Honey, I'm Home!

A Week Back in the Land of the Free

One of the many souls I am so happy to have met during this program, Kassidy. 

At 4:20pm a week ago I was landing in good ole Lincoln, Nebraska anxiously waiting to give my Mommy, Brother, and Grandma huge hugs after three months of running around Europe. I had been gone for 85 days, seen 19 cities, and experienced 10 different countries. My time in Europe was absolutely life changing. I read all the silly buzzfeed and TSM articles about coming home completely changed from your experience abroad, but I could not have ever imagined what I would see or the experience at the beginning of my trip only 3 short months ago. I have rewrote this blog over and over in my head this past week, and at the beginning wanted to claim that I hadn't changed from my experience in the Czech Republic, but after my week at home I am slowly realizing that I have. My brain will forever have the countless memories from my time in Europe and I know they will continue to shape me in the future. I know that I can survive a day without wifi(but even after being disconnected those were still rough days), I'm not intimidated by traveling, and I'm not as nervous to receive a menu in a foreign language and just point at something and hope for the best. During my time abroad I noticed the different ways our group embraced the culture. The thing that saddened me the most on our trip was how much we all seem to talk down on this wonderful country. A foreign friend simply mentioning something unique to Europe immediately enduced a response from some about how horrible that thing was in America. I found myself discovering things I loved about Kearney and this beautiful country, not that I want to stay in Nebraska forever, but just recognizing what I actually do love about it was refreshing. During my flight home Sami and I sat next to a couple that spoke almost no English, due to the flight being United States bound the flight attendants spoke only English so they were next to no help for the poor couple. Being the person who had just been the outcast who didn't know the language of the country I was visiting I was concerned and frustrated with the couple as they tried to communicate what they wanted to the flight attendants. I slowly realized how difficult their trip the United States would be. As much newfound love I had found for our country while I was away, it was brought to my attention how un-foreign friendly we are. Landing in Minneapolis all signs were in English, there was absolutely nothing to help anyone who spoke any different language. The people that worked in customs only spoke English and when they were addressed in a different language their only response was to talk louder to the person who didn't understand our language in the first place. Experiencing this made me so very grateful for the numerous signs I was able to follow while making my way around Europe, and the kind souls we found everywhere that spoke our native tongue. I completely understand that the United States truly doesn't have to be as diverse due to our country being the size of Europe and all of us speaking one language, but I truly hope that other international airports(maybe bigger ones) have a little bit more assistance for our kind visitors from other countries that just want to experience our wonderful country. 

Adjusting to Being Home.

Ryan, Mommy, and my Grandma Eunice greeting me at the airport

In my time home I have attended five musical rehearsals, worked 10 hours at Old Navy, and choreographed two numbers short of an entire show. Typical Brianna jumping head first back into my crazy theatrical life. My first two days home, and through this  first week, I was asked numerous times 'How was your trip' and 'Hows being back in the US?' I apologize if you have been someone to ask me these questions, because they are incredible difficult to answer. My trip was indescribable, there were ups and downs, but I wouldn't trade those three months for anything. I'm not sure how I feel about being back, yet. I love being home in my big bed and seeing familiar faces, but for some odd reason I feel like I am outside looking in. I somewhat feel like the new kid at school. I think I expected that life was just on hold here while I was gone and that I could just jump back in to everything like I had never left. I feel a little like I wasn't welcomed home. I didn't' expect a big welcome home party or millions of people waiting to greet me at the airport, but it's strange to me that everyone wanted to say their goodbyes but not many has wanted to say their hellos. Please don't take this the wrong way(for the 10 people that read this) I'm only reflecting on my one week home and I know the world doesn't revolve around me, it is only an observation. While I was gone I also realized how much I value my alone time and the support of my Moms (shoutout to my real Mommy, and LB) and of course the ever snapchat famous Dayna. They were always up for hearing a 'cool' story or letting me vent a little bit. Constantly being around twenty five other peoples personalities and feelings was an adventure, but it was so amazing to have created a life long bond with such a large group. It has only been a week I'm still not 100% sure if I've realized that I'm actually not on another weekend trip to a foreign land, and I know I will go through so many more emotions as I adjust back into my wonderful life here in The States, but as of now this is what's circulating in my brain. Ask me tomorrow and it could be totally different. As I have stated so many times I am forever grateful for the experience I had and it has inspired me to look into MFA programs overseas so maybe next time you see pictures of me running around a foreign country I could actually be living there! Until then I can't wait to find fun and new experiences here in the land of the free and the home of the brave!

European traveler Brianna signing off!

Sunburnt Goodbyes

Grecian Getaway

Our cool ride. 

Fira

Open Air Cinema

'Our Beach' in Crete

Skala Friends!

My last European hoorah was in a place I never thought I would visit in a million years, Greece. If you follow me on any form of social media or read the above title you probably already knew that, but I still can't believe I just spent 9 days in such a magical place. My first stop in Greece was at the Athens airport for a 9 hour slumber party in the McDonalds and then finally got to board my early morning flight to the island of Santorini. I hate mornings, but it was very magical watching the sun rise over the water and the clean white Grecian houses. Preparing for this trip I envisioned a strange hybrid experience between 'Mama Mia' and 'Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants'. This wasn't my reality while I was there, what I experienced was even better. The entire trip was spent mostly just lounging on the beach, which was really nice after our crazy go go mentality every other place we visited, and exploring the islands of Santorini and Chania. Santorini was a magical fairy land. It was a small island that Sami and I were able to go in to the capital, Fira, by renting an ATV for the day.      Fira was a fun little town full of shops and the typical loud and loving Greeks filling the streets. Speaking of the Greeks, they are the nicest people we have met on this trip. Anywhere we ate or stopped by someone would genuinely ask how we were or help us find something. I would go back to Greece again and again just for their loving nature. One of my favorite Greeks in Santorini was our waiter Illias. We stayed only a five minute a walk from the black beach and Illias was the greeter at one of the restaurants  on the beach and he kindly welcomed us into his place which was 'the best'. When I say 'greeter' I should explain. Someone stands outside of every restaurant and when you walk down the street you get stopped many times with someone telling you they have the 'best fish' or the cheapest cocktails to entice you to come in to their restaurant instead of the competitions. Anyway, we ate at Illias' place for breakfast two days in a row and now he holds a little piece of my heart(also helps that he gave us free ice cream). Another fun thing we did while in Santorini was visiting an open air cinema. This attraction popped up on my Trip Advisor, which obviously means its top notch, and had excellent reviews so we gave it a shot. This was another trip that we got to take out trusty ATV on to the town of Kamari. The fun part about not having data or internet access on our phones during this trip has been navigating. Most of the time we preload a route on our phone and it will stay up even when you aren't on data, however for this trip Sami and I weren't as prepared and just decided to wing it. Happy to say we found Kamari and the open air cinema on our own intuition and on our first try. 'Hail Caesar' was the movie that was playing(a little disappointed we missed 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2' by a day) and it wasn't the greatest, but it was  the coolest experience and a fun night! After our magical stay in Santorini we took a ferry to the island of Crete. Another adventure in Europe has been figuring out public transportation in new countries. Crete was a hard one. After a three hour bus ride from Heraklion to Chania, where we were staying, we were put on the wrong bus (which luckily went past our stop), missed our stop because of horrible communication, had to take a bus back in the right direction, and FINALLY reached our hotel an hour and a half after we said we would be there. However, we were greeted at Atlantida Mare our 'home' for the next five days with the loving Greek  hospitality. We spent our first day in Chania being lazy at 'our beach' or the stretch of sand right outside our hotel and soaked up some sand. The next day we met up with Molly, Clark, and Adam and drove (in their rented car) to the famous Elafonissi Beach. This when Greece turns out to not be so fun. Vampire Brianna forgot her sunscreen and fell asleep under the sun for an hour. Needless to stay I was thoroughly fried. Good news is it was only a day and half of discomfort and now I am just peeling for my flight home. Molly turned 20 in Crete so obviously we had to celebrate! We enjoyed drinks and a little birthday treat for Mollz at a cocktail bar. We also went to dinner and after leaving we ran into a little tavern named Skala. The first thing the drew us in when two precious puppies running around and then the owner offered us free shots... which actually led to five free shots but these people quickly turned into more Greeks that stole little pieces of my heart. Our last day in Crete Sami and I decided to ditch the beach and head to the water park about 20 minutes away. IT WAS A BLAST! It was so much fun to run around like little kids and just have fun instead of laying on the beach like boring adults. We went down water slides, swam in the lazy river, went down the crazy river, and Sami even zip lined into the pool!  That night we had dinner with our new friends at Skala and ended the night sitting by the ocean before bed. My stay in Greece was pure bliss and I'm so happy that I ended my time in Europe in such a happy place. As I post this I have nine hours left in the Prague airport(another sleepover) and then 16 hour day of traveling. What does that mean you ask? In a little over 24 hours I will be back in NEBRASKA!! It's a very bitter sweet feeling to leave my 'home' to come home, but I can't wait to be back in the good life and to see my friends and family. Yay! See you State Side in just a day!

Bohemian Rhapsody

Is this Real life or is this just Fantasy?

I've asked myself the question above a million times during my time abroad. I think I have probably written this in every blog, but I am so incredibly grateful to have had this experience. My catchy title is due to our last class field trip to the Bohemian region in the Czech Republic. The country is separated into two regions, Bohemia and Moravia. Most of my time has been spent in Moravia as Olomouc used to be the capital of this region, but then it was moved to Brno. The typical stereotypes of the two regions is that Moravia is known generally for its wine and Bohemia is known for its glass. Obviously,  I have been in the right region during my stay. However, our trip to southern Bohemia was a fun last shebang. We started our trip off in the tiny town(village) of Litomysl. The town itself makes up its population of 10,000 with surrounding villages so I am not sure how many people actually live in the city center/area we were in. We visited a church that somewhat doubled as an art museum and were given a tour by a woman from Chicago(fun to have a little midwest while in the Czech). The church was pretty, to be honest all of the churches after the first week blend together so my opinion isn't a very good one. After the tour we were free for the evening and due to the weather being less than ideal we couldn't explore much of the city so we ate dinner and celebrated Jessica's birthday at an underground pub. We left Litomysl and headed to the next city of Kutna Hora. Our bus took a small detour to the now destroyed village of Lezaky. The village was completely destroyed by

The Bone Church 

Group photo in front of the Cathedral in Kutna Hora

Rafting down the river

German fascist in June of 1942. It was a little surreal to see an area that 200 people lived and to think it was completely destroyed in only hours. Our next stop was on the outskirts of Kutna Hora at the 'Bone Church'. The church is very true to its title, and is decorated with 4 huge piles of human bones as well as skulls constructed into chandeliers and even a family's crest. As you could imagine the church was very unsettling and rather disgusting in my opinion, but it was an interesting thing to say I have seen. Once we were in Kutna Hora we visited another cathedral and the rest of the class visited the silver mines( I opted out of this one due to claustrophobia). We took our final drive into the depths of southern Bohemia ending and stopping in the beautiful town of Cesky Krumlov. Here we visited a Theatre, the Castle, and even went for a little rafting adventure down the river. The theatre was beautiful, but listening to all the history made me have flash backs to a Jack class (if you don't know what that means you are lucky) and I might have gotten a little sleepy. The castle was full of grandeur and all the luxuries you find in a royals home. Rafting was the real fun, and a little nerve wracking. Jan and Martin had told us perviously that they wouldn't join us on this excursion because of the weather, but what do 24 college students decide to do? Go anyway. Some stripped down to shorts and cutoffs for the rainy journey I put on my rain jacket and boots and prayed that the rain would cease. Luckily it did. Our directions before entering the river were keep left on the first rapid, keep right on the second, get out right after the second rapid, and be there by six. We started this journey a little after 2:30 so making it to our pick up location by six would be easy, so we thought. The day rafting down the river was so much fun and such a great experience as our last day together, but once it was six we still hadn't gone through our second rapid. By 6:15 we still hadn't and even by 6:30. I finally saw a white van on the left bank and a man conservatively waving us over.  When I say conservatively I don't think he even had his arm extended away from his body. The five of us rowed for our lives to get to his side of the river and were safely but in a van and headed back to Cesky Krumlov by 6:45. My trip to Bohemia with my class was a fun way to end the trip. I can't believe all of our goodbyes have been said and I only have hours before I leave my new home of Olomouc. Only a trip to Greece and a 9 hour international flight stand between me and the Home of The Brave. I cannot wait to see all your beautiful faces but it will be a very tearful goodbye when I leave Europe in 10 short days. 

The 4 C's of Paris

Croissants, Champagne, Crepes, and Couture

As promised I enjoyed the champagne

In preparation for my study abroad experience I had no intention of visiting Paris, as I already had the privilege to sing my way through the beautiful country of France two years ago under the direction of Clayton Moyer(thanks Moyboy you're the best). Anyway, somehow eight of us 'Czech' students found cheap flights to Paris so voila there I was. The week leading up to our trip other students asked me if I was excited to visit the city of love, lights, and champagne. My response all week was "No, not really I've already been there before.' How arrogant of me.  Once we were there and I got to watch the other seven people experience the city for the first time, I realized how incredibly fortunate I am to be back in a city that most people don't get to visit even once in their lifetime. After this realization I stopped being a little brat and enjoyed a wonderful weekend in Paris.

Traveling

Fortunately our class schedule is put together so we can travel easily. We are done around noon on Fridays so we took a train to Prague to catch our flight to Paris. Unfortunately after arriving to the airport we were informed our flight was delayed for an hour making our arrival to Paris later than we hoped. Once we arrived in Paris our plan was to use the metro to take us to our AirBnB, however due to our flight delay we were too late to use any of the public transport we planned on. We have all have become pretty resourceful when traveling due to our lack of mobile resources, but luckily at this point we were still connected to Orly's wifi and were able to get an uber to take us to our home for the weekend. Upon arrival to the apartment we were renting for the weekend the Eiffel tower was doing its final 'twinkle' of the night. This was the moment I realized how lucky I was to be back in this city as Clark, Alexander, and Sami sat in awe watching the iconic tower sparkle. We called it a 'night' or maybe an early morning as it was 3am by the time we were all settled and checked in to our apartment and got a little nap in before our weekend began.

The steps behind the Chateau looking at the gardens.

Day One

Saturday morning we woke up bright and early and headed out of Paris to the beautiful palace and gardens of Versailles. I visited the palace when I came with Claybaybay, and was more than excited to go back to see the gardens. The inside of Versailles is something out of a dream. I have never seen something so beautiful and it is absolutely HUGE. My favorite thing about walking through places like this is knowing you are walking in the same place as Marie Antoinette or her husband Louis once did, it is surreal. The only sad part about my visit this time was how extremely packed the chateau was. I was walking shoulder to shoulder and back to back in every room I visited. I even had issues in the vast Hall of Mirrors finding personal space. Although this did take away from the experience a little bit it was cool to see how many people want to see this piece of history. The part that I had not seen on my previous visit was the gardens. It was a little chilly so it wasn't as pleasant as it could have been but I was still left awestruck. These gardens built by Louis the 14th  holds 55 pools and fountains, 600 water features, A closed circuit water consumption of 4500 meters cubed per hour, 77 hectares of formal french gardens, 86 sculpted groups, 155 statues, 235 vases, AND 300,000 flowers are planted each year to fill the gardens. I thought the rock garden at good ole Harmon Park was cool, but the royal gardens of Versailles might just have it beat. We left the gardens to find something to eat and to warm up a bit and hit the ground running back in Paris. That afternoon we saw the Place de la Concorde which hold the famous fountain Anne Hathaway throws her phone in during the movie 'The Devil wears Prada, La Madeleine Cathedral which is absolutely beautiful and I teared up a little bit reminiscing about singing the choral arrangement of Ava Maria in the same space two short years ago, the Moulin Rouge where I tried to take a jumping picture and might have accidentally flashed an old man, climbed all the stairs to visit Sacré-Cœur and have the city of Paris at our feet, and finished the night with a bottle of Rosé in the Parc du Champ De Mars watching the Eiffel Tower sparkle yet again.

Day Two

Notre Dame

We had a little later start Sunday morning(God bless) and headed to a free walking tour around 11am. The cool thing about Europe is the free walking tours that they have in almost every city. The tour guides are free lancers who allow you to put your own price on the tour after you have been on it. So, the tour isn't really free but you can hand the tour guide 5 euro instead of the 30 euro you would spend on a hop on hop off tour. Alberto, our tour guide was incredibly knowledgable about the sights he showed us. Out of all the tour guides we have had he has been the most informative, but we saw the least so I'm not really sure which situation I would rather have. Never the less Alberto took us to the famous Notre Dame, Pont Neuf bridge which is the oldest bridge in Paris, the new lock bridge because the old one was torn down, and the Louvre. I wish I could write about all the fun facts he told us, but sadly my fingers can only type so much. However, I will tell the most interesting and maybe the most gross thing I learned on the trip. Alberto talked to us about the French Revolution and the beheading of Queen Marie Antoinette. The guillotine was used for her beheading and many other nobles, but what I did not know as the ritual of this death sentence. A person would lie down and be told why they were receiving this sentence, have their full name read, and any other thing that needed to be said before their lives were taken. While they were laying down all the blood and oxygen would collect in their head and once the guillotine had done it's job the executioner would hold the head up and low and behold because of the blood and the oxygen in the brain the person was still conscious and would be shown its decapitated body. How gruesome but how incredible that our bodies can do that. After the walking tour we ate lunch and headed back to a cute little macaroon shop. The big task for the day was heading to the Arc de Triomphe. We were still down by the Louvre so we started our 3.4 mile trek from the Louvre to the Arc. Before this trip I wouldn't even walk down the block and now I'm walking around 15 to 20 miles a day. This walking is absolutely exhausting, but I think its my only saving grace so I don't weight 500 pounds after all this yummy european food. We finally made it to the Arc had a mini photo shoot and headed the 2 miles back to lay in the grass by the Eiffel  for the rest of the evening. Another early wake up call was awaiting us the next day and we had to say Au Revoir to the city of Paris. Next stops the Bohemian region of the Czech Republic, Greece, and then The States! Until then, I'll keep drinking my fill of champagne, eating croissants and crepes, and wishing I could buy everything couture. Au Revoir!

Sausage,Pierogi's, and Vodka. Oh my!

Kraków

Chapel of St. Kinga

This past weekend I had the opportunity to visit Krakow, Poland on a class field trip. I wasn't sure what to expect from the city, or even from the country on the trip, but ended up having a wonderful time. We started our trip at the Wieliczka Salt Mines. I was little nervous about entering due to my claustrophobia, but took the voyage down 53 flights of stairs hoping for the best. I was pleasantly surprised with wide open spaces on the tourist route of the mine which only travels through 1% of the mines total area. The thought of only seeing 1% of the mine after a 3 hour tour was baffling. The mine is not used only for the escavation of salt but it is also used for medical treatment. The depth and the aroma of the mine aides those with respiratory issues. Once a year groups of children venture in to the mine to spend a week clearing out the bacteria in their lungs simply but breathing in the air. The mine also holds the Chapel of St. Kinga which is still in operation every Sunday morning at 7:30am(too early for me to visit) but still amazing to see such a beautiful place of worship.

St. Mary's Basilica in the City Center

Breakfast of Champions 

After leaving the salt mines we headed to dinner, being the picky eater I am I didn't try the traditional Polish pierogies  but tried a bite of Sami's. The different cuisines of countries are so fun to try but it is also very interesting to see how the cultures of different countries have been absorbed into ours. That evening we experienced the Krakow night life and had a few samples of the Wodka(Vodka) that the Poles are famous for. The next morning we visited the castle state rooms, armory, and treasury. I didn't think I would ever feel this way, but I am a little bored with castles. I love looking at the outside of them but beyond that, Princess Brianna is just ready to live in her own and stop visiting other peoples. Following the castle we ventured to the city center. I enjoyed a Polish sausage for lunch and an afternoon of walking through the beautiful markets. The best part of Krakow, especially for my wallet, was how inexpensive the city was. 1zt = .25 of a USD so we divided prices by 4 to know roughly what we were spending. These low prices led us on an adventure to get piercings (yay the nose ring is back) to my mother’s dismay a tattoo was not added on this trip but maybe before I leave. Post piercings we spent a night in to catch up on some much needed sleep. The next morning I woke up refreshed and ready for the day after a yummy eggs benedict breakfast. We spent our last hours in Krakow at Schindler's Factory. As a class we have discussed and visited many outcomes of the Holocaust, but this museum was very different than I expected. The factory led us through the entire process of Hitlers take over of Poland to the liberation after the war. It gave me an entirely different view on such a dark part of the worlds history. I am very happy with my weekend trip in Krakow, next stop the land of champagne and love, I’ll only be partaking in the champagne, Paris!

hello, it's me. (again)

Class

yours truly in front of the history building the Nebraska
Semester Abroad Program calls home.

I thought I'd give all my faithful readers a little glimpse into the 'rough' life of someone studying abroad. While I absolutely love it here, and am so grateful for everything I have seen, it's hard to be away from my usual crazy schedule that I love (and hate) back in The States. A typical weeks schedule on the class side of things is Monday through Thursday we meet from 3:00pm to 6:15pm and then on Fridays we meet from 10:30am to 1:00pm to accommodate traveling on weekends. Each day we normally have a guest lecturer from the Palacky University faculty and either a Czech lesson or another lecture from our beloved professors and go to Czech locals, Jan and Martin. The guest lectures are normally over the previous Communist Regime in the Czech, country relations with the Czech or the US, and sometimes they are just random topics the lecturers enjoy or have their Doctorate in.  Our Czech lessons are... hard. Czech isn't a language useful language for anywhere else in Europe, but it is nice to have for my short 83 days here. It is very cool to finally somewhat understand what signs say and be able to read a menu without my handy dandy google translate app. Speaking the language is the most difficult for me, so  don't expect me to come back and be able to teach you how to say something cool( unless ordering wine, beer, orange juice, and asking for the bathroom is cool.) The lectures Jan and Martin give are my favorite. Jan gave a lecture before we left for spring break on the Habsburg family, which I mentioned in my previous blog, and it was so incredible how much he knows. My favorite lecture that Martin gave was about witches and vampires. Overall, it makes me a little sad that I'm not studying theatre or dance here but it is fun to learn a new culture and language and from professors that are completely opposite from my crazy theatre family in the Fine Arts Building.

Daily Life

Hot chocolate with a scoop of ice cream
and Sami enjoying herself at Cafe 87

I've given you a glimpse into my class schedule so I guess its only fair to tell you what I do for the other 12 hours of my day. I can't lie. I'm lazy. When I am in Olomouc I normally stay up until two or three in the morning catching up with people from back home or (gasp) watching Netflix and sleep until noon. When I do drag my butt out of bed I love walking around this lovely city. Its starting to get nice now so I cannot wait to see and explore the ring of parks that are all around Olomouc. I also like to taste my way through the city. I have been to a couple of restaurants twice because they are so darn good but most of the time we just wander into a random restaurant after class and hope for the best. One of my favorite places is Cafe 87. I love love love breakfast food and they have omelettes and toast YUM! I've frequented the shopping malls maybe a little too much which could be one of the many reasons I will be coming back with a two cents left in my bank account. The tough thing about the city is that the things I would do back home I can't really do here. I'm used to dancing close to 25 hours a week between classes and rehearsals, as well as choreographing for shows and show choirs. It's been a little tough not being able to dance in a studio setting but I make up for it at Belmondo. This is a Wednesday night treat for all of us. Belmondo is a club close to the city center that showcases a new country each Wednesday, sadly the US doesn't get to have a night this year but experiencing and DANCING my way through other cultures is super fun!

I went to Berlin!

Berlin Board

Breaking away from daily life and class, I went to Berlin, Germany this past weekend! We left Friday afternoon on a six hour train ride adventure to get to our final destination of Berlin. I wasn't feeling well that morning so the train ride was a little rough and when we finally got there I only had enough energy to eat, but thank god I did. My first meal in  Germany was so so yummy. Clark and I shared the Berlin Board which had fun little tastes of different German foods and I had the yummiest potato soup with sausage in it. The next morning I still wasn't feeling the best, but toughed it out for a really awesome day. We went on a three and a half walking tour and our guide was amazing. Her name was Susan and she was from Canada and I could already tell she was going to give us a great tour from how excited she was when she welcomed the group. We went to Alexanderplatz, the city centre, the old library, a few museums, part of the Berlin Wall, a Holocaust Memorial,Brandenburg Gate, and so many other places. The most surreal thing we saw that day was the site where Hitler killed himself. Our guide walked us through a beautiful little park area and stood next to a parking lot. She noted the beautiful scenery and then said 'But its not what you see with your eyes at this moment. It is what lies three stories beneath us." Three stories below our feet was the bunker of Adolf Hitler. The man with millions of innocent blood on his hands lived literally right under my feet only a few decades ago. The bunker has never been opened due to the history being so recent and the threat of,neo-Nazis creating a shrine over their 'leader',  it also isn't on any map, and the only think to mark it is a small poster next to the parking lot.  The actual modern city of Berlin is only 25 years old which is absolutely astonishing to me. A place that holds an incredible amount of history has only been able to move forward from in the last 25 years.  Our last day in Berlin we went to the May Day celebrations. I'm not 100% sure what makes May Day so celebrated in Berlin but it was an amazing experience. There were over 45,000 people celebrating May Day in a tiny three to five mile stretch of park. I had never seen anything like it. The incredible part was everyone was very intoxicated and it still was a pleasant place to be. I'm not legal in the states, obviously, so I haven't experienced anything like this before, but I couldn't image 45,000 Americans being that intoxicated and not see a single fight or an other altercation happen. I love just sitting there for a few hours and watching everything around me. Berlin was a really cool trip that I didn't expect much from, but it was well worth it. I'm sorry to my blog followers that this is such a short and not very in depth post, but I promise to do better next week. Until then!

The gang watching a street performer in Berlin

Veni Vidi Amavi

Caution: Long Blog Ahead

The past 13 days I have spent time in four countries, six cities, and made countless memories. On top of traveling a little piece of me was also over in the states as a student choreographer for two pieces in UNK's Spring dance concert, Synergy. I will probably never be able to express my full gratitude for this experience, but I will try my hardest to give a glimpse into this wonderful opportunity I've had these last two weeks! 

Vienna

The necessities for a Habsburg coronation 

We started our journey on Tuesday the 12th by venturing to Vienna, Austria. It was the most sophisticated place. Everyone was dressed in business formal attire and I felt so at ease. I'm not sure why men and women dressed so formally makes me feel at home, but it probably explains my love affair with big beautiful cities where everyone looks important and on some important mission(maybe I should change my major to business?) We walked through the city center, visited St. Stephens Cathedral, the royal treasury, Museum of Modern Art, and spent the rest of our time just wandering the city. The royal treasury was incredible. There isn't a way to even put a monetary value on everything stored in this building. The jewels and other irreplaceable items were left by the Habsburg family whey they were forced out of their empire. I could never imagine having that much wealth nor could I imagine leaving it all behind. My other favorite part of Vienna was the Modern Art Museum. Last semester I took a dance composition course where we were assigned to find a piece of art that inspired you to move, and then to choreograph a solo based off the art. I was artistically overwhelmed in the museum as I was visually stimulated but the art was also inspiring me to create movement.  I love when something you use as a creative exercise comes back and affects you later, so thanks Day for making me choreograph off a couple of flowers that were on a piece of paper and turned me into a the crazy American girl dancing in a museum:). Vienna was a place of sophistication and wonder. I'm so happy I had the opportunity to visit. 

Italy

Seafood pasta

We left Vienna early Thursday morning and took a six hour bus ride through the Alps to get o Venice. If you know me I am the worst passenger/copilot  and fall asleep on trips almost instantly.  I did sleep on this very long journey but am so happy to have been awake for the last few hours to see the beauty the Alps had to offer. We arrived in Venice and I immediately felt the cultural shift of being in Southern Europe, but most of all being surrounded by lively Italians. While in Venice we visited San Marco Square, St Marco Cathedral, Academia, two museums, the Dukes Palace, and the top of the tower in San Marcos Square. My favorite part of Venice was wandering around the city, and with a little encouragement from my peers (and a bottle of chardonnay) a few of us wandered in to the grand canal minus our clothing(Sorry Mommy and Kathy). One night we found a cute restaurant somewhere between being and lost and more lost and enjoyed the most delicious dinner. I had seafood pasta, molten chocolate cake with ice cream, tiramisu, and the house white wine. It was refreshing to have someone serve us who cared about how we were doing and how we enjoyed our meal. We left there with happy hearts and even happier bellies. Italians were a nice change in place from how grumpy and quiet the Czech are. Italians areas loud and more than happy to be alive. Once we were done as a class in Venice we were free to leave for our individual spring break adventures.

a little fick in front of the Milan Cathedral

Sami, Molly, and I hopped on a train and headed to the little town of Bergamo outside of Milan.  Bergamo was only a place for us to rest our heads but we were pleasantly surprised with a beautiful town by the mountains and an apartment to ourselves. Gabriel, the man that rented the apartment for our stay was so helpful and told us where to get dinner and how to get to the airport on our last day. We took a day trip to Milan and again I fell in love with another fast paced expensive city. Each street was filled with high end shopping and people walking the streets to match. While in Milan I enjoyed the shopping scene maybe a little too much, but when in Milan right? We also visited the Milan Cathedral and went all the way to the roof which is also referred to as Duomo. The view from the top was beautiful so we sat on the roof for awhile to embrace another Italian City.

London

Part of the Wicked Marquis

We left Bergamo at four am the next morning to head to what is now one of my favorite cities in the world, London. We landed and were immediately welcomed by ENGLISH. Signs were in english, people were speaking english, and we could ask question in... English! The Stansted express train delivered us to the Liverpool stations where we loaded our Oyster cards which would give us access to the tube which is the London underground system as well as any other public transport we would want to take during our stay. The tube took us to our new 'home' stop of Leyton where we checked into our hotel and rested for a little bit before we conquered the city. Later that day we went to the famous department store, Harrods. it was floors upon floors of designers, but we spent most of our time in the Disney section which was as whimsical as ever.  That evening we went to Wicked on the Westend. The show was as beautiful as I remember from the previous times I had seen it (yes that says times). I would go on and on about my thoughts on their particular production but I will keep it short. Our Elphaba was brilliant, Galinda is even funnier and cuter with a British accent, and whom I assumed were the dance captions deserved their job as dancers and were excellent at their craft. The main reason I wanted to come to London was for the 'Broadway' on this side of the pond, but as I have previously stated I fell in love with the city itself immediately. It was as fast paced and beautiful as my wonderful New York, but the people were happier and it almost felt more magical due its history and mixture of the old world and the new. 

Locked up in the Tower of London

New York might be my first stop after Nebraska but I can definitely see myself living in the city of London. The next day we stopped at Ben's Cookies which my dear friend, Ally Young-Price told us to check out and definitely weren't disappointed and then headed to our hop on hop off tour. We saw The Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Westminster Abby, Big Ben, the London Eye, Buckingham Palace, Parliament, Hyde Park, Green Park and Kensington Gardens. The Tower of London was very interesting.We saw the crown jewels as well as other priceless items still being used by the royal family today.  One of the most interesting things to me was the golden baptismal font that all the members of the royal family have been baptized in throughout history. The Tower also provided me with a little more knowledge of my ancestor King Henry and other royalty that my family tree links back to. That night we attend another Westend show, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory which was a very cute show but I would not run and see it again. One of the coolest things we visited was Shakespeare's Globe. We were there only a few short days before his 400th birthday and the opening of their production of A Midsummers Nights Dream. During our tour we got to sit in on a rehearsal for the production and see the great Emma Rice at work directing.  We left the Globe and headed to our third and final show, Showboat. On the way we stopped in a cool little street market where I got a tattoo. Psych!! Hope you all liked the picture with my cute little star, but my tattoo was airbrushed and sadly is no longer on my body. However, it was fun to pretend I was a badass for a few days. Showboat was in it's last few days of previews and was so unbelievably  breathtaking. At points in the show I found myself smiling from ear to ear read to get up and dance with the cast and other points I was tearing up from the beauty of their portray of slavery and family in the deep of Alabama. It was a gorgeous show to end our last night in London. However, it wasn't Sami and I's last night in London. Due to overhead wiring issues in the train station we missed our flight to Dublin and had to stay one more evening at a Days Inn next to the Stansted Airpot.

Dublin

Hanging off the edge of the mini cliffs

We finally got on a flight the next morning and headed to Dublin, Ireland. My favorite part of Dublin was not being in Dublin, however the Guinness factory was very interesting.  The Cliffs of Moher was the highlight of this stop of our trip. Outside and nature is not my thing but I could have sat and looked at this beautiful natural wonder for hours. The cliffs are exactly 2,000 miles from Canada so if I wanted to take a nice little swim I would have been to North America in a few weeks. While at the cliffs I got one of my favorite souvenirs, my Claddagh ring. Sami had mentioned the ring a few times, but I hadn't thought about getting one before seeing how beautiful they were and understanding the meaning. The ring is made of three parts the heart, crown, and hands. The heart symbolizes love, the crown symbolizes, loyalty and the hands symbolizes friendship. The ring was first created by an irish fisherman who was kidnapped by pirates and sold into slavery. He was taken to a goldsmiths shop and worked there, worlds away from the woman he loved.  He created the first Claddagh ring as a romantic symbol of their love. He dreamed of returning to Galway and embracing his love and was finally freed years later and reunited with his one true love. The ring is worn with the heart facing towards you if you are spoken for and away if you are not. Even though I am not the most romantic person or a person that shows her feelings very often I thought this was a beautiful symbol of the power love can have. Overall these last two week were indescribable. I cannot believe my time in Europe is dwindling but am so blessed to be here. I cannot wait to come back stateside to tell you'll about my adventures, until then I hope my blogs will do. See you next time!