Experiential Blog 6

I am not sure where to start my description of London. On the flight over to United States' sister country across the world, my first realization I was traveling outside the states was listen to our flight attendance talk to other passengers and among themselves. The ascent, which I was expecting people to have, was the first indication that we are finally out of the United States. The pace the conversation carries is a much different pace that how we speak in the states. Personal space with we take very serious in the states isn't a real thing with some of the local people we visited. Cheers, the word that is said for goodbye, thank you, and many others saying. I still not sure I have ever said it at the proper moment but I have four more days in England and I am determine to get it right just once. I feel like being immersed in a new environment I would better understand how it would feel when a foreigner travels to United States for the first time.

Overview of London

Experiential Blog 5

I have being traveling all my life. I visited cities from the east coast for the United States, like Miami of Washington D.C., all the way to Honolulu, Hawaii and many more in between. I been aboard to places in South America and Africa but never Europe. I felt like I was going to handle being in a new environment extremely well, and for the most part had absolutely no problems. I have explored Harlaxton, Manchester, Vienna, Prague, and London to my heart content and have loved every minute exploring and gaining new experiences. The emotion of people living in the cities we visited are quite different. Travel around Vienna was more quiet and people getting close to tell you something, while traveling to Prague people talked far less English and had less patience. The people around the world all have different ways of communicating their feeling and daily activities, which the more I travel the better I would understand the different cultures of the world making grow more excepting of new ideas.

Experiential blog 3- Vienna

There are many words I would use to describe the city of Vienna but if I had to pick one, exquisite. The building were all keep in pristine condition from when Vienna was at center of the Empire. The detail and architecture of each building were phenomenal. The landscape was more flat then I was expecting but the palace and its garden was sitting at the top of the whole city. I was not expecting to see all of the old building still standing, but excepted some since Vienna was were the royal family lived. I thought there would at least be some modern build made of all glass but to my surprise there was none. The city has spent a lot of money to maintain the city and have done a superber job. I believe Vienna has kept its pride and elegance, since the end of the Empire, in the maintenance of their city, palaces and cathedrals. Also, I learn it would always be wise to learn a small amount of the language spoken in the country you visit.

Experiential Blog 4

During the rule of the Empire Prague was on the outskirts of their reign. Prague was the next stop after Vienna. The city instantly felt different right after we step off the play. We weren't met with the same luxurious building we found all over Vienna but with more modern feel to the city. Vienna was tightly pack in a small area so the space for road were really small, but for Prague the streets had more room to drive. I was expecting the city to be smaller than Vienna but to my surprise it was the opposite. Prague being on the outskirts of the empire meant they didn't have to have as much grace as the citizens of Vienna, which have translated over to modern day Prague being known for a party city. During my travel through the city I felt that people were less open to foreign visits and didn't have to much patience with them.

Overview of Prague

The Castle, Prague

The Charles Bridge into New town Prague

Kafka's Writing

Kafka's writing were never as straightforward. The two that were read in our class were ''The Judgement'' and ''The Castle,'' were there was both a protagonist charter who was under some stress or confusion on where he was to go or do. When we traveled to the Kafka museum I felt he confusion of Kafka usually displays in his writing. It was dark with lite up picture, letter, drawing of his life. During his life, Kafka lead a double life which e described as living in hell. He was working a job he didn't like which was equivalent to wasting his life away. The writing he produces should the power the empire had on is people and the struggle they faced.

Kafka Museum in Prague

Kunta Hora

The Ossuary of Kunta Hora, aka the Bone Church, was both creepy and sublime. When I first walked in the church I was astonished by the number of dead bones put on display. One of m first thoughts was how long completing something like this would take. I admired the way the bones were arranged all over the church. My second thought was how one could keep in the right mind set after cleaning all the rotting flesh off the bodies. I was dumbfounded by amount of work that would have went into digging up all the bones. I saw the sublime nature of the church when I started walking deeper into the church. There were pills of bones about fifteen feet wide stacked into a pyramid and arranged perfectly. I realized that there was more to meet the eye in the bone church and not to judge something new right away. I would need to experience something fully or view all there was to offer before I make an option on something.

The Ossuary of Kunta Hora

Konopiste

Archduke Franz Ferdinand had a morganatic marriage to Sophie due to her lower standing. Ferdinand was in line to become the next emperor so since Sophie was of lower standing he had to compromise that she couldn't gain title after marriage and their children could never inherit the thrown. Ferdinand inherited money and title, D'Este, from his uncle when he was twelve, which he used later in life to buy Konopiste after his marriage to Sophie. The Archduke loved to hunt and decorated his house with his trophies. His total games killed was about 276,000, 4000 of which were in display in his house. I would say had a obsession with hunting that Ferdinand which might have been an outlet for him dealing with his other health problems. I believe incest in royal family over the years had made the newer members more and more eccentric.

Sisi

Sisi was adored most of the empire do the tragic events in her life due the oppression of the Empire. She didn't want to be married o consummate the marriage. She was very emotional and would read dark romantic novels. . She didn't think that she would be able to handle being married to the Emperor. Sisi had the tragic experience for burying both her children. The people loved her for exemplifying a gothic heroine that were read about in many their novels. The rank of Empress was unwilling bestow upon a free spirited little girl. She loved Franz but not as much he loved her. In Hofburg, Franz had many paintings of Sisi in his quarters, and a giant portrait of her in front of his desk, but she had barely any of him. I believe Sisi was a forced to bare with too much pain and loss for any person to handle. She was able to fight through all the sorrow until her unfortunate assassination.

Compare and Contrast Palaces

In Vienna and London we visited the Schönbrunn, Hofburg and Kew. Schönbrunn was the summer home for the Emperor Franz Joseph and Empress Sisi of Austria. The extravagant home is only 6 kilometer away from their main palace, Hofburg, which about a 20 minute train ride. During Franz Joseph rule they would have been traveling by horse and carriage so it would have taken  significantly longer. Franz rooms were right next to each other for easy access. His office, bedroom and waiting area were all connected together. The entire palace had very few hallways, but they had doors connected to other rooms. He would work sixteen hours days with little time to spend with his wife. Sisi's would describe her rooms as a prison since she was only given few narrow rooms out of the entire palace.The walls were a few meters thick allowing servants to travel unseen throughout the palaces. This palace was isolated from the rest of tightly packed Vienna. While the Hofburg was the headquarters of the Empire in the heart of Vienna. Franz had a giant statue of himself to show the power he had in his home. He had a plentiful amount of portraits of the love of his life Sisi. Sisi had more rooms and space in the Vienna palace than she did in the summer house. In the Schönbrunn, she had about three rooms but in her home in Hofburg she had several larger bedrooms plus, sitting room, work-out room and more. There was a hallway separating the rooms between Franz and Sisi which in my opinion made them more separated. They even had to make appointments to eat breakfast together. These two palaces are located in Vienna and are quite different from Kew located in London, England. 
Kew was the home for King Geroge III and his family. The main difference I notice was there was no grand elegant palace. He built a large house for him and his family to escape the world of politics. Another difference would be the gardens at the two palaces in Vienna were more man made and gravel paths while Kew was much larger and had trees and flowers growing everywhere. 

Compare and Contrast Cathedrals

During the past week and half we visited amazing religious structures in Grantham,Vienna and Prague. The Stephan's Dom in Vienna and St. Vitus in Prague were both grand cathedrals that were also used to show of the power and wealth of the Empire. The reason behind the building of Stephan's Dom was so the Habsburg could get s bishop in the catherdral so they would have more influence in the church and city. While St. George in Prague and St. Wulfrum's in Grantham were significantly smaller which made me belief they were used more for worship instead of a display of power. Saint George Basilica was the smallest building out of the three and was built in the 900's with a Roman design. The other three cathedrals were built with a more Gothic design with arches, large stain glass windows and much more attention to detail. I realized the empire would reach out for more power by marrying their cousins, and keeping their family in high status but also by gaining more influential power in the church.

Freud contribution to understanding the empire

Sigmund Freud was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis. He believed ones personality had three aspects (ego, id, superego) which work together to produce a persons behavior.  Freud believed that talking out loud about your emotion was the best way to deal with them. The only patients who met with him openly were women who would lay on his couch to talk about how they were feeling. In the 19th century hysteria was a common symptom Freud gave for middle-class women to have in Vienna. The negative contribution he gave to society made to normal to label women hysterical if they had different emotion.  During this time in society the only emotion men had were lust and anger so there was no need to talk more about how they were feeling.The bad stigma associated with men talking about how they felt may have help the crown prince Rudolf Franz from committing suicide. If he was able to express his emotions more openly out loud he might not have killed himself. I realized that the empire under Franz Joseph was very stick, conservative, and handle to high standard so when people want to stray away from he beliefs of the empire, they usually have to run or meet an unfortunate fate.

Morton & Shaw

A story, "A Nervous Splendor," describing how Rudolf Franz met his unfortunate fate in Vienna and his life in 1888-1889, was written by Frederic Morton. He described how Rudolf and his father, Emperor Franz Joseph, had conflicting ideas on the Empire should operate. Franz was a devoted Catholic and was business orientated man who woke up at five in the morning to get work done. On the other hand, Rudolf had a more liberal way of life and approach  to political  which made his relationship with his father difficult. They only did a few activities together, i.e. hunting. Franz only gave Rudolf position in the military, but no real power. Men with lower status would get invited to military discussion over him. The lack of respect and conflicting beliefs Franz had for his son widen the gap between them. Rudolf would write articles against his father rule in the hunting cabin which is where he met his unfortunate fate. Rudolf loved a women name Maria, who was social class for him. They were both passionate and loved to read dark romatic gothic novel. They two thought their deaths would beautiful so Rudolf shot Maria and killed himself. The love and lust of the two tragic gothic characters could be seen in the satire "The Royal Babylon" written by Karl Shaw. Shaw refers to the life style of the German ancestors people living in the empire and their influence. I believe the two pieces work well together so you can really see what life in the empire was like for all it people.

Harlaxton and Grantham so far

I was asked what has surprised me so far on my trip in Europe, and I felt like surprised isn't the right word to describe my excitement. I have been astonish, dumbfound, left in awe at the castle, yes a castle, we are staying in. This is the best place I have ever stay in my entire life. Everyday we have class, I take a moment and look at my surroundings and compare it to what it would be like if I was taking the same class in the states. Every time I'm stunned that we are in a great hall build in the 1800's learning about the history which took place this side of the world.
A unpleasant surprise would be how fast we can get picked out as Americans. In the city every time  we walk into a room, we are instantly labeled Americans. I still don't understand what makes us stick out so much but over time I bet we will look less and less like typical Americans.
Back home in Cincinnati I have a schedule that I follow every week but novelty is mostly saved for the weekend. So far everyday I have experienced something new, whether it was walking down a new path, riding a bike throw a village, drinking a new beer or encounters with local people, I am a lot more willing to go out of my way to experience and try and new exciting things. I have learned at your attitude determines your altitude. If I travel with a positive attitude there will be nothing to keep me down.

What is the Empire?

I have a very vague understanding of the Empire. For my understanding of what we discussed in class, the Empire was located in what is now Germany/ Austria/ Czech Republic. They have been around for hundreds of years fighting wars for land and power. The Empire has extended its reign from Finland to Spain and even some parts of South America. The assassination Archduke Ferdinand was the catalyst that started World War I. After World War II the victors of the war split up the Empire into different countries which are the ones I previously mentioned.  

Goals

I had one main goal to accomplish going into this trip,  and that was to  experience as much as I can in Europe. I wanted to see with my own eyes what makes American and Europe so different. I want to see the difference in culture, environment, social setting and of course the accent. Being here for a couple of days I have already experienced a few situations were  I have stood out as an American but I'm still working on blending as a local.
Future goals I still want to accomplish are to get out and meet local people in each city we visit. If I could talk to someone who lives here I can better understand how life is in the different cities.