Na Shel Praha

The end is officially upon me. I am sitting on the plane about three hours outside of Portland, and the realization that my trip is over is hitting me pretty hard. I currently am confused on how exactly to feel. I am so excited to get into the airport, hopefully fly through customs and security, and walk through the gates to see my loved ones. But at the same time, my heart is heaving with the awareness that the city that I feel in love with is now going to be experienced only through memories. I have to return to normal life, which means going back to intricate classes, returning to work, and assuming all other responsibilities. It is is both intimidating and exciting. I am ready for the challenge, but slightly hesitant to jump back into everything to quickly. I'm so thankful that I have two and a half weeks of winter break so that I can relax, adjust, and enjoy my family and friends.

The last few days have been quite hectic. With friends leaving at all different times, "good-byes" have become apart of the norm. It is draining to become so attached to people for four months, and then suddenly say bye to them, not knowing when and if a reunion will occur. Yesterday was jam-packed with last minute activities. Meredith and I were up until four packing,  then we woke up at seven to say our farewells to our friend, and then at around eleven the staff came to our room to do a damage inspection. Immediately following, we rushed around showering, cleaning, and finishing up packing. I had some last minute I needed to grab so we headed out to spend our last time downtown. We finished our errands, and then we got to enjoy Prague. We took pictures, went to our favorite spots, and soaked up the beauty one last time. We headed back around five and finished packing. Our room was quite crazy as it is already quite small and Meredith and I had our huge suitcases in the middle of the room, as well as stuff on every vacant surface. It was sad to see our room become more and more bare. Until we packed, we hadn't realized how attached we had come to our room. Our friends were in the room with us almost the entire time. We were all so sad to be separating that we basically stayed together all day just to spend time together. At around seven, a group of our eight closest friends were to Cafe' Louvre for our final dinner together. It was surreal that this was the last time we would share a meal together. It didn't seem like we were leaving early the next morning. A friend had the idea that we would all write a letter to each other and then read them while on the plane. So after returning from dinner, we all sat down and wrote letters to each other. It was such a cool experience to sit and reflect about all of the past memories, funny stories, and touching moments we all shared. I will miss them all very much! 

As we approach Portland, every minute I get more and more excited. It will feel odd to be back in the US again, but I think I'll be very happy. There has been a lot of talk through our program about "reverse culture shock" which is exactly as it sounds, culture shock when a person returns to their home country and has to re-adjust. I consider myself fairly adaptive so I think I will be okay, but I'm a little worried. I have already noticed a few uncomfortable situations in returning. When standing in the airport waiting for our flight from Frankfurt Germany to Portland, I was overwhelmed with how much English I was hearing. In Prague, we rarely hear english except amongst ourselves. This means that everything is a lot quieter for me because while out and about I'm completely disconnected from outside conversations since I do not understand them. When we were waiting in the line, my head was oscillating from all the many conversations occurring. I was trying to keep up with all of them, just because my mind understood what they were saying, It was as if I was on "eavesdrop over-load." It was an unexpectedly awkward situation. My honest opinion is that I will adjust fine, but I'm just going to be patient with myself and take all the time I need.

I cannot believe this is my last blog entry. The end really is upon me. Studying abroad has been by far a major highlight of my life thus far. After an emotional good-bye to everyone, we loaded into the taxi and once I stopped crying my friend Chelsea and I were in awe of everything we had experience since being abroad. I am a changed person. My eyes as well as viewpoints have shifted to a global perspective. I have learned so much about different cultures, and their relation to the world. I have enhanced my perspectives deeply. I will take away invaluable qualities from being in the Czech Republic. 

Real quickly, I just wanted to thank my parents for being so amazing and financially as well as emotionally support me through the last four months. This entire experience would not have happened without them. Also, I want to thank Joe. Me being gone for so long was hard on him, but he was always positive and supportive of me. He never once showed weakness. He is my rock. And lastly, I wanted to thank everyone for reading my blog and being apart of my trip. I loved all the comments and feedback. It was a blast for me to be able to document my trip and deliver details in a fun way. 

Two hours away, and my heart is really beating fast. I am filled with anticipation as I am quickly approaching a day I have been day dreaming about for months. I cannot wait. For now, I'm going to try to close my eyes for a few minutes and try to pass the time. Na Shledanou Praha, Hello America! 

An End in Sight

It completely blows my mind that in a week from today I will be back home in the states. It seems like I just got here, and am finally settling, but now I'm preparing to leave. It is a bitter-sweet realization. I am so sad to leave this beautiful place. My life here is much different than how it is at home. Here, I walk amongst castles, cathedrals, and  beauty. However, thinking about what I will gain by leaving makes my heart skip beats. I cannot wait to jump into the arms of the love of my life, Joe. The thought of kissing Kamaya and Donovan places an instant smile on my face. The fact that I get to finally hug my parents is so exciting. Getting to see my amazing sisters and  brothers is thrilling. I am losing much, but gaining more!

Since it is my last week in Prague, I have been really busy. We have been waking up early the past few days and doing some last minute tours and spending lots of money buying souvenirs. As of last Thursday, the weather has been getting much colder. It has been snowing off and on, which has been so exciting to see. Despite our numb toes and freezing noses, it has been a blast wrapping up our trip here in Prague. Tomorrow (Sunday) everyone is going to stay in all day and prepare for the upcoming finals. I have one final Monday (Nutrition, Behavior, and Culture) and another Tuesday night (Sociology of Globalization) and then I have my last test Wednesday (Psychology of Partnership). Thursday our program has invited us to a "Farewell Dinner," which I'm really looking forward to. It is sad to think I will soon have to say good-bye to all of my friends I have met here. Friday my friends and I are going to do our "Last Supper" dinner together, and then that night we are staying up until three in the morning until our taxi comes to take us to the airport. I am traveling with Meredith ( my friend here who is also Concordia) and Chelsea, who is from Portland as well. I am flying from Prague to Frankfurt Germany, and then straight on to the Portland. I will be the happiest girl in the world at 11 in the morning on Saturday when I arrive home.  

With Christmas around the corner, and the quickly approaching departure date, I have so much to look forward too. However, closing this chapter of my life is hard to do. I will miss so much here. I feel so blessed to be able to have had this experience. I will never EVER forget the memories that were created here. 

Old Friend, New Memories

This past weekend my friend Robin came to visit. He was our German exchange student my senior year of high school. It was so great to have him come visit. In Germany, it is mandatory to do nine months of either military duty, or community service. He was healthy enough for the military, os he is currently serving his time. He has every weekend off so he took advantage of his free-time, hopped on a train, and came to Prague. He came in Friday evening at around 7:30. The train station was quite a bit bigger then expected to it took a while to track him down, but when I finally found him, I was elated! It was so great to see a familiar face in Prague. We went to this American restaurant with a group of my friends immediately after leaving the train station. The food was great. I had vegetarian chili, and everyone else had American style burgers and fries. It was really fun, because there was this big black guy who was singing blues music. He would sing for a while, chug some beer, and return to singing. It was quite entertaining. We came back so Robin could drop off his heavy bag, and headed out to "Futerum." It is a dance hangout in downtown Prague. We had a lot of fun because it was 

American 80's and 90's music. We headed back to the dorm and quickly fell asleep. The next morning, we slept in a little. When in the barracks, Robin has to be up by 4:45, so it was a luxury for him to sleep until 11. We got ready for the day, and were out the door by noon. I got to play tourist guide and show Robin all over Prague. We walked all over the city. We stopped for lunch at a bagel place, which Robin was so excited about because bagels are nearly impossible to get in Germany. After lunch, we walked across Charles Bridge, which is always filled with tourists. We entered Old Town, where Christmas spirit is in full swing. We walked through the Christmas markets and admired all the pretty Christmas decorations. We then made our way across to to Saint Wencelos Square where Robin took some pictures and shopped around a little. The day quickly passed by as we walked all over stopping to admire the beauty of Prague. At about 4:30, we headed back to the dorm to rest our tired legs. Before Robin and I made plans for him to come visit, I had signed up through my program to see the Ballet of Romeo and Juliet. It worked out that one of my friends who had also signed up could not go and gave me his ticket so Robin got to come as well. It worked out so well. I made some dinner, and then we changed into nicer clothes and headed out the door again. The theatre was gorgeous. Every aspect of it was stunning. The ballet lasted a little over two hours. It was incredible. I absolutely loved it! After the ballet, Robin and I posed for some quick pictures and then a group of six of us went to Cafe Louvre for some dessert. I had warm apple strudel with vanilla ice cream, and Robin had blueberry cake. It was so yummy. We headed back to the dorm quite tired, threw on our PJs, and watched the TV show "The Office." It was so relaxing that before I knew it I was fast asleep. The next morning, I woke up and got ready for the day. I feel bad that Robin usually has to wake up so early so I hopped on the internet and let him sleep for a while. After a little while I began the task to attempting to wake him up. After many failed tries, he finally rose to greet the day. After he was ready, we headed for Prague Castle. We stopped along the way and had some lunch. We went to a little Czech cafe that was pretty good. I had Smazeny Syr (Fried Cheese) and Robin had Weinersnitzel. With out stomachs full, we hiked up the hill to the castle. The castle is completely out-shined by the beautiful St. Vitus' Cathedral that stands tall behind it. Robin really liked the cathedral. After taking some photos, we realized it was later then we thought and headed back to the dorm so He could grab his bag and head for the train station. It was quite the journey across town to the station, but after arriving we grabbed some coffee and said our good-byes just in time for him to catch his train back to Germany to be in the barracks by ten. I was sad to see him leave. He is such a great guy, and really fun to be with. Everyone here adored him as well. It was fun to have an excuse to redo all of the tourist things in Prague since I leave next week. The weekend was great since I got see an old friend, and create new memories. Thanks for coming Robin! 

The Snow Fell In Vienna!

Well, its official. Vienna was my last weekend trip while abroad. This has both positives and negatives. This means that soon I come home! But...my amazing trip is nearing its end. As of today, I come home in two and half weeks. Okay, I cant get a head of myself. The weekend of November 21-23, I went with my program to Vienna Austria. I knew it was going to be a good trip when on our way there, it began snowing. We stopped at a gas station and I was seriously so excited. I woke Meredith up on the bus so she could see the snow. Mind you she is from Montana where she sees snow often, but I was just too excited. We had a great bus ride and arrived in Vienna around three in the afternoon. We immeditely threw our bags in our room and went out to see the city. The beautiful snowy weather quickly turned on us as it began to pour down. This was not a typical Northwest shower, this was heavy drenching rain. In order to escape, we quickly found a little cafe' were we ordered hot chocolate and warmed ourselves up. We headed back to the hotel to change our clothes and figure out dinner plans. Our friends Cort and Andrew lucked out and got a huge suite on the top floor, so we hung out in their room a lot. Meredith's and my room was quite little, so it was nice to have a place to go and stretch out. We were told by one our program directors about the restaurant around the corner from the hotel that had Austrian cuisine. Since the weather was still quite bad, we figured the closer the better. The restaurant was pretty good. As with most eateries in Europe, it was very smokey. Everyone tried weinersnitzel, but I ordered a salad. To my surprise the salad was huge. It was literally a salad for a family of four. Everyone had to end up helping me finish it since it was so massive. Following dinner, we went to the Christmas markets where they sell home-made arts, crafts, and food. It definitely got me into the Christmas spirit.  Following our outing, we put on warm cozy clothes and hung out in the boys room and played games. We had a blast. The next morning, we woke up fairly early and made it to breakfast in the hotel restaurant. We were so pleased because it was the most "traditional breakfast" we have had since leaving the US. There was scrambled eggs, toast, cereal, and the list goes on. It was great. We were then split into groups of about ten, and were led on a professional tour around the city. Our guide was a lot of fun. Many of the guides are often mono-toned and talk endlessly about history, but she was really interesting and fun. After the tour, we walked around some more on our own and visited the museum of "Crown Jewels." It was the pocessions of the Hapsberg Empire, and of course all of the jewelry and clothing was just as elaborate as it was beautiful. When we left the museum it was snowing again. We got to have a snow ball fight which was a blast. We explored the city for a little while but it was pretty cold so being outside for long periods of time was not easy to bear. We then decided to grab some quick lunch from a street vendor, which proved to be a bad idea for me. I ordered a slice of cheese and spinach pizza, which ended up not sitting so well with my tummy. I did not feel well until we returned to the hotel, and got whatever was in my stomach out! Sorry if that was graphic, but I felt a lot better. That night I got to take my first bath since leaving home, which was amazing. I was so satisfied. The next morning, we enjoyed another great breakfast and departed Vienna. We made a stop at the Hapsberg's summer palace. It was beautiful. The snow covered grounds complimented the castle well. We ate at a famous cafe', had warm apple strudel, and explored the gardens behind the palace. It was so pretty, but quite chilly. After a few hours we headed for the bus and headed back to Prague. Vienna was such a beautiful city. I would love to visit again when it is not quite so freezing outside so I could spend more time outside. The city was completely prepared for the Christmas holidays. They had lights, decorations, and Christmas trees everywhere. Though it was my last trip which makes me sad, it means that I'm one step closer to being with those I love!