Partner Visit - Univ of Ostrava

I was up early to meet Natalie at the U-Bahn station near her hotel. She purchased a weekly ticket and off we went to the train station to meet the girls and then head to Ostrava on the train. We got a quick bit of bakery food for breakfast and waited. The girls weren’t far behind and then we were off. They had their own cabin while Natalie, Rachel, and I shared with a couple ladies. I was able to catch up on reading their blogs. They updated MANY of them yesterday. I thought about reading them yesterday, but opted to create a presentation about Viktor Frankl’s book Man’s Search for Meaning. It took me longer than I thought.

As we arrived in Ostrava, Richard Conaway from the University met us. He was a younger man and from Arizona, so it was super easy to communicate. Because we had missed the entire first day, we rushed around all day. First to the Kampus Palace then to a quick lunch that ended up being not quick at all (though super good vegan place - I had a hummus tortilla) — resulting in a shortened visit with the faculty of nursing and mid-wifery. I think it was cool to see their resources …. much smaller than our university with our simulation lab and and entire building for physical therapy. But it was fun to see that they do have up to date machines, just not a lot of them.

I made a good contact with Darja in the Nursing dept. Her presentation had to really be cut short so we only got to see what degrees the Univ of Ostrava offers in that “faculty” (which we refer to as a college-like the College of Health and Behavioral Sciences). I found that they have a degree in Public Health….I may be able to spend some time on an exchange here, or a semester, or 

something. She was eager to get me her contact information and so was Richard. He will be a good advocate and communication partner to help set something like that up. I will be talking to Hermann on Friday….sooooooooo…..we wil see.

Ostrava is a much different city. While European influence is seeping in, the communist feel still pervades the place. It is dirtier and less kept up than Vienna, but I suppose with only 30 years to rebuild, it is doing well. Vienna has been rebuilding since 1945, Ostrava since 1993. My initial excitement was always squelched by a nervous to be here type feel. I will see how I feel after Wednesday and Thursday.

We also saw a home for the mentally handicapped. It was much like the Adult Development Center in Conway, only on a MUCH smaller scale. They house 20 patients/clients all week. On the weekends, most of them go home.

Afterward, I think we all were tired of WALKING all over, plus an early day. They let us rest and get a drink at a place. That is a European thing….get a beer and just visit and “chill.” But I was watching the time. As the moments ticked away, so was my ACTUAL rest time in the hotel room before our 6pm dinner. We ended up getting just about 10 minutes. I took EVERY moment of that to lay prone!!!

Dinner was FANTASTIC!!!!!!! They hosted us at a place that had a couple lanes to bowl as well, which was included. It took a LONG time to get the food, so we started our bowling. A local student, Matthew joined us. He was a cute blond haired 22 year old just recently graduated student who will come to study at UCA in January. He was a lot of fun. We laughed about how he and I would consistently get 9 on our first ball and usually miss the solo pin still standing. It was humorous. So we had a lot of fun with this. I think the girls did too. It was time to just let down and have fun.

But can I say MY MEAL WAS SOOOOO GOOD! I have NO IDEA what it was called but it was a variety of dumplings (two of which were typical to what I was used to and two like light bread). The mean (sirloin) was covered in a brown sweet tasty gravy. On top was a lemon covered with whipped cream and cranberry jelly/sauce. Oh my goodness! It was to die for. Granted, I WAS starving, but I’m not making this up. I was in heaven. A lot of the girls got other things (friend cheese, chicken breast covered in vegetables, rolled chicken with cheese and spinach with a wonderful sauce, and something vegetarian and pita like for Priya). Natalie and I determined to go back the next night to try the potatoe pancake that Pavla had ordered and shared a bite with us.

Richard dropped us back at the Kampus Palace hotel (dormitories for the students as well). Natalie and I went to our room to rest and go to bed, while the girls hung out with Matthew for a bit.

Natalie and I quickly found out that we were staying above the happening vegan restaurant that hosts events each night. It was hot and stuffy in our room so we opened the window to find stand up comedy …. and laughter that lasted well past 11pm or midnight! We made it :)