Chris Hogan, July 28, 2011, Last day before graduation

Today most of us caught up on some sleep and studying in the morning. We are preparing for our final exams and graduation tomorrow. In particular we are preparing for oral exams with our professors; something that is unusual to many of us.

After a hard day's work we went out to dinner. It was a dinner for the OSU students as well as several CZU faculty members. After dinner many of us headed to a football (soccer) match. It was a great opportunity to see what sports are like in the Czech Republic as well as the European sports atmosphere as a whole. We saw the Prague's Sparta take on Sarajevo. Sparta killed Sarajevo 5-0. It was an exciting game. We were all in agreement that the fans there were much rowdier than we are used to. Their celebrations included flares and fireworks thrown onto the field. Needless to say it was an exciting experience.

Many of us are sad that the program is drawing to a close. Simultaneously many of us are ready to head back to the United States. Most of us are leaving on Saturday and Sunday and a couple of us are continuing are European adventure for a little longer. It was a great experience and we are happy to graduate.

Until next time, Na shledanou

Andrew Pilarcik, July 26, 2011, Study Tour Day 6

Tuesday was the last day of an amazing study tour. It was also a very morbid day, and I don't mean that figuratively. Two of our stops that day had either something to do with death, blood, or bones. The first was a visit to the Rabbit meat production company. We were given a presentation about the company by a man in a swanky suit, who we would later found out was the Czech Republic business man of the year in 2001. The meat production company seemed very impressive and we got to see how chickens go from slaughter to grocery. I knew we were going to get a tour of this process but I had no idea how thorough and intense it would be. We were reacquired to put on a full body suit for disinfection, we were then read a list of rules about who and what can not go into the processing area. The chicken factory was pretty interesting, you saw hundreds and hundreds of dead chicken carcasses with missing heads and blood dripping from their neck line on to the floor. Sometimes you literally had to avoid certain areas to avoid stepping in blood or avoid having blood dripped on you. Overall, it was beneficial process to see and definitely something I will remember for a long time.

Our first stop after learning about poultry production was in Kutna Hora and was a tour of a silver mine. The word "dollar" originated in this location because the currency minted from some of the silver was world famous and called the toller. (Added by Kelly Koren)

After lunch of chicken (I was shocked I was hungry after the tour) we headed to our second morbid stop of the day, a bone church. The church interior is constructed with the remains of 40,000 people. There are chandeliers of bones, art made out of bones, and general piles of bones everywhere. It may sound quite creepy but it was really neat and seemed more like an art gallery then it did a actual church. Following the bone church it was easy to see everyone was exhausted from six full days of activities, bus rides, late nights, and eating. Our final dinner on the study tour was readily welcomed because we had pasta instead of the usual pork and potatoes. After dinner we all got on the bus had a nice group reflection about our trip and cruised back to Prague.

John Harman, July 25, 2011, Study Tour Day 5

On Monday, everyone woke up early and went to a paper mill factory. There we saw the traditional way to produce paper. It’s the oldest paper mill factory that’s still in production in the Czech Republic. Afterwards, we went to a cheese factory. The tour explained how they made the cheese, and its evolution into the industrial age. It was good cheese, but a bit salty for me.

The organic farm gave us an interesting perspective that the bigger co-op farms didn’t provide. The European Union monitored their farm from satellites, making sure that the animals don’t drink from the unregulated stream water. Arriving at our hotel, where a doberman pincher guarded the desk, the chef had a surprise for us. By far my favorite dinner of the study tour, we ate grilled pork (that tasted strangely like beef), chicken, and fresh fish. That night, after some poker and some drinks, we were ready for the next day.

Jena Parker, July 27, 2011- Wrapping up in Prague

Most of Wednesday was spent finishing up writing our papers for our classes. After sitting on our computers all day everyone decided to go The Pub for dinner. This was one of the first bars we went to when we arrived in Prague so it was fitting that we went there for one of our last nights. A group of us wanted to watch the sunrise over the Charles Bridge so we headed into Prague and spent the night wandering around until dawn. It was a little chilly waiting for the sun to come up but it was definitely worth it and something that everyone should do when visiting Prague.

Katy Ettinger, July 24, 2011 Study Tour Day 4

The Climb (best played while reading the blog) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NG2zyeVRcbs
Everyone has been prepared since our first orientation back in Ohio for the 16-mile hike, and today it's finally come. The weather was set to be cold and rainy - which is not ideal - but it turned out to be better than if it had been 90 degrees like it apparently had been some years. We started off as a big group walking into the woods, then gradually separated out into smaller groups that were moving at the same pace. The first 2 miles of the hike were difficult and pretty much straight up hill, but it smoothed out after that. The first trail was 8 miles long and we ended at a small resort area where we got some hot things to eat to go along with our sack lunches and rested for the next part of the hike.

Not everyone went on the next 4 miles (2 miles up, 2 miles down) up to the top of the hill where a large tv tower stood. When we got up the hill and up the lift to the top of the tower the view wasn't really all that impressive. It was pretty foggy that day and you couldn't see much out of the windows. Some people rented scooters to get back down the hill - yes, you read that right, scooters. I'm sorry I don't have a picture of it, because it's just as hilarious as it sounds.

The last part of the hike was the best: 4 miles around forest and waterfalls. The trails were ridiculous and definitely would never be allowed in the U.S. I can't even count how many times we jumped over fallen trees and went down slippery straight-down ladders and thought the trail was leading us directly into the gushing river. It was gorgeous, though, one of the most beautiful hikes I've ever been on!

We were all exhausted and sore at the end of the day, so mostly everyone just crashed at the hotel. Some went into the hot tub or pool, but most of us just used some wifi and went to bed to sleep off the day. I think we all wished there was a rule that said no activity for at least 2 days after a 16 mile hike, but we had to be up early in the morning as always!

Video of group leaving for the hike

Lisette F. Alor Pavon, July 23, 2011, Study Tour Day 3

Today, the third day of our study tour, we took a trip throughout Moravia. The day began with a tour through the Punkva caves, located deep within a forested area through which we took a cable car. Here, we were guided below ground, where we were shown various ancient stalagmites and stalactites that grew all around us in shades of brown and even some greens and near-whites. The visit to these caves concluded when we boarded small boats that took us through an underground river with some areas running hundreds of meters deep. Overall, the sights here were breathtaking, and once we had had our fill, we headed through the trees once more toward lunch at a restaurant in the same area.
(Upper picture by Katy Ettinger)

Video of the abyss during our cave tour



Once we had departed from the caves, we headed toward Brno, the second largest city in the Czech Republic, where a group of us proceeded to visit the Spilberk castle, turned into a dungeon in the 17th century. Here, we were guided through dark, enclosed stone chambers which had once served as cells, and we also learned about various methods of interrogation over times, altogether making for an eerie and yet interesting visit. The dungeons, which had served as the most feared prison in the times of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, were taken over by the Nazi Wermacht during the Second World War and, finally, were taken back by the state in the fifties and eventually became the exhibit through which we found ourselves walking.

Once we had met up with the rest of the group once more, we made our way to Kouty nad Desnou, where we had dinner at our hotel in the mountains through which we were to hike the following day. The view here was quite pleasant, and at night, a barbecue was held outside where we gathered in pretty cold temperatures to socialize before the next day’s much-dreaded (or perhaps anticipated, depending on who you ask) hike.

Justin Stiers- July 22, 2011 Study Tour Day 2

On the 22nd we went to a Czech Tractor manufacturer/dealership called TOKO. When we arrived we were given a presentation about TOKO and their other European partnerships. TOKO sells about 150 tractors a year, so it is not a large distributer by American standards and yet their JAC tractors were pretty impressive with the technology that they incorporate into each of their machines, such as electronic equipment that keeps track of everything the tractor does, where it goes, how it is used and in what condition the equipment is maintained to help with diagnostics if there are any problems with the machinery. We also went on a ride in one of their tractors, they go a lot faster than American tractors do!

After that we visited a town, Hostein, in which the 240 person community all committed to living sustainably. The town had a unique water purification system, using only plants and soil to purify all of their water. They also heat all homes with an efficient central furnace that burns wood chips and sawdust from local lumber mills. It saves a lot of money and keeps all energy spending local.

Eric Crawford July 21, 2011- Study Tour Day 1

We started off the day with a quick breakfast and then hit the road in our Mercedes-Benz tour bus. After a long drive, we finally arrived in the town of Telc to visit the old castle, which was beautiful, and have lunch. After another long drive, we arrived in Suchohrdly to visit a modest family farm of about five hundred acres. Afterwards, we headed to Blatnicka where we would have dinner at a local winery that doubled as a hostel. Although the accomodations were simple, it was clean and our hosts were nice. After an exceptional meal and a preview of the wine, we headed to the actual wine cellar for a wine tasting. We tasted several white wines and a few red wines. We learned a few wine tasting tips and a couple of tidbits about the winery and how they operate. The wine ranged from Riesling to virgin red wines although all were characteristically superb in quality with many people enjoying the Riesling, "Ice" white wine, and "Virgin" red wine the most. Afterwards, a live dulcimer band played as entertainment and, after copious amounts of wine, there was dancing and card playing. We also had the opportunity to purchase our favourite wines at a reasonable price ranging from $10 to $30 per bottle, which many people endulged in.

Amazing Moravian Band from our Winery Night

Chris Hogan- July 18-19, 2011

July 19th

Today we headed out on an excursion. Our first stop was to a strip mining operation. We had the opportunity to go into the mine. It was impressive to see the massive machinery from such a close perspective. After lunch we visited the town of Most. In Most, we visited a church from the 15th century which had been moved nearly a mile from its original location as a result of the mining operation. It was an example of the considerations taken when strip mining. Though the church was preserved, many villages were engulfed by the mining operation, forcing out the residents.











July 20th

On Wednesday, it was back to the normal routine. We headed to a full day of classes; however it is our final day of regular classes. I think it made us realize just how fast our trip has flown by! After classes some of us headed out to the movie theater to see Harry Potter. It was the final movie of the series and many of us were sorry to see the series go. After our last "normal" day we all packed up our things and prepared for our six-day study tour across the Czech Republic.

Andrew Pilarcik, July 15-16

Friday 15th: We woke up in Rome after getting into our hotel late the night before. The group in our hotel room consisted of Chris, Katie, Justin, and myself. I was expecting the worst when we booked a one star hotel but I was pleasantly surprised on how nice it was. The only down side of the hotel was a shared floor bathroom in no air conditioning, something easy to get over when you are paying ridiculously low prices for four nights in Rome. Anyways, we woke up around 8am Friday because our group was determined to make the most out of every one of our days. From the hotel we walked to the metro station and purchased a 3 day pass for the metro, it cost about 20 USD but we took the metro everywhere during our trip. We used Friday to see the holy parts of Rome. Unfortunately we did not get to speak with the Pope but we did visit the Vatican, St. Peters Basilica, and the Sistine Chapel. I thought it was really interesting that guards check your outfit before you can enter St. Peters Basilica, and anyone who does not fit their dress code is not allowed in. Katie, who seemed dressed fine, was not allowed in and was not very happy about it. We spent most of our time that day at the Sistine Chapel, the Vatican Museum was there and it took us around 3 hours to walk through it all. That night we bought amazing pizza across from our hotel and enjoyed the warm Rome evening.

Saturday 16th Our Saturday started much like our Friday ended, by getting pizza. I will admit I had pizza on six different occasions during our trip to Rome. It was a combination of it being the cheapest and easiest food available but it was also some of the best pizza I have ever had. We used Saturday to visit the forum and the Colosseum. We used a free tour that guided us from the Spanish steps to the Colosseum. The tour guide was kind of quiet and hard to understand but it was nice to see the city on foot. After walking around the incredible ruins of the forum we headed towards the Colosseum. The Colosseum was exactly the way I had always imagined it would be and it felt great being there. Its one of those places I had seen growing up hundreds of times in movies, books, etc and never thought id actually be there. Our group took a great O-H-I-O picture in the Colosseum, and what do you know, we met a fellow Buckeye alum there. We returned to the hotel that night exhausted and sun burnt and waited for the hot sun to go down before we went for dinner. We all got delicious pasta dishes at an authentic Italian restaurant and finished the night off by eating gellato under a lit up Colosseum.

Jena Parker, July 17-18, 2011

July 17th- Sunday was still part of our long weekend trips and the majority of us were doing lots of site seeing in Rome. The group I was with decided to head to a coastal town in Italy called Ostia. It only cost us 1 Euro and was about a 45 minutes train ride from Rome. I’ve seen beaches in the U.S. get crowded but never as packed as this beach was. People in Europe definitely don’t need as much personal space as people in the states. We eventually found a spot to put our towels and switched from lying in the sun to cooling off in the water. It truly felt like vacation and was a much needed day of relaxing.

July 18th- Ostia was only a 15 minute bus ride to the airport and our flight the next morning left at 7am so we decided to save some money and spend a night in the airport. My group got there around midnight and attempted to settle in. We all had a fun time despite the fact that we were trying to sleep on a cold hard floor with only backpacks as pillows. At 5am we all got up, checked in, went through security, and boarded our plane. By 9am we had landed back in Prague. Everyone was pretty tired from all the traveling and I’m pretty sure we all slept the rest of the day... at least that’s what I did.

John Harman, July 13-14

Wednesday was the long anticipated soccer tournament between Portugal, the Czech Republic, and the United States. The Portuguese had two teams because of their size, both of which did very well; (they beat both the US and Czech teams). The last match of the day was between the USA and the Czech Republic. Jena Parker was the team coach, yelling out such inspirational phrases from "Remember the Titans" and "Miracle." That seemed to make up for our lack of experience. Despite scoring first, the US team let up two goals but made a dramatic comeback to tie the game, 2-2. Our fourth place finish resulted in cool Budweiser Budvar T-shirts and our place in history as the only USA team to tie a match. Video of one of the goals is on facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/profile.php?id=12442914

Thursday was a travel day for most of our group. The vast majority took advantage of the long weekend to visit Rome. Other destinations include Istanbul and Dresden.

John Harman Day 9-10

Today, we had a great opportunity to hear some live music. On a small island of the Vltava River, we visited an international music festival, United Islands. Bands played in several locations. So, you could cycle between different styles of music. Two noteworthy artists include a gypsy band (a very different blend of music) and a mashpit style hard rock band. Although the term “band” is a bit misleading (they had a DJ and one singer) it was still a blast. While walking around we stopped by a Greenpeace stand on the river. Basically, people crawled into a giant walk-in balloon that floated on the river. It was large enough to stand in, which made for great entertainment when the user tried to run, soon finding themselves flat on their back.


On Sunday, the Berlin crew came back exhausted from traveling, but in good spirits. Some of us saw a chateau in the morning. The chateau was filled with stuffed animals, (at least a thousand). In the courtyard, I saw a peacock for the first time. As luck would have it, the bird showed off its feathers for our group to see. Afterwards, we joined the Berlin crew and used the afternoon for a happy nap or to just relax and await Monday classes.

Lisette F. Alor Pavon July 11-12, 2011

Monday, July 11, 2011
The day began with a rather intriguing lecture on the differing viewpoints on global climate change, as well as a general discussion on the theories themselves and the effects these changes could have environmentally and economically speaking. Following this, we began our course on Czech Literature with an overview of different crucial authors and poets. Our third lecture was a discussion of the development and regulation of organic farming in the Czech Republic, which was followed by lunch.
After lunch, we embarked on a journey to the center of Prague, beginning at the National Theater, and we toured some areas by the Old Town Square as we learned about the agricultural styles present in many buildings there, from Gothic to Baroque to modern.
























Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Today consisted of an off-site excursion, which began with a stop at a Baroque chateau and continued with a trip to the Veprek photovoltaic power plant, which we toured as we learned about its production capabilities (35 Megawatts) and its history.
Following our tour of the solar power plant, we arrived at the Zhile farm, where we spent some time learning about its history since the Communist times. After lunch, we had a chance to meet with a family farm and chateau owner, who discussed the history of his farm, particularly after communism, and allowed us to walk through his (quite run-down) chateau, which he is currently trying to sell.
We continued our tour with a visit to the hog “production” facility (although I hesitate to call anything involving living animals a “production,” as I feel this leads to objectification, but this is what they were calling it on-site), where different varieties of pigs were presented to us, including boars, pregnant sows, and piglets.
Next on our schedule was a tour of the dairy production facility, where we had a chance to observe the dairy cows in confinement, including a couple which were being milked.
Finally, we ended the tour with a return to a small meeting room, where refreshments were served as we had an opportunity for a final question-and-answer session.

Katy Ettinger- July 9-10

This weekend was designated for individual trips, so a group of 10 of us went to Budapest. We took an almost 8 hour bus ride and late Friday night we got into the city, found our hostel, and tried to get some sleep that night so we could hit the ground running Saturday morning. The woman that ran the hostel suggested (in barely any English) a free walking tour of the city. We ended up splitting the group, but the 5 of us from OSU made it to the tour just in time. Good thing we did! The tour guide (Adam) was great and really knowledgeable. We saw St. Stephen's Basilica, the Freedom Square, and the Parliament building. We decided to walk around after that and found a Hare Krishna festival happening in one of the town squares. Definitely a funny sight in the middle of a hoard of tourists, but it was interesting to see.

After an unexpectedly expensive lunch, we tried to find the National Museum. We thought was had found it, and bought tickets, only to quickly realize we were in the Applied Arts Museum. Not exactly what the guys (or I) was looking for. Chris continued on to the National Museum by himself after that - he said it was actually really cool - and we went out to grab some gyros for dinner afterwards. We ran in to an Irish guy that had just checked into our hostel and invited him to come out with us that night. We were excited to see the city at night, and it more than lived up to our expectations. We must have walked at least 3 miles that night, but we crossed the bridge into Buda and climbed to the top of an overlook for great views of the city. We somehow were able to find the Chain bridge and walked back over the Pest across that famous monument. It was a long walk back to the hostel, but our senses of direction were somewhat miraculous that night. Never used a map!

Sunday was much less exciting. We had another 8 hour us ride to look forward to in the morning. Through some confusion and a sold-out food stand, none of us were able to get any food all day. We grabbed (multiple) slices of pizza in Prague before heading back to the dorm to relax. It's surprising how much an all-day bus ride can take it out of you. We decided on a relaxing night in, maybe even to get a little homework done...

Justin Stiers- July 7-8, 2011

July 7:

Today we went on an expedition to Karlovy Vary, and city about 2 hours outside of Prague. Karlovy Vary is famous for several reasons; Moser glass, Becherovka Liquor factory, healing fountains and an International Film Festival. When we arrived we toured the Moser glass factory. Moser glass is extremely high quality and is world renowned, supplying palaces and the extremely rich with their glassware. Then we toured Becherovka and learned some of the history behind the herbal liquor, and ended with a taste test of a few of their products. After that we walked around the city and had the opportunity to see some of the film festival and taste their famous healing springs. We also toured the village of Lidice which as destroyed by the Nazis in retaliation of the assasination of the Nazi leader in the Czech Republic- Heydrich.


July 8:

Today we are back in class for the first time since Sunday. This morning we learned about various aspects of Czech agriculture, including grain production, meat and dairy, and the effect that collectivization and privatization has had on the development of Czech agriculture. Next Martin Hlavacek came back to continue to present to us about the European Union, today focusing on the agricultural aspects of the EU. This afternoon a good portion of us are heading to Budapest for the weekend. We are really excited to tour this historical city, see the sights, and the ladies that are going are excited to try out the famous spa's of Budapest.

Clip of crystal being made at Moser

Drinking the spa waters in Karlovy Lazne

Lidice Childrens' Memorial- 82 children killed

Eric Crawford July 4-5, 2011

Lisette, Viktor, and I departed Monday morning to travel from Prague to Liberec which is to the north. We took the bus and metro and finally arrived in his hometown. It reminded me of a miniature Prague except it was more serene. We visited the oldest zoo in the Czech Republic and saw some animals that I don't believe I have ever saw which was cool. We then headed to a local pub and afterwards had some late night kebabs, they were fantastic. The next day, we hiked through some of the mountainous terrain and it was absolutely beautiful. We visited a dam that looked medieval and awesome and the water had an almost purple hue to it. The lake itself reminded me of the lake in X-Men. After the long trek (9 or 12 kilometers, I don't remember) we headed back and made Viktor watch the Bourne Ultimatum. The next day, we headed up to a television station on top of an extremely high hill and the view was amazing. We saw three countries at once and I had some Klabosa, which was delicious. Then we headed back to Prague.

We climbed to the top of a mountain-like hill and arrived at a television broadcasting station. It was an amazing site because we were so high up that we could see the Czech Republic, Poland, and Germany from our elevation which acted like a crossroads.










I arrived at Viktor's house and met his family. They were exceedingly hospitable and nice. His mother is an exceptional cook, especially when restricting everything to vegan approved materials. The dog, Annie, was also one energy filled, crazy dog.

Chris Hogan- July 2-3, 2011

July 2nd
For most of us, our day began in a peculiar fashion. We awoke early Saturday morning in order to head to our 8 a.m. Rural Sociology class. Though Saturday classes were a break from our normal routine, we went about them as usual. One of our classes featured a speaker who presented the various Czech classical music styles that unfolded following the 11th century. It was interesting to learn that one Czech composer, Josef Myslivecek, was admired by Mozart. Later in the day the Missouri students went for dinner with their associate dean, and many of us headed to a Spanish restaurant for dinner. The restaurant was situated near the center of Prague in an area we had yet to explore. Admittedly, the restaurant seemed more Mexican than Spanish, but it was a great experience nonetheless.

July 3rd
On Sunday we strayed even further from our routine. More specifically, it was because we had all headed to Sunday morning classes. However, we were fortunate enough to have a lecturer who was the representative of the Czech Republic to the European Union for agricultural affairs. Following class, we celebrated the 4th of July weekend. The night was complete with American football, sack races, tug of war, and a hog-roast. We even got a tour of the campus brewery. Also, we had the opportunity to meet some Portuguese students who had just arrived on campus. The night was a perfect celebration of the 4th of July. We enjoyed roasted pork as well as many other Czech dishes. And to top it off, we enjoyed fireworks at the end of the night. It was a fantastic way to celebrate the 4th of July while abroad. Our relaxing and celebratory night was perfect to prepare us for the homestays that lie ahead.

Epic Tug of War battle against the Portuguese students

The fireworks displayed for us by the Czechs

Jena Parker Days 13-14

Thursday June 30th- By now all of us students are used to the routine of having classes most everyday from 8-2:45. During our history class we learned about a town in the Czech Republic called Lidice. The city was completely destroyed by the Germans following the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich. All of the men were murdered and women and children were sent to concentration camps. After class some of the Czech students took us to see a movie, also called Lidice, that depicted these historic events. Hearing about genocide is always sad but watching the characters in a movie live through it knowing that it is based on reality is downright depressing. Even though it was a sad movie, it was really interesting to see a movie in Czech and compare it to the typical American movie experience. There was an awkward moment when the credits started to roll and all the Americans stood up to leave and everyone else stayed seated. Apparently people watch the credits here. Once we noticed everyone just sort of stretched and sat back down, I think we played it off pretty well.


Friday July 1st- The start of July brought a very important day.... our Czech language test. For the past two weeks we have been learning how to introduce ourselves and answer a variety of questions in Czech. Everyone enjoys the language classes because they are the most lively and active but I’d be lying if I said that all us students had been studying hard outside of class for this test. We won’t know our grades until next week so keep your fingers crossed for those results. After the test we were reminded that we have to finish up reading (or start reading in some cases) our books for literature class and write a paper on them. With all of our excursions and nights out in Prague it’s easy to forgot about the studying part of studying abroad.

Andrew Pilarcik- Days 11-12

Tuesday 28th- To be honest Wednesday started out a little rough. I was awoken to a loud banging at our door with Jenna yelling, "Do you know what time it is??" Clearly I did not. John and I accidentally slept through our alarm and had to frantically get ready for the day and run to the bus. Two alarms every night from now on! After the morning everything was smooth sailing. Our first stop of the day was to the Skoda car factory in Mlada Bolesav. The whole town seemed entirely centered on the car company and their massive manufacturing plant; the car plant had it's own store, school, gym, fire department, and health care system. The factory and the surrounding compound was very impressive and it was cool to see the logistics of car creation.

After a lunch of beef and noodles we set forth to "Czech Paradise" for a nice afternoon hike. The park is properly named because the landscape and surrounding nature is beautiful...national park like. The park is lined with steep hills, thick masses of trees and narrow jagged rocks that reach well over 200 feet. We climbed up many of them, it actually seemed the whole hike we were climbing uphill even when we were supposed to be going down hill. The path had winding turns and narrow gaps to get up the rocks. It is hard to describe the beauty of the place in words but the video gives you a glimpse of the park and Chris provides the poetic justice.

Wednesday 29th- Following a routine day of class, us Buckeyes got together for the OSU v. Mizzou v. Czech basketball tournament. We definitely entered as the underdogs but our cofidence made up for our lack of talent. We were also fuled by the trash talking of the Mizzou students who thought they were going to beat us handidly. Our first game was against those Mizzou Tigers and I started off the game by hitting a 3 point shot. The two teams battled back and forth, mostly with missed shots and turnovers. The game was neck and neck the whole time and turned out to be much more physical then I thought. I wouldn't say it got out of hand but there was some questionable fouls. Everyone on our team did their part with clutch shots coming from John and Justin. The game came down to the last shot where I unfortunately missed a game winning 3 pointer to win and we fell to the Tigers. However, we kept our heads up and beat the Czech team in our second game...we even scored over 20 points! The tournament ended in a three way tie and we became the champions based on total points from the two games. Buckeye pride was high as we all received a very large beer much from the Budweiser brewery as our trophy. I plan on putting the mug on my mantel someday to remind me of the tournament and the great times I am having here!