Content blog 6: The Ossuary of Kutna Hora. Creepy/sublime

The ossuary of Kutna Hora was the most fascinating church I have ever seen. For those who don't know, the ossuary is a bone church located in Prague. The church looks like any regular church on the outside, but on the inside it is creepy. There are skulls and human bones from about 40,000 people arranged around the church. People may be thinking this is creepy, and it is. There was a monk who wanted to add on to the church but needed more space. But there were huge graves that needed to be uprooted to make room. The monk thought to dig up the graves and use the bones for the church. The bodies were of people unknown from the plague and war. So you may think why did the monk do this? I think it is possible that he was doing this to honor them and to show their respects.

Content Blog 5: Describe Konopiste as a classic empire location

Konopiste palace was the home to Franz Ferdinand. It is located in the Czech Republic, southeast of Prague, outside the city of Benesov. He was the archduke of Austria. Like most of the males in the Habsburg line, he entered the army. He was given multiple titles such as lieutenant, captain, and colonel. He was a big hunter who had over 4,000 dead animals in his house. I interpret his trophies as being a symbol of his power. Similar to the other palaces, you had to jump from room to room. The palace had baroque interior. He was assassinated, and the irony is that he was hunted like his animals were.

Content blog 4: Describe Sisi, explain how she is an empire heroine

One of my favorite stories we read was about Sisi and Franz Josef. Sisi was a young 16 year old who travelled to upper Austria with her mother and sister Helene. Helene was to be the bride of their cousin Franz Josef. Franz fancied Sisi over Helene. Sisi was young and more appealing. She didn't go to all her meals and had an eating disorder. She did enjoy writing, and she was provided with a writing station. Sisi wished that Franz wasn't a prince. She was hesitant in marrying him even though she loved him. She didn't want to be a mistress and change herself to fit that image. At the Schonbrunn palace she felt like she was trapped in a cage. At the Hofburg palace Sisi was given more. She had bigger rooms and her own bathroom. She felt more comfortable here because she had more stuff at the Hofburg.

Content blog 3: Compare Palaces

There were three palaces I visited, those being Schonbrunn, Hofburg, and Kew. The Schonbrunn and Hofburg palaces were both in Vienna, while Kew was in London. The two palaces in Vienna were very similar compared to Kew Garden palace. In the Schonbrunn palace, Sisis lived in a cage. She was confined to only a few rooms. This palace was considered a vacation spot. Mainly to get away from the town. The gardens at Schonbrunn were used for the men and women to walk around. It was very private. The other palace, Hofburg, had bigger rooms but less privacy. In order to get from one room to the other you had to walk through other rooms. There was less interaction between Sisi and Franz at the Hofburg because of the locked doors. The Kew palace was different from the rest. This palace looked like an ordinary house. It differed largely in that there were hallways, so they didn't have to go through other rooms to get to where they needed to go. The building was also very symmetric. The Kew gardens had different areas and a green house.

Content Blog 2: compare Cathedrals

   I have been to multiple cathedrals during this study abroad experience. The four I will be discussing are Saint Stephan's, Saint Vitus, Saint George, and Saint Wulfrum's.
   Saint Stephan's cathedral is a Roman Catholic Church located in Vienna. In the church there were statues of saints which were a symbol of Heaven. It is the church of earth and heaven with the community of saints. There was a private chal for the upper class. The Habsburgs built a higher steeple for political power. The church then was too small for the Habsburgs and dedicated it to Saint Stephan's.
   Saint Vitus and Saint George are located in Prague at the Prague castle. Saint Vitus is gothic, while Saint George is far from gothic. Saint George is considered to to be Romanesque. Saint Vitus looked to be much bigger than Saint George. Vitus has more depth and detail. Both are Roman Catholic Churches similar to Stephan's church.
   Saint Wulfram's is smaller due to not knowing at the time how to support the church. They made it as tall as they could but didn't know how to build it at the time to make it taller. It has a chained book library. It is different from the others because it is an episcopalian church.

Content Blog:Freud's contribution to understanding the Empire

In Vienna I visited the Freud museum. Freud was an Austrian physician who created psychoanalysis. Psychoanalysis is a psychological theory and therapy which the goal is to treat mental disorders by investigating the interaction of conscious  and unconscious elements in the mind and bringing repressed fears and conflicts into the conscious mind by techniques such as dream interpretation and free association. Freud's contribution to empire is through the psychoanalytic education in "Red Vienna". After the First World War, there was a change from the Habsburg monarchy to the Republic of Austria. This was characterized by new sociopolitical intentions. "Red Vienna" was the center of progressive education. There was a need for child-oriented education. They applied psychoanalytic teaching methods, which offered children freedom and necessary restrictions. August Aichhorn was the leader of the Child Guidance centre of the city in Vienna. Aichhorn was a psychoanalyst and worked with Anna Freud whom she was a teacher. Psychoanalysis then found its way in public institutions.

Experiential Blog 6

Throughout this trip I have heard German, English, and Czech. Being in London I would hear some words that didn't sound familiar. London and Grantham are both similar in the way they speak. From what I observed when they greet or give introductions, it is similar to how we say things. We say hello and introduce one another in a similar manner. What I found interesting was one word in particular which was "cheers". They used this to say goodbye, your welcome, and basically a nice way to say have a good day. When in the grocery store I would hear children call their mothers "mum" which I thought was cute. They also speak in a softer tone than us Americans. We are loud, so it was hard to hear what they would say at times. In general I think of London and Grantham  speak more proper English, but we are similar in speech.