A Bittersweet End
This is a still from our short film Alesi, Hraj (Play, Ales).
11 more days in Prague, I can’t believe it. Our final screening for the professors is May 15th and then my flight leaves at 8:30AM on the 18th. I don’t want to leave Europe, it fits me so well. I do miss everyone at home though and I’m excited to possibly be working in Brooklyn this summer (fingers crossed). I have two interviews tomorrow, one for Rooftop Films as a festival intern and one for an editing internship at Crossborders. But I love it here! I love FAMU and this production has been more than I could have ever asked for, I’ve learned so much. I’m really proud to say I co-visualized the entire film as well as wrote it. We finished with sound today after 6 hours in the studio and Thursday is color grading so then it’ll be complete! I’m coming back to this place, I’ve never felt more sure about everything after this semester. Prague is an amazing city and seriously under-rated. I have my Visual Theory final in about an hour and then just one more paper due next week and we’re calling it a semester!
LOVE Beccah!
Olomouc
Written by Max Jackson, CET Prague Photo Program Spring 2011, (Syracuse University)
Over the weekend I went to with Rozalie, one of our Czech buddies, to her home town of Olomouc, which is a historic city in Northern Moravia. The center of the town is a UNESCO world heritage site, Rozalie and I took the train from the Hlavní nádraží (main train station), braving the perils of the Czech train system. Olomouc is a gorgeous little city, like Prague but much quieter. We met with her some of her friends at a pub and walked around the center in the evening. The next day she showed me her family’s small cottage in Šternberk, which is fifteen minutes from the town and then we went to Svatý Kopeček (the holy little hill) which has a beautiful church called Church of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary. We then went to a ball at her High School which was quite interesting to me because I did not attend my my high school prom. It was sort of like high school reunion meets prom where people visit their hometown and drink with old friends, it was definitely a unique cultural experience. Roza and I needed to dress up formally to join the fun. The next day we enjoyed the best beef tartar I’ve had in the Czech republic and then took a train by to Prague.
Prague. Being abroad
Our time in Prague is now more than halfway over. I am pretty sure that everyone in the CET program is overly distraught knowing that one day we are all going to have to leave the wonderful and eye-opening city we have inhabited for four months. With this on my mind, I thought I would write some things about being abroad…maybe this is advice, maybe it is just what I have observed…I’m not sure but one thing I know is take every opportunity that is presented to you. As long as it does not seem too dangerous, just do it. You end up experiencing some of the greatest parts of your studies abroad. Meeting new people is a golden experience, no matter how cheesy that may sound, there is nothing like being exposed to another culture. If you are curious, approach people. Being a photographer, it is beneficial to be able to make conversation with anything to get the shot you desire. Just going up to a stranger can result in a story you will want to write down later or a photo you will want to take immediately. Even if you are nervous, just do it. There is no point in wasting an opportunity you really want. Along with taking opportunities, get involved. If you hear about a protest, a film festival, a speech, etc, go to it. You can sleep later. You can drink later. Events are fleeting; there will always be time to go out with friends later. Plus, I’m sure drinking a beer is somehow a part of whatever event you are going to. Another very important aspect of being in a foreign place is that you get out and explore. Get on a tram, a metro, a bus, a bike, your own feet, and go somewhere. Get out of your comfort zone and head to the end of the line. Sit in a strange metro station and observe. Walk through a neighborhood you have never heard of. Keep the juices flowing. Don’t let yourself sit inside on sunny days.
Everything I have written may seem obvious. The thing is to make sure you are taking advantage of this miniscule chunk of our lives that is so influential and eye opening. Being abroad for one semester is nothing in the scheme of things.
Now here are some images from this semester of wandering. I have stumbled across some great and strange things.
The images: A bunch of us joined in a protest in February against education reforms in the Czech Republic. (the chocolate labs walking with the crowd) It was a blast to see everyone walking through the streets blocking the tram tracks of Prague with their whistles and balloons and enthusiasm.
While walking around by a metro station, I came across a man wearing some sort of large garment on his head at 10am on a Monday. I approached him and asked to take his portrait. He was hilarious, and definitely strange. The garment was a curtain he had stolen. He mentioned that this was “not a typical Monday.”
One night at a bar by the Vlatava, we met David Černý, the famous Czech sculptor/visual artist. We had some awesome conversations with him…not to mention insane ones as well! Check out my roommate holding his autograph…I only had a purple crayon on hand for his signature so that made the situation even better.
Moral of the story: being in a new place is full of opportunity; embrace it!
Traveling Seminar to Poland
One big happy family: the JS and CES crew in Krakow's Old Town Square at night.
Bright and early Thursday morning, Jewish Studies and Central European studies met on a coach bus and took an eight hour drive to Krakow. Most of us enjoyed some sleep, reading, movies and music in anticipation of our exciting nine day trip throughout Poland. Upon arrival, we checked into our hotel, got ourselves settled, and then reconvened for what our program director Jarka likes to call our “funny city tour”. A great tour guide took us around Krakow’s old town and pointed out some interesting sites and funny anecdotes. I keep realizing how much my time with CET is teaching me, and one great example was on our tour. The ground in Old Town Square and throughout the side streets of Krakow is uneven, and it turns out this is because, as businesses began to grow and streets needed to be more functional, they would repave. However, they would just pave over parts that needed work, making some areas higher than others. I found this so interesting, especially because we found ourselves having to step or stoop down to enter shops and restaurants throughout the city. I will always think of this reason when I see uneven roads now!
Our Jewish tour of Krakow was fascinating. We saw the remaining part of the ghetto wall, many places where Schindler’s List filmed, and many other interesting sites. The Krakow Ghetto memorial installation was interesting- it is a lot of weathered-looking chairs lined up around what was the deportation square, to symbolize waiting to be sent to concentration and death camps. Some of the chairs are in the tram stop and everyday people use them while waiting for their trams. This integration into everyday life events makes the memorial that much more meaningful in my eyes, forgetting is not an option when it is a part of your everyday life.
Dora and crew: The survivor who shared her story with us after our meeting with her.
We went to Shabbat on Friday and met two very cool people. One was the director of the Krakow JCC, who gave us a great overview of how much Krakow’s Jewish community is growing and how it is thriving in culture, education, and practice. The center was beautiful, and the joy of Jewish life exhibited there is so different from what I had heard about Poland’s Jewish population, especially because I was under the impression that the community was so small. It is in fact larger than I thought, but a number cannot really be named- the face of the Jewish population is rapidly changing and more and more people are embracing their previously suppressed Jewish identity. The other great encounter was Dora, a survivor of Auschwitz-Birkenau, who simply plopped down behind us in synagogue and asked us if we had a survivor, if we wanted to hear her story, and when she could tell us. Just like that, the day before our Auschwitz trip, we were able to hear a survivor’s story! She is 90 years old, which her demeanor and vitality would never have led us to believe. We did a little rearranging of our schedule and got to hear her story.
We loved all of the different tours and activities in Krakow and spent our free time really bonding as a group. We were glad to have a few more days together and to experience Auschwitz as a group before CES broke off to see some more of the Czech Republic on their way to Vienna as we headed to Warsaw.
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