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.