Oh admit it, "bwog" is a funny word to say

So here it is, the Spark Notes to my Big European Adventure. Off I go, or, at least as soon as I board my flight in about ten minutes. But hey, you're along for the ride too, in that watching-from-the-window-seat kind of trip.

You: "So, where are you living on campus this semester?"

Me: "Uh, actually, I'm leaving for abroad in a couple of days..."

You: "Wow, where?"

Me: "Prague."

You: "Wow, Prague's awesome! I visited [insert time] ago! It's my favorite European city! How'd you decided on Prague?"

Or something like that. Seems like everyone I've met lately has been to Prague in the past few years and has declared it to be one of the most beautiful cities. But hey, no complaints there! Either that or I'll get a, "What's Prague?"

But how did I decide on some cold, former Soviet Bloc city that speaks a language that few people know (or can even pronounce)? Well, for some reason I decided not to go to gorgeous Spain or Chile and practice the language I studied/suffered through for five years. I didn't want to go to France without speaking French, Germany with no knowledge of German, and you know the rest. And the UK and Australia didn't seem to provide the culture shock I was looking for.

But hey, Eastern Europe has always seemed a bit mysterious. The locals don't expect (or so I hear) visitors to speak Polish, Czech, Lithuanian, etc. And does it count that I'm a smidge Eastern European myself? Anyway, I kept hearing great things about Prague and coupled with the fact that it hasn't switching to the Euro yet, it sounded like a great (and somewhat cheap!) deal.

So hear I go. Knowing roughly 100 Czech words and only the basics about their politics, I'm heading into a country where I don't even know how to pronounce the word for coffee yet (crucial, obviously). So hopefully you all can tag along, keep up with my adventures (or in Emily fashion, "misfortunate tragedies"), and drop me a line once in a while so I can keep up on what's going on back at home!

Miss you all already!