Auschwitz-Birkenau

Heading back to Olomouc from Krakow, we stopped at the concentration camps of Auschwitz-Birkenau. Normally I would complain about the cold, rainy weather we have experienced everywhere we go but I wasn't going to complain that day. In my opinion, no matter how chilly I felt, it was the perfect weather for the atmosphere. Plus I felt that while I was there I had no right to complain. It was actually sort of ironic because the weather had been so warm and nice the day before but so cold at the camp.
We arrived at Birkenau first and as soon as I stepped out of the bus, I'm fairly certain that I slipped into a slight state of shock as I saw the brick barracks and barbed-wire fencing. It felt so real, which I think is the only time that has really happened to me in Europe. People say that on a trip like ours, you find your "Aha!" moment or a moment when what you're doing really strikes you. I saw the Colosseum, all those ancient ruins in Rome, I walked several times over the Charles Bridge, saw tons of castles and cathedrals and it was all amazing, but nothing hit me as much as being on that concentration camp. For me the scene of Birkenau was like a movie coming to life and I was actually there.

Fences of Birkenau

The Entrance for Trains Carrying Jewish People

 As the caption of the photo above mentions, the Jewish People were carted in to Auschwitz-Birkenau in trains. They weren't comfortable trains, but just carts filled with probably more than a hundred people each. No room to move. Once they arrived they were separated into two groups. Those who would die immediately in the gas chambers and those who would be worked to death. Our tour guide kept saying that these camps were not set up for people to work, they were strategically developed "death camps". The book I read afterwards, Night by Elie Wiesel, said the same thing. That everyone sent there was meant to die in one way or another...it was hard for me to be there and wrap my head around what had taken place there.
Those who were lucky enough to make it through Selection got to live in these lovely buildings

Brick Barracks, Mainly for Women and Children

And they had to sleep on these

The only thing they had on here was straw.

No heating, no air condition, no bathrooms, and they rarely got to wash themselves. And these were the nicer barracks. The men had to live in wooden ones on the other side of the camp.
I'm not sure what else to say. There's a lot I could mention about how they were treated, what happened to them before, during, and after the camps; but I'm sure there's lots of better information somewhere else and I'm really only writing this to share my thoughts and opinions (and pictures). It's just hard to think that people could be so terrible. That so many people would agree to do whatever it took to exterminate one group of people and that it would be kept fairly quiet for so long. It was extremely saddening to stand where it all took place and see the evidence, but for some reason I'm not really able to explain, I feel fortunate to have experienced it. I hope that people are able to see what happened here and not allow the same thing to happen again....

Entrance to Auschwitz--"Work Makes You Free"

Barracks at Auschwitz

Among the suitcases; Orphan Hana Fuchs

The Execution Wall

How it all began....

Krakow

The first things I will always think of when Krakow comes up will not be anything cultural or historical. No, I will always think Hard Rock Cafe and coffee. The first night in Krakow I think some of us girls had hit our "I miss America" slump and sought out an American experience. What better than the Hard Rock Cafe? We spent hours there eating plates and plates of food, talking, and being a little noisy as others quietly came and went. I'm sure that all of us felt much better after that little fix =) I also got plenty of my other necessity in Krakow; I'm fairly certain that most of my time there was spent consuming coffee. I lost track after about four visits to the cafe. Something about sitting down with a cappuccino and some friends is just so comforting!

Cafe!!

That was all great, but Krakow is more than just the Hard Rock and caffeine. One thing the area is well known for is its salt mining. We first visited the Wieliczka Salt Mines where we went hundreds of feet below the ground. The coolest part? I had cell service all the way down there (something you can't get in Eustis, NE)! No, the coolest part was the large chapel way down there which was made entirely from the salt it was built in. It's pretty dark in the miines so it's hard to take good pictures, but luckily it was well lit in the chapel.

The Chapel is massive!

In the front of the Chapel

The rest of the salt mines were interesting, but too dark. I did stumble across this cute little guy though...

We also visited a pharmacy museum (filled with bottles and tools) and another castle in Krakow and, like usual, no photos were allowed to be taken. It's ok though because once you've seen one castle, you've pretty much seen them all so the image begins to stick with you. Baroque, Rococco, etc. etc. etc.
And then finally, it was the day I'd been waiting for this whole entire trip. Our visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau....

On Our Own [Pt. 3]: That's So Gaudi.

Our last (and my favorite stop) for spring break was to Barcelona. Even though the weather was chilly and rainy once again, I really enjoyed the city and my time there. I think I liked being there a little more because I actually know the language and can communicate there. I also really love the unique architecture that's there, especially the stuff from Gaudí. If you ever heard someone call something gaudi (too flashy or just too much) it's because of this guy. He has tons of stuff around Barcelona that really stand out from everything else.
Since we were spending a while there, we just wandered around the first day and saved the gaudi stuff for later. We made it over to La Sagrada Familia just to see the outside. It is one of the most interesting buildings I've ever seen! What kind of stinks about all the places I've been to in Europe is that they've all been under construction. BUT, this place is different. It is always, always under construction, which is part of what makes it so interesting.

La Sagrada Familia Under Construction

The next day we went to Park Guell, which was designed by Gaudí. I love seeing his stuff so much! I think because it's so colorful and unique; something you might only really see in Barcelona. I'm honestly not sure on the background behind Park Guell (I think it was built for rich people), but I'm just glad the weather was nice so I could enjoy it!

The decorated ceilings under the ledge

The famous lizard...or iguana?

Of course, we always have wonderful luck with the weather! By the time we made it up to the beach--only my second time EVER to an ocean--it got chilly and windy. Not good beach weather. I stayed long enough to snap a photo of me standing in the water and then, like usual, headed off to drink coffee.

The last thing we visited was Casa Batllo, also designed by Gaudi for another rich family. As soon as you walk up to it, you know it's....different. Nothing around this house looks anything like it.

Outside of Casa Batllo

The inside of the house is even better. Inside, you are really able to see the influence the sea had on Gaudi's work.

The ceiling swirling like an eddy into the light fixture

On the tile floor.

Glass windows in the stairwell make you feel like you're underwater

Top floor of Casa Batllo

....and that ended our spring break trip; we finally headed back to Olomouc the next day. Of all the places I've gone, Barcelona was probably one of my favorites and I hope I can make it back there some day.

On Our Own [part 2]: Rest and Refresh

Somehow we ended up making a one day stop in Cagliari, Sardinia, an island off the west coast of Italy. We had planned to visit the beach and walk around while we were there but we accidentally spent the whole day sleeping and using up all the free wifi that we could. I think it was a nice little time out from our crazy traveling schedule, because we weren't stopping after that.

On Our Own [part 1]: I Roamed Rome

If you had known me even two years ago, you probably never would have pictured me spending a semester away from home, let alone gallavanting around Europe with just two other friends; but that is what I have been doing a lot of lately. When the group was done in Venice, we were released for spring break to wander Europe on our own. I have never traveled so much in such a short amount of time! Including Vienna and Venice, I spent 11 days in 5 cities. It was crazy to wake up in one country and fall asleep in another so many times in a week and a half. Andrew, Karen, and I left Venice that Sunday on a train for Rome. Rome was a fun city, but didn't look at all like I'd pictured; however, I was just happy to be around so much history. The first night, we walkted to the Trevi Fountain to make a wish, then wandered over to the Spanish Steps, the Obelisk in Piazza del Popolo, and then found ourselves lost in a pretty park.

Terrible photo at the Trevi Fountain. Some guy was mad
at us for being in his way.

Me on the Spanish Steps

The Obelisk in Piazza del Popolo.
Rome has tons; Ancient Roman and Egyptian

Escaping into the gardens of Villa Borghese
Total accident.

The next day we hit up all of the old, cool ancient Roman ruins. By a helpful tip from the front desk of our hostel, we went to the Roman Forum first (the center with the ruins of old government buildings) to get a ticket and tour so we could skip the long line to enter the Colosseum. It is still so amazing to me how piles of old, old rocks can be so interesting.

Roman Forum

More Roman Forum

The Colosseum was really cool, but I felt a little underwhelmed I guess. Maybe it's because I didn't follow a tour guide to get all of the informations, or maybe it's because I was a tired, lazy American who wasn't used to doing so much walking (when Europeans say something is within walking distance, they usually means it could take you at least 30 minutes to walk there). Even though I wasn't completely "wowed", I did still appreciate that I was standing in the Colosseum.

Outside of the Colosseum

A part of history =)

Last that day was a trip to the Pantheon. Andrew had lots of lovely pieces of information about it; none of which I can remember, but he is always more than willing to broaden our knowledge with his little bits of trivia. Our stop at the Pantheon was really quick.

The Pantheon

Our final stop in Rome was the Vatican. As we stood in the main circle of the city taking pictures, we, like at every other touristy place, got ambushed by a tour guide and asked if we spoke English. Normally we would have said no, but the line looked really long and we were given the opportunity to just skip through it. We also spoke with the girl and found out that she came to Rome from Michigan and never left, so having something in common with us helped her out ;) I didn't really know much about the Vatican City at all so I'm glad that I had the guide. We walked through the museum, Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter's Basilica. I wish I had more pictures from that stop, but you're never allowed to take pictures of the good stuff......

Welcome to the Vatican

The next day we headed out to our next destination: Cagliari.

Wien and Venezia

     So much has happened since our last group trip that I can hardly remember what we did. On Wednesday about two weeks ago, we all hopped on a bus in Olomouc and rode down to Vienna, Austria; the first stop on our long, long trip around Europe. One of the first things I noticed and like about Vienna was that there were trees and plants and parks all around. It wasn't just big old buildings with stone streets and no grass. There was nature and I felt comfortable there. It could also be that it seemed a little more modern and reminded me of cities at home. First, like in all other cities, we visited a cathedral:

St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna

When I walked up to the cathedral I thought to myself, "This is fake." I get that feeling lot on this continent. Things here are so huge with such intricate detail that it seems so unreal that people could build something like that, especially with the technologies available in the past.
     Later we walked around town and found a pretty park near the museum quarter. I appreciate the creativity with the nature =)

Near the Museum Quarter in Vienna

     Vienna was a nice place to stop, but we moved on. After we saw everything we needed to see there, we headed on our 7 hour bus ride to Venice, Italy for the second half of our class trip. I think Venice would have been much nicer, but streets made of water and rain falling from the sky makes for a pretty wet, miserable time. At one point the water started to flood on the sidewalks!

The "street" normally ends at the edge of the building.

     It seems like we didn't do much in Venice, at least that I can recall. Just visited more castles and cathedrals and wandered the streets. Interesting fact: there are 400 bridges and 170 waterways in venice, and I felt like I crossed them all! What I appreciated most about Venice was how easy it is to take lots of beautiful photos there....so picturesque!

View of a "main street"

The famous Gondolas. I did not ride one thanks to the weather.

Pretty, old architecture

From a window in the castle

     When we covered as much of Venice as we could, we were released to explore Europe for a week on our own. Thus began probably the most interesting two weeks of my life.....

My Malaysian Encounter

     The last thing I thought I would be doing in the Czech Republic was experiencing so many unique cultures and languages in one place. I pictured myself eating koláče while polka music played in the background but fortunately, that's not the case. In my dorm I am surrounded by people from all around the world and I never expected that in the Czech Republic I would be learning about Malaysian culture. When I went to Prague the other weekend I was with Azam, an extremely kind person (I'd probably be lost in Europe without him) from Malaysia.

Me and Azam in Prague

One of the first things I got to experience was the language. Malay seems like a pretty easy language to catch on to (wayyy easier than Czech) and Azam already taught me a few phrases to show off, but I still don't know enough to follow any conversation. I'm sure that I looked very bored for most of the weekend because I couldn't join in on the conversation but I actually really enjoyed it! I'm the nerdy person who likes to be in that kind of situation so I can listen for what I know and what I can learn. It wasn't so bad anyway because everyone I met that weekend was so friendly! I was kindly welcomed into the home of Cik Wan and even go to join in on a birthday party of one of the Malaysian students in Prague.
     The trip pushed me a little outside of my comfort zone, but in a good way. I was forced to join in on the karaoke session which is not something I would eagerly choose to do, especially with a group of strangers. I'm not always the biggest people-person but I am glad I joined them. It helped me to feel more comfortable =)

Singing Karaoke!

     The hardest part for me out of the whole trip? Eating. I am so terrible when it comes to food;  I don't like much besides meats, fruits, and bread. No vegetables OR seafood for me! Plus, the amount of food I eat is equivalent to about a four-year-old, so you can imagine how enthused I was to eat a brand new dish around my host. The night we were there for the party, Cik Wan prepared a popular Malaysian dish called "Nasi Kerabu". At first I was really nervous because the dish had veggies AND fish in it, in addition to rice, sauces, beef, and chicken, but I ended up liking it! Another interesting part of the meal was that it is customary to eat with your hands instead of using utensils. Of course, I managed to make a little mess and probably looked a little silly trying to do it the proper way. I was given the option to use silverware, but I wanted to participate in the custom no matter how different it was for me.

The meal set-up

     I really enjoyed my experience and I am glad that I didn't take the easy way out. I think it is great to learn about other people and cultures and try to see things from their point of view. The people I met were all so nice and even though I may have felt a little uneasy at times, it was definitely worth it!!