A small summary of my 2 weeks in the Czech Republic

Where, oh where do I begin. I suppose the place to start is the beginning?
Keeping it short.
The theme of the trip was land surveying. "Land surveying is the technique and science of accurately determining the terrestrial or three-dimensional position of points and the distances and angles between them. These points are usually on the surface of the Earth, and they are often used to establish land maps and boundaries for ownership or governmental purposes." To be completely honest I still don't know why in the world we needed to learn how to do that, but that's school for you. We also did a lot of hiking. All day 8-12 hour hikes. The food was shit, the showers were horrible, but I was surrounded by great people that made the trip go by quite quickly.
The first few days where gray and wet, but the rest of the trip was bright and sunny. Although the work itself was not particularly enjoyable the views where extremely distracting. The air was fresh and I was able to spend hours and hours atop beautiful grassy, green hills. At the end of each day I would come back tired, with wet leather boots, warm, but with red, ice cold cheeks. Not sun kissed, but, fresh, wet wind kissed.
The sunsets where to stunning to be real. I felt like I was in another world. Most days I didn't see anyone except the people in my class, which made it seem like we were the only people in the world. Enchanting views and wide open spaces. For 2 weeks my eyes saw fresh green and grey/ blue skies. Bonding, bright and faded colors, learning, growing, withstanding great change and physical chalenges.
Another great experience.

Septemeber 3rd, 2010 (How to become friends with a city...a seemingly impossible misson)

I feel like a lot of new stuff should have happened since last time I posted, but actually not that much has happened. School has officially started though. Wow, its been pretty crazy, good crazy. Everyone has been super nice and welcoming that it almost feels like home. I don't think that it will ever feel like Santa Barbara, but I still enjoy it.
When I first came here I had this idea that after a few weeks Berlin would start to feel like my hometown. When I talk to people at my school they all seem very proud to be Berliners. When I first arrived I wished that I was just like them. That I was raised here, that I spoke the language perfectly, that I knew all these short cuts and cool facts about the city. I came here thinking "yeah yeah yeah this is my city now bitchesss."The truth of the matter is that I am a guest. I am learning new things everyday and I am lucky to be surrounded by people that are willing to show me where they grew up. It is a very personal thing. I did not grow up in Germany, more specifically in Berlin. All the people that were raised here will always have a certain connection with it that I will not. I think of Berlin as a person, someone that I am just meeting for the first time. It would be rude for me to get involved in its personal business without getting to know it first. Even though it's a place, not a person I think that it still needs to be treated with respect. It takes time to build a relationship with a person, so why wouldn't it take time to build a relationship with a city? I can't just show up here expecting to know everything. If I make a good first impression, if I keep an open mind and appreciate all that it has to offer then Berlin will treat me the same. So here I am, a truly grateful girl. I think that we are becoming friends.