Bittersweet End - to the best time of my life

Dobry den!

This week has been spent traveling the very country we have gotten the pleasure to call home for the past three months. As it was one of the shortest jaunts, it was one of the best weeks thus far.

The end of this program has come way too quickly but I am so happy with the way the end of this trip was spent.
We took off bright and early on this last Tuesday morning to head to our first stop, Litomysl, CZ! Here we got to see a cathedral and listen to a presentation about the town itself. It was a university town and had about 10,000 residents including surround suburbs. The town did not have a huge night life, which is something I was so excited about. I love just spending he might with friends hanging out in a pub, having good conversations and sharing laughs. Which is exactly what we did! It was Jessica's birthday and it was such a great excuse to sit down and spend quality time together!

This little Czech town was just a short stop and we were there for one night but the hostel (hotel?) we stayed in has been probably my favorite so far! It felt like staying in a cabin because it the walls were all made of wooden beams and it just had a cozy feel. I stayed in a room with Jessica and Lydia and our room was cooler than every one else's because we had a loft in it. It was dope! Also, about the hostel, we got a huge breakfast in the morning and I that put a great start to the morning.

We hit the road on Wednesday morning, after our delicious, healthy breakfast to go to our first stop. We were to see a church decorated of around 6,000 human bones. This, oddly enough, has been one of my favorite churches. It seems super eerie and weird to say that but it actually is a humorous sight to see and after taking anatomy last semester I felt pretty cool knowing like, every bone I saw. ;-)

After doing what was in our agenda we checked in to our hotel that we were staying in for that night. The town we stayed in was called Kutna Hora and it had seemed very little -more like a typical Czech town but the traffic was a little different in Olomouc as if you are waiting to cross the street in Olomouc, drivers alway insist you cross before they pass the crosswalk, but I think i almost got hit by a car crossing the street at least 4 times. Who am I kidding that happened in every city but ANYWAY each day of the trip had been passing so quickly and it was so surreal. We were to see the silver mines this day as well but the tours had filled and we had moved it to the agenda for the next day. This gave us all so much free time for the evening and how did us girls spend it? Drinking local wine and eating pizza while playing games and talking about life in our room. It was like a sleepover and it was just one component to a perfect last week all together.

The next day we had woken up to visit the silver mines. This was such a cool experience and different from the salt mines in Krackow as the tour was much more literal, there in Kutna Hora. We put in long coats and helmets with lights, so we looked the part of the miners and we also went through the actual mines and got to experience the real work conditions of the miners back then. The tour guide had us turn off our helmet lights at one point and we all got to experience complete darkness. Some of us loved it, others were freaked out but at the end of he day it was so much fun!

We later took off the CZESKY KRUMLOV which was my favorite town we had been to.

         All of us had described it as a little fairytale town because it reminded us of a          town a princess would live in or even a real life version of the little towns at theme parks! It was so cozy and the streets were were narrow and the little shops were filled with warm desserts, local jewelry, home decor, etc. 

My favorite part of the trip and one of my fav rotor memories from this whole experience was spending the end of the trip rafting with everyone. It was our last hoorah and I could not have spent it with better people. The view was beautiful and it was such a relaxing day. Rain was on the forecast but stopped once we actually got out on the water. We shared many laughs and I had so much fun!

The last day of our trip we stopped to see my favorite castle we have been to, on our way back to Olomouc. It was absolutely breathtaking and our tour guide was the funniest. 

The program ending has really been so bittersweet. More bitter than sweet. This experience is something I never want to end!

 Some parts of the bones chapel!

 The Budweis Budvar Brewery! 

The beautiful castle we saw on the way back from our trip!

I am traveling to Dublin and Greece for the next few weeks before heading back to America. More to come on that and my overall experience being a European student 

For the last couple of months!

~Until next time!