Thursday, May 19, 2011

Czech Republic

We got to Prague at night, and got all set in the hostel.

The next day, we took a tour in the morning, and then had to stay in the hostel for a few hours in the afternoon. Rotary was making us write this "story" about our trip. But they made us take two hours to write it, instead of actually living it. Which we all thought was a load of crap. Ah well. That night, we went to a black light theater, which was pretty cool. Parts of it, I'm surprised Rotary took us, because it was a little risqué, but very funny.

The morning after that, we went with our tour guide again, but I liked this tour better. We toured the castle, and the cathedral there. In the afternoon we went on a boat tour, which would have been amazing, but it was raining, so we couldn't see as much. It was still cool, though. After that we went to a mall there. That night we went to the biggest disco in Prague, it had 5 floors! It was crazy fun. I talked to guys from Sweden, Holland, Germany, and Turkey (: So, a very good night, haha.

The day after that, we went to Ceske Krumlov for the morning. We saw a castle, and a theater there. Then we had time to go souvenir shopping, which was very good. After that we went to Ceske Budejovice.

In Ceske Budejovice, was the Rotary District 2240 Conference. We got all settled that night, with the Czech kids too. The next day, we had practice for the talent show in the morning, then the actual talent show during lunch. I didn't perform this time. After that, we toured a brewery there. Rotary actually let us taste the beer! (I know, right??) But I still think beer is nasty, so I gave mine to someone else after trying a sip. Then we headed back to
change into our nice clothes, and went back to the conference. I really don't know why. We sat for a while, ate dinner, and then took crazy pics with everyone. (I got grief because I changed out of my heels for the pics. I hate being taller than guys in pics, so...what can I say? haha)

Got up the last morning, and came home(:

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Poland

We arrived in Krakow, Poland, in the evening. Went to dinner, and then chilled in the hostel.
Picture: Random buildings in Krakow that I thought looked cool.






The next day, we took a tour in the morning, and then had free time in the afternoon. The tour covered a bunch of churches, some history, and the castle there. Our tour guide told us all these cool little stories about the city. For example: Every hour, on the hour, a trumpeter plays from the top of a building in the main square. He plays a little fanfare from each side of the tower. But in the middle of the tune, every time, he cuts out. This is because in the old days, there was a lookout in the tower. The lookout was shot down suddenly with an arrow, so the trumpet stops to pay homage to that. And after he played, we all clapped and he waved at us(:
Picture: The trumpeter played from the top of the left tower.

During free time we went shopping and had lunch. We spent another early night at the hostel, but everyone was so tired, it didn't matter.
Picture: A candy shop that we went in, and ended up getting about 3 steps out the door, trying our candy, and going back in to buy more.
The next day, we went to Auschwitz. I'm not going to describe it here. I will just say, until you actually go there for yourself, you cannot imagine what it was like. And even after going, I can't fathom what it would have been like to be there as a victim.
Picture: A sign on the tour, in Polish and English.

After that, we continued on to the Czech republic.

Monday, May 16, 2011

Slovensky Raj

Friday morning I left for Slovensky Raj (Slovak Paradise). Almost all of the Rotary kids were on the same train, so the train ride started the fun of the weekend. We arrived, and got to the hotel without problems. Although (like always) we got some weird looks from people at the train station because of how loud we were.

At the hotel, we met up with everyone else, and had dinner. Then we watched the hockey game, and stayed up super late talking.


The next morning, we went hiking. We walked through the forest, and by the end, we were exhausted. We spent so much time taking pictures. I have tons of random ones. After hiking, we had lunch, then practice for the talent show. I did my tap dance. We had the talent show right before dinner, and it went really good. After dinner, there was a "disco" but I was feeling sick, so I went to bed early (ish).

Sunday morning we packed up and left after breakfast, all of us on a bus to Krakow, Poland.