Week 4: "This isn't real school..."

Česky Krumlov, Czech Republic. View of the town from one of the Castle corridors (I think).

Ahoj!

I've been abroad for a little over a month now, and some things get easier (like finding my way around or shopping for groceries). Some things don't, however. At dinner one night, I was seated with a few of my colleagues who were having a conversation about the nature of this program.

"This isn't real school..."

Part of me wanted to disagree (for reasons I'll explain soon) but when I thought about it, it actually made sense. Normally, around this time of year, I'd be stressing out over midterm exams. I suppose the only reason why I'm not as stressed is because I'm not physically at Carleton where exam stress is so palpable that it could bump into you while walking across campus, and you can turn around and threaten to punch it right in the face. Yet, I have this idea in the back of my mind that this is still a Carleton program. Carleton is one of the top liberal art schools in the nation, and when I'm there, I feel like I have to work twice as hard to be half as good as some of the other students there. Here in Prague, I have a slightly different feeling. Its hard to manage my constant level of anxiety surrounding my academics when we're taking mini-vacations just about every weekend. Weekend after weekend, we've ventured out of the city to explore another town. This Saturday will be the first since the first weekend that I've had to just relax. I'm really excited about that, despite the fact that I really do enjoy traveling and getting to see other places. While the majority of my classmates will be leaving the country for independent travel this weekend, I'll be here in Prague, resting up before our  big trip next week.

To Česky Krumlov

So last weekend, we took a trip to Česky Krumlov. Česky Krumlov is a beautiful town that is a couple of hours south of Prague. It is home to the second largest castle complex outside of Prague Castle. I have a few pictures that I'd like to post here, starting with views of the town similar to the one at the beginning of this post.

At the top of the Castle Tower

Alternate Castle Tower view

The Castle Tower

Over the river that the town was built around.

The castle itself was really cool. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside but check out the bears that they keep inside of the castle moat.

The bears have been in the moat for around 500 years (not these obviously).

They were originally used to guard the castle. Now they just kind of eat, sleep, and take pictures for tourists.

Speaking of tourists, this town was full of them. Walking through town was similar to walking across the Charles Bridge in Prague because the streets were flooded with tourists taking photos and selfies with their special selfie sticks.

After our 2-hour tour of the castle, I wandered into the Castle Gardens.

Castle Pond

Also the Castle Pond, which looked more like a small lake.

Not entirely sure what this was, but it was in the middle of the forest.

This is the Revolving Auditorium. They would use the surrounding area for sets and the entire audience would rotate as the scene called for it.

On Saturday, we had a few hours of free time before we left for Prague. I decided that I wanted to go bowling. I was originally supposed to go bowling in Slovakia at this Bowling Bar near our hotel, but my night was unfortunately cut short because I had to go to the hospital (a story for another day). In Česky Krumlov, I thought for sure that I would be able to make up for that night, but alas, my bowling dreams were crushed once again because the bowling alley doors were locked. The opening hours sign on the window gave me mixed messages about when they opened, but I couldn't stay to find out because I had run out of time.

I had some pretty good food while I was there, which was refreshing compared to what I would have probably been preparing for myself if I were in Prague. I went to a restaurant ran by Italians called Nonna Gina, and the pizza was delicious. Later that evening when we returned to Prague, I decided to try a local pizzeria with one of my roommates. It was not as good.

Our pizzas had 5 toppings but they put one topping on one sector of the pizza. Who wants to eat pizza like that?

This Is (AC) Sparta!

The next day, most of us went to a Sparta Praha fotboll game. For some reason, I was expecting it to get more out of hand, but the fans were pretty well behaved that day.

AC Sparta Praha on the left.

New generation of Spartans playing at half time.

Fans light flares at the end of the game. MY JSME SPARTA!
Photo Cred to Allie Dulles '16

Trip to a Concentration Camp

Wednesday, I went with my roommates to visit a concentration camp in a town that is north of Prague. Heavy stuff ahead:

Terezín was not designed as an extermination camp, although people did die here.

This German phrase literally translates to "Work makes you free," which was ironic because those forced to work here were absolutely not free.

This bell was used to wake prisoners up at 5am every morning.

These are windows to punishment cells.

There would be so many people squeezed inside of this small space, that everyone had to stand.

Hallway of punishment cells.

This is inside of a disinfectant chamber. Prisoners would carry body lice. These machines used heavy chemicals to clean their clothes with a hot steam finish.

While their clothes were being disinfected, the prisoners would be disinfected as well. Water from these showers was mixed with the same chemicals used to clean the clothes and it would burn the skin of the prisoners.

View of the meadow from the shower room

This is the Shaving Room

It was never used by prisoners. It was a safety measure for the Nazis to show off in case the camp was scheduled for inspection. They wanted to portray the town as a gift to a Jewish settlement.

Newer part of the concentration camp.

The Warning Execution spot. Prisoners would be able to watch others be executed there.

This is what they slept on. No mattresses or straw.

They forced around 600 people to live in each room that looked like this.

More punishment cells.

Twenty people would be forced into here. Many of them died due to suffocation and the heat from the glass roof.

Swimming pool built by prisoners for the resident Nazis and their families living there.

Fifty-two men and women were executed in this spot several months before it was all over.

We left the concentration camp and went to a crematorium.

Where they performed autopsies to confirm the cause of death, if it weren't known.

There were 4 giant incinerators positioned around the room.

Outside was something like a memorial.

Headstones were placed, but no bodies were buried here.

And that's all I have for now. Unfortunately, I'll be taking a break from the blog next week. We are visiting another clinic this Friday for patients with Gender Dysphoria. We will also be traveling to Poland, so I will have plenty to talk about.

As always, thanks for reading!

Čau!

-Brandon