Hanka's blog

My Minor at VSE

2008-02-24T12:37:00.000-08:00

VSE is the school I go to - or University of Economics. This year I had to choose from a number of Minor specializations just "the one". After a long time, I chose "Financial Manager" and this is what happened.

I came at 3:30 in the morning on Monday in front of VSE, because on Monday at 8 a.m., the secretaries open their office and you can sign up for this specialization.
I came this early to make sure I get a spot, usually it gets crowded and the system just works like this... the first 50 people get the spot. Then all you have to do, is guess the right time, get to the university and sign your name on a piece of paper.

Well...guess what... I was too late. The last spot was filled at 3:08 a.m. These crazy people were standing in front of VSE from 10 p.m. the previous day!!!
There was a list (picture above) of all people who got the place. You can see that it was pretty much full at 1 a.m.!!!
But I signed up anyway, I was the 54th one. Sometimes they took a couple of people over the capacity so I thought I had a pretty good chance.

Shortly after 4 a.m., the cleaning ladies let us in the main building - because really...it was quite cold - this is the inside of the building with students sitting around. No one was allowed further - just to the entrance hall. There was a special atmosphere - a night spent in an empty building, talking to all the other crazy people, studying, drinking hot tea, red bull or just sitting around and trying not to fall asleep.

We all had to wear a lot of clothes. Normally, you have to stand in front of the building until 6 a.m. - when the building officially opens. I guess we were lucky this time.

In this picture, we are finally inside of the building, 6 a.m. People are doing the same...just sitting around, chatting and waiting.

At 7 a.m., the secretary finally comes and the "managers" (that is - the three extra active students who are actually standing there from 10 p.m. and guarding the list with names) start reading the names, checking your ID and letting you inside the office of the secretary.

At 9 a.m. - the specialization is closed. I was the second one bellow the line and therefore didnt get in - but at least I had a feeling that I did my best :-)

So the advise for Czech students next semester? Get a sleeping bag, a big cup of hot tea or coffee and spend the night in front of VSE. Get there around 1 a.m. and youre cool... OR

talk to the school and make them do a selection procedure - write a test before, take into account grades or whatever - just dont make us do these things ever again!!! We dont deserve this. It is undignifying.

Btw. after that I had to choose another minor - Accounting and Financial Management - here I come :-)

New Years Eve celebration

2008-01-01T08:10:00.000-08:00

Our NYE party place in Pilsen :-)

Me and Filip laughing about the prices in Pilsen.... 0,2l of Coke for 12 Kc, 0,5l of Gambrinus for 17Kc, smazeny syr for 30 Kc.... come on - I
wanna live here!!!

Love is in the air even between the horses :-)

More horses...

More horses... :-)

The year 2007

2007-12-26T07:01:00.000-08:00

Okay, lets say that I gave up on writing about my USA round-trip... Maybe - but really maybe I will write something later, but for now, lets leave it like it is.

There are 5 days to the end of the year 2007 and I couldnt help but remember, what all happened during this year. I wont lie if I say, that it year brought most changes into my life ever...good or bad ones - hard to say yet.

The beginning of the year was rather difficult. I was ending my Bachelor studies and all I remember the whole January was studying studying, being really stressed out and studying again. I did 3 bachelor exams during this month - Obchodni podnikani (business studies), statistics and the state exam - international trade. Uff... I am getting a headache just thinking about it.. :)
I had a looot of luck - I am that honest :-) - and managed to finish everything and in February I became the Bachelor of Science :-)

Not much was happening from February till April - just that I started to think more about my future, what I want to do, and I was being a bit disappointed with where I was going to. I started to be more active - I took dance, swimming lessons - and decided to go to the US during the summer. Went to Amsterdam in February, was participating in International Week in Prague and went to Sweden at the end of April.

I think that going back to Sweden, I realised that I can really change my life if I dont like it the way it is and thats what I did.

Summer in the US was great. I met a lot of cool people, made a couple of good friends, learned useful things and traveled the US from East to the West. I was very pleasantly surprised by what US can offer to people. It was my first time being there after 10 years and it was just amazing. People were really nice - they give you so much positive energy; the beautiful nature and cities just take your breath...

After the US it was time to get back to the "real world" - for me it was back to school, moving to a new apartment in the city and finding a job...

It was hard getting back to school after such a great summer of just swimming, boating, travelling and basically having no worries.. I still have many exams in January, but I think I did so far ok.. Concerning school, I think I can always do better, but at least I have one success behind me and that is being the best team in presenting the strategy of repositioning of juice Jupi :-) We are now still waiting for the first "exciting" price and that is dinner with the marketing director of Kofola :-)) Just kidding... I think its a really cool price.. :-)

In August, I moved to an apartment with my friend Verca - which was a very positive step. I live now only 15 minutes from my uni, and its close to go anywhere... My room is still kind of empty, but I think that after I hang my pictures and get another carpet, it will look much better... The only negative thing about the apartment is the air.. Its really dusty here and since its in the centrum, the quality of the air is really bad...

And finally work. I was looking for some kind of a job for about 2 months. I was sending CVs to many places - although I knew that I wanted a "real job". No more short-term work, no more teaching English and no more folding files... This Friday, I found out that they chose me to ABN AMRO. I consider it as a success, because there were about 25 of us and they had only 2 places... I dont want to make any premature conclusions (I havent signed a contract yet), but a word and handshake is enough for me :-) The money should be good as well... I am not sure yet, but it should be ok :-)
For about 2 week, I have been working for Vodafone - which is a cool job as well. The work itself is quite boring - I am doing some reports - but I am working in a very nice environment and have cool men colleagues and got maaaany X-mas presents... (from Vodafone - really cool employer :-) )

So this was my year 2007. Moving 2 times, living in 4 different places for a period longer than 2 months, being single again after 3 years, becoming Bc, travelling a lot, having a "real job", my own budget and being really happy with myself... Very turbulent times, but I think the benefits are greater than the losses.

The funny thing is that you never know what happens next. Life itself brings you so many challenges and so many crossroads where you have to decide whats best for you.
The difficult thing is then to decide how you want to live - because you cannot choose two opposite things and you cannot rewind if you change your mind... Sometimes I wish I hadnt known my choices - things would be much easier :-) Staying with my former boyfriend, being satisfied with what I have and not wanting more. But I think that by wanting more and doing more for yourself, you position yourself at least a bit higher than you were before and thats always positive, even though not very easy...

So, to sum it up... Thank you whoever for such an amazing year!

More Yosemite photos

2007-10-19T13:59:00.000-07:00

And here is the promised "posing bear"

Be careful, this really happens

Half dome on the top-left

Yosemite

2007-10-19T13:25:00.000-07:00

I still havent given up on my blog... although updates dont happen very often, I am still trying and I am still writing :-)

So, San Francisco was the last, Yosemite was the second last - one of my favourites as well.

Its a national park about 3 hours drive from San Francisco, so you can imagine it gets very crowded during the weekend.. and thats exactly when we arrived.
Yosemite is a paradise for rock-climbers and women :-)) The rocks are perfect for rock-climbing, so people from all around the world come here to climb (women to look at the rock-climbers) ;)

As in every national park, you could spend weeks here, there is always something to do. We didnt have that much time, so took only a couple of trails. The longest we took was the "waterfall trail" - we saw two beautiful waterfalls while climbing pretty high. A reward after the first waterfall was a small lake with crystal clear cold water and a flat plateau where the water was just sliding down in a wide but shallow stream.

But when you come to Yosemite in the late summer, dont expect too many waterfalls. The biggest ones - Yosemite waterfalls were all dry. Luckily we didnt spend much hiking to the waterfalls, so the disappointment of looking at many rocks where you could see that something somewhere was a little darker (wet).

The biggest tour of Yosemite is the Half-dome tour. Its about 26km return hike, but you climb to the very top of Half-dome which is pretty amazing. The last few hundret of metres are made by ropes, where the terrain is so steep and smooth that there is no other way how to get there (see the picture) This time we didnt make it, but definitelly next time! ;)

Not to forget - Yosemite was the last park and the first bear we saw :-) It was eating some grass in the forrest near the highway not too much bothered by the photographing freaks surrounding it. It made a very nice pose of laying on the back and scratching its belly, though ;)

Flowers of SF

2007-10-06T08:47:00.000-07:00

There are flowers everywhere and I just couldnt help but taking photos...here are my favourites :-)

Ok, the above is not a flower... :-)

San Francisco photos

2007-10-06T05:29:00.000-07:00

Golden Gate bridge

one of the steep streets

Lombard street

biking the bridge

Pier 39 - sea lions

San Francisco

2007-10-06T04:49:00.000-07:00

I decided to describe the journey backwards.. why? Firstly - I hope I will remember the most recent things more than the ones that happened earlier. Secondly - San Francisco was my most favourite part of the journey.. Hopefully it wont be too confusing :-)

So....San Francisco...what to say..

After 3 and something weeks of traveling with 3 other Czech people, we separated our ways in SF. They drove back to New York to return our rental car (it is way cheaper if you rent and return at the same place) and I stayed in SF for almost 4 days..

The first highlight of my stay was a fact, that I absolutelly accidentally, not-intentionally met a friend I met about 3 months ago at a lifeguarding training... I was buying some bread at a local supermarket (somewhere in the streets - not even in the centre) and who do I see there...? I had even no idea that she was in San Francisco. After that we found out we were staying in the same hostel... was it just a coincidence?? I believe it was destiny!!
After that we spent days sightseeing and nights partying :-) :-)

San Francisco highlights

Cable-cars
The most famous public transportation of SF - cable cars - very convenient because of the hilly terrain. They look like from all the movies :-) Operated by one man who moves a strange stick. The other man is a ticket-man. I took a ride once (they cost USD5 for 1 ride...) and it was definitelly worth it. Even though I didnt want to at first it was just an unique experience. You have to hold yourself all the time, because the ride is not smooth at all and you are either going up the hill or down the hill.. Straight ways are not that common.

China town
My favourite part of the city was china town. You will definitelly know you entered it, because it seems like you entered a different world. Streets are FULL of chinese people, you dont hear any English, just Chinese. Signs on houses are written in chinese characters, only sometimes in English. There are very distinctive smells all over the streets, markets with fresh fruit/vegetables/meat (many exotic ones), chinese restaurants, shop with chinese groceries... My favourite part of the day was walking around, buying my favourite fruits that I havent eaten for a couple of years and eating a real chinese food that tastes like real chinese food (not the "Czech-chinese cuisine"...) and hearing Chinese and sometimes even speaking it.

The only thing that seemed worried me, was the fact, that some of the people that lived there dont really live in San Francisco. They speak very bad English (I wonder if some of them maybe dont speak English at all) and it just seems weird that after such a long time, their culture hadnt changed/adapted to the American at all..

All in all - San Francisco is a very beautiful city. Its very clean, streets are wide. Everytime you climb a hill you have a beautiful view. Houses are often painted white/or light colours and it gives the city a specific "light" athmosphere. Even though its quite a big city, there is a lot of green everywhere. Parks, flowers, trees all over, light wind from the ocean, beaufiul beaches (even though its not very good for swimming - I was even told you are not allowed to swim there because of the sharks and dangerous currents)
Its not very good for biking though. There are many bike-rentals all over the city that suggest that you bike through the Golden Gate Bridge, or just bike around. We did that (mistake!!)- I thought it will be a nice, easy bike around..but it was really exhausting.. Just imagine - up the hill, down the hill, up the hill... Ok, to be fair, biking through the bridge was nice, but the rest of the day was just full of pain.. :(

Yes, I am still alive

2007-09-13T11:03:00.000-07:00

For those of you who thought that I vanished from the world I have good news (hopefully).. I am still here.

For the past 3 and half weeks I have been traveling with 3 cool people around the US. I am in San Francisco now, the most west I will get on this journey. I will spend 4 days here and then I am headed to New York and after a day there I am going home.

I think I will try to write a couple of notes for every place we have been to.. so just to make a short list, we started in Bradford, New Hampshire on the 19th of August. Went mainly to National parks (for example: Rocky mountains, Arches, Grand Canyon, Death Valley, Sequoia, Yosemite, etc... ) did a lot of hiking, camping and especially driving. We drove all the way to the west coast, so that was about 6000 miles on our counter. Today my friends dropped me off in SF and I am on my own and on the internet after a veeery long time. And tonight will be the first time sleeping in a proper bed after a loong time (about 3 months with only 1 exception)

4 weeks of travels, many great experiences. Stay tuned for the Cross-American journey :)

Camp pictures

2007-08-18T11:58:00.001-07:00

Last day at camp, tomorrow we are leaving for Niagara Falls.

Waterfront

Two lifeguards - me and Ariel :)

Shopping gang...

Teddy

The next plans

2007-08-16T05:42:00.000-07:00

Last day of camp today, the campers are leaving tomorrow and after that there are three days for all the staff to clean and close the camp. I am quite happy that the camp is over but I know that I will miss it here.

Yesterday was a very nice day because I got to ride a horse after a quite long time and got to trot and post almost the right way for the first time. My horse was Teddy and for me the best one so far. It was definitely the nicest ride ever. After that we had a twilight boating which was very fun as well.

I dont know most of my traveling plans yet, but I bought a return flight from San Francisco to New York, where I will spend 2 days and then go back home. I should come to Prague on the 19th of September in the evening. But I still have 4 weeks of traveling ahead of me and am really excited about that.

Another weekend...

2007-07-28T17:13:00.000-07:00

water aerobics

This week went by fast. We got about 130 campers, that is the most we got so far. Therefore it was very busy. We had swimming lessons basically non-stop and on two days, we were guarding even after dinner. I would say that it was the worse week so far, maybe because it was so busy, maybe because I have been here for 5 weeks already and some things are getting annoying, maybe both.. :)

my home for 3 weeks

A great changed happened. I am no longer living in a tent. I was moved to a beautiful cabin for the following week and I am just sooo happy about it. 3 weeks in a tent were enough and I can just hope that after this week, I will stay in this nice cabin and not move anywhere :)

Yesterday we went shopping (for a change ;0) ) and today I decided to stay in camp. I organised all my laundry, watched a movie, cooked lunch, went swimming and now we will probably watch a movie again.

squirrel

Time is running really fast and I will be out of camp in 3 weeks. Excited on one side, sad on the other, but will try to enjoy and get best out of the remaining period.

One day adventure in Boston

2007-07-22T17:24:00.000-07:00

Our one day in Boston was great. We managed to see so much we couldnt even believe it... :)

First we went to the top of Predential tower - which is the tallest building in Boston - and had a spectacular view of the center. We went up to the 52nd floor and could see Boston from all four sides of the building. Although there are some skyscrapers in the middle of the city, most of the buildings were rather small. And there are plenty of green areas in the city as well.

Right after that we did a lot of walking. We went to some shopping streets, saw the famous "Cheers" bar where series Cheers were shot, saw the bay where Bostons Tea Party took place and rested in one of the parks. Ofcourse we did a lot of shopping as I finally bought a pair of really nice high-heel shoes :) (was looking for a pair for a couple of years...)

The highlight of the day was the whale-watching. Apparently, whales are now moving from the Carribian see back to the Greenland area and they go through Boston. We took a boat and were riding for about an hour until we saw the first whales. We were lucky to see many of them, and one was just next to our boat so we got a good look at it. We saw two species which names I unfortunatelly forgot - but what I didnt forget is that one of them has partly white tale.. On the way back we saw the most beautiful sunset ever. The sky was just orange and moon was over the skyline of Boston..

Now I am back in the camp, back in reality for the next 4 weeks as I realised and its a big shock.. From a big beautiful city to a place where nobody lives.. See you soon Boston :)

Boston - pictures

2007-07-22T16:46:00.000-07:00

On a whale-watching boat. View of Boston

Us :) Me, Magda and Monique

Skyscrapers

Whale

Bostons skyline as we were going back from the whale watching

Boston/ What a strange country

2007-07-20T18:46:00.001-07:00

This weekend I am in Boston. We arrived today with a bus full of children from last week session and on Sunday we are going back to Wabasso with new campers for next session. Meanwhile we are staying at a sister camp - Cedar Hill that is very close to Boston.

I feel really tired. I hope that I can rest for some time in Boston - rest from children, squirrels, sleeping in a tent, outside showers, lake...well... I really need to have some time off the camp :)

Boston looks like a very friendly city. Streets are small, nice and cosy, with 19th century houses that look like houses in Holland - tall and narrow with steps at the front. In the center of the city there are skyscrapers, but as I said, sort of friendly looking and you can see green everywhere. There is a big park in the middle. The city itself doesnt look so busy as New York. In should have only about 500.000 inhabitants, but with the suburbs should be around 3 mil.

Tomorrow we will spend the whole day walking around, taking a duck-tour, and shopping ofcourse :))

But I have to say I am a little surprised - or I dont know how else to put it - with the American people. Every person we had met so far is crazy in some way... but crazy meaning that you really notice that the person is strange and you are quite scared... another story with a taxi driver who stopped in the middle of the road because his phone was ringing even though there were cars driving behind him... Americans are strange...

Time management

2007-07-12T16:02:00.000-07:00

Its unbelievable how fast time flies here and how almost every minute of your day is planned... I try to use every spare time I have...

My typical day
Today I got up at 6:30 to go swimming till 7, breakfast at 8, 9:15 first swimming with kids till 11:15 and then we have time until 12:15 for lunch...
We usually use this time to do some more swimming or boating (as I did today). 1:30 is already next swimming with kids until 4:30 and then till 5 :30 boating.
At 6 is dinner already and at 7 (which is now :)) I am ready to use my two spare hours of the day to go horseback riding :) There I am until 9 and I have to be back at my unit - usually talking to "my girls" - that is my unit.
Well, and then just try to get my couple of hours of sleep in a tent and the same thing next day.. :)

Random photos

2007-07-06T10:28:00.000-07:00

New York

Me with a lifeguarding tube

Waterfront where we stay most of the day

Boating lake

First time riding - Me and Flying Dutchman :))

My birthday/ the first week at camp

2007-06-26T19:15:00.000-07:00

Today is a special day. First - its my birthday, second - its been a week since I came to the camp. I wont comment much on the first one, because I still have problems with actually saying the number of years I just turned... not that I would feel old or regret anything I had done in the past xx years, but the number itself just doesnt sound good.

How is the camp? Its really nice. We are - as I said before - in the middle of nowhere, in woods with two beautiful lakes. We sleep in wooden cabins, take a shower under the stars and are basically 24/7 outside which is great! There are squirrels and chipmonks running everywhere...its amazing.. We can even see loads of fish in the lakes... well...mosquitos as well unfortunatelly.. :( The campers havent come yet, so its been a lot of fun + learning in the past week. We did a lot of training about children behaviour, how to handle them, etc. which was very usefull - well I am really excited about Sunday when they come if I will recall all that we practiced and actually apply it on the campers. We also did a lot of games with other staff + other trainings like canoe training!! :))

Tomorrow will be our first day off, so we will all make ourselves nice (lets say that the priority here is not that much about the looks) and go to Concord (capital of NH) for shopping... I hope to see more of the US now.

I will try to write more + publish photos as soon as possible - its a battle to be on the computer here... :0)

First days in the US

2007-06-19T14:33:00.001-07:00

Here I am in the US!! I am somewhere near Boston waiting for dinner :) and later we are going to a camp for lifeguarding training.
I have just the best first impressions. As soon as I left Prague, I felt great - flying far far away to the unknown world, looking for new adventures. Even the trip in the plane was exciting. As we landed in New York I saw the skyscrapers townline and it was just beautiful.
New York is awesome... I didnt have much time to go out, but I was on the Broadway street, was ripped off by a taxi driver and was walking on the streets and looking high up on the skyscrapers. Its really a city that never sleeps.
Whats also funny is how all the people speak English ;) I know it sounds strange, but I am used to people using English only as a communication language. They normally have another native language... but here... they just speak English - so noone turns to his friend and says something you dont understand...
Well, thats about all that I can say right now. Ofcourse I slept for the past 2 days for only about 4 hours, my back hurts from carrying all my luggage around, but so far I am really happy that I did this.

Last minutes before leaving...

2007-06-17T23:56:00.000-07:00

My packing has come to an end. I ended up with 2 bags and a small one. The first plan was to take just one...but somehow everything is important to take. They are not that heavy though... not more than 20 kg together. I am leaving to the airport in about 30 minutes... what can I say... just love the stress of late packing :-)
How do I feel? More scared than excited actually (did I pack everything? where the hell am I going?) - but hopefully will get over it soon.
I dont know about my internet connection at the camp yet, but I will try to write at least something :-)
OK, lets go... Flying from Prague to London, London to New York, spend one day there, New York - Boston (bus!!!), lifeguarding training and finally Wabasso Camp, NH!

Night full of culture

2007-06-16T15:29:00.000-07:00

I just came back from a museum night, which is an event, where about 50 museums or similar objects are opened during the night, that is from 7 p.m. till 1 a.m., the entrance is free and there are many concerts and other events all around.

The night was beautiful. It was not too cold, not too hot - and we were walking around the center of Prague - and as I wrote before - it is still breathtaking, especially at night. We managed to see 4 museums and 1 concert. Museums were quite alright, one was an art museum - we saw some "sculptures" made of plastic bottles, next one was a painting exhibition, then a house built in cubist style and the last one was full of different objects (ritual weapons, jewellery,..) from all over the world (Tonga - for example...who knows where it is? ;-) )
The concert was also great - especially the atmoshpere. It was Gerschwin - some parts from Porgy and Bess at Valdstejnska zahrada. Too bad we didnt stay that long, because not all of our "museum crowd" (we were 4 girls) was much into classical music.. :-)

Well, not everything was great, especially the huge crowd of people cueing infront of almost every museum - which was the main reason why we didnt get to see all we wanted... But to sum it up, it was worth going :-)

2 days to go

2007-06-16T00:48:00.000-07:00

Today is Saturday and I am leaving on Monday morning already. I havent started packing yet so I am very nervous as I always leave everything for the last moment... I did start shopping, but most of my attempts to buy something are unsuccesfull... I tried about 100 pairs of shoes on yesterday, but none seemed to be suitable for what I need... well...of course it may be because I dont really know what I need :-))
I just know I will be somewhere in the middle of the forest, with two bordering lakes (or one lake and one pond) - probably spending most of my time at the lake but what if it rains? Or what about after I finish at the lake? Anyway, these are my biggest worries at the moment.. Hopefully I will be more lucky with shopping today and in the evening I am looking forward to the Museum night in Prague :-)

Ready to go!

2007-06-02T06:08:00.001-07:00

2 more weeks before flying to the US and I am already sooo excited! I searched through my parents library and found many maps, guide-books and photos - so now all I do is read, plan and realise that there are so many places I want to see and so little time.

I will be in the North-East, so I will be around cities like Boston, New York, Philadelphia, not too far from Niagara Falls. After that would be great to go and lay on a beach for a couple of days - who knows where :-) (Sweden last year was great - but water in the sea was way too cold) Well, we will see how it will end up.

Charming Prague

2007-05-25T11:48:00.000-07:00

Last night after my dance class I didnt feel like going home so I took a walk around the center of Prague. Its been too long since my last time in the city and I almost forgot how beautiful and charming Prague is. Although I have lived here all my life...was even born here... it always gets me. I find everytime a different place I havent been to, or a place I have been to so many times, but see something new I havent noticed before.

It was just around 8 or 9 p.m. , the sky had this beautiful color of sunset, last rays of sun were touching the highest building, the air was warm... yeah...pretty romantic :-)

Before I went home I stopped at Narodni Trida to buy a pancake (the best pancakes in Prague). Definitelly a thing to try if you havent already.

Bedna (The Box )

2007-05-21T13:17:00.000-07:00

Whats going on? Not much... I am almost done with my exams for this semester, trying to find a job or internship for next semester and enjoying the warm days in the past few weeks.

Last weekend was a fun night with a game called Bedna (Box is my personal translation - maybe not that exact - because in Czech it means not only a box as a box of paper, but brain - like a smart person)

The point of this game is to get to the finish line through many standpoints where you have to solve a riddle (or sort of a code). And you cant get to the next standpoint until you solve the previous one.. :-) (The solution tells you where to go) It wasnt that easy. Some of them were ok, but some of them hell difficult.. We were in a team of 5, going through different parts of Prague - some of them I have never been to before - and the fun part was that most of the time we were walking during the night. We started at 6p.m. and I was the first one to leave at 5a.m.

Crazy Uppsala Valborg celebration

2007-05-02T13:28:00.000-07:00

Even though it was just for 4 days, it was enough to remember the good times in Uppsala. I did all my little things on the list - bought a 1 kilo of meatballs, rode on a bike, went to Stockholm and partied quite a bit.. well..not all was according to the plan but overall it was good :-)

Good thing is that nothing changed in Uppsala. It felt like home again and I could imagine myself staying for another year or so... just unpack in my old room, get my old bike and go to uni the next day...

First day was Uppsala day - walking around the city (yeah...no bike :( ) and in the evening a Flogsta pre-party at Laras place. Pre-parties were always great in the old Uppsala times, and this one was no difference - a small one - but it was really nice to see Lara and her friends...

The second day was a classic hanging-out in Stockholm. Finally I went to the Riksdag (Parliament) for a one hour tour and again realised how nice the Swedish people are. I think you apprecite it after a Czech - mainly Prague - experience with the "not so friendly" people - if you have been here - you know what I am talking about.

Sunday all the rest of my friends came and there was another relaxing day in Uppsala. Bruch at V-Dala nation, watching the boats that were prepared for Valborg (some of them veeery interesting lets say :-) ) and actually having an adrenalin experience :-) Climbing crates (?) All was finished by a nice barbeque and a game of Carccassone in the evening :-)

Valborg...what to say...I just saw my photos and was surprised how many I took and that I dont remember half of them - but that is just a classic Valborg.
In the morning we went to watch the boat race, I skipped the champaigne breakfast, but didnt miss to be quite drunk by midday. Picnic at Ekonomikum park right after the race and then walking home and sleeping for a couple of hours. I skipped the champaigne gallop, because I remembered it from last year and honestly one time was enough...even better - I still had a lot of energy to party on the roof of Flogsta - building nr. 9 until midnight, watching firework, singing, drinking again and finishing at 3 oclock at a regular Flogsta corridor party.

The few days were gone quite fast, but I was happy that I did it. It was great seeing my friends, Uppsala and remembering all that I loved about this stay.

At the airport I exchanged all my money except for 100 SEK - that was the same amount I had from last year...so maybe I am coming back? Not in the near future - but you never know :-) Lets say that I just didnt want to say goodbye to Sweden completely...

More photos here.

Invitation - LL Project

2007-04-25T01:24:00.000-07:00

For almost a year now I have been going to dance classes of "Street funk". Its really great so far. Although you can rarely say that about something you are not good at - but surprisingly - I still enjoy it!

These classes are lectured by Qasa. I think most people heard of her - she is a Czech Icon - great choreographer, dancer, and teacher- e.g. prepared the Superstar (American Idol) and many other...

Last month I saw a video of her new project - LL project - with her sister DJ Luca and I have to say I have never seen anything so capturing. Good example of a fact that music is universal (any music) and you can dance whatever you wish to it..even ballet...I wont say anything more, just watch the video :-)

part2
part3

Anyway, this project will be performed one more time on the 10th of June 2007 in Prague - so I am sure not to miss it.

RESPECT! "Nekdo umi a nekdo cumi"

New Hampshire this summer!

2007-04-24T01:21:00.000-07:00

Hej everyone,

I just got a confirmation that I will be in the US this summer- New Hampshire. For those like me who just knew that its somewhere north on the east coast I enclose a map :-) Its actually quite close to the Canadian border :-)

So what will I do there? I signed up for this program called Camp Councelors, where you work two to three months somewhere in the US in a camp. You can do different things - work at the kitchen, office, toilets :-) or with children. So I decided to go with children :-) since I think it is a cool experience. And not only that, I will be a lifeguard - teaching them swimming and boating.

Looking forward!

Look at the top right and its a green little pizza slice with N.H.

International Week

2007-04-19T07:48:00.000-07:00

This week is quite busy, not only because of my weekly presentations for uni that I am slowly getting used to, but because there is International week!

IW is great! So what is it about? Around 20 people from all over the world (this year there is India, China, Israel, Estonia, etc.) come to Prague and discover the city, culture, night clubs. All in all to have fun.
On the other side there is us - the organisation team. We accomodate them, guide them and have fun with them :-)

And the best thing about it, is that if you help with the organisation or accomodate someone, you can go abroad to other International Week that is held somewhere else, generally all over the world.

Here are some photos from the past few days :-)

At the welcome dinner with Marta and Kuba

You have to look closely, but Martin Jahn is in the middle - and I am as red as a tomato after I asked him to take a picture with us :-)

Spring in Prague

2007-03-27T00:35:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was one of the most beautiful days in a long time. Spring is finally coming after such a long winter :-) It was warm enough to wear a T-shirt! So I decided to take our 9 month old "puppy" - Arinka for a walk in the area where I live. Here are some pictures.

Oh and not to forget. One of the reasons I took Arinka for a walk was to try my new camera - that is exactly 1 week old now (sort of a baby as well). After a really long research I bought a Sony DSC - H5. A really nice toy - a compact though but at least not too heavy for carrying around. I hope its an upgrade over my old Olympus...its definitelly more "fun" to shoot, but what about the quality of the pictures?? We will see :-)

This is Arinka 8 months ago (7 weeks old). I think she could have stayed like this.

This is our Arinka now (9 months) She grew up didnt she... :(

The photos just reminded me of a recent talk with Aksel. He said that Czech people like animals more than people. Is it possible that he is right? This is definitelly a good topic to think about... :-)

Uppsala flashback - Valborg 2007

2007-03-26T00:50:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone,

here I am after a long long time of promises of making my own web. I actually made one (here) but I didnt make it to the point where I would be quite satisfied with it, so its still in a process of developing (I have to do some outsourcing :-) ) Meanwhile I decided to write at least here!

So whats up? The biggest news is that I am going to Uppsala for Valborg! Yes, I broke my piggybank, bought an expensive ticket, overcame my fear of flights and will be there from Thursday 26 April to Tuesday 1 May.

I am so excited to go back. I never thought that I can have so many positive feelings about Uppsala. I keep remembering the small things like:

Riding my bike to Ekonomikum early in the morning with a cool breeze and warm sunshine (or snow :-) )
Actually riding it almost all the time - the funny returns from Varmlands Friday party in the middle of the night
Eating meatballs with lingonberry jam (from a frozen 1kg bag)
Buying Euroshopper brands and checking ICAs newsletter every Monday for weekly discounts
A weekly lunch with Masha
Dinners at Emma/Annes place
Hagahogen walks with Pablo, Inga
Pre-parties at Flogsta
10 oclock Flogsta scream
Decorating my room with maps and postcards, taking furniture from other buildings
Boat-cruise to Helsinki, Tallin, Aland
Cabin at the lake
Shopping in Stockholm
Oh and the Swedish course!

There are so many memories. I really hope to refresh them as I come back (only 4 weeks from now) and I to see all of the people that made these memories so memorable! :-)

Photos

2006-08-17T00:24:00.000-07:00

Link to my photo page...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/87379226@N00/