happy thanksgiving!

wow,

it's been quite a while since we've written on here. sorry for the delay, we've been busy with school and other events. nevertheless, we are back to update you on the recent ongoings in our lives.

since we last posted, a lot has happened: alie turned 22, we protested a nazi rally, we visited a church made of bones, and we celebrated thanksgiving. i'll start from the top...

alie's birthday was a big success. i planned a little celebration for her at a trendy club/restaurant in the city. i made a reservation for 15 people, and over 20 came, so we were both very pleased. alie felt loved (because she is). everyone ordered drinks and appetizers like hummos, grape leaves, soups and other dishes. a few of the girls bought alie a chocolate cake from a local bakery. it was delicious.



november 10th marked the anniversary of crystal night, where the nazi occupation began in prague 69 years ago. on that night nazis stormed through the city, destroying jewish storefronts, killing many jews, burning down synagogues, and hauling jews off to concentrations camps. the still-thriving neo-nazi group in prague attempted to march through the jewish quarter in commemoration of that day. alie and i took part in the protest to prevent their rally from occurring. heavily armed swat teams patrolled the city all day. when evening came, we stumbled upon a confrontation between the neo-nazis and the police force which was an incredibly intense moment to witness. we were shocked to see this hatred first hand. after hearing countless personal accounts of the holocaust from my professors here, i can't believe that people still deny its existence. ridiculous.







this past weekend aifs took us to a town in southern bohemia called kutna hora. kutna hora is famous for it's church made of bones called the kostnice ossuary, and the santa maria which is a beautiful cathedral with intricate stained glass. the santa maria is the largest of the 3 cathedrals in the czech republic. the bone church was really creepy, adorned with countless skulls and other bones. it was composed from the bodies of 40,000 people who died of the plague in the 1500s. it was a really frigid day, but we warmed up at a restaurant by eating heavy czech food and sitting by the fire.











as you all know, europeans have no reason to celebrate thanksgiving. however, we attended a lavish thanksgiving feast at the marriot that aifs reserved for us. we ate blackened catfish, venison, duck, quale, delicious pumpkin pie, sweet potatoes, greenbeans, stuffing, hot cider, and of course turkey, among others. considering we were away from everyone that we are thankful for, the meal couldn't have been any better. plus, it was alie and my first thanksgiving spent together, so it was special in that regard. because we ate so much (who wouldn't? it was a free meal!), we waddled home feeling slightly sick. we've since recovered and are upset that we didn't steal more leftovers (alie brought tupperware). man, i could go for a nice turkey sandwich right now...





our last few days have been spent christmas shopping and museum hopping. hope you all had a great thanksgiving. we can't wait to get back to the states and celebrate christmas with you! less than 3 weeks!!!



love you,
drew

poland...

hey all,

as some of you know, aifs took us to poland this past weekend. we left prague friday morning and arrived in krakow at 5 that evening. we strolled into the town square, which was one of the most beautiful and biggest town squares that we've seen on this trip. as we entered the square, on the left stood a large church that had the most ornate alter inside. The rest of the town square houses little shops and a sheltered marketplace to buy souvenirs. we spent the evening in search for traditional polish perogies, but our search was unsuccessful, so we had pizza... lame, i know.









the next day we toured the town, visiting many of the historical churches and monuments. we also went to the national gallery in the afternoon, where they have works by da vinci and rembrant. they also had a large egyptian exhibit which was really neat. they had mummified cats, mongooses, and birds. i should probably mention that we attempted to redeem ourselves in the perogi search from the night before, but the restaurant we chose was out of them! so drew had a polish sausage and i had... gelato. i was starting to think we'd never find perogies

finally, for dinner we made a reservation at a place that was recommended to us for large portions. and they had perogies! the group of us that had been on the perogi hunt came away feeling very satisfied. afterwards we went to a mediterranean bar to spend time with everyone. we went to bed early that night because we knew we were going to have an emotionally draining day the next morning.

we got on the bus early again, unsure whether to feel excited or solemn about where we were going: the auschwitz concentration camps. we won't elaborate much on here, because it is definitely better to hear it in person, but as we walked through the camps there was a somber feeling among the group. walking in an out of the former barracks was very surreal and began to become more realistic as we passed through rooms filled with shoes, glasses, brushes and other belongings of the once imprisoned jews and other outcasts. one of the more shocking sights was seeing a large room filled with over 3 tons of human hair. we visited both auschwitz 1 and auschwitz-birkenau 2. birkenau was the camp specifically designed for extermination, and was even more eery than auschwitz 1. appropriately, the weather was very grim and dark that day. please feel free to ak questions, because we've been very vague.

"work will set you free"


these are the empty cyclone b cans which held the gas used to kill the prisoners


these next 4 pictures were some of the personal belongings of the prisoners








a view of auschwitz from the end of the railroad tracks which brought the prisoners to the camp.


the trip was fast, but we really saw a lot. it was a very bittersweet trip; friday and saturday was really fun, but sunday was a bit of a downer. this week is filled with more midterms and papers, and the second half of the semester is here. tomorrow is my birthday so we have plans for going to the zoo, having appetizers and drinks with friends, and then going to dinner ourselves. although this birthday will be special because i'm in prague, i am a little sad that i can't celebrate with friends and family. i'm so glad to have drew here.

until next time,
drew & alie

drum roll please...

family and friends,

italy has come and gone and we were fortunate enough to see so much. we consider ourselves very lucky to have visited a place so vast with history. many of you have been asking about it, and really, we could write individual entries about the food or the history or the art alone, but to save attention spans, we'll keep it to one post, although it will be long. so here is our trip, day by day:

friday-
when we stepped off our plane from our two hour flight into rome, we literally had no idea how to get to our hostel, so naturally, we got lost on our way. after riding the trams, trains, buses, and walking around the city, we eventually put our pride aside and got a taxi. with a steep fee, he successfully took us to our destination. after we got settled in our tiny room which housed 6 other people, we went out into the city to find food. our first meal was delicious: scrumptous pizza and pasta. after dinner we got gelato. italian gelato is fantastic, and we got it at least once a day. what amazed us on the first day was our frequent and random stumblings upon crazy ruins which are mixed in with more modern buildings all throughout the city.

saturday-
queues are very common when attempting to get into the vatican, so when we walked there, we were greeted by a line took us about 2 hours to get through. waiting in the line was worth it however, since we got to see some the most amazing art that has ever been created. as we walked through the vatican, we saw numerous sculptures, busts, and paintings from before even jesus' time. it was filled with renaissance art by leonardo, michaelangelo, raphael, and donatello. basically we hung out with the pope and the ninja turtles all day. cowabunga! at the end our tour through the museum, we found ourselves in the sistine chapel which took michaelangelo 8 years to complete. we were truly awestruck when we stepped into the room that was covered in depictions of biblical stories. taking pictures was strictly forbidden in the sistine chapel. however, we had to snap a few before getting yelled at by the chapel security.







following the vatican, we strolled over to st. peter's basilica which is a gigantic, overwhelming church with mile high ceilings and numerous works of art. when we first entered the church, we accidentally stumbled upon the basement where all of the deceased popes were held in their tombs. many people were paying their respect to their past catholic leaders. although it wasn't as meaningful for us, it was still very interesting to see the veneration of the individuals towards the popes. however, what blew us away was the tomb of peter. PETER!?! we were pretty dumbfounded to know that one of the most popular biblical figures was laying before us. the rest of our time at st. peter's was spent wandering around the cathedral, admiring it's beauty.







sunday-
we woke up early (although we did everyday) and made our way over to the area with the most concentrated ruins: the roman forum. on our way, we randomly ran into the spot where julius ceasar was murdered. from the morning to the early afternoon, we roamed around (pun intended) some of the oldest buildings and structures in the world. the roman forum leads up to palatine hill, which is where the first settlement in italy occurred. that means that we were walking through structures that are some 3-4,000 years old. it was really cool because although the buildings no longer have roofs, they still have walls and you can clearly see how the set up of houses, churches, and other institutions looked. it was hard to imagine people just like us living their daily lives in these places.



finally, at the end of the ruins stands the ever so popular coliseum. it was huge! much larger than we had imagined. finished in 80 AD, it is truly remarkable that this building still stands. we spent some time outside just staring at it, but eventually we went inside to take a look. it was so cool to see all the detail and to try and imagine animals, gladiators and christians fighting in the arena below. they had part of the floor of the arena removed so that you could see below where the animal cages where kept and where the other chambers existed. it was one of the most remarkable things we saw.





monday-
this was another history-filled day for us. we started by going to the piazza navona, a famous town square where many artists and vendors were selling their work. next we passed the tower that was erected in honor of marcus aurelius, it was quite detailed. we also visited the famous trevy fountain, although apparently someone had spilled red paint in the fountain the day before, so the fountain was emptied and being cleaned. it lacked a little luster. next, we visited the spanish steps- a popular meeting point for both toursits and locals alike for years passed. finally, we ended our afternoon with the pantheon, which was the largest dome in the world before the invention of reinforced concrete in the 20th century. it is the best preserved building of it's time- built in 27 BC. the circle and the dimensions of the dome are so perfect that to this day, they do not know how they achieved this without modern technology. it also holds the tomb of raphael and many other italian kings.





that night, we had our first evening to spend just the two of us, so we had a nice dinner and walked around the city a bit. it was very nice.

tuesday-
we were both excited to see the countryside, so when it came time to board our train to florence we had high expectations. during our ride, a train attendant came up to us and checked our tickets. suddenly he started lecturing us in italian, so we were both very confused. he eventually spoke in english and told us that we didn't stamp our tickets and we could face a possible 50 euro ($75) fine each. luckily he had mercy on us, but it was quite a scare. once we arrived in florence, we got delicious pizza at a nearby restaurant. italian style pizza is very thin and uses less sauce than american pizza. it's very tasty.

wednesday-
on wednesday, we went to the santa croce which held the tombs of many prominent italians, namely michaelangelo and galileo. it also housed a sculpture by donatello and many renaissance pieces. following the santa croce, we got lunch at a place called mario's. mario's is an authentic italian eatery, with noisy locals and a busy, but endearing staff mainly consisting of family members. the meal was so good that we broke our "no eating at the same restaurant more than once" rule and ate there twice. afterwards we went to the duomo which is one of the world's largest cathedrals. the building was beautifully decorated with stained glass windows by donatello. then we went to the accademia which was one of our most favorite places in florence because it displayed michaelangelo's famous david sculpture.







thursday-
we took a day trip with our good friend bradley from florence to pisa to visit the leaning tower of pisa. it was a lot of fun to take silly pictures, and the tower leaned more than we thought! it was one of our more relaxing days. also worth mentioning is the fact that we set out specifially to find a good canoli to eat that day. we were successful. we also visited the pitti palace, the home of the medici family.





friday-
friday we woke even earlier than normal because we had a reservation at the uffizi gallery- without reservations the wait is 2-3 hours to get in. so we arrived only to learn that the national gallery workers had gone on strike and the gallery was closed for the day. we were upset, so we boosted our spirits by going to mario's again. that afternoon, just the two of us travelled back to rome for the evening, and we walked to the coliseum at night. we managed to find a reasonable restaurant with a great view of the coliseum, and it was a wonderful way to end our trip.

saturday-
the next morning we flew back to prague. when we arrived we stepped out of the airport, happy to be back on familiar ground.

wow. so that was pretty long. i'm guessing not everyone read it all, but hopefully they looked at our pictures. we loved our stay in italy and had a blast with john and bradley.

this weekend we leave the country once more to go to poland to visit auschwitz. we think it will be a pretty heavy trip. nevertheless, we are very excited.

we love you all and look forward to seeing you in about a month and a half!

d&a

p.s. we have a lot more photos, so when we get home, we'll show you the rest. and if you have any questions, ask!

ciao bella

Hi everyone! Sorry it's been so long since we've last posted, but this week has been a busy one with a lot of papers and midterms. Not to mention all the preparations for Italy! Just to let you know, as I write this post, Drew is in the kitchen cooking up a storm. It smells so good! He gets his good cooking skills from his mom :)

Last weekend we went to a spa town in the mountains called Karlovy Vary. Many czechs travel to this town not only for its spa services, but for the hot spring that runs through the town. The water from the spring is high in minerals, so it is believed to have healing powers. So people come from all over the Czech Republic with their ailments in hopes to drink the water and be healed. We, fortunately, had no ailments to test the water with, but we did taste it. If you ever make it out to K.V., DON'T DRINK THE WATER just for the heck of it. It tastes like blood. No Joke.

On a more positive note, the town is charming. It is situated along the path of a river and the pastel buildings make it quite colorful. Because the town is in the mountains, it was also a nice day to enjoy the fall weather. We even took some time to play in the leaves. Another cool thing about this trip was that there were only about 12 other students with us. Which meant that we got a much more personal experience with our staff guide, "Z". He took us to his favorite coffee shop (where I found chai for the first time EVER since coming on this trip!!!), his favorite restaurant (where Drew had the best czech meal he's had yet), and to a Russian Orthodox church. I don't think visiting the churches of this country will ever get old.











I can't believe that we leave in the morning for Italy. It has come so soon! Italy has been a dream of mine for years and I am so blessed to be going so early in my life. I predict a lot of history, beauty, food and chaos all packed into one week. When we get home, we will only have 6 more weeks here in Prague. Time has flown by!

So you won't be hearing from us for about a week and a half again. We miss home more every day and constantly talk about certain aspects of life that we're craving, and people that we can't wait to see!

fuori all'Italia!
Alie

cesky krumlov...

hello again, drew here,

another week has passed and we've got so much to tell!!! ... not really, but what we do have to say is pretty interesting...

this past weekend the institute took us to cesky (chesky) krumlov, a quaint little town that seemed to be plucked right out of a fairy tale. it had a castle on a hill with winding cobblestone roads lined with colorful buildings. it's important to mention that c.k. had absolutely no commercial activity which is what made it so charming. no mcdonalds, no tommy hilfiger, no kentucky fried chicken, just local mom & pop restaurants and gift shops. as we climbed the hill to the castle, we were stopped by a moat that caged 2 bears. the bears are now just an attraction, but when the castle was occupied it was guarded by the bears.















during our walk throughout the castle exterior we were stopped by numerous overlooks onto the town. they were all breathtaking. then we walked through castle garden which was a beautiful sight to see since the tree leaves were starting to change to their autumn colors. after roaming the castle we walked back down the hill to further explore the town. we wandered the streets to find chocolatiers, marionette shops, antique shops, and other authentic czech knick knack stores. it was a nice change from the busy streets of prague.





alie and i have decided that cesky krumlov is our favorite town that we have visited, thus far.

classes are beginning to pick up. our first paper was due today and we have alot of reading to do for later this week. school is school, we are just happy to be in prague.

we miss and love you,
drew