Prague + Back to the States

So to round-off my semester in Copenhagen, 2 of my friends and I took a 5 day trip to Prague on a $50 round-trip ticket (gotta love it) and I have to say that it is definitely one of the greatest cities I have ever visited. It has everything you could ever want! It is truley a tourist's playground as 70% of those employed in Prague work in the service industry. They have insane amounts of tourist sights to see on top amazing architecture in general.

We took two walking tours while in Prague from "Free Prague Tours" which were about 3 hours each and they took us around both the east and west banks of the river that runs through Prague. We got to see Prague castle, the old City Hall, the new City Hall, Charles Bridge, and various other churches/chathedrals. The best part about the tours though were the tour guides! On the first day we have a cinical college age girl who swore up and down that Czech people have no values, they don't care about anything, and everyone gets divorced at least 3 times in their lifetime (they have a 75% divorce rate). Needless to say she was very entertaining. The girl on the second day wasn't quite as entertaining but definitely equally as knowledgeable.

The bar/food scene also must be mentioed (maybe even moreso than the touristy stuff). Depending upon where you are - you can find a large traditional czech mean ie potato pancakes, three different cuts of pork, three slices of bread, and the best saurkraut you've ever had for 6 bucks. And with that you can order a .5 liter of beer for a $1.25. AMAZING! That was even in one of the more touristy areas. When we ventured outside of the city center we found a la carte meals for 5bucks and beers for 50cents.

In general, the people on Prague are the nicest people I've met in Europe, as a whole. Maybe it is because they're so dependent upon tourism to survive or maybe it is just their good nature - either way they're very helpful with just about anything!

Before I post some pictures I want to give a shout-out to my new best friends who are still in Copenhagen. Jeffrey, my Dutch compatriat, Phillip, "ze German!," Julian, "the Frenchman," Josh, the New Yorker, and of course my fellow GLOBERS Daniel and Weck. We all lived in the same apartment building over this past semester and grew to be really great friends. Definitely is one of the greatest part of being in this program - the bonds and networks that grow.

I forgot to share one story about Prague that you may either find offensive or really cool. So... On Easter Monday, to elebrate Jesus's rising, the young men of Prague break into the houses of the young women (literally... if your door is locked they have the right to climb up a ladder and break in the window) and then chase these young girls to beat htem with a stick. Once thr girl has gotten beaten, she has to give the guy a handmade egg that took her about 3 hours to make. To top it off, when all the girls go to school the next day, they compare marks... and the girls without marks are considered to be ugly and unpopular. Basically, it's not only okay to beat girls in Prague, but it's encouraged!

Picture time! These aren't in any particular order.

These are the guys minus Julian. (From the Right) Josh, Jeffrey, Moi, Daniel, Phillip, Weck - this was the morning that I was flying out.

The Cathedral on top of Prague Castle. This was our crew for the day. We met Yui Chi (we dubbed in Luigi) on our tour that day. To the right of him is Meghan, a girl from UNC who was studying in Lund. To the right of her is Josh and Weck.

This was the day that we left Prague... it had snowed quite a bit. Doesn't it look like how you imagined Eastern Europe?

Prague Castle

Charles Bridge from the island that is partly underneath it.

Europeans seem to have a fixation with peeing statues... They're peeing on the Czech Republic.

Another shot of the Cathedral at Prague Castle - notice the Christmas Tree - they had elaborately decorated ones all around the touristy areas.

This is the well where they used to burn witches ie Protestant women back when the Catholics were in control. It is supposedly haunted by these witches and if you touch the stones around it you will be cursed with negative energy. (Interestingly have of our group was seperated from teh guide right after visiting this sight - BUT - this lead to us meeting Luigi!)

One of the cathedrals in the center square of Prague - Amazing architecture.

One of the bars we went to the first night - They had 8 in-house brewed draughts. Wheat, Sour Cherry, Dark, Vanilla, Coffee, Banana, Nettle, and Light.

FYI - I'm home now! And will be until the 30th! Hope to see a lot of you guys!

Bruxelles

Brussels was the second trip that we took for the GLOBE Program in Europe. This trip aligned a great deal with one of our courses, Corporate Responses to European Integration. The course itself examined the various institutions of the EU on a macro level, the directives they pass on the meso level, and the affects on corporations working within the EU on the micro level. Overall it was a great course and I learned a ton of stuff that I never would have learned because of it.

The pictures aren't that exciting because there aren't but so many sights to see in Brussels, but they cover trips to visit the EU Council, EU Parliament, EU Commission, and various lobbying bodies and group to get an in-depth understanding of the supranational entities within the EU.

Overall, the sights in Brussels we're pretty cool but they didn't have quite the same affect as those in Berlin. My favorite was the "Manakin Pis" which is a statue of a small boy peeing water into a basin. The ingenious part of this statue is that you can change the substance that he pees... We got to experience this our first day as they were having some celebration that required the small boy to pee beer! So, we got a few free beers from the lad. T'was quite exciting and just reaffirms my belief that beer, not oil, fuels Europe.

In general, Brussels is as you would expect the majority of Europe to be... Relatively expensive, crappy weather, no "the customer is always right" attitude. BUT don't let this discourage you from making a visit. Brussels is the center of what is going on within Europe right now and if they are going to become "The United States of Europe" (what my roomate is writing his honors thesis on) then it will take place in Brussels.

Check out the photos!

This was our last day in Brussels. Some of us guys were hanging out at a local Pub, Churchhills, playing some pool

Definitely one of the coolest pubs ive ever been to - Delirium Cafe - where they have over 2000 different beers from around the world and live music at their bar downstairs. Highly recommend!

The main square in Brussels at night. It was gorgeous. There are buildings like this all the way around the square and those are the power lines with lights on them.

Parliament - one of the less efficient bodies of the EU as it has some 750+ members from all the member-states.

The UNC GLOBE Guys at the Parliament building.