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!

History Has It's Eyes On You

A  day trip to Auschwitz-Birkenau

As you can tell by the subject of this post it won't be the happiest of blogs, but I will try to lighten things up by the end. On Saturday we took a day trip to the concentration camps Auschwitz and Birkenau in Poland. I was very hesitant, but interested in this trip even before I applied for the Nebraska Semester Abroad Program. The Holocaust has been a time in history that has always drew my attention, however even if I read every history book and memoir I would not have been prepared for what I would see and feel on our three and a half hour tour. As we approached the museum I looked at the window and saw the train tracks that I have read and been taught about. The tracks transported people to these camps where in most cases only their souls would leave. Our first stop was at Auschwitz II. The camp was made up of different blocks or buildings. Each building had a different purpose. Some were used for barracks or housing of the Jews, Gypsy's, and Poles others were 'hospitals' or like block 11 a building of torture and experiments. Our tour guide explained to us what would happen when a train would arrive. The passengers would be unloaded from their small cargo car, given instructions to leave their belongings, and by the move a thumb from a solider their fate would be decided. A movement of the thumb to one direction would mean the person would be registered and put to work in the camp a move to the other direction and they were sent directly to a gas chamber to be exterminated. Later in the day we stood in the exact spot that this selection took place and I was overwhelmed realizing that only a short time a go someone else was standing exactly where I was with their fate in another persons finger. Our tour guide told us a story from a survivor that witnessed a younger boy sent to be registered, but his mother and sister were sent the other way. The mother fought for her family to stay together and the soldiers agreed, little did she know that they were all being led to their deaths.  We were also led down the path the the gas chambers which were located in a forest very close to the camp. The chambers at Birkenau were destroyed before the liberation of the camp, but I could still feel my stomach drop as we approached the ruins. We were also led into a block that housed all of the belongings of the people that were brought to the camp. The soldiers would tell them to leave their things in various places and at various times and would lie that they would get them back to keep them cooperative. Part of this building also had clothing and hair that was removed before the people were killed. We walked in to a room that was floor to ceiling covered in women's hair. We were not allowed to take pictures in this room, but even if we were I'm not sure I would have one, as I had to almost immediately remove myself from the room. The people that were chosen to live obviously lived a very miserable life and most would pass away within months of arriving. They were given three meals a day and were allowed to relieve themselves twice a day and had to work around 11 hours a day. Due to malnourishment many people suffered from bloody diarrhea and had no option but to relieve themselves while they were working or while the slept.  My heart ached and still does for the humans that could do this to other human beings.  After the liberation of the camp and it being converted in to a museum survivors were the ones to give the first tours to first visitors of Auschwitz that would come and leave voluntarily. In the end I cannot even put in to words what I felt or saw during my tour. I wish this could somehow be a field trip every person in the world is required to go on, but until then we must remember to love and accept one another for our differences.

Pictures used as a roll call every morning. Everyone pictured died in the camp. 

Shoes removed from the perished

Ruins of the gas chamber at Birkenau

A little bit of happiness

Hi. I thought I'd give all of you (Hi Mommy) a little look to the future of my trip so this post would end on less of a sour note. This week we leave on a class trip to Vienna, Austria and Venice, Italy. We get to spend a week exploring these cities with our professors and tour guides, Jan and Martin and then get to go on Spring Break! Sami, Molly, and I are spending a day in Milan and then jet setting up to the UK for a nice little break without an language barrier and we get to explore the beautiful cities of London and Dublin. This trip is going so incredibly fast that when we get home we will only have 38 short days left in Europe. I am so unbelievably grateful that I am here and can't wait to see all your beautiful faces and drink all the Starbucks when I get home. Until then I am happy to call the beautiful city of Olomouc home and will probably be homesick for this city while on Spring break and even for a little bit when I get back to the states. I hope this little blip lightened the mood a bit. Can't wait to tell you all about my spring break adventures!

P.S.

Weird things I realized I haven't done in my time here, but would do at home.

Worn a seat belt

Made a phone call (with out wifi)

Drove

Danced (like real danced not my weird club dancing)

Worked

Auditioned for something

Received a smile when I make awkward eye contact with someone

Cooked a meal(don't really do this at home either)

See you next time,

Brianna

Budabust.

April Fools

Entrance of the Grandio

I'm not sure how to describe my first 24 hours in Budapest. We left immediately after class on April 1st (P.S. you are welcome for my April fools joke, America) and arrived to the city via train around 7:30pm. After withdrawing Hungarian currency and figuring out which direction to go, we walked about 20 minutes to our hostel. We were welcomed by a graffitied entrance, bars on the windows, clothing hanging from the trees, and a drunken staff. I will leave you with these pictures to give you a little more of a visual representation of the 'beauty' of the Grandio Party Hostel.

Grandio's house 'rules' and 'amenities' 

I was so overwhelmed by the hostel I was supposed to stay in for the next few days and was ready to leave immediately after walking into our room. Luckily my Mommy(here she is saving the day again) was on top of what a disaster the place was and rebooked Sami and I, as well as five other girls in a hotel down the street. We were all extremely flustered, but got moved to the hotel and then had a comforting American dinner at Burger King. Once we returned to the hotel we decided it would be better to stay in for the evening and tomorrow would be a better day. Saturday morning we decided to go on a free walking tour. On our way to the meeting point we stopped at a bakery to get breakfast. Sami and I had the money that was refunded from the hostel and were trying to split it up. We were at a table in the corner away from the entrance and all of a sudden a hand reaches in between us and runs away with 20,000ft (roughly 72 USD). Sami tried to stop him, but was unsuccessful and the man ran out, but was shortly followed by another man who sprinted after him and got our money back. I wish I could have taken a picture to capture this moment, sadly it wasn't possible. 

Fools no more.

View from the top of the dinner cruise. (Ft. a woman's elbow)

We finally made it to the meeting point at Vörösmarty Square and were greeted by a very friendly tour guide, Andrew. He ushered us around the city for two and a half hours and gave us great tips and tricks for the rest of our stay. That evening we decided to book a dinner cruise. Best $40 I have spent! We had a buffet of traditional Hungarian food, three free drinks, live music, and the most beautiful view of the historical building along the Danube. The cruise finished our second day on a much higher note than the first which was a happy feeling.  Our last day in Budapest was spent at the Széchenyi Thermal Baths. The facility had 17 'pools' as well as various spa amenities. It was such a relaxing and therapeutic way to end a trip that had started horribly. Overall the city of Budapest was fine. It was a city culturally different from our home in Nebraska, due to the belligerent drunks that roam the streets late at night and the early hours of the morning, and the way men 'cat call' and sometimes even touch women at any hour of the day. To end this on a more positive note, I was very grateful to be in a city that had an insane amount of English. We were welcomed in English, heard English almost always while walking, and most signs were even in English. So, thank you Budapest for having me, however I will not be coming again. 

Széchenyi Thermal Baths

P.S.

Things I am so thankful for:

my Mommy

wifi

people back home that talk to me regularly 

Olomouc feeling like home

Sprite 

being in Europe for three months

Spring is finally here