Now its day 3 and we are again waking up early in order to meet with our contact at the Czech Republic Senate. We met our contact at Charles University considering he is still attending as a grad student. We walked from the university across the infamous Charles Bridge over to the Senate. Once at the Senate our contact discussed about WWII and how the country was upset that it had come under communist control rather then United States control. Apparently at some point during the war the US and Soviets made a deal and allowed the Czech Republic be occupied by Russia.

Inside the Senate we found the building to be very old and historic with many ‘owners’ from kings and queens to the Soviets the building has held up very well. We were even able to sit in on a session and listen in on legislation being proposed and passed. Obviously I did not understand a word they were saying, but I came to find out what we heard while we were in the chamber was a discussion about how much money to allocate for non-profit organization and how to align this decision with the European Union.

Afterwards we made our way over the castle near the center of Prague! After a nice lunch we hiked up the old grey cobble stone road to the castle. At the top we were able to turn around and view an AMAZING panoramic of Prague. It was truly remarkable how stunning the view was! After a few photos we proceeded to enter the castle. Outside the castle there were guards similar to the ones in England that can’t blink or move, so I obviously got a photo with the guard! Once in the castle, again breathtaking gothic style architecture and the most beautiful stain glass windows I have ever seen in my life. To think back then they had the engineering ability for such a building is astonishing. In the castle/church I came to find out most of the population in the Czech Republic are atheist. This was surprising to me because there are a lot of beautiful churches sprinkled all over the country. What I learned is the population views churches as a work of art and nothing else.

After visiting the castle we then went down town and met with the Czech Mates for the very first time! It was awesome to finally meet Barbora after talking with her back and forth on Facebook. We all met at a local pub and I had some authentic Czech food (Dumplings were involved yet again) and some different Czech beer (Which was again amazing). Over dinner we discussed American habits versus Czech ones and what it is like to grow up in each others countries. What I learned from this conversation is Americans have an ‘American Smile’ (Where we open our mouths wide for a picture and they keep theirs closed), a lot of food we mix on a daily basis such as bread and pasta makes no sense to them. An example of this was posed in a question to me, would you put mustard on a watermelon? I also learned you never leave any food on your plate when you go out to eat or it is considered an insult. Moreover everyone learns to ski at a very early age on the Alps. Schooling is tough because if you miss a class you are expelled and at the end of your schooling you need to take a state exam which is the SATs X 10! Another surprising discovery is women are viewed as slightly less then a man, so in the work place a woman would make less money then a man doing the exact same job.

Location: Prague, Czech Republic