Erasmus Mundus Retrospective:
Exploring Europe
22 Sep 2018
- Introduction
- Living in Prague
- Coursework in Computational Linguistics
- Extracurricular Projects
- Exploring Europe « You are here
- Closing Thoughts
Now, what’s the point of going to Europe without exploring a bit? Here is a compilation of media artifacts in my favorite cities.
Prague
Here’s another view of Old Town in Prague from the Petřín Lookout Tower. Feel free to shift+click the image below to get a sense of scale.
The Prague gardens below the castle offer an exquisite view, both inside and outside.
Street performers like to flock onto Charles Bridge, Prague’s most famous landmark.
Statues and art installations pepper the city. Franz Kafka, a famous writer born in Prague, is a long-time favorite.
One thing that photographers often neglect to show is just how much graffiti is in the city, even in the touristy areas. I don’t quite understand why people would mar and neglect such glamor with hideous markings, but it seems to stem from the culture of the region. Not to say all graffiti is bad, but I would hardly call this good art.
Karlovy Vary
West of Prague is a famous spa town named Karlovy Vary, in which so many Russians vacation there that the shop owners default to speaking in Russian. The town is built on top of some hot springs and features a dense forest of colorful trees in the fall.
One can also take a gondola up a large hill to find a tower that overlooks the city.
The town is most beautiful in the fall when the leaves are changing hues.
Vienna
Out of all of the cities I have seen, Vienna would be closest to the grand and ornate architecture of Prague, and perhaps even more so. Straight out of the central metro station, one is greeted with St. Stephen’s Cathedral. The interior is equally as impressive.
The Schönbrunn Palace offers a grand entrance, followed by a giant garden, and finally an enormous view.
Munich
Munich would have to be the liveliest city I have visited. Every 10 meters you walk, you will find another street performer.
The animated image you saw at the top of this page was Munich’s New Town Hall taken as a series of ~150 photographs stitched together and stabilized in After Effects to create a hyperlapse. Note how the clock ticks, showing that the pictures were taken over the course of 10-15 minutes.
Here is a person working on a sand sculpture.
Nothing to see here. Just a guy playing a giant mandolin.
This person appears to be missing something…
And here’s some more architecture to round things out.
Saarbrücken
Now that my year is up, I’m ready for round two at Saarland University in Saarbrücken, Germany, bordering France and Luxembourg. It’s a smaller city featuring a large forest of trees and an integrated campus. Stay tuned for next year, when I will complete my studies and write a second part to this series of posts.
Now it’s time to close this post with some additional remarks and personal thoughts on the subject of studying in Europe.