Pure Bliss: Bohemia

Wowza, it is a struggle to even begin to write this blog because I know that this experience is dwindling to a depressing end. I can honestly say that I’m having an episode of utter heartbreak. When we were told by others that the time we spend here would fly by, that is a complete understatement. I have been so lucky to have met such an amazing group to travel through Europe with! We were even able to experience the struggles of so-called ‘finals’ here. Who are we kidding, thanks to Kath the finals were smooth sailing. Monday we all spent the day studying and taking the infamous Czech language final. After that we all hurriedly packed for our next couple days, and we made our way to Southern Bohemia which is a region in the Czech Republic.

The good thing about this field trip is that is was a much more relaxing last week together. During this time, we visited three different small towns called Litomysl, Kutna Hora, and Cesky Krumlov. There was not a whole lot to Litomysl, and I think we could all agree that it would have been better to just taken a daytrip there instead. However, we only stayed there for one-night. The next morning, we got back on the bus and headed to Kutna Hora. This town consisted of visiting a church that was beautiful, but more importantly it brought out the child in about every UNK student there. We spent some time in a playroom meant for children that had multiply interacted games based off of what the church was built upon. One of my favorite or more ‘interesting’ thing we did in Kutna Hora was visiting the salt mine. It was fun being able to wear the fashionable white trench coats and hard hats, it’s fine we all looked like goons.

Physically walking through the mine was the interesting part, you could even say amusing because I got the luxury of watching all the tall people mangle their way through a four/five-foot-tall opening. Finally, what we all had been waiting for, our adventure to the fairytale land of Cesky Krumlov.

This beautiful town had looked as if it had been picked straight out of princess book with a magical, magical land. I could have walked through Cesky Krumlov all day and night, venturing off into little local shops. Some of the girls and I found a cute old fashioned cocktail bar where we ordered unique drinks and listened to classic music. As we all sat there enjoying our drinks, good music, and great company it felt like I was sitting there right on a movie set as it played forward. Since sleep was becoming more and more of a foreign thing, I decided to call it an early night. The next day was the day we had all been waiting for. RAFTING.

Now this was quite the day, soon enough six of us hopped in a raft boat and began paddling down the river without a care in the world. GOT YA. You all thought we would just nicely and calmly float down the river. Alright, rewind really quick! Who would have thought that six Americans in a blow up boat could be more obnoxious, loud, and waving like a bunch of animals at all the other tourist and some locals? Five minutes into this adventure we all gripped each other and to the edges when our raft filled with water going down the rapids and almost capsized. The thing I distinctly remember is that I could barely feel my face because I was all squinty eyed grinning from ear to ear, laughing from the very pit of my belly. Boy oh boy, experiencing pure, ecstatic joy is hard to come by these days, and I am so blessed to have grasped that in Europe with some of my most favorite people. This raft ride was supposed to last 2 ½ hours, however about midway through the journey some of us took a pit stop where we all probably had a little too much fun.

These moments are the moments that made this day in the win for top three best experiences in Europe. After about a 1 ½ hours at our “little” pit stop break we jumped back on the raft and mosied on down the river. Some of us may have taken some battle wounds home with us after that day, but wow the view from the last two hours definitely made up for it. The scenery was absolutely breathtaking with the green as could be trees, bright blue sky, and the sunrays shining down on us.
There are no words that could even justify the details from that epic day, but I will admit that rallying up the whole gang and floating down the river was by far the most memorable day in my life. It is little moments like those that I could get lost in forever and forget about the real world completely. Cesky Krumlov allowed us to all see the real beauty and worth of the Czech Republic. There is no better way I would have wanted to end my experience with my study abroad fam. Pure Bliss and so thankful for all of it.