Easter travels, part VI: our final adventures in Praha

Happy Sunday, and happy Father’s Day!  To celebrate, here is my final instalment of my time in the gorgeous city of Prague, Czech Republic.  (Never fear, there are many more adventures to come!)

I left off last time with our group reunion and exploration of the castle grounds and the cathedral.  After this, we descended the hill, consulted our very helpful map, and set off for a late lunch. Along the way we crossed over the Charles Bridge which was also just as wonderful the second time.  Lunch was at a fun little place called Atmoška, or Atmosphere. The food was absolutely delicious, if perhaps not the healthiest, and quite inexpensive.  Five of the eight in the group decided to order/split plátky or čízy, which is 500g of sliced, fried potatoes with either garlic, chilli, and horseradish sauce or cheese sauce (for 90 crowns per order, which is about $4.50!).  We all helped eat them, which means that between eight of us we ate 2.5 kilograms of potatoes. I got pinďa vegoš–baguette toasted with cheese and herbs with a side of Ratatouille–and someone else got a pasta dish.  But we basically feasted on potatoes.  And they were delicious.

A few of the dishes we ate: add 3 more orders of fried potatoes and then you’ve got an idea.

Our feast! clockwise from left: Christabel, Scott, Sarah, Hannah, James, Anna, and Nick

Following lunch, the group headed to the main square to see the astronomical clock and peruse all of the craft and food stalls set up.  There was live music, dancing, and tons of people!  [I may or may not have been involved in some dancing…]  We all wandered around at our own pace and Sarah and I set off to find pretty and/or yummy things.   At one point we turned and saw another mutual friend from St. Andrews (not with our group), so we chatted with her for a few minutes.  Not even a minute after seeing her, I heard someone call my full name: I turned around to see an old classmate from high school!  She studied abroad in Prague the previous year and was visiting her boyfriend during her spring break.  I love moments like that that make you realise how small the world is.  Scott told us all later that he spent twenty minutes walking around the square trying to find any of the seven of us and couldn’t.  Yet I saw two people I knew in the course of two minutes.  It’s funny how things work out sometimes.

Oops! Someone caught me doing the Charleston. There was an awesome 4 piece band playing great jazz music and I just couldn’t resist!

Some photos taken around the square; all of the buildings in Prague were so beautiful and colourful!

Sarah and I continued our rounds, sampling some delicious food and drinks and finding some beautiful jewellery and accessories.  We came across this stall where a lovely gentleman was selling hand-carved and -painted clocks and spent about 20 minutes talking to him.  He was from Bulgaria but had lived all over Europe and spoke at least 9 languages, mostly Eastern European ones.  He was delighted to discover that I spoke Spanish, and we chatted away while Sarah and I looked at the clocks (I ended up buying one for my little brother).  We then made our way to the astronomical clock to meet back up with the rest of the group and see it strike the hour.  The clock is really neat! It has tons of numbers and symbols all over the place, most of which I don’t understand.  At each hour it chimes and the twelve apostles come out two by two to acknowledge the crowd.

If you can make more sense out of all of those markings than I can then I am very impressed with you: well done!  (If you want a closer look, at any photo in this blog, just click on it.)  It’s certainly beautiful though.

Unfortunately, it was then time to make our way to the train station to head home to Herrnhut (Germany) for the night.  We spent the ride practising useful German phrases, none of which I remember any more, and laughing at our attempts at correct pronunciation.

I have so many more stories to share with you about my holiday travels!  I spent over a week in Germany and cannot wait to tell you about all of the fun I had there.  And, just in case there was any doubt in your mind, I have plenty of photos to share as well!   I cannot find the words to express how incredible this experience was.  I am so blessed that I was able to travel with friends and also to meet so many interesting and kind people along the way.  Until next time… God bless and keep you! xx

Easter travels, part V: Return to Praha

In my last post, I promised to continue my end-of-semester stories, but upon reflection I decided that I should probably go back and finish telling you about my Easter holiday first and then continue through the semester.  That way the end is at the end, not at the beginning and then mixed throughout like the way some Hollywood screenwriters seem to favour.  I’ve already jumped around enough, so I am going back to being linear.  Confused?  Sorry.  Bear with me and I’ll sort it all out.

Jumping back a few months, I have a bit more to tell you about the beautiful Prague, Czech Republic.  I’ve already posted two blogs about it here and here, but those were both all about my first day in the city.  A few days later, March 21st to be exact, Scott and I returned to Prague to meet up with six friends flying in to spend a long weekend with us in Germany.  The day began quite early in the morning when one of our Herrnhut hosts dropped us off at the bus stop over the Czech border and we caught the bus to Prague.  We arrived in the city quite early so decided to walk around and see a bit more before meeting our friends up the hill at the castle. We consulted our map and agreed upon seeing the giant metronome, so off we went.

I have no idea what this is–some kind of clock?–but we passed it when we first arrived in the city and spent at least 5 minutes watching it in wonder.

Prague is home to the largest working metronome in the world. This thing is HUGE: it stands 75 feet high! We crossed the Vltava River and climbed over 260 steps to get to Letenská pláň, Letná Park, at the top of a hill overlooking the city.  We were a bit out of breath after climbing so many steps with our bags, and after finishing saying something to Scott I turned to my left and…even though I had no breath to take away, the view stopped me in my tracks. It was incredible!

My camera won’t take panoramic pictures, but I took quite a few of the view and tried to piece them together. The bottom left is far left looking out from the metronome, then anti-clockwise moves right across the horizon.

There used to be a huge statue of Stalin where the metronome now stands, and it was eerie to think about walking the streets of Prague knowing that a massive statue of Stalin was watching night and day, flanked by two always-burning torches.  (If you’re interested, here’s a  photo of the old statue.)  I am so glad they chose to replace it with something that brings a smile to my face at least.  The park is also a favourite place of skateboarders from around the world; we saw several while we were up there.  Fun fact: During the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia, the park was the site of some important anti-Communist demonstrations, including one protest of about 750,000 people!  But enough writing for now. Here are some more photos:

Here is a collage of photos taken at the top around the metronome. There was tons of interesting graffiti everywhere; the big basin-looking thing in the top middle photo is one of 2 where the eternal fire flanking Stalin used to burn.

I took this looking up from the base of the metronome: it’s massive! And it actually moves; I believe it takes about 8 seconds for it to complete one swing. It has been here since 1991.

After our trip to the metronome, we made our way back to the castle to meet up with our friends. It was so great to see them!  Scott and I showed them most of the sites we had seen a few days previously; it was really great to get to see everything again and share in their excitement.  The group was unfortunately running a bit late, but Scott and I saw the noon changing of the guard. It was a pretty interesting ceremony and we had the best seats–er, viewing place–to watch it.  My favourite part was noticing when certain guards made funny faces or cracked a wee smile.  I caught a few in pictures!

Here’s a collage of the numerous photos I took during the ceremony. If you look closely you can see a few guards smiling or making faces!

When the ceremony concluded, it was about time to meet up with our six friends so off we went to see them.  It was a typical reunion of hugs and hellos and “how was the trip?”.  We of course showed them around the castle and the Cathedral, which is equally magnificent the second time, and spent quite a while examining the stained glass windows and figuring out which Biblical story was depicted in each section.

hard at work examining the stained glass

overlooking the city from the plaza outside the castle gates–beautiful view and beautiful people!
left to right: Nick, James, Christabel, Anna, Hannah, me, Sarah

These are the statues flanking the castle gates. Not exactly the friendliest I’ve ever seen…

I seem to have a habit of writing very long blog posts–my apologies!  I just have so many stories and pictures to share with you.  My second day in Prague will have to be split into two posts as well because I likely lost you a few paragraphs ago.  The day’s adventures are not over yet!  To be continued…

This is what happens when finals are over…

As promised, I will give a brief run-through of my final couple of weeks in St Andrews, which–aside from exams–was more fun than should probably be allowed.

Exams at St Andrews are WAY more stressful than exams at Erskine.  Never in my life have I had one, much less three, exams that counted for 75% of my mark for a class!  And my fourth exam was 50% of my grade. Talk about pressure.  Another first for me: taking an exam with a few hundred students in one room of rows and rows of desks.  Talk about distracting.  And I refuse to admit how little sleep I got when I had 3 exams in 4 days.  Lots of prayer and the fantastic support of true friends got me through that week.  Fortunately, I then had a weekend plus two days to recover and study for the last one.  Grades were  released a couple of days ago, and I am quite happy with my results! 

My last final was the morning of Wednesday, 22 May.  St Andrews University has countless fun traditions (all of which I would be quite interested to know the origins of), one of which is Soakings.  Tradition states that as each leaver, normally graduating fourth-years, is absolutely drenched with buckets of water, water pistols, or whatever other means of soaking someone their friends can come up with.  In some cases, friends decide that postgraduate students and study abroad students also qualify for soakings, which is how I happened to get soaked after MY last final.  Fortunately, it was an absolutely gorgeous St Andrews day, which made it slightly less freezing walking back to my hall after about 10 friends dumped cold water on me.  As it was me, there is, of course, photographic evidence of the occasion [thanks to my friend Donald] which I  gladly share below.  I don’t think there was a dry square centimetre on me!

Top left: “I’m so excited to be finished!”
Centre: Getting a huge tub of water dumped on me by Aaron and Cory
Top right: after everyone had finished dumping cold water on me. Did I say cold yet? COLD.
Bottom left: posing with my Swing Soc friends (L>>R: Sara, Alex, me, Martin, Lawrence)
Bottom right: posing with some friends from Melville (L>>R:Adam, me, Aaron, Cory)

 I then spent the rest of the day with my academic mum and dad, Laura and Lawrence, whom I introduced in an earlier post.  We went to Laura’s house and cooked a delicious brunch of omelets and bagels, then took a walk along Lady Brae’s.  We stopped in the park and played on the swings, then Lawrence fell asleep in the grass while Laura and I made daisy chains and I danced around barefoot.  It was definitely a fabulous hippie moment.

Miscellaneous shots from our wanderings through the woods; it was truly a perfect day!

We had so much fun in the park! Who said swings were just for kids?

We continued to town for a few things, then made our way to West Sands and met up with some friends from Swing Soc and the Gilbert & Sullivan Society.  We spent a fun afternoon talking, snacking, and playing cricket on the beach while the sounds of a bagpipe corps drifted over on the breeze.  I felt quintessentially British.

Here is a collection of the photos I took during our afternoon on West Sands; ignoring the cricket and bagpipes, it was the most like Charleston St Andrews ever felt!

 Upon adding photographs, albeit collages, I just realised that to continue with an entire week’s worth of stories would make this an exceptionally long post.  To be continued in a later entry…

crossing the pond and looking back

This is my first post from the States in over four months!  Jet lag and reverse culture shock are still hitting me, the latter more than the former.  I landed in Charleston on Saturday night , and somehow it still has not completely sunk in that I am back in the States or that I do not know when I will get to return to Scotland.  As I write this, I am sipping English breakfast tea out of a mug with the South Carolina palmetto moon on it, which makes me feel like a traitor somehow.  Also, considering that the highest temperature I experienced over the semester was 20 degrees (~68 Fahrenheit), to come back to a humid 30 degrees (~86 Fahrenheit) in Charleston is rather miserable.  Air conditioning and ceiling fans are definite blessings right now.

Charleston has been welcoming me back by storming every day for the past few days; I woke up to thunder on Monday morning and realised that that was the first thunder I had heard since before I left.  Despite the inconvenience of trying to run errands around thunderstorms, I was definitely excited.  I love Scottish weather–rain and wind and bitter cold included–far more than Southern weather, but I did miss thunderstorms.  The rain reminds me of my last day in Scotland; it was an absolutely gorgeous day, the kind that St. Andrews is famous for, until that evening when it started raining as I was packing.  The weather matched my mood, except for the moment when I found a huge piece of bubble wrap.  When I’m a counsellor some day, I will keep a stock of bubble wrap because I truly believe that popping little plastic bubbles somehow makes any bad day better.

Here is the massive piece of bubble wrap I found while packing: now that I am home it is ALL getting popped.

My entire semester packed into two suitcases and a backpack. So sad 😦

But back to being home.  Between sleeping a ton, appointments, doing washing, and catching up with friends on both sides of the ocean, I am still in the process of unpacking.  (I promise my room will be cleaned up soon, Mom!)  Unpacking is almost as heartbreaking as packing up my room in Melville was, but I am [mostly] saved from tears by the wonderful memories that come from stumbling upon each memento and note that I brought back with me.  I have always been teased for being too sentimental, but I would never wish to change this about myself.  I consider it a blessing to be able to love so deeply, even when it brings me heartache.  Saying goodbye to all of my friends in Scotland was more difficult than leaving the States in January, because I do not know when I will see any of them again.  I am sincerely grateful for Facebook and Skype which allow us to keep in contact and see each other.  And I am truly grateful for each person I was blessed to meet over the course of the semester, both in St Andrews and across Europe.  I met truly interesting, kind, and inspirational people from over thirty countries (yes, 30) and all over the United States and I have truly been changed for the better as a result.

It is really strange being home, much as I am happy to see my family.  I am a wee bit envious of my sister, Aimée, who is leaving in the morning for a two-week opera programme in Brighton, England.  Remember her? Extremely talented singer and performer who graduated from Erskine a year ago? Yep. She’s pretty awesome.  I’m really excited to hear how the programme goes.

Despite the sadness at being home, there are many things I’m excited for this summer.  The most recent of these already happened: my parents bought me a car, a Scion xD, as a [very] belated high school graduation present.  I am overwhelmingly grateful for such a gift; I am paying my own way through school and it is a huge blessing to have parents who have the ability to support me this way.

I’ve named him Hamish. yes, that’s a Scottish name. Three guesses why.

I am excited to start working again.  I am returning to work at Chick-fil-A, where I worked before starting Erskine.  It is a fun place to work and I like being useful.
I am excited to finish giving gifts to my family! I’ve given my parents and brother the things that I got them abroad, but not my sisters and brother-in-law. Being able to give them their gifts also means that I get to see them in person, which is a happy occasion as well.
I am excited to be able to sing in my church choir again! I have been singing with them for at least seven years and I really missed it while I was gone.
I am excited for July, when I will be a bridesmaid in my friend Megan’s wedding.  Megan was my room mate freshman year at Erskine and I am so happy to be a part of her special day!  And remember my friend/academic dad, Lawrence? He is coming up from Miami to see Charleston and to be my guest at the wedding.  Happy day!

I think this is a long enough post for now.  Sufficient to say, the last few weeks have been a roller coaster of emotion and a reminder of how blessed I am.  Many more posts to come! I have not forgotten to finish telling you about my Easter travels, and then there is the second half of the semester to talk about!  Until then, God bless and keep you!

also, congratulations to the Erskine College class of 2013! I wish I could have been at graduation.