So I'm sitting in Prague, wrapping up an insanely busy last few weeks of a semester, preparing to embark on more than a month of heavy travel. I'm going everywhere, and I really can't wait. I'm going to see my father, I'm going to see some of my friends from school, and I'm going to be in a zillion places. Should be spectacular.

The last few weeks have been intense. We shot several projects, barely having time to do anything else. After classes were officially finished, we still had shooting to do. Eirik left on Thursday, and Riccardo and Vefik left on Friday. Pisek was surreal as hell without them.

So I went to Prague. I took the GRE on Saturday (I did a lot better this time) and was able to relax on Sunday. Today, I went downtown and did a bit of shopping, among several other things.

But yeah, I'll try to update this as much as humanly possible over the next few weeks to give details about where the hell I am.

No hay nada aquí hoy

First I said I'd update this once a week, then once every few weeks, and now it's been almost a month. Wow, I'm awesome.

We've shot a music video, which you can expect to see online probably next week. We also shot a report, and we may shoot one more thing before Christmas. We've had some new classes, and school's generally been all right.

But let's be fair, I'm overdue on a blog about my grandfather.

My grandfather, Cecil H. Underwood, passed away over a week ago. His health had been on the decline for a long time. In a lot of ways, it's a relief.

I knew my grandfather well in a lot of ways, but at times he seemed like a mystery. Before I left, I kind of knew I'd be missing his funeral, so I said my goodbye to him in private. Part of me felt like I was running away a little bit, but I know he'd be okay with where I was at his service. Chris, my brother (pictured above) was able to read a statement from me at the memorial service (thanks Chris), so I did what I could to express my feelings.

Granddad was a public figure in West Virginia. He was a political figure, and while he didn't always win, a lot of people knew who he was. And it definitely looks like people liked him. Every time his health failed, it somehow got to the news media, which always bothered me. Granddad was a very private, quiet man. Unfortunately, being abroad, I had to deal with the public figure part of him first. I knew that something was going on, but couldn't get ahold of anybody, so I ended up checking the Charleston newspaper, which already had a story on it. Four hours after his passing, and they had interviews and statements. It was a bit surreal.

And while I'm not sure it's necessarily a good thing that they had as many cameras at a memorial service as they did, I was able to stream it live online and see how it went, for the most part. It was a lovely service, and everybody that I could see did a wonderful job. Granddad would be a little embarrassed at all the love, but he would appreciate it.

Also, my brother and my uncle Craig look too alike. When Chris got up to talk, I wasn't sure who he was until he spoke. I realized that it looks a little bit like a family of Lex Luthors... I'm not saying we are though.

But yeah, Granddad's passing is sad, but things happen for a reason.

My apologies

Yeah, in that last post where I said I'd try to keep things a bit more regular... I lied.

Vefik, my trusty roommate, and I went off to Vienna a few weekends back. We stayed at the Wombat Hostel, which was excellent. In a lot of ways, it surpassed some hotels. There's just that whole "I'm sleeping next to a complete stranger" aspect that holds it back from that.

Our lovely hostel.

Vienna was quite lovely. We went to the St. Stephen's Cathedral, the Schonbrunn Palace, the Museum Quarter, the Bermuda Triangle (notorious bar area where people mysteriously get lost, which was insanely crowded) and the State Opera House (where we saw La Traviata in standing seats for 3 Euro).

St. Stephen's Cathedral

My gleeful "wish you were me" look from the Vienna State Opera

The food was excellent (wiener schnitzel is without parallel), and the wine was good.

After a month of Czech beer, Austrian wine was a refreshing change. The only real problem with Vienna was how expensive it is. They spend euros at the same amount that we spend dollars (like something that costs $3 would be priced at €3), but the euro's worth $1.3, which adds up after a while. That said, at least we knew what we were getting into. Also, sachertorte is the most delicious thing in the universe.



The other thing about Vienna that s
truck me as beautiful was just how friendly they were to tourists. While everything was written in German, even at the less touristy areas they would greet you in English, and usually only speak to you in English. While in Plzen and Prague we've seen this, Vefik and I hadn't seen it on this level. The service oriented environment was refreshing. The train trip was only about 5 hours, which seemed like a lot at the time, but then we went to Budapest.



Yes, after another week of classes, we ventured off to Budapest. Vefik and I went, joined by two of the other International Film students, Riccardo (born in Italy, spending most of his life in Germany), and Eirik (Norweigian by birth, but has lived in Copenhagen, Denmark for forever). We booked a hostel in Budapest (that's right, Hungary) for Friday and Saturday night. We spent Thursday in Prague for a cultural education kind of lesson, and with no class on Friday, we just took the midnight train to Prague. Having gotten up quite early to go to Prague in the morning, I was afraid that I wouldn't stay awake in time to catch the train. Somehow I managed, but I barely ate any dinner (I hate the actual transit part of travelling). We found decent seats on the train (all things considered), and made our way to Budapest, crossing through Slovakia for a short amount of time in the middle of the night.

We arrived early in the morning on Friday, around 8:30ish, and eventually navigated the transit system and found our way to the hostel. European cities seem to have excellent public transportation. Prague, Vienna, and Budapest all are simplified enough that you can buy a ticket for metros (subways) and trams and local buses all for one price. Vienna especially was so well put together that you didn't have to walk very far to get anywhere from a metro stop. Budapest was no different, and it has one of the oldest subway tracks in Europe (second only to the London Underground). But I digress.



Budapest is a beautiful city, but after spending a day in Prague, it's hard to really compare.
The city's divided into two sections (actually three, but they only call it two names), Buda and Pest (no joke, those were the names of two of the three cities that they combined to form Budapest). They're separated by the Danube River, which is lovely.

We spent most of first day and evening wandering around. The food was good, and the architecture was quite spectacular, but we were insanely tired.



On Saturday, we went to an opera during the day (Elektra, which was mediocre), and then wandered around the city again. We witnessed a political demonstration by a right-wing radical group that involved a lot of marching and flag waving. It was quite intimidating. We found a nice little park which for some reason had a statue of George Washington. We spent all of our time on the first two days in Pest, which was where our hostel was. On Sunday, we finally went to Buda, which was wonderful.














We had some Hungarian pancakes (interesting and affordable) at a restaurant where we met a few Americans who were just as confused as we were. We made our way to the castle, finding some adorable kittens on the way. The architecture was quite spectacular. We all came to the conclusion that we should have come to this part of Budapest first. We had a delicious dinner at a restaurant in a mall, which was quite a fascinating place.

By the time we caught our train (which ran a little bit late), we had all decided that Budapest was all right, but not nearly as cool as Prague. It was a lot more expensive than we had imagined, and the government seemed a bit unstable. On our way back, we found out that because we were going a different route, we had to pay extra. This ended up with me feeling even more embittered and broke by the end of the trip, and left me deciding that I'm never going to Budapest again. While I had good times, it wasn't worth it for the hassle.

When we got back to Prague at 6 AM, we caught a bus back to Pisek (lucking out... we ended up getting back very early), but about an hour later we found out that we had a class, even though it was a national holiday and we had been repeatedly reassured that we wouldn't be having class. So we were about an hour late for Production, and we were all exhausted, and we didn't get much sleep.

The rest of the week seemed to be a bit disappointing anyways, as we only had two actual classes, plus a screening of a film. Granted, it was a national holiday week (celebrating the first Czechoslovak nation, which was in 1928 and doesn't exist at all anymore), but it felt like a waste of a week.

So after our screening of Birth of a Nation, Vefik headed to Prague on Friday to see Queen + Paul Rodgers. I caught up with him on Saturday in Prague, and we headed to Vyšehrad, one of the oldest parts of Prague. We also caught sight of the Dancing House, and went to the Eiffel Tower of Prague (not actually its name, but they call it that). I can't explain to you my anxiety over climbing that tower, and my confidence of having overcome that fear for a little while. At night, we did a pub crawl, which was insanely fun. Eirik joined us halfway through that. The next morning, we headed back to Pisek.



This week's been intense, but one of the better weeks of classes here. Monday, we had Film Laboratories, which explained a lot about film processing and how careful you have to be with legitimate film stock, which we'll use next semester. Tuesday, we had a camera instruction exercise, and then film grammar (intense as ever). Wednesday, we had Film Theory/Directing, which was the same as it usually is. Thursday was Czech Culture and History, which is a fascinating thing. Then on Friday we had Production again, which was extremely intense. Monday, we're studying cinematography. I'm looking forward to it.

We've all decided to spend the weekend in Pisek to recover and to do some research. We're getting ready to shoot a project of Vefik's, hopefully. I'm working on something that we might attempt to shoot before Christmas, but who knows.

Also, a little thing happened on Tuesday night that might be worth mentioning. I don't know if anybody heard about this, but apparently the U.S. decided to hold a little election, and Barack Obama freaking won!!!!!! The reaction over here has been quite positive. I've been congratulated by several. I've had several people tell me that I've changed their perception of the US and of Americans in general, which I'm flattered by. Everyone seems to see this as a step in the right direction, and I feel optimistic about it. I don't think many Americans realize how badly we're perceived, and how many bridges we've unnecessarily burned. And this Obama guy seems to have a positive attitude towards progress. I don't want to get too political here, but it's refreshing to see a political campaign that's not designed to scare people into voting for a candidate. We had a little election night party here late on Tuesday, and it opened my eyes to how much it matters to others beyond ourselves.

Another side note, while I'm uploading images onto this blog: Music's been a pretty big thing to me on this trip. I had to put as much on my ipod as I could before I left, and I've rediscovered my love of certain things: Nirvana, Beatles, Elton John, and James Taylor. While I listen to them pretty regularly before, they make travel more interesting. Also, I found that the Raconteurs are excellent to travel to (especially on flights across the ocean), and Jack Johnson makes bus rides slightly more comfortable. I don't know what I'll do when I get overly sick of these things, but I'm a very patient person.

Trying to keep these posts a bit more regular.

This week's been fairly fun. Saturday night was a blast, and Sunday was a recovery from that blast. Monday, we discussed potential side projects and had a language class.

And yesterday, we had film language, which discusses the core of filmmaking. Interesting stuff, actually, but the class itself was kind of intense. I suppose I shall simply get used to it.

Today, we had film theory/directing, and it was quite entertaining. My teacher declared Leni Riefenstahl an "immortal bitch" for taking so long to die (she was 101). Granted, her best film was for the Nazi movement, but she made one of the most powerful propaganda pieces ever. It's hard to debate. However, my teacher's endured two oppressive forms of government (Nazism and Communism) so it's really hard to argue with his opinions.

This weekend, Vefik and I are planning to go to Vienna, Austria. I'm really looking forward to it. There's a film festival there right now. Hopefully we can go to Budapest and Warsaw soon. And it's really been too long since I've been to Prague. And maybe I'll end up in Germany before the break in December.

I need to post pictures. As soon as I can figure it out, I will.

So it's been almost two weeks since my return from Prague. I'm trying to upload stuff onto webshots right now, but we'll see how well that all works out.

Sunday was the laziest day. We just hung out at the flat online. I started the blog. We didn't even go out that night.

Monday, we had language class, but we didn't even think about leaving the flat beforehand. We eventually got off the internet. Tuesday, the other international students arrived, and we all hung out. There's a guy from Norway named Eirik. He lives in Copenhagen, Denmark. We also have an Italian/German (born in Italy, lived most of his life in Germany except three years in Shanghai). And of course, Vefik and myself. Class started on Wednesday, and we found another student, George from Georgia.

The class went fairly well, film theory/directing. It was the beginning of school, so who knows how it will actually go throughout the year, but it was a good start. We had a practical exercise on Thursday (make a photo storyboard, which was fun). Friday, we had production class with Veronika Finkova. I was thoroughly impressed with this class.

The weekend was fairly lazy, watching movies and The Office. We had a VP debate party earlier in the week, but it was so late here that we had to take time to recover.

Monday, we watched Citizen Kane, as film students are apt to do. We had a ceremony for the school that was entirely in Czech on Tuesday, so I'm not sure what I agreed to do, but I've been told it's basically saying that we'll be good students. Afterwards, it was such a beautiful day with no plans that we took a train to Plzen, which was lovely. Plzen is the Czech equivalent to Hershey, PA, except that it's a beer town, not a chocolate town. We didn't get to tour the brewery, but we're going to go back.

Wednesday, we had kind of a Czech cultural study, which was fun. Then we went out for a while, and when I came back I had the urge to call people. Thursday, the festival started. We've seen several blocks of movies, saw one Czech feature (no translation... twas interesting), and went to some bizarre but fun parties. I've seen Miroslav Ondricek, the cinematographer that my school's named after. It's been interesting.

The festival ends tonight, and I'm not sure what we're doing tomorrow. Hopefully I'll have time to update more than just "we did this, this, and this" but who knows. I've started planning some of my travels over the break in Dec/Jan, so I'll post details as I figure them out.

Life's good, so enjoy it.

Two weeks and counting...

Finally, things are starting to shape up properly around here. Film classes start on Wednesday. I've been in the Czech Republic since 6 PM on Saturday, September 12th. We shall begin our journey there.

I flew out of Washington DC Friday at 7. I landed at Heathrow in London around 6 AM. Realizing how valueless the dollar actually is, I spent very little money. I had a flight at 2 in the afternoon, so during this insanely long layover, I slept most of the time.

Flying internationally is quite an experience. I did it before with Costa Rica, but this is intercontinental. Going over the Atlantic is daunting, and by yourself it's almost improbable for someone with my kind of anxiety. However, my professor at WVSU informed me why I don't have to fear... alcohol is free on international flights. I'm not much of a drinker, but it eases the anxiety. And Europe is so different from the US anyways (I was flying on British Airways), so I was given wine with everything already. The result was that I was just enjoying the ride.

I got to Prague eventually, and was picked up at the airport by Marta Frismonova's son Jan. Ms. Frismanova works for the Pisek Film Academy, and helped me arrange everything. I got to my apartment and met her and my landlady, Lada. Lada is a 60-something woman who knows about five words in English. The first thing she did was offer beer (pivo). I was a little shocked, but this ended up being the first of many free beers Lada would offer me. It's a whole culture thing here.

Pisek is a beautiful city with a lot of history. That said, there's not much here that makes it important now. However, it does contain the oldest bridge in central Europe, and it was the first town in Bohemia with hydroelectric power. One of the museums here won the 1996 award for Best in Europe.

So after a few days, I meet some students at the school, drink a little, get a cell phone, etc. I was supposed to go to Prague on my first weekend, but I didn't get to go. Also, Curtis, the other guy from WVSU that was supposed to come here, told us that he couldn't do it. Then I couldn't get the internet either. Then the phone that I got wouldn't work. Finally, on Monday, things got a bit better. Iain, our local Canadian at the school, hung out with me for a few hours that night. We had one of my finer geeky conversations. I finished one of the books I was reading, Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett's Good Omens. It was wonderful.

Tuesday, I got a new phone and a new roommate, Vefik. He's from Ankara, Turkey, and he's spent a large portion of his life working for a radio station. We get along very well. The rest of the week kind of flew by. The internet seemed a very strange and distant thing, unless I used it at the school or in Pi, a local pub/cafe. I was able to email everybody, but it still frustrated the hell out of me. I decided not to start this blog until I really got connected.

So on Friday, Vefik and I went to the school to use the internet and get bus passes and plan some of our trip to Prague for Saturday. A friend of a friend of my father's lives in Prague, and his wife Victoria let us stay there at the house while we were in town. Her generosity was amazing, it was like having a home away from home.

But before we went to Prague, we went to a show at Pi by Drain, a Czech band, and the Foxes, from the United Kingdom. Pi regularly has bands playing, and they're usually at least mediocre. Live performance is one of those things so energetic and powerful that it's hard to really explain it. Drain was mediocre, but the Foxes have it in them to potentially make it. I talked to the lead singer afterwards, who never lost his pitch, and just congratulated him. They put on a hell of a show, and encored with three more songs. Their new single is all right, but they really need to emphasize their ballads.

So Saturday was the big day. We went to Prague, taking a Student Express bus to Prague for 90 Kc, which is about $5. It took about an hour and a half, and we arrived at the bus station and took the metro into town. We arrived in Wenceslas square, but so far away from the statue that we couldn't see it. And we went the wrong way, and ended up in the Old Town Square.

Wenceslas Square is very modern. It's like Times Square, with few exceptions. Almost Vegas-esque. Old Town Square is ancient and beautiful, like something out of an old fairy tale. There's a beautiful clock, and several cathedrals (Tyn cathedral was really nice). It felt like another world. We went into the museum of torture instruments, not sure what to expect. I've now seen an Iron Maiden. Twas disturbing, but fascinating. I'm glad we went, but never again.

We wandered around, finding the Jewish section of the town, and other areas as well. We eventually crossed the river using another bridge (not the Charles) and made our way up the castle. From there, you can see anything in the world. The castle itself is quite spectacular... but we got there right when they shut the doors. It doesn't matter. The walk was steep, but the place was simply incredible.

We found our way back down eventually, but we took our merry time. The view of Prague from there is unparallelable, given that the castle is the biggest in the world. Every era of civilization is in this town's architecture, and you can see it.

We walked towards the Charles Bridge as the sun started to go down. It's a neat little area, very unique and cultural, without feeling like it has to be a part of anything big and extravagant. Crossing the Charles Bridge was cool, except for the construction part.

Eventually we wandered around, looking for a drink and anything else that we might do. We went to Old Town again, which looked even better at night. We found our way to Wenceslas Square, and found the statue. We had a few drinks at a pub down the street that had decent drinks and played really good music. It was perfect for that moment.

Afterwards, we wandered over to the Metro and called Victoria, who let us stay at her place. It was wonderful. She made us feel right at home.

So now we're back, after a metro and a bus ride away. And we're home, with internet as a surprise.