Brno Thoughts

Something that fascinated me about the city was how big it actually was. I really thought this was just a small town that we were stopping through as a little break and to see a museum. However, after getting lost I realized it’s a lot bigger than I thought. After the beach Katie, Haley and I went to Tesco. On the way back we got lost. I could tell all of us were trying to keep our cool but secretly freaking out. What was even more frustrating was not many people spoke English. We ended up hopping on a random bus and going to a stop or two and getting off to check a sign. We saw a lot of Brno in the process so I guess that is one positive. We finally got to areas we knew was way off because we saw intersections and I asked another girl and she barely spoke English but said it was complicated and we were far from it. So we hoped on another and almost got out but said let’s wait and then at the next stop we got off and turns out it is a major bus stop. So we found we needed bus 25 and hopped on it and after a good ten minutes found out we got the right bus but wrong way. We got off and finally found the right stop! It’s crazy how much harder it was for us getting lost there versus in America where we would have our phones to call someone or look up directions. But we found our way back and that’s all that matters! So what fascinated me was the size of Brno and the lack of English speakers.

My favorite academic experience was the Roma museum. I was very excited for this because I have always wanted to learn more about them and their history. I watch the show "My Gypsy Wedding" back home a lot but that focus more on American Gypsies so I was looking forward to learning more. What I knew about gypsies are that they have an expensive lifestyle where the wedding is the biggest day of their lives. After the wedding the woman stays at home to clean and watch kids all day whereas the man just works and doesn't do much when he comes home. To most people that sounds stupid but I actually want to be a stay at home mum so it sounds amazing to me. 

Some things I learned at the museum was that there are estimated 15 million Roma people in the world today. They originally lived in a town called "Little Egypt" which is how they got the offensive name "Gypsies" I thought that was interesting. Another name they were called was Cikani, this is also an offensive name. 

Our tour guide told us a lot about their history and how a normal family would consist of the husband and wife along with 10-12 kids. The man still would work and the woman would stay at home. We learned now days they will still have more kids than average like 5-6.

Another thing I learned was that they used to have ID cards that they had to carry around with them that describes their life and has information such as their age, skin color, body figure, husband name, number of kids, height, nose, eyes, forehead and even their teeth shape. I wouldn't like how they are all characterized by all their features like that. 

In Germany in  1933-1945 The Nazi built a concentration camp in Letech and Hodonine that the Roma people were sent too. They did tests on the Roma people just like how they did with Jews to try to get the average look of gypsies. I did not realize the Roma people were sent to concentration camps before this. In Berlin we went to a memorial that said something about Roma people and others and I was confused but now it is all going together. 

A part I really liked was social worker started talking to us about her role in the community which I liked a lot because I'm going to be a social worker that works with kids so it was interesting to learn more about what she did. She explained that the Roma students were being told at school that they are stupid. This is because they speak more Roman language or poor Czech. Another bad thing that was going on in schools were that they were not being taught about the Roma holocaust, just the Jewish holocaust. She described that there was only one sentence in the text mentioning it, something like, "There was a holocaust of the Jewish people and also a holocaust of the Roma people" 

I really enjoyed this museum! I think it was all interesting to learn so much more about their history. I took a lot away from it; it was my favorite museum yet!

My favorite extracurricular experience was hanging out down by the beach with some other people. We got there and there was a small carnival going on and so many locals hanging out. There were also a lot of locals out on the grass relaxing by the lake which was nice. The group of us just laid out and sun bathed for a while. It was nice to just relax and catch up with my thoughts since we have been on the go for so long. I really recommend the group next year to go hang out there also! 

I recommend eating at AIDA La Dolce Vita. It's a small cafe in Old Town Square that had both food and gelato! It was a cute little place with good food so I would recommend it! Also the gelato is super cheap and they give big scoops! 

Brno

Address of Aida-La Dolce Vita! Check it out :)