The First Week of School

School finally started on Monday. I was really excited, but a bit nervous--new school, new classrooms to find, new friends to make, and as of Monday, no schedule. I have been jokingly saying that I go to Hogwarts because I was literally counting down the days until school started, but the building I spend my time in only has one trick staircase. It's Cédric's school, the ETH, that I can't find my way around to save my life (I go up there for sports, who knew you could get lost in a gym!).

Anyway. My classes are: European Cultural Music History, Theory Intensive: Beethoven and his Influence on the Romantic, Audition Training for Winds, Orchestral Practice for Winds, Small Ensemble, Orchestra, Horn Lesson, Natural Horn Lesson, Piano Lesson, and my independent Bachelor Project. I'm in heaven! =) I'm also doing yoga and ballet at the gym to keep my back from rebelling.

I'm really looking forward to this week, now that I know what to expect from most of my classes. I really like all of the teachers I've met (there are still three to meet), and I love my horn lessons. I'm practicing a lot, learning a lot, and having, so far, a really good start to my school year.

Views of Prague

Here are so of my pictures from Prague. We had a wonderful time on the trip--it was six days of fun, mostly sun, and a beautiful city! Special thanks to Cédric for the amazing camera work!

Our first view walking from the hotel

The clock tower, which also tells you where the sun is in the Zodiac

Guard tower

Church at night

The other side of the church

Canal off the river

St. Charles Square

St. Charles Bridge

The Castle

Yay for self timers!

St. Nicholas Church

A building we thought looked melted

St. Vitus Cathedral

Painted glass window in St. Vitus

Another panted glass window

Part of the Cathedral

Outside of the Cathedral

Cédric taking a picture, which he did a lot (we have about 500)

In front of St. Vitus.... we almost look photoshopped into this picture, but I promise, we were actually there

Entrance to one of the palaces

View of Prague from the hill

Stairs down the hill

St. Nicholas Church of the Lesser City, but the same architect as the other one

The organ

The dome

Smetana Hall in the Municipal Building. We saw the Prague Symphony Orchestra do a wonderful concert here

New building reflecting an old one

Memorial for the victims of communism

John Lennon Memorial Wall

A Mexican student started this wall after Lennon's assassination

Padlocks on a bridge

Lovers put padlocks on bridges to symbolize their bond

Terezin

I'm putting my pictures of Terezin in a separate post, because they don't really fit with the rest of Prague. Terezin was a jewish ghetto built in a fortress, with a nazi prison built into the attached small fortress. Terezin was where most of the artists were sent at the beginning of the war, so it is known for it's music (there were several orchestras inside the ghetto), theater, and art. As the war went on, Terezin served as a gateway to deportation--most of the people who started in Terezin ended in a concentration camp or death camp such as Auschwitz, Bergen-Belsen, or Treblinka.

The graveyard--many of the graves are only numbered, and there are also mass graves here. The people who are buried here died after the war of typhus.

Entrance to the small fortress prison

"Work will make you free"

A memorial to the suffering of the victims

If people would like more information or pictures, I have them...