Work, work, work, work, work, work June 7/8

Tuesday and Wednesday were traditional days at the office. Like I may have mentioned, this week is going to be just general training, safety training, getting settled in the lab, learning new machines, and then reading scientific articles related to the subject my internship is on. So there really isn’t much to report on the work front yet. I have been going out to lunch a couple days with some of my co-workers. Thankfully they know Polish and English and were able to help me understand some of the menu enough to order something. The place we go is a few minutes walk away from our lab, and the restaurant has a new menu each day. I was surprised at how inexpensive the lunches translate in USD to ~ $3-4 but it is a full plate of very good food! The meal is so large that even when I was very hungry for lunch it just isn’t possible for me to completely finish my plate! But these lunches have been a really fun time to get to know some of the other women I work with outside of the lab. On the second day we had lunch together, we mostly talked about Minnesota :D Ha, I told them I was from MN the day before and their response was, “wow, its cold there, isn’t it?” ha that’s MN for you, we are known even abroad as being cold! My coworkers seemed to have gone home and researched about MN and were eager to discuss the things that they found! The fun facts that they found out were that MN is ranked one of the healthiest states in the US; MN is actually pretty cold, colder than it gets in Poland; MN has a lot of nature with a lot of lakes and parks. It was really interesting to hear the facts that they found interesting about MN and learn more about Poland and my coworkers. 

Poland has very good public transit; however, if you take the transit during “rush hour” you will have a Bursley Baits experience! So, because the weather has been absolutely beautiful, I decided to explore the route to walk home. The first time I did the walk it took me about 40-45 minutes, but even by the second time, I could walk in 30-35 minutes. To me, this is a perfect way to end my day or even begin my day (I walked to work Friday morning since it was scheduled to rain from 10-4pm). My walk back is essentially straight through two large park areas. One is directly across the street from my dorm, so I am looking forward to being able to chill in this park after work this summer. 

There is nothing like enjoying an extremely bizarre sleep schedule because of video calling the US at 3 or 4am Warsaw time in order to get everyone from the East to West Coasts on the call after work! Thankfully I was able to go to bed extra early before the calls; wake up for the call; and then go back to bed shortly after the calls for a little bit before work. I’m also lucky that my lab most people don’t arrive until 9:30 or later, so I just have to leave my place by 9am and I should be able to get to work by ~9:30-40am. 

Incase you didn’t know, bringing an eye mask is an absolute must if you visit Warsaw in the summer. Right now, the sunrise is ~4am and sunset is after 9pm. Which means I can get plenty of sunshine during my day (which I love), but I also get plenty of sunshine in my night, so … it’s nearly impossible to sleep through the night for me because the room gets so bright by 4am. This also means I have beautiful views of the sunrise by the time I get off my video calls which makes being up in the middle of the “night” slightly less bad. 

On Tuesday evening, I even went to a restaurant by myself for the first time and actually was able to get a meal when everything was in Polish (the cashier may have spoken English though). Still I had a nice dinner and found a place near my dorm that has good food at an inexpensive price, even for Polish standards (only 12.6PLN)! I’m excited to continue to explore around Poland and Europe because even places with inexpensive food can be very good meals :) 

The Internship Begins! - June 6

Today is the day I've been anticipating for over a year; my first day of my internship abroad. Like every time we move, one of the most challenging tasks, in my opinion, is finding your way in a new city. This is especially true when you're in a new city that you don't know the local language. Again, I am glad the first day I had the help of an IAESTE representative to walk me to the office in one piece :)

While public transportation (busses, trams and metro-subway) is extremely efficient and helpful, everything is in Polish (with the exception with the metro stops an announcement speaks in Polish and repeats in English). We took the tram to work, so I quietly accepted not understanding any of the signs and announcements, hoping nothing important was there...

I'm working with the Biogroup, a Materials Science and Engineering division of Politechnika Warszawska, at their IPPT PAN lab/office. During my internship I will be working with a Ph.D student who is working with hydrogels and polymers for bone tissue scaffolding applications. My first week will largely be continuing to read up on processes and doing safety training with the lab and the specific equipment I will be operating during my internship. The lab has a mixture of people from Poland, other European countries, and a few exceptions (like myself). You can tell when someone is a foreigner (not from Poland) because that is when you hear English! English has quickly become the language of business which extends to academic research. According to a friend in Poland, over recent years, it [learning English well] has become a necessity if you want a decent job, especially as an engineer.

On the afternoon of my first day, I had my first meeting with the Professor in charge of the lab. Unfortunately his office is in the Faculty building which is about a 20-30 minute walk form the IPPT lab. Luckily a graduate student in my lab was willing to walk me over there so I won't get lost. The one problem with meeting the Professor was having to navigate home from a different place than I was shown that morning! Thankfully my trip really wasn't that bad, I just had to use the tram and metro from this point.

That evening, I again met with IAESTE so we could get me city card set up so I could have full access to transit without having to purchase a ticket every time I boarded. Many people that work in administrative offices (for my dorm and transit office) don't appear to speak much English, so I am very thankful to have people that are here to help me navigate. One of my roommates was even nice enough to go on a trip to the store to get a bath towel and other things I didn't want to bring with me. I didn't realize how difficult it would be to find a bath/swim towel in the stores around our dorm! We literally went to four stores in search of a towel with no avail. Luckily my roommate wasn't annoyed and she thought of one last place--> a small mall near us that may have a towel in their larger supermarket vs. having to go to the city center. She was right! I'm so thankful to have people around me that have been so willing to help me get settled and navigate my way in Warsaw <3

Your Flight has been Canceled... June 5

Hello,

A word to the wise- you may not get notified when your flight is canceled when flying within Europe. After all, as I arrived in the Prague airport about an hour and 45 minutes prior to "departure", I was greeted by the billboard listing all flights departing in the next few hours and saw the word "CANCELED" in bold following my flight number. Oh I bet you can imagine the emotions that settled as I read the last word, knowing my internship began the following morning! Luckily, as I went to the ticket counter and was directed to the customer service area I was able to be rescheduled a later flight that evening. Unfortunately for me, this meant that I spent the next ~7 hrs in the airport instead of exploring Prague or getting settled in Warsaw. :(

Photo following our last breakfast together with my wonderful exploring buddy 

Even though my day took a wrong turn, I was still able to be productive. Because of the delay, I was able to go through all my Prague pictures, edit them, and upload some of the better ones to Facebook. I almost finished doing the same for my India photos as well (I have one more day--Taj where I got a little photo happy so it may take a bit still). Thankfully with the flight delay, I was given a food voucher so I didn't have to worry about the fact I left the lunch I packed in Anna's backpack and gave her all my left over koruna before leaving.

Lunch and Dinner rations 

Boarding our tiny plane

"Flat" landing wheels... reassuring (or should it have been?)

The tiny plane :)

Since sleep is generally overrated when traveling with limited time, I was thankful for the 1.5 hr nap on my flight which helped me make it to Warsaw with some energy left. As I got to the Warsaw airport, I was welcomed by IAESTE (the placement company that matched me and found accommodations during my internship). They helped me navigate the public transportation to check-into my dorm; exchange money; get some groceries and settle in knowing I'd meet someone else in the morning to help me get to my first day of work.

Right now, I'm extremely impressed by the dorm I'm in. I'm comparing it to Bursely, so maybe that isn't extremely high comparison standards, but the dorm is very nice. I'd describe my place as suite style living. There are two dorms with three beds that are connected through a middle area with a fridge/freezer, little kitchen, cupbords, table, and bathroom area with a shower, toilet, and four different sink areas. Each of the rooms have SOO much room for the beds, closets, storage shelves and three full desks and chairs. Politechnika Warszawska (Warsaw University of Technology) is still in their regular semester, so I have two roommates (one from southern Poland and one from Russia). I believe most students have about one more week of classes and then the last two weeks of June are final exams. Students then have July and August for vacation; there is a re-take period of a week or two to re-do any class that were failed in the beginning of September and then again a week or two of vacation before term begins in October. Back to the Bursley comparison, my dorm in Warsaw is also right across the street from the metro stop, within about 2-3 blocks from a tram stop and bus stop, and I have free access to a gym next door! 

Prague Castle District - June 4

Hi All,

Today was a day for the Royals ;) Anna and I spent basically the entire day at up in the Prague Castle District area of town. We started our morning off with breakfast at a cafe down the street from the meeting place for the Royal Walk Castle Tour, enjoying the sunshine. That is, we were enjoying the sunshine until Anna got shit on by a pigeon! haha so she had a little bit of a rough morning. Thankfully we had both finished eating by this point and Anna had some really good coffee at the cafe. 

Our castle tour was 11-2pm and then we stayed up there for about another hour or so enjoying the beautiful views from one of the highest points that overlooks the town before heading to Lesser town for the rest of the day. Fun fact, while its called Prague Castle, its really a district comprising of over 70,000 m2 of land and royal buildings. Our journey to the castle started with a short tram ride up to one of the highest places and then we essentially went downhill (geographically of course) from there the rest of the tour. So a few phrases from our guide that made me chuckle as we traveled, "Gotta use the Zebra" (the crosswalk) and "Don't get killed, we have a zero death policy. Bad for Trip Advisor if someone gets killed!" lol the truth of this last statement just makes it more funny in my opinion. 

A few notes from our castle tour and guide that I'll pass on to any future Prague travelers. The Strahov Monastery has a lot of interesting history and is worth learning about by doing a tour with a guide that shows you around the entire castle district, but you have to usually pay separately to enter and its not cheap, plus you can barely go in. It was described as basically you pay to stand at the entrance and look in. Better option is to google for images of the beauty, plus half the books aren’t in view of the area because they are in the treasury and you can’t get near the books as a visitor. We didn’t purchase any extra tickets to view anything additional while on the castle but we were still able to see a great deal from the exterior and St. Vitus Cathedral we were able to walk into part of without purchasing a ticket. Surprisingly, this cathedral took over 600 years from start to finish, contains the 4th largest bell in Europe (in the bell tower), and is one of the largest examples of gothic style churches and the one of the largest Catholic Cathedral ever. One of the main architects took a lot of his inspiration from Norte Dame and contains the classic gargoyles as water spouts on the pillars. Also, according to our guide the food is mostly overpriced and the restaurants aren’t very good. For this reason, Anna and I simply went into Lesser town at the base of the castle district and eat down there. 

Stairs down to town

A view of the streets of Lesser Town

Some fun stories from the tour include:

Matters Gate which depicts an inscription that can be translated to “Matthias, King of Bohemia, [years], asshole.” For this king was not known to be the best to his people. He commissioned Spanish workers to create this gate and refused to give extra money or time beyond the initial quote. Therefore, the workers got their little bit of revenge by spelling the Spanish “ano” (meaning ass) not “año” (year in Spanish), nor Czech “anno” meaning year. The workers were able to claim the second ’n’ just didn’t fit when later asked why they misspelled the word, but it sounds like it was probably purposeful since there was a reason for it to be. 

Funny examples of how relaxed “security” is around Czech monuments and President. The funny story is about a political activist that decided to protest President Zeman by replacing the President Flag in the courtyard of Prague Castle with a giant pair of red boxers that flapped away up there for hours. It took around 5 hours before someone from security felt like taking them down! If this doesn’t show how relaxed the government guards are, then let me share the fact that the President works daily in a building that tourists are allowed to walk completely around (and maybe even go in, didn’t check it out), without going through ANY security! If you want to see something even more shocking, google “Czech President Klaus shot” (it was plastic bullets, but still surprising that not only was no action by the “bodyguards” but no punishment or fine was imposed after this demonstration. A little about politics and why many of the people of Czech don’t like Zeman may be because there is such things as the “Zeman flu” that workers now use as a reason to call in “sick” to work when they are so drunk that by the next morning they may be more drunk than hangover since you’re staggering around still the next morning. This term came about following Zeman’s inauguration when he was drunk (papers called it the “flu” the next morning); its on youtube though, so feel free to make your own judgement. 

The Prague Castle District also holds the world’s 2nd largest toy museum, which holds the largest collection of barbies apparently. In order to “Celebrate Youth” the artist in charge of decorating the area added a statue of a young naked man. From the states where this does not exist, I find the irony of the statue standing literally outside of the toy museum entertaining. (viewer discretion advised—> the communist regime deemed the statue too vulgar) 

As Anna and I wondered around for a dinner destination we were once again gifted with some wonderful views of Charles bridge and got up close and personal with swans that were being fed along the river. This was probably my favorite part of a statue on the Charles bridge because the shining part of the statue (part passers by like the most) is the dog. 

Holy Shit! -How it began, June 3

Today began with a struggle. Apparently I was more tired than I realized. I think it was about 9pm last night but I couldn't get up until about 9am. Even so I felt like I was walking half-asleep and barely able to keep my eyes open. I guess walking over 20,000 steps and not sleeping much in the past over 48 hours does that? Oh well. Anyways, back to the day!

First stop= cafe for breakfast before our walking tour. I spotted a coffee shop through the window as we got off the tram, so we headed there. It was called Kavarna Creperie and was AMAZING! Even if 80s-90s music playing in the background (complete with Madonna music videos) isn't your thing, the food was so delicious and cheap. I shared this beautiful breakfast tower with Anna and had a Dark Hot Chocolate. My drink was so amazing, it was like hot fudge! So rich it reminded me of four year in Madrid (Chocolateria San Gines) where the drinking chocolate was so dark and thick that it was used to dip gyros mostly and only a few brave souls in our group (me of course) drank some of it as well (it was heavenly, but too filling to actually drink a cup).

Then we went on our free walking tour with Royal Walk Free Tours. This FREE walking tour is a MUST for anyone wanting to get your barrings and learn some keys to the city at the beginning of your trip. It was 2.5 hours but it didn't feel that long because we would stop every now and then to learn about the various sights we passed. Our guide was Dora and she was AMAZING, highly recommend! After all, you're all about to hear a few of my favorite tid-bits from our learnings today (sorry to any future travelers if this ruins the story if they are reused).

Stories from tour:
I'll preface with this: If you plan on getting in a disagreement with a Czech, do it on the GROUND-floor! Why you ask? Well, the Czechs have a habit of solving disagreements by throwing the one that disagrees out the nearest window. In one legend, Czechs went into a castle and demanded that the priests free the Czech sympathizers. Unsurprisingly they ignored this demand. Unluckily for them, the Czechs were adamant and took their revenge by throwing them out the window. As the story goes, they survived do to the fact that they landing on a pile of, you guessed it, manure! Perhaps this was indeed where the saying "Holy Shit" came from after all! And if you do decide to get in a fight with a Czech not on the ground floor, please stay away from windows. Luckily, most pubs and clubs are underground here...

Next off we ended up at Prague Academy of Music where our guide had an interesting story regarding the removal of one of the statues on the roof. Well apparently during the Nazi occupation, men were ordered to the top of the hall to eliminate the statue of Mendelssohn (famous Jewish composer). Nazi sympathizers being as they were, it wasn't until they got to the roof that they realized that neither of them knew what Mendelssohn looked like! So they devised a clever plan--they would simply measure the noses of all the statues and the one with the largest nose HAD to be Mendelssohn (because everyone knows what a Jew-nose is, right). Anyways, long story short, there is now a book called "Mendelssohn is on the Roof" because he still is (the men threw off the wrong statue). I guess they should have known better, stereotypes only work so well, especially when there are other men known for having large noses up there too!

I feel like "Fair Price" is more concerning than comforting...

Because I don't want to bore you with another story, lets just say the legend of Golem may in fact be true. On the side of the Old New Synagogue (there is a story behind the seemingly odd name), the first 3 meters of latter leading to the attic were removed. Legend has it, Golem is up in the attic and thankfully we can no longer get up to the attic (a Nazi was supposedly stabbed by Golem at the base of the latter as he was about to come up and get rid of Golem, if he was up there, thus when the Nazi's friends found him the next morning, the bottom of the latter was removed).

Path to the attic is no longer complete

Last advice about food- on Dlouha Street (when reading the sign the D looks like an O), the restaurant Lokal is a good choice, even for locals. Anna and I actually went here for lunch and it was very good. Just a heads up though, the menu changes daily so if you go for a late lunch, be warned that some of the specials and other appetizing dishes may no longer be available. And any time your going to a new place to eat, check the price of beer. As our guide said, "The Czechs love their beer, so it should always be cheaper than water. If the price of a 0.5L beer is between 20-45 czd then its legit, otherwise you're getting ripped off." So far I have found this to be true. But when going to mini-marts you can buy 1.5L bottled water for 30-60 czd (significantly cheaper than at a dinning facility).

After this wonderful tour Anna and I explored Old Town and the Jewish Quarters again for a while by ourselves. The Old Jewish Cemetery is actually pretty creepy. This was the only cemetery for the Jews of Prague between the 15th and 18th centuries and unsurprisingly quickly ran out of space as diseases spread (the Jewish Quarters were once even lower than currently and Prague is very susceptible to flooding). Here you will find ~12,000 tombstones, and an estimated 100,000 people buried (don't worry, you read these numbers correctly). In some areas graves were not only dug deeper, but body may be as much as 12 layers deep; plus the ground of the graves is small hills (above surrounding ground).

I spy a ghost for you as well (yep, it has no face). 

The two main synagogues that we entered today were the Pinkas Synagogue and the Spanish Synagogue. Pinkas has two permanent exhibits in remembrance of the Holocaust. The first exhibit contains 77,297 names and corresponding birth and death dates of Bohemian and Moravian Jews that perished in the Holocaust. The second exhibit was a collection of artwork from children in a "transition home" before they were sent to Auschwitz (though nobody there new this). The artwork reflected much of what it was like to live in a Jewish Ghetto in the Nazi occupation; but it also reflected many happy things that either still occurred during this time, or simply wonderful memories these children still thought of while they were experiencing a horrible present condition. Oh and this art project of teaching art to the children at the camp was a hidden task and one that wasn't discovered during the Nazi era. The woman who taught the children ended up voluntarily going to Auschwitz herself when the Nazis came for her Jewish husband; while her husband was able to survive the camp, she died within a month.

While Pinkas was breathtakingly moving, the Spanish Synagogue was breathtakingly decorated. The Spanish had style, is all I can say! Some people say if all churches in the US looked like the cathedrals do in Europe, then maybe they would go to church more. I guess I can understand when I compare our simple Hillel to the Spanish Synagogue.

That basically sums up most of the cool sites we saw today. So I'll leave you will anticipation of stories from the Prague Castle Tour we plan on going on tomorrow morning.

Prague Day 1- Thursday, June 2

Hello Everyone,

Today was my first day in Prague. After dropping my things off at the hostel I explored the city for a little while. The architecture is very beautiful, you can see the different eras through the architectural influences alone. In the afternoon it was beautiful weather-- around 75F with a mix of sun and clouds. Perfect to enjoy learning the city, getting currency exchanged, and having lunch. I decided to take advantage of the inexpensive market and get fresh strawberries and a sandwich for only ~$3 USD! On my walk back towards the hostel I found a park so I decided to enjoy my lunch their because it was so nice out in the sunshine!

Once I got back to the hostel I was so dead. I guess getting two-ish hours of sleep before you fly and then hardly being able to fall asleep on the flights, eventually catches up with you! Since it was still before 3pm, I couldn't get my room key yet, so I decided to go for the cushioned window seat with a pillow and perch myself in the corner. Ha, this quickly ended up with me passing out in the lobby of the hostel! Luckily this was enough for me to have some energy again to go out and explore when Anna arrived.

Mildly disturbing burned biked . . . 

Our first night we took a tram to St. Charles Bridge to explore from there. Geoff was kind enough to forward me a list of tank breweries that were good in Prague from when he was here last year. Tonight we chose Malostranska Pivnice since its right next to the bridge. Both Anna and I tried the recommended Kozel Dark. It was definitely better than my opinion of the beers I've had a taste of in US, but I'm really not a beer person, so I probably won't get it again. I did have the Goulash here and it was very good. Highly recommend!

On our way back towards the tram we ran into this little wine tasting market. It was the cutest thing! I wish we had seen it before we had gone for dinner, because we could have eaten here tonight! Anyways, we did wine here and the Moscato I had was pretty good :) Not a bad way to end our first day in Prague before turning in for an early night!

Journey to Europe! June 1

Hello Again!

After about a week in the states (split between my hoMes MI and MN), I'm off abroad again. This time the destination is Prague, Czech Republic (after a quick stop in Toronto, Canada). 

Note to future self—> packing for 10 weeks the night before tends to be a “bad idea.” The result of this decision included potentially overpacking and very little sleep, more of a nap, before heading to the airport. The sleep deprivation (and beautiful sunny weather) may also result in you setting your sweatshirt on the railing at home and not realizing that you don't have it until you board your plane. All in all, after saying “Goodby” to my dad and furry sister, mom took me to the airport before work. Enjoy the obligatory pre-departure airport photo!

Once at the gate in MSP I had a very scary beginning to my travels. The announcement overhead was “Flight blah blah to Toronto has been Canceled.” Probably the best way to start my day, right?! Luckily after a few minutes, a second announcement clarified that the flight that was canceled from my gate was actually original departure at 6am (my flight was 10am). So, I guess I dodged bullet one of the attempt to get to Prague! The all so re-assuring reason for the 6am Air Canada flight to be canceled was none other than a mechanical failure that prevented the landing wheels from re-entering the plane following take-off. Again, I’m posting this so it is obvious that the flight I was on clearly landed in Canada safely. 

Leg two of the flight was Toronto to Prague and then off to the hostel before starting my day. Total flight time was about ten hours, about a total of 20 hours. After getting back from India this is nothing. Unfortunately this time I wasn’t as successful at sleeping on the flight. Regardless I did learn something new— Air Canada Rouge doesn’t have screens for in-flight entertainment. Instead, you have to use your personal device to stream from their wifi based system. An interesting concept and one that I would bet has proven extremely beneficial from a business standpoint. Next time I fly I will bring a charger because after watching Casablanca I only had about another 1-2 hours left of approximate battery time on my laptop for the remaining 6 hours of my flight. I tried to get some sleep since I’ll be landing at 7am, but if I barely was able to dose off. Luckily, I did bring three research papers to read before my internship to learn more about polymers and hydrogels for bone tissue scaffolding, so I had plenty of reading material to try to comprehend on the plane!

I successfully navigated my first bus to metro trip in order to be in walking distance from my hostel (with my backpacking bag and suitcase mind you)! There were crazy escalators in the metro (I'm not convinced this picture even does it justice, its seriously almost a 45 degree incline)! It’s nice to be finally in the right spot. I’m planning on staying local to our hostel as I wait for Anna and finally am able to move into my room this afternoon.