See You at Notre Dame?

I had gotten accustomed to the gourmet breakfast; the cheese, the assortment of pieces of bread and the array of different meats. This breakfast was different however.  I found myself holding back tears. The time had come to leave.  It flew by as a matter of fact. The last thing I wanted to do was sit on an airplane for nine hours.  The very last things I wanted to do, however, was leave Europe, my Polish best friend and my second family.

Over the past two weeks, I had witnessed places that were both beautiful and heart wrenching.  I had learned information that I was pretty excited to share with my classmates once  I was back in the classroom.  Most of the way I had viewed the world had completely changed after everything I saw.

Kasia's mom leaned over to her and whispered something in Polish into her ear.  There was laughter and I thought they were talking about how watery my eyes were.  Then Kasia stopped laughing and said, "my Mom says she'll adopt you so you don't have to go back to the states".  At that moment in time, I really considered it, but I missed my family, friends, dog and American food, so I it was time to venture home.

There were so many questions flying through my mind; among the most haunting was when would I ever see Kasia next?  I knew that she had applied to some top schools in the United States for architecture such as the University of Pennsylvania, Notre Dame, Cornell, and Washington University.  I was hoping she would be accepted into one,  but they were all great schools with an even greater cost.

My thoughts were interrupted by Kasia insisting that I get all my things together because it was almost time to leave.  As I gathered my belongings, I took a second to step outside onto her balcony that overlooked the whole city of Krakow.  A year ago when I quit the varsity softball team and applied for this program, I never realized the impact that it would have on me. Not many people can say that they got a chance to learn about the Holocaust and visit various concentration camps throughout Europe.  Not many people can say that they turned eighteen in a foreign country.  Not many people can say that they have a European best friend.

As the bus driver threw my monstrous suitcase under the bus, the tears began to fall.  First I hugged Kasia's parents goodbye and thanked them for everything that they had done.  Then I went down the huge line of Polish students and said goodbye to each and every one of them. My last goodbye was probably my hardest one; at this point I was a complete basket case.  As I hugged my best friend goodbye she whispered something in my ear, "Shan , it's not a goodbye, I got into Notre Dame and I'll be attending school there in the Fall. I'll see you in the states, I'll see you later".

Stares Stares and more Stares

Our time in Europe was slowly and sadly coming to an end. We had experienced so many amazing yet heart breaking things in our week and a half journey. Four concentration camps, beautiful cities, over night trains, duck, and terrarisum. At that point in time, I forgot about what it was like to live in America.

As the door opened, twenty-five eyes stared me up and down. It felt as if there were lasers going through my whole body. Had they not seen an American before? The teacher had a huge smile on her face, "Welcome" she stated in her best english, " please sit where ever you make like". As I sat in the middle of the classroom I could still feel the laser ( polish students) eyes on my back. I mean I understood that I stuck out like a sore thumb but I was a person to.

All of the students were in there last year of high school. They were preparing to take the biggest test of their lives in just a month. It would determine which University they attended in the fall (similar to our SAT).  Luckily for me, Kasia brought me to an english class. So I was able to follow along very easily. The teacher made them do various tasks out of a workbook. She gave them about twenty minutes to complete the task and encouraged me to do it along with the other students. After she was done giving the instructions, all the students started asking me questions about America.

Have you ever been to the Statue of Liberty? Do you go to New York city a lot? Could you read my essay for this class that's due in a week and see if my English is correct? Do you think the actives in the book are easy? Do we even speak proper english one of the students asked me?

There was a hundred million questions coming at me all at once. The truth was they spoke better English than half the people in America. They could spell better than I could ever fathom. Then the English teacher put me on the spot and asked me to speak about what I liked more in America then in Poland. Then she asked me the hardest question yet, what did my classmates and I think of the camps?

I could I even begin to answer this question? I said it the most evil thing I've ever seen and that I was luckily enough to be able to go to Europe and study this subject in order to go home and tell my classmates about how this atrocesity should never happen again. Everyone was pretty impressed with my answer, they even gave me a round of applause. At this point I never wanted to leave Poland.

Do Not Take A Selfie

There were about five days left of our adventure in Europe. I was getting use to waking up to a five- star breakfasts that Kasia's Mom prepared for us every morning. Every morning, there was ham, all different types of slices of bread and cheeses. Also, there just happened to be the best orange juice that I had ever drank in my eighteen years of living. The English muffins with peanut butter that I ate every morning when I was home weren't looking so great anymore.

It was late March so all of the Polish exchanges students were still in school. As a matter of fact, the seniors were taking their final exams in a month. These exams were the most important test of theirs lives. This test would determine where they went to college ( very similar to the SAT). Kasia however, wanted to study in the United States. She applied to Cornell, Notre Dame and many other elite schools that happen to be in the United States.

That morning we went our separate ways, Kasia went to school, while I got on a bus ready for our next adventure.  It just happens to be snowing that day. I kept thinking about how my Mom told me to bring my heavy winter coat. I told her right before getting on the bus to leave, that I didn't need it. I hate to say it, but my Mom is always right, she knows best. In my defense, it was late March, who would have thought that it would have been snowing and thirty degrees? The weather in Europe was a little different than I expected, actually a lot different.

That day we were headed to Auschwitz.  If you have ever seen any Holocaust movie you are bound to see an image from this camp. It just happens to be probably the most famous and well-known camp there was in Nazi Germany during the time. The camp  was the largest one in Europe and killed about 1.5 million innocent people there.

At this point, we had seen a few camps, and after what I saw at Majdanek I truly didn't think any camp could be much worse. When we were arrived the place was packed. We then had to grab our headphones. As you walk around the camp they make you listen to the guide over a radio, this way the guide doesn't have to yell and it's much easier to hear.  The famous Albeit Macht Free (work sets you free) sign covered the entrance of the camp. The camp was separated into three parts, but only two of the parts of the camp were still standing due to the fact that the Nazi boomed the third part of the camp in attempts to cover up what they did. Clearly that didn't work. We first entered the museum part of the camp which was in one of the many barracks. Inside the Museum were the remains of many of the items that those who lost their lives brought to the camps. For example in one room there were hundreds of thousands of glasses. There were suitcases, shoes and babies clothes. Then the worst part of it all, there was tons of hair all behind a glass case. I felt sick to my stomach at this point, all that hair was from millions of innocent men women and children. I had to leave the museum and I did just that and met my classmates outside.

Next we visited the crematoriums, every time I stepped into one I just couldn't comprehend the fact that millions of people had died in that room. Many would think by now I would be prepared to see what was inside since I had been in many at other camps, but no the tears fell again. As we stepped outside the building I witnessed something that I would never forget in my life. There was a young group of kids from some European School probably about sixteen and seventeen years old taking a selfie in front of the garbed wire and one of the barracks. I was absolutely disgusted, I felt sick and everyone of my classmates was appalled. How could they ever in their right mind be able to take a selfie at a place where millions of people lost their lives. After all, all my classmates were crying while these kids were smiling and laughing while taking this photo. They just didn't get it my teacher explained and it was truly sickening to watch.

We had to take a bus to the second part of the camp. This part happens to be the most famous, there was a huge watch tower, hundreds of barracks, and train with tracks that went right through the camp. We walked throughout the camps, but the thing was that the Nazi tried to get hide the camps by bombing them they missed terribly and there was still chimneys and many barracks left. The barracks were absolutely horrible. The guide told us that thousands were crammed into them, causing many to die of a disease.  Once we left the barracks we went over to the far end of the camp where in every single language on  a brick that read, "forever let this place be a cry of despair and a warning to humanity where the Nazis murdered about one and half million men, women and children mainly Jews from various countries of Europe, Auschwitz Birkenali 1940-1945". This was one of the most powerful quotes I had ever seen. The fact that it was translated in about twenty languages was so powerful. Those who created this memorial wanted everyone from every country around the world that this event that took place in Europe can never happen again.

Last we went up into the tower that looked over the whole camp. From there you could see all the barracks, the train, the train car, and the crematoriums that the nazi attempted to destroy. Looking over the whole camp, was a moment in my life that I'll never forget. I remember getting the chills, all I could think about was how less than 100 years ago, Nazi guards were standing where I was making sure that none of the "prisoners" escaped. It was amazing to me how the Nazi's tried to cover this whole atrocity up by bombing the whole camp. They knew what they did was disgusting and that's why they tried to cover it up, but yet they still managed to murder millions of people.  

Wszystkiego najlepszego z okazji urodzin.. Happy Birthday!

For anyone thats ever been on a long trip, you know how exhausting they are. For the last eight days, we had traveled through three different European countries, with heavy suitcases.  Not only were we exhausted but we many of us didn't like the duck and other food that was being served. Yes, we knew we were picky Americans when it came to food. When people think of Poland they think cold winters, communism and perogies.

Thre is nothing I love more than perogies. I eat them at home all the time.  Yet here I was about to be eating them in a Polish Cafe. Kasia and her family brought us to the cutest cafe where they had  twenty different types of Perogies. We had a variety of Perogies that night. From sweet tasting ones to regular Perogies filled with the greatest potatoes I ever had. The thing about Europe was that everyone pretty much spoke English so when it was my turn to order my Perogies the waitress didn't look at me weird when I asked for them in English.

After we ate our main course we moved on to dessert expect I guess a common trend in Europe is that you don't stay at the same Cafe for dessert. We then ventured to the main square of Krakow. There I had the best Tiramisu that I ever had in my life. Of course it was served with hot chocolate, I mean it was about 15 degrees out and late March.  The hot chocolate was spectacular, they literally took a chocolate bar, melted it added a little milk and served it to us. Truthfully, I would go all the way back to Poland just for that hot chocolate.

Over dessert and hot chocolate, her parent asked me questions about the United States. Luckily for me they spoke great English and asked me questions about my family and the college I wanted to attend in the fall. Then Kasia insisted that we leave to meet her friend at another cafe. At this point, I really wanted to go home and sleep but it was my Birthday so she told me we needed to celebrate with all her friends.

The main square of Krakow was all lighten up and beautiful. All the shops were still open even though it was pretty late. I asked Kasia if we could go shopping but once again she insisted that we needed to get to our next place. When we walked through the door to the next cafe I heard a bunch of whispers.  All the sudden we walked into this back room and everyone screamed surprise!! All my Polish friends who had been in the United States last spring were at the surprise party that Kasia planned for me. There was more dessert and cake. They sang Happy Birthday in Polish and we danced the night away.

Not many people can say that they turned eighteen in Europe. Yet, not only did I turn eighteen in Europe, I also had a surprise party planned for me and was reunited with all my Polish friends. I never wanted to leave Europe and after all at dinner that night Kasia's Mom said she would adopt me. At this point, I was highly considering it!

Reunited

There are days in our lives that we seem to never forget.  On the morning of my eighteenth birthday last March, I witnessed something that changed the way I looked at the world forever.  Majdanek was the worst thing I had ever seen in my life.  That day I had never felt so hopeless, all I wanted to do was go back in time and save those innocent people, but the reality was that I couldn't.

Here I was yet again on that Mercedes Benz bus reflecting in my journal.  When the bus drove away from Majdanek so much guilt fell upon me.  Here I was turning eighteen.  I had so much to live for, yet half of those people didn't even make it past eighteen.  It was a hard concept to fully comprehend.

We started our day at a concentration camp and now we were on our way to finally stay with our Polish students.  Can you even imagine that transition?  One minute ash is blowing in your eyes from the victims at the memorial and the next you are with your student and their family.  The jet lag was long gone at this point.  I think everyone including myself was emotionally drained, but we had to stay awake because in less than five hours we would be living in the most beautiful city in Poland.

The Polish countryside was absolutely flawless.  The fields were so green and lush.  A few of my classmates were practicing their Polish throughout our five-hour journey.  After all, we would be staying with a Polish family for a full week.  We were on this trip to learn about the Holocaust and explore European culture and we were doing just that.  The conflict was that none of us knew how to speak Polish.  We only spoke a few words here and there.  The students we were staying with spoke stellar English, their parents, did not.

In the spring of my junior year, Kasia came to my home in New Jersey.  Now it was the following spring and we were about an hour away from her city, Krakow, Poland.  I wasn't going to lie, I was a little nervous.  What if her parents didn't like me?  What if I have to eat duck for a straight week? Will I be able to eat perogies?  If they ask about the concentration camps, what do I even say?  Will they have an actual shower or will I be bathing in a lovely bathtub again?  What if her parents don't understand a word I say, will it be awkward?  I wonder what the Polish teachers will think of us?  I was so overwhelmed that I ended up falling sleep. What better way to deal with stress, than sleeping? I must have slept for about an hour because when I opened my eyes, there we were in front of  VLiceum Ogolnksztalcape , the top Polish high school in Krakow.  This just happened to be the school that our students attended.

Everyone pushed their way off the bus and into a crowd of Polish students and parents.  I looked like a lost puppy at that moment.  I couldn't seem to find Kasia.  Then I heard someone in a Polish accent scream, "Shan".  I had never hugged someone so tight in my life.  After a week of exploring Europe, it was so nice to see a familiar face.  Once again I was crying, but this time it was tears of happiness. Not many people get to say that they turned eighteen in Europe with their European best friend, but I did.

Forever Changed

There are days in our lives that we remember forever. Ones that we can distinctly remember every aspect of.  In March of 2015, I witnessed something that completely changed the way I looked at the world forever.

It was raining that day, this seemed to be a common trend in the European weather. It was late March, yet it was about thirty-five degrees out. The sky was so dark, it seemed to hint at what was yet to come later in the day. Our bus strolled through the city of Lublin, Poland. The city was so quaint and beautiful. The thing about Europe is, the architecture is so incredible. Every building is vastly different and unique in its own unique way. Ten minutes later however, we were out of the city and then boom there it was.

Across the street, there were neighborhoods, businesses, and then there was Majdanek. The moment the bus door opened and our feet hit the gravel, this eerie  feeling crept upon me. I'd seen pictures of the camp in my Holocaust textbook before, but here I was face to face with the barbed wire, the watch towers, and the barracks. We finally entered the camp, and our first stop was the gas chamber. Our guide brought us to a room filled with shower heads. She then explained that everyone that was eventually gassed had to first take a shower. She then brought us through to the room where thousands were gassed and showed us where the Nazi Commanders would put the Zyklon B tablets into gas the victims. The worst part of the whole thing was that there was still blue residue on the walls from the gas. At this point there was no words or thoughts, just silence.

Once we exited the gas chamber, we made our way up to another barrack. I'll never forget the feeling I had when that door opened, just typing this brings back tears.  Right in front of me, thousands upon thousands of shoes, all so dirty and worn. They belonged to all of those that lost their lives. They ranged in different sizes, from adult shoes to little baby shoes. The part that hit me the most was the baby shoes.  They had murdered over a million of innocent children, but how? For the first time in the whole trip, I had to walk away from the tour. I couldn't do it emotionally; I was not the only one. As a matter of fact, many of my classmates, as well as myself, had to regroup outside. Little did we know that the worst was yet to come.

We made our way up to the crematorium. The ovens that I'd seen in so many Holocaust movies were right in front of me. Just knowing that thousands of people were put in those ovens made me sick to my stomach. I want you to just stop and think about it for a second. How could anyone in their right mind put another human being in an oven?  It felt like what I'd seen was a scene from a horror movie. The horrendous reality was this was real life. As we toured the camp more and more I realized that the scariest part about this camp was that it could have been fully up and operational in just 24 hours.

The tour was almost over, but our guide had insisted that we see one more site before we left. As we made our way past the barbed wire and watch towers we came to a place that overlooked the whole camp. There stood a large Mausoleum that had, "let our fate be a warning to you" written across the top.  Inside stacked pretty high was a pile of ashes from the victims. To the right lay, ditches that looked like mini hills.  Underneath the grass lay bodies from the mass executions that took place. In the far distance, we could see the city of Lublin all the apartment buildings and house. It was hard to comprehend how an atrocity happened so close to so many people yet none of them did anything about it.

The tour finally came to an end, but our teachers gave us some time to take it all in. As I sat on the steps of the memorial the wind seemed to blow some of the ash into my face. I cried harder on that step than I ever had in my eighteen years of living.  I felt so hopeless, all I wanted to do was go back in time and save all those innocent people. The harsh reality was, I couldn't. I learned that day that the world can be so beautiful sometimes but yet so cruel.




All these photographs were taken by myself. Unfortunately, they were taken on my old phone that can't connect to wi-fi so I took a picture of them, enjoy.

These photos are by my friend Hannah D'Amico, enjoy!

Beauty and A Beast

There is something so magical about Prague.  The castle that looks over the city seems as if it was taken right out of a fairytale.  This journey we were on was so emotionally draining.  One minute we're exploring beautiful European cities, the next we were learning about the hundreds of thousands of people that died in a city or at a camp because of one man and his regime.  That afternoon after we left the town of Lidice, we found ourselves back in the beautiful city of Prague.  We all had a lot on our minds, the bus ride home was filled with a lot of tears and journal logging to write down our immediate emotions, feelings and thoughts.

Our teachers gave us the early afternoon until late evening to explore the city by ourselves.  As we climbed the road to the castle, we found ourselves in front of two guards.  Of course, being from the selfie generation, all of my classmates and I took photos with guards.  Now, the thing is the guards aren’t suppose to laugh, but one of them did.  Inside the castle was spectacular.  The stained glasses windows were like none other that I’d ever seen.  It’s safe to say that I used half my memory card from my camera on that castle.  We then ate dinner in a cafe that looked over the city, walked over the Charles Bridge, got painted Easter eggs for our families and packed our suitcases for Poland.  

Our time in Prague was  incredibly way too short.  Yet, here I was again lugging my monstrous suitcase through the streets of Prague until we reached our bus.  We were onto the next venture, one step forward to living with our Polish students for a week.  That night we slept on an overnight train.  I was expecting it to be like something from the Polar Express, however with four girls in one train car and a monstrous suitcase, it was a sight to see.  Believe it or not, we all slept like babies that night and were woken up by the train whistle and the bright Polish sun.  We had breakfast on the train and then got a few hours of sleep on the bus before we came to our next location.

It felt like we were in a horror movie or a scary nightmare.  The woods looked like they went on forever and that there was no way out.  As our bus crept down the dirt roads the trees seemed to hover so high that no sunlight was able to sneak in.  It was dark, cold and rainy when we finally reached Treblinka.  Whether we were ready or not, it was time to see our first concentration camp in Poland, one that we would surely leave every one of my classmates and I in tears.

We were ready to see the camp along with the barbed wire and the train tracks, but as we approached, none of that was there.  There was not any barbed wire, no train tracks, no nothing.  As we walked into the museum, there were videos and memorabilia and then right in front of us stood a huge 3-D layout of the camp.  The strange thing was, when you looked outside none of that was there.  Were we even in the right place?

He had done it again.  Hitler had destroyed Treblinka,  He made it seem as if nothing had ever happened there.  As if 800,000 men, women and children didn’t lose their lives there.  What was remarkable was that somehow, there was still a large layout in the camp museum and it looked so accurate.  As we were walking through Treblinka, we were informed by our Polish tour guide Maria that those few that survived Treblinka were able to describe the layout of the camp and that was how the 3-D layout was created.  As we walked outside through the memorial, we learned that the pillars that went on for miles represented the train tracks.  After you follow the pillars you come to a mass grave with over 17,000 rocks.  In the center is a large tombstone that stands on top of where the gas chambers once stood.  Under all the stones are the ashes of 800,000 innocent people that lost their lives there.  As you walk past the stones, you see large pits that have more stones.  The pits were used by the Nazis to put dead bodies in. The stones represent exactly where those bodies would have lied.  Treblinka was a horrific place and we learned that once you entered, the odds of you coming out were slim to none.  

As the bus drove away, we were all numb, in shock.  There were no words, no thoughts, just tears.  There was one question though, how could someone get away with this and what was the rest of the world doing while these atrocities were taking place?

 

 Photos by Hannah D'Amico

Terblinka...

The Tears Begin

 It was a concept I truly couldn’t wrap my mind around.  Europeans didn’t shower, they bathed.  So, what was I supposed to do for a full two weeks?  Sit in my own dirt while I bathed?  I didn’t like baths as a kid and I was certain that I wouldn’t like them as a seventeen-year-old.  Here I was, sitting on the  bathroom floor of a five-star hotel in the beautiful city of Prague.  It was the second day of our journey and I’ll admit  I was being a drama queen, but in my defense, the jet lag was hitting me hard.

 Once I was able to conquer the bathtub, I also had to conquer the fact that I wouldn’t be eating pancakes and waffles for breakfast.  Instead, we were served some delicious meat.  However, this time it wasn’t duck which was a plus.  Europeans, in fact, are very big on deli meat for breakfast with cheese, cucumbers and tomatoes on toast.  Before I could even  enjoy breakfast, our bus driver George had arrived and the second day of our journey had begun.

 Our first stop took us to Terezin, which was a concentration camp in Prague. This was the first camp on our journey.  Martina kindly reminded us that due to the fact that the Red Cross visited often to inspect, the camp was tidied up and wasn't nearly comparable to camps such as Auschwitz and Treblinka, which we would see later on our trip. The famous sign, “Arbeit Macht Frei”, in simpler terms, “works set you free” hung over the camp entrance.  The thing was that I had seen that sign in so many history textbooks, but now I was seeing it in person.  It was an eery feeling.  While walking through the camp, a sense of somberness and gloom pervades.  My mind was pondering so many questions.  How could people live like this?  What was it like for them?  My classmates and I were pretty silent; we could only observe and listen to our tour guide.  There were no words to speak.

 In the afternoon, we traveled to a little town called Lidice.  Hitler ordered that the town be completely destroyed along with everyone in it.  He believed that someone in this town had assassinated Reinhard Heydrich, a high-ranking Nazi official.  The reality was that no one in that town was responsible for his murder.  Yet, the women and children were shipped off to concentration camps and the men were killed by firing squad.  The town was then burned to the ground. The message that the Nazis conveyed was loud and clear, no matter what religion or ethnicity  you are, we will take you down.  The memorial that is there today is a large, absolutely beautiful park, with vast  sculptures and some ruins from the original churches and houses that once stood.  The most astounding part was that while we were walking through the park, people were riding bikes and one couple was having a little picnic.  These people were going through life like nothing ever happened there, as if  hundreds of innocent men, women and children didn’t lose their lives there. As we finished up our tour, we ended up in front of the Eighty Two Children sculpture. The sculpture is dedicated to not only the children lost in Lidice but also all that were lost in World War II. Teddy bears, as well as presents, lay in front of the children and for the first time in the whole trip tears started to form.

 The  ride was silent back to the hotel.  Many sniffles filled the bus.  What I kept thinking was, "For what purpose would anyone want to kill millions and millions of innocent people"?  Those children had so much to live for in the town of Lidice.  Our tour guide Martina was right, this journey we were on was one heck of an emotional experience and sometimes truly hard to comprehend. 




Photos Taken that day:






These Photos were taken by my friend Hannah D'Amico

Prague You've Stolen My Heart

My body felt like jello, yet here I was again, lugging my monstrous suitcase through yet another airport.  For the first time in my life, the language being spoken around me sounded like jibberish.  The posters on the walls were occupying  my eyes. One just happened to be a large pitcher of beer.  The ironic part was that my uncle, the liquor salesmen from New Jersey, mentioned to me right  before I left for my journey that the beer in Prague was the greatest beer around.  Although the drinking age was eighteen, the beer didn’t look appetizing.  However, the only thing appetizing to me at that moment in time would have been a bed with a few fluffy pillows.  My thoughts were suddenly interrupted, by a thick accent and a cheerful voice. There she was in front a large Mercedes bus, waving to us.  “Ahoja, Ahoja," she kept saying. The greatest part was that none of us knew who the woman was or what she was saying, we just wanted to sleep.

Martina, I later found out, would be our tour guide while we ventured throughout the Czech Republic for a week and “Ahoja”, meant hello.  Our first stop would be the hotel.  When I heard this news, I couldn’t have been more ecstatic,  I could finally ditch my monstrous suitcase and take a much-needed nap.  As the bus ventured through the Czech countryside, Martina decided to introduce herself.  It's safe to say that about fifty percent of my classmates were asleep as she talked, but I was ecstatic to be in a new country and see all the new views.

In the beginning, I’ll be the first to admit that I wasn’t a fan of Martina.  She talked entirely too much, but yet again she was a tour guide.  Her piercing voice rang through the speakers on the bus, “ Ahoja, welcome to the beautiful land of the Czech Republic.  As we make our way to downtown Prague and the city square, I would just like to take the time to say that the journey you are embarking on is one that many will never experience.  The Holocaust is a subject that many tend to stray away from and avoid, but yet we must realize that it happened and it could happen again. Throughout the next two emotional weeks, we will come to many beautiful and heartbreaking places.  The second week you will make memories with your Polish host that will last a lifetime.  But yet you must remember that the things we encounter may be hard to comprehend, but I promise that this journey will indeed be life changing. If you ever have any questions, feel free to ask, but for now please enjoy the views of my beautiful country”.

The bus traveled throughout the countryside and then boom, we were riding over a bridge entering the city. The views were breathtaking and the whole city could be seen from this bridge.  Right away it became evident that no two buildings were the same.  There were so many rich colors, from yellows to pinks to whites to blues.  The buildings were all extraordinary crafted and the castle looked like it came right out of the movie "Cinderella". There was something just magnificent about this place and I couldn’t wait to explore it.

Our first stop was lunch and at that moment in time I could have eaten for a family of four.  My first meal out of the country was duck… Yes, the kind you see in children's books, the kind that swim in ponds.  There the dead animal was, sitting right in front of me with a side of potatoes. That moment I realized one thing was for certain; that I was going to go back to the United States a few pounds lighter.

After lunch our educational journey began.  We came to Europe to study the Holocaust as well as dive into European culture by staying with a Polish student and their family.  So there we were in the most beautiful synagogue I’d ever seen in my life.  They told us not to take pictures, but that was nearly impossible due to the beauty.  I was able to snap a few.  Next, our journey took us The Old Jewish Cemetery, which contains 20,000 tombstones. The part that intrigued me the most was the location, which happened to be in the center of town.That afternoon we were able to tour the extraordinary city of Prague.  Then for dinner we had another lovely animal, salmon. If it wasn’t for the bread at lunch and dinner, I would have lost about ten pounds that day.

By the time we were done exploring the nightlife of Prague, I felt like a zombie. I was ready for a nice hot shower, but I quickly realized that I wouldn’t be showering for  two weeks. Instead, I would be taking a bath.  I was a five-year-old once again! 

Some photos from this part of my trip, taken by myself and my friend Hannah D'Amico