On October 5th I head to Bratislava Slovakia with my counselor and a fellow exchange student to apply for our visas. When we got to the embassy I was told that my criminal record check translation into Czech was no good, and that it was a bit out dated. Then I was told I had to translate my other documents into Czech which I was unaware of. Being seventeen and applying for a visa pretty much alone is a very stressful process. I am very thankful though for my wonderful counselor you talked to the lady for me and worked out a deal with her. So the embassy stamped my passport saying I had applied though my application wasn't complete. After we left Bratislava both me and my fellow exchange student were upset. on the way home we stop in a small Czech town where my counselor had a meeting. Here me and my other exchange student went shopping and felt a lot better afterwards.
My visa application is now complete. My counselor got everything organized for me and and now I am just waiting for them to approve my visa. Again I am very grateful for my counselor and all the work he put into my visa.
Thanksgiving weekend was the next big event that took place. I decided that I would share Thanksgiving with my host family. So starting on Friday I began preparing for the dinner. Friday night I successfully made my grandmothers pie dough. On Saturday I prepared pumpkin pies (I even made my own pumpkin puree.), onion soup, boiled eggs , and started cooking the turkey and stuffing. I had to start cooking the turkey on Saturday because it was 25lbs and I was making thanksgiving lunch instead of dinner. On Sunday I woke up early. I made devilled eggs, a giant pot of mashed potatoes, a large bowel of salad and finished cooking the turkey. I set the table with decorations sent from home and with a Canadian table cloth my aunt had made for my host mom. My dinner turned out great. In total there were eleven people there for lunch and they all said they enjoyed it.
On the 15th I attended my first prom. Classic dancing courses are something a lot of people here in the Czech take part in. So they have a bunch of balls or proms to show off there dance moves. So I went with some friends to this prom. It was a lot of fun and I am looking forward to the next one.
The next day me and my family took a day trip to a little town 50km away called Kuks. It is a small town that has many sculptures made by the artist M. B. Braun. This is the website for the building we visited. http://www.hospital-kuks.cz/history/
This is the front of the hospital.
On Thursday of this week I was lucky enough to get to go to Vienna for the day. One of the exchanges students living in Hradec Kralove as well was having her birthday this weekend. As a present her host mom bought her a trip to Vienna and they asked me to join them. It was a lovely day. When we first got to Vienna we went to Palace and Garden Of Schonbrunn. It was crazy beautiful. http://www.schoenbrunn.at/en/ . After we headed to Vienna's old square and looked around. We saw a giant Gothic church, the winter residence of the Schonburnn's, the Parliament building, city hall and the opera house. It was a great day, a little cold but still a lot of fun.
I am still struggling with the language. I know a lot more , but for some odd reason I am embarrassed to speak in Czech. I think it is because I do not want to be laughed at. I guess it is just a thing that I need to get over or else i will make no process. The honeymoon stage of my exchange is definitely over. I have my good days but I do also have some bad ones. Some days I wonder why I wanted to do this and others I think I never want to go home. I guess it is all apart of this experience.
Untill next time
xoxo
Morganne
