christopher


The Chapel





Lezaky memorial



Bohemia Trip

The last trip of the program was more than amazing.  I consider it the best trip, out of all the other ones we took as a group.  This is for various reasons.  First of all, I really liked how it was structured.  One our way to our fist destination, Kutna Hora, we stopped on the way to see a historical village, Lezaky, which was destroyed by the Nazi during the Second World War.  When we arrived at the city of Kutna Hora, we toured a medieval silver mine.  That was very interesting.  My favorite part of the tour was when we were in complete darkness, as a way to experience what the mines experienced when their candles went out while working.  I have never been afraid of the dark and at that moment I felt an unexpected peacefulness that it surprised me.  I felt free and calm, as if there were no boundaries, no limits.  I’m glad I got the opportunity to tour the mine.
The next day we went to visit the cathedral.  There is a painting of St. Christopher and a legend that if you saw that painting you would not die that day, so the miners would go into the cathedral every day before going to work.
Second, I enjoyed this trip more because we did several different activities and most importantly we did outside activities.  One our way to the second destination, Cesky Krumlov, we stopped to visit the Budweiser Budvar.  The brewery was very cool to see and the process of how the beer is made is quite splendid.  Upon our arrival at Cesky Krumlov, we were free to go explore the town.  I liked the town a lot because even though the buildings were very crowded, there are trees, green nature, everywhere.  Walking along the river was very relaxing.  The following day we visited the castle and the medieval theater.  From the castle, the view of the city is precious.  The castle had always been sort of guarded with bears and up until today, they still keep two bears by the castle.
That same day we went river rafting.  This experience is unforgettable and it is one of the main reasons why I really loved this bohemian trip.  I have been river canoeing before, so I thought it was going to be kind of the same.  However, it was more fun than I expected.  It was very exciting in the beginning and we almost flipped into the water, but I’m glad we didn’t although that would have been a great story to tell.  River rafting lasted a few hours, very relaxing hours.  The scenery was so peaceful that I wish we would have done this kind of activities more often.  Rowing was difficult to figure out at the beginning, but once I had it, it was so much fun.
Another reason why I really enjoyed this trip is because it was the last one and it gave us the opportunity for the entire group to have an adventure together.  The trip was a good closing ceremony for the program.  These three months in Europe have really been like a dream come true.  I never really thought that I would be visiting all the places I went to.  It has really been a one of a life time opportunity.  In this trip I made stronger friendships and new ones too.  I realized that I am extremely lucky because nothing ever went wrong past the point of being fixable.  There were some difficulties and some getting used to the new lifestyles of different cultures, but it was all worth it.  I still have a week of travel in Europe.  It has not hit me yet that it is almost over.  So, I will enjoy each and every single hour I have left because most probably I will not come back in a really long time.   I’m not sad to leave; on the contrary, I am excited to go home and see my family.  I will take all the fun, sad, weird, happy, scary, crazy memories of my time in Europe and most importantly I will take everything I learned.  I did learn to be more patient which is a very good thing for me.  On the other hand, I leave wanting to learn more about the holocaust and its survivors.  Nevertheless, I did learn and see things that broadened my understandings and my perspective about life itself.  At the end of the day, I would study abroad again without hesitation.

Friday, May 23, 2014

Budapest!

The parliament, it looks like a castle to me!
Second biggest mosque in Europe.
The market. It looks like one in Mexico, but cleaner and more organized.
The chain bridge.
Buda castle! Fireworks video was filmed here...awesome!
The fishery.
Thermal baths...first time in one...excellent experience.
Had to take a picture with the cool statue.