Author Archives: ajs5185

Day 8 Czech Republic

The next morning it was time to pack and leave for the metro and bus, which would take us to the airport. Once at the airport one of our group members bought a marionette, performed a very good show with it in the terminal and our flight left on time for Frankfurt Germany. The 1 hour flight into Germany was smooth sailing and when we landed in Germany we had a 2 hour layover until or flight for JFK, NY left. So that was just enough time to get a good German beer and pretzel, which was also VERY good and I highly recommend that. I also was able to pick up a shirt that said ‘Enjoy Germany‘ on the front and two of us decided to get a puzzle map of the world to test our geography skills.

 

Upon boarding the airplane I became very excited when I learned it was a 747 (Double Decker) airplane. I was also surprised when the man in front of our seats unzipped his bag and a tiny dog stuck its head out. I had no idea you could bring a dog on the airplane. During the flight we had unfortunately discovered our geography skills are most certainly lacking, but it was nice to get some sleep.

 

After landing in JFK, NY we needed to get our vehicles which were in Newark, NJ so one of our group’s dads picked us up and got us back to the cars so we could then drive home.

 

This entire trip was an absolute AMAZING EXPERIENECE and I would definitely do it again in a heart beat. I would say the most profound thing I learned on this trip is the world is a very small place and we are all connected in more ways then one. To the members on this trip, it has truly been a pleasure, I wish all of you the best of luck on your future endeavors, please keep in touch. Dr. Elavsky, GREAT JOB coordinating this trip everything went so smoothly you really deserve a medal of some sort. Additionally keep in mind, double dip double dip, bumble bee, T.I.P., Man Bag, Young Creezy, Firefly, and Dragonfly **** Trip inside jokes 😉 ****


Location: Prague, Czech Republic

Day 7 Czech Republic

Luckily this time we were able to sleep in a little due to the fact our meeting with Sanoma Publishing wasn’t until 1:00pm. This also gave a few of us an opportunity to go get some Czech apparel to prove we went their. I was able to acquire a Czech T-shit with the flag and country name on the front and another member of our group found a Czech hockey jersey. After some shopping we then went to Sanoma Publishing where we were given a multitude of presentations. We began by meeting Petra who was our tour guide for this visit. We began with a power point presentation by the owner of the company, Frank and the presentation outlined how the publishing company operates. One of the things I noticed is I believe the publishing company thinks American publishing companies are a lot more advanced then they are in reality. After the presentation we were able to speak with the editor and chief of Nat Geo and he discussed that his job is to translate the magazine into the Czech language. Apparently this sometimes requires omitting a couple sentences to make sure all the text can fit on the page. Afterwards we proceeded upstairs and met an expat from England whose job include the layout of the photos in a magazine comparative to our Cosmo.  He had some very interesting insight about how he got the job and he is also able to work and live in the Czech Republic and without knowing how to speak the native language at all. After talking with him we proceeded into the next room and met with the fashion editors of the magazine. One of the ladies working there was actually an American expat and has been living in the Czech Republic for 3 years and is also able to live and work without knowing how to speak the native language. To me this portion of the presentation I had to keep referencing with cars, because otherwise fashion in not all that interesting to me. But it all was very fascinating how much work goes into the creation of a magazine.

 

Afterwards we had our final dinner at the location we had our first dinner day 1. Believe it or not we even had the same waitress. It was very nice to go around the table and learn how everyone felt about the trip and what the highlights were. After dinner a few of us returned to the bed and breakfast and continued the festivities. One of the deep conversations we had that I found particularly interesting was the reference of our group to the breakfast club. I personally believe that after this trip we are all most certainly friends and will continue to stay in contact with one another throughout the years.


Location: Prague, Czech Republic

Day 6 Czech Republic

The following morning I awoke to a couple different things going on. To begin I was told that ‘we had a problem’ apparently we needed to be out of our room by 10:00am and have breakfast by 10:15am. The current time then was 9:45am, so that meant a quick shower and breakfast on top of what could only be described as a ‘slowish’ morning due to the decisions made the prior day. However I got everything done in the time frame and made it to our bus back to Prague on time. The bus ride home wasn’t bad, I got an opportunity to sleep and watch a movie on my iphone. Upon arrival back in Prague we went to meet up with the Czech Mates again for a final dinner. The pub we choose was also airing the world hockey championship, which was between Russia and the Czech Republic. To the Czechs this hockey represented our ‘miracle’ hockey game against the Russians in the 70s.

 

Dinner was very good, once again I had the Czech Mates pick out my meal and guess what was part of the meal, dumplings! Anywho as always the beer and food was outstanding! The conversation was also really interesting with our Czech counterparts. This time the mood was livened by the hockey game in the background and the fact this was our second time meeting. For this conversation I personally had more questions directed at me about the United States, which is fitting because last dinner I was asking all the questions about the Czech Republic. The Czech Mates were continuously shocked with the American lifestyle in the regards to the McMansions, large yards, guns, trucks, and so on that defines America. Towards the end of our meal and conversation we witnessed the Czech hockey team beat the Russians by 1 goal! Keep in mind the Czech people are not to fond of the Russians so to beat them is a double victory.

 

After the Czech hockey team won the world championship everyone in the pub immediately began singing their national anthem, clanking their drinks together and began ordering shots. Overall it was a very tame atmosphere if you compare it to PSU beating Ohio State or the Phillies winning the World Series.

 

Soon after we departed from the pub because some of our Czech Mates needed to catch the metro before it stopped running for the night. In our travels we encountered the area where everyone was celebrating the win, so 4 of us Americans stayed and participated/watched. Everyone was running around with Czech hockey jerseys, Czech flags and beer bottles since there are no open container laws. Once again the Czech people were VERY tame compared to any other riot I have ever seen in the states. Even the cops didn’t care what people were doing so long as damage to property didn’t occur.  Like I said people were just running or walking around cheering, screaming with a big smile on their faces. On the roads some individuals had a very large Czech flag and had cars and Buses drive through it. But it was honestly the best thing ever to watch and participate with a foreign nation celebrating its identity.

 

We left the ‘riots’ because we noticed some riot police had shown up and that’s the last thing that we needed to be apart of. So since the metro was closed we headed for the tram. Keep in mind I was now a pro at taking the tram thanks to the English speaking, Asian guy from Kazakhstan. So we walked 5 blocks from the riot and arrived at the exact station I had taken 2 nights ago to get home from the clubs. The tram then came and we made it back safe and sound.


Location: Prague, Czech Republic

Day 5 Czech Republic

The following day we woke up early (I went to bed at 3:30am and got up at 7:00am) because we needed to catch the bus for a 3 hour bus ride to Znojmo. The bus ride was very pleasant and allowed us to see the highway system and the country side. Once at Znojmo we were met yet again by Martin and his wife Tana, who then helped us get to the hotel we would be staying in for the night. After arriving at the hotel we ate some lunch and got on another bus to begin the wine tasting tour! This was a special privilege because you need to be a member of the winery in order to go on the tour. Since Martin and Tana were members we were allowed to attend as guests. After boarding the ‘wine’ bus we were given our wine glasses the string that would allow us to hang our glasses from our necks and a booklet of information about the various wines we would taste.

 

The itinerary for the day/night was the bus dropped us off at 4 different areas in the vineyard and at those areas we would tried four different types of wines. At the end the of the wine tour and after dinner we returned to the old monastery where wine is stored and were escorted to our table in the wine cellar where we tasted another 12 wines and ranked them. This was a very fun experience for obvious reasons, but additionally I got to learn a lot about how to make wine, the history of the wine in the region and of course try some very good wines in the middle of the vineyard. It honestly doesn’t get much better than that!


Location: Prague, Czech Republic

Day 4 Czech Republic

Today we got to sleep in a little bit, but still had to get up sort of early for our meeting with the folks at Czech Google. After arriving at an unmarked Google building and office we were escorted into a room that was VERY Google style. Love seats/couches, guitars, piano, drums, almost as if we were in a play room. We met with two individuals out of nine which make up the Google group. These two individuals have been with Czech Google for a couple of years and their main task has been market research, in the sense that they inform US Google how to properly market to the Czech demographic. Some of their job includes translating and remaking English texted Google commercials. We also learned out of the entirety of Europe the Czech Republic has the least market penetration. Apparently Google only controls 70% of the Czech market.  

 

After our visit with Google we proceeded to meet up with Martin from Charles University and he had printed out papers with information regarding the Karlstein Castle we were about to visit. To get to the castle we had to literally run to the train station in order to catch the train on time and then we took a 40min train ride to the castle. Once at the castle we stopped for some food and yet again I got another traditional Czech dish which was very good however what do you think was in it again? (Dumplings) We also yet again ordered some traditional Czech beer which was again amazing. After lunch we proceeded to walk up the hill/mountain to the castle. Once in the castle we had an amazing view of the country side and got a good sense of what it would have been like to live in this castle many years ago. Once again I found the architecture of the castle to again be very breathtaking.

 

Upon returning to Prague we met up with Martin’s wife Tana, who is a very famous meteorologist on Czech TV. After meeting her we went to an Italian restaurant and ordered some pizza which was surprisingly very good.

 

After dinner a fellow colleague of mine and me decided to head down town to check out the night life that Prague has to offer. We got a tip of a night club that isn’t to large but is always the club to be at. Once we arrived we each paid 50 Crowns to get in. Once we were inside I was surprised the main floor was a standard bar with tables and such, but downstairs was the club. If you are familiar with Indigo in downtown State College, the club portion was about half that size. Additionally this bar/club was American themed! So there were Cadillacs, American motorcycle choppers, Redneck parking signs, Harley Davidson signs, and pulp fiction being played on all the tvs. The music was also to my surprise in the sense that anything they played would be a song they would play in an American club. Additionally some people would be singing the words to the songs which were in English and then if you tried to talk with them in English they wouldn’t be able to understand you because they don’t speak English. Another interesting thing I found is no one ‘grinds’ at those clubs its all dancing face to face style. At the end of the night we made our way back to the metro and found it had closed. A homeless guy then told us in English that we could catch a tram on the street which would get us home. By the tram stop we had a hard time figuring out when our tram would arrive so a fluent English speaking Asian man from Kazakhstan instructed us as to which tram to take. We then got on the tram and made it back safely. 


Location: Prague, Czech Republic

Day 3 Czech Republic

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

Day 2 Czech Republic

So it is day 2 in the Czech Republic. We woke up early this morning to meek up with our colleague Martin (Who’s a professor at Charles University) and he walked us over to where Czech TV is based out of. At Czech TV we met up with another individual named Martin (This confused me at first). The Czech TV Martin gave us a very nice tour of the entire building and the studios they film in. What I learned from this visit is there are limited commercials and advertising on TV, they have a constant 24 hour news channel (no Jack Bauer wasn’t present), they still are coping with having ‘limited’ resources and everyone that works there needs to be able to speak at least 3 different languages.

 

After the Czech TV visit we went to meet up with the Charles University Martin and he gave us a tour of the University. What was astonishing to me was that the school was founded in the mid 1300’s, before our country was even discovered! Additionally with that comes the immense and impressive heritage of kings involved in the creation of the University. Additionally the architecture was VERY impressive. In some instances I was rendered speechless. Through the tour we also got to view the news studio and software the journalism majors utilize on a daily basis. One of the things I found interesting about that is the students are required to learn English because all the computer software is only in English.

 

After the tour, Martin walked with us through the old town square where we saw again the most impressive architecture with an immense heritage and we even learned about a clock that was built in the 1400’s and continues to run without any problems. After walking through town square we then proceeded to a local pub for food and drinks. There I learned for the first time what the Czech food was like (Usually a lot of dumplings are involved) and what the beer was like (Best Beer Ever!).


Location: Prague, Czech Republic

Day 1 in the Czech Republic

Hey everyone,

The other day we finally arrived in the Czech Republic!!! We flew out of Newark and had a 6 hour layover in England. In England we were able to leave to terminal and take a tour of a castle near by. Being my first time in the country I found it very, very interesting. I enjoyed meeting all the nice people with their unique accents, looking at the awesome architecture and freaking out about the cars driving on the ‘wrong’ side of the road. What I took away from our quick stay in England is because I fully understood the language I was able to appreciate the culture more. So in essence our similarities allowed me to better view our differences.

Once we arrived in the Czech Republic I was immediately struck by the ‘communist’ architecture style, which I found very interesting. I also found that 90% of the vehicles are made by the Russian car company Skoda, which also intrigued me.

Today we woke up at 9:00am for a nice breakfast and planned out the day. At 1:00pm we walked over to the Czech Television Station, which is the equivalent to our ‘CNN’, and got a personalized tour of the entire station. What was very cool is we had an English speaking tour guide who works at the Foreign Desk portion of the TV Network and he was able to answer and understand all the questions we had. I honestly was completely blown away by the full access we had because we are ‘foreign strangers’. 

After wards we walked over to a Czech grocery store and bought food for lunch. It was very interesting how ‘cheap’ a lot of the food is when you have American money. What I have learned is the Czech people do not make a lot of money, hence a lot of their food is cheap. Also I was shocked that I had to purchase my grocery bags to carry my items out of the store. However it did teach me to not just throw those bags away when I got back to the bed and breakfast, but to save the bags for a possible future grocery store trip. I would recommend this concept to America because we would severely cut down on the amount of plastic we put in our landfills.

After changing into more comfortable clothes and making some lunch we set off to visit the center of Prague and the oldest university in central Europe, Charles University. Once again we got a personal tour of the school and its telecommunication studios. In this instance our tour guide could speak some English, but our Professor was able to act as a translator for this tour. After touring the school I walked away stunned that the school is older than our entire nations existence. The school was founded in 1347 and has had only minor architectural updates since. I also was intrigued the reason a lot of students learn English is because their editing software on the computers are in English so they are forced to learn the English language. After touring the school we walked around the corner and we were in the center of Prague. Once again I was blown away from the old style of the architecture and how beautiful the entire environment was.

Well Its time for bed, I need to get up early tomorrow to go visit parliament and the castle.  Until next time…

Cheers,
Drew


Location: Prague, Czech Republic

Andrew Stephens’ Trip to the Czech Republic

Hello everyone,

My name is Drew Stephens and currently I am a senior majoring in Information Sciences and Technology (IST). Originally I am from Baltimore, MD and I love crab cakes and football. On May 17th I will be traveling to Prague for a week. While in Prague I will learn about the culture, political system and telecommunications. Additionally I will be meeting up with a friend in the Czech Republic that I have been conversing with over facebook. This friend was assigned to me through the program Czech Mates and we have been discussing each others cultures for the last couple of months. Overall I am really excited for this trip because this will be my first time visiting Europe and I am really not sure what to expect.

Well that’s all I have for now… Here’s your moment of zen...


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Location: Prague