Academic Life

            I am sure most people seeing my adventures through social media think that I have not had any classes or homework while here, however, I have been exposed to a little of the academic life here in the Czech and in Europe in general.  There are many similarities between my academic life at UNK and Palacky University, but there are also many differences.  It is also difficult to understand the academic life here completely since our classes are tailored to our group and we are also traveling so much while here.

            Traveling is actually one part of the academic life in the Czech and in Europe that I have noticed a difference.  It is much more normal and common for students to travel while in college Europe to other countries and Universities.  I talked to several students that are actually required to travel to a few different countries while completing their upper level degrees.  I feel as though it is common to study abroad in the United States, but it seems like more of a “big deal” to us than it does to many of the Europeans.

            As far as the classroom, I did notice a difference in the way lectures are given.  Many of the lectures were straightforward and not interactive with our group.  There were a few lecturers that asked questions and conversed with us, but not very many.  I am used to lectures at UNK where most of the time we are asked questions frequently or have a discussion about the topic that is being taught.  I appreciate the more interactive lectures because I feel like I retain more than if I am just lectured to for an hour and a half.  Of course, part of it is the fact of being tired from traveling, which probably also played a role in my ability to focus and retain.  I do think the field trips helped cement some of the facts and points into my head, though.  Another thing that I found interesting was the fact that a lot of discussions after movies that we watched for class happened in the pub.  That would never happen in the United States.

            The classroom teacher/student dynamic was similar.  Again, that we were there only for a short period of time and therefore had different presenters most of the time, so this is a different situation than most Czech students.  Like I said, it is hard to judge what a normal classroom experience would be in the Czech with such little experience.  However, the professors did seem very invested in our learning and knowing more about us.  We probably spent the most consistent time with our two Czech language professors since we only rotated through two of them.  I felt that they took the time to make sure we were learning the material and also that they knew us personally, which is very similar to any other language class I have taken in the past.

            Overall, I felt that in some areas the academic life at Palacky was a little stricter than at UNK and in some areas more relaxed.  Our flat mates told us about how they have to take pre-finals tests and pass them just to be able to take the actual final itself.  This is one area where I would say the school is stricter than UNK.  I think a lot of it has to do with our different cultures as well.  We get used to learning a certain way and it is difficult when you have to try to learn something in a new way, but I think me as well as the whole group adapted well.

Last day of class!

First day of class roomie selfie!

Last day of class roomie selfie!

Bohemia Blog

            Bohemia was our last trip as a group and it was very bittersweet!  The two towns we visited were beautiful and the countryside along the way was just as amazing.  We left on Tuesday and made it to Kutna Hora that same day but made a pit stop along the way at a church and a castle.  We have seen quite a few churches and castles throughout our trip and I especially enjoy when we get tours and can actually understand what we are looking at while in these places.  The church we toured on Tuesday was very unique because its views on hosting events in the church were much different.  Also, the church has been through many fires and reconstructions.  After the church, we visited a castle.  This castle was very interesting and large.  It amazes me the amount of rooms and detail put into the castles here in Europe, and like the one we toured on Tuesday, some of them were not even owned by royalty, just wealthy families.

            On Wednesday we toured three churches, one which had all human bone decorations inside.  This was very creepy at first, but knowing the history behind it helped me to appreciate it a little more.  It used to be a cemetery of plague victims and other tragedies during that time period but became too unsanitary, so they had to dig it up.  It still grosses me out, however, I do see that many things that we’ve seen in Europe that I cannot imagine why someone would do something like that, usually have a good reason.  I have learned throughout all of our classes and field trips that it is hard to judge the acts of people in the past because many were subjected to strange and very difficult decisions and had to react.  I cannot say what I would do in these situations so it is best that I just try to understand the reasoning.  Later that day we visited a silver mine.  This was a very neat experience because unlike the last mine, we actually crawled through small spaces and had dripping water and more of a “miner’s experience.”

            The next day we left for Cesky Krumlov!  Along the way we stopped at a brewery and it was very interesting to see the process of how the beer is made and distributed.  Cesky Krumlov is a very beautiful town, and the views are breathtaking.  I loved the small town feel of it, even though it technically isn’t a “small town.”  The next day we woke up and visited another beautiful castle.  I loved hearing about the history behind each room and the decorations and reasoning for the style of the room.  After that we had a break for lunch and then got ready for rafting down the river.  This was one of my favorite group experiences of the entire study abroad trip.  It took us several hours to raft down the river, but the views were beautiful and we got to relax and bond with our group in the outdoors.

            Overall the trip to Bohemia was one of my favorites because by this time we all know each other pretty well and we could spend time enjoying each other and having fun without having to be timid and try to get to know new people.  Also, by now we have a lot of other churches and castles and towns to compare and contrast to the ones we were seeing and it was fun to be able to recognize some of the time periods and their styles.  For example, when we first visited Prague, we learned about Gothic style architecture and little details like that and now we can recognize them on our own.  I also appreciate that although we had our hiccups on this last trip, we all came together to help one another.  I think that shows just how far we have come from being complete strangers to now helping each other with issues and being able to talk and mingle no matter who we are sitting next to or walking near.  I am glad we had this last opportunity to bond as a group and learn even more about the country we have lived in for the past few months.  It is crazy to see the differences between our first group trip to Prague, and this last trip to Bohemia and I am so glad that this experience could show how much people can grow and learn when traveling and traveling together!

Interactions with Czech People

           The interactions I have had with the people of the Czech have been different than what I anticipated.  I am not sure what exactly I expected when imagining Czech people, but I know that I have been surprised.  I thought that the Czech people might be very modern and I also thought they would be more like Nebraska people.  From traveling before, I know that there are so many different cultures and the people’s attitudes and way of living vary greatly from culture to culture.  For some reason, maybe because the Czech is kind of in the middle like Nebraska, I expected the people to be similar to Nebraskans.

            However, the Czech people have surprised me.  When I first arrived in the Czech and even now, I can tell the people here are not as openly friendly or smile as much as we do in Nebraska.  I attribute a lot of this to their past and the way the generations have been raised under Nazi and Soviet rule.  Our language teacher told us the other day that even though they have a democracy now, her generation and the ones surrounding, grew up in a democratic society but their parents still raised them in “survival mode,” because it is the only way they knew how to raise their children.  I am used to walking around a small town and everyone takes the time to stop and talk and is extremely friendly, therefore, I was scared to approach people here because they did not give off that vibe to me at first. However, once I started to reach out and get to know some of the people here, they are very nice and friendly.  I find them to be very helpful and understanding.

            Now, like any other place that you can travel, there are always going to be people that are rude and do not represent their people in a very positive way and I have experienced some people like that here.  For the most part, though, I have not had too many problems.  One thing I have noticed, however, is that a lot of people in the Czech are very annoyed with us “Americans,” whether it be because we do not speak Czech very well or any other reason they can find.  I have had several interactions where Czech had been blatantly rude before I have even had the chance to open my mouth or attempt to have a conversation.  This happens especially at places that involve a service industry such as cashiers or waiters/waitresses.

            I have noticed that many conversations I have here with Czech people are interested in our lifestyle and curious about things in our country such as politics.  Politics seems to be a very hot topic when striking up a conversation with Czech people, and many people here are not very happy with their recently elected President.  I really enjoy the interactions and conversations with Czech people that provide me with an opportunity to know more about their culture and lives.  It is hard to go into a culture and learn how to interact with the people without offending them or doing something that could cause issues.  Even things as simple as riding the tram provide a setting to interact with the people here and I have gradually understood what they find as acceptable and how to try to converse with them.

            Overall my interactions with the Czech people have been positive and it has been a learning experience.  I didn’t realize how much I would learn about culture and theirs from even the smallest interactions but I am glad I have the opportunity from.  I living here has also taught me that to have the most positive interactions with people, it is important to know some background on their culture and how it influences their life.

Some traditional Czech food

A burger from one of the restaurants I frequent here!

A touch of Nebraska in Olomouc

They have fields of these flowers which produce oil

Krakow, Poland

            Our class trip to Krakow, Poland was very impactful.  In the two days we were there we visited a salt mine, Schindler’s Factory, Auschwitz, and Auschwitz II (Birkenau).  I have learned a lot over the years in school and also during our time here in the Czech about World War II, and seeing these places in real life put the knowledge I have learned into perspective and made it so much more real.

            We stopped at a salt mine on our way to Krakow.  I was completely blown away by the size of the mine.  We went through quite a bit of the mine and the tour guide said it was only one percent of the mine, which is really hard to even comprehend.  As we walked through the tunnels and rooms, I just thought of how hard the miners worked and the way that they did things was so innovative.  They didn’t have computers or even electricity when they began working on the mine and yet they managed to create a mine big enough to contain chapels and offices.  It just seems crazy to me that all of this is underground.  Mines has always fascinated me because we think nothing of building things above ground but the concept of constructing things underground is backwards and seems much more difficult to me.  It was very impressive and I loved learning how they accomplished retrieving the salt.

            Before visiting Schindler’s Factory, I watched the movie Schindler’s List because I had never seen it before.  I am glad that I watched the movie beforehand because it helped me understand the background of the factory and the history of it.  The Schindler’s Factory exhibit was not what I had expected, however.  I had expected the whole thing to be about Schindler and his life and sort of tell the story like the movie did.  However, I was pleasantly surprised that it was much more than that.  I really appreciated how the exhibit took us through different rooms and phases of the War.  It showed how things progressed and the Germanization of places before the War fully broke out.  I also thought it was extremely interesting to see all the artifacts and displays they had of actual letters written by children and people as they went through these processes.

            I think when a lot of people learn about World War II and what all took place, especially in the United States, we learn about it as if it just occurred overnight.  Touring places like Schindler’s Factory shows that there were so many events and things that took place leading up to the War.  In my head, I always knew there were things that led up to and caused the World War II, but yet I still thought of it as sort of just all of the sudden Hitler was in charge and people were being forced into Ghettos and camps.  I found it interesting that they had one whole room dedicated to professors and teachers that were arrested.  At first, I couldn’t understand why, but then the realization that they did not want people to be educated and be able to make their own decisions hit me.  The same concept applied when the Nazi Party took away all the radios and took over the radio stations.  They only wanted the people to hear what they chose for them to hear, instead of letting them form their own opinions.

            I found it very interesting and unique the way the museum was laid out and I appreciated the story that the layout took me through.  I feel like this gave me an even better understanding of the events and environment that was in the ghetto and even outside of the ghetto.  It is hard to comprehend the lifestyle and atmosphere that people were forced into.  On one of the signs in the museum, it spoke about how they were so grateful to work in his factory because he gave them soup with meat during the day for lunch.  That just hit me hard because I feel like we complain about food and waste so much of it and these people were so thankful just to get some soup.  It just highlighted for me so many things we do daily that were changed for these people and they did not even have a say in it.

            On Monday we got up early and went to Auschwitz I and Birkenau.  It is extremely hard to put into words how I feel about visiting these two places, but I will try.  I believe every person, if possible, should visit Auschwitz or a camp similar in their lifetime.  It is important to me, especially after visiting, that people realize what actually took place and the human beings were capable of treating other human beings in such a way in such large volumes.  Reading about the camps and watching movies is a great source of learning about them, but something about standing on the exact floors and in the same chambers that the victims did, is just indescribable and so much more impactful.  I wish I would have been able to take more time and read each picture to gain the full experience, but our tour guide did a great job of relaying a lot of information.

            I took notes on many different facts because it is so hard to soak in all the data while you are touring and witnessing such horrific scenes and details about what took place.  Even after re-reading my notes, it is still hard to wrap my brain around the amount of people killed and the things that took place.  I did take some pictures, but in some areas, I just didn’t feel right about taking picture.  It almost felt as though an invasion of privacy to the people who have passed away or that even survived this horrible place.

            Many different aspects of the tour made an impact, but there were a few things that just really hit me hard.  For example, walking through rooms filled with human hair, shoes, glasses, clothes, etc., just makes it so much more impactful and real in my opinion.  Another thing that really made me think, is the fact that the Nazis told the people coming to the camps to write their names on their luggage to reclaim it later, knowing full well they were sending the people to their deaths and only saying it to keep them calm.  The same situation with the gas chambers, the prisoners were told to remember where they laid their clothes so that they could collect them after their “shower,” just to keep the people from panicking.  This is just so hard to think about, because they literally just filled them with hope and then murdered them.  I know that everyone says that the Nazis working in the camps were just doing what they were told, but I honestly don’t know how you can murder thousands of people day in and day out.  How can you line people up against a wall and shoot them every single day?  I am one to follow the rules and do what I am told, but some part of me knows that I just wouldn’t be able to do that.  Also, it is hard for me to comprehend how this many people were made to think that it was okay to murder these people and that it was for a greater good.

            Seeing the pictures was hard as well because the people looked so worn down and sickly.  It is hard to imagine a 45 pound woman doing 12 hours of work each day, but yet they had to in order to survive.  When the guide talked about how the camps purposely only food them so many calories a day so that they would starve within the first six months or so, I realized just how much thought and effort went into the hatred these people had and the effort they made to murder the millions of people that they did.  However, I think the thing that really got me was standing in the gas chamber were so many people were murdered.  It was so sad and eerie to be in that room and know that so many people when in there and never left alive.  The amount of pain suffered in that room is incomprehensible and being in the exact room gave me the chills.  Like I said, I think that is something that everyone should experience to know and really understand what actually took place and how horrific of a time it really was.

            When we walked around Birkenau, we saw many destroyed building and crematoriums that were burned.  It should be a sign that if you have to cover your tracks to that extent, then what you are doing is very, very wrong and inhumane.  Also, seeing the living conditions and places where the prisoners lived is so heartbreaking, because they lived in conditions worse than the animals.  They were truly treated as though they were not humans and meant nothing to the World.  Even before the prisoners arrived, they were shoved onto railway carts and hauled like animals.  I am not sure how someone can just decide that other have no value like that.

            Overall, I am very thankful to have had the opportunity to visit Auschwitz, but it definitely was a humbling and heavily impactful experience.  There is no way for me to truly ever understand what took place at these camps and I am thankful that I have never had to experience such evil.  I do feel like I have more of a grasp on the camps and living conditions now, though.  It is incredibly sad that these practices because the normal for people living in the camps, and it just makes me appreciate my life and the lifestyle I am able to lead so much more.  I cannot fathom the strength it took to work everyday and the fear that people lived in is just overwhelming.  Never knowing if you are about to suddenly be murdered or die of starvation would tear a body down just as fast as the labor in my opinion.  I know it will take me a little while longer to fully digest what I saw and heard on this tour, but I am so thankful I was able to visit and I am glad to have gained even more perspective on World War II.

Chapel in the salt mine

Pans created in Schindler's Factory

Entrance into Auschwitz I

Fences in Auschwitz I

Entrance to Birkenau