Czech it out

CZECH TREK.

climbers on top of a rock, seen from my rock view : )

April 17: Overnight bus ride.  A group of DIS students who overall don’t really know each other, but all share this intrigue of adventure, trying something new.  There were a ton of us, maybe 50 or 60?  And we were on ONE coach type bus.  For an overnight ride. Eek. I was super sick too, spent 20 of the 30 hours I was home sleeping…and somehow I ended up with 2 seats to myself in the very back of the bus for the overnight trek, which was a total gift since I drugged myself and went to sleep.  Morning comes, and we arrived at our CASTLE.  Yup, we slept in a castle for 3 nights. So so awesome.  I realize I don’t like writing saga’s about my travels.  Maybe I’ll regret that looking back, but it just takes so so long, and I end up being unable to focus on the points I want to really focus on.  So I’m going to do bullet points. Plus, I have a super long post next, that’s a heart update. That’s way more story like because its my stream of consciousness. Anyway. CZECH TREK.

CZECH IT OUT.

Yup, that was Outdoor Discovery’s slogan.  I love it.  Our guides were awesome by the way, so chill and very funny- clearly, they all love their job and each other; this made it way more fun for us too.

Hruba Skala

HRUBA SKALA.  Our castle.  It was sick.  I shared a room with Assiyah, which was definitely one of the best parts of this whole trip.  She is awesome!  From Denver, and goes to school in Atlanta.  We had great conversations, did yoga (what a joke to watch me do yoga- seriously), and laughed. A lot.

Went on a run the day we arrived with 3 other girls, however, I stopped a bit into it because my head was so congested and it felt like my lung was going to come out…best decision ever though! I ended up finding a perfect rock to sit on : )   It had an amazing view out towards other HUGE sandstone rocks, and I saw a few very very skilled climbers get to the top! 

Assiyah. giving attitude on "my rock" :)

Day One: Archery and Ice Breakers (aka cool low ropes and trust falls).  Archery- I am so inconsistent.  That is all.  It was fun, but annoying to do well and then very badly.  Ice breakers- pretty fun.  Cool to get to know half the group pretty well.  Only problem?  There were people in the other half of the group whose names I never came to know because we barely interacted outside of our original group.  Oh well.  

view from "my' rock

view from "my" rock

BIG ROCK

Day Two: Beautiful hike through the sandstone rocks.  Then, fear of heights- FACED.  Yup.  It was great.  Ziplining.  Burma Bridge(-ing).  Repelling into 75 ft gorge.  Zipline was ridiculously fun.  Rope bridge was pretty cool…except when Steven got on the bridge as I was still finishing, the thing shook like mad, and I wasn’t a huge fan.  But, pretty cool to be that high up and see goats below : )  Repelling.  Not really a fan of this one, but glad I did it to face heights.  I think I’d just much rather climb than repel.  Tonight there were SUCH BRIGHT BEAUTIFUL STARS.  Loved it : ) : )

Sam repelling down into the gorge

my feelings about repelling into that gorge...

  

sandstone

cool kids

favorite belayer

Day Three: Climbing.   Got up the difficult wall, despite being on the edge of a 50m drop (wanted to puke looking down as I went up!).  It was an awesome feeling to get to the top though.  Met a really cool girl who ran in the Seattle marathon in November, and got to bond over running : )  Canoeing on the Jizera river.  Becca (my canoe partner) was great and we went down a mini waterfall- ALMOST flipped, but successfully avoided it.  Saw baby goats and lambs.  So cute.

knedliky and guláš

Overall Czech Trek:  ate great food.  Czech food is super heavy, but it’s lots of meat (which is great!) and potatoes.  We had all the traditional meals while staying at Hruba Skala, which was great.  We ate dumplings “knedliky” (Czech traditional side dish made from wheat or potato flour, boiled in water as a roll and then sliced and served hot) with Svičková (read “svitch-co-va”) or Rajská (read “raiska”), a somehow interesting combination of meat with sauce and whipped cream.  And of course, the soups! potato soup (bramborová polévka or bramboračka),  chicken noodle soup (kuřecí polévka s nudlemi), and goulash.  I thought it was all delicious, and GREAT protein, yay : ) 

mala skala

Loved the Czech Trek experience and all the DIS people on it…all very chill and fun to be around.  So cool to be hiking and have people who like to explore and try to climb random things with : )

hanging out after a delicious lunch

PRAHA.

(Prague)

old town

Astronomical Clock

Old town

monastery

beautiful :)

guard changing at Prague Castle

BERRIES

Czech Easter tradition

Dasha explaining how to pain these

:)

Vltava River

Vltava River

"love locks" I don't really find this romantic? haha

more Prague

more Prague

Prague Castle church

creepyy

I got to spend a wonderful 1.5 days with Dasha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  And the weather was beautiful.  Perfect clear blue skies and bright warm sunshine.  I met Dasha around 1120am, and we went exploring.  Old Town, Astronomical Clock, Charles Bridge, the Lennon Wall (SO COOL), a park along the Vltava River, Prague Castle, lots of Easter markets, and a monastery with a cool bell melody at the top of the hour.  The sites were all beautiful and cool to see, but it was the company that far exceeded the sites.  It was so great to see Dasha : ) To have real conversations, to hug!  She gives the best hugs : )  We sat in a park for a couple of hours and just talked.  It was such a refreshing time.  I tried Czech chocolate too…yum!  A cool thing in the park was that nearby there were 3 American students, and I overheard them talking about God and specifically Joshua 1:9.  SO COOL.  I loved it.  Hearing other young people passionately talking about following God… yay : )  Also just a great reminder that God is WAY bigger than my small view on this world…He is working in so many places and lives! 

Lennon Wall

:)

"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear..."

la vita e bella

love you

our park!

Czech children's book about daisies :)

fireflies and ladybugs :)

Okie, I think that is a good update on Czech Republic.  I would love to go back there to climb!  I need to get way better at climbing before even thinking about attempting the rocks that I watched people climb from my special rock, but still!  And, it was way cheaper than Denmark, which was very very very nice. Woo.

PEACE!

HI MOM AND DAD!
just hanging on the side of a cliff...nbd :)