6 cities. 9 days. 1 long blog post.

just got back from a long, awesome, tiring, beautiful, hilarious excursion that my study abroad program organized for us. we spent 9 days and 8 nights traveling through eastern-central europe on a rented bus, seeing new sites and trying weird food (accidentally ate LARD in krakow. gross). i'll try to be concise...

krakow
the first stop on our journey was krakow, poland's religious and cultural capital (warsaw is the actual capital). we arrived in the city in the afternoon, went on a walking tour through the old town square and castle areas. the next day we went on another tour of the jewish quarter, kazmierez. went to the galicia museum, and spent a lot of time walking around. the most interesting thing about being in the city at this time in particular was the fact that the Polish president, along with about 30 other political officials, had recently died in a tragic airplane accident. to be in a country where the head of state has recently died is a strange thing, especially in a super patriotic country, like Poland. we left the city for auschwitz the day of the funeral--taking place in krakow--which made getting out of the city very difficult. (shout out to ANNA for being in krakow the same weekend :)

auschwitz/oswiecim
we finally made it out of the city, and were able to visit 2 former concentration camps located in the city of auschwitz (german name)/oswiecim (polish name). it was my second time visiting these camps, the first time was when i spent a semester in israel in 11th grade, so it was a very strange feeling to return to such an eerie place. it was obviously incredibly moving, though, and i definitely learned a lot more about the holocaust and world war II. the next day we also went on a tour of the city and visited the Jewish museum there - i found it really disturbing that there are people living minutes away from a former death camp.

olomoc
the next day, we ventured to this city in Moravia, the eastern part of the Czech Republic. there's a huge university there, with about 50,000 students - i felt like i was in the Madison, WI of the czech republic :) lots of college students everywhere, we slept in a dorm, and went out to a bar/club at night. good times all around.

brno
the second biggest city in the czech republic, also located in Moravia. we were only able to spend a few hours there: visited the museum of Roma culture and then ate a quick lunch. then we hopped back on the bus.

mikolov
a gorgeous winery village, located right next to czech-austrian border. went on a walking tour with an ex-pat from Michigan, who showed us the castle and biggest barrel of wine i've ever seen. it was really awesome to get to see different parts of the czech republic, other than prague. this country has such a unique history and so much to offer.

vienna
by far one of the most beautiful places in the world. i felt like i died and went to architectural heaven. went on 2 walking tours of the city, got to go to the belvedere castle museum where Gustav Klimt's "The Kiss" is housed. i went to the modern art museum there, where they had an exhibit about television (!!!!!) - got to watch some episodes from the Andy Warhol TV show that aired in the 1970s. very cool stuff. we went to a summer-castle that had amazing gardens and beautiful fountains, and got to lay out in some parks as well. we really lucked out with weather.

finally returned to beautiful prague. what an unreal adventure. more to come soon.

***CHECK FACEBOOK FOR PHOTOS!!!!!***

ciao,
julia

i am a tourguide and my apartment is a hostel

this weekend The Ross Twins and alexa rosenbloom invaded my living space, for 3 days of sightseeing and awesome times. we ventured to all the typical tourist destinations (old town square, prague castle, the john lennon wall, wenceslas square, etc etc.) and had some delicious food along the way. Radost FX for dinner one night (deeeeeeeelish vegetarian cuisine and also a club at night) and of course Bohemia Bagel for breakfast, plus awesome street food: langose, which is just like fried dough but better...mmm, smazeny syr = FRIED CHEESE on a hamburger bun, and many more things.

highlight of the weekend was definitely going to DOX Center for Contemporary Arts which, for the rest of April, is housing David Cerny's ENTROPA. Entropa is a massive sculpture (about the size of a 3 story house) that contains satirical depictions of every country in the European Union. the Czech Republic currently holds the presidential seat of the EU, and the sculpture was created for this reason. read this to get all the infoooooo. it is SO cool and huuuuuge!!!

the museum also had an exhibit of about 15 different Chess Boards, each hilarious, quirky, and weird in its own way. loved it.

after that we had lunch at cross club, which was delicious and CHEAP.

i love having visitors - they make me realize how much i really love in this city.

slezska's seder

happy passover, readers!!!!! last week we had a seder here at slezska 107 that was absolutely amazing. we had 15 friends come over, and everyone brought a delicious dish and a bottle of wine. some items from the menu included...

stuffed zuccini
garlic-balsamic salmon
mashed celery root
home made haroset
egg noodle kugul w/ cinnamon
israeli salad

we read the 4 questions, celebrated freedom, sang some songs and got a little tipsy :)

sHaLoM
julia

chilling in the netherlands

for spring break i made the pilgrimage to Amsterdam, home of everything you've ever wanted to do but are too scared to write about in a blog :) basically, this city is strictly business: if it's good for business and it's not harming anybody, it's legal. i journeyed with my 2 roomates, talia and emily, and my camp friend sara, and talia's friend sarah.

(also, because i'm the biggest jew in the world, i ran into like 5 people that i know. crazy crazy crazy small world.)

the city is just a beautiful mesh of canals and narrow streets, adorable buildings, and TONS of tourists. it's basically a city-sized disneyland for adults. on one street, you can probably find food from 20 different countries: indonesia, thailand, china, italy, spain, uganda (no joke, there was a ugandan steakhouse near our hostel), japan, argentina.....the list goes on.

i should probably take a minute to talk about our lovely hostel that we found on the internet. when you read that a place has "free breakfast," definitely find out what that entails, because ours consisted of toast and coffee :) our room didn't have a window. oh wait that's a lie, there WAS a window that opened up into the pantry where the owners slept/made the toast/kept all the towels and linens. i can say this though: when you stay in a shitty hostel, it forces you to stay outside and explore all day long!!!! Amsterdam Hostel Centre: i don't miss you.

we visited the van gogh museum, Heineken "experience" (massive advertisement, but still fun and we got 3 free beers!), anne frank house, and rented bikes for a day - SUCH a good call. we also went on a walking tour the first day we got there and saw lots of awesome things.

basically i wish i studied abroad in the dam. but i'm happy to be back in prague for 2 weekends in a row, with visitors!!!!!

adios amigos,
jb

bbbbbuuuuddddddaaaaapppppeeeeeesssssstttttt

this weekend we ventured southeast to BUDAPEST...it was such a beautiful city that i really knew nothing about before going, other than the fact that anna is studying abroad there :) just like prague, the city is divided into two halves, Buda and Pest, by the Danube River. Buda is the older side, where the castle district is, while Pest is the "business" side. both sides are really special.

we took a tour of the Jewish quarter, which contains The Great Synagogue - the 2nd largest synagogue in the world and the largest in Europe. it was so grand and intricate and gorgeous. there's a relatively big Jewish population in Budapest. we walked around the city and got to go to a cute outdoor market, and walked along the river. the next day we went on a tour of the castle district and then ventured to the Turkish Baths, which was THE most relaxing thing i've ever done. there are swimming pools filled with hot water, saunas, indoor hot pools, and whirl pools. couldn't believe i was running around in a bathing suit in march OUTSIDE!!!! fabulous. the next day i went on a tour of the inside of the parliament building - unlike anything i've ever seen. so stunning, so ornate, and sooooooooooo LARGE! our tour lasted 45 minutes and we probably saw like, 1/39480 of the building.

i got to hang out with ANNA, who was a fabulous tour guide. the nightlife was unreal: went to 3 different clubs that were all so different, but equally fun. (in this kareoke area of one club, i may or may not have stolen a microphone from a hungarian attempting to sing "Thriller"...and performed the entire song myself, dancing included.)

oh and i can't forget to mention the fact that our bus broke down on the ride there, but we were in BRATISLAVA, so we went on a mini-tour of the city for like 2 hours. woohoo!

good times all over the world.

LOVE,
julia

"the more you learn, the more you forget" -zdenka, the perfect czech teacher

went to see Alice in Wonderland here in prague...we had to do a little extra work to make sure we were seeing a version with czech subtitles, rather than czech dubbing. i honestly didn't think that every major blockbuster would be coming out in the czech republic at the same time as in America - shows how much i know :p it was actually really nice to sit and hear the English language for 2 straight hours. i've always loved the alice in wonderland story and i think tim burton is fabulous, so the combination for me was great. definitely recommend!

some other girls on my program and i have started making brunch every saturday...its kind of adorable. this past weekend we made fruit salad (verrrrry limited fruit selection here) and potato latkes (potato pancakes, for my gentile readers)! the only thing we could find that was close to apple sauce was baby food...so we just used yogurt to eat them with, which was actually a delicious substitute.

last night i went to see a play called Money From Hitler (Penize od Hitlera) which was in Czech with English subtitles on an overscreen projector. after getting past the annoyance of watching a play with subtitles, it was a really great show. it was about a German Jewish woman whose family was living in the German occupied Sudetenland in, what was then, Czechoslovakia, at start of World War II. when she returns to her home after her concentration camp experience, she is faced with a new family living in her home and many other issues. the play takes place in 2005, when she meets the descendants of the family who took her house and must deal with a whole other set of issues. it's amazing how seeing just one play can tell you so much about czech history.

i think that's enough for now.

Ahoj!
julia

"zmerzlina": ice cream in Czech...

wow i really have been such a blog slacker. here's a recap of the last few weeks since pariiiii.

Feb 25-28: anna and ally came to visit!!!!!!! anna travelled all the way from BUDAPEST with her two roomates, and ally flew in from FLORENCE for a weekend of funfunfun. they brought sunshine and amazing weather with them, so it was such a good chance to walk around and really get to see the city. every day we did SO much walking, and at night went out to some of my favorite clubs (lucerna, radost, karlovy lazne). one night we had a Taco Night and about 25 people came over for tacos and drinking and fun! crazy story: Anna's guy-roomies were also in Praha that weekend, and happened to be staying with a boy from MY program, so we all hung out and ate tacos together. IT WAS NUTS!!! anyway. the weekend was fantastic, and so comforting to be with my Wisco Ladies :) --see you in Budapest next weekend, Shmanna :)

Last weekend, March 5-7, was a pretty moving weekend. that Friday CET took us on a day-trip to Lidice, a town about 45 mins outside of Prague that was completely wiped out during WWII. because a few resistance-fighters had been living in this small village, the Nazis decided to either kill or send away (to concentration camps) all the men, women, and children and burn the entire town to the ground. we had the opportunity to hear from one of the few surviving children of Lidice, and she shared her stories of living in the town, her experiences at Auschwitz concentration camp, and the feelings she experienced upon re-entry into the "real world." overall, it was such a moving experience and i'm so glad we got the opportunity to learn about this.

then on sunday we went on another heart-wrenching trip, this time to Terezin, a concentration camp/Jewish ghetto during the Holocaust that is just an hour outside of Prague. this time, we received a tour from a Holocaust survivor who had experienced Terezin firsthand, and had also been sent to Auschwitz later on. having Felix as our tourguide made the experience that much more moving: he was able to give us vivid details of the horrors that went on in this place, and enabled us to get a clearer idea of the tragedy that was the Holocaust. going to a place like Terezin really forces you to think about the Holocaust in a real way, and understand that it is an event that cannot be forgotten. my generation will be the last to meet Holocaust survivors firsthand, and this responsibility is something that we were all thinking about on our tour of Terezin. Felix's request at the end of our tour was to tell our friends and family about what we saw at Terezin, and to not let the memory of the Holocaust vanish with time.

i'm alive!!!! - paris update oohhh la la

don't worry everyone, the only reason i haven't posted in so long is because i'm coming up with tons of great material for everyone to read. these things take time, duh...

lets see where did i leave off...ah yes, Paris (in my head i'm saying pareeeeeeee), the city of love, art, and drunken late-night crepes (banana and nutella...mmmmmm take me back). i was there for 3 nights and stayed with my wisco buddy becky and her roomie karah, and got to spend time with my homegirl elaine and her twin lauren (april 1-4 in praha whatupppp). also got to see katie and libby haaaaaaay. it was so good to be with my people after a month of travels on our own. i got in on thursday morning, bright and early, from my 6am flight (no i did not sleep that night...i know, i'm such a trooper) and met becky, elaine, karah, libby, katie at their school. we went to this aMaZiNg falafel place in Le Marais (the jewish quarter) called L'as du, then elaine, lauren and i went on a stroll down the Champs-Élysées, stopped for a photo op at Arc de Triomphe, and got some sweets at Laduree - deeeeelish!!! [photos included] that night we ate dinner at this awesome fondu place where they serve wine in baby bottles!!!! so cool. the wine was terrible but the experience was irreplaceable. friday we went to the eiffel tower, walked around a neighborhood called St. Germaine, and cooked dinner at becky & karah's place. we went out to a bunch of different places and just had fun being tipsy and silly together. saturday we went to the biggest flea market in the world. i got a coffee mug with an eiffel tower on it (collecting mugs from every city!) and a scarf. it was a little overwhelming and we all felt like we were being pickpocketed every step of the way...but good times overall. went out again to some awesome bars. the one downside of paris is the fact that everything is SO expensive...it makes having fun a little harder. but when you do its ohsosweet. sunday we went to the Musee de Maillol, where there was an exhibit entirely about representation of skulls in art throughout history. andy warhol, picasso, damien hirst, keith harring are just a few of the artists that were represented. very cool overall.

my adventures in paris were wonderful - couldn't have asked for a better getaway weekend :)

au revoir,
juuuuuuuuulia

danka berlin...

computer has been saved! new hard drive with a new attitude.

last weekend i was in berlin. its a fascinating city...most of the buildings are either very new & modern, or were built during communism, so it's not your typical european city at all. everyone is very well-dressed...much more so than in prague where everything is about 5 years behind. went on a walking tour in the freezing cold, but got so much out of it: brandenburg gate, berlin wall, checkpoint charlie, holocaust memorial. we ate lunch at an italian restaurant - we were so cold and tired we were really just ready to eat anything. 6 of us stayed at a hostel called Meinenger, which was right next to the Haupbahnof train station, one of the main stations in the city so that was really convenient (along with all the late-night food offered). went to the east side galerie of the berlin wall - covered in amazing murals, goes on for miles. went to the jewish museum - so different from any Jewish museum in New York City...

the nightlife in berlin is unreal. went to a bar called Burger, which is apparently famous, and danced the night away to 1930s music with some Hipster Berliners. the next night we went to a so-so overpriced nightclub (which actually had an awesome DJ) but it was still pretty overpriced at 10euro, for what it was - one floor in a huge apartment building. didn't even being to compare to the club we went to the next night: Tacheles. AAAAAMMMMMMAAAAAZZZZZZIIIIIINNNNNNGGGGGG place. contemporary art gallery by day, night club by night. covered in graffiti from head to toe on the inside - pictures coming soon, as always. some asshole government officials are trying to tear down this work of art that is a building, so we all signed petitions! you can too: www.tacheles.de

alright so i hate to sound like an obnoxious jetsetter type, but i'm literally leaving right now to get on a plane to PARIS!!!!! helloooooo good food and wisco friends!

peace love & 3am taxis!
julia

im not missing in action...just my computer is

as you can all see from my lack of posting, my computer obviously decided to die on me for the first time during my third week in a foreign land. this is why i havent updated in so long...sorry buds. im also using a czech keyboard right now so typing is a little difficult and i dont know how to type a smiley face or an explanation point or an apostrophe...so excuse the blandness and bad grammar. ill try to give a quick rundown of the last bunch of days here in the czech lands...

we went on an overnight trip to a small city about three hours south of Prague called cesky krumlov. theres a gorgeous old castle, which is normally closed during the winter because its so damn cold inside, a brewery, and lots of little fun tourist shops. theres also an old synogogue that has been abandoned since WWII, so that was kind of an intense experience. after dinner one night at the brewery..i had fried cheese, obviously..we danced the night away with a gypsy band, which was awesome. they played all this traditional czech music...kind of like ten rounds of the horah for a few hours. then we all headed to a small bar in town that opened just for us americans to watch THE SUPERBOWL, which began at midnight and lasted till the weeeeee hours. really weird not only to watch with czech commentary, but also with a bunch of czech people who have never seen american football in their lives. they found it all really boring. the city was completely abandoned during communism, and was recently revitalized as a huge tourist attraction, so czech people have different views on the town, depending on how old they are. i have tons of pictures but i must wait for the return of my computer before sharing...

more study abroad programs have begun since we arrived, so the american student population is slowly starting to take over prague. its nice to have some fellow badgers in town to hang out with and i get the chance to see some neighborhoods i normally wouldnt have ventured to. hellooooo jill brad grant sam vender.

i think thats enough for now.

czech ya later
jbass

my professor drinks beer during class...true story

yes, it's true!!!! i would also like everyone to notice that i changed the heading at the top from "eastern" to "central" europe - the czechs feel very strongly about this differentiation. so you should too.

i would also like everyone to know that in czech schools, the kiddies take off their shoes upon entering and wear slippers all day.

na shledanou,
julia

this one goes out to my followers

burgess, zettler, jillybeans (GET TO PRAGUE NOW!), zozo, and my dad. you've all stuck with my banter for the last 2 weeks...don't really know why. but i love you all anyways. here's to the 100-tablet box of vitamin c i just bought!

kisses,
JB

ahoj...

so i had my first tourist-trap experience yesterday. went to a restaurant with some friends between classes for crepes and a latte. when the waiter came to collect our cash, he informed us that "they didn't give receipts" at their establishment. we thought it was strange but paid anyway. we all kiiiiind of had the feeling we were being ripped off, so we double checked the menu to see what we should actually be paying. he charged me 220 korunas for my 185 korunas meal!!!!!!!! i was not happy and asked for a receipt. pictured is what we were given (notice the exclamation point after the 710!!!!). we argued and argued but nothing came of it. so i got jipped out of 45 korunas, which is about $2.50. lets just say, never eat at the restaurant on the corner of Vodickova and Vaclavske square with the big glass windows (i don't even know the name of the place..)


on a happier note, went to the COOOOOOOLLLLLLEEEEEEESSSSSSSTTTTTTTTTT place in the whole world last night. Cross Club is a nightclub/bar/industrial art experiece. the walls of this place are adorned with the most intricate mechanical sculptures i have ever seen in my life. all the seats in this place have been removed from old trains and airplanes, the lamps are made out of previously-loved car engines, and the tables are made out of random old metal scraps that have been pieced together even though they look like they were meant to be! there are - what feels like - millions of little rooms in this underground cavern of beautiful garbage...you feel like your journey at cross club will never end. bars, rooms with pool tables, chilling areas...and i can't even begin to describe the loft-style seating that looks like an overhead compartment of some kind, but is really another space for people to sit and smoke and scribble their name on the wall or exposed pipelines. and to think this place couldn't get any more awesome, there's a performance space within the club and we got to see the LAST performance of this sick reggae/rock band called Afrodisiak which was so fun (unfortunately we didn't snag a CD after the show but we were groovin and jammin anyways). http://www.crossclub.cz/homepage/ - go to their website...i can't give this place enough credit!

oh there was also a place to grab a bite to eat and of course i had to get my favorite...fried cheese sandwich :) - anyone who comes to visit simply cannot leave prague without having one.

Čau!
julia

Jsem Julia. Jsem Americhanka.

last night we all had our first experience at Karlovy Lazne, the biggest nightclub in central europe...5 floors, each with a different DJ and tone. it was awesome. took tequila shots with cinnamon and oranges!

today talia, emily, and i took a walk around the neighborhood. kinda weird that we've been living here for almost 2 weeks and still hadn't really taken a look. but don't worry readers...there are plenty of grocery stores, funky restaurants, and obviously lots of bars and pubs (highest concentration of pubs per capita in europe! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%BDi%C5%BEkov). we also may or may not have spotted one or two brothels...

also did laundry for the first time. no dryers. it's definitely a "learning experience" when all of your clothes dry and feel like paper for a few days.

by the way, today's date in czech is: tricet jeden v lednu!

ta ta,
yulia

Nastravi!

it's czech for "cheers"...you have to look everyone in the eye when you say it or else you'll have bad luck for 7 years.








praha keeps getting better and better. still eating lots of interesting foods, meeting new people, and getting used to hearing new words every day. today in czech class, instead of having a normal class Zdenka took us to the grocery store and walked us through the aisles explaining what foods were what, how to judge the best types of wine (if its czech wine, it better be from Moravia), among other things. she then took us to Cafe Slavia, a restaurant that sits right on the Charles River, looking out at the gorgeous bridge and the western half of the city. over coffee and desert (and a cigarette for her..she claims coffee is nothing without cigarettes) she talked to us about the student revolts of the 60s and 80s and what makes the czech republic so unique. she took us on a backroads tour of prague, showing us some buildings that a tourguide would probably overlook. pretty awesome day overall.



a few nights ago, i went to a bar called Bed...you lie on a bed and drink wine. what could be better than that? shout out to K-lash, Swass, and Sara G - delicious crew :)

na shledanou!
-yulia