Greetings from Beautiful Crete!

The sunrise on my first morning in Crete

Hello. My name is Rachel and I am a Design and Merchandising student at Drexel University. For the Summer 2010 term, I am participating in the Drexel in Crete program. The study abroad program is open to sophomores, pre-juniors and juniors in any major at the university. The curriculum is comprised of four courses regarding Greek culture, history, economy, society and language. The classes begin with two weeks of study in the States, continue with four weeks on the glorious island of Crete and conclude with four additional weeks of online learning.

Crete is the largest and most populous island off of the southern coast of Greece. It is the bride of the Mediterranean, serving as a cultural crossroads that links Europe, Africa and the Middle East. The island was the birthplace of the Minoan civilization, the first advanced society in Europe dating c. 2700-1420 BC. It passed under the control of the Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire, Arabs, Venetians and Ottoman Turks before gaining autonomy and finally joining the independent Greek state on December 1, 1913. These various influences created a complex cultural identity, evident in all aspects of life on Crete.

The first thing I noticed upon arriving on the island was the unique landscape. There is a striking play between harsh, dry mountainous terrain and the marine shores of the Mediterranean. Our hotel, Xenia Helios, is located in Kokkini Chani, a town fifteen minutes outside of Heraklion, the capital of Crete. It is run by students who study tourism during the year and work at the hotel in the summertime. This is amazing because it allows us an inside view of the youth culture on the island. I am sharing an adorable little room with my friend Devon, another D&M student.

Xenia Helios at night

Our program advisor, Dr. Maria Hnaraki, is a native of Crete and knows practically everyone on the island, which grants us some spectacular opportunities like meeting the first female governor of Crete. Our graduate assistant, Theodore, is also from Crete and instructs our classes on economics and business. We take classes at the hotel three days a week with the other two days reserved for lengthy field trips. On those days we all pile into the Golden Bullet, which Devon has so fittingly deemed our tour bus, and take off across the island to an assortment of fascinating locations.

Tours and Such...

A great benefit about studying abroad, as opposed to just traveling through Europe, are the unique opportunities we receive through the UNO program. These opportunities have included a tour of the interior of the Prague Castle, the Parliament building, Senate Building, the Municipal House and most recently the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

I really love taking tours, and learning about the history and design of the places while actually standing and walking through the various structures. One tour I found quite impressive was the Foreign Ministry, which is near the Prague Castle. The building itself is actually considered a palace, formerly known as Czernin Palace.

We were given a tour of the various rooms, and our tour guide provided us with personal anecdotes, as well as myths and legends that go along with building. He showed us where President Obama was greeted, where drinks are served before a dinner party, as well the suite of former executive minister Jan Masaryk.

One thing the Czernin Palace is particularly known for is the defenestration (the act of pushing someone out a window) of Mr. Masaryk. On March 10th 1948 his life came to a tragic end by falling out of his bathroom window under unexplained circumstances. For some odd reason the Czech Republic’s history is filled with multiple defenestrations. One incident occurred in 1419 and other incident in 1618. During the tour, we were taken the bathroom where Mr. Masaryk was thrown out his window.

View from window in Mr. Masaryk's bathroom

In my Prague 20thCentury Art and Design class we had a class tour of Prague’s Municipal House (knows to Czechs as the Obecní dům) to observe the Art Nouveau style that was incorporated into the design of the structure. The interior of the building was beautiful, from the rich wooden floors to the chandeliers and light fixtures. During the tour, we were shown a series of rooms in the building that were painted and designed by famous Czech artists, including Alfons Mucha and Jan Preisler. The Mucha room was painted deep hues of blue and purple contributing to a mystical ambience in the room. Mucha designed everything in the room, from the curtains, to the furniture and the paintings on the ceiling. Out of all the rooms designed by the artists, his room was by far my favorite.

For my last week in Prague I have a tour of the Muller Villa with my Art and Design class. The Muller Villa was the first building of it’s kind in Prague, and it was designed with the Functionalist style. I can’t wait to go and see it!

Stain Glass Window in the Mucha Room from the Municipal House

České Jídlo (Czech Food!)

After living in Prague for about three weeks I have finally grown accustomed to the Czech cuisine. I was a little nervous about the dietary habits here. Being a picky eater and reluctant to try new foods does not make the dining situation much better either. It has been an adjustment eating new foods, but I have tried some really delicious meals from an assortment of different places.

Breakfast is included with the housing fee we pay for in the program. We are given tickets that are worth 100 Krowns (about $5) to use in the cafeteria located in the dormitory. It is pretty low-key and comes with limited selections, but there usually is yogurt, bread, some pastries, coffee and juice. You also have the option of ordering scrambled eggs or an omelet. Meat and cheese is a common staple item for breakfast in Europe. I personally could never eat meat in the morning, but some of my friends now enjoy eating bologna and cheese sandwiches for breakfast.

The Czech diet as a whole is heavily concentrated on starches and meat. Ham, beef and sausage are the most common meats in most dishes. Sometimes you can find poultry items on a menu such as chicken and duck. Most dishes usually come with a side of potato or bread dumplings. I have tried both forms of dumplings at a few different dining establishments and they are really great addition to the main entrée. Soup is also a common item to order at a pub, and it usually comes in a large bowl of bread.

Typical Czech Dish called Goulash

I have personally found it difficult to find fruits and vegetables in Prague, both in a restaurant as well as on my own. Salads generally are not an option on the menu. If by chance you are given a side salad, it usually consists of a little lettuce with a lot of toppings (cucumbers, peppers, beets etc). Fruit is most commonly on the dessert menu, either in crepes or fruit dumplings. There is a small fruit market near the school where I will get apples, but the fruit in general can be a bit pricey to purchase and not always that fresh.

All in all, the food in Prague is pretty good. I have grown to love their dish called Smažený sýr (fried cheese), and I do love all the desserts and gelato! I will surely miss the fruit crepes when I am back in America.

Smažený sýr and Potatos

Czech Fashion

As a Design and Merchandising major at Drexel, I was intrigued to see what Czech fashion consisted of. I always had this idea that European style was classy and sophisticated, and everyone always looked presentable. Well, after being in Prague for a few weeks, my Prague 20^th Century Art and Design teacher informed me the Czech fashion is an oxymoron, meaning that Czech fashion is non-existent. Prague is city full of tourists, and actual locals are hard to come by. Although I have not witnessed the cutting edge fashion I assumed all Europeans possessed, I have stumbled upon my own findings for shopping and authentic fashionable Czech clothing.

My first day in Prague consisted of exploring the city and picking up a few necessities for the next few weeks (soap, towels, dishware etc), and while running these errands I naturally came upon the Czech Republic’s largest mall, the Palladium. The Palladium was recently constructed in 2007, and consists of four levels, boasting over 200 shops and roughly thirty restaurants and cafes. It is located in Náměstí Republiky, and it's easy to get to by taking the Metro. The Palladium has many stores that we have in America, such as Guess, Calvin Klein, and The Body Shop. Other familiar stores include H&M, Lush, Sephora and TOPSHOP. The Palladium is so massive; we have visited a few times and have yet to find time to see everything at once.

The Palladium

Also on the Metro, the Můstek stop offers shopping geared more towards tourists, with large popular chain stores such as The New Yorker, another H&M, Zara and United Colors of Benetton. While these stores are still great and have a lot to offer shoppers, I personally was on the search for apparel that was different and unique, and made by Czech fashion designers.

Last week when I had time to explore, I found two great boutiques, both selling clothing, accessories and jewelry all created by designers that lived in Prague and/or were Czech! Both stores were really unique, and I was happy to find something that was original. The first store is called Leeda, which is a fashion brand created by Czech designers Lucia Trnková and Lucie Kutálková. The boutique carries their clothing line, as well as a few styles of footwear plus an assortment of accessories including earrings, bracelets, headbands and necklaces. The clothing was ready to wear sportswear with a trendy twist, and all the clothing had a bright color palette.

After leaving Leeda, just a few stores down the block I found another great Czech fashion store called Nakoupeno, which carried Czech fashion and jewelry designers. This store was similar to a funky vintage shop, it was strategically cluttered, and one could spend an hour walking around and still not notice everything on display. The clothing sold at Nakoupeno was bit more eccentric than what was Leeda. There were a lot of skirts made of metallic spandex, dresses with a large bubble skirt full of fake sunflower heads (or other flowers), and striped parachute pants. Although I couldn’t picture myself being able to pull off some of these really interesting outfits, I did manage to find a black and crème striped turtleneck dress, with lace trim on the hem and sleeves, and to add a bit a punch, banana appliqué patches around the collar. It’s a great combination of the everyday, with a little something extra. Nakoupena also carried quite a few jewelry lines; all in all, there was something to be found there for everyone.

Mission accomplished!

Nakoupena Boutique

Here are additional links to various Czech Designers

www.leeda.cz

http://www.deers.cz/

http://www.pourpour.cz/

Week One: Classes and Field Trips

I have been in Prague for a little over a week and I already feel like I know some parts of the city so well, yet there are others areas of Prague I have yet to venture too, like the Jewish Quarter. I have become quite comfortable with taking the metro (subway) from our dormitory down to the center of the city. The tram (similar to a trolley) is still a little confusing to navigate. Much of the tram system is consistently re-routed due to continuous construction around Prague.

The Tram in front of the Metro stop at Malostranká

For the actual “study” portion of this trip, classes are held at the historic Charles University, which is the oldest university in Europe east of Paris. Charles University has a prime location right on the Vltava River, and a stunning view of the Prague Castle on a hill in the distance. We have class Monday through Thursday, with two classes each day. In total, we are in class for about four to five hours each day. It sounds like a long period of time, but the teachers utilize the city as their classroom, and most class curriculums encompass multiple field trips. While in Prague I am enrolled in an Introduction to Photography class and a 20^th Century Art History class that focuses on Czech artists and artwork.

Every Friday we have field trips in the morning. This past Friday we visited the Czech Parliament building and Senate building. We learned a little about how the Czech government operates as a unit. On Saturday we had a group day trip to two locations outside Prague. One was to a town called Lidice, which was virtually destroyed by the Nazis on June 10^th, 1942. There is a large memorial in place of where the town once stood, as well as small museum dedicated to the event and the citizens living in the town at the time. It was a deeply moving trip, as I saw firsthand the effect of World War II on a European country. After visiting and learning about the event at Lidice, we then visited Terezín, which was a Jewish Ghetto or settlement operated by the Nazis. Terezín was originally a military fortress and later used as a prison. However, when the Nazis invaded the Czech Republic during World War II, it was used as a ghetto, where Jews from Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Germany and Austria were sent to live. Although it was not an extermination camp, many people still died due to crowded conditions and disease. While the day overall was not filled with usual excitement and giddiness we have in Prague, it was very moving and important to experience. I for one learned a great deal that day, and it was a very eye opening experience into the history of the Czech Republic.

Where the town of Lidice once stood

Jewishl Cemetry outside Small Fortress at

Terezín

The Prague Castle

Prague Castle complex from other side of the Vltava River

One thing Prague is particularly famous for (other than beer) is the Prague Castle. The castle complex is one of the oldest and largest castles in the world, and it is still utilized to this day by the Czech government and President. As students participating in the UNO Summer Seminar series, we were granted the opportunity to actually go INSIDE the castle and view an assortment of rooms used for a variety of functions. This was a rare opportunity, as most tourists only get to view the castle from the exterior. The Baroque architecture and design in a few of the rooms was exquisite.

Picture of Spanish Hall inside the Prague Castle

The castle complex also includes a breathtaking gothic cathedral named after St. Vitus, the patron saint of actors, comedies, dancers and epileptics. He is also the patron saint of Bohemia, the area in the Czech Republic where Prague is located. The cathedral also houses quite a few pieces by famed Czech artists, including a stain glass window by Alfons Mucha.

St. Vitus Cathedral

After touring the castle and St. Vitus Cathedral, we briefly visited the American Embassy in Prague. We met with the director of Public Affairs, who provided us with a glimpse of life as an American living in Prague. He encouraged us to get lost and explore the city, and experience as much of Prague as we can in our short month here. After our scheduled morning activities and tours, we had the afternoon off to further acquaint ourselves with our new city. A small group of us had a delicious Italian meal at a charming restaurant near the American Embassy. The restaurant, called Gitanes, had delicious and fresh cuisine, and the décor alone made this place a perfect spot for an afternoon lunch. We all plan on dining there again before our departure!

Interior of Gitanes

Greetings from Praha! (Prague)

Ahoj Everyone! My name is Caitlin Stelben. I will be going into my third year at Drexel University. I am a Design and Merchandising major, with a minor in business administration. I am going on Co-op this Fall/Winter cycle, so I am so excited to have an educational “vacation” in Prague this summer before I start working full time.

Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. It has become a popular tourist destination since the Velvet Revolution in 1989. It is a beautiful city, located on the Vltava River, in an area of the country known as Central Bohemia. Luckily, much of the city’s historic architecture and cobble stone streets have remained intact throughout the past century, so the city has an old renaissance appeal to it.

This study abroad program is an option for sophomores, pre-juniors, and juniors at Drexel University, and any major is eligible to apply. What is unique about this particular international program is that it is in conjunction with the University of New Orleans, so we will be taking classes and being instructed with students and staff members affiliated with the UNO (University of New Orleans). The educational program of this trip is four weeks long. We will be taking classes at the historic Charles University, however we will be residing at Czech Technical Institute.

I just arrived in Prague a few days ago, and have already begun exploring the city. It is quite easy to get lost, but as long as you have a map and can ask “Mluvite anglisky?” (Do you speak English?) chances are you will find your way sooner than later.

As a part of the Prague study abroad program, Drexel requires that we take a three week long introduction to Czech language and culture class. Our instructor was Kathy Dettmer, who is fluent in Czech and very familiar with Czech Republic, since she was a stationed here when she was a member of the Peace Corps. She provided us with an introduction to Czech language that will come into use for basic conversations with people, as well as for pub/restaurant environments. We also were given a glimpse into the history of the Czech Republic, from its foundation as a country, to the artistic culture of its people, and its duration under communism. We read multiple short stories ranging from Czech fairy tales, to information about the beer served in Prague, as well as a speech by the Czech Republic’s first president Havel.

Since arriving in Prague, I am very appreciative of all that we were taught in those short three weeks. There are many activities planned for us this upcoming week, as well as our first day of classes. Shortly, we have a planned group dinner at a local pub called the Pod Loubim.

Ciao!

-CS

https://drexel.studioabroad.com/index.cfm?FuseAction=Programs.ViewProgram&Program_ID=10020&Type=O&sType=O