Weekend Adventures

Let me start this post by explaining what I will be doing after Prague. In January I will be going to Malaysia on an ETA Fulbright grant to teach in a secondary school for ten months. As pre departure prep the Fulbright committee in Malaysia has set up a Facebook group for the grantees to virtually meet and ask the staff any questions. Through this group I met another girl who is currently teaching English in PRAGUE, small world! In addition, one of the staff members from Malaysia is currently vacationing in PRAGUE, so Saturday morning we all met up for some strudel and espresso at a local cafe. It was a really great opportunity for all us to meet, share what we all know about Prague, what to do here, things to see, but to also learn about our next adventure from the Fulbright staff member. I’m starting to learn that people who travel have their own community. Although this community expands all over the world, it really does exist. The fact that the three of us were able to meet in a country that none of us originate from and discuss our plans to be in a different country, that again none of us originate from, really amazed me. I realized through this meeting that I can have lunch in Prague with these people, I’ll meet them again in Malaysia, and who knows where else our paths might cross one day. One of my favorite things about traveling, probably my number one most favorite thing, is meeting other people who travel. It open ups so many opportunities and teaches you so much, not just about the country your visiting, but about the countries of the people you meet.

Later in the afternoon on Saturday my boyfriend and I took the train to Kutna Hora, a small village about an hour away from Prague. Here we saw the bone church – a small church made up of the bones from over 40,000 people who died from the black plague. There is a chandelier in the middle of the church that contains every bone from the human body, it really is one of the most incredible things I have ever seen, I love it there. The town of Kutna Hora is also a lovely place to spend an afternoon wandering around – a great relief from the city for a few hours.

Sunday we wandered around our area of Prague, Zizkov for awhile familiarizing ourselves with the local parks and monuments. The area is named after a general who never lost a battle, had one eye shot out and continued to fight throughout his life, and requested that when he die the skin of his back be made into a drum so he could continue to lead his men into battle – basically the man. If I had to compare Zizkov to a borough of NYC I’d say its the “Brooklyn” of Praha – a really fun area, a bit quirky, creative vibe, and tons of pubs. But for dinner we wandered into Old Town and got to meet up with Bruce Sillner, the dean of international programs at New Paltz, who happened to be in town for a conference. It was very nice seeing a familiar face, talking about New Paltz, and filling him in on our time in Prague and where our adventures are leading us!

 

the chandelier in the bone church

the chandelier in the bone church

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wandering around Kutna Hora

Kutna Hora

Kutna Hora

mural of Jan Zizka

mural of Jan Zizka

dinner with Dean Sillner

dinner with Dean Sillner

My name is Kelly and I am a recent graduate of SUNY New Paltz. I have my bachelors in Secondary Education and English and during my time as an undergrad I spent a semester studying abroad in Prague, Czech Republic. I enjoyed living in Prague so I have decided to come back for a little while. I will be living in Prague for the next 3 and half months during which I will be taking a TEFL course (teaching english as a foreign language) to prepare myself for my next adventure. Upon graduating New Paltz I received a Fulbright scholarship to teach in Malaysia for 2015. When I leave Prague in December I will be headed to Malaysia and will be a teaching assistant in an English class. I have been traveling to other countries since I was 15 years old and I guess you could say I've been bit hard by the travel bug. =)

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