Czech class was the startup of our day, and we reviewed the basic greetings and professional occupations we had learned thus far. In History, we then began learning about the Bohemian kingdom, beginning with the “good King Wenceslas” in the tenth century. Jumping several centuries ahead, our third class focused on the sociological aspects of the renewal of private farming in the Czech Republic. Our last class, after a hearty lunch in Na Farme, was a thorough review of Czech language.
With many Mizzou students gone to Berlin, a group of those who were left and a few Czech students headed into Prague in the evening. Taking a tram through what appeared to be the suburbs, we came to a small restaurant that seemed to be entirely tourist-free, where we had our final meal.
Aimlessly, it would seem, we then began walking through the suburban area, where the quiet and tranquility was a stark contrast to the bustle of central Prague. Within a few minutes, buried amongst residential buildings, we stumbled upon a recreational park- complete with quite a large rock-climbing wall, a skate park, a low ropes course, slides, and a vast array of countless such items all lumped together to form a large, intricate playground, complete with a bar (allegedly for parents).
What began as a short inspection of these facilities soon turned into an all-out adventure as we, albeit not the target age of thirteen and younger, took full advantage of the playground, swinging from ropes, sliding, and wearing ourselves out nostalgically. Then, like the mature adults we were clearly acting like, we kicked back at the bar as darkness began setting in.
What began as mild curiosity led us to one of the quietest, most remote evenings in the program so far- and yet, no complaints were heard as we headed back to campus, admittedly having had more fun than we could have expected in the heart of Czech suburbia.
Wednesday was exciting, we got to go on our first ‘excursion’ to other places in the Czech Republic. We stopped briefly in a small village that claimed to have both the last battlefield and last shot fired on the European end of WWII. While the battlefield had a nice memorial set up, the shot was a little sketchier, regardless, the town was beautiful! We stopped next at České Budějovice – the home of the original Budweiser beer. Much better than the American version! We went on a tour of the factory, and even got a sampler straight from the cellar! We went next to Český Krumlov, a gorg
eous town in South Bohemia. Everything here is literally straight out of a postcard. The Vltava River flows right throw the center of the city, and even as we first walked in we heard the screams of people rafting down over the falls. We had a tour of the castle and time to explore the city; a hot, long but fun day.
After classes on Thursday we all went out to dinner (pizza, finally!) and into downtown Prague for the night. We got to go to a few different pubs and see some concerts. You often have to go downstairs to get to places in Prague because a history of flooding forced them to build their street levels higher. This just adds to the cool atmosphere of the city at night, though. We walked across Charles bridge and past lots of
other sights and had a great time.
