Hump Day- Back to school for a bit

I had to go to studio to work on my costume. Michael went on “secret” adventures on his own. He wouldn’t tell me where he was going. He showed up to meet me for lunch with flowers for me and Jess and all of his souvenir shopping done. I was very impressed. The flowers were beautiful.

That afternoon Michael and I went to Vyserhad since we couldn’t go on Sunday. We went inside the cathedral and this time I took pictures even though I don’t think you were supposed to. We got to walk through the cemetery before it started to rain a little. We hid out inside of an art gallery while it was raining. The rained stopped for a little while so we took more pictures and walked around the castle grounds some. It started raining again and we hid out inside of a tree house in a playground area. It was a perfect spot to get away from the rain. Even with the rain we had a nice visit to Vyserhad.

Michael and I headed back to the pension exhausted and took a little nap. We ended up meeting Jess and Laura-Nelle for dinner at the Crazy Cow. It’s the best place that Jess and I found to have hamburgers. They put crazy toppings on a few of their burgers. It was an enjoyable dinner. Michael and I stayed in Old Town for a little bit and had a drink at a Jazz Club. The cover was a bit steep but we just sat at the bar and didn’t have to pay cover. For one drink it was perfect.

We headed back to the pension and found everyone heading out to Acropolis the club within walking distance. I felt like I hadn’t really taken Michael out so we went out dancing with everyone. They were playing good music that night and we all had a good time. It was fun finally getting to go out with Michael. 

Tuesday- Lets tour Prague

All three of us, Me, Michael and Jess all had a lazy morning. We finally got going and Michael and I went to Bohemian Bagel for brunch. I had to show Michael where we go for free refills on coke and American breakfast.

We met Jess at school and headed to the Charles Bridge and up to the Castle. The Charles Bridge was packed because the weather was finally nice. All of the artists were out and we got to look at all of the neat jewelry and artwork of Prague. We ventured up to the castle. The treacherous journey completely uphill. Of course there is a tram that will take you all the way to the top but we skipped that and walked. We made it up to the castle which also has a great view of Prague. This time we got there with enough time to buy tickets and actually go inside places. We went into St. Vitus cathedral, which is large but almost more impressive from the outside. We also went inside St. George’s Basilica which was a much older church. It didn’t have much decoration but had a few nice details. Next we walked down Golden lane and went inside the tiny houses which have now been turned into shops and a strange torture museum. After that we walked around the castle grounds and out to the gardens. Sadly the gardens were not open. We finally hopped on a tram down to the bottom of Malastrana.

While on the tram there was a little “tram jam”. Three trams got into a jam and none of the trams could move. We were right where we wanted to be so we just hopped off the tram when this happened. Not sure if that’s what we were supposed to do but it worked. We were near the senate gardens and they were open so we ventured inside. We got to see all of the peacocks. The colorful one had its feathers out and spread. Jess got a lot of good pictures, because of course my camera and Michael’s camera died… It was a really nice garden and we wandered around there for a while.

On our way home we stopped by the John Lennon wall. It was not quite what I expected but something worth seeing. It had some interesting graffiti on it but too many people had carelessly written or drawn on top of nice artwork so it looked a little over taken 

We had planned on Crazy Cow for dinner but ended up having Sudicka with Jess and then Lauren met us there for a drink. Our literature teacher was playing with her punk rock band at Lucerna but it was a hefty cover so we ended up not going. We had a nice time at Sudicka and then a few more drinks at the Peach Pit right down the street. 

Monday.. I have to go to school :(

May 6

I went to Literature class like a good student and left Michael to wander around. When he came back an hour later he had walked all over and to places I had never been. I was very impressed with his adventures. We had a good lunch of salad and quiche, my favorite, at Gourmond a French deli near school. I had to go back to studio that afternoon to work on and finish my costume. Michael hung out a little bit and got a feel for what the studio was like. He was there for a eventful day when all of the sudden we were invited to be a part of the Art to Wear pre-show. We had mixed feelings about it due to the short notice.

That afternoon after class we ventured around Old Town. We stopped in this store called Art Deco which had neat vintage things. I got two necklaces that I liked a lot. We then went up the in Astronomical Clock and looked out over the city. It was a really nice day so the city looked really pretty and you could see pretty far. The red roofs shown brightly. After taking in the city we walked to the Dancing Building. I hadn’t seen them yet and it is a Prague landmark. It is right on the water, so we hung out by the water a little bit. We were going to go paddle boating but we also had plans to make dinner with Jess and it was getting late so we skipped out on the paddle boating.

We went to the Albert, the lovely grocery store and picked up what we needed for dinner. Jess and I made Michael our famous spaghetti for dinner. It wasn’t as good as I remembered but it was still really good.  

The adventures of Katelyn and Michael begin

Sunday, April 5

Our first stop on our Adventure was Vyserhad but… we couldn’t get there. There were police everywhere and we had no clue what was going on. Everyway we tried to go to get there was blocked by police. It turns out that Obama was staying near there and also EU conferences are held in a building near the Vyserhad metro stop so it was all blocked off. I was really disappointed but luckily the rest of the day didn’t go like that.

Next we headed to St. Michael’s Fair. I had left the directions at home but remembered where it was from when Aneal showed it to me on a map. We went to the right metro stop and then got on the correct bus. Though Michael didn’t say anything I’m sure he was thinking “Katelyn are you sure you know what you are doing”, especially because I just kept saying maybe its this way maybe this bus will take us there, lets just follow the kids. Haha. Well we made it to the fair and it was just like the NC Fair except the images on the rides and booths were a lot more provocative. It was amusing to walk around and look at “carnies” in Prague and compare them to “carnies” in NC. There wasn’t much difference. We rode one rickety rollercoaster, had a yummy klobasa for lunch and then a delicious waffle with Nutella and banana for dessert. I was in heaven. Michael has a pretty funny picture of me with Nutella and powdered sugar all over my face.

There was a really pretty park next to the Fair so we walked around the park some. We ventured into the nearby neighbor and wandered some more. We stopped into a little cemetery and it was a typical Czech cemetery with over grown graves and just beautiful and calming. I was glad I could show Michael this because the overgrown cemeteries are one of my favorite things in Prague.

We then saw a sign for the zoo and knew that was our next stop. At first we thought we could walk to the zoo from where we were because the signs seemed to say that but we were mistaken. We took a tram back to the metro where we say a bus that said ZOO. We hopped on and it took us right to the zoo. We spent about 3 hours walking around the largest zoo on earth. It was huge and we saw lots of animals. Though we saw tons of animals apparently we missed out on exciting things like hippos, a bat cave, baby giraffes, etc. These were all things that other people saw and told us about when they went to the zoo. We still saw cool things though and had a nice afternoon.

After the zoo we went home exhausted. We didn’t go too far for dinner, just up two trams stop and had dinner at this place called Pizza Dali. It was yummy and cheap and we got a lot of food.  That night we had a chill night just hanging out at the pension. 

Saturday- Michael ARRIVES!

April 4 

Another eventful day. Keely and I went to do laundry. I needed clean clothes to look cute for my boyfriend. Ha Well, at the laundry mat Keely and I were going to use my “detergent” which was not laundry soap, but fabric softener. I was wondering why it hadn’t been lathering up when I was washing clothes by hand. That’s what I get for a language barrier. At least my clothes were soft. Hahahaha

I laid out some early afternoon because it was a beautiful day outside. I worked on my costume outside and read some of my book for literature. Then I cleaned up and headed to the airport to get MICHAEL! YAY!

Of course Michael was coming on the same day as Obama… It didn’t cause any delays at the airport, which was good, but I think it was the reason for Michael’s 5-hour lay over in Frankfurt Germany. I think that I may have seen Air Force One while on the bus going to get Michael. Who knows maybe not, but if so it was cool. 

After waiting FOREVER he finally shows up. Who ever new waiting at the Prague airport would be such a restless event? There were a few guys in the same boat as me and we were all pacing back and forth and kept changing places where we were standing. It was funny. Once I finally got my dear one I tossed him into my Prague life immediately. We took the bus and the metro to get home. No taxi, sorry I’m a cheapo and the metro is a TON cheaper.

We met some people for dinner at Ordinary people, but ended up eating on our own. We had a nice dinner and it was a perfect start to Michael’s visit. 

Friday Bee Keeping Field Trip

April 3

Though I’m not in the Bee Keeping class I went on the field trip anyway. It was out in the country, which was refreshing to go out there and get away from the city. It was a gorgeous day and the place we went was really pretty and fresh, right on the river. We took a train there and then had to take a ferry across the river. The ferry was really funny. It was run by one man, just a small little metal boat that fit about 10-15 people. The “captain” would motor across half of the river then cut off the motor and drift to shore which he would ram the boat into and run up and wrap a chain around a pole so the boat would stay on shore. It was very amusing to watch all of this take place.

Once across the river we met Dalibor, the bee-keeping teacher. He showed us his beehives and talked some about bees. Then he took the bees out of the hive. We got to hold to comb with the bees on it and then got to even “pet” the bees. It was an interesting field trip. He then took us to the Bee Institute where he works and where research is done. We all had lunch and the Dalibor showed us all around. We saw the laboratories and got to have a honey tasting. Each different type of honey tasted very different from the one before it. My favorite might have been the creamed honey, which is a less messy consistency and can be spread on bread. It was good. We also went down into the cellar and saw where mead was made. I didn’t like what it tasted like though. It was too strong for me.

After touring the institute Andrew and I climbed trees and took silly pictures. We all laid in the grass for about 30 minutes before the ferry would take us across the river. It was gorgeous weather that day. We missed the first train back to Prague but caught the next one 20 minutes later. It was a good day.

Once we returned to Prague, I attempted to find the bus station to buy ticket for Michael and I to go to Cesky Krumlov. Of course I was unsuccessful finding the bus ticket the first time and then by the second try I found the station, but bought the WRONG tickets. I didn’t realize this till I was back at school at which point I had to turn around and go back and get the correct tickets. It was quite an excursion. Whooo what a day. 

Week before Michael come to Praha!

Tuesday Jess and I went to APED a fabric store near our pension and got the rest of the fabric we needed for our costume. It was good and I finally became motivated to work on and finish my costume. We both had all kinds of ideas in place but it was difficult finding the materials we pictured especially because we aren’t familiar with all the stores and such and there isn’t such thing as a JoAnn’s. But the APED fabric store is HUGE and AWESOME and AMAZING and has everything you could ever ask for. Wish we had something like that near Raleigh.

Thursday was a very productive day costume wise. Also we began putting together ideas for our cocktail dress since of course we are all running out of time. That afternoon a big group left for Amsterdam. It felt really empty in the studio.

David, one of the landscape student’s mom and sister were in town. David invited us to dinner with them. We all went to Sudicka, my favorite restaurant of all time. At the end of the meal David’s mom paid for everything which was really nice. His mom and sister were really nice and cute and reminded me of home. It was nice to hear a familiar southern accent.

That night I went out with Jeremy, Lorna, Ben, Bryan, and Andrew. We went to Andrew’s friend’s apartment which is directly across the street from our pension. It was a fun night. The other people there weren’t that interested in talking to us but we created our own party and had our own fun. It was a lot like a party at home which was fun. 

Berlin- Last Day

March 30

We started the day off with a trip to the Bauhaus museum. There were some interesting textile pieces in there. I saw a piece by Anni Albers who my double degree program is named after. Also, NC State design school is based off of the Bauhaus ideals and it became more apparent when we walked through the museum. It was really cool and I could have stayed there longer than we did.

Next the group went to the bombed church again, Jess and I broke off and tried to go jean shopping. We were unsuccessful.

Before we headed back to the hostel to pick up our luggage and go back to Prague we stopped by the East Side Gallery. It’s a part of the Berlin wall that is left standing and artists and everyone just paints and writes all over it. It was pretty interesting and we got some good pictures.

And that concludes our trip to Berlin. The train ride back was fun and I got some funny pictures of people. We arrived back to the Pension to find it over taken with Swedish high schoolers … very amusing but they were loud! 

Berlin Day 3

March 29

We left with the whole group to go to the Pergammon Museum. It was ancient art, mostly sculptures and not everyone’s favorite museum. For most of the time we just sat on a bench and people watched and napped. The building is apparently really nice but it was under severe construction and the whole outside of the building was covered in scaffolding and plastic.

Right next to the museum was another small flea market. We had street sausages for lunch again and walked around the flea market. I found a few more cool things and vintage jewelry. There was some really nice vintage pieces but they were a little above my budget.

As a group we went to another part of the Berlin wall. It’s a place where they have left it all in tact. You can see the “no mans land” in between the East and West side. It was really interesting but I wish I knew more about World War II and the history of Germany/ Berlin. Next to the wall was a new modern church. There used to be a gorgeous church there but it was blown up because it was in “no man’s land” and served no purpose. The modern church was made with wooden slats. It was neat inside and more of just a sanctuary.

Next Jess and I broke off from the group. We went to the Charlottenburg Palace. The inside had just closed but we walked through the gardens and enjoyed the afternoon. There were a lot of locals there with their children just hanging out, riding bikes, and feeding ducks. It was a nice place. We hung out there for about an hour and then headed on our way. We decided to hope a fence to skip walking around the whole front of the palace, but that resulted in Jess ripping her jeans completely open. Luckily she had been wearing leggings underneath because it was cold. But that was the end of those jeans.

To continue on our separate journey we went to another church. It’s a church that was bombed in WW II but was left standing and a modern memorial church was built next to it. It was really neat to see what buildings looked like after they had been bombed. It was something I had never seen before in real life and not just in pictures.

In typical Jess and Katelyn style we jumped on trampolines next to the church. The kind that you get harnessed into and go really really high. It was a lot of fun and we took funny pictures. We did back flips and everything. Definitely worth telling stories about.

That night we had dinner with a group of people at a typical German restaurant. I had a Radler, which is light beer and sprite and cheesy schpetzal. It was all really good. We were too tired to go out that night. 

Berlin Day 2

March 28

Jess and I decided to have our own adventure this day and we explored Berlin on our own. First stop the grocery for some breakfast snacks. There we found AWESOME HUGE pastries for less than a euro. Great way to start the day.

Our first stop was the San Juni 17 Flea Market. It was the greatest place on earth! Every booth had something great to look at. I could have spent hundreds of dollars and a whole day there. I got a lot of beads and pendants and things to make jewelry with. I also got the most amazing blazer. It is navy blue with golden apples all over it. It fits lovely and was a must buy.

After the flea market we walked through the TierGarten. A huge garden with large paths and giant trees. As we walked through and along the edge of the garden we saw multiple monuments. We were walking towards the Bradenburg Gate. One of the sites we saw was the Reistag. It was neat and it would have been great to go inside and see the dome but the line was too long. At the Brandenburg Gate we stopped and had lunch at a little stand. We had the famous Berlin currywurst. A sausage cut up smothered in ketchup and sprinkled in TONS of curry powder. It was pretty good but quite an interesting flavor.

A few blocks away was the Holocaust Memorial. Which is like a maze, covering a whole city block. We walked through a little and then went to the museum underneath the monument. It was a really interesting museum, talking a lot about the people that were affected by the Holocaust and how it affected their lives. It was a very sobering museum but I learned a lot.

 

Next stop was Check Point Charlie. Not much to see but a little guard stand. Seemed more like a tourist ploy. We had the most amazing 3euro pizza for a snack. It was the best thing we could have found at that moment.

Next historical site/museum: The Jewish Museum. And yes we went inside. It was a very interesting museum and very very modern. My favorite parts were the specially designed room for meditating and such. When we got to the top where the actual history of Judaism was, I was less enthused. It didn’t help that I was getting very tired. But t was a good museum and we were glad we went there.

On the way home we stumbled across a Mexican restaurant. The best thing we could have ever found. I have delicious avocado soup and we split fajitas. We also had the BEST mango margaritas on the planet. It was a lovely way to end our adventurous day.

That night we went out with almost the whole group to Club Fritz. It was walking distance from the hostel and huge. They played good music and we all had a good time. 

Pictures to come when I'm not paying for internet... :)

Berlin- The Beginning

So let me  update you on my trip to Berlin, which took place a month ago... Woops 

Almost everyone went to Berlin. It was a Landscape Architecture/ GER trip but some Fashion kids and professors tagged along as well. 

We began our trip on Friday morning super early. Catching a train around 8 am. The train seemed like a great way to travel. Very spacious, more room than an airplane for sure. Our hostel, Pegasus Hostel, was orange and yellow and impossible to meet. It was a pretty nice place minus the issues we had in the beginning with paying for the rooms that the fashion people were staying in. Ladislav, my fashion professor got into quite an argument with the hostel staff. It was pretty amusing though because he is the sweetest man and to see him heated was funny. 

We all headed out to the Railroad Park. It was really neat. Its where railroad tracks have just be left and nature has taken over. It was really pretty. We walked around, looked at nature and some of the modern sculptures that were all over the park. It was a really huge park. We walked and walked and walked.

After the park we went to the Sony Center. Fernando wanted to show us it at night. It was really neat and modern. Majority of the architecture in Berlin was modern. It was really different from what we had seen in Paris, Barcelona, and what we see everyday in Prague. We walked around some more with Fernando our guide and ended up having dinner at a mall. We were all starving so it didn’t really matter what or where we ate.

Fernando had another street he wanted to show us at night. It ended up being lined with prostitutes. Prostitutes in Berlin in March wear tight jeans, tall stiletto boots, a puffy jacket and then a corset on top. It was amusing; we counted over 20 just on a few blocks. They weren’t really trashy looking besides the strange corset over the puffy jacket. The prostitute road led us to this very interesting art place. Fernando wanted us to take a look inside so we did. Mind you Fernando is Hispanic and eccentric and what he says is interesting you might want to second-guess. Well it was this overtaken building COVERED in graffiti. There was some interesting art but you wonder what drug influenced such artwork.

After the art house we headed back to the hostel and a few of us attempted to go out. We got turned away at the first club, either because there were 9 of us, we were with a graying crazy man named Fernando or it was a gay fetish club. One of the three. So after that Fernando led us to a karaoke bar. It wasn’t a normal karaoke bar but we still had a good time. The music was strange but we made our own fun. We managed to accomplish a lot in Berlin that evening especially after beginning our adventures around 4 pm.

Old Salem in the Czech Republic

Friday morning we all woke up early to go on a field trip with Martin to Prerov Nad Labem. There were doughnuts for breakfast and we were all excited. For some of us this was the first time we were up on a Friday in time to get breakfast. We took a bus 45 minutes outside of Prague to the middle of nowhere. It kind of looked like Indiana driving down these straight roads with fields on either side for as far as you could see. When we got there it was this little preserved "town", a lot like Old Salem. There were rooms with mannequins and scenes set up to look how it looked when people actually lived there. Not sure of the time period, I guess I wasn't paying that much attention. Some of the scenes were set up for Easter. There was this one crazy room with people wearing costumes and scary figures. It was reminiscent of a horror movie set. Very creepy. It was freezing cold that day and possibly a pointless field trip but I got some good pictures out of it. In the little gift shop they had decorated eggs since Easter is a big deal in the Czech Republic. I bought a few to bring home and give as gifts. 

That afternoon after a lovely nap, Keely, Jess and I went to the fabric store and got some material for our costumes. Finally starting to work on the final piece. 

That night Jess and I wanted to try out this Piano bar we saw when exploring the neighborhood one day. We talked Bryan into going with us not realizing it was a gay bar... It was really funny and interesting though Bryan was a bit uncomfortable. I didn't even realize it was a gay bar until Bryan pointed it out at least 5 minutes after we had been there. We had a good time a made friends with Henrique and Pablo. Pablo enjoyed buying us drinks and dancing with Jess. It was hysterical and led to a headache and many great stories the next day. 

Quick Prague Update

The highlights from a long time ago... goodness I'm getting behind. 

Tuesday- St. Patrick's Day 

No worries, I sported green all day. We did another group present thing like we did for Valentines except this time it was "Sketchy Leprechaun". You were supposed to take something from the person's desk and hide it along with a little surprise. Some people got really creative and wrecked havoc on some peoples desks. It was fun with people running around trying to find clues to lead them to their belongings and special surprise.

That night, Jess and I started the night out with the grad students. We first tried to find this bar, Molly Malone's. We went searching and searching and finally followed the people wearing large St. Patty's Day hats and found the bar. It was super crowded a very interesting crowd. The minute we walked in Lorna's red hair attracted attention and next thing you know the girls all had free Guiness in our hands. We met an Irish guy living in Prague and he loved talking to us. Funny thing was he was missing one of his front teeth. It was an interesting start to our night. The guys didn't enjoy it as much because the beers were expensive and the guys definitely out weighed the girls at the bar. They left before us and after we finished our beer and left our new Irish friends we went to go find them. Of course we found them playing foosball at another Irish bar. This one was just as crowded and the beers were just as expensive but they were happy with their foosball table. There was a "band" playing there but they were TERRIBLE. Jess and Blakely hopped on stage with them though and ended up singing into the microphone... Quite commical. When the band was done playing we left looking for another Irish Pub. We didn't find what we were looking for but overall it was a good night. 

Wednesday:

The highlight of the day was that I GOT A JOB! Its with Cotton, Inc for the summer and hopefully will carry over until the school year. I am really excited for it and so glad with how it all worked out with being abroad. 

Thursday night Jess and I went to dinner with Tucker and Doug. We went to the Crazy Cow and got hamburgers and steak. It was delicious and Doug and Tucker are always fun to hang out with.