ja jsem studentka

On Thursday we went to Praszky hrad (Prague castle) to see an exhibition by a Czech Cubist painter and sculptor, Emil Filla. I didn't like all of his work but I liked a few pictures in particular. That night, my host family had the mother's two sisters, their husbands and all the kids over--it was a full house and a lot of fun. Families are very close-knit here and the family is of utmost importance. In some ways it dates back to the Communist era because you really couldn't trust everybody, but you could always trust the family.

Yesterday was my favorite day in the Czech Republic so far. After Czech language lessons in the morning, we drove two hours to a village in South Bohemia called Horazdovice to visit the Art Mill. The Art Mill is a 500-year-old mill and farm that is now an organic farm, art gallery and summer arts camp run by an American artist named Barbara Benish and her Czech husband Petr Kalny, who's an architect. They live there with their two daughters Gabriela and Natalya and a slew of horses, rabbits (they eat them), chickens, a goat (they milk it) and my friend from Sarah Lawrence, Annie Rudnik (she just graduated) is living there and working as Barbara's assistant. It was really great to see her. She's assisting Barbara and getting to create her own visual art and dance pieces as well.

Barbara, Annie and her daughters served us a delicious lunch made with food they grow on the farm and we played with their dogs Flicka and Lady. Afterwards, Barbara showed us around the Art Mill. We saw her galleries and her working space and the rest of the farm. She does a lot of interesting work, often inspired by Albrecht Durer and the Book of Revelations and her hometown of Newport Beach, California. It was beautiful and idyllic. I'm sure I idealized the Mill a lot, but it was pretty magical. Speaking of magical, we then went to the village of Techonice and saw a local production of Maly princ (The Little Prince) in a theater that was a converted barn. I indulged in Indian dal soup and medovnik, a mindblowing Czech honey cake.

I feel like the more and more I travel, the more familiar every person and every town and every building seems. I can't tell how I feel about the nomad lifestyle. Is it for me? I'm not sure.