wine, napoleon, and wacky tobacky...

hey everyone, drew here...

this past weekend, as you all know from my past entry, aifs took us on a trip to moravia. while we were there we explored the city of brno, which is almost the equivalent to prague, but smaller. moravia is known for it's wine, so when we went into brno there were little booths set up throughout the square serving young wine. young wine is exactly what it means... wine that hasn't been able to ferment for very long. it has a pale yellow color and it is very sweet.

on saturday we went to a napoleonic battlefield where napoleon once commanded his soldiers. it was a remarkable thought to be standing on the ground where napoleon once stood. we then went to a wine cellar that was located in a quaint little town. there we tried 5 different wines, 2 white and 3 red. i liked one of the reds so much, that i purchased a bottle for 5 dollars.







then on sunday, our last day in moravia, we explored a beautiful church called "the pearl of moravia." it was so stunning. it literally took my breath away.





following the church, we spelunked through a series of caves. the stalactites and stalacmites were so odd because of their size and shape. the caving ended with a boat ride out of the mouth of the cave. in some areas in the underground river in the cave, the waters reached 50 meters. it was kind of eerie to think that we were over such great depths in such a confined place in this little puny boat. nonetheless, it was still amazing.





we are back in prague now, and happy to be home.



-drew

ok it's alie now. this week we started our real classes. on monday, we actually had both classes together. we started with a literature course that has us reading different pieces of literature that take place in prague and in specific sites around the city. each class we meet at a different site which is the setting for what we have just read as homework.

the next class was a contemporary czech culture class. this class really focuses on how communism has affected the current generations of people; music, art, architecture, and especially lifestyles. that was monday. thankfully we both had tuesday off, which was much needed because we had a lot of errands to do (laundry, groceries, trip planning, etc). we planned our trip for fall break, and it looks like rome and florence it is.

this morning, i had an art and architecture class and drew picked me up from school with a picnic packed and plans to go to the largest public park in the city. the park, petrin hill, is situated on the highest hill in prague, and therefore overlooks the whole city. it had some amazing views, beautiful rose gardens, and it was nice to spend some time in a quiet environment, away from the buzz off the city.



tomorrow i have one more class and drew has 2. this weekend we are going to a soccer match (football as it is called here). it should be pretty intense since soccer is so major here. riots and fights are no rare occasion at these games.

in some random news, we have both been craving hummus and we found some in an organic cafe the other day! we've since had it twice. also, my roommate and i have been getting along great, and so has drew with his, but this evening after we came home (from a great vietnamese restaurant, by the way), drew went to go to bed but his roommate and some friends were smoking the wacky tobacky and now his room smells horrible. this has potential to get really annoying, so if you could pray for him, that would be great.

we have been talking about how grateful we are to have each other on this trip, and we are really growing individually and as a couple. miss and love you all.

-alie