Raven K

Konopiste is a castle from the fourteenth century located approximately 40km from Prague. It’s most well-known resident (at least in world history standards) was Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Originally a hunting castle, the estate was purchased by Ferdinand after his cousin Rudolph visited it, knowing it would suit the man. Now, Konopiste is a beautiful estate run by the state, which contains the castle, it’s surrounding gardens, the “pond,” and a rose garden. The property came into possession of the state after Ferdinand’s assassination in 1914, but was used for various purposes throughout both world wars and the communist eras before it was turned into an historical site and restored.

Today, you can visit Konopiste by taking a train to Benesov and walking the approximate 2km to the castle (through the very scenic route of its gardens). It is a destination of many in the Czech Republic due to their connection to Ferdinand’s wife, Duchess Sofia (who was a Czech woman). While the tours are a tad expensive, there are four offered, and the information and views are worth every koruna. There is no photography allowed inside the castle, so getting glimpses at the Archduke’s life requires the fee. On any day you can visit the North or South Salons (two separate tours), the private flat of Franz Ferdinand, or go on a hunting tour. There is even a range that can be used on the property.

Traveling with my cultural attaché and the Turkish interns that joined us this week, we got a deeper look into the lives of the Archduke’s family by taking a tour of his flat. In my time in the Czech Republic, I have become fascinated with this man because of the information I have learned regarding his place in history, but the new information acquired here just piqued my interest more. Actually, my time at Konopiste made me question even more why the only this we know about Archduke Franz Ferdinand is that his assassination started World War I. While this is clearly true and is by far the reason world history finds him important, the complexity of this man is often lost. In fact, it took me coming to the Czech Republic to even learn that he was not the only one that died the day he was assassinated. His wife, Sofia, was also killed that day, orphaning their 3 children. You can actually view the dress she was wearing that day on the tour (at least Tour 3, of the private flat).

While you get a brief introduction to his political and military life, the focus of the tour is on his private life. The walls of the castle are lined with his trophies, which indicate the importance of him choosing a hunting castle to reside in. Ferdinand made his first animal kill at the age of 8 and was an avid hunter until his death at age 50, killing some 275,000 animals all over the world. Each trophy is carefully marked in his home with the date and the place, but some get more distinctions, like the number of the kill or who was with him. Some of these trophies are actually from his family (such as one that was his daughter’s from age 3).

Still, the more private areas of the estate are quite homey. The children’s playroom is covered in Sofia’s art (the daughter and oldest of the siblings). There are books and model boats (which the boys were quite fond of). In the study, there is even a portrait of Emperor Franz Josef I as a young man. What struck me at that was that I don’t think I’ve ever seen the man depicted as young. All other pictures I have ever seen were from near the end of his rule, when he was at least in his eighties.

Like many stories about the Czech people, the story of Franz Ferdinand and his family is tragic. While they were quite happy at Konopiste, from what can be determined, this was also a place of sanctuary for them. Ferdinand’s marriage to Sofia was never fully accepted. She was a countess when he began courting her and Franz Josef disapproved the first time he asked for her hand, but he did not give up. A year later, he approached the emperor again and received permission to marry her. This raised her status to Duchess, which still placed her below the status of the Archduke. As a stipulation of their marriage, Ferdinand and Sofia also had to renounce their children’s right to the throne, which is what led Charles to become emperor after Ferdinand’s assassination and the death of Josef.

The death of Ferdinand marked the beginning of some very tragic ends for his family. Sofia travelled with Ferdinand for his trip to Sarajevo after leaving their children from a short holiday. In the attempt to kill both the next heir to the throne and his right-hand man in the military, the conspirators failed. While they were successful in taking out Ferdinand, they missed his general and killed his wife. This orphaned their three children (Sofia, the oldest, still a teenager). They would leave Konopiste for a castle owned by Sofia’s family (the Hohenbergs), where they would be cared for by their teacher and Ferdinand’s step mother. They survived the war, but WWII would not be so kind. While Sofia married a German man, her brothers were not so lucky in their position. Late in the war, they ended up in concentration camps that they did not survive. Sofia lived until her eighties and her daughter is still alive today (and in contact with the caretaker of Konopiste).

The chance to learn more about the family and story of Archduke Franz Ferdinand was quite fascinating. While there we also walked down to the “pond,” though I’m not quite sure how anyone could categorize it as such, and spent some time in the rose garden, where we were acquainted with several peacocks. As is the luck of the weather, we spent the last bit of our time at Konopiste trying to outrun a storm. We did not succeed, but a little rain never hurt anybody. The problem is that the brief, strong storm caused damage to the train tracks leading back to Prague. We spent about three hours at the station before we decided to find a new way back (as this type of delay is extremely unusual in this part of the world). Our group ended up with an Uber back to the city, which was definitely an interesting experience, but it did allow us to see some of the villages just outside of Prague, which I really liked. Making it back much later than anticipated, it was nice to make it back to my dorm for some much needed sleep.

After a very engaged week and a rough end to our trip on Thursday, I decided it was very much in my right to essentially take some time off. The storms that hit Thursday afternoon brought the temperature down and kept the rain clouds near, so a lazy weekend was easy to enjoy. Saturday I only left my dorm to go to the market for food. I spent the rest of the time binge watching a show with a friend in the States, and, it was exactly what I needed.

Sunday was a little warmer and less dreary, so I decided to find a pub for the matches. I walked to the Charles Bridge area from my dorm. There I watched the England-Panama match over some lovely food. I made the trek back up to my dorm, but decided to sit out the other two matches, getting some rest before the week ahead. I watched a movie and did some reading before getting ready for the week of work ahead.

The biggest things going on in the library this week were as follows: our space use methodology was discussed, updated, and tested; our CRM project began user testing; and the first two of three Turkish interns arrived to begin their three months at the NTK. The week ended with a trip to Konopiste, the residence of Franz Ferdinand (which I’ll discuss in a different blog). This entire week also wore me out like no other prior to this. With the World Cup in full swing, I had hoped to spend most of my evenings watching matches, but I actually didn’t get to watch a single one of the 10 matches that occurred at times that I wasn’t at work.

The Space Use project started with a small group trying to determine the best methodology for the space we have. One of our services manager, a sociology student on the services team, and I began working last week on the project, and testing of our original idea started on Wednesday. This meant that we had approximately 6 observations (morning and afternoon runs) when we sat down on Monday. Comments were made by the manager, edits were made by us, and a new round of testing began. The problem is, we are working with extremely raw numbers (visual observations) and adding this information to spreadsheets (trust me, I hate excel) with the collections of approximately 150 data points. So, as I tried to make modifications, my mentor suggested the creation of a database, which is beginning for later iterations of the project. We are currently just focusing on one of the six floors in the library, so expansion to include the entire library would be even more unwieldy than our current collection (almost 1000 data points).

The CRM project has progressed much more smoothly (for my brain anyway) than the Space Use issues we faced. With final updates on the mockups from colleagues’ comments and a script, we began our first round of user testing. Our weekly meeting revealed the comments of 6 users (which are all staff members that will be utilizing this system for student consultations). After a lengthy discussion about how to make some initial changes, updates will be made early next week and updates to the actual prototypes will be initiated. This will lead to a new round of user testing that will be much closer to the interface they will actually be dealing with. While this is not a project I thought I would fully understand because of my previous experience with user testing, it has been very rewarding to stretch my skills, work with this team, and understand more fully how these types of situations can help in the library setting. Seriously, with my previous experience in user testing, I was very unclear about how it would be useful in real-world library settings, but this has definitely changed my mind on that view.

On Wednesday, we got two new interns from a village just outside of Istanbul. I look forward to working with them on occasion, and we have discussed having a small conversation class with just the group of Turkish interns. Due to some miscommunications upon their arrival, I spent most of Wednesday afternoon helping them get their housing squared away (as they were not told they needed to report to finalize their accommodations that morning). We got all things taken care of and made it back to our 1400 “Ice Cream Meeting,” which allowed them to get introduced to most of the team and let us relax and laugh for a bit as a group. They joined Marine (my cultural attaché) and I for our trip to Konopiste on Thursday as well, which was a lovely trip (most of the time, but that is for later).

I had the opportunity to network with an American visitor this week as well. Visiting from UMass-Lowell, she was here making connections for a internship program attached to their engineering program. She ended up having a meeting with me and one of the postdocs before a dinner in the city center with me. We talked mostly about our experiences, but it was nice to see how other institutions network for their internships. Of course, these are mostly for undergraduate students, but it’s still a worthwhile experience.

I may have ended up dropping a project this week as well. Also, my long-term reference project seems to be petering out. I am going to create some possible framework from what I was thinking, but with little response from the student, it’s difficult to actually get much out of it. This is a university setting, the student is in a PhD program, and the library cannot force anything. If the student comes to me later on, I’ll do my best to help, but the information must be sought first.

I took some steps to learn some more Czech. My hopes is to be able to show some progress in language skills, in the most crucial of interactions (like eating and shopping), and I think I am getting there. Beyond the basics (“yes,” “no,” “hello,” “thank you”), I have now started some simple phrases and am learning to count. While I wish I had started a bit sooner with this (I’m now halfway through), I hope that my contacts here may actually allow me to stay up on this type of language learning, as I hope to visit this country more once I can again.

Sticking with my routine of taking it easy on the weekends, I got a late start to my Saturday. Still, the beginning of the World Cup inspired me to have a day of pub hopping and futbol watching. I started off walking from Strahov to a pub I pass everyday, but discovered no televisions there. I would later discover this to be a trend which I was not expecting. I walked into Prague 5 before I found a pub where the game was playing (or that had televisions at all). There I watched the Australia-France game with an Australian man here on holiday with his Czech fiancé. Although Australia couldn’t pull off the win, it was nice to converse and take in the game with someone actually interested in the outcome. It’s actually quite odd for me this time around, because there isn’t a team I’m particularly interested in winning.

Following this game, I decided to walk into Dejvicka to a place I have come to like (and I knew had televisions) for the Argentina-Iceland game. I picked up some desert while I was there and enjoyed a quiet space mostly to myself. I picked up some dinner on the way back to the dorms and took some time to myself in the room before I watched the late game in the dorm bar.

I understand that Czechia is not in the World Cup, but I thought it’d be easier to find pubs playing the games, or, at least, pubs capable of playing the games. After this experience, I decided to spend Sunday in the more tourist areas of the city, because I knew many of them were catering to their international tourists, even though I knew this would be more expensive for me.

Getting a much earlier start to my Sunday, I spent several hours reading before deciding to take a nice walk before the games. I think I may have found a new favorite place in Kinsky Garden. It’s just a different part of the ruins, but its completely enclosed and it doesn’t seem like many people pass through it. Laying your hands on the stone, you can feel the century of history contained in the walls. Although these ruins faced nothing too drastic and can’t put some great battle story in its place, they endured through so much (the First Republic, the Second Republic, German occupation, WWII, communism…) and you could feel it in the stone, from the etchings, through the graffiti.

I decided on a pub called the Kolonial for the early games. I watched the Costa Rica-Serbia game in relative silence, but the Mexico-Germany game definitely brought in some more people. I sat next to a group of Mexican tourists for the first half of the game and their seats were taken by some German tourists for the second half. I think those interactions are just as nice as the games, even if we don’t actually speak. I went back to the dorms for the late game, where the students watching were definitely routing for Brazil over Switzerland. It was a very relaxed weekend full of good beer and good futbol.

Fully in the swing of things now, I spent most of the week trying to remain as caught up on projects as I can. As is the nature of the summer in an academic-based library, there is a ton of people coming in and out of the office and staying caught up with everyone when it comes to projects can be difficult. The two big items I worked on this week were with the CRM project and a new project focused on Space Use Observation, but I also had my conversation meetings and meetings with other colleagues regarding their work in the library. There is also a reorganization going on in the library that has provided some last minute scheduling and cancellations this week.

Only one of my conversation classes met this week, but they provide a nice, relaxing atmosphere and get me out of the office, so I take what I can get. With a group of Turkish interns arriving next week, I may be adding a fourth group to my repertoire, so that will be interesting. The English of most students here is excellent, but they are often not confident in speaking. By providing this space to discuss with peers in English, it takes the pressure of academic English discussions, and allows them to get comfortable with their use of the language. I find it very interesting, especially when they get excited about a topic.

The big project that I started this week regarded Space Use Observation, which I am working on with a colleague that has a background in sociology. I think he has a much better grasp on the concept than I do, but we broke it down, developed a methodology, and began testing at the end of the week. A meeting with our supervisor on Monday followed by a meeting together will allow for changes in the methodology to make it work better for the library. Then, we can begin training others so that all information gathered is consistent. My colleague and I are both leaving at the end of the summer, so having someone to continue the project once we leave will be crucial.

Mock-ups, scripts, and more meetings are surrounding the CRM project. We are making a few changes and doing usability testing in the coming days for our meeting next Friday to discuss progress and next steps. It’s interesting to be a part of this and get some experience in the development and prototyping of such works.

I met a man passionate about scientific writing on Wednesday. He works in collaboration with one of the schools to provide presentation and writing classes. His passion for the academic written word is one I can’t say that I have ever seen before, but I think that is definitely something that we need. In a country that has English as a second language that must produce English work to remain competitive in the academic field, having a passionate teacher is crucial, I believe.

Thursday I got a tour of the library’s historical collection. Located in the third sub basement of the library, this collection contains books from the sixteenth-eighteenth centuries. Mostly rebound in the 1960s, the collection is in decent condition and the library is working on providing consistent conditions, although, sadly, not ideal. It was interesting to look at the books there. Although I cannot read any of them (most are written in Latin or German), it is awesome to see the tradition of scientific work in the Czech Republic.

I only spent the morning in the office on Friday. Preparing for the new interns, we met with other colleagues about potential projects for them. Then, I sat in on a presentation for a student before he goes to conference next week in Germany. I spent the rest of the day with my French colleague as we embarked on a WWII Tour of Prague. While I didn’t learn anything that was a complete revelation, the tour provided more details about my understanding of this area, especially the city during the war. The contrast between this guide and the one we had in Karlstejn were so different, and I wish I could have seen that kind of enthusiasm at the castle.

The tour took us over two hours of walking and learning. Important places in Prague’s history (from the balcony that the First Republic was announced to the catacombs under Old Town Hall) were shown along with stories accompanied by historical photographs (like Hitler addressing the people from Prague Castle after sneaking into the country ahead of the Czech president). The pride in the Czech story was clearly present, and, as my colleague noted, the significant points Czechs have in history, they hold onto with a fervor. It’s so nice to hear those stories though, because, often, the Central and Eastern European story is lost among others once you leave the area. One illustration of this comes from my colleague, who had no idea there was a Munich Agreement that is seen as a great betrayal to the Czech people that her government was apart of. Her knowledge of WWII doesn’t include the Central and Eastern European perspective, and, mine wouldn’t either if I hadn’t become interested in the region a few years ago. Now, I clamber to learn as much as I can, because their history, while often tragic, is so important when caught between these warring nations.

Saturday was a lazy day in most aspects. I slept in and spent most of the day in the dorm, because the past week wore me out pretty well. Still, the evening held a lovely time with new colleagues and friends. Cinzia departed from Praha on Sunday and Stephanie’s father was in the city visiting, so a cookout was had to say hello to new people and goodbye to others. Although I knew most of the way on the metro, I decided to take the bus out to Pisnice, where my mentor resides. After 4 buses, a tram, a rainstorm, and some walking, I finally arrived about an hour and a half after I had left. The place is beautiful and I now understand why Cinzia spoke so fondly of their garden. A large willow tree stands in their backyard, which is walled, and it is just nice to take in the country air (or, at least, more country air than in the heart of the city). We laughed, we ate, and we drank well into the night, and I don’t think there was a better way to send off my new friend. I hope the rest of her travels find her well.

I decided to hike out to the other castle in the city on Sunday. Vysherad is younger than Prague Castle but just as visible. I took a bus into the main part of the city and walked to the castle high above everything else. On my way, I came once again upon the Dancing House, a controversial office building in the city, and the Cathedral of St. Cyril and Methodius. This church actually houses one of the only free museums in the city, which speaks of the martyrs from World War II who snuck their way into the city to attempt to assassinate Heydrich. With the attempt being successful, a massive manhunt for the killers began. They sought refuge with five others in this cathedral. A fire fight killed three of the men, while the rest committed suicide when the Gestapo tried to smoke them out of the catacombs.

From this site, I walked mostly along the river and briefly through a botanical garden before I reached the bottom of Vysherad. Instead of walking through one of the two gates into the fortress’s grounds, I decided to climb up the back way. At the top, there were beautiful views of the river and the rest of the city. Vysherad contains a cemetery, cathedral, royal gardens, and beautiful architecture. I ate lunch at a cafe that overlooked the cemetery before spending well over an hour taking in those laid to rest. It always takes my breath away how beautiful European cemeteries are. From their intricate memorials (by statue, tombstone, or ironwork) to their closeness to nature (as graves are not tended to in the same way as U.S. cemeteries), so many things catch your eye and take your breath away. The views were just as beautiful, and I spent much of my time just looking out over the river or over the city.

As is the nature of this time of year, I had to quickly abandon this adventure due to a wall of rain that descended upon me. Hiding under an archway to wait for the worst of it to stop, I left the grounds via the brick gate in search of a restaurant suggested to me by a friend that had visited the city previously. I found U Kroka easily, ordered a beer and the rabbit (the suggestion of my friend) and settled in for some light reading on a rainy Sunday. Two hours later, I made my way back home for a relaxed evening before the beginning of another week at the office.

One of the most important things when coming to a new country is truly embracing the culture and the things it has to offer. I think it is even more critical when you are working in that country as well. While I have been trying to take advantage of my weekends here for this purpose (and not JUST to do tourist like things), my mentor has also been keen to make sure I get a full experience of the cultural aspects here in the Czech Republic. Originally she had assigned a colleague to help develop a “cultural curriculum” in a sense, to show me around the city, hit on historically significant sites, and answer any cultural question I may have. Of course, as sometimes happen, this did not work out and she has been working to make sure I do not lose that aspect.

The last few weeks, my mentor has been hosting a friend she met in the United States who just recently returned to her birth country of Italy. Cinzia is a fiery Italian-American New Yorker who moved to the U.S. in the late 1990s and became a teacher once she settled in New York. We met soon after she made it to Prague and had lovely conversations about our experiences with the world. Taking advantage of this connection, Stephanie suggested two days of experiences together. Wednesday we went to the Praha Zoo together, going into the heart of the city, taking a boat up the river, and experiencing a day among the animals. On Thursday, Stephanie joined us on an adventure outside of Praha to a fourteenth century castle, Karlstejn. While neither of us can provide explicit information about these things, having someone to take them in with made them that much more exceptional. While I had spoken with Cinzia prior to these two days, I think that our time together on these trips solidified a friendship that I truly hope continues as we walk through life on our different paths.

The Praha Zoo, to my surprise, was not really a tourist destination, which means, I got to experience a rare part of Czech culture that I don’t think many would think of. Unlike in the U.S., this zoo houses both land and sea animals, combining the ideas of American zoos and aquariums. It is on the outskirts of the city and is a vast amount of land dedicated to animals, plants, and experiences. We spent about four hours at the zoo and didn’t even make it through half of it. The place is meant truly for the Czech people though. In my opinion, the layout and the exhibits highlight how these people understand and respect the life of animals. In no place in the United States would you find so much land dedicated just to them. The zoo was also a place for family. When we first arrived, we passed many mothers with their children, stopping and watching the animals, talking to their young boys and girls about them. Then, as the day went on, full families became much more the norm. We were out of place in our time at the zoo not because we were Americans, but because it definitely seemed to be a place of family education.

Throughout our time Wednesday, our conversation rarely waned. We discussed all sorts of topics, such as ending up on paths you never imagined before. Cinzia taught me things about the furrier trade and I told her some of the things I knew about the animals we came across. We talked on our experiences in the U.S. and our travels. We talked on the difficulties of translation and how cultures sometimes make it difficult to adjust, as “normal” changes from place to place. All-in-all, it was a day of good company and conversation paired with a unique experience in a piece of Czech culture.

Thursday was just as pleasant. Meeting at the train station, we headed out of Praha with Stephanie telling us some things about the places we passed. Upon arrival, we walked from the train station to a small Greek restaurant and further discussed the castle we were getting ready to see. Karlstejn was built in 1348 and the village beneath it was renamed to be the same as the castle. It was used through the seventeenth century and was renovated in the nineteenth century to a likeness of its original glory. Now, of course, it is largely a tourist attraction. In the fourteenth century, Charles IV resided there and, for a time, the Crown Jewels were housed in the fortress. Like many fortifications, Karlstejn sits at a high elevation for strategic purposes.

Our climb to the castle was filled with pleasant conversation and several stops. We took the short, 60 minute tour, instead of the longer 90 minute one. While our tour guide was not the most enthusiastic, the information we received led to more pleasant conversation after the tour. Many of the items in the castle are not original, but the stories and myths that surround them are interesting. The thing is that the facts and myths were not clearly separated by the guide, which sometimes made it difficult to tell what she was telling us actually happened and what was pure conjecture. Her perceived lack of interest, at least by us, did not help this issue. Though, every tour guide is different, which leads to varying experiences. I would definitely recommend the tour, if nothing else, just to see inside the castle and its inner grounds.

A late return to the city left us quite exhausted, but in all the good ways. The Czech people are a proud people of their history, whether it is medieval history or celebrating the First Republic. Getting to experience these things is truly something to understanding how the Czech people have gotten where they are now in the twenty-first century. Charles IV, for example, holds a name in the capital as well. It isn’t just his residence from Karlstejn, but you see him everywhere, from Charles Bridge to Charles University and his final resting place at St. Vitus Cathedral within Prague Castle. These historical outings have led to some interesting conversations with my Czech colleagues about their understanding of their history as well, and I can’t wait to keep learning in this way.

I only had three regular days working in the library this week, and enjoyed two days of excursions in the Czech Republic with a lovely Italian woman I am very lucky to have met (but we will get into that in another post). My work in the library was pretty basic to what I am becoming used to as a regular schedule. Three conversation classes, the introduction of a new project, working on current projects, and working to stay caught up with all of them.

Monday I had two of my conversation classes and was introduced to a new project, as the library becomes more focused on the understanding of library use. After meeting with a new colleague, Martin, to plan our approach to the library use project, I spent most of the time working on brainstorming ideas for the long-term reference project I have been assigned. I then enjoyed 2 hours of conversation with students. In my first class, only one of my students showed up (one was sick and the other busy), and he has assured me that he is going to confront his fellow conversation partners to at least let me know when they cannot make it. My second conversation class was our first meeting, and I spent most of the time talking, which reminded me I need to be more mindful about trying to get my students to converse, so it actually helps them.

Tuesday introduced me to the “mini training” I will receive while here and my final conversation class of the week. On top of this, I worked more on the CRM project and did some historical reading on the First Republic of Czechoslovakia. The mini training is meant to give the group a fuller understanding of academic libraries worldwide (as many of the people working in services here are not librarians), but it turned into a long conversation about how scary the U.S. education system truly is when it comes to university. This topic seemed to continue in my conversation class, where they decided to talk about their experiences in European higher education and I couldn’t keep the look of awe of my face about how affordable it is, even when they think it is expensive. Keep in mind, I was having a conversation with three scientific doctors that have an education I cannot even begin to wrap my head around. My work on the CRM project seems to have hit a wall too, but I am diligently working on it. I appreciate the clout that is apparently being put behind my opinion, but it could prove problematic because there are people here that just understand things way more than I will ever be able to in my short time here.

Wednesday and Thursday I moved some meetings around and went on cultural excursions in the Czech Republic. I went with a guest of my mentor, an Italian-American woman who just retired to Italy after spending the last twenty years in New York City. On Wednesday, we went to the Prague Zoo. On Thursday, my mentor took us to Karlstejn, a fourteenth century castle just outside of Prague. Both excursions were extremely eye opening for different reasons I will explain in more detail in a later post.

Two days out of the office means a Friday of catching up. While my excursions Wednesday and Thursday are important for my understanding of things here and the culture around me, it does not mean that my work stopped in the library. While I have caught up mostly with readings (for now), I needed to make sure I was on solid footing in other arenas, like my projects and some of the assignments for other things going on in the library. Wednesday morning, before we left for the zoo, I spent time reading on the historical protester Jan Palach and informing myself about some Czech government issues taking place right now. Friday, I made sure that those things made sense in the notes I had taken and organized myself to be able to hit the ground running next week. Talking with colleagues, catching up on some work, and looking into some future activities took up the majority of my day as I prepare for a weekend with colleagues and more exploration.

With a few weeks under my belt, and several suggestions from colleagues and friends that have been to the city before, sometimes, you just need a bit of a break, but, you also don’t want to squander the beautiful country you have been so gratefully capable of coming to. So, I spent my weekend taking my time, and taking care of some things that I needed to.

I did not think while I was packing that the backpack I had planned to use for my everyday might actually be a bit too large for my non-workday adventures. Therefore, when I discovered this, I had no alternative. I asked around and was pointed in the direction of Palladium to find something more suitable. I ended up with a sinchsack (much cheaper than I could find in the U.S.) and an experience of the shopping experience here in the Czech Republic. It took me a bit to find the complex I was directed to (which holds over 200 different shops, restaurants, and bars), but it is also located on a long street full of shops and smaller complexes. Taking it all in was truly an experience in and of itself. I also found a toy store that was three stories tall and the place of childhood dreams.

Having not made it to Prague Castle, other than walking by it, I decided this is where I would spend Sunday. I live less than a twenty minute walk from the Castle. So, like most Sundays, I walked through the rose gardens and Petrin, toward the monastery, and continued on to the castle complex. As I know this will be a destination in another few weeks, I did not purchase tour tickets, but did take in the beauty of the castle and the feel of being surrounded by such architecture.

This weekend also allowed me to finish my second book since arriving: The Walnut Trees of Altenburgh. While my first book was an American history book, I didn’t want to dwell on it, but this novel was suggested by my mentor. It is based during the World War I time period, written by a Frenchman who has ties to France and Germany, and really highlights how the war progressed in the eyes of a soldier. Though the narrator is not that particular soldier (he is telling the story of his father), he also has those connections to war. It was haunting in so many ways, but also highlighted a style of writing often lost. So many people can truly capture life and all of its glory, but it is rare for an author to be able to so thoroughly illustrate death. I spent my week sitting at cafes and pubs after work just taking in this work while enjoying the atmosphere. I can’t wait to continue to do that with some of the other works I have had suggested to me.

With only one meeting on Monday (which I ran myself), I had essentially a day to work on whatever I needed. I confirmed times for a third conversation class, worked on a project for meetings later in the week, and had a lovely conversation with an Italian woman that just returned to Italy after 30 years in the United States (she is a friend of my mentor’s and is in the city for a few weeks). As it was Monday, I also had a brief sit down with Stephanie to “catch up” on some managerial things, which reminded me that no matter what profession we are in, it sometimes gets political.

The majority of my time on Monday was dedicated to the CRM project I am working on. While I intend to go into much more detail later on, here are some highlights from the portion I am currently working on. Even though I am a consultant, the team is very interested in my opinion, so I am currently working on a sketch of an interface I think will work and a way to “group” resources for recording purposes. Spending more time with the site, I honestly think that once the extra stuff has been removed (we are customizing an open source option), a good skeleton remains. The big project, of course, is getting everything to function the way it needs to. The majority of my time on this project this week will be on the resources portion, as we try to make it manageable and all-encompassing of offered resources, while trying to keep it from becoming too busy. This is proving to be difficult, as the NTK hosts approximately 80 electronic sources, which doesn’t take into account the physical collection at the library.

Tuesday also had a light schedule, with another conversation class scheduled. I spent most of the day reading. I have started a new novel, The Walnut Trees of Altenburg, which is throwing a little WWI history my way. I also took on a consultation project for a student. Her research team just got accepted for publication, so I agreed to copy edit their final draft. I have learned I know a lot less about science than I thought and I only got through part of the article today. Stephanie and I then had a discussion about management structures, specifically those that rely on Boards of Directors, and I continued working on the CRM project. I have returned to the world of Post-It notes, and it was actually extremely helpful for my organization.

Wednesday shook things up a little bit. After a morning meeting with a colleague in charge of student services with partnered high school, I had an easy day before leaving early for an excursion. The morning meeting focused on how information is disseminated to high school students that partner with the NTK. My afternoon consisted of exploring the area around Prague Castle(which included Embassy Row), as a cultural experience, before attending an evening lecture by an historian from the U.S. Her presentation on Jewish Escape Networks during WWII in Central and Eastern Europe was extremely interesting, and I hope to look more into her work in the coming weeks. We spoke briefly following the talk, and may be meeting before she leaves the city to continue an historical discussion.

Thursday followed these excursions with readings regarding the history of the area. While I had three meetings today, I did get to largely learning more about Czechia. One of the most useful things about my time here is that Stephanie is trying to feed my interest in history as well, as it will enhance my cultural understanding of the area. I read up on the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, the House of Habsburg (the “junior” line), the fall of the empire and its involvement in WWI, and some of the intricacies of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. While I knew many of the overarching concepts of the empire and this time period, it was nice to see some more specifics, especially some of the beliefs Ferdinand held about the future of the empire. This information was followed by a brief meeting with a CRM team member about our meeting on Friday and the consultation regarding the article I had been copy editing. I left work around 1700 to meet another colleague in the city for drinks. We spent our evening discussing Czechia, her home country of Spain, my home country of the U.S., and just kind of getting to know one another.

I didn’t quite make it to work early enough to observe the high school workshop that I wanted to, but there will most likely be another opportunity later on. I decided to spend most of my day trying to get a head start on some of the things I know are coming up. With only a 1400 meeting, I knew that most of my day would be self-guided. I was invited to lunch with a colleague I am working on the CRM project with and her office mate. It was quite interesting, as it was the first time I’d been somewhere that they did not have English menus, but the food just reminded me why I love Czech food (it’s delicious!). Apparently today is “The Day of Children,” which is common is this part of Europe. It was nice to discuss how 1 June is a day to celebrate childhood throughout the country (and Slovakia at least). Following lunch, I ended up in another management discussion with Stephanie which showed how complicated changes can get in the library prior to the CRM project team meeting. While not everything got covered in our meeting, I think the brainstorming was very helpful and I am excited to see that they are interested in user input prior to implementing new changes in the interface to hopefully cut down on some reworking that would likely happen otherwise. This just means I have some new mockups to make up and a week to work on consulting with our users prior to our next meeting. I look forward to the challenge following another weekend in the city.