Stockholm, Sweden

Well, to begin with, I must apologize for being quite behind on my posts. My internet port was broken for about a week, and then I had midterms so I have had trouble finding time to sit down and post. But here I am! The week of the 12-16th, me and four friends flew to Sweden. We caught an early flight and arrived in Stockholm at about one in the afternoon. There is a company in Europe called "Ryan Air" and they are known for their cheap flights, so of course being cheap college students, we flew with them. This proved to be a bit of a mistake as we quickly realized upon our arrival. You know the saying "Too good to be True?" There is usually a catch when tickets are this cheap. Ryan Air cut a major corner by advertising flights to Stockholm, so one would automatically assume a flight into the city center right? WRONG! We landed into a small airport that was one and a half hours away so we then had to buy bus tickets that were almost equal to our flights and travel the distance. It turned out to be a nice ride as we got to see lots of the country side of Sweden, which was absolutely beautiful. The sun sets at about 3:3o and is completely dark outside by 4 so by the time we arrived in downtown Stockholm, it felt like it was midnight outside. We were starving so we grabbed some dinner and then walked around a bit. The city was gorgeous because it is surrounded by water. The best part was that it was all decked out for Christmas, so it made it even more stunning. We turned in for an early night from the full day of traveling. The next morning, we dressed in multiple layers anticipating the cold and headed out to greet the day. We decided to walk down to the harbor and take some pictures. It became stunningly clear to us how cold it was outside, so after a few hours of freezing, we headed for a cafe to thaw out and get a warm drink. I have really come to adore my friends here. We just sat and talked for a while and enjoyed each other's company. After a while, we decided we needed to enjoy the last few hours of daylight that was left. We walked to Parliament, The Castle, and many other tourist attractions. We noticed how expensive the city was, so we tried really hard to budget the things that we spent our money on. Compared to Prague, almost every city is expensive, so we would try to pack a lunch and then ate out for dinner. That night we ate at an India restaurant. We tried to find Swedish food, but could not find a place, and our hunger was not patient so Indian food had to do. We headed back to where we were staying, took really hot showers, and watched a movie. The third day, we got this crazy idea to go to the ferry station and see where the destinations were. We entertained our spontaniety and almost went on a 16 hour trip to Finland, but decided that would leave us with no time left in Stockholm. It would have been a blast, but in hindsight I'm so glad we stayed in Stockholm. After leaving the ferry station,  it was pouring down rain. Within minutes, we were completely soaked. While standing in the metro station, my boots we so wet, I could scrunch up the front of the shoes and wring out lots of water. We trudged through the cold and decided to visit a Museum of architecture, which was pretty cool. We grabbed some dinner and headed back. The next day we met up with some friends who were also in Stockholm and walked over to a park that was next to a lake. It was such a beautiful walk. The weather was much nicer to us, so we really enjoyed the walk, and also got some great pictures. We stopped off at a Muffin Shop, and had some muffins and tea. We then did some souvenir shopping, and decided to try to have an inexpensive dinner so we ate a little restaurant that had kebabs, pizza, and fries. After filling our stomachs we headed back to pack. The next morning we caught a bus at 6:00 and then a flight at 10:00. We made it back to our dorm around 2:00 in the afternoon. It amazes me how much comfort I have found in the Kolej. It used to feel not so cozy and very bland, but now I relish in walking in the door and feeling instant comfort. Of course this feeling does not even compare to home, but for the time being, I have come to really enjoy my room here. The trip was a blast. It is definitely in competition for one of my favorite trips. Everyone there was very friendly and found the fact that we were Americans really fascinating. One guy wanted to shake all of our hands. It was a very welcoming city, and I was sad to leave it. 

A Tragic Event- Auschwitz

I keep finding myself sitting down to write this post, and then feeling at a loss for words, and finding something else to do instead. It has been a cycle for the past few days. I just am having a hard time coming up with words that can begin to capture what I experienced there. I have come to the realization that I wont. Once I chose to study abroad in Prague, I always knew that part of the trip was a visit to Auschwitz, which was a concentration camp for Jews. Auschwitz was the final resting place for over 3 million people. It was the one thing that I was not excited about on the trip. It is not that I wanted to be naive or distant from what happened there. I just knew that standing in that place would be a horrible feeling. And it was. We woke up early Sunday and had breakfast in the hotel. We then boarded the buses and drove for about an hour south of where we were staying in Krakow Poland. People on the bus seemed to be in a good mood. No one really knew what to expect. As we pulled into the parking lot, an AIFS employee who came along for the trip stood up on the bus and tried to prepare us for what was to come. He said that it is not easy to walk around the camp, and that naturally we are going to feel upset. He said that is was fine if we needed to come back to the bus early, because it is possible that some people would not be able to handle being there for long. We then unloaded off the bus and walked in. We entered, just as the Jews did, under a large metal entryway that read "Work will liberate you." The entire place looked different than any picture I have ever seen. To walk along the paths made my stomach physically hurt. I had images flying through my mind of innocent people, lost and confused, being ordered around. Auschwitz is divided into two camps, I and II. We were currently at I where many of the buildings had been turned into museums. They walked us down to the first building, spoke for a little while, and then we were free to explore on our own. I felt as though this was something I needed to do by myself, so I went in building 11. Inside I immediately noticed that along the walls hung pictures of men. Their picture was taken in three different poses, the first facing forward, the second turned to the side, and the third looking up to the corner. It looked much like a mug shot. At the bottom of the pictures was their name, age, and occupation. All of them were people, innocent people. Many of them were early twenties and students. At the end of the hallway it was posted that all of these men had been killed. After I left this building, I walked across to building number 27. Inside was exhibits set up that brought the startling reality of how many people were killed. There was a huge glass box in the middle of the room and it was filled with eye glasses. I have never seen so many glasses in my life. When the Jews were brought in, they were intensely questioned and if they had any defects (bad eye-sight) they were almost always sent directly to the gas chambers. In the next room was a similar exhibit filled with hair brushes and combs. Those who made it past the questioning and were approved to live were stripped of all of their personal belongings. There must have been millions of combs in this one room. It was unbelievable. There was similar exhibits throughout this building, but I found myself overwhelmed so I ventured out. It was sickening to be walking around and stumble across a platform that was used for hangings. It was just sitting there up against the sidewalk. My heart hurt at the sight of this. The other buildings that I went into were filled with horrific pictures, videos, original outfits that they were forced to wear, as well as personal belongings. After a while, I could not go into any more of the buildings. I walked past a black platform where the Nazi's would perform roll call from everyday. It said on the sign that during roll call, it was common for the men to collapse because they were so famished. Often when this happened, they were immediately shot due to disrespect during a formal encounter. Next, without fully knowing what I was walking into, I found myself standing inside a crematorium. There were long brick boxes lined throughout the room. Each station was covered with candles, flowers, and ribbons. Quickly noticing how much I did not want to stand there, I quickly exited. The last building I went into was dedicated to the children of Auschwitz. This was incredibly difficult to experience. There was not a lot of pictures of the children simple for the fact that when most women and children arrived, they were almost always immediately sent to death because they could not offer the camp anything because they were to weak to work. The one thing that I read and will never forget is that at night no one could sleep because the kids that did make it were so famished and malnurished, their skin literally rested on top of bone so when they would move or shiver, it would tear their skin as it moved across the bone and they would lay and scream the whole night. Reading that made me feel sick, as I'm sure it does to you too. I walked along the outside of the camp and just hearing my feet along the gravel was disheartening. The air was clean, but it felt heavy. I realized I had enough and headed for the bus. We drove a short distance and arrived at Auschwitz II. This is the camp that most people see photographed.  The camp was in its original position, which made it even harder to handle. We walked upon a long gravel road and stopped at the gas chamber. It was constructed out of brick, but since there has been no restoration, it was badly damaged. Again, it was surrounded by candles and such. It was so hard to look at. We then entered the barracks where most of the Jews lived. There was wood bunk beds where they slept four to a bed. The room was dark, cold, and felt evil. We listened to our guide talk about the lives of the Jews there. It was almost unbearable to listen to such horrific facts and stand where this tragedy took place. The same AIFS employee from before announced that he could feel as though we had all had enough. He said that he could see a change in all of us, but they he felt it was a good idea if we left. I completely agreed. It makes me feel weak that I had such a hard time simply walking there, in comparison to all that the Jews endured there. When we got back on the bus, there was a different dynamic to everyone. It was not a typical bus ride filled with loud college students. It was a bus ride filled with people who had just received a small taste of the tragic event that had occurred not too long ago. We were all changed. I still feel as though I did not really encapsulate what I felt, but I don't think I can. Something that grievous has no words. This was a experience I will never forget. It is something that should have never happened, and has no excuses. My heart breaks for those families who are still grieving their loses today. May we always remember the innocent people who were stripped of their lives.

Po-Po-Poland!

Last night I returned from a weekend trip to Krakow Poland. We left very early Friday morning and drove about 10 hours (due to traffic and many bathroom breaks). I was really excited for this trip. I slept a good portion of the ride, and read the rest. Once we arrived, Meredith and I went straight to our hotel room to drop off our stuff and refresh ourselves from the long ride. AIFS does a great job of finding us really nice hotels. We often feel spoiled, though the hotels are probably average when compared to one's on the US. The beds were so comfortable, that once we sat down, we did not want to get up. But our growling stomachs had another agenda so soon after we found ourselves, as well as a group of friends, on our way down town to find a spot for some dinner. We walked around for a while trying to find a location that had "pierogi." Though their official country of origin is unknown, they are typically referred to as Slavic cuisine. They are basically unleavened balls of dough that are filled with cheese or meat and are boiled into the consistency of a dumpling. Try as we might, we were unable to find a place so we went to a tourist spot that had a wide selection. They were a very "meat based" country so I settled on the infamous cheese pizza. After a long day behind us and an early morning ahead of us, we decided to call it an early night. The next morning, we arose at 8, and headed out for a guided tour of the city. I am not sure what I was excepting, but Krakow definitely went above and beyond my expectations. It was a beautiful city. Krakow is the leader of Poland's science, cultural, and artistic scene. It is visited by millions of tourists a year, and though it is not the capital today, it was from 1038-1596. We walked all around the down town area where the streets were lined with modern shopping stores placed in varying types of European architecture. After walking around for a few hours, we were dismissed for a few hours of free time. What do five girls do with free time? We went shopping of course! They had a really neat tent filled with little stands of vendors selling unique goods. We bought a few souvenirs, and were on our way. We grabbed of quick lunch and headed back to meet the group for a tour of the castle as well as the Jewish quarter. It was of course beautiful. The cit of Krakow is much more religious then Prague and the other cities we have traveled too. Since last week was "All Saints Day" many of the sites were surrounded by candles, and flowers. They also had a lot of religiously affiliated statues, such as previous popes', Mary, and Jesus. Since Prague is incredibly atheist, it was nice to see such statues and such. The Jewish quarter was very interesting. After WWII many of the Jews felt very unsafe there, and fled to other cities were they felt more support. Today there are only an estimated 150 Jews still living in Krakow, which is a dramatic drop from previous times. After hours of walking and exploration, we headed back to the hotel and took a brief rest on our "oh-so-comfy" beds. We then headed out for dinner at around seven and ended up eating at a Georgian restaurant. I had a burrito with stewed vegetables. It was good food, but at this point anything other then cheese pizza is good! We went back to the hotel and Meredith, I, and our friend Josephine stayed in and hung out in our hotel room. The next morning, we were greeted by an annoying 7 am morning call and headed out for the day. We stopped a long the way at Auschwitz, and then drove about 8 hours back to the Kolej. I plan to write about Auschwitz later on this week. It was such a draining experience, I need a little longer to process it before I can put my thoughts into legible words. I promise I will though! I just got back last night, and now I have a few midterms tomorrow, and then I leave for Stockholm Sweden Wednesday morning! Boy, life sure is rough :)

The Praha Zoo

This past week it was a Czech Holiday, so we had a week and a half off of school. Lots of people took advantage of the break, and planned trips. Meredith went to Barcelona with a few friends. I choose to stay in Prague and take advantage of the few weekends left we have here. All of November, I will be traveling every weekend, so I really wanted to mark some attractions off my list. The zoo was a big one. It seems quite off to think of a medieval European city having a zoo, but Prague's zoo is actually rated the sixth best in the world, beating out the infamous San Diego Zoo. Being the devote animal lover I am, I was so excited to go. It turns out the weather was not going to give us sunshine, and rained the whole time we were there, but it was still a blast. Virtually everything we do is within the city limits, but the zoo is positioned on the outskirts, so we had to take a tram four stops, then the subway three stops, and then board a bus for about 5 stops. It was quite the journey. When we arrived, it looked a little like the Portland Zoo. Partly because of the dreary weather, but it was nonetheless very pretty. It was landscaped with waterfalls, big hanging trees, and of course beautiful exotic animals. We got to see bears, penguins, giraffes, elephants, tigers, monkeys, and basically every animal that is usually at the zoo. All of the maps, and signs were in Czech so we went in circles and got lost a few times, but it was so much fun. We stopped for lunch at a little cafe and had "smazeny syr" which translates to fried cheese. It is just as tasty as it is unhealthy. The zoo was spread out over a lot of land, so we got our fair-share of walking in for the day. Being that it is a big tourist attraction, lots of Americans were there, so it was refreshing to hear some good 'ol English. After about 4 hours of exploring, we decided we had seen enough and headed home. We were cold, muddy, and enthused on the way back. It was so much fun. I felt like a little kid again running from one exhibit to the next. Everyone is back now from their long trips. Since they do not celebrate Halloween or Thanksgiving here, they are already pulling out the Christmas decorations around the city. It is so exciting. They are telling us that it will start to snow soon. The city will look so amazing with decorations and snow. I cannot wait. Well I will be sure to write after this weekends trip to Krakow Poland!