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.

Were going on a trip!

You never understand how wonderful it is to sleep in until you have to get up at 6 am again. When we started out on the journey we left our dorm around 8:10am and meet up with our group at 8:30am. After a short tram ride and a while waiting for our train, we were off! However, I am pretty sure that most of the excitement for the sitting on the train was because we could nap there! The first day, once we got there we rested for a little while and then we got a tour by Jan and Martin! They explained that Prague wasn't originally built this large. It used to be four villages that were combined once they started getting so close to one another. On this tour we got to see the Harry Potter clock tower, the Charles Bridge and the John Lennon wall. Once this was over we made our way back to our hostel and only got lost once, which is really good for us.  On day two was the real workout! We went to the Prague Castle, which I was really excited about. The walk there however, made it less exciting. Once we got there we saw the St. Vitus’s Cathedral, The Old Royal Palace, the Basilica of St. George and Golden Lane. One of the unique events that we saw here was the changing of the guards. It happened at noon and we were right against the gates watching. The changing only took around fifteen minutes but I have never seen one so it was amazing. What really surprised me about the entire trip was how many people were everywhere. Even our tour guides, Jan and Martian, said that it was really busy and they had never see so many people. Another cool event that we saw them getting ready for was the visit of the Chinese President. He is in Prague right now so we saw them putting out chairs and other decorations in the Old Royal Palace in preparation. After that we were free to roam. We went to many shops and even visited an American classic like McDonalds for a quick bit to eat. We also ended up going back later that night because the internet in our hostel was the worst I have ever seen and we were skyping our families.

Inside the St. Vitus's Cathedral, 

Band that played during changing of the guards.

Section of the Old Royal Palace.
Getting ready for the Chinese President.

Royal Jewels that were on display in a tower in the Old Royal Palace.

Next we were onto day three of our trip. We got up and was at the train station by 8am. That day we went to Dresden, Germany. What was really interesting about here is that we could physically see what World War II had done to a town like this. We went to the Lutheran Church that was located here and you can see on the outside of the building, the black on the stones is from the bombings that happened here including the fires that were started. We also went the Art Gallery that is the top five art gallery in the World. After this we went to the train station and back to Prague we went.

View of the Lutheran Church from a distance.

Original cross that was on the church.
Taken down after the bombings in World War II.

View from the top of the church.

One of the famous paintings in the Gallery.
Mostly known for the angels at the bottom.

On our last day there we visited the Jewish Synagogue. We also saw a museum that had all of the names of the victims of the Holocaust written on the walls. This filled up the entire building. They were organized by where they were from, their last name then their birth year and death year. This was extremely depressing because there were lots of people that were my age or younger when they died. It really makes me think about how lucky we are that it was just an event in history and we never had to experience it. After that we roamed around until it was time to go back to Olomouc, which has a home feeling now because we were so happy to get back.

Just a section of the walls filled with names.

Jewish Cemetery. They were buried with their feet towards the
 tombstone so when they were resurrected they would
see their name and remember who they were.

Inside the Jewish Synagogue that is used as a synagogue.

Let's Take A Trip!

To say I was getting nervous for this trip would be an understatement! However, with all of this was so much excitement on what I would see. Most of the trip so far I have been stuck side by side with Skye and I think we went through every emotion within the first four days of us being over here. When we were picking out where we should fly into, we decided that going to our first travel location made the most sense. So our first stop was in Dublin, Ireland. We had a six hour flight that was mostly during the night. Once we had landed it was 8:30 am their time so we had a full day before we could go to bed. However, our first struggle of this trip had happened because once we had gotten through Customs and was about to figure out our way to our hostel we realized that I had left my cell phone on the plane. So after finding a phone to call the airport, they said that they could not find it even after I gave them all of my information on where I was sitting. One cell phone lost. However, we had a pretty good day in Dublin! We decided that we were not going to do a ton of sightseeing there because we are flying out of Dublin when we go back so we will get another chance. That and because we were so tired and went to bed early that night. Here are some of the pictures from Dublin, we went to a jail and the Jameson Distillery.

Inside the Kilmainham Gaol.

Large stone at Jameson, touch it three times for good luck!

They put their whiskey through these three times.
Makes them stand out.

Difference the age of whiskey makes.

The five different kinds Jameson makes.

We left there the next day and then we were off to Glasgow! There airplane ride there was only an hour and it was the smallest airplane I have ever been in! Once there we realized the hard way that Scottish people have very thick accents and we got off at the wrong place on our bus. So it took us an hour and getting lost there to finally find our hostel. In the process of us getting off the bus, was when Skye realized that she had left her phone on the bus. So we were both out on our phones. Thank goodness I brought my Ipad and her laptop is a tablet as well! It was around 10:30am and we couldn't check in till noon so we found a little diner and ate breakfast till we could check in. The place that we stayed there was about the same size as my closet which barely fit two twin beds and a bathroom. What was really weird about here is that they bathroom half of it was the shower and when you did shower then you soaked the entire bathroom in the process. In Glasgow we got out into the city more and figured out how to get around really easily. Here are some pictures from that stop. 

Beautiful building in Glasgow by shopping center.

Outside view of the People's Palace.

Fountain outside the People's Palace.

Skye and I inside the People's Palace.

A building right next to People's Palace.
Also this is where we ate supper that day.

Tower in the shopping center in Glasgow.

After Glasgow it was on a train to London the next day! London is a story that I will share later because so many things happened there so I will post about it later! Until next time! :-)