Link to my Picasa web album

Alright folks, here is the link to my Picasa web album where you will find photos from (in order):

-Olomouc

-Prague

-Train rides

-Dresden

-Vienna

-Bus rides

-Venice

-Rome

-Soccer matches

-And much more!

Please enjoy them, there are over 1600 photos and more to come. Keep this page bookmarked, or the link I give you bookmarked to see when I publish something next!

LINK!

Garrett's Semester Abroad Twenty Ten!

Continuation of the ash-kissing

Bear with me ladies and gentlemen, instead of writing a whole new blog for the 2nd part, I have copied and pasted the journal entry I wrote for my advisor. It still contains all the key points.

Instead of starting this journal on Monday of this past week, this entry claims its origins on Friday April 17, the day we were to begin our epic Spring break adventure by flying out of Venice and making our way to Rome. That morning, I woke up with pep in my step, re-packed my bag, and met up with the group of us heading to the airport. In order to get to the airport we needed to take a waterbus from Venice to the airport, a brief 30-minute ride. While we were standing in the waiting area for our bus to arrive, it was mentioned that our flight was in jeopardy because of some volcano. This can as big news to me because that was the first time I had heard any news of the volcano that would haunt our vacation for the next week.

We boarded the waterbus and jetted off to the Venice airport where we would find our fate. Cancelled. In fact, I have never seen so much red on an airport departure list. Where there was one cancellation, there were 100. There were lines all over the airport of ragged, scrappy travelers who bore the expression of frustration and exhaustion. With our route to Rome now in the toilet, it was time to enact a plan B. Only problem was that we had no plan B. It was decided that we needed to go to the train station and find out about trains to Rome from Venice, which is what my real group was taking. I was the only one flying, with a different group of classmates. We all dragged ourselves on the bus, unsure of our travelling future and just what would happen next. Needless to say, our perfect batting average continued when the bus broke down not two minutes after leaving the airport. After a 10-minute wait for an empty bus, we continued our journey to the Venice terminal. 73 Euros later and we possessed a train ticket that would take us to Rome in just over three hours. Total price thus far for my journey from Venice to Rome: 153 Euro. Regardless, we boarded the train and I was off to meet my group at the Rome train station – if I could find them.

The train ride was interesting as we went through Italian countryside and rain showers. A brief delay on the tracks got us into Rome at around 3:30 p.m. With our arrival, I said goodbye to the group I had arrived with and attempted to locate the group I would be travelling with for the next few days. I looked for 45 minutes before eventually finding them and we were off to our hostel. On the walk to the hostel, we crossed a busy intersection where we had to run across the road. Well since I only had my carry-on bag with wheels, I was dragging it behind me and attempted to hoist it over the oncoming curb. With my amazing luck continuing, the left wheel caught the curb and snapped off, leaving me a rolling suitcase with one wheel. Just awesome. Anyways, we arrived at our hostel and proceeded on with what sight seeing we could accomplish in the next couple of hours before daylight died. We managed to walk around the neighborhood when we stumbled upon my dream of dreams. It was the one piece of history I have been dying to see since I was a kid. I had read about it in books, seen it in movies, marveled at its beauty in pictures, and gawked at the pure magnitude of its existence on our history.

The Colosseum.

It appeared just over the horizon as we entered a park and it was visible between two lines of trees and it was breathtaking. So much history has taken place in that very building and it made my jaw drop at the sight of it. After snapping what seems like 500 pictures of the ancient building, we took some time walking around it before heading back for free pasta (our hostel had free pasta on Friday and Saturday nights). The next morning we would be mobile tearing up the city of Rome before leaving on a jet plane, or so we thought, on the 19^th for Paris.

The next day in Rome consisted of visiting the Vatican, the Forum, Circus Maximo, and various other landmarks that have made Rome the history capital of the world. You spend so much time in school history classes learning about the impact of Rome and how much they are responsible for architecture and art and everything. It really just blows you away when you get to see it up close. We also got to go inside the Colosseum, which was probably my most favorite moment. We covered a lot of ground in a short period of time and left ourselves time at night to hit up a local wine bar with live music. After an enjoyable time there, it was time to go back and get some shuteye because the next day we were to head to Paris. Not so fast my friend.

That night when we got back, we had received an e-mail that our flight to Paris was cancelled. The next few hours were spent with a bottle of wine, some kebabs, and a couple computers, as we were completely rerouting our Spring break trip. We toyed with the notion of heading to Croatia, my nationality, for a couple of days to hit up some party beaches. Believe it or not, Croatia contains some of the most popular beaches in all of Europe. Eventually, after some research, we decided to head 20 minutes to the coast of Rome in a suburb called Ostia, to spend a day on the beach as we regroup. After arriving at Ostia the next day, we were in love. It was near 70 degrees each day and for the entire day, seven to eight hours, we got to lay on the beach next to the Mediterranean Sea and soak in some rays. This was absolute paradise. During my time on the beach I collected seashells, swam in the sea, played volleyball with locals, goofed around, and got a chance to become closer with the six people that I accompanied on the trip. Ask any one of them and you will not hear one say that they missed Paris while feeling the sand between their toes.

The beach was an endless horizon of sand and sun. The sand shone like glass, warm from the midday sun, moving between your toes as you sunk. The water, which stretched for miles and miles, was colder than a ice cubes in December, but enticed you in. You could look at the sea and it just beckoned you to take one-step in it, to forget the rest of your worries and wallow in this vast space of water – nothing but water. The sun gleamed off the water and gave it a sparkle as the waves crashed on the rocks just short of the shore. The tranquility of the sea rocking you to sleep as you dig your fingers and toes into the pure grains of sand, closing your eyes to the sounds of waves, faint music playing, and people enjoying life.

The beach made me realize something during my time there. While we were spending our second day on the beach, Cody and I were approached by the cutest 3-year-old girl who was playing with bubbles. She came up to us, smiled, and blew some bubbles for us. I looked at Cody and I said, “remember when that’s all that it took to make us happy? Bubbles? Now we are so worried about plane tickets and whether or not we will have enough money. Why can’t we just go back to being care free? Bubbles.” And right then everything that had been bothering me, the trains, the flight cancellations, the bank account, all popped, just as the bubbles that were floating before our very eyes.

The next day we had a flight scheduled from Milan, Italy to Prague in an attempt to get home. It was only Thursday, but most of us were physically and emotionally spent from this vacation, so it was decided that Olomouc was the place to be. We hit a train from Rome to Milan and found our way to the airport, which would become our cheapest hostel on the entire trip. The bench was not all that comfortable, but it was free. The next morning we awoke to find out that our flight was still scheduled and we prepared for our journey home. After a short hour-long flight, we were in Prague at roughly noon. A 2 p.m train brought us home to Olomouc by 5:30 and I cannot tell you how good it felt to be back. I never thought I would say that at the beginning of this trip, but it happened. I was overjoyed to be back in Olomouc.

It will be a trip that will last in my memory forever. Never again will I get the chance to visit these places and I got to spent it with some great people. The whole journey was worth every cent, every minute worrying what would happen next, and every step. In a way, I would like to thank the volcano for sending us to that beach because I don’t know if I could have had a better time just relaxing as we head into the final home stretch of classes and paperwork. With a 20-page report due May 15^th and still no laptop, this will be interesting to see how I can get it done. Regardless, I will let time tell its tale and just remember one thing: bubbles.

The volcano can kiss my ash..Spring Break Twenty Ten!

Well hello everybody. Greetings from Olomouc where I have just concluded an epic, nine-ten day adventure that saw me catching some rays on the beach, getting a taste of the Mediterranean Sea, sleeping in an airport, and logging over 20 hours of travel time between trains, planes, and buses. Oh where, oh where to begin.

Well our trip began on Tuesday April 13th as we packed up from Olomouc and departed on a bus to Vienna, Austria...a mere three hour drive away. The bus ride was about as thrilling as a Twilight book (I hate Twilight, for your information) and last what felt like an entire day. We arrived in Vienna to our hostel, the HappyHostel, located conveniently a couple of blocks away from a strip club. Anyways, we rolled into town around 1 in the afternoon and proceeded to find our rooms and get ready for an afternoon of touring. We walked and walked and walked until we reached the city square where we saw the museums we would be visiting the next day. The rest of the afternoon seems like a blur as nothing really caught my attention. That night, a bunch of students went out to the bar, but I stayed in on the free internet, printing off my boarding passes for the next week or so. Without knowing where everyone went, I walked to get a quick dinner in the steady rain and walked back to my room, which felt like it was in the ghetto. In order to get to our room one would need to walk through this creepy passageway between two walls and then cross through a darkened courtyard with no feel of any lights. Not to mention it took you forever to unlock the door, looking over your shoulder with every creek. I spent the rest of the night in my room listening to music and reading part of my Rick Reilly book. The next day we went to the treasury and to the Mozart museum, which was located in his apartment that he lived in. The treasury was cool. It was filled with ancient artifacts, including the spear that is believe to have killed Jesus Christ, a piece of wood from the cross, and one of the spike used to put him on the cross. While this could all be debated, it was pretty cool just to see this stuff. The Mozart museum was a snoozefest, but what else did you expect? The rest of the time in Vienna was spent going to shops, eating, and hanging out with the group before retiring to bed. The next day we would be taking a bus seven hours to Venice, Italy.

That next morning, after getting my laundry done, we all hopped on the bus at 7:30 a.m. for our trip to Venice. The first half of our trip took us through beautiful countryside and through the Alps...or what I believe to be the Alps. Regardless, the scenery was breathtaking combining the green of the grass, the blue skies, and the towering mounds of rock behind them. Throw in a small town with a lake and that same background and you have a postcard my friends. Anyways, the bus ride was extremely loooooooooong, which is why during our stop I decided to get a liter of orange juice and some vodka and turn this boring ass ride into a party. Needless to say I went through my liter of screwdrivers in four hours, but it wasn't enough to do anything. Some other people on the bus bought an orange soda called Slam, plus a liquid known as gropa (spelling?) which is made of distilled grapes. So essentially, it was wine. I have never been a wine guy and I never will be after tasting this. I kept drinking it because the bottle was being passed around, but not without a grimace each time the liquid cleared my tastebuds. We arrived in Venice close to night time, but boy was it beautiful. The city is intersected thousands of times by canals and the only way to navigate is with boats or gondolas, there were no cars. We walked from the train station to the hostel and settled in. At 5 p.m. we met to walk to the square at San Marco before dispersing to have dinner and navigate our way back. Our dinner consisted of pasta, strawberry wine, and ice cream and of course, most people stopped on their way back for a few adult beverages. Our hostel had a weird rule about closing at 1 a.m. This meant that if you were at the bar, saw it was 1 a.m. and got to the door at 1:01, the door would be locked and you would be forced to sleep outside somewhere. Needless to say, I was in early and asleep by 1:30. The next day, our final in Venice, we went to a couple of museums that I don't really remember because I didn't pay close enough attention. We did visit the museum that houses the original Da Vinci "Balanced Man" drawing, but the museum said it was "too delicate for the public", whatever the hell that means. That night we went on a gondola ride and it was beautiful, right before it started pouring on us. From there, we all got dinner at various locations before ending up in our hostel before the 1 a.m. curfew. The next day was the official start of our Spring break and I was excited. I had my flight ticket printed off for Venice to Rome and we were all ready to start our amazing vacation.

Little did we know, something had just happened thousands of miles away that would alter our Spring break forever.

More to come after I get back from going to see Clash of the Titans...stay tuned!

Spring Break-ing it down

Yes, I am alive. Barely. But I'm alive. I know I have people who are following this blog and while I must apologize for not writing in it every day like I said I was going to, the problem is finding the motivation to do so. I have been fighting a cold ever since we landed in Olomouc and today is the first time it feels like it is getting better. I have spent countless hours coughing, sneezing, hacking up anything, and it has really wore me out. So blame it on the cold for me not wanting to write a blog entry for the past week and a half or so. Another reason why I find it difficult to write a blog entry is that I am still working without a computer. Apple is taking their sweet ass time sending my operating system discs to my dad and then I have to wait as he sends them to me, since Apple couldn't do it themselves. But whatever, I'll be getting baked goods and other stuff when my discs are sent so it'll be worth the wait.

There really has not been much of anything going on in this city since my last blog post. We have yet to go on a group trip since our venture to Prague and Dresden, and out schedule has been filled with Czech language classes and our lectures that everyone enjoys oh so much. Our group did have our first Czech language "test" the other day, to gauge where we were at with what we had learned thus far. The test wasn't officially graded, although I'm not 100% sure about that. I did manage to score a 94.5%, so I am fairly happy with what I am able to regurgitate from my memory banks. This is just like Spanish class all over again...spend 9 weeks learning about the language, study for the tests, take the tests, forget what you've learned. I'm sorry, but I'm not going to need the Czech language when I leave on May 30th. I will remember certain phrases and food items, but other than that, I will not know how to put a sentence together, nor should I need to. The language classes go by quick, so they are by far my favorite out of all we do in the mornings.

It's hard to believe that we landed in the Czech Republic on March 15th and that it's already April 10th, basically a month overseas. There are certain things I'm craving desperately back home, like a Chipotle burrito, pops with refills, not paying for water at a restaurant, and my puppy Tank. I am enjoying my time here in the Czech Republic, but don't think I'm not ready to go home yet sitting in the back of my mind. I do love it here, I love the group, the friendships, just know that May 30th is circled on my calendar. The amazing part about this is that we have roughly 50 days left until we leave the dorms we have called home now for a month, but only half of that time will be spent in Olomouc. Including weekends and our last free week, we will be in this city 27 days out of those 50, the rest will be spent travelling on Spring Break or on our group trips. Our group trips still remaining include:

1) Vienna, Austria

2) Venice, Italy

3) Krakow, Poland

4) Auschwitz

5) Kutna Hora, Czech Republic

6) Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic

plus any day trips that our coordinators want to throw in there.

This upcoming week will be the start of our Spring Break and everything is planned and ready to go. We will have one class and lecture on Monday and then Tuesday we are off to Vienna for a two day group trip on the 13th and 14th. After that, we will continue on to Venice for another two day group trip on the 15th and 16th. Immediately after that is when our Spring Break officially begins. My Spring Break will consist of me hopping on a plane the 17th in Venice and heading to Rome, where I will spend the next two days visiting the Colosseum (always wanted to see it) and other Roman landmarks. Then on the 19th, my group (7 of us) will get on a plane in Rome and take off for Paris, where we will spend 3 days visiting the Eiffel Tower and enjoying some of their wonderful toast. On the 22nd, our group will get on the underwater train from Paris to London to enjoy 2 days with Big Ben and the Queen. On the 24th, we will head to the London airport and fly back to Prague with 2 days to either go back to Olomouc or go around the country. It will all depend how much money I have, because right now it's looking pretty tight. All in all, my Spring Break has cost me over $650 just for travelling and lodging, not to mention I will need food and souvenirs, we'll see just how far I can get with the money in my account.

Needless to say I am super excited about these upcoming couple of weeks. I am in the process of getting an online photo album account so I can post all of my pictures up from the first few weeks, plus our trip to an Olomouc soccer game. I hope everyone in the States is having a good time and being safe. I would also like to send my prayers and best wishes out to my Uncle Dave who is undergoing tests for possible cancer. You're in my thoughts and I hope everything turns out okay.

Until next time, watch out Europe!

Has it been 2 weeks already?

Class. Class. Prague. Dresden. Prague. Olomouc. Since my last blog entry on March 20th we started our official class schedule that will fill up time between our group trips. As many of us have coined it, "it's not so much classes, it's something that we have to be at in the mornings." Our day normally begins around 7:30 in the morning when the roommate and myself attempt to wake up through alarms and pressing the snooze button several times to avoid the inevitable fact that we will have to pull our ass out of bed and get ready for class.

After our zombie routine, we haul out to catch the tram that takes us to the center of Olomouc by 8:15, for our Czech language class that begins at precisely at 8:45-ish, or whenever the last person walks through the door. In our Czech language class, we are going over the basics of the language without really learning the basics. It's like learning to drive with a blindfold..yeah, you might hit some shit and cause some damage, but eventually you'll get it. Our professor, Tomas, pronounced Toe-mosh, essentially smiles the whole class period, but we all know he is cursing us on the inside for our inept ability to pronounce the words. At the end of the class, he always announces that "time is coming," and everyone snickers like pre-teen school children.

I can only hope that time is wearing protection.

After our language class ends at roughly 9:45 am, we sit through an hour and a half of a painstaking lecture by different professors that are from either here in Olomouc, or from surrounding areas such as Prague. I would love to describe to you what we have learned thus far but I was too busy thinking how much I would rather drink antifreeze than listen to how the Czech Republic ousted communism and it's inception in the European Union. Needless to say, I spend the entire time taking a few notes here, zoning out once or twice, but mostly drawing inanimate crap on my paper. These lectures are long and monotonous, but thank God they are in English. However, some of these professors still have a very thick accent, so understanding of the words is hard to come by when you're half asleep dreaming of life outside of the University. Our professor today pronounced the word "focused" and it sounded as if he said "fuck you" and it got a tiny laugh from the peanut gallery. These are the things we looks forward during lectures to provide any sense of entertainment.

After the lecture is over, the group is free to roam the city. Four to five times during the semester, we have an afternoon lecture that begins at 3 pm, but other than that, we are free to spend the rest of the day sleeping, shopping, eating, or drinking. And many of the people in the group prefer the latter in mass quantities. Anything from beer to vodka to absinth has been consumed immediately after class, setting up the group for a myriad of fun later that night.

Class was on hiatus this week as the group took it's first trip, a three day rendezvous to Prague, with one day in Dresden, Germany squeezed into the Prague sandwich. On Thursday morning we loaded onto the train at roughly 9 am to make our way to Prague, which is located about three hours to the west of Olomouc. This was my first train ride, at least that I can remember, and I must say that I enjoyed it. It was relatively smooth and allowed you to see parts of the country that you wouldn't see otherwise. The train arrived in Prague, or Praha, at about noon and we were led to the hostel that we would call home from the next three nights. The hostel was tucked away in the bowels of Prague, a hop, skip, and a jump away from marijuana and cocaine dealers. We had to enter some passageway and the hostel could be found a few meters inside.

My first impression of Prague was that it was one giant shopping mall. The part of Prague we stayed in could be confused for shopping centers all over the world, Nike store over here, clothing stores over there, and everything inbetween. A person could easily blow hundreds of dollars in this location, as long as you avoid the cocaine dealers. I keep mentioning these drug dealers because there seems to be an abundance of them swarming the tourists in Prague. It's the most subtle move ever.

Drugie: "Do you speak English?"
Unsuspecting Tourist: "Yeah, why?"
Drugie: "You want some weed, maybe coke?"

Unsuspecting Tourist: "What, are you serious?"

And they vanish into the alley like a crackhead Batman. Anyways, we were only bothered a couple times to purchase drugs. The first day in Prague we walked across the city, over the Charles Bridge, a bridge only open to foot traffic and street vendors. We made our way up a massive hill to a castle...that we wouldn't be visiting until the next day. Smart. I know, right? Regardless, at the top of this hill, just short of the castle we were able to take some breathtaking shots of the Prague skyline, which extended as far as the eye could see. The rest of the day was free for us to shop and look around. My night ended early after walking around for hours searching for shit I wasn't going to buy.

The next day was our trek back to the castle. We woke up that morning (I say we and I mean my roommates for the trip, Kane, Caleb, and Cody) and went to go get an American breakfast at McDonald's. You can never have too much American. Anyways, after our climb to the castle, we got to wait in a very large line to enter. At 125 Czech crowns (their currency), this place has got to be pulling in some serious coin. The castle was enormous and provided for many picture opportunities, which will be available once I get a computer to download them onto. The rest of the day was free to rummage through the city and blow money on. I ended up getting a postcard for Laine to send to her and made my way back to the hostel. Another early night for Garrett.

The next morning we got on the 9:05 am train to Dresden, Germany. Apparently, Dresden is a city in Germany that the Allied Forces made their bitch in World War II. Tired of Germans bombing English cities, these Allied Forces decided to exact some revenge by attacking this military hub during the early 40's. Essentially the forces came in waves. The first wave was small explosives, to break windows and move foundations, to create instability. The next wave was giant fire bombs, which engulfed the city in flames. The next wave dropped more explosives and then the damage was too much to control. Temperatures were so hot, that people caught on the street or in buildings combusted into dust. It was estimated that these flames reached 1000 degrees Celsius. Anyways, the city that we saw on Saturday was a town that had to be completely rebuilt after the second World War, but it still had the look of an old European city, using the architectural styles of the early 1900's. We arrived in the city at around noon, possibly, and made our way directly to the town center, which happened to be a church with a status of Martin Luther in front of it. A quick tour of the church left us with two hours before we were to meet again to take our final tour. A few of us had lunch at a local restaurant and it was pretty good. I shopped around for a little bit, buying another postcard for Laine and a mini-beer stein shot glass for my sister. I spent the rest of the time taking photos, trying to capture the lore of the city.

Our final tour in Dresden was of an art museum, not my cup of tea. We had two and a half hours to look at these pieces of work and I was done after 20 minutes and outside taking pictures of the surrounding area, attempting to bring out my artistic side. I took a couple of pictures that I really like and will eventually get those on here. During my excursion outside, I saw a married couple getting wedding/engagement photos in the courtyard, some other girl with her own photographer, and people from all walks of life enjoying a beautiful day. As the group met up again, it was time to get back on the train and head back to Prague for the night. Another early night for me with no partying involved.

The next morning we met at 10 am, well, we met at 10:15 after a very frustrating experience at McDonald's where I watched eight people order their food after me and walk out the door with food in hand and me ready to break something. Anyways, we made our way to a Jewish cemetery/memorial part of town where we looked at Jewish remnants left from the second World War, as well as a Jewish cemetery with tombstones piled on top of tombstones. It was quite the scene. After the cemetery, we were free to roam the city until 2:40 pm, the time we were supposed to meet up and head to the train station. After a walk in the rain, we made our way to a pizza shop to eat before we left. We boarded the train at 3 and it was goodbye Prague and hello what we call home. Our train pulled into Olomouc around 6 pm. The end of a very fun trip and my first excursion into another country besides the Czech Republic.

That night I decided to do laundry for the first time and, let me tell you, it was so emotionally frustrating. First of all, the basements of these buildings we live in have one washing machine. One. Not a bank of them, nor are there any dryers. One load of laundry, correctly done, takes three hours to get done, if you don't want clothes that feel like you just swam in the Atlantic. Anyways, after three miserable hours and two loads of laundry done, you have to hang them up on your balcony and hope they dry. Ugh, I will never take a washer and dryer in the States for granted again.

Anyways, a late night on the computer talking to Laine ended my weekend and we had class this morning, which I could care less about. One funny moment was when our advisor asked us how our weekend went. A few sheepish answers were faded out when I said "bonerrific" a little louder than I wanted to say it. The advisor repeated the word back and it made me laugh for a good five minutes. I don't think she knows what it is.

I am still without a computer and it is growing more frustrating each day. I am thankful that my roommate lets me use his to get stuff done, but I am dying for the day I get a working computer again. My dad sent me a new hard drive to replace the shit one in my laptop now, along with my external hard drive with all of my photos, documents, music on it, and it is nowhere to be found. Needless to say I am beyond freaked out. It has been sitting in customs in Prague since March 21st and I don't know what to do about it. I got a letter from the Prague post office today, as it had been sitting in the office since last week. The entire letter is in Czech and no one can tell me what it says. I got the gray copy of the receipt that my dad filled out to send the package, so I don't know what's going on. I was told to go back in tomorrow to check on what they could find out for me. I'll travel to Prague and demand the god damn package myself if they aren't going to send it.

Anyways, I feel this has been long enough and that you are probably getting tired of reading. Pictures will be coming soon. I miss all of you back in States and I hope you're staying safe and STD-free. Until next time, stay classy, United States.

Feeling the lag

As I type this to you, I am currently sitting in a near empty lobby, looking out of a window at the pitch-black night as time creeps up on midnight in Olomouc. It's a Saturday night, shouldn't I be out having the time of my life? I sit here wondering that and I must admit, if I wasn't feeling jet lag before this weekend, I sure am now. This weekend has seen me falling asleep at 11 pm last night and more of the same tonight once this lobby closes at midnight and I am forced to stop watching my beloved March Madness games.

Now once my roommate and I get internet service in our room, I can be on as late as I desire, so that will be nice. But as for now, I am attempting to squeeze this post in before they shut off the lights and kick me out. This will be a quick update for those of you following my progress here in the Czech Republic.

The past two days have been absolutely beautiful, as opposed to the weather I heard about back in Omaha. It has been in the 50-60 degree range with some light winds and the warmth has continued into the night, making walks and wandering easy to do. Yesterday, our group had its second Czech language class followed by our first lecture about Central vs. Eastern Europe and just where exactly we thought we were. I was trying to pick up on the meaning of the lecture as it pertained to our trip, but the pieces just weren't fitting..the wheel was spinning, but the hamster was dead. Anyways, upon the completion of our lecture, a few of us went to one of my favorite restaurants called Husa. I order the Fettuccine Malianese, which is essentially chicken alfredo. It is a large portion and tastes quite good when you're craving it. After lunch, we came back to the dorm and split up to do various activities. I walked to Globus to purchase a couple of laundry baskets and walked back, jamming on my iPod both ways.

I don't care if I looked like a spaz.

Anyways, I spent almost the rest of the night watching NCAA basketball on the internet in the lobby, taking time out to have dinner in a cellar-type location. Great atmosphere, a pure "Czech" restaurant. After that I came back, had a couple shots of vodka with some flat mates and then called it a night after I passed out. I woke up around 6:30 am and hit the lobby for some internet action, to check the rest of the scores from the following night. I went back to bed around 7:30 am and woke up again at 11 am, looking forward to renting some bikes and riding around town. Much to our dismay, the bike shop closed at noon and we were running late. Whoops.

So instead of riding bikes, we walked around the square and stopped at a local pizzeria where we gobbled down some delicious pepperoni pizza. It had very thin crust, however, so it did little for the appetite. From there, my roommate and new friends, Samantha and Valerie, took a scenic route through Olomouc, walking through the more neighborhood part of town, rather than the downtown/shop aspect. Along the way we ran into small bars and even a locally owned winery, where a famous artist was drinking wine. I had some win myself and I must say, I think that will be the last time I drink urine.

Anyways, we continued on our walk home and managed to find our way back while enjoying the company of one another, taking in the city as we traveled. From there, I spent the rest of the afternoon on the phone with my mom, watching basketball and talking on Facebook. And now, here I am, 11:56 at night and the lobby about to close. Tomorrow should be rather uneventful and Monday will be our first official full day of classes. But until then, may your brackets be blessed and I hope you are all enjoying the snow, I sure as hell don't miss it.

As the schedule heats up..so does the weather

Hello everyone and welcome to my second installment of "Garrett's Adventures In the Czech Republic." Last time we spoke, I was coming off of a great party that didn't end until 4 am and, well, this time I am writing after a great party that didn't end until 4 am.

Now, when I say "end" at 4 am, I don't mean the party ended at that time. That is the time that I had to tap out and say "no more." The dancing was still raging on by the time I left the club with dead feet, ringing ears, and a sweat soaked shirt. I don't know how these people do it. It seems as though they have a party every single night that NEVER ends. I must admit though, that I love it. I love being able to just spend the night, a weeknight nonetheless, with a group of growing good friends and turn it into memories that will last a lifetime.

I will admit, I'm not the greatest dancer, but last night I was "en fuego" (or "on fire" for those of you who no absolutely no Spanish). I was bustin' moves even I didn't know I had and displaying them for that club to see, whether they liked it or not. I was so dehydrated and sweaty, I felt like I had just run a marathon in dress shoes and a tie. It was a great time, even if the rest of the group did bail on my roommate and I early, just like they did on Monday night. It's whatever, we know we are warriors and it will continue to be that way until the day we leave on that plane back to the States.

I do miss the United States. I miss the currency, I miss the routine that I had become accustomed to, but most of all, I miss the English language. While I am embracing the differences that do exist over here, it is so frustrating to have questions, but in order to get them answered, I need to pray the person who can answer them, knows just a little bit of English. We have taken our first two Czech language classes and I have learned a little bit. I have learned how to say hello (ahoj) and where are you from (odkud jsi), but the rest is filling in slowly. I can tell it will be difficult to piece together the puzzle that is the Czech language, but I know I can do it, especially after taking four years of Spanish.

I know you are asking yourself, 'Hey, Garrett..I thought you went overseas to study and do schoolwork, not party?" I assure you, we are just about to start lectures next week and we are already beginning our language classes. Take that, naysayers. Anyways, to kind of recap the past two days:

Yesterday started out good. It was St. Patty's Day and I had just gotten seven hours of sleep. We woke up and hit the tram to go take a tour of city hall. Once we were in city hall, we learned a lot about the history of Olomouc and then got to climb the clock tower where we were treated with a bird's eye view of the city. It was breathtaking, nonetheless. Pictures will be posted as soon as I get my computer fixed. From there, we had a lunch break where I had roast beef and potato dumplings. It was exactly like salisbury steak, but it was damn good. Once we finished lunch, we headed to Globus, a humongous Wal-Mart type place a few blocks away from our dorms. I purchased some chocolate, apples, bananas, pringles and other goods to munch on in the room. From Globus, I hurried back to my room because it was 2 pm and I had class at 3..I had to call my dad to let him know I needed a hard drive mailed to me for my computer. I made class at 3 and after that was relaxing and the aforementioned party.

Today has been laid back. After getting home at 3 am, I read a little bit of my book and hit the sheets to wake up at 8 am. I had brackets to fill out. We were to meet at the University courtyard at 10 am to get initiated with the library. This turned out to be a 15-minute tour and we were set free until our language class at 3 pm..what a waste of sleep. It was, however, the nicest day yet here in the Czech Republic. The temperature got up to about 55, maybe warmer, and I was able to bust out the shorts and feel really comfortable. The group had lunch at McDonald's and then it was back to Globus to get things I forgot yesterday. After that, I hit the room for a quick nap before our class and now here I am, typing to you and watching some NCAA basketball on the internet, since I am missing it in the States.

Well, I'm gonna keep watching basketball and then enjoy a quiet night in my room. I miss you all and hope you miss me too. God bless!

The First Encounters

Oh how the time is flying here in Europe. Hello everybody, welcome to the up and down adventures of Garrett Ritonya in the Czech Republic. Sorry I didn't blog it up yesterday, but circumstances and time kept me from sharing with you what I did during my time here thus far. I last left you with myself getting ready to depart for the airport for what turned out to be the longest day of my life. We departed from Omaha at 12:30, due to the plane being overweight and imbalanced from top to bottom. To correct this, they had to move carryons from the bottom to the cabin of the plane and if they couldn't accomplish this, then people were going to have to be kicked off.

Their final solution?

All of the bags on the flight that were going internationally (mine) could stay on the plane. But for those who were making domestic flights within the US, their bags would be re-routed on different flights. Definitely a sure-fire clusterfuck to start off the trip. I did get to sit in the first row and enjoy some extra leg room. In no time, about an hour to be exact, we were landing in Minneapolis and preparing for our next flight. A few of us stopped at a Subway near our gate and as we were finishing our last bite, a student came to inform us that they were currently boarding the plane and that we were the last ones left. Whoops. Well it was about time for my first-ever trans-Atlantic flight, and I must say, it was one of the best flights I have ever had. The flight covered roughly 5100 miles from Minneapolis to Amsterdam, but there was entertainment all around you in the form of a small 7-10 inch screen on the headrest in front of you. On this screen you could find everything from movies, to television shows, to music, to games, to business talk.

First I watched The Blindside. I can see why everyone says this is a good movie. I really enjoyed the storyline and the performances of the actors, definitely a deserving candidate for best movie. After listening to music for a little bit on the screen, I saw that they also had Law Abiding Citizen on file, so I watched that for the fourth time and it was just as good as the first. I must admit that during this movie, I started fading in and out of sleep. I got to the point to where I turned the movie off so I could sleep and restart it again. So after my sleep/movie time, I looked for something to do, and that came in the form of dinner that was served to us on the flight. I remember choosing chicken and it wasn't that bad, especially the chocolate chip cookie bar. The guy sitting next to me was in some type of Australian get-up, wearing a leather vest and some type of boomerang cowboy hat. He didn't talk much. So after dinner in the sky, I decided to take a stab at Inglorious Basterds. I must admit that I only watched a quarter of the movie and stopped because I just could not follow it anymore. My next viewing adventure came when I found the plane had a Family Guy episode, Meals on Wheels, where Peter opens a restaurant and it becomes inhibited by cripples, much to his dismay. I lost track of time, but the plane had a cool feature on it where you could view a map of just where you were in the sky, kinda cool. Anyways, I ended up reading a little bit of my book by Rick Reilly and had breakfast and before I knew it, it was 5:30 am and we were landing in Amsterdam.

With a second burst of energy, it was only 11:30 at home, we were on our plane to Prague. Nothing interesting happened here and the three hour bus ride from Prague to Olomouc was very uneventful. We got to the city at roughly 3 pm local time here and moved into our dorm rooms. I'm rooming with a fifth year senior from Wilbur, Neb, named Kane. He currently attends the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a blast to be around in the room. The rooms are small, with two very stiff beds, a small fridge, some shelving and one desk. In the middle of our pod is a kitchen, with three more rooms surrounding it, accompanied by two bathrooms.

Our first adventure was to find food. We ended up hitting up a pizzeria and I ordered a ham, sausage, and egg pizza, good way to start off the trip. We then hit up a couple more places before coming back to the dorms, tired as all hell. I sucked up it, however, to hit the bars with a group of friends, drinking shots and partying it up. We hit up a local club and had a good time dancing and goofing around until we left at 3:45 am..we had orientation at 9:15 that morning. So we set our alarm for 8:20 am and it went off at that time.

Or what we thought was that time.

Apparently the clock I brought from home is now running slow. So for each 4 minutes or so, it would lose a minute of time. So when we woke up at 8:30, it was actually 9:30, but luckily they were waiting for us downstairs in the lobby. From there we had an orientation meeting at the University. An hour or so of blabbing, I was drawing pictures in the back. After that meeting it was off to find lunch and take photos for our tram passes. Everything in this city runs through a tram system. So we got our pictures and three of us went to find a place to eat. After an unsuccessful attempt, we hit up a hamburger stand on the street. It was here that I separated from the group and came back to the dorms to put on longer pants and grab my camera. It was 1 pm and we were to meet back at the University at 1:45 to go on a tour. I grabbed my camera and gloves and got back on the tram at 1:30.

I don't remember how to get back to the University.

So after going too far, I walked and walked and walked, eventually retracing my steps back to the University to get me there at about 2:10 pm. No group. So I looked and looked and looked, but nothing. So I walked back to the center and waited until 3 pm with no luck. By now I was so cold I decided to head back to the dorms and call this day a loss. I slept until 8 pm and here I am now, typing to you.

I forgot to mention that last night, the hard drive in my computer crashed, sending me into a panic, because now I have no laptop. I find it frustrating not being able to contact anybody here if you are lost, because we don't have phones. The biggest barrier here has to be the language. Almost all of the vendors speak no English and it's impossible to ask questions and get answers. I feel this will be a problem until the day I leave. As for now, I'm going to work on my computer and let my roommate have his computer back. Until then, wait for pictures and I will gladly post them once I have them. We have a tour tomorrow at 10 am and then a class at 3. Tomorrow night there is a St. Patty Day's toga party at 9:30 pm that we are attending. Thursday we make our first group trip to Prague.

I miss all of you back at home and I can't wait to be back, but for now, I am going to enjoy my time here. God bless and check back soon!

Ready for Takeoff

Well, it is nearing that time where I must pack my life away into two suitcases and a carryon, shovel those items inside of a car and drive to the airport. This is where my future awaits me. Today is the beginning of my semester studying abroad in the city of Olomouc in the Czech Republic, and I have mixed emotions as I type this entry into my blog this morning. I still have materials to pack and papers to print off before I am to arrive at the airport in 72 minutes. But really, who's counting? I am not the biggest fan of flying, especially trans-Atlantic flights, as this will be my first. I can normally handle short two-to-three hour departures, but needless to say this is my total trip:

Omaha to Minneapolis - Noon to 1:20 p.m.

Minneapolis to Amsterdam - 3;30 p.m. to 5:30 a.m.

Amsterdam to Prague - 7:25 a.m. to 9 a.m.

Prague to Olomouc - ?

So needless to say, I am looking at a 19-hour adventure today that will take me from the midwest, where the weather is overcast and the mornings are brisk, to the middle of Europe, where...the weather is overcast and the mornings are brisk. Well, it'll be like I never left home. To all of my family and friends who will be following this during my time abroad, I wish you the best in all that you do while I am gone; I will truly miss your company and companionship while I'm overseas. It will be difficult adjusting to life with family so far away, but it will be good to learn how to manage my life on my own. I will be updating this blog with entries everyday (at least I will try) with my encounters and my experiences through my typing and my photographs.

Well, I must be getting the final preparations made before we leave and I say goodbye to my family for the final time for just over 10 weeks. To the rest of you, keep me in your prayers and in your thoughts as I put my life in the hands of a big piece of metal with propellers.

Update later once we make our arrival in Europe. God bless.

The Road to Redemption: Richie Ross' Journey to Football Salvation

Some say the path to greatness comes from traveling a road less taken. For Richie Ross, that path has sent him from the top of the mountain to the bottom of the ocean, and everywhere in-between.

Ross, a 2006 graduate from the University of Nebraska-Kearney, recently made his debut with the Omaha Beef of the Indoor Football League, catching a touchdown pass and solidifying his position on the team. But it wasn’t that long ago that Ross was donning the NFL logo on his jersey instead of the Beef logo.

During his career at Kearney, Ross set multiple school records and impressed not only the coaches, but NFL scouts as well. Upon graduating, Ross entered himself into the NFL draft and the whirlwind that was to be his NFL future was set to begin.

“When the draft came around, I got a couple looks. In the seventh round, the Houston Texans were looking to draft a wide receiver and they were looking at myself and David Anderson from Colorado State,” Ross said. “Unfortunately, they chose him over me, but decided to sign me on as undrafted free agent a couple of weeks later.”

So Ross traded in his Loper gear for a Houston Texans helmet, where he eventually was signed to the team’s practice squad. The marriage between the Texans and Ross was short lived, however, as he was waived from the team half way into the season. Despite the heartbreaking news, Ross’ NFL dream continued when the Tennessee Titans picked up his rights only a couple of weeks later.

With a new start and a new team, Ross packed his bags and headed for Tennessee. Team management informed him that while he was on their top priority list, that he was to be sent to the NFL Europe for developmental and evaluation reasons.

Then all four walls came crashing down on top of Ross’ NFL aspirations.

“During training camp for Europe, I was running a vertical route against one of the cornerbacks. The pass was underthrown, so I cut off my route and jumped up to get the ball; it’s something I’ve done thousands of times in my football career. When I was up in the air, the back came forward and his knee hit my knee and it broke my patella in two,” Ross said. “The doctors say it was truly a freak accident in the way it went down.”

So instead of heading over to Europe with his Tennessee teammates, Ross was on his way to Birmingham, Ala., to take care of his broken patella. Doctors told Ross that the contraction in his quadriceps from jumping up to catch the ball, combined with the force of the contact between knees, forced the break of the bone, something that is not too common in football injuries. For the next three months Ross was on crutches watching and wondering if his team would still want him.

Once Ross was able to ditch the crutches, he began working out and rehabbing with a new metal plate that was essentially screwing his leg together. As time progressed, however, the pain didn’t subside, even though team officials thought the rehabilitation process should be going quicker than it had been.

“They kept telling me during my treatment and workouts to fight through the pain, but the pain never went away. About seven to eight months after my procedure, I started developing a knot in my knee that shot pain throughout my leg. Doctors in Birmingham couldn’t explain to me what this knot was and all of the X-rays I had done showed nothing,” Ross said. “So I continued to push through the pain, but I knew something wasn’t right.”

Eventually the pain became too much for Ross and he demanded an answer from the staff that had been treating his surgically repaired knee. He was told that the knot in his knee could be a bone growth, but that it shouldn’t be affecting him nor should it be painful. Doctors then suggested to Ross that they go back into his knee, shave the bone growth, and hopefully that would relieve him of any pressure.

This was his third procedure on his knee in just over a year from the time it happened. What doctors found in his knee wasn’t a bone growth, nor was it anything that Ross was doing wrong in his rehab.

“After the third surgery, the doctor came in and said to me ‘I think we finally have this thing beat.’ He then told me that the painful knot in my knee was a stitch that the surgeons had left in my knee, which formed scar tissue around it. It was a very simple mistake, but it cost me a year of pure playing time,” Ross said. “I was going on almost two years in this Birmingham facility and I wanted to be back playing football.”

Not only did the surgical mistake cost Ross practice and playing time, but it also cost him his spot on the Tennessee roster.

“Tennessee looked at my progress and felt that I should be further along than where I was. They basically thought that I had given up and that I had nothing left,” Ross said. “They thought I was milking the injury so I could keep getting a paycheck from the team, which is completely untrue. Why would I go through all of these surgeries and rehab so I could make $600 a week? I wouldn’t do that.”

So the team released Ross in 2008 and he was left to wonder what would become of not only his NFL, but also his entire football future. Ross eventually left the confines of the Birmingham facility to attempt a comeback into the sport that he had made his living for years.

Within the next year, Ross would compete in tryouts for teams in the Canadian Football League (CFL) and other leagues, and came away with nothing positive to show for his efforts.

“Some of these tryouts had 600 wide receivers and my tryout consisted of me running two routes and one 40-yard dash, and that was it. These tryouts were also ones that players paid to be at and the whole situation was just bad,” Ross said. “I was living out of my suitcase and I was running out of options. It was then that I had to think about what I wanted to do with the rest of my career and where it would go from here. I knew I had something left, but I felt empty, like something was missing.”

Ross said that he even had thoughts of coming back to the college where he re-wrote the record books, to help out with the coaching staff. But with that thought behind him, Ross made the decision to move back to Lincoln, Neb., to be with his family that had been waiting for him during his NFL career.

That empty feeling, however, wouldn’t go away and left Ross wanting more as life continued to tread through murky waters.

“When I came back to Lincoln, I just wanted to find a job, to work and support my family, but everywhere I looked, the door was closed,” Ross said. “I was of no worth to anyone, including myself.”

That is when the opportunity to play for a team from up Interstate 80 came knocking on Ross’ door. The Omaha Beef were holding open tryouts and Ross, with nothing on his plate and a chip on his shoulder, wanted to prove that he could still play.

Ross made his way to Omaha and played his way onto the team’s roster for their exhibition game against the St. Charles Cyclones. Only the players who stood out in this game would be offered a spot on the team’s official 2010 roster.

On the field, Ross was easily noticeable as one of the team’s tallest wide receivers. Early in the second quarter, Ross went in motion and ran a fly pattern up the middle of the field, finding open space for an easy touchdown catch and a celebratory back flip in the end zone to cap off his first career IFL touchdown and first career touchdown celebration.

His play earned him a spot on the Beef’s 2010 roster and gave Ross a glimmer of hope that he could once again become the receiver he once was.

“Right now I am nowhere where I used to be, my route running is very rusty and my feet are pretty clumsy when working against corners. I mean, it has been close to three years since I have had any type of football action,” Ross said. “But one thing hasn’t been lost is my ability to go up and catch the ball. I can still do that with the best of them.”

While looking back on his short-lived career with the NFL, Ross said he has no regrets with how his life has gone, but he did accredit some of his downfalls to a bad attitude and offered some advice to fellow Division II players with pro football dreams.

“If I could say anything to the kids coming from a small school, I would say that you need to continue to get better every day and work constantly on becoming the best player you can be,” Ross said. “That was one of my problems when I was signed by an NFL team. I assumed that once I was in the NFL, that only the best players play in the league. So instead of working on my route running and physical conditioning, I was too worried about the players ahead of me who were getting more opportunities than I was. In the end, my bad attitude about my playing situation set the course for where I am now. Regardless of your position, you can’t let your spot in somebody else’s shadow affect who you are”

“You can ask anybody, any quarterback I played with at UNK, that I was always the first to blow up their phone in the summer trying to get them to go to the park, go to the field, to work out routes and just throw. Somewhere along the line, I lost that in myself and I’m trying to get it back.”

The road to redemption for Ross has been filled with potholes and obstacles, but it’s nothing that he hasn’t dealt with already – and he isn’t taking anything for granted.

“I’ve seen up close that you can be here today and gone tomorrow. It’s something that has been on my shoulders and I want to take my time with the Beef day by day, using the practice time to become the receiver that I once was and the one that I know I can be,” Ross said.

For now, the former Lincoln High and UNK star will don the orange and black and suit up in front of 5,000 fans shaking cowbells. While it’s far from the bright lights of the NFL, something is better than nothing, no matter what league you play for.