End of Orientation

Last weekend we began exploring the city even further by wandering into parks and getting on random trams until the end of the line. This was amazing. By doing so, we were able to discover some pristine views of Prague and a beer garden overlooking the river as well. Then the weekend ended and our second week of orientation and czech classes began.
To learn another language is one thing, but to study it four days straight for three hours each morning is an extremely intense cram session. After day one, we were all pretty excited to be starting it and figuring out how to actually pronounce our street names and read the signs around the city. However, after day two the overwhelmed feeling began to sink in. Although I have experience learning russian and the grammatical rules are thankfully the same, some of the stresses on words I had learned in Russian are different. This causes some pronunciation confusion. But after two more days of the class, I am looking forward to continuing my proficiency in the language and developing my ability to function more fully in the Czech Republic!!!
Besides Czech, we also attended several lectures by professors about the nation of the Czech Republic today in social and economic senses. This was extremely interesting as it gave us an idea of the mind sets of people in the country and how they feel about their place in the world as well as how they are recovering after being a part of the Communist block.
After lectures we did more interactive activities and tours. The first day was an amazing film called Kawasaki's Rose designed to inform us about the lives of the people after the fall of the iron curtain. It was intriguing to see how characters interacted with each other and how one man's betrayal of another led to an entirely different life for his family. Then we toured the castle and the Jewish Quarter of town. Within the castle we saw several state buildings and the breathtaking gothic cathedral, St. Vitus. There was a room with all the relics of the Czech Saints dedicated to St. Wenceslas that has survived all the invasions and revolutions of the area against the Catholic faith. In the Jewish quarter we saw the oldest active synagogue in Europe that was plain and intriguing as well as the newer Spanish style synagogue which seemed more decorative and had many beautiful architectural pieces in it. These were both impressive and beautiful tours. However it was the last day of orientation when we took the river cruise that I was truly able to see the beauty of the city. I spent most of my time on the boat with my mouth hanging open, unable to clearly verbally express how I was feeling. I am still struggling with explaining how blessed I am to be here and how amazed I was at the beauty of the architecture from so long ago.
Along the way I got to become acquainted with one of my future professors, Keith Crawford. He is teaching The Rise and Fall of Communism, a class I was already excited for, but am even more so now. In my conversations with him, we were able to start addressing both academic discussion as well as have a personal conversation about the course and life. I can not wait to get further engaged in my coursework here as the first week of classes draws even nearer.
This past weekend UPCES brought us to the adorable southern Bohemian town of Cesky Krumlov. It is nestled inside over several hills and is overlooked by a castle. We toured the castle and the city during our two day stay and learned several of it's cute areas. The castle was very nice and we were told a story of a ruler who loved the barber's daughter, but when she went to see him one day he was angry and drunk and threw her out the window. She survived, but then he wanted her back. This was not something she herself wanted so she tried to refuse. Eventually the ruler arrested her father so she had to come back. Her locked her in a room and cut her to pieces and threw those pieces out the window that time. He later died on a toilet so our tour guide seemed to think karma got him in the end. We were told that story twice by our two different guides. It was interesting both times and I imagine it would still be if I heard it again. The town itself was charming. During our stay we wandered throughout the streets. At one point we found a crying baby alone in a car which was terrifying, but then the mother came outside. For a minute we all were very unsure about what to do!
Today DJ and I are off to church on a boat and tomorrow everyone starts classes while I have my interview with my internship. I can not wait to see how the first week goes and to begin getting into a rhythm for my time of study here.