Distrikt 2240

Recently we had our last trip together with all of the exchange students from the Czech Republic and Slovakia. We went to Český Krumlov, Krakow, Auschwitz, Bratislava, and Třebíč.

We started out in Cesky Krumlov with just the students from the Czech Republic to meet the Outbounds, or future exchangers from the CR. Most are going to America with others going to Canada, Brazil, and Taiwan. They were a really great group of people and I'm sure that they'll have fun on exchange. We toured the city and ate some cake things that the city is famous for which were excellent. It rained of course because it's been raining here since I got back from Italy so it was chilly and bad weather for the whole trip until the very end.

On Sunday we drove to Krakow, Poland. It was once the capitol of Poland and is very nice. It rained there too, but that didn't stop us from seeing the castle, three churches, and a huge tower which we climbed up, 500 steps there and back. We spent the day there and have our first thick crust pizza in almost ten months which was excellent. I had a great time there and was very pleased to learn that I was good enough at Czech to understand some Polish. I could understand some of what they said, but I could read and understand more than I could hear and understand. Next we went to Auschwizt. It was horrible. Just being there was dreadful. We saw where they slept; in wooden barns that were originally designed for horses and had holes underneat the walls. We went and saw the chambers where they were gassed and the enormous memorial for them. Then we went to Auschwitz-Birkenau which was even worse. We took a complete tour of the concentration camp and saw the death wall where people were shot or hanged. Then we went and saw all the prison cells and the torture cells. One way of torturing them that we saw was to twist their arms behind their backs and then tie their wrists together and then hang them by their wrists for hours. They also shoved four people into a cell that was a vertical rectangle and people died of suffocation and starvation. All along the walls of this building were pictures of the prisoners who died there and it was horrifying. We continued on to the living quarters and saw how they evolved from rooms with straw on the ground to wooden bunks by the end of the camp and saw newspaper clips that described the camp to inform the rest of the world to the horrors that were taking place there. The second to last section was the part where they displayed all the things taken from the prisoners right before they were executed. There was a room full of shoes, one full of luggage, one full of pots, one full of combs and brushes, but they worst was the room full of human hair. The Nazis would shave of the women's hair before killing them and then they turned the hair into cloth and sold it. The final room was full of children's toys and then we continued to the final rooms of the camp; the gas chambers. There were showerheads from the "showers" that the gas came out of and blood on the walls from people trying to escape. We saw the cremators that they Nazis used to destroy the bodies. We learned that some people urinated on cloth and then covered the children's mouth and nose with it in an attempt to save them. We also learned that not everyone was dead when they were put into the incinerator. The trip to Auschwitz was definately the worst and most unforgettable trip I've ever been on in my life and I never want to go there again for the rest of my life.

We continued on to the mountains of Eastern Slovakia. We hiked in the mountains for five hours and it was gorgeous. It stopped raining for the time that we hiked so it was instead just really really muddy. Needless to say, I fell. I slipped in the water and fell onto a slanted sheet of rock and still have bruises and cuts on my arm from it. We ended up climbing to the top of a small waterfall and then once we got to the top it started raining again. Almost everyone fell at least once. Once we were all wet and tired we continued on to see the famous Ice Cave nearby. Even though we were soaked and nobody wanted to go Rotary decided to drag us there and then underground. It was very pretty and interesting to learn about, but I would have liked it better if my shoes hadn't squelched with every step I took. The next day we continued to Bratislava, capitol of Slovakia. We had lunch there and then toured for a half hour. Bratislava is not a pretty city; they never really changed the buildings after communism so it's mostly gray and ugly. We learned that a long long time ago kings used to be corronated in Bratislava. After Bratislava we drove to Trebic in the Czech Republic for the District Conference.

District 2240 (In Czech Distrikt 2240) consists of all of former Czechoslovakia; so the Czech Republic and Slovakia. This is the part where all the exchange students were together. On Saturday we toured around the city of Trebic and then we went to the conference where all the Rotarians were waiting for us. We put on a little show for them. First the Slovak students sang a song in Slovak and then we sang a song in Czech. Then we had two students narrating and we were introduced. After that four students, the two best speakers from Slovakia and the two best from Czech were called up and asked to speak about their exchange. I was the last to speak and I was asked to speak about making friends here and how hard it was to overcome the language barrier. After that the asian exchange students sang a song together. To end all the students sang and danced together and then we had lunch with the Rotarians. After we lunch we saw our one billionth church and then we had free time. At five we all dressed in our formal clothes and attended the Rotary dinner at Chateau Trebic. We toured the chateau and spent time with all the Rotarians and each other. Finally, on Sunday, it was time to say goodbye and we all left.

It was weird, having to start the goodbyes. One girl is already home and another leaevs on Monday so it really is the beginning of the end here in Europe. My return date is Thursday, July first at 8:30 p.m. at General Mitchell International Airport and I'm am really excited to come home! On Monday all the exchange students still here are going to attend a concert in České Budějovice and then on Thursday we're all going rafting on the Vltava river. A week from Saturday I leave for Paris and then London. When I get back from London I have my farewell party with Rotary and then I leave three days after I get back fron the UK. I can't wait! I'm ready to have English back! :)