Yesterday I went to the Mucha museum. My sister Sarah likes Mucha a lot, and I was interested in seeing more of his works. It was really cool, and his art is really interesting. It seemed that most of his works were used for posters and advertising, which, to me, is a very interesting medium. I also enjoyed the ink or paint which he used. There are a lot of metallic colors and very distinct lines. Most of his works were print-ads, but he also had some oils on canvas, which surprised me. During the second half of his artistic career (beginning of the 20th century) he was working on his Great Slav Epic. Although this epic wasn’t displayed, it really sparked my interest and I want to see this great work; it was completed in 20 panels and the total surface area covers a half of a square kilometer. I think it is displayed in Brno, so I want to visit and see the masterpiece. He also had a very interesting life, and it was interesting to see his life adjacent to his works.
I also did some grocery shopping; the few Czech words really helped me find food that I like. Czech is very interesting- if there are two words used to describe something, like ice-cream sandwich, the first word becomes an adjective. For example,
Ice cream is “zrmlzina” and sandwich is “sendvice”. To make zrmlzina an adjective, we add an “ove” (to match the neuter gender of sendvice). So ice-cream sandwich is “zrmlzinové sendvice” (or something like that). Knowing this rule really helps a lot when shopping for food!
Today I went shopping at a mall on the west bank of the Vltava. The mall was pretty big (no MOA, of course) and I bought a hilarious shirt at Terranova. It was weirdly translated:
SAVE ME!
I DON’T WANT TO GO
TO MIDNIGHT PARTY..
...I don’t want to see Sheila
and her new boyfriend
Best shirt ever. It just is so random... I hope that there are Czech people that wear this shirt and have no idea what it is saying. The clothing stores are very similar to the states, except every once in a while you will see a unique botique that is very European. Terranova is one such store. We went to a carousel as well on the top floor of the mall and rode in the tea cup. That was a horrible idea. My friend Emily and I still feel sick to our stomachs even though it was about 2 hours ago; I think when you are older you can spin faster, and get sicker.
There is a musical festival occurring on the islands on the Vltava this weekend with various music styles. Some of the music is indie, some is folk music, and some is rock. Czech music is really interesting. Well, I guess it is pretty similar to live music you would hear in the States except the words are ridiculous. Our student guides told us that some bands don’t really make sense in Czech, they are just singing random words. Sounds like some bands in the states :-D
I went to a chain restaurant called Bohemian Bagel today that offered bagels, coffee, sandwiches, salads, etc. and it was very similar to coffee shops in the United States. It was weird, because I could be eating in the US, except the menus were in Czech. One huge difference in restaurants is water. You cannot order tap water, but only bottled water. It is expensive too. It is cheaper to drink beer than water. Beer is like 18 Kronos, less than a dollar, while a similar sized water would be like 25 Kronos.
I’m hungry again, I think I will grab some food, and more updates are sure to come!
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