PARIS, FRANCE

Hello Everyone!

So I know this is way late... Since my trip was in January, but I've been so tied up in the new semester that I haven't had much time for writing in this blog. I did manage to create a sweet little video of my trip to Paris, so I hope you all watch it because I think it turned out pretty good.

Paris IS everything it's made out to be. Paris has NEVER been on the top of my list to visit. I just thought it was way over sold and romanticized. The only reason I decided to go was because the tickets were so cheap and the hostel was a good deal. I also figured that I could take at least one trip without David, and why not Paris (since it wasn't a place I had to go to). Well... now that I've been there, I can confidently say that I can't wait to take David there. I also know that when I go back it has to be warm. I was expecting it to be cold but the wind was so intense it made the cold nearly unbearable! My friend Katie (who accompanied me) and I were constantly running into places just to get out of the cold.

Paris was defiantly a whole new travel playing field for me. I had no past knowledge of the language... I've never even said Merci, S'il vous plait, or Bonjour seriously before! When I went to Athens, at least I had a little phrase book and was able to learn the basics. And when I went to Germany I already had one semester of German under my belt (not that I remembered much, but still). Katie had some French background though, so luckily she steered me through it all.

There were so many amazing things about Paris that I really don't even know where to begin!

As you can see, on the right is my hostel room. I was really lucky to get a room with only three beds and my own bathroom. That's the one thing I hate about hostels, not having my own bathroom. One night we even hung out downstairs and hung out with so many different people from all around.

When we took the metro to our hostel we got off at the metro stop right under the trian station. Our location was really great because it wasn't too far from everywhere and it was right in the nightlife area.

One thing I didn't realize about Paris is that there is SO much to see. There are amazing museums and buildings that have so much history. The food is also amazing. I really tried to stay on a budget, so I didn't get to eat out very often, but even the foods they sold at the grocery store was super yummy. I think that when I come back I'll have to go to more restaurants and enjoy the great food. It's really too bad it's so expensive.

I even got to go up to the top of the Eiffel Tower. It was a pretty long line to get up and just as long to come down. I really don't know if I'll be able to do that again! It wasn't even tourist season and it was bad. The view was pretty nice, we actually got there when it was sunset.It was pretty cold and misty, but the pictures turned out pretty good. I found it pretty interesting that the Eiffel Tower was kinda out of the way. I imagined it to be smack dab in the middle of a city center. Paris is so big that it seemed like there were many different center points that had major sights or buildings.

Below is Sacre Coeur and Montmartre. It sits at the highest point of Paris on the Montmartre knoll. I really loved this cathedral, we were able to go inside and see how beautiful it really was. The street around it were also very village like.
Musee D'Orsay was my favorite museum. It houses the world's most important collection of impressionist and post-impressionist painting. There are three floors of modern works, from Degas' ethereal dancers to Monet's water lilies (it is so amazing in person, one of my favorites!), all the way to Gaugin's leafy jungles. Major works by Van Gogh, Delacroix, Manet... etc.


The Louvre was really amazing. It was the largest art museum I've ever seen, we couldn't even go through it all in one day. It is really the world's largest and most diverse collection of pre-20th century painting, sculpture, and decorative objects. Below is the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo. There were also tons of artwork by famous artist like Vermeer, Caravaggio, Rembrandt, and countless others.
Below: Nortre Dame Cathedral
The Arc de Triomphe and the Champs-Elysees was really awesome too. The 164-foot Arc de Triomphe was commissioned by Emperor Napoléon I to evoke sheer military power and triumph. It was built in an age when leaders erected monuments in their own honor. The arch's beautiful sculptures and reliefs commemorate Napoléon's generals and soldiers.The Panthéon in Paris was really amazing, I loved it! The inside was just beautiful.

3 classes passed & 3 classes to go...

Ok. So I'm pretty relieved to have three of my classes officially passed and only three more to go.

Classes that I've completed:
~European Policies and Practices Towards Ethnic Minorities (elective)
~Geography and Politics in Europe (required)
~Media & Society; An Introduction (required)

Classes I still need to finish (finals and papers):
~Marxism in International Relations (elective)
~Theories of International Relations (required)
~West European Comparative Politics and Society (required)

By February 8th I should be done with everything. The new term will start February 22nd. That means I will have some care free time off. If anyone has any ideas on what to do, please let me know. Since the 'comments' part doesn't work, feel free to email me. I think I will end up going some place local here in Czech.

New Video- New Years!

Well I wanted to share my New Years video with you all. I figured it would be a nice little look into how things played out... It's short and sweet, enjoy!

I hope everyone had a good New Years!

Štastný Nový Rok!!!!

This Silvester was a pretty tame and low key event. My friend Katie and I decided to hang out together. Althought Katie's parents are in town they decided to stay in their hotel in the city center. So it was just us two... until we visited my family.

At first we started off by having a few drinks at my place, and caught up. It's been a while since we talked because she's been busy hanging out with her family. She even took a trip to Vienna. I'm very jealous, I would love to go there some time. After we chatted for a while we went upstairs to visit Pepa, Bara, and their friends/family. There were a ton of people up there from Bara's side of the family. We hung out, made some drinks and had a good time. People even started to song and dance! After a while we wanted to venture out to a local pub we know. We had some beers and watched the fireworks outside when midnight approached.

Katie and Lenka

Also, an update on David's situation. I went see the foreign police to register and to ask about David. The woman there gave me the answer I thought she would... David will just have to apply for a VISA based on the fact that I have one (family reunion). I think technically I could apply for a permanent residency but only because I used to be a citizen. David will never be able to apply for the residency because he has no ties to the Czech Republic (since I can't get my citizenship back). It would have been nice for him to have the residency because then he'd be able to work (and do whatever an EU citizen can), instead of hassle with a VISA. Now we know he can stay (if they accept the VISA), but it still won't be a work VISA, so he'll have to find a job under the table. Ugh! Always something!

December 24th 2009

Yesterday, the 24th, is when all the action went down. I went upstairs to see everyone at about 11am, and we started to decorate the tree. Bara and Pepa were cooking the carp soup & chicken soup. It seemed like they were cooking throughout the day... but really I think that was just my imagination.

The night before Christmas eve, I was getting to ready to take a late shower when Jirka (family friend/guy I rent from) came home and told me to hurry because he needed the tub for the carp. He ended up putting the fish in the sink (in a plastic bag) while I showered. They would randomly freak out and have spasms while I showed, it freaked me out because I was pretty close to them. It would have sucked if one flew out! Thank goodness though, that did not happen...
This side table was set up with all sorts of treats and goodies. All month long Bara has been preparing the Christmas cookies and saving them. I also pitched in and helped her make some. I also made chocolate chip cookies and peppermint cookies. People must of liked my cookies because I had to refill the plate. :)

Traditional Czech Christmas cookies!

Yes... I made Bella wear her Christmas outfit. She looked so adorable in it. Everyone thought it was pretty funny and cute. I think Bella's gaining some weight here though, because it was pretty snug on her. Halfway through the day, Bara's brother came over and brought his pitbul with him. Yoshi and Bella went crazy! They met the dog one other time and the bigger dog never attacked them, but he would try to play with them. They're so tiny that they'd just get pushed around. This means lots of screaming. They would bark &scream the whole time. SO annoying.

Here is earlier in the day where everyone is helping putting decorations on the tree. I though it was so weird that we waited til Christmas eve to up up a tree. I'm not sure if this is just because, or if they do it so every year... The guys selling the Christmas trees outside waited until about mid December to start selling, so perhaps in the States we're can be early birds with getting trees (or maybe it's just me).


Below is Bara starting on making the meat & carp in a batter, and then frying it. We all had to wait until 5pm to eat... I got so hungry! I did munch some on the cookies, but I didn't want to eat all of them, plus they weren't really satisfying my hunger. Nikolka and Bara were telling me that soon I'll see the "golden piglet" (zlaté prasátko). It's almost like a Czech custom to fast all day and wait for dinner... Then you get so hungry, in the evening you see the zlaté prasátko.

A very traditional part of Christmas dinner is the fish soup. Pepa also made the chicken soup because the kids don't like the fish soup as much. I tried it and it was weird. I couldn't really decide if I liked it or not. I think that I can be really spoiled when it comes to fish (since I used to live on the coast and carp are raised in man-made ponds in Southern Bohemia). Bara also made the potato salad, which was very good. She actually made it a day or two before hand. Last minute Pepa added in caviar. Yucky... But thank goodness I was not able to taste it in there.












I was so glad to finally eat! So was Eric, he wanted to get done fast because he wanted to get to the presents! He has been hanging around the Christmas tree all day begging to open the gifts early. Everyone would tease him that they could do it like the Americans and wait until the morning. He was not happy about that comment.
All the kids loved their presents. Eric was especially excited when I gave him the Nintendo DS. I'm glad that it is being in use instead of being packed away somewhere in my stuff. Mom sent me a TON of hats and scarfs, so I gave one to Nikolka (and made sure to say it was from my mom), and she loved it! They always wear random hats/scarfs since it gets so cold out.

Cindy and Nicole both got spoiled this year. They got laptops! Overall, things went great. I did get pretty tired early though and went downstairs to lay down and catch some fairytale on TV. My favorite one was on:) I still am a little sad that nobody could come visit me this Christmas. But oh well. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

Christmas time in Prague

Christmas time is here!

Personally, winter time in Prague is one of my favorite times. Prague radiates Christmas spirt.

Every year I do everything I possibly can to obtain true & happy Christmas spirt. I'll decorate like crazy, put lights everywhere, bake Christmas cookies, and listen to holiday music... Here, I don't have to try. Everything is so naturally beautiful and glowing with Christmas! Perhaps this is due to many things. Let me make a list:

1. Beautiful huge Christmas trees in nearly all city squares.

2. Christmas stands around every corner.

3. Snow.

4. Grog.

5. Vánoční cukroví (Traditional Czech Christmas cookies)

6. Christmas stretches over December 25 and 26. (Christmas Feast (Boží hod vánoční) and St. Stephen's Day (Sv. Štěpán)

7. Saint Nicholas Day (Mikuláš).

8. Svařák, Hot wine.

9. Delicious baked/roasted chestnuts or roasted almonds in cinnamon sugar.

10. Strudl.

11. Jezisek (baby Jesus) delivers gifts!

12. School break.

13. New Years is approaching.

I'm sure there are many things that I'm missing. All I know is that this is one of the best times

of the year.

Today I decided to make some more cookies. About a week ago I made chocolate chip cookies with Eric and Nicole. They were very excited because nobody here ever makes them. I even had to search around for brown sugar because there is none here! Czech don't use brown sugar at all in their baking. When I asked about it, they all thought I meant

natural raw cane sugar. Today I made sugar cookies with a glazed frosting with crushed candy cane on top. I'm not gonna lie, it turned out perfect & delicious! What's different about these cookies for Czechs is that they have the candy canes on top. Here in Czech, there are no peppermint candy canes! So this is my little specialty (*of course only abroad*). I also made little baggies for

Christmas gifts.

I was going to go the foreign police to register where I'm living today, but that didn't happen because I was missing some papers. So now I must wait 5 days because Czechs take off two days before Christmas, Christmas day, plus the day after... I believe. I swear, Czechs LOVE their holidays. I'm defiantly not complaining though.

Lenka (family friend) came over a couple of days ago and was nice enough to gift me Mistletoe! Here it is a larger grouping of mistletoe which is hung somewhere in the room and has two main purposes. The main one being that it is a gift of good luck from a friend. The second reason of course, is that a man may choose to kiss whoever is underneath it. Honestly I had no idea that it was mistletoe because they paint them here in silver or gold, and when I asked about them, everyone told me that it the main reason was for luck. I've attach a photo of mine!

In the photo you can also see my calender with Krteček on it. Also another very yummy Christmasy thing is the Božkov Vaječný liker, I put it in my coffee and it's a very good

'pick-me-up'.

Tomorrow, I think we are going to have a dinner with Vashek (my uncle). I'm excited because it will be the start of Christmas feasting! I will make sure to eat small potions so I don't get sick. I guess for Christmas Eve there will be Karp & Karp soup, plus all the other traditional Czech dishes.

I think that this Christmas season would be complete if I could see my family and friends. Mostly I wish David didn't have to leave for this Christmas! Hopefully he will be able to be here next Christmas. We are still working on how to make sure he can stay next time he comes over.

Veselé vánoce a šťastný nový rok!

Riots just around the corner.

So this is just a quick little update. I didn't exactly do a post yet on our trip here to Greece... I was planning on doing it after I came back. However... I didn't realize we would be here during a demonstration and riot!

There was a planned demonstration by anarchists, students, and others to bring up issues such as the death of a youth killed by a police officer in last years riot. Personally it looks like they are just using the boy as a symbol for their hate of the police... The demonstration began at 1:30pm, and the riots broke out many about a couple of hours later. David and I decided to walk around the more touristy areas, but then decided we had to check out the situation.

After eating we walked towards some noise we heard. This was around 2:30pm... What we came across was a huge group of thousands of people walking and chanting. As we approached, David got out his camera and started filming. Right off the bat we notice some guy smashing marble off the side of the building. Then we turn a little and a trash can is lit on fire. It was the end of the group, so the riot cops started to push along the people.

We followed the group, moved to the front, and went to the school where the more extreme rioters were. We heard the rioters breaking windows (and saw the broken shop windows), experienced the tear gas (we were close so we got a good whiff of it), saw the fires, and watched as the rocks were being thrown at the cops.

There's so much going on, I think we're going to go out one more time... We'll be careful.

Here is one clip that we filmed, check it out. David and I ended up getting really close, so the clip is pretty crazy.

Here it is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yH5cJ5y5PFQ