So it's been a little while... so here's my update!


Last weekend, I went to Český Krumlov with the program, and it was a lot of fun!! 
We left on Friday morning, and made a few pit stops along the way, the first being to the Hluboka castle in South Bohemia. It's really crazy to walk through a building that was built 800 years ago- the architecture and the artwork that's within this castle is amazing! Sadly, I wasn't able to take any pictures of the inside of the castle, but I did get one of the outside!

Front of the castle from the gardens

After that, we went to the Budweiser Budvar brewing factory, and got to see how the original Budweiser is made. Did you know that Anheuser-Busch actually stole the Budweiser name? They can't beat the taste, though, of the Czech Budweiser- we got free samples of some freshly brewed beer and it was delicious. I've had plenty of bottled Budweiser Budvar since I've been here, but it never tasted so good as it did when we got at the brewing factory! And, they also gave us the great news that it is actually sold in the US! But, it's under the name "Czechvar" so it isn't confused with the American Budweiser. I'll definitely be buying some of that when I get back home... well, when I'm actually legal to drink again in September. :(
We got to Český Krumlov that afternoon, and it was such a sweet little town. We stayed in a really cute little hostel right by the river, and right outside of the Town Square. After we arrived there on Friday, we mainly just walked around the town a bit, and then rested for the remainder of the day. Saturday, we went horseback riding, and it was my first time ever so I was a little nervous. But, I had so much fun! We went on an hour long horseback ride through some fields outside of the city, and it was so beautiful. I definitely want to try horseback riding again, I really loved it! Later that night, we all got some really delicious dinner, and enjoyed some good beers on the river. It was such a relaxing, and fun weekend.
Český Krumlov is such a cute little town, I really wish I had the chance to go back there! But I've got a lot of other places ahead. In fact, Nicole and I finalized all of our plans for the 3 weeks we'll be traveling after the program is over! We've gotten train tickets and booked our hostels, so now we are all set. Here's the plan:
Fly into Madrid on May 12th, go to Barcelona on the 15th, take an overnight ferry to Rome on the 18th, leave Rome for Florence on the 20th, go to Venice on the 23rd, stop in Ancona to pick up a ferry to Split on the 25th, go to Zagreb on the 29th, then Vienna on the 30th, and back to Prague on the 31st. And then I fly out the morning of June 1st. It's going to be a very busy 3 weeks, but I can't wait!!


Right now, my friends Christine and Leigha are visiting from Paris, and it's really nice having them here. I love doing the sightseeing over again when people come here to visit. But right now, it's really crazy in the Prague! Easter is a huge holiday here, and there are sooooo many tourists right now. You can barely move through some parts in the city. So I'm taking them through the touristy spots very quickly, and then spending more time showing them the nicer spots of the city. 


So that's all that is really going on with me right now! We're working on our last project for studio (making a cocktail dress), so I'll try to post some pictures up when I get some more work done on it!

Pictures are in!!

... And if I do say so myself, they look AWESOME.

These are the ones that will be sent off for the Art to Wear pre-show slideshow. I'm so excited! If you click on them, the pictures will expand, and you can see more details on the jacket :)

My friend Brooke is in town this week with some of her friends that she is studying abroad with in Swansea. I played tour guide for them on Tuesday, and it was so much fun! It's really great to have her here in town, and I'm glad that she is getting the chance to experience Prague while we are having such great weather. We walked over the Charles Bridge, through Mala Strana to see the Lennon Wall, andup Petrin Hill to see the castle and castle gardens. It's so beautiful here now that everything is in bloom!

View of the castle from the gardens. So pretty!

Yesterday, I went to a beer garden with some girls from class up on Vysehrad, and it was great. It was a wonderful 70 degrees outside, and we were able to sit at a table on the edge of the hill to get a great look over the city, while drinking some really great Czech beer.

And today, I went back up Petrin Hill with some friends to sit and sketch for a while. I have been trying to get out as much as possible here since my work load has finally slowed down a little bit, and so I can enjoy this great weather as much as possible! My love for this city grows more and more each day I'm here, and I can't believe that my semester is almost over :(

"Say yes to freedom, peace, dignity and respect for all."

(A quote from a mural at the East Side Gallery...)

I went to Berlin this past weekend, and I had such a great time! I really didn't expect to love Berlin as much as I did. I went on this trip with the landscape architect students, along with 10 other girls from the fashion studios, on Thursday morning and arrived there in the afternoon. We started the day off with exploring the city a little bit, going to the Holocaust Memorial, which was really interesting. You walk around the corner from the Brandenburg Gate and come across this area filled with giant concrete blocks, or as some others call it "a field of stelae." What it basically looks like is a giant concrete maze, with blocks of varying heights. That night, some of us went over to the Turkish Quarter of the city and grabbed some awesome food- a gyro platter with homemade salad and lots and lots of chicken, falafel, pita, and tabouli for only 5 euros. The owner even gave us some dessert tea for free after we finished our meal!

Holocaust Memorial

Friday, we went out to the Berlin Wall Memorial, which was really incredible. It's located in the middle section of the former border, and is in memory of the city’s division from the years the wall stood, and of the victims of communist tyranny. There are parts of the wall that are still preserved, as a reminder of what used to exist here, that are covered in graffiti. And across the street from the memorial is a "documentation center," where you can go up on an elevated platform and overlook a preserved area of the Berlin Wall, showing how it used to be back when the wall stood, including a watchtower and the "no man's land" zone separating East and West Berlin. It was really weird to see what used to be there.

View of the "original" wall from the documentation center

After visiting the Berlin Wall Memorial, we hopped on the train and took a visit to Potsdam, which is so cute! We grabbed some lunch and walked around to look at some shops, and then went through a few parks. It was a really relaxing day, and we were lucky to have lots of sunshine and a 65 degree temperature outside.
Saturday, a few of the girls and myself went to the East Side Gallery, which is a strip of the Berlin Wall that is covered in murals (around 100 of them!) from artists all around the world. It was beautiful and really cool. We actually split off from the main group to see this sight, instead of going to some museums. And I'm really glad we did, because it is definitely something I would have been really bummed to have missed out on seeing. I took a TON of pictures of it, so check them out on my online album for Berlin :)

So cool!

Sunday, we only had a little bit of time, so we went over to Museum Island and strolled around for a little bit. We happened upon this really cool street market and walked through that for a little while. There were some local artists out selling some great paintings, handmade jewelry and clothes, and then lots of people selling antiques, too! It actually made me miss the Raleigh Flea Market a little bit. After that, we went to this restaurant right around the corner from the hostel that we had all been wanting to go to since we saw it for the first time- it was a big outdoor restaurant/cafe with swinging basket chairs and REALLY tasty food. I was really happy that I got to eat lunch there right before we had to leave. I grabbed myself a tomato, basil, fresh mozzarella, with homemade pesto sandwich along with a glass of white wine. It sooooo good! It was the perfect way to end my trip in Berlin, especially since I got to enjoy my delicious meal outside in the 70 degree weather!

Having fun in the basket swing

We got back to Prague at about 8 pm on Sunday night, and were very pleased to see that a lot of trees and flowers had started to bloom in the short 4 days we were gone. It was a very nice "welcome home" surprise to see springtime approaching! I was sad to leave Berlin, but it was also nice to come back to a beautiful city in bloom :)
And good news: I finished my costume! I took some pictures today for the Art To Wear fashion show back at NCSU for their pre-show, so I'll try and get my hands on some of the pictures to post up here later. I do, however, have some pictures from the photoshoot we did last with Robert Vano of my jacket for my costume...

I'm so happy with it! I can't wait to see how the pictures we took today turned out!