Vienna and Prague

 

A lot has changed this week and I’ve enjoyed everything about it. The first thing I’ll start with is the Tuesday we left for Vienna. This was quite an interesting experience since we were going without Dr. Wasser, Rike, and Mason due to COVID. Apart from that, Jackson and I had to wake up extremely early to catch the 16 which runs every 30 minutes and luckily we had enough energy to run down the hill and catch the train just in time. This was actually the first time that we beat a majority of the class on arriving to the destination not just on time but early. The train itself was VERY long and tiring but once we got to Vienna, it was worth every second.

              The city was beautiful with amazing architecture, food, and culture. The weather was also quite nice except for the day we had the tour with Dr. Wasser, where it was very cold. I was genuinely surprised at how much I enjoyed Vienna and how beautiful it was during the winter. I would love to return during the spring to see the royal gardens at full bloom, maybe a future trip. Anyway, the rest of the time there was very fun with most of us hanging out and watching movies which was something that I never expected to do in Vienna. It was definitely a bonding experience with a lot of my classmates and I feel that it made a big difference in how we perceived each other as more than just “classmates” but “friends”.

              After Vienna, we all headed to Prague, where the primary goal was to see as much as possible in the 2 days we had there. I cannot say that I liked it more than Vienna, but I definitely enjoyed it quite a lot. The food was great and the cathedrals were something that was on a scale I had not expected. For example, the castle city, had one of the most beautiful stained glass windows I had ever seen. The building itself was a lot like the Koln Cathedral and I was amazed at the beauty and scale of such a building. I also wondered at what those walls had seen. How many people had tried to scale those walls? How many had died inside those walls? How many generations of families had lived inside? What diseases rampaged the population there? After seeing the castle, we came down and went to eat at a local microbrewery where I had some of the best beer I’ve ever had the pleasure of drinking and some goulash inside a bread bowl. The goulash was great but the beer was not only AMAZING but also extremely cheap with 0.4L costing only 29 czk which is about 1.16 usd. After eating, we met up for dinner with some of the other girls and I got to go to this gluten-free burger place which was honestly very good. Was it the best burger I’ve had? Absolutely not. But it was definitely good. After that, we went to the famous 5-story club in Prague and had a blast watching a robot make drinks. They might be taking over the world, starting with taking out bartenders! The next morning, we woke up and parted ways with some of the boys and girls who headed back earlier than we did. Jackson and I went to get some “citronade” and then dropped our bags off at the train station where we then headed to center of the city to try a Mexican restaurant which Emiliano rated as a “chefs kiss”. I had to go after this rating and so I did. What did I get out of it? Some very nice reminders of family and of course a “chefs kiss” rating. Was it the best Mexican food I have had? Absolutely not. If anything, it was solid because I had not had Mexican food in a while and seeing a corn tortilla nearly made me cry. I give it a 9/10 in Europe and a 7.7/10 in Mexico. After that we went to go try this weird cinnamon coated donut thing with Nutella and strawberries in it. It was phenomenal. After that we went to the train station and got on the train to get back to Bonn.

              But what have I learned this week? I learned that people never agree on anything and trying to plan with big groups is a pain. This was something that I knew before, but this week has just proven it even more. People never want to do the same thing and trying to get everyone to do the same thing is almost impossible and if anything causes more stress for everyone involved. Hopefully in the future I can travel with no more than 5 people.