Thornton Academy – AP Language 2018-2019

Welcome back! Today I invite you to sit down for a few minutes and listen to the next sparkling gem of information I have come to share. Today, we are focusing on Olomouc, Czech Republic, the home of another good friend of mine whom I met over the summer.

My Czech friend takes a lot of pride in her city. Olomouc has a long, beautiful past that shows on every building and in every square. Because of the lack of tourists, it is a hidden jewel, full of history and pride that has yet to be discovered by the rest of the world.

Olomouc is a city of about 100,000 people, situated in the heart of eastern Czech Republic. With cultural importance dating back over a thousand years to the Kingdom of Bohemia, Olomouc certainly has it’s fair share of history. An important city in Moravia, the neighboring kingdom to Bohemia, Olomouc was visited by several members of Bohemian royalty, and, as I would like to focus on here, hosted young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and his family for two months in 1767.

At eleven years old, Mozart and his family traveled to Olomouc hoping to avoid the smallpox epidemic that had overtaken their home of Vienna. Unfortunately, during their stay at a local hotel, Mozart was overcome by smallpox anyway, and was sick for a part of their time in Olomouc. Despite this unfortunate turn of events, however, child Mozart likely still composed his Symphony No. 6 in F major here as he recovered, which marks Olomouc as a significant location in the timeline of Mozart’s incredible musical journey.

Today, the building in which the Mozart family stayed still stands, a testament to the history preserved in the city’s architecture. Among countless historical events and cultural sites to explore in Olomouc, the stay of Mozart is simply another well-kept secret that is makes up this beautiful town. And don’t worry, I’ll be sure to add pictures after my visit (which is still in the hypothetical stage at the moment). Until then, ahoj!

Olivia

Attention to all readers: I have an announcement! Due to the fact that I am horribly behind on blog posts and I have an overwhelming amount of love for my friends and their diverse backgrounds, I have decided to make a series. While talking to my friends throughout the day and avidly dodging any thoughts about said missing blog posts, I realized that, while I know basic facts about their home cities or countries, I really don’t have any knowledge beyond the superficial. So I did some research. And, after reading and delving into the rich histories and cultures I was such a stranger to, I had a revelation: what if I was to spread my newfound wealth of information on the blog, killing two birds with one stone?

And so, here we are.

I’d like to start by saying that, while I would rather admit that I worked tirelessly on this research dedicating hour upon hour, leaving no stone unturned, that is simply not true. In fact, for this first installment of whatever this series turns out to be, I chose the first stone I found: the Chelyabinsk meteorite (side note: ‘no stone unturned’ might not have been the best turn of phrase to use in this context, but I’m very excited about the stone/meteorite pun, so it will stay).

My closest Russian friend lives in Chelyabinsk, a city of over one million residents that sits directly east of the Ural Mountains and north of Kazakhstan. Chelyabinsk, like all of the cities I researched, has amazing history. For this post, however, I wanted to focus on one specific topic, and the meteorite seemed like the perfect choice.

The Chelyabinsk meteorite hit Russia on February 15, 2013. It was the largest to hit the earth since 1908, and much more damaging to urban life, seeing as the previous collision hit in the heart of Siberia. Over 1,500 people were treated for non-fatal injuries, most due to shattered glass from windows. The resulting shock wave was powerful enough to be felt in five other Russian cities nearby, and scientists concluded that at one point the asteroid was brighter than the sun. Brighter than the sun! The rock itself fragmented upon entering the atmosphere, but large chunks still rained down around the area, the largest hitting a lake.

Besides the obvious fact that a meteorite striking your friend’s hometown is ridiculously exciting, I thought this was pretty amazing because I actually remember seeing a story on the news when it happened. If I did my math correctly (no promises), I was eleven at the time. Understandably, for an eleven year old, a big hunk of space rock hitting the earth is crazy enough. And honestly, it still is, but the fact that I’m now friends with a kid from halfway across the world who actually experienced it boggles my mind even more.

After learning all of this, I’m eager to write more and learn more. That doesn’t happen a lot. So, until next time, До свида́ния!

Olivia

Eve Holbrook

I never thought sleep would be one of the needs in which I desired most in life. I never thought I would be the person who could only get through the day with continuous amounts of energy drinks and coffee. Even as a child I thought staying up til 7:30 was far to late for my little mind to even fathom. Then as I aged life got harder, and the hours in which my body managed to keep the mind inhabiting it, awake, grew longer. Instead of going to bed at 7:30, endless hours of homework managed to stretch the hour to 11:00, at the earliest. The strenuous classes in which my days are filled with, have managed to excerpt every ounce of energy from my body. What’s left (if any) is used up, to solve tantrums and fights over swing sets from the 50 or more children I meet eyes with face to face every day. By the end of the day only droplets remain and have to be ringed out, to complete the last tasks I can manage to accomplish before the sunrises. Little things like laundry, and a clean room, fall lower and lower on the to-do list for each week, until eventually the week goes by and still these simple tasks have yet to be completed.I hope that as life goes on, I somehow will find away to make the day go by easier. I hope that one day, all my energy will not be wasted over simple tasks which in the grand scheme of things will go unnoticed. In my dreams I picture a world in which the hours of sleep comes in bulging amounts and the days of enormous bags stretching under the eyes disappear. I know in reality my dreams are far off, for the direction I’m heading life only will be getting harder. So instead I have come up with the goal of getting more energy, I’m not sure how yet but maybe someday my goal will be accomplished.