Hello everyone,
As you can see, we have been traveling around quite a bit! In the spirit of posting in a timely manner, the students have decided to switch from blogging to posting their experiences on social media using #OSUatCZU2018. Feel free to follow on Facebook, Instagram, and any other social media the students may be using.
Thanks for following our journey!
Katie
The 22nd was the first day back to regular classes after the free weekend.
We started the day with two classes which were shared with students from the University of Texas. The first one was on agricultural economics, in which we learned the basics of economic theory as well as the factors of production involved in the economic production of goods and services. Next was a continuation of the history classes we had previously with a decent amount of review for the Texas students, however towards the end we learned an interesting fact about Slovakia near the end of World War II, at which point the professor proceeded to point to me and pronounce, “like our Slovak friend in the back of the class,” as he and I had previously spoken about my Slovak ethnicity.
This was followed by lunch and then a double period with a former US ambassador about the current state of the world and his experiences being an ambassador in the past; this was shared with students from San Diego University. This was definitely the highlight of the day as Leslie Alexander, as is his name, was quite personable and all the students were attentive and asked a lot of intriguing questions.
After this, our “Czech mate”, Monika, took us around Prague for a walk through Letna Park, where we saw the Prague Metronome,
then down to Old Town Square, which has some of the oldest buildings in Prague. Here we came across both giant dancing bears and a silent protest march.
Next, we went to Wenceslas Square, where we went into a nearby mall That had a rotating metal head statue in the likeness of Franz Kafka. We then ate dinner at the mall and decided to retire for the night.
Overall it was a rather peaceful and calm day with a lot of interesting information in class and visiting interesting places throughout Prague.
May 18-20
Hello everyone! I’m going to be blogging about the three-day weekend after the first week of classes. Evan, Sarah, Matt, Jane, Allison, and I (Kelley) all went to Budapest, Hungary for the break. We took an overnight train on Thursday and arrived on Friday morning.
Matt, Evan, Sarah and I checked into our hostel on Friday. We really enjoyed our time there and here are some pictures:
The courtyard
Evan hanging out in the common room
Evan, Kelley, and Sarah at the Loft Hostel (photo creds: Matt).
Once we got from the train station to the hostel, we went to get lunch at the Hummus Bar. Then we walked across the Danube river and checked out some ruins underneath an old church and the Buda Castle. We walked around the outside of the castle for a while before we headed to the Szechenyi thermal baths. The baths were super relaxing after a long day of walking around and travelling.
Ruins!
Sarah, Kelley, Jane, and Allison at the Szechenyi baths.
The next day was a little rainy so we spent most of the day in the Budapest Terror Museum. The museum was about the horrors of the Nazi and communist regimes that struggled for dominance in Hungary during the 1900s.
The Terror Museum was eye-opening for me because I never learned about how war-torn specifically Hungary was during the World Wars. The people of Hungary suffered at the hands of both the fascists and the communists. We learned that by 1964, one in three Hungarians had been either interrogated or jailed for disloyalty to their totalitarian government. The museum was in the same building as the interrogation rooms and prison cells that were used not too long ago.
After the museum, we got Thai food and checked out the ruin bars in the Jewish Quarter. We had heard from everyone at our hostel that the ruin bars were a must see in Budapest and we were not disappointed. The next day, we got waffles before heading to the bus station.
We were all really glad that we managed to make the most out of our long weekend by visiting another country. Seeing Budapest was well worth the fatigue we felt when we got back to the university!
-Kelley Ahlers
Wednesday, May 16
In the afterglow of Miss Agro, we returned to class for our first lesson on Czech language. We learned the very basics of the language starting with greetings and cognates, we could piece together our first Czech sentences; výborný! Our next class continued our discussion of sustainability in the Czech Republic and we closed out the day with more on the history of Czech lands.
Following classes, some of us returned to our accommodations for some much needed rest, while the others joined Czech buddy and local foodie, Matěj for dinner. Looking for something outside of the normal Czech cuisine, we decided on Vietnamese and Matěj had the perfect place in mind! Huong Viet, a quaint, family-owned restaurant with great prices and even better food, suited to the dietary needs of our entire group! That night we had dreams of pho and could not wait to go back.
Wrapping up our day, we were all worn out and looking for a nightcap before we headed back to the dorms. We stopped at a popular wine bar, Vinoteka, which had a wide variety of blends from all across Europe. With a glass of red or white in our bellies we called it an early night to prepare for our classes the next morning.
Čau,
Evan Byrnes
May 15, 2018
Hello everyone! Our third day in Prague was extremely eventful. We began our day with a two-and-a-half-hour bus ride to the Budweiser Budvar Brewery, which gave everyone the opportunity to catch up on sleep a little. Once we arrived at the brewery in České Budějovice we were met by the sweetest tour guide. She began with the history of the brewery dating back to 1895 when they brewed their first batch of beer, then we ventured out to the brewery. Throughout the tour, we learned about the brewing process, Budweiser Budvar’s trademark dispute with Anheuser-Busch, and even sampled freshly brewed Budweiser Budvar’s original beer. At the end of our tour, the group gathered at the Budweiser Budvar restaurant for lunch where the majority of us enjoyed another beer, along with typical Czech cuisine of goulash.
Following lunch, we departed for Český Krumlov Castle located in South Bohemia. The vast castle juts over the Vltava river and was populated as early as the Bronze Age. Today, it is still one of the most important monuments in Central Europe, and a remarkable sight to see when in the Czech Republic. After touring the castle, the group wandered through the small town surrounding the castle, then headed back to the bus to make the two-hour journey back to campus.
Even though we arrived back to campus after 6pm, we all knew the night was still young. On Tuesday evening, the campus held a festival called Miss Agro 2018 where students gathered and enjoyed local music, Czech cuisine, and a few drinks. The festival gave the group the opportunity to relax, get to know each other, and create lifelong memories. We even managed to find “Little Captain Markéta” a Captain Morgan hat!
-Hannah Schloemer
14 May 2018 – Allison Swanka
Monday was our first real day of class at the university!
We had four classes, starting with an overview of the Czech Republic, its culture, economy, political structure, etc. My favorite cultural tidbit was “Svejk”, a character from a novel who prefers to drink beer instead of fight in the war and is often used as a symbol of the Czech people. It was interesting because later in the week we visited the medieval town Cesky Krumlov, and we actually saw a pub with a picture of Svejk on the sign! It was rewarding to be able to start making connections between what we were learning about in class and what we saw in Prague itself.
Our second and third class were both on sustainable development. After a general overview of sustainability and some basic terms, we broke down some common myths about sustainability – ex. “it’s too expensive,” or, “population is the problem.” Overall, in some ways, the Czech Republic is more advanced in sustainability efforts, and in others, the US is, so it was interesting to begin comparing the two. We didn’t get into very many details about what the Czech Republic does vs. what the US does, but I’m looking forward to learning more in the coming weeks.
After a lunch of potatoes and either vegetables or meat at the university restaurant, we had our last class of the day: Czech history. What was especially cool is that our professor was the one to initially create this study abroad program, 27 years ago now, and this is now his last year teaching. During class, we covered history from the initial settlement of the nomadic tribes here, to Jan Hus, who protested against the Catholic church and became a martyr, resulting in the Hussite revolution in 1419. It’s interesting to be in a country with such a rich, long history, as American history is relatively short by comparison, and it’s interesting to see the evidence of that long history around Prague.
After class, we walked down to Vyšehrad, a fortified castle built in the 10th century overlooking the Vltava river. Walking around the castle grounds on the hill and looking over the river felt like a dream – everything was just so beautiful and green, and being able to see so much of Prague from above took my breath away. Afterwards we were all pretty tired after the hike and our first real day of class, so we just walked around a while, got dinner at a pub, saw the sunset over Prague castle and the river, and headed back home on the tram.
After a long flight, and a long first day in the Czech Republic, the 11:30 start time on Sunday felt like a godsend. The day began with lunch at Carl’s Inn; a quaint restaurant and lodge situated just down the street from our hotel. There, we were introduced to our Czech coordinator Daniel. All eager to start the day, we enjoyed a choice of fettuccini with vegetables or chicken and set out to explore the city with Daniel as our guide.
The public transportation here is a delight to use. A short bus ride brought us to the metro station and within minutes we were in the heart of Prague. We began our expedition at the Rudolfinum, which has been the home of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra since 1946. From there we walked across the Mánes Bridge to Prague Castle. We walked the outer grounds and visited the St. Vitus Cathedral. Below the castle sits the Lesser Town which was the royal town founded by King Ottokar II of Bohemia in 1257. After meandering through the baroque streets we crossed the famous Charles bridge and headed back to the metro for the commencement dinner.
Several of the international affairs administrative staff attended dinner as well as the Czech buddy students. The IA staff gave speeches, toasted with Becherovka, and talked with us about our areas of study and told us about some of the agricultural challenges facing the Czech Republic. They did a wonderful job of making us feel welcome and definitely set the program off on the right foot. After dinner, we relaxed on the balcony of our hotel and went to bed eager to begin our experience here. Meeting all of these wonderful people reminds me of one of my favorite songs: All the Faces by Creed Bratton. Despite just being introduced to everybody, it felt as if I had known them my whole life. If Sunday is any indication of how the rest of the trip will go, I’d say we are in for an unforgettable and life-changing adventure.
People put a lot of value in planning and foresight, for good reason, but there is also something to be said for just figuring it out as you go along.
This was my takeaway from getting locked outside of the gates to our hotel my first night in Prague.
Our first night started as planned. We all arrived safely in Prague, went to our hotel, took naps as needed, and then went out to dinner fairly late into the evening, finishing after 10 pm. A group of four students and our fearless leader decided to head back to the hotel right after dinner rather than going out on the town with the rest of the group. After many hours of travelling to get to the Czech Republic, an early, unadventurous night sounded like a great plan.
When we tried to return to the hotel through the front gate, we found it locked. As it turns out, that gate is locked at night, and since it was after 10 pm, we were unable to get into the building that way. Not to be deterred for long, we tried having the tallest member of our group hop over the gate to let us in from the other side. Unfortunately, that did not gain us entry; however, it did earn a few strange looks from passersby.
We were aware of the existence of a mysterious alternate gate of undisclosed location that we were supposed to be able to get into afterhours. It became our quest to find it.
There was a set of gates a little bit further up the road, one of which was unlocked. Thinking we were triumphant, we entered through that gate, using our phone flashlights to light the path. We ventured further into the area and began to grow suspicious that we were in the wrong place when we realized that there was still a fence between us and the building we were trying to get to. We’re still not sure if we accidentally trespassed on private property or not.
Tired and a little desperate, we headed back the other way, and had almost walked past a second gate, that appeared to also be locked. Maybe it was jet lag, maybe it was fatigue, but it took us a while before we noticed that there was a button next to the gate. The question now was whether pushing that button would get us into the gate or set off some kind of alarm and get us in trouble our first night in Prague. There was only one way to find out. We pushed the button.
Fortunately, that was the right thing to do. We were able to get into the hotel and finally go to bed so we could be well rested for our tour of Prague the next day.
Traveling abroad is said to be a great way to learn about yourself and the world. Over the course of the Czech Republic: Sustainability and Agricultural Policy in the EU program, we can look forward to structured, planned-out learning experiences in the form of classroom learning and arranged tours and outings. These will no doubt be invaluable experiences. However, I think all of the unplanned moments to come, where we just have to do our best to problem solve on the spot, will also be invaluable learning experiences. Or at the very least they will provide some funny stories to tell.
Some students are all ready off and running!
I can’t wait to hear about their adventures. We offered the program for the first time in 1992 and the group went to Czechoslovakia and came home from The Czech Republic! We don’t anticipate a “Velvet Revolution” this summer, but your student may experience a personal one as they have an opportunity to learn more about themselves and the world.
Our hosts at CZU (Czeske Zemedelska Universita) or Czech University of Life Sciences, are amazing! They have been engaged in programing with us since that very first program and we love working with them!
Here is a taste of what is to come!
Na skledano,
Kelly
Hanging out at the Lennon Wall (it is encouraged to “tag” this wall).
Vltava River Outing
Church of the Tyn in Old Town Square
Hiking in eastern Czech Republic
Homestay cooking
Outside St. Barbara’s church in historic Kutna Hora