Don't come back..... Alive!

These past two weeks have been such a great experience. However, I am glad to be back in Olomouc. The part that I am going to focus on is the group field trip. To start off our trip was a little bit earlier than I would have like but that is okay. Skye and I woke up at 7am just to do a double check of what we were taking and to shower. Then at the bus before 9am. The first stop was Vienna which was a three hour bus ride from Olomouc. This drive was fairly easy, well at least I think it was since I was asleep the entire time. Once we got to our hostel we had about half an hour to just settle and this is where miscommunication happened. Three friends and I took that as we had time to go and grab food since we were really hungry, so we went and grabbed food. We were back in the 30 minutes but our group had already left. It was a miscommunication and it happens. So the first day we really did not do much. Then the next day we went to the Habsburg’s summer castle. What is really interesting about this family is the story behind them. So they were the ruling family over this area for a long time, which meant that they had lots of fortune and historical items. When the family was overthrown it was a fleeing in the middle of the night kind of thing, which meant that they had to leave almost everything that they owned. Of course I was not mad at this because like all historical items there was a museum with everything that was found. The family even tried to recover some of the items, but this failed miserably. If I was this family I would be seriously upset, the photos below will explain a little more. The agreement with this family was that they could leave with their lives and only come back in a coffin. So at least you could be buried with your family but you can never go to the land that they lived on…alive.

Just a small section of their summer house.

The royal set of jewels.

After this we got to go to a natural history museum. This was a great experience just because we have gone to so many art museums, which is awesome, but they were starting to all look the same. Here we got to look through tons of rocks, dead fish (which I was dragged to), and dinosaurs. This is also where our new traveling companion Clooney was bought. So now George has a friend named Clooney. Yep we are great at naming things. After this we were free to ourselves and like awesome women we shopped.

This is Cassie's friend, Mr. Bird.

Cassie is a professional photographer.

Cassie's boyfriend, really excited they
get to eat.

Outside the Natural History Museum.

The next day we were off again, this time to Venice. I honestly thought that the bus ride there was never going to stop. It took 7 hours for us to get there. Also they have a law here that if a bus has more than 8 people then it had to stop for 45 minutes after 4 hours of driving. So this was a great time to stop and eat. I will put a picture of where we stopped because it looked unreal. Venice I will speak about briefly about because it is late and a good majority of the time there we spent trying to figure out where we were. Venice was beautiful and I would not recommend for anyone to go there unless they are ready for stairs. It was built of little islands which were connected by bridges so no matter where you went there was at least one bridge you had to cross. I will post some pictures just so that way I can make up for not speaking much about it. Until next time. :-)

Just a section of the Duke's Castle.

A hallway in the Duke's Castle.

The morning in Venice we decided to dress up.

"Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it."

They say that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. If this is true then I really hope that we have learned from the Holocaust. Last Saturday we went to Auschwitz Concentration Camp that is located in Poland and it was an experience that I was glad I did. However I never want to do that again. Our day started out around 10 in the morning, with no idea what to expect for the day. The travel time was about three and a half hours away, stopping twice for the bus driver and once for food at McDonalds. What really impressed me about the driving here is how close the bus driver got to hitting another vehicle but was not worried. Once we got to the first camp I had a sense of interest but not exactly excitement. We waited for our professor to check us in and find our guide. Once that was done we went through a small security check, we all received little headsets that way our tour guide could communicate with us without having to talk loud. I really enjoyed that they had these because it showed respect for what happened here and felt like it should be and not a tourists place with people yelling all the time. At first the tour felt like a normal tour of some where historical. Our tour guide did an amazing job explaining what happened here and what daily life was like here. However, it just did not feel real. That was how I felt until a certain room. This room was a large room that was spilt in half, and on one side was piles of human hair that was cut off the people who died. This really hit me hard because it puts a picture to the people that had been murdered here. The pile was a lot taller than me and filled the entire left side of the room. For respect reasons we were not allowed to take pictures and trust me that is a picture I never want to see again. After this we walked through other rooms that had what was left of their stuff. What happened was that they were told to leave all of their luggage at the platform because it would be a lot easier for them to do that and collect it after registration. Which of course was a lie. Then they had to line up into two lines with men on one side and women and children on the other. This was the time of judgement. Either they were sent one way to work until they died or straight to the gas chambers to be murdered. Everything that happened in the camps makes me wonder but what kind of person can look at someone and decide their fate within 20 or so seconds. After everyone had left the platform then workers would come and collect the luggage where they would take it to a storage room where it was sorted. These rooms were called Kanada one in Auschwitz and Kanda two in Berkenau. The next couple of rooms that we went into were collections of that stuff. Below are a couple pictures just to give you an idea. What is really sad is that this stuff is not even close to all of the stuff that was collected through the years. It is only the stuff that was left there was the evacuated the camps. A good majority of the stuff was already sold to another country for money.

Some of the pots and pans found.

Some of the luggage found.

After we saw these we went into building number 15 and this is where the basement is one of the worst places to be here. This is where people would go for solitary confinement. There were four rooms that were starvation rooms where they picked whoever they thought was a problem. Right across the basement was the standing rooms where four people would have to crawl onto their hands and knees and stand in this tiny room. This is where they slept so they would sleep standing up and then get up in the morning and go work a ten hour day just to go back to this tiny room and sleep standing up. Upstairs of this building is where they had washrooms where people would strip down all the way till they were naked and be walked out into this courtyard and be shot in the back of the head. We did not see much of building fourteen but that is mostly because of all the messed up things that happened in there. This is where doctors would do their experiments on people just to see what would happen or if it was possible. Almost nobody survived this place. I wanted to keep going on about all that I saw in this awful place but it honestly just really makes me upset. They say that they were people who were messed up in the head but I do not even think that comes close to it. The only reason that death camps came into the picture was because fifteen leaders decided that they wanted to experiment all of the Jews. They killed 6 million Jews alone during the Holocaust and it is truly sad that it happened.

Sign that leads into the camp.
"Hard work will set you free"

Gate.

Another look at the gate with a guards tower.

Looking at the gate from the inside.

One of the rail cars that they would pack full.

So far we have been here for over 21 days. That means for 21 days we have slowly been getting used to the new culture that surrounds us. One of the biggest differences that I see is that they do not show their emotion on their face. Back in the United States if I passed someone who I did not know on the streets then I would expect them to smile and me, and I would smile back. However, I have made eye contact with many locals here and they just look at me weird. Another interesting difference is the price on simple food. For example, if I order fries here I have to order ketchup which will come in a little jar and they will charge me around 20 cents. Another thing that I miss in the United States is the food! Ranch does not exist here and the hamburgers here are not nearly as good as back home! They also do not ask you questions about you food. In America, they ask you as soon as you get your food if it tastes alright. Here you have to hunt them down to ask for ketchup or the check.

Breakfast that we had in Glasgow.

George enjoying a beverage in Prague Airport.

Food we had in Olomouc.

Their version of a hamburger!

Next, if I am walking my dog around in the U.S and someone came up and asked me if they could pet my dog, I would say yes and not really care. However, it is so common for people to have their dog with them all the time that me asking to pet their dog would be weird and is very uncommon. One of the things that has bothered the people in my group is the drinks. Here we will order a pop and it will come in a glass bottle and our waiter will bring another clear glass and pour some of the drink into it. Which does not make much sense to me but I am used to where if I order a drink then it will come in a clear glass with ice. Over here they do not own the rights to their water so having fountain soda is not common. As a result of this they barely have any ice. The only time I have ever gotten any ice with a beverage is if someone ordered shots, or if it is a mixed drink that requires ice. A weird event that happens every often is that we will ask people if they speak English and they will look at us and say in English that they don’t. They also will full on stare at you for no apparent reason and will not look away when you catch them. In Europe I have also noticed that they are very eco-friendly. For example, at Target you would go to check out and the cashier will ring in your items and bag as they go, sometimes even put them in your cart for you. Also they are always on their feet. However, here the cashier is always sitting and they will scan your items and slide it over to where you bag all of your food or you carry it. Overall it is very different here but you still see some of the same crazy things happen.