Today we visited Moser glass company in Karlovy Vary. We were able to tour their museum and the glassworks shop. Glass blowing is probably the coolest thing I've ever watched someone create. The craftmanship that goes into each piece is mindblowing. More than eighty people can work on a single piece of glass. In the glass blowing shop, the workers are sorted into teams of three: a beginner, an assistant, and a master. The beginner starts by getting the motlen glass on the end of his pipe and blowing a small bulb. The assistant adds more molten glass and continues the shape of the glass. The master is the one that adds the stem and base to the product. You start the glass school at 15 and, depending on skill, work your way up to a master. Some people never reach the master level. Moser is the glass for kings. They have many of their pieces in kings castles, presidents palaces, and celebrity mansions all over the world. The work they do is beautiful.
After the glass tour, we made our way to the Becherovka liqueur company. We toured the museum and learned all about the history of Czech's favorite liqueur. The liqueur started out as a medicine created by the Becher family. They say that two capfuls a day will keep you healthy and heal any problems you may have. After touring the museum, they served us three samples of their product. A lemon liqueur, the original, and the cordial were a lot to stomach before lunch. My personal favorite was the cordial. We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around Karlovy Vary drinking water from different hot springs around town. Hanza told us all about the healing properties the water supposedly had. The town had a touristy vibe but was more about relaxing and enjoying yourself more than the hustle and bustle of Prague. It was a place where you wanted to find a small outdoor patio to sip on wine and recharge. The sidewalks had gold sections that made different musical dings depending on which one you stepped on. It was nice to hear the different sounds as our group walked over them. The other Karly and I tried to find a place we could get a massage because between the plane, dorm beds, and bus travel we've been doing, my back and neck are a wreck. I can't wait to get home and go to a chiropractor! We tried three different massage places and were unsuccessful at all. For dinner, we stopped at Restaurace Krusivice on our way back to Prague. They served us a delicious meal of fish and mashed potatoes topped with a type of gravy. I was so excited to have something besides pork. Haha. I have completely fallen in love with this country and can't wait to see what the rest of this trip has in store for me. XOXO -C
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Howdy all!
Our destination this morning led us to the Skoda Car Manufacturing Plant and Museum. Before I get into that, I need to take a second and talk about our lovely transportation. Until today, we have been on really nice, white, Mercedes-Benz buses. They have comfortable seats and air conditioning. This morning we walked out and I had a flashback to 1980. Our big, ugly, purple chariot awaited. It made me think of the Robin Williams movie RV. His kids hate on the big rolling turd. The only thing our Big Rolling Turd was missing was Irv on the side. It was complete with fading fuchsia paint, "Frank Bus" written in red and turquoise on the side, paint splatter inspired interior fabric, 1980s coffee maker, huge chunky "TVs", and a bathroom that I'm pretty sure hasn't been working in this decade. So, anyway, we loaded the big rolling turd, adjusted to the smell, and were on our way to Skoda. At the Skoda plant, we were able to walk through their assembly line. They can make a car from metal to driveable in 24 hours. The workers change tasks every two hours during shifts to make things interesting. They have about two minutes to get their task done before moving to the next car. It was amazing watching the many workers move like ants around the production. The museum was interesting but I'm not really into cars so it wasn't really my cup of tea. At Czech Paradise this afternoon, our group hiked around the sandstone of the park. It was absolutely breathtaking. Katie and I decided we were over the whole hiking thing so we went up one side and right back down instead of following the trail all the way around. We had a blastyblast taking stupid pictures on the way down though. Tonight I managed to lock myself out of my dorm while doing laundry. I sat in the hallway and twiddled my thumbs for two hours. I had to wait for my roommate to get back from the pubs downtown to let me back in. So, that's how my nights going. It's past my bedtime. XOXO -C Yesterday, I had a lazy Sunday and it was glorious to catch up on sleep. I ran a few errands around Prague and just enjoyed not having a schedule to keep. :)
This morning Martin Hlavacek, Senior Agricultural Consultant & Analyst, spoke to us about Farm Business in the Czech Republic and EU Countries. Having his insight into how the EU's agricultural economics work was a blessing. I'm very thankful for the people who have taken time out of their very busy schedules to speak to a room of American young adults. This afternoon we toured the brewery on campus. We were able to speak to the brew master that built and maintains the university brewery and has designed and worked in over 26 breweries across the world. After the tour, all of the American colleges doing study programs at the university were invited to a cook-out in the area outside the brewery. College students from Ohio State, Mizzou, Tarleton, Oklahoma State, and Texas A&M were all represented. We were served all the pork and beer we could ingest. (I can't wait to get to Scotland and have a change of meat. All this pork is starting to get to me.) Of course, getting close to 100 American college students together called for some drinking games. (Sorry to all my snapchat friends for the overload.) We played the Czech version of beer pong and a new game I had never seen before. They set up a beer pong bracket and the games and food began! We all had a little too much fun... some more than others. Haha. It was a really nice break from all the learning I've been doing. ;) XOXO -C |
AuthorCarlee loves doing hoodrat things with her friends and trying to act like an adult. Archives |