Well, the semester is coming to a close. Classes are ending and tests are being taken.In photography we are just about to do our final shows. Here is one piece of my final photography project. It is a video about how life in a city can create isolation for individuals despite the masses of people who reside in one place. I hope that you enjoy it!

Budapest!

Well here I am sitting on a seven hour bus ride from Budapest, Hungary. I am exhausted and ready to get home to Prague, however I am discovering a sense of sadness within myself. This is my very last trip outside of Prague before I go home to America. I am now what my dad calls a “short-timer.” I have only 19 days left in the Czech Republic. I stared at 115 and now I am down to less then 20. It seems so unreal that this semester of traveling and discovery could be almost over. However, in the spirit of this semester I am not going to let a single one of these next 19 days go to waste.
We had a fun filled weekend in Hungary filled with thoughts of Thanksgiving, the coming holiday season, and Middle Eastern Food. When we arrived in Hungary it was Thanksgiving Day. I was dreaming of home. I was longing for Turkey, my family, stuffing, good friends, and of course pumpkin pie. I was worried that my first Thanksgiving away from my family would be more of a pout fest then an indulgence in thankfulness. However, when it came to dinner time CET surprised us with a legit Turkey dinner at a Hungarian restaurant complete with real mashed potatoes, stuffing, and cranberry sauce. (Getting Hung(a)ry???) And throughout the course of the evening spent with new and good friends I realized that in some ways this mixed group of students has become something of a family for me here. We are all so very different from one another. We come from different states, cultures, religions, and colleges, yet despite differences our CET group has managed to create a sort of cohesive unit. That is not to say that sometime we don’t have our miscommunications, however I can honestly say that there are few other places that I would have felt more comfortable to spend Thanksgiving then with my new little and silly CET family.
The rest of the weekend was spent eating at a Hungarian Hummus Bar, going to Jewdafest, touring the House of Terror Museum, and shopping at Budapest’s indoor food market. I so greatly enjoyed traveling to Budapest for a second time. When you travel with a group of students you really get to see the walking tourist’s perspective of a city. I was able to see and notice things with my young friends in Budapest that I was not able to see while traveling with my dad here two years ago. One confession that I have to make is that I ate at the same Middle Eastern restaurant four times during my three days in Budapest. I gotta say there is just something special about finding a place you like to eat and really getting to know the people who work there.
But now I am heading back to our apartment in Prague. Sam comes back to Prague from Vienna tomorrow so it will be really really nice to have a companion from Carleton by my side this week in Prague. I intend on making him embrace my remaining days in the Czech Republic with me. Bring on 19 more days of fried cheese, sausages, pivo, walks around the city, trips to Tesco, and time spent with good friends

November 17th The Day of Student Protests

Berlin

This past weekend I got the chance to take a very long and picturesque train ride to Berlin. The ride took about 4 hours and we traveled all throughout the German and Czech countryside. It was so relaxing to just sit and stare out the train car window, and I began to realize how much I am going to miss this semester of exploration, travel, and limited responsibilities. It is so nice for once in my life to step off the treadmill and just enjoy three months of traveling.

When I finally reached Berlin, my amazing and forever lively friend Hillary greeted me with a huge Carleton hug and tons of stories to catch up on. We spent the rest of the day just being in each others company, walking around her neighborhood, shopping, grabbing coffees, laughing, catching up, and reminiscing about good times at Carleton College. Before I knew it we were eating dinner at a traditional Mexican restaurant and heading off to a German play that for the life of me I cannot remember the name of . We sat in the 4th row of the play and the entire time it was "raining" on stage. Although the entire play sounded to me like angry German men yelling at each other, Hillary kept me updated on what was going on.

On Saturday Zoe joined us in Berlin and again we spent the morning just as girlfriends going to brunch and walking around the city. Of course we saw the Brandenberg Gate and the memorial to the Jews who died in the Holocaust, but the majority of the day was spent laughing and walking. Later in the evening we got horribly lost trying to find a mysterious beer garden so we settled for a tapas dinner at a posh little hipster restaurant next to a park. We had all kinds of vegtable and olive tapas and topped the night off with entrees to boot.

On Sunday morning I packed my giant traveling around Europe backpack and prepared to take the train home once again. First Hillary and I spent the morning walking around the Berlin flee market and I managed to see the hipster culture in full swing in Berlin. But before I knew it it was time to get on that train once again and head home to the city of spires. I am not going to lie, Prague feels more and more like home each day. While I am nearing the end of my time here in Prague I feel as if I have just gotten here.

Pictures of Turnov

A Weekend in Bohemian Paradise

I just spent an absolutely beautiful weekend in the part of the Czech Republic that Czechs refer to as "Bohemian Paradise." And really it was quite magically. To me this entire country feels like something out of an old brothers Grim fairytale and Turnov was no exception. The Fall leaves in this town were turning brown, yellow, and red, and they were scattered about all over the city. We spent our first day in Turnov just exploring, going to a restored Jewish synagogue, and drinking cappuccinos! But our second day in Turnov was epic. We began our day with a quick breakfast before hitting the mountain trails right outside of the city. We walked up winding paths to to the Turnov "Rock Town" and visited two old and beautiful castles. One was recently converted into a hotel and a wedding was happening on the day we went, so as we walked by we saw a gigantic pig hanging from a wooden bar waiting to be eaten for dinner. As we began our journey back down the mountain we enconterd many other friendly climbers who always offered a kind greeting or piece of advice. The day was just magical but our feet began to tire as we headed down the mountain in the dark. Finally we reached our ultimate destination. PIZZA! And I got to try for the first time a pizza with pasta on top. I can't say that it was my favorite thing in the world but really who can actually complain about pizza and pasta combined! We ended our long day at a little hippie tea room in the town center where we were able to try many teas and just laugh and laugh and laugh. Mirka's "sis" as she calls her joined us for tea and the five of us just had a peaceful evening enjoying eachothers company and laughing about our cultural differerences. On Sunday morning we awoke early to see some old flok archtecture before heading home to the big city of Prague on the train.

Halloween in Kutna Hora

Today we visited the spooky town of Kutna Hora. It was the perfect place to visit after Halloween because we began our day by visiting a church which was decorated by bones of people who died from the Plague in the Czech Republic. The church was filled with over 40,000 bones and was just dripping with creepiness. (I have included a picture taken Ted Szukalski 2007). It is also almost All Saints day here so the graveyard surrounding the church was filled with flowers placed on graves of peoples ancestors. We continued on in our journey by visiting an old mine that was used to find silver for the town of Kutna Hora. We learned on our journey through the mine that the men in the mine often died before the age of 35 and had to work by candlelight in the mines. We spent a good chunk of the day ducking through the very narrow passage ways of the mine which were damp, dark, and just a little bit spooky. At one point our guide had us turn out our flashlights so that we could experience what a miner would feel if they lost their candle. This only added to the scary effect of the mines. When we finally got back into daylight we ended our day by visiting an absolutely beautiful cathedral called St. Barbara's cathedral. It had tons of gothic spires and amazing stained glass windows. When we finally felt as if we had done this spooky little town right we boarded a train that took us back to the hustle and bustle of Prague!!!

Moments

I just returned "home" to Prague from an epic 10 day journey around Central Europe. I cannot even begin to fill you all in on every detail from my journey but lets just say I made the most of every day in Krakow, Olomouc, Auschwitz, and Vienna. There were a few specific moments that really stood out for me. Here they are.

1. Making friends with the Viennese man that sold me figs at the open air food market in Vienna.
2. Walking round Auschwitz.
3. Hearing stories of survivors from Auschwitz and marveling at their strength.
4. Seeing the shoes of all of the victims of Auschwitz.
5. Walking around Auschwitz and going into a gas chamber. I will never forget this moment of my life.
6Wine tasting in an old Czech wine cellar dug out of a cave.
7. Eating Sacher torte in a very old coffee house in Vienna with velvet benches.
6. Bonding with my fellow CET travelers.
9. Eating a Polish kilbasa in Krakow.
10. Watching the children feed the pigeons in Krakow.
11. Meeting our tall and silly Polish guide.
12. Staring at all the fashionable old men and women in Vienna with their fur coats and wood-handled umbrellas.
13. Drinking hot cocoa made of melted chocolate.
14. Spending a morning alone just walking around Vienna and shooting roles of film
15. Drinking Viennese coffee.

There were so many moments that went into making this an amazing trip. I wish I had the space to share them all with you, but I promise that slowly the stories from this journey will make their way onto this blog!

Photos from Vienna!

Poland and Austria

I am currently sitting in a coffee shop in Vienna drinking a cappuccino and listening to the German speaking Viennese people sitting around me. If you had told me a year ago that I would one day be sitting in Vienna looking out at the street cars going by I would have told you you were crazy. But I am here now and I am loving every moment I have here in Europe to soak in this culture. This has been a week of high highs and low lows. In the past ten days I have visited concentration camps, Holocaust museums, art museums, wine cellars, castles, coffee houses, outdoor food markets, small towns and large cities. I have felt both shame for humanity and amazement at the beauty humans have the ability to create. At Auschwitz I found myself pondering over and over again how humanity could have let a thing like the Holocaust happen. I could not wrap my mind around the number of people that were killed by other human beings. I could not understand the mass destruction. However, only days later in Vienna I looked about the work of some of the world’s greatest artists and found myself speechless at the beauty I was encountering. This trip has taught me a lot about humanity. We are capable of incredible things, but we must be careful to make those incredible things truly incredible.

Tomorrow we leave for Poland. I hope you are prepared for some serious blogging!

Terezin

Today we went to the former prison and Jewish Ghetto, Terezin. Needless to say today was an emotionally draining day. On our journey outside of the city we were joined by a guide who was a survivor of Terezin and an escapee of the prison. He was an older gentleman who spoke slowly and with purposeful precision in order to make us understand the importance of the story of the camps. He stressed the importance of our young generation learning from the mistakes of the older generations and insisted that we spread the word of the horrors that went on in concentration camps around Europe. He insisted that we learn never to make the mistakes that were made before us.

But after traveling through Terezin today, I find myself horrified that such mistakes could have ever been made by mankind. At one point during our day we went to a crematorium and columbarium for Jews and prisoners of Terezin after they died. It appeared that the Germans put on a show of propriety in performing burials for these Jews and prisoners. But what strikes me as odd is this appearance of an act of humanity. I can understand if a person is just a monster who kills with no thought to the person, but to kill someone and then treat them like a human being again seems like a juxtaposition of values. How can a person be so cruel to another and then show them only a shred of humanity? How could they live with themselves? How could they have not seen the wrong of it all?

I wish I could say that I left Terezin with some overarching and hopeful message, but I don't think that this is the kind of place that leaves you with a sense of hopefulness. Instead I left today with a sense of determination within myself to never stand witness to such acts in my generation without being a whistleblower.

Lidice

Today we went on a day trip to the city of Lidice about a half hour away from Prague. This city was destroyed by the Nazis when they occupied the Czech Republic. When the city was destroyed the Nazis shot the men of the village, sent the women to concentration camps, and killed some children and chose to Germanize others. We walked around the ruins of the village, explored the village museum, and then we were fortunate enough to sit down and listen to a survivor of the incident tell her story. The entire time that I listened to this now old women speak I was amazed by the strength that she was forced to develop within herself at the age of 16 when she was taken from her village. I cannot begin to fathom the hardship that she went through in the concentration camps, and I found myself sitting listening to her story trying to wrap my mind around how humans could treat other humans as if they were dirt. Even after hearing stories of the Holocaust time and time again I never fail to be disgusted and horrified that humanity let such a thing happen to an entire population of people. Today is a day that will stick with me for a very long time and will remind me of the importance of human decency and strength.

Florence Sandwich

I just got back from the adventure of a lifetime. This past weekend I got a chance to travel to Florence and Milan with five wonderful girls from my CET program. This weekend was filled with so many tastes, sounds, laughs, churches, museums, dinners, and memories that I barely know where to begin and I just finally made it home to my apartment after a day of traveling. But what I want you to picture is six girls traveling in typical college style. Think: backpacks, hostels, and public transportation. We backpacked and ate our way from Prague to Milan to Florence and back to Milan and then back to Prague all in 5 days and alone the way were welcomed by friendly Italians. One memory that stands out for me about this trip is waking up early to go to the Florence Food Market before our 9am train. When I got there a little old Italian man stood at the same cappuccino stand that I was heading too. He began to speak to me in Italian right of the bat and proceed to talk my ear off forever about his grandkids, coffee, and whatever else came to his mind. Now you must remember that I don't speak Italian so the majority of what he said went over my head. But this warm regard just stood out for me. I find it so refreshing when an older person takes time out of there day to reach across cultural barriers to speak to a young person. More stories will come about our trip later, but now I must get some sleep because I have class tomorrow.

ITALY!!!!!!!!!!

We all went to Florence together!!

Hello everyone! I leave for Italy tomorrow and will be gone for six days! Expect many posts when I return.

A View from our boat on the river:

To Mirek's House We Go!

This past weekend I traveled to the little town of Hranice in Moravia which my Czech roommate, Mirek, calls home. Mirek's very hospitable parents, Oli adnd Eva, were the perfect example of Central European hospitality. Mirek's dad who Mirek likes to describe as a "hippie" was kind and warm and made sure that we were picked up at the train station. Mirek proceeded to show us around the town he grew up in and even took us to an old Jewish grave yard and semitary. In the middle of the day Mirek's family made a beautiful "light lunch" with piles of open faced sandwhiches, cheeses, and breads! We topped of the meal with Fregal, an amazing cake that looks like a pizza but tastes kinda like a danish.Later in the evening we proceeded to a little pension owned by a family friend of Mirek's family. It was nestled into the hills and filled with local Czech families. At the pension we had a huge moravian feast!

This morning we began the day the with a trip to large underground caves and hike up a mountain to a abiss. By the time that we reached the summit we were famished so we hiked down the mountian to Mirek's home where his mother had made us yet another feast of chicken, vegtables, and homemade mashed potatoes. To top it all off she made us chocolate covered banannas and coffee. By the time the weekend came to an end I was stuffed full of both food and a good dose of family!

An Afternoon on the River

Today was just one of those days that you want to be wandering around the streets of Europe. The weather was mild, there was a slight breeze, and the sun was shining. I began my morning with two girlfriends, Rachael and Sally, at the Cafe Louve for brunch. This is a beautiful old cafe located on the third floor of a building close to the National Theater. It has bright red walls and fascinating paintings that adorn its interior. The waiters in this cafe wear black and white striped vests and walk swiftly throughout the cafe carrying hot coffees and cocoas made from real melted hot chocolate. Needless to say my mushroom omelet and latte were to die for.

Later in the morning we managed to navigate the tram system to meet our CET group at the Czech Parliment where we receieved a group tour and history lesson about the parlimentarians. We were lucky enough to get to go into the meeting room of the representatives and stand on the balcony overlooking a magnificent gold and white room. However, the fun of the afternoon came after our trip to Parliment when Jiri announced that we would be taking the pattle boats out on the river for the afternoon. Now, if you ever get a chance to paddle down Vltava river you must take it. It is simply beautiful. From our little paddle boats we got a 360 unblocked view of some of the most beautiful buildings in Prague all while soaking in the sun on a paddle boat shaped like a swan. After I was done taking hundreds of photographs of this beautiful place I was able to just sit back and relax on our trusty swan and enjoy this small moment of peace floating down the Vltava.

Cesky Krumlov

Early Sunday morning we boarded the bus for Cesky Krumlov. With groggy eyes and sleepy minds we crawled onto the bus headed out of the city and into the countryside. I had no idea what to expect of this excursion when I first began, however as we pulled into the little town of Cesky Krumlov I was immediately encountered with a town that looked like something right out of a fairy-tale town. This town has a spired castle that looks over its red tiled roofs and a meandering river that runs through it. Cesky Krumlov, as I learned from our guide, is a town that has somehow managed to slip through the damages associated with war practically untouched and well preserved. It is a town committed to maintaining small local business run by local families. As a result, there is not a McDonalds or Starbucks to be found in Cesky Krumlov, Instead you can find a meandering river surrounded by small shops, pubs, apartments, and bookshops. Each building in this town looks like something out of a child's book and I found myself continuously absorbed in simply meandering its streets. We spent the first part of our day ins Cesky exploring the town Castle. As we wandered from room to room I was amazed at the historical accuracy the historians have managed to preserve over the generations of war here in the Czech Republic. From an outsiders perspective the castle appears nearly untouched and while walking through its halls you can just imagine the royalty that once lived there. I was especially amazed at the large theater in the Cesky castle. Back when the castle was still in use the theater was illuminated completely by candle light. In addition to the precision to detail in the decoration of the theater the original theater creators payed close attention to the overall theater atmosphere. Our group was lucky enough to have a guide who showed us the wooden machines that the theater crew used to create thunder and lightening sounds. Later in the day we sat down for a very large Bohemian feast of a dinner. CET took us to a local pub which was located in a very old stone covered building. As I sat down a huge chicken breast with potatoes, potato pancakes, and vegetables piled high beside it. I was given a knife and and extra plate and told to go to work on my chicken while we listened to a four piece gypsy band! The gypsy band played all throughout dinner. Throughout the meal I often found myself closing my eyes, tasting my food, listening to the music, and feeling as I had somehow been transported back in time. As the meal ended we all began to dance, clap, and sing to the gypsy music. The night was a whirl of great food, laughs, and tons of dancing. Overall, our weekend outside of Prague filled me with an inner contentment about my time here in Prague. I now understand why it is so important to get out of the larger cities in a nation and explore the smaller townships. Exploring the small towns of a country allows a traveler tap into the cultural voice of a nation. My weekend in Cesky Krumlov ignited in me a desire to explore more small towns in the Czech Republic. I was sad to board the bus on Monday morning and say goodbye to this small quintessentially beautiful town, but I now know that have an inner desire to find out more about the small town history of this nation.

A Windy Day in Prague

My first photo in Prague

Things in Prague are progressing quite well. Today I discovered a one room health food store about a block away from my flat that sells both quinoa and chickpeas. One thing I am discovering about Prague is that you can rarely find one store that has all of the little foods that you want. There is no Trader Joes here! As a result, I find myself each day discovering a shop or two that has what I am looking for.

Other things are quite different in Prague then they are in the States as well. For example, today I was walking to my 9am class and I spotted two young women standing at a street vendor eating two extremely large sausages and two huge mugs of beer. Keep in mind that it was eight thirty in the morning. Beer here in Prague is often cheaper then buying a bottle of water!

My Flatmates!

Highlights of Today
1. Discovering two dollar brie in the little Vietnamese under my apartment
2. Having a glass of white wine while watching the Czech Republic vs. Slovakia soccer game

Spinning in Praha

Today I went to my first spinning class in Prague. Yes, spinning as in American Spinning, as in lots of people in tight bike shorts listening to really loud music while an instructor yells at them to go faster! And surprisingly it was very similar to what I have experienced in the states. Of course there was a significant language barrier and I often found myself in position one instead of bike position two, but the super fit old English guy next to me kept telling me what to do, so eventually I seemed to get the hang of things. I think I am definitely going to have to go back for more time on the bike

One hundred and fifteen days may seem like a long time to the average person. After all, in America, students manage to move into dorm rooms, complete class assignments, and take finals all in 115 days. However, while I am still moving into a new home, completing challenging academic assignments, and taking finals I will also be finding my own niche in the Czech Republic. In my next 115 days, I will be soaking in Czech customs, learning about the intricacies of a Czech culture, studying the Czech language, and making new friends. This may seem like a daunting task to some, but I have already begun to take on the task with open ears and an open mind.
My first week here in in Prague has flown by. Everything here excites me from oddly shaped pastries in the bakery next door to my apartment to the way that Czech women manage to walk on cobble stone streets with high heels. In this week, I have discovered that my favorite hobby thus far is simply sitting in a cafe watching all of the people busily walk by. I am so fascinated by this place and the novelty of it all has me constantly looking around and soaking in whatever I see. However, slowly as the novelty of it all wares off, I find myself discovering the places in this city that speak most to who I am. Just minutes ago I came in from discovering a huge park just one block from my apartment where I can go on runs and people watch at the same time (two of my favorite things) and I find myself knowing that during this next 115 days I will find a great number of reasons why I was drawn to this magical city so many months ago.

Prague

Things I love about Prague
1. Activa Muesli Yogurt
2. Running in the streets
3. Little specialty shops
4. Old town Square
5. The Queens Summer Palace
6. European Sneakers
7. Making eggs in my apartment
8. Trying to figure out the proper translation of foods in the market

My First Week in Czech

Prague is turning out to be a lovely city full of singing musicians, cobble stone streets, and friendly people. I am in my first week of intensive Czech classes and they are quite hard. We sit in a room for four hours a day with a friendly Czech man learning the basics then we spend the afternoon going to various museums and parks to practice what we learned. I have also learned to navigate the Czech shops. Today I spent about a half an hour just looking for sliced turkey.

Wenceslas SquareVltava River and Prague Castle

My first night in Prague

Well I have arrived in Praha after eleven long hours traveling to Zurich and another hour traveling to Prague. But all those hours spent on the plane were certainly worth the time I got to spend people watching. I think my newest favorite hobby is sitting in European airports and watching all the precious families walk by speaking a multitude of languages. I certainly was the awkward American sitting alone marveling at every little thing in the airport from the latte vending machine to the small cookies in the souvenir shops. All the newness of this place is still so magical for me. Every little thing I see on the street, on a person, or in the city scape is fascinating for me. I can only hope that this attitude will continue throughout my journey. 

Also, I learned my first Czech word today. "Ahoy" said my cab driver means both hello and goodbye. Somewhat like "cheers" does to the British or "chow" does to the Italians. 

Leaving for Prague

Hello everyone,

I have begun frantically packing my bags and soaking in the last days of summer here in Santa Barbara. I leave one week from today and I am growing restless to begin my trip. However, before I leave I wanted to tell all of you how you can contact me. The best way to contact me is by email at stevensk@carleton.edu. However, I also have a skype account and my skype name is kelleymorganstevens. Lastly, I will be checking my facebook regularly. Please do not contact me by my cellphone after the 26 of August because I will not be using it again until the 17th of December.

Kel

Only three weeks till I leave for Prague!

Summer is Here

Summer is in full swing here in the 805 and I have already taken it by storm. Okay so here is my "update". Today is Sunday and it is beautiful outside so I am going to go to a spinning class this morning and then workout. Then I am going to go home and make myself a lunch and then I am going to meet my amigas and the beach so that I can get my tan on. The goal of the summer is to be as dark as possible. Horrible for the skin, I know, but so good for this California soul that has been trapped in snowy Minnesota. I plan on this being a summer full of times at the beach, hard work at UCSB and the SBMHA, quality time with family, fro yo, friends, tans, bonfires, farmers market trips, and girl time.

Sam traveled west from Baltimore this week to visit us in Santa Barbara. We had such a nice week; jet skiing, working out, eating good food, hugging, hiking, walking on the beach etc, that I just didn't want it to end. But it is okay because I am going to B-More in six weeks so I'll see him then and apparently they have some good crab cakes over there in the East.

What else? Hmmmmm...well I start my job on Monday. At the Mental Health Association I have been put in charge of assisting in establishing a group for young people with schizophrenia based around...wait for it....HIP HOP....how cool it that. So basically we are going to be playing and listening to hip hop and creating our own on a Kareoke machine! 

Okay my loves, I hope all of you are having wonderful and sunny summer days.

Kelley Abroad In Europe