Hiking the Czech Switzerland National Park

Hi there!

Last weekend I went on another NYU day trip, on a hike at the Bohemian Switzerland National Park. The park was absolutely gorgeous. I had a minor mishap and started the trek with an asthma attack, but after that the rest of the day was great. We hiked around 14 miles total, and we saw the top of the mountain as well as the river at the bottom of the gorges. We got to take a boat ride towards the end which was a much needed break. I didn't realize how amazing it would feel to be surrounded by nature after being in the city for so long! Not much else to say; the pictures say it all :)

xo, Sophie 

Liberec, Czech Republic + Dresden, Germany

 

 

Hi there!

A few weeks ago I went on my NYU-sponsored trip to Liberec, Czech Republic and Dresden, Germany. Here's what I got up to:

Since this trip was organized by NYU, everything was planned and paid for beforehand, which was a really nice break compared to the hectic-ness of my other trips.  We started by taking a bus to a glass blowing factory near Liberec, where we got to see how the process works. From there, we went to a super random mountain and went bobsledding, which was initially terrifying and then super fun. It was a lot cheaper than the RA's who were with us thought it would be, so we all ended up going about 4 times! After bobsledding, we went to a mountain where the Liberec TV tower is, and we rode the cable car to the top. The views were absolutely incredible. We could see the entire city as well as the snowy countryside. We got a tour of the TV tower, which weirdly doubles as a hotel, and then took the bus back to our hotel in the city. 

Our hotel was right next to Town Hall, which is absolutely incredible looking. We went to dinner with all of the students and RA's, and NYU gave us around $16 to spend, which in Liberec is a TON of money for food! The restaurant was actually really good (I wish I could remember the name) and after that some of the students went out, but Avi and I were so exhausted that we crashed back at the hotel. It was so nice staying in an actual hotel, rather than a hostel! 

The next day, we had breakfast at the hotel before getting on the bus and heading to Dresden. I wasn't expecting to love Dresden as much as I did. We started by getting a tour of all of the main attractions in the Old Town, which includes the Zwinger museum, the Opera house, the Procession of Princes, churches, etc. After the tour, we were given a couple of hours to explore on our own. Avi and I crossed the bridge into the newer area of the city, and walked around a beautiful shopping area filled with flowers. We ended up at a small pub place in a hostel for lunch, which was surprisingly amazing! We went from there to a passageway called Kunthsofpassage, which is filled with multi-colored buildings with artwork. It has this famous building that is bright blue and plays music when it rains. The surrounding area had really cool graffiti and buildings. The RA's had given us tickets to Zwinger, so we went back to where we started and walked around the porcelain collection for a bit. Around 6pm, we got back on the bus to head back to Prague. It was only a two hour bus ride; I was shocked we got home so quickly! This was definitely one of my favorite trips so far. 

xo, Sophie

My First Week at NYU Prague

The view from my dorm (Machova)

NYU Prague campus

At the ballet

Prague Castle!

The Jewish Quarter

Kafka statue

Hello again!

I have awaked this blog from the dead to document my adventures as I study abroad in Prague! I don't use this blog as much as my YouTube channel anymore, but I wanted a place for my family (those who don't use Facebook) to see what I am up to, as well as a place for all of my memories so that I can look back on them in the future. What an original blog concept! 

I have now been in Prague a little over a week, and the first week was one of the busiest of my life. The traveling process itself took about 24 hours from NYC, and I still haven't fixed my jetlag issue. But so far I have really been impressed with the way NYU has laid out the program for us, as well as with the city itself. There have been a lot of NYU sponsored events since we arrived, such as going to the ballet (or oprah or philharmonic, etc.), and tours throughout the city. I chose to go on tours of the Prague Castle and the Jewish Quarter, both of which were amazing. Throughout the week, we also had 9 hours (3 hours a day for 3 days) of intensive Czech class, and 8 hours (2 hours a day for 4 days) of Czech history. Those days felt quite long and intense, but they were definitely helpful in the end as I have a much better grasp of the culture here now. 

We also went out to eat a lot last week, including going to a couple of traditional Czech restaurants. The food here is super heavy; even the locals say that they cannot eat it every day, so that has definitely been a bit of a struggle. Buying groceries is also quite difficult (turns out cow's milk and goat's milk are both pretty standard here). I have gone out to some really nice restaurants though, and they are super affordable with the conversion rate. We have found some good Mexican and Italian places, as well as a super cool (and probably really tourist-y) bar called Anonymous (based on V for Vendetta and the hackers). The bar has multiple secret menus and many of the drinks come with weird souvenirs or experiences. It was pretty gimmicky, but actually an overall fun experience and I would definitely go back just to see what weird things some of the drinks come with.   

Living in this city is so different from NYC (obviously), but it still doesn't feel too foreign which is nice. The main difference is the noise. Pretty sure NYC is one of the noisiest cities in existence, both from people and cars/ambulances, but Prague is the exact opposite. It is so quite here all the time, and I have probably heard 2 sirens since being here. There are even quiet hours that last I think from 10pm to 6am and are an actual law, so you have to be quiet during that time. I've never slept so well! 

I get a lot of questions about studying abroad through NYU from you guys over on my YouTube channel, so if you are one of the people looking for some answers on that this paragraph is for you. If you don't already know, when you study abroad with NYU you don't have to apply to a random European university like you do with many other colleges. Every study abroad site is through NYU. There are NYU dorms, NYU professors, and NYU classes. It is all very easy and they baby you quite a bit through the process. The dorms here are super nice. We live in suites with bathrooms, kitchens, and suitemates,  and there is also a cleaning service that comes three times a week. Courses are taken in two different buildings, both just steps from the Old Town Square, which is basically the center of tourism in Prague. The dorms are a quick subway ride away, and the commute is pretty pleasant. I will be putting up a "day in the life of an NYU student: study abroad edition" video this week, so if you have any questions about the program, feel free to leave them in the comments there, as it is an easy place for me to respond!

Hopefully I will still be able to document my experiences once classes start. I really am just keeping this as a memory for myself, so I will try to be consistent with posts!

xo, Sophie