Onto Prague

Next...

After Paris, we took the train a good 12 hours to Prague. Prague is much cheaper than anywhere else we've been so far. We're finally off the darn Euro (for now anyways) and now we're dealing w/ Crowns. 25 to the Dollar... the value's nearly the same though... it's fun/frustrating dealing w/ such big numbers.

So Prague is beautiful - the city is one of the few untouched by bombs in WWII, so the architecture is perfectly perserved. However, it's pretty eerie here. I found out upon arrival that it's 80% Atheist, and the majority of the remaining 20% are into mysticism and witchcraft. Just walking around the city, I can literally feel the weight of it. It's apparant on the faces of the people and especially in the emptiness of the churches. We had our chapel in a Christian Cathedral one night, which was a great experience - I can only imagine the last time such joyful songs have filled their church. The Czech Repulic has only been free from Communist government for 15 years now, which likely plays a part in the oppression felt in the city. It's sad, but like I said, it's also been a good experience thus far.

We toured Prague Castle, crossed the Charles Bridge, and nearly got lost in this pub that goes underground 5 STORIES with caves and everything - very cool. I cant imagine what it would be like getting drunk on the bottom floor and trying to get out.. haha. Glad I don't have that story to share.. *wink wink* Just kidding. :)

There were a few amazing things we were able to do while we were here....

1: Visit Terezin... the model Concentration camp during WWII, set up to look half decent, so the Red Cross didn't know what was really going on.... this just barely prepared us for our day trip to....

2: Auschwitz. We left at 5:45am for what would be a long day ending at 2am. The first 8 hours were spent on a bus through Czech across to Krakow, Poland until we arrived at Auschwitz w/ our Jewish tour guide. He actually had 30 members of his family that died at this concentration camp. In case you're a little behind on your history like i am, Auschwitz is the biggest concentration camp there was... it's also the only one that branded the Jews with the number tattoo's. Absolutely horrific things occured here. Touring it was a very somber experience. We are truly blessed to not know what it must have really been like. It was a long, heartbreaking day. I think it's fair to say that our group went through a whole range of emotions... the things we saw and learned shocked us, angered us, broke our hearts, and hopefully ignited passion to take action in other parts of the world where things similar to this still take place... I'm thankful i had the opportunity to understand it better. It's hard to type out details about it. I'm sure everyone's already heard their fair share of concentration camp horror stories, so i won't elaborate further.

3: Our group also toured the Jewish Quarters in Prague and afterwards had the opporunity to meet with a Jewish woman who spoke openly and bluntly about her beliefs and culture. We were free to ask questions and she was gracious to look over our ignorance and help us understand. Again, another fortunate learning experience.

4: Karlovy Vary. Chelsea, Liz, Michelle and I treated ourselves to a Day Spa 2 hours outside Prague... Hallelujah! Karlovy Vary is a little tiny getaway spa town that is unbelivable. There's natural hot springs everywhere! It was heaven. The girls and I found a Day Spa, and I can honestly say that I havent felt so clean or relaxed in the last 7 weeks as I did that day. I didn't have to wear sandals in the showers... I could sit down without a constant to do list running through my head... and i got to wear a bathrobe for 4 hours. :) Not bad at all. In light of a few of the hostels we've fondly had to refer to as "home" in the last couple months, no one could blame us for spending money at this place - however, we barely spent any! It was so cheap! So we enjoyed it all the more.... Thank you God! You can click on the link, and scroll down the page to see a picture of how cute the town is: http://www.virtualtourist.com/m/373ab/63179/

5: And to end this note on a little comic relief... the arguably best 20 minutes spent so far on the trip went a little something like this... Ed, darling Professor Ed Westbrook, told the class on Thursday that if we all wanted to meet at Cafe Imperial that night at 9pm he'd treat us to donuts and coffee. Sounds great, right? Well, keep in mind that it's the ongoing topic of conversation that we are to be culturally sensitive and careful to not portray the "typical loud obnoxious American." And the few times someone has broken these rules, another has been quick to step in and proudly talk about our native home, Canada. :) haha.. So, that in mind... about 25 of us arrive at 9 sharp and are all seated on one side of the restaurant. They pass out donuts, (jelly filled might i add) and a couple people started complaining that they were stale. Well, Michelle had been previously asked by Ed to stand up and give a toast... So, she stands on her chair and calls attention to all Vanguard students (and the entire rest of the restaurant no doubt) when another student, Judd, starts yelling at her saying he doesnt want to hear her "Dumb Speech"... This pissed her off and she replied w/ "Oh ya?" and proceeded to THROW a JELLY-FILLED donut at his head. He then threw one back at her... You can imagine some of the reactions of our group. I was, of course, mortified - just so embarrassed that we were officially the rude, disrespectful Americans... but I was also confused. It's unlike Michelle to be so oblivious... and to top it off, after the second donut was thrown, our RA, Chelsea, stood up and yelled, "Food fight!" To which some students immediately stood and began to participate (bless their souls)... and others buried their heads in their hands in disgust... while still other Vanguard students were so ashamed of us that they left!! Ha.... Well, I didn't know what to think, and so I looked up at the waiters across the room who all stood their laughing. I was thinking... "WHAAAAAT? Why aren't they yelling at us?" But, by the time the bartender threw his own donut at us, I realized it was completely allowed there, and wound up having the best food fight of my entire life! Turns out, the cafe lets big parties pay extra to use their stale donuts for a food fight. My lovely professor had arranged it all beforehand, along w/ the several students who each played a part. It was hilarious! Once our fight was over, the place was spic and span not more than 10 minutes later. I was not so lucky as i had jelly and donut smeared all over my jeans, my sandals, my face and my hair... At least i wasn't alone. :) I imagine these donut fights go down a lot there. I've decided I'm opening my own in Newport once i return home. How great would that be!

On that note, i'm off. I arrived in Budapest yesterday and will have more updates on here and Amsterdam in the next update. :)

I miss you all. Today marks the halfway point of the trip. 7 more weeks until home. Aww.. home. :)

Love, love, love, Melody