Trip to Dresden

After quite some time of trying to upload pictures from this weekend the most that I could get to work are the two below...so I really hope that you enjoy them!

This past week was quite fun.  I have actually come down with a cold (again) so did not do too much but what I did do was all such a great experience.  Last thursday some people in my program and I went to the high school which is located by our dorm and sat in on classes and sort of taught english.  Well, at least that is what they wanted us to do but for the most part we are there to just give an american perspective and for them to practice their english with us.

The first class that we went to they were giving presentations on the difference between Czech Republic and US summer camps.  It was quite the experience.  The group had pictures from both of the different summer camps.  The Czech summer camps showed pictures of kids in their tents, eating meals on the ground and having a beat up basketball court.  The pictures that they showed of the "US" summer camp were pictures of the very nice Hyatt hotel, a very beautiful and exquisite dinning hall (which looked to have candles on the tables) and a water slide park.  While there may be camps in the US that do look like this, it is by no means the average kind of summer camp experience that many of us have had.  We tried to explain this to the group that was presenting but usually got some sort of fire-y response back.  The rest of the class agreed that it was not an accurate representation but the group was set into believing that it was right.  It was very interesting to see their perspective of American's and the way in which we apparently live.

The next class I went to we just sat around with a small group and talked and they asked us many different questions.  My group had a lot of small talk at first but then were very quick at firing out political questions.  It is so interesting to see how much interest everyone seems to have here in the US election, even high school students.  

On Saturday my program took us to the city of Dresden, Germany for the day.  All of us had no idea what to expect but were pleasently surprised to find such a beautiful city when we arrived.  It was sad to find out that during WWII the entire city was bombed and 30,000 people were killed and the entire city was destroyed.  They have rebuilt the city however and it is truly beautiful there.

We spent a majority of the day just walking around and seeing what all that there was to see.  One of the most interesting parts of the day was our lunch.  We went to a very german restaurant.  I would say that I am very far from being a picky eater so my friend Cort and I decided to be adventerous and decided to try a meat dish that we were exactly sure what it was but we were ready to try it.  When it came it was to our very surprise as to what the meat consisted of.  The best way to explain it is that it seems as though they took all of the left over meat scraps that they had in the kitchen along with some vegetables as well, put it in a bowl and then added some gelatin sort of substance, put it in a pan, let it turn into a jelly substance and then serve it onto our plates cold.  The first bite of this meat was interesting, the second a little too strong, and by the third I had lost my appetite.  I would say that there are very few things that I dislike, but this truly may be the most disgusting thing which I have ever tasted in my entire life.
As we kept walking around the city we stumbled across a fair and decided that we had to go and look at it.  This is a picture of Kayla, Cort, Chelsea, and I at the fair.  We walked around and came across a ferris wheel and were debating as to weather or not we should ride.  We then saw that the ride had various different flags that were hanging up from different countries and then all of a sudden to my surprise, there was the Montana flag, flying in the breeze!  It was beyond random to see it flying there so we all took it as a sign that we had to ride it!

The rest of the weekend was spent doing homework and trying to get over this sickness (which I don't think is happening any time soon).  It is a Czech holiday next week so we have Monday and Tuesday off, then I go to class on Wednesday, and then my weekend starts Thursday until Monday, such a beautiful schedule.  Two of my friends and I leave for Barcelona and Milan on Thursday so I will update again after I get back.    I didn't realize that I had so much to say in this blog, hope you enjoyed all of it and are still reading!  Much love!