Week 5

So last week was fairly average...lots of going to class, hanging out with people in the group, doing readings, etc. Some of the highlights:
-Thursday we went to a place that I think was the Parliamentary Building in Prague. It had an exhibition on 8 people in Moscow who protested the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. They were obviously arrested and sent to labor prisons for several years, so this is a really significant event because of the sacrifice these people made for a country that wasn't even their own. We also talked about a man named Jan Palach who set himself on fire in 1969 in response to the complacency of the Czech people to the Soviet invasion in 1968.

-Friday we went to the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes, which is where they keep most of the files from the Secret Police during communism. It was super interesting. They had pictures everywhere that were secretly taken of people who were being watched and we got to see some pages from the files, but they were all in Czech. Our theater professor, who was involved in the dissident movement in the 80s (trying to end communism) came to talk to us about her file and how she felt about knowing she was being watched. We learned that about 1 in 200 people had files and a lot of times the Secret Police was getting information from "informants" who could be your close friend or even family member. The dissidents had to be very careful about who they could trust and who they told things to. Its crazy.

-Saturday I went the ballet with my host mom. It was Romeo and Juliet and it was so amazing. It was such a relaxing and cool experience! It was set in like the 1920s/30s Italy, so lots of mobsters and things. And the choreography was very classical in some parts and more contemporary in others (like flexed hands and feet). I REALLY liked it. And it was shown at the "Narodni Divadlo" ("National Theater"), so that was really neat to be able to see that space.

-Sunday I went to the National (Art) Gallery. It was super overwhelming because its huge, but it only cost me like $5 to get in, so I only looked at 1/2 of it before I got tired. So I looked at the Czech and foreign modern art, which was interesting, but not especially appealing. I think I need more art history background to really appreciate that kind of art. Then I went to a creperie nearby and read for a while before going home. I was feeling very overwhelmed by the time I went home, though, because I realized how much work we have to do (reading, assignments, language quizzes, etc.). Its a lot, but I just need to take it one thing at a time.

Aside from the school, we've just been exploring the city and things. Next week we're going to Slovakia and Poland, which is very exciting!!