** from Wednesday

Last weekend was fun. Bar and Books, the pub Becca and I went to last Friday, was really cool. Dark, filled with bookshelves (obviously), and had delicious cocktails. I got a little lost finding it, but dashing through Old Town Square and its side streets was amusing on its own. Afterwards, we met up with some of my friends at Lucerna. The music was pretty lame when we got there, and Becca left after only an hour, but around 1:30 or 2:00, the tunes improved and I met up with some other girls from CIEE. I left with Julie who had made friend with two Irish guys, and we introduced them to the wonders of late night smazeny syr.

On Saturday, I finally thought I was going to see the Mozart Museum, but the building I thought it was in was actually the Prague Instrument Museum. Still interesting though. I met up with Leah and Molly to browse the Christmas markets to find Christmas gifts before we unsuccessfully searched for a free outdoor ice skating rink. Leah and I met up again at U Sudu, our usual bar, with the Irish guys (one of which is going to MIT next semester) and some CIEE students. But, the night ended with a tour of the Charles Bridge and a pub in Mala Strana. But oh, you know it's been a long night when the day trams start running on your way home...

Sunday was another Christmas gift shopping day and the beginning of my final exam studying (which should have started a few days earlier). I met my Czech mom and her friend Ivana at the pub, but left a little earlier so I could wake up for my early morning Czech oral exam. Which actually went much better than I thought, despite pulling the topic I wanted the least out of the hat. Afterwards, I abandoned my econ studying and met Julie and the Irish guys for lunch before they headed back to Amsterdam. Ran back in time for my econ exam, went to my history class, then out for dinner at Kozlovna, a restaurant/pub a few blocks from our flat.

On Tuesday, I went Christmas shopping (yet again), wandered, and visited the Literarni Kavarna with Maya for the first time (it’s always hopping when I walk by it!). I accidentally slept in until 11:00 on Wednesday, until my Czech friend called to say that he was at my flat. I sheepishly rushed down in my pajamas and we went out for coffee. Spent the rest of the afternoon obsessing over my history exam (which wasn’t as easy as I thought it was going to be), and afterwards, I met my Czech mom and her friend Lukas for the last time. We went to her other local bar for a change and just talked for awhile and ate Czech potato chips (covered, absolutely covered in garlic). It was weird to say goodbye, but Lukas is supposed to email me his and Martina’s addresses so I can send postcards from the States. And tomorrow is so sleeping in and celebrating being finished with exams!

***from Friday afternoon

Oh man, the closing days. I can barely even remember what I've done this week. I've wandered the Christmas museums a bunch of times (even though they're disappointing), poked in and out of the local antique shop, went to the CIEE Christmas party (and tried carp which was kind of gross, kind of okay). But I still haven't gone to the Mozart museum.

I had my Czech final yesterday morning (my oral exam is on Monday) and I'm relieve that it's over. Afterwards, I went back to my flat, did a little work, wrote some postcards, and met Becca, my friend form Tufts in another Prague program, for coffee. Part of my "research" for my cafe culture paper. I had written down the address of this little cafe, but on the walk there, we passed this place called Choco Cafe and we couldn't NOT go in. So we ordered horka cocolada, 100 g of 53% cocoa. Ridiculous. I only got about 1/2-2/3 of the way through mine before I started feeling a little sick. I coudln't even think about chocolate for the rest of the evening! But oh, was it delicious... The cafe itself was really cute, very feminine. And the area it was in was exactly what you imagine when you think of "romantic Prague." All old buildings and windy narrow roads. We almost missed the street we intended to turn down because it jutted off of the main road on an angle and was tiny. We passed a bunch of other cute cafes and restaurants in the area too. Seriously, this is type of neighborhood that I really wish I had found earlier in the semester.

Afterwards, I ran home to meet a Czech friend at my flat. We went to the Christmas markets in Vaclavski Namesti and Old Town Square, but unfortunately, it kept raining harder and harder, so we ducked into a restaurant in the Jewish Quarter for cover. Afterwards, we went to Pivovarsky Dum (Brewery House), a restaurant/pub that I've been wanting to go to for awhile. I tried cherry beer and he got vanilla (definitely the better of the two).

And today, Becca and I decided to actually hit up our intended cafe, Cafe Montmartre, from the day before. Sooo disappointing. Powder hot chocolate and Becca's sausage turned out to be little more than a boiled hotdog. We wandered around the sidestreets for awhile, before eventually settling for another cafe. After, we went to the Kampa Museum, a small Central European modern art museum. It was pretty interesting, and due it it's location on Kampa Island on the Vltava River, it was gorgeous views out its windows. I mailed some of my postcards on the way home, and postage, by the way, cost six times more than the actual cards, lame. Anyway tonight, Becca and I plan to go to a kind of ritzy cocktail bar than we've both wanted to go to all semester before meeting some friends at Lucerna for some 80s tunes. Tomorrow, I should do some real work...

Oh man, the closing days. I can barely even remember what I've done this week. I've wandered the Chritmas museums a bunch of times (even though they're disappointing), poked in and out of the local antique shop, went to the CIEE Christmas party (and tried carp which was kind of gross, kind of okay). But I still haven't gone to the Mozart museum.

I had my Czech final yesterday morning (my oral exam is on Monday) and I'm relieve that it's over. Afterwards, I went back to my flat, did a little work, wrote some postcards, and met Becca, my friend form Tufts in another Prague program, for coffee. Part of my "research" for my cafe culture paper. I had written down the address of this little cafe, but on the walk there, we passed this place called Choco Cafe and we couldn't NOT go in. So we ordered horka cocolada, 100 g of 53% cocoa. Ridiculous. I only got about 1/2-2/3 of the way through mine before I started feeling a little sick. I coudln't even think about chocolate for the rest of the evening! But oh, was it delicious... The cafe itself was really cute, very feminine. And the area it was in was exactly what you imagine when you think of "romantic Prague." All old buildings and windy narrow roads. We almost missed the street we intended to turn down because it jutted off of the main road on an angle and was tiny. We passed a bunch of other cute cafes and restaurants in the area too. Seriously, this is type of neighborhood that I really wish I had found earlier in the semester.

Afterwards, I ran home to meet a Czech friend at my flat. We went to the Christmas markets in Vaclavski Namesti and Old Town Square, but unfortunately, it kept raining harder and harder, so we ducked into a restaurant in the Jewish Quarter for cover. Afterwards, we went to Pivovarsky Dum (Brewery House), a restaurant/pub that I've been wanting to go to for awhile. I tried cherry beer and he got vanilla (definitely the better of the two).

And today, Becca and I decided to actually hit up our intended cafe, Cafe Montmartre, from the day before. Sooo disappointing. Powder hot chocolate and Becca's sausage turned out to be little more than a boiled hotdog. We wandered around the sidestreets for awhile, before eventually settling for another cafe. After, we went to the Kampa Museum, a small Central European modern art museum. It was pretty interesting, and due it it's location on Kampa Island on the Vltava River, it was gorgeous views out its windows. I mailed some of my postcards on the way home, and postage, by the way, cost six times more than the actual cards, lame. Anyway tonight, Becca and I plan to go to a kind of ritzy cocktail bar than we've both wanted to go to all semester before meeting some friends at Lucerna for some 80s tunes. Tomorrow, I should do some real work...

Jeff, my Tufts friend who's in London for the semester, came to visit this weekend. After my unfortunate decision to skip the St. Mikulas celebrations in Old Town Square, I was at least able to see a few people dressed up in costumes on the metro when I went to pick up Jeff at the airport. We met up with his high school friend Hannah who is also studying in Prague, and decided to go out to a pub for a little while. However, we headed out a little late, and as it turns out, half the bars in Prague close at 11:30. After wandering for over an hour, we ended up going to U Sudu, a really cool underground cave-like pub that's open until 4:00 on the weekends. We had a quick jaunt to Lucerna afterwards, which was fun, but I realized that they play the EXACT same music there every night. Jeff also got his first taste of smazeny syr at the very appropriate hour of 3:00 in the morning.

We did out fair share of sighteeing on Saturday and Sunday. We went to the amazing garlic soup restaurant, the TV Tower, Old Town Square (with its Christmas markets), the Jewish Quarter, Prague Castle, Cafe Lourve, and Charles Bridge (twice). On Saturday night, Jeff even went with me to my Czech mom's party, which was maybe a little awkward, but a lot of fun. We went to a pub before the party since we were cold and a little to early, and Jeff got accosted by a very drunk Czech hobo whose only English phrase was, "You speak English?" It was very amusing and of course I got some pictures.

I still need to go to the Mozart Museum and do some Christmas shopping this week.

Instead of constantly analyzing my goals and obsessing about what I’m supposed to get out of “my abroad experience,” I’m really starting to relax and think about what would make me happy at the moment. What do I want to do right now? Although I’m keeping the end of the semester in mind, I’m not worrying much more than one or two days in advance. And you know what? I think things are working out much better.

I made a list a few months ago in the back of one of my Prague guidebooks of a bunch of things I wanted to see/visit before I left. There’s no way I’ll be able to see even half of them, but really, will I be upset when I return home is I haven’t see Museum A or Tourist Attraction B? I think I’ll be happy enough if I look back and know I had fun during the final stretch of my time.

Yesterday, I went to see a gypsy soul concert with Maya and her Czech friend, Stanislav. She suggested it earlier in the day and it sounded interesting, but I thought I’d stay in and get some work done. But later in the evening, I realized I’d done enough work finished during my midday class break, and hey, gypsy soul sounded kind of interesting. Despite being a quite over priced concert (400 CZK, or twice the price of my Don Giovanni ticket), it was a good night. Although the singer was the one who was advertised, she was wayyy overshadowed by her band. I mean, I didn’t exactly understand what she was singing (or even what language she was singing in), but the guitarists and keyboardist were a-m-a-z-i-n-g. The music was very chill and it was a relaxing night. I would definitely consider bringing some gypsy music back home with me. We went to a pub near the concert venue and tried one of Maya’s favorite beers that was pretty good. Unfortunately, I got terribly lost on the way back to the metro on my own and it took forever to get back to the flat. Stanislav, who gave me directions, got lost on his way home too.

This morning I skipped my Czech class and slept in a little. Just as I was getting up, Maya called to ask if I wanted to join her and Julie for lunch at this garlic soup restaurant that she swears by. I was almost too lazy to get dressed and meet them, but I’m glad I did. It was actually the same restaurant I went with Becca to last week for fondue. It’s a little place in this quaint brick basement and its garlic soup did not disappoint. It was creamy and very cheesy and I couldn’t even finish my bowl. Julie and I went back to the flat afterwards and walked by this palacinky (crepe) stand in Narodni Trida that I ALWAYS pass late at night and crave when it’s closed. I decided this weekend that it was one place I was determined to go to before I left Prague. And despite still being full, I fulfilled my goal right then and there. Don’t regret it. A chocolate and coconut crepe made right in front of me for only 30 CZK (ummm… $1.50!).

Back in the flat, I decided to tackle my Alternative Culture final paper that I’ve been putting off for weeks. Then, I spontaneously changed my topic and decided to write about café culture in Prague. Perfect. Tons of history online and I’ve decided to make the second half of my paper a personal account of my café experiences and recommendations on the best lattes and horka cokoladas in the city. It’s already half done, and I plan on doing some more research tomorrow morning, if you know what I mean.

I also cooked my first successful non-pasta, made-from-scratch meal. It was my cooking week for my flatmates and I made chicken quesadillas. They were delicious. I wish I had gotten pictures of me over frying pans on the stove as proof. Alas. Inspired, I made the dough for the chocolate chip cookies I’m baking tomorrow for the party my Czech mom’s throwing for me on Saturday. I actually found brown sugar and spent an hour (literally) chopping up chocolate because they don’t sell chocolate chips here.

Afterwards, Julie, Maya and I went to Kozolna, this bar/restaurant we always pass on our way to class, named after the best dark beer brand in Prague (in our collective opinion). Again, another place we’ve wanted to go to for ages. Turns out they make wonderful light beer too. On our walk there, we also got the idea to create a Svandovo-Andel flat bonding pub crawl next week, to hit up all the bars in our area that we haven’t yet been to. I don’t know why we hadn’t thought of this earlier!

Tomorrow, I’m conducting some café “research,” going to the Mozart Museum, making my cookies, going to the Christmas market in Wenceslas Square, and picking up Jeff from the airport.

You know, I like this new approach of “what will be fun tomorrow?”

Thanksgiving and More Austrian Adventures

I feel like the busy period at the end of the semester is just starting to kick in now. I had a crazy Wednesday and Thursday last week preparing for Thanksgiving here, left for Vienna on Friday morning, got back on Sunday night and had a bunch of things to get done. I've got two weekends left, final exams, and a ton of papers hanging over my head.

So Thanksgiving turned out to be a big success! I definitely got a little homesick missing a real Thanksgiving at home, but Prague "Thanksgiving" was a lot of fun. As Caity and I were way behind on all of the side dishes around 17:30, I started getting really worried, but as people starting showing up around 19:00, we had a little help. We served dinner to about twenty guests around 20:30, and remarkably, everything on the table was warm. Although, we did end up with (delicious!) chicken instead of turkey. A lot of improvising was involved in our feast (chicken, pumpkin pastries instead of pie, and a bunch of ingredient substitutions), but most things tasted pretty good. We even invited some Czech friends, which is funny because we ended up with a "Czech end" of the table.

After going to bed around 3:30, I woke up (miserably) at 6:30. I made it to the bus station about ten minutes before our bus left for Vienna, however Caity wasn't so lucky. Perhaps a result of throwing a big twenty person feast at her flat, but she overslept and missed the bus. Chris and I arrived in Vienna around 12:30, and luckily, Caity was able to catch another bus and met us at 22:00. In the meantime, Chris and I dropped our stuff off, wandered around one of the Christmas markets, went to the Austrian Natural History Museum, and took a short tour of Vienna with a professor from our program who was in the city for the weekend. It was a gorgeous evening, clear and beautiful with the all the city's Christmas lights and markets. The professor who gave us the tour even bought us all hot wine at the end!

Now, Caity, Chris, and I decided to couchsurf in Vienna. You know, the website where people offer to host travellers in their houses/apartments in return for a "cultural experience." I don't think my parents were too thrilled to hear about this... However, it worked out really well. We stayed with Christof, a 27 year old PhD student. He was really cool and a borderline hippie, and his flat was really large and located right near a main metro stop. We slept on beds in his four year old daughter's room the first night and on mattresses in his study the next night when his daughter was visiting. We talked over tea on Friday afternoon and chatted when we came back at night, but we didn't see Christof too much otherwise.

So during our the rest of our Vienna excursion, I saw the new James Bond movie, went to the National Library, saw five of six different Christmas markets, ate ridiculous amounts of candy and sweets, went in City Hall and the famous main Cathedral, heard the Vienna Choir Boys sing at Sunday service, got my pumpkin soup again, and toured the Schonbrunn Palace. We did a lot of things, however, I can't say that anything in particular stood out. I had a really good time (besides being FREEZING COLD the entire time, but my fault), but it was a pretty average travel weekend.

I really liked Vienna overall, in the sense that I feel like it's a city that I could actually live in. It reminded me a lot of Madrid, although probably only because it's more Westernized. If I visited Vienna or Madrid coming straight from the US, I wouldn't notice it at all. But it's a surprising yet comforting reminder of home after being in Prague. Vienna also isn't intimidating or pretentious like other cities. And it's pretty small population-wise and filled with gorgeous buildings, like Prague. I'll be honest though, I went to Vienna expecting to like it because I like Austria so much in general. Coffee and beer especially were expensive however, and that's definitely a pitfall. And the biting cold.

I finally got my hair cut today. The faded purple and general deadness at the tips were starting to drive me crazy, so I walked into a hair salon and took care of business. I don't think I've ever had such a silent haircut before, usually hairdressers are talkative folk. But I only speak a little Czech, and she only a little English. It was so frustrating, sitting there and trying to think of how to say different things. I realized that I don't even know how to say "more" in Czech, and I feel like that kind of basic. I couldn't tell her I wanted to cut "a little more" off, or even the word "purple," so it was kind of a pointing and miming kind of deal. Again, frustrating because as I'm sitting and thinking of all this, and I realize I could have easily gotten by had it have been Spanish. I really underestimated how much I learned over five and a half years. Still though, all the purple is gone and although it's a bit short, it was one of the better haircuts that I've even gotten.

Besides a few class trips and other smaller events, this week is mostly about obsessing over Thanksgiving. Finding a turkey is proving to be very difficult. I wasn't to keen on cooking dinner with some friend, but I agreed and then got pretty excited for it. Except now everyone else has class and other obligations on Thursday and can't help cook. So now I'm a little stressed, seeing as I can barely identify boiling water and now I'm waiting to see if I can order a turkey and cook vegetables... As of today, I can add a new food to my repertoire - Czech bread pizza. Kind of like french bread pizza, except wit Czech chleb and eidam cheese. But oh, do I have a long way to go...