Emily's Prague Bwog

2008-12-21T18:17:00.001-08:00

** 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!

2008-12-16T10:29:00.000-08:00

***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...

2008-12-12T20:32:00.001-08:00

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...

2008-12-08T05:30:00.000-08:00

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.

2008-12-05T01:59:00.001-08:00

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

2008-12-02T13:48:00.000-08:00

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.

2008-11-26T05:19:00.001-08:00

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...

Austria, Part Zwei

2008-11-24T14:19:00.000-08:00

So I survived the ski trip with the exception of a few bruises on my butt and hips. As it turns out, the Alps aren't exactly the best place to learn how to ski. There isn't really a German equivalent of a "bunny hill." Alas, I resorted to "skiing" down these tiny little blips at the bottom of the mountain before twice attempting an actual ski trail. Except, I probably did more falling than skiing. Once, I got stuck in a snow drift and couldn't get up for almost five minutes. Embarrassing...

Anyway, it was still a fun trip. We arrived in Sell am See, Austria on Friday night in the middle of a blizzard. There was already a few inches of snow on the ground and it was still coming down as we moved our stuff into our hostel. It was still snowing around 7:00 on Saturday, the ungodly hour of the morning that we had to get up at. In fact, when we arrived at the ski place, we had to wait almost two hours for conditions to "calm down" on the mountain before we were able to buy our ski passes. Finally, we made our way up about 1000 m to the second base where we stayed most of the day. Conditions on the mountain were ridiculous. Something like -13 degrees C, snowing, and super windy. Visibility: six inches. So so cold. But still, I had fun trekking up the tiny hills I tried learning on and enjoyed some more of the pancake soup in the lodge that I had last time in Austria.

A few of us spent Saturday night watching Das Super Talent (German version of America's Got Talent) back in the hostel. Sunday was a lot better. I somehow managed to get worse at skiing since the previous day, despite the fact that the sun came out and the temperature was a little warmer. The mountain was gorgeous. Leah and I took the gondola up to the top base, at over 3000 m up. Here we were, just standing on top of a mountain in the Alps, so high up that we couldn't even see the bottom. We left for Prague right from the ski place. The ride home was pretty much the only time we were driving in daylight, and again, its impossible to explain the beauty of the area. Try to imagine driving through a snowglobe. Snow covered mountains in all directions, the road winding around on the edge, a few cabins here and there glowing as the sun began to set...

Apparently it snowed in Prague while we were gone too. There's still a little left today and the city feels quite welcoming and comfortable. I really can't wait until the Christmas season kicks in.

2008-11-20T06:27:00.000-08:00

Less excitement this week. The fact that I have so little homework due on a daily basis because it's all due at the end is only just starting to hit me. So far, I have nine pages done on my ten page history paper (only, it's an organizational mess), and an idea on how to start my media project, culture paper, and Czech immersion project. Yikes.

I'll be honest, I'm still not a huge fan of my classes. Still, while my econ class goes over my head, the professor is a huge nerd who cracks nerdy jokes all during lecture. And what I do understand is interesting. My alternative culture class has had pretty cool field trips and although the professor is so judgmental, it's probably the only class I enjoy attending. On Tuesday, the class got into a huge debate on adoption after our professor brought up Juno. On the other hand, my media class is still taught at a third grade level.

In other news, I got to practice my Spanish skills yet again with my Czech mom's crazy friend's daughter, who is only thirteen and is currently learning three languages in addition to Czech. The crazy friend, since we were at her apartment, also kept trying to feed me. I made the mistake of eating dinner beforehand, but numerous finger sandwiches, unsweetened "Czech cake," pretzel cookies, and two types of pumpkin were foisted upon me. As the crazy friend kept talking about how fat she is (she's only slightly rounder than a toothpick). I'm getting a little sick of finger sandwiches, but the pumpkin was delicious.

In the meantime, I've decided that meeting with my Czech mom and her friends has definitely contributed to my miming skills. Not to say that my Czech comprehension hasn't gotten better, because it totally has, just... let's just say that I'd make an awesome charades partner.

And so for today, mostly just tea and homework. I'm meeting Becca, a friend from Tufts, for dinner, and who knows what I'll do tonight. Probably sleep. Tomorrow morning I leave to go skiing in Austria for the weekend!

2008-11-17T11:44:00.000-08:00

Ahhh! I'm in The New York Times website! Okay, only kind of, but I commented on an article and it was picked as an editor's selection!

Check #21:

http://community.nytimes.com/article/comments/2008/11/17/education/17exchange.html

the week in review...

2008-11-17T08:59:00.000-08:00

Most definitely my favorite weekend in Prague, and after writing this, realized it was pretty busy. Prepare yourself, highlights from the week:

- I met up with my Czech mom, Martina, and Small Lukas on Wednesday night at a movie theatre to see Vicky Cristina Barcelona and went to a bar afterwards. I really liked the movie; at first I didn’t like the ending because it wasn’t exactly the happiest thing ever, but I realized afterwards that it was much more real and believable, and therefore more appropriate. Martina liked it too, but more because she loves Woody Allen (who directed it) and the male lead. We went to the same bar as last time, and it was funny because Martina “helped” me with my Czech homework at the table and ordered me another beer in the meantime, after I had already called it quits!

- I agonized about class registration on Thursday, before refreshing the page every two seconds around 14:00 and making my final decisions. So for next semester, I’m taking Experimental Psych, Adv. Engineering Psych, American Film Studies, Entrepreneurship, Intro to Skiing/Snowboarding, and I’m going to audit Intermediate Micro Econ. I’m kind of breaking in the idea of “liberal arts” studies. The film class counts towards my communications minor and my arts requirement, and I’ve never taken a film class, so it sounds interesting. I’m going to keep the skiing class (because it sounds like so much fun!) depending on how my ski trip goes this coming weekend. But, I’m actually pretty excited for my classes and especially since I have Fridays and Thursdays off (except one class on Thursday night), but I’m pretty scared because I have a lot of class hours on my calendar right now…

- Went to Kutna Hora on Friday with Caity. For all of you unfamiliar with Czech tourist-y sites, Kutna Hora is this old village about an hour from Prague that is most famous for its bone church. I’ll upload photos soon, but it was insane. They had so many bodies after the plague hit the Czech lands, that someone (I forget who) decided to take bones and make a chandelier and other creepy statues out of them. The chandelier is made up of every bone in the human body. Think about it. Anyway, we wandered around town for a little while after the bone church and ordered the most stereotypical Czech lunch (fried cheese for Caity, and soup and gulas for me) at a restaurant we found. A half liter of beer in this restaurant was 20 czk, which is $1.00 with the new exchange rate! Then we went to go see another famous church which was drop dead gorgeous from the outside, but closed for the day 15 minutes before we got there. Unfortunately as well, the famous silver mines in town were also closed for the weekdays. Wandered around some more in some of the most intense fog that I have ever seen (my hair was wet, like I had just gotten out of the shower, in only a few minutes!), before ducking into a cute café and catching a train back to Prague.

- On Friday evening, a bunch of us went to Lucerna, a well known club in Prague that plays 80s and 90s hits. It was so much fun! Two of Maya’s friends from home are visiting this weekend, so Caity and I went out with them. I still can’t believe I hadn’t been to Lucerna before, the music was hilarious (I’m Walking on Sunshine, Killing Me Softly (that was weird), YMCA, etc.) and it was a good night.

- Watched the sunrise on the Charles Bridge. Except, the sun doesn’t really rise in Prague, it only gets lighter… Probably the most anticlimactic sunrise I have ever seen. But still, I “saw the sunrise on the Charles Bridge.” And we talked to a hilarious, drunk Scottish guy for about a half hour. Anyway, Maya and her friends had convinced me at 5:00 in the morning after Lucerna that the sun would really only be up in two hours, so it seemed like a good idea at the time. It was fun, then, we went to bed at 8:00…

- Saw Don Giovanni in the Estates Theatre. Ohmigosh. It was one of my goals, to see Mozart’s famous Prague opera in the theatre where it was originally performed. I didn’t think it was going to happen because I had searched for tickets earlier in the semester and couldn’t find any shows playing during the semester. But Maya, her friends, Caity, and I all got tickets to a matinee on Saturday afternoon for 200 czk ($12)!! The theatre was gorgeous and the show was great, definitely my favorite Mozart opera. Although, midway through the second act, the lack of sleep started to catch up with me…

- Celebrated Maya’s birthday at a middle eastern food restaurant. Delicious, especially the banana shake thing that I ordered. We sat for awhile and shared desert, but passed on hookah because the service was pretty slow and it was getting late.

- On Sunday, Caity and I traveled to Melnik, a small town about 40 minutes from Prague, to go on a wine tasting. It’s the only place in Bohemia known for its wine. We unfortunately forgot that many things close on Sundays in the Czech Republic, so hardly anything in town was open except around the chateau for tourists. The chateau, the main tourist attraction/where you go wine tasting, was actually pretty empty. Caity and I were the only ones on our tour, and we went down into the wine cellars and sampled ten different wines. It was quite different than what I expected; it was pretty quick and involved a lot more wine that I thought. I learned a bit about wine though, and decided that the pinot and riesling were my favorites, probably because they’re the ones I’m most familiar with. Upon returning to Prague though, I practically collapsed into the bed in our living room and took a deep nap.

- I watched When Harry Met Sally with Caity on Sunday night. Obviously it was something I could have done just as easily at home, but I’ve wanted to see that movies again for quite some time. Plus, Caity had never seen it before! I think we were still pretty chilled out from the wine, and it was a nice, relaxing evening.

- And I finally went to a museum today. On a day-date. With a Czech guy I met on Friday night. It was the National Museum, and he suggested it because I had mentioned taking a Czech history class, and there’s a current exhibition taking place on Czech modern history. I really liked the exhibit and was able to connect a lot of dates and stories that I’ve heard to pictures and full explanations. We wandered around some other areas afterward and then grabbed coffee at a café near Lucerna. More, perhaps, on this later…

I had such an awesome time this weekend, but I’m going to have some serious issues getting all of my final papers done now that I’ve been off enjoying myself instead of doing research. Lots of work to do tonight, but a bunch of things to look forward to this week too!

The Return From Madrid

2008-11-12T05:53:00.000-08:00

So I am returned from Madrid finally. People have been asking me how my weekend was since I have gotten back, and joke around saying, "Well, I lost my cell phone, got fined 20 Euro on the metro, my friend got pickpocketed, and my flight was canceled coming home. But it was still an awesome weekend!"

Basically, we ran into a bunch of unfortunate situations, but we had enough fun to make up for it. By day, Zach and I saw some of the sights in Madrid and I did a little shopping to make up for my lack in Prague. By night, we ate tons of food and generally enjoyed the nightlife.

On Friday, Zach and I went to El Retiro, a giant park in the city, the botanical gardens, and the Sofia Reina art museum. Saturday, I wandered around Sol on my own to look for some souvenirs/gifts, before me, Zach and his flatmate, Steve tried to go to the zoo. That's when Zach got pickpocketed and both of us got fined on the Metro because we didn't have our tickets... So we went on an adventure to the Madrid police station and headed back to their apartment for the afternoon. And on Sunday, Zach and I went to El Rastro, this huuuuge, ridiculously crowded (see the photo!) weekly flea market and the Royal Palace. The crowds reminded me a lot of Oktoberfest! But it was definitely fun to wander around.

What I thought was funny about Madrid is that you rarely have to eat before going out. A bunch of times I got a pastry thing with my morning espresso. We often got a free plate of tapas when we ordered drinks (and I've never had better sangria, by the way). At the least, we got papas fritas (potatoe chips) with our beers. I am a big fan of tortillas espanolas (I think that's what they're called, it's fried pototoe/egg pancake thing) and churros con chocolada. One night, we wentout out to these restaurants called Los Mesones (they're all on one street and have different themes). One specialized in mushrooms, so I kind of had to try one (photo!). It wasn't terrible...

Anyway, so then my flight got canceled on Sunday after I got to the airport! At first I was pretty upset becaue I had no idea what to do, not to mention, I coudln't call anyone since I lost my phone. But to make a long story short, the airline put us up in a hotel for the night, gave us a pretty good dinner, and we all got on another flight to Prague at 7:30 the next morning. It was a pretty stressful experience though, and it was lonely staying in a hotel alone and eating dinner by myself! Apparently the airline also owes me 400 Euro for all the trouble, but they're being kind of sketchy about it, so I'm not counting on it. We'll see though, that's a lot of money!

I missed a few classes on Monday morning, but it wasn't too bad. I just have a lot of Czech homework to catch up on. It's kind of hard to be back to gesturing with my hands when trying to talk to strangers though, I missed my limited yet much easier communication in Spanish! Anyway, this should be a pretty relaxed week and I'm sticking around Prague for the weekend, so we'll see how things go!

2008-11-08T11:46:00.000-08:00

Uggghhh... I lost my cell phone/got it stolen today. Then, I forgot my metro pass and kind of ducked in the turnstile, only to be stopped by the metro security 20 minutes later when they asked to see my nonexistent ticket. Then, Zach realized he had been pickpocketed when he reached for his nonexistent wallet to find his nonexistent metro ticket. And we both got fined 20 euro.

Today was a little rough. Still, Madrid's been awesome (except not for my bank account).

Madrid!

2008-11-06T04:18:00.000-08:00

I finally made it to Madrid! Again, it was one of those places that that I really wanted to visit when I came to Prague, but I figured it would be too far away to actually happen. But then, I found out that I have three friends here, one of whom is letting me crash at his apartment, and found a well-timed, direct flight to Madrid for under $200. It was perfect! I tossed some Czech spa wafers in my bag, bought some Becherovka (Czech liquor, tastes like Christmas) at the airport, and brought some of the Czech Republic to my Madrid friends.

So, I'm staying with my friend Zach for the next few days. He's in class until later this afternoon, so I ventured out to wander down Calle Princessa on my own this morning. It's funny because I feel so much less confident in my Spanish than I do with Czech, even though I know Spanish much better. I can't tell you what a surprise it is to be able to walk around and be able to read so many signs! However, I feel like I'm more comfortable with Czech because I know enough to get around (ie. how to order food, greet someone, etc.), whereas I'm a little out of practice with Spanish and I've never used it in a practical setting before. I realized this especially this morning when I asked Zach if I'm supposed to address people in the formal or informal tense!

Anyway, Madrid seems a lot different. Although, I probably feel that way because while walking around, I was subconciously comparing everything I saw to Prague. Right off the bat, Madrid is much larger and much more Western. In fact, walking around this morning, even only for a few hours, I realized how Eastern Europe-like Prague really is. I never really had anything to compare it to before (besides US cities). While Prague feels a lot different to me, walking around here reminds me a lot of NYC, both comforting and disappointing. People are dressed nicely, probably not too different from Boston, but a bit surprising to notice after being in Prague/Krakow/etc. They sell Ben and Jerry's and Oreos here too, which my flatmates have moaned about missing in Prague. I even saw a woman carrying a J Crew bag!

Calle Princessa is kind of a bigger shopping area, which Prague also doesn't have. Besides some of the malls, there aren't any real (read: non-souvenir) shopping areas. I think I've realized why Prague isn't exactly a fashion capital: there are few places to shop, and clothes are so expensive! I've spent a good many hours looking for black boots in Prague only to find a few nice ones that were way over my budget. Despite the Euro here, I've found a whole bunch or reasonable ones in the span of an hour or two of wandering!

While it's a little chilly here (mid 50s), the weather is gorgeous. Bright and sunny (although the high rises block a lot of light) and it seriously feels like the end of summer. There are semi-tropical trees all over the place, and even the temperate-looking ones (although, I'm no tree expert) still have all of there leafs.

I have a feeling that this is going to be a good weekend. Sleeping on a hard wood floor for a few nights isn't the best, but the double espressos are pretty cheap here, so I think I can manage.

2008-11-04T03:55:00.000-08:00

So after a loooong day of classes/getting my midterms back, I went to my Czech family's flat for what I thought was supposed to be dinner. I went over around 19:00, but Martina, my Czech mom pulled out a plate of those weird Czech finger sandwiches and told me that we were just waiting for her friend down the street before we would head out to a bar. I watched a little of the news in Czech on TV and talked with another of Martina's friends. She knew Martina from a theatre they both work at (Martina is a costume designer), and she is also in school studying for her master's degree. Afterwards, we went to the apartment building next door to meet up with Martina's other friend.

So the four of us went to the bar down the road. And all of a sudden, it was 23:45 and I realized that the trams were going to stop running in a few minutes. It was a hilarious evening; I was only planning on staying an hour or so, but I don't know where the whole evening went! Around 21:00, we were joined by three more of Martina's friends, "Velky Lukas" (Big Lucas), "Maly Lukas (Little Lukas), and one fo the women's boyfriends. Martina's friend from the other apartment, Ivana, was having some boyfriend problems, so she she was joking around about calling one of her other boyfriends (she have about five!) and seeking advice from both Lukass (who are a couple, by the way).

We spent most of the night laughing, between Ivana's crazy men situations and the fact that Maly Lukas was the only one who had a good command of English. Martina always apologizes for not knowing English very well, but I'm always like, "Seriously, I'm in your country and I don't speak your language; I should be the one apologizing!" Also, it's not like she had the option of learning English in school back during the Communist regime anyway... But anyway, the more she drank, the better her English got, so we joked about that. They would also talk in rapid Czech, then someone would try to translate for me (usually Maly Lukas). Still sometimes, I kind of have to *assume* what they're saying in broken English, and I probably knod and smile more that I should, haha. I can understand a few words when they talk in Czech, but they just talk so quickly, the general message goes over my head!

But by the end of night, they decided to throw a party in Martina's flat in December so they can cook some different kinds of Czech food for me. I think I'm going to pull out my chocolate chip cookies recipe again. I'm going to miss the bar culture when I go home, especially when a night's worth of beer sets me back only $5.50...

Retrospective

2008-11-03T04:31:00.001-08:00

So, about Prague... Apparently we've just crossed the halfway point of our semester. Mixed feelings, obviously, but I've been thinking about this experience as a whole over the past few days. I think I have to air some grieviences to sort out thoughts out.

Things are more relaxed now than they were in September, but I feel like I'm preoccupied by how much I'm really "enjoying" my time here. Don't get me wrong off the bat, I'm really glad I've gone through all of the trouble to study abroad here and adjust to living in a new place. I've asked many more questions and learned so much here that I would never have back at Tufts for another semester. I can't believe that I spent a weekend making apple cider in Austria or that I'm just jetting off to Madrid on Wednesday. I love wandering through new neighborhoods, passing Prague Castle on a daily basis, and trying out new bars. I feel good practicing Czech despite all of my stuttering, and I know it's good to challenge myself and that I would never get this chance if I stayed in Medford for four straight years. In other words, I'm having a good time.

But let me say this outright - I honestly don't feel more attached to Prague than I would to any other city that you randomly plopped me down in in Europe.

I feel as though you're almost prohibited to say that as a study abroad student, like I'm not allowed to feel that way. In fact, it's hard for me to even admit it here, and I'll be honest, I've consciously omitted some negative stories and feelings because it seems like I'm supposed to. And again, it doesn't mean that I don't like it here by any means or even that the majority of my experiences have been bad (quite the opposite). I just feel as though before going abroad, all I heard was "Ohmigosh, Paris was AMAAAAAAZING! I can't stand being back in the States anymore." And a friend of mine here said that after a weekend of traveling, she always feels relieved "to come home to Prague." I don't really feel that passionately.

I'm ambivalent about this past weekend, and I feel like it's representative of a lot of my Prague experiences. Wednesday evening with my class's open mic night was a lot of fun. I enjoyed wandering around the city on my own on Thursday, and we went out to a few bars on Thursday evening. But we wandered around aimlessly in the cold before deciding where to go, before ending up at a mediocre bar and going to our usual cafe, ending the evening around one. Halloween was similar, I went to a party thrown by some students in my program, then we all tried to go out afterwards. Again, my night ended after a lot of wandering and giving up around 1:30 or 2. It didn't help that Prague doesn't really celebrate Halloween, so it was awkward to go anywhere all dressed up in costume. Saturday, I went to a mediterranean/middle eastern food restaurant with Maya, Caity, and Chris, toured Prague Castle (one of two days a year that it's open to the public), then went to a jazz club later that night. Sunday was more or less a lie-around-the-apartment-in-my-pjs sort of day. All day... I tried to get some of my homework done in advance so I won't have to worry about in next weekend. And I learned how to make french toast.

So overall, it was a nice weekend. But there are two thoughts that keep clouding my perception of weekends like this:

1) What would I be doing at Tufts this weekend? It's a form of self torture when I check photos on facebook from back at school. It's selfish, but most people I know here feel like it's hard to accept that life goes on back on campus without them. This weekend was especially bad with Halloween. At Tufts, it's pretty much a three night long affair, and I saw all the pictures of my friends and their parties, which was awful after such a disappointing Halloween here. I miss curling up on Sundays with my homework on the third floor on the campus center for hours, with cup after cup of coffee or tea. And I could go out to a jazz club or try mediterranean food back in Boston too. Not to mention, back at school, my body would actually allow me to sleep in until noon and cath up, instead of waking up around 8 AM after not falling asleep until really late.

At the end of the day, I find myself subconsciously/consciously asking myself if I could have done the same activities had I been back at school. After a night out, would I have enjoyed myself more at a party with my friends back at school? I feel as though I constantly need to be having a better time than I would back home, which is not only really hard because Tufts is such a great environment for me, but also, it's a really silly thing to be worrying about as it is.

2) The obligation of what I *should* be doing, broken down into two specifics:

A) Cultural adaptation, or figuring out what Prague is really about. I only have three weekends left in Prague, maybe two. I still can't really order food at a restaurant in Czech. I haven't been to a single museum. I haven't really figured out what it's like to be Czech, or found the best goulash in the city. I don't have much time left to get my laundry list of Czech things done, and I feel like I've wasted my weekend because my lagging cultural obligations haven't been filled. I was too tired and apathetic on Saturday and Sunday to go to the Mozart Museum or National Museum, although I guess I feel a little better about seeing Prague Castle.

But then, I sit back and think, "If I don't see every museum or finally settle on my "favorite cafe," am I really going to be upset about this when I get home?" I guess probably not... And trying to see all of these things is a pretty tourist-y notion. I don't obsess about how I've never gone on a Duck Tour back in Boston. I'm preoccupied with trying to figure out how a normal Czech student lives, and they don't stress about lounging around the house for a few hours, just as I wouldn't as a student back home. But then, I'll always have Boston, and may not be back in Prague for a long time.

Also, I constantly feel guilty when I hear about friends' crazy adventures in rural China and Chile, crazy clubbing in Madrid, and living with host families. Am I supposed to be doing that? And how much "culture" can I really expect to comprehend while living in a city? After spending that weekend in Austria, I half just want to stay there. Live with a family, escape the pressures of having to see everything in the city, experience what it's like to live like a normal person in a different country...

B) And, the obligation of having to have fun at every moment. I feel like I constantly have to live up to all the great study abroad stories I heard before I left. Also, sitting down in Czech class today, a bunch of the girls were talking about how awesome of a weekend they had and how they plan on going out again tonight. I'm already crabby from sleeping so terribly this weekend, I can't imagine going out again tonight and waking up at 7:30 the next morning. And my weekend was nothing special. But then I feel bad for not "having the time of my life" and partying all the time because we're studying abroad and it's what we're supposed to do.

I've talked about this one or two times with other people, and found that they often feel similarly. The fact that people think that they can't talk about negative experiences only perpetuates the worry about being the only one not having fun all the time.

***

Alright, so all of this is getting pretty intense. Often, I worry that I worry too much about all of this. Part of me also tells my brain to stop obsessing and just relax, travel, and not set goals for myself. I'm in Prague, after all, why not just enjoy what's around me when I feel like it, and celebrate that plane tickets are so cheap to so many of the cities I've been wanting to visit. And this includes not worrying about traveling too much or even not being able to travel enough. Yes, I worry about both.

I'm going to focus on this week instead of being so retrospective. I'm trying to get all of my shambles under control before I leave to Madrid (in two days!!), so unfortunately (or fortunately?), tackling Czech culture is going to have to go on the back burner for a few days.

A more positive update soon, I just needed to get that out there :)

2008-10-31T02:41:00.000-07:00

After such a nice, relaxing weekend, it was hard to come back to Prague for midterms. But almost everyone from my program came back on Monday evening or Tuesday, so we swapped stories as we sat around with all the reading we've neglected over the semester. Apparently Budapest is amazing, so I'm definitely going to add that to my list of places to go.

But anyway, my exams are over, for better or worse. For my Alternative Culture class, we had an open mike performance as our midterm, in addition to a four page paper about our performance/whatever we wanted to write about. Our teacher suggested a "cut-up" poem if we couldn't think of anything creative, so after studying for three other exams earlier that day, I decided to just go with it and get it over with. I took paragraphs from this blog where I talked about Prague, "cut out" phrases, and haphazardly linked a bunch together by fooling with the grammer. According to some old "rebels," these types of poems are supposed to tell the future or give insights on your writings. I'm pretty skeptical, but it was pretty funny to say the least. My first line went something like, "The circus culture is about how we've tried to assimilate..."

The open mike session itself was hilarious. We went to this very hipster cafe in a back alley and up about six flights of stairs, and packed in about 40 students (two classes plus friends who wanted to watch). I was one of the first on the list to perform, and although I realized my little poem wasn't very original, I read it with a joking kind of tone, and it seemed to go over pretty well. My roommate did stand up comedy which was hysterical, especially about how to mime honey to Tesco workers when she didn't know the name for it in Czech. Another group formed a gag band called Smazeny Syr-ious (a play off of friend cheese in Czech, an ongoing joke in my study abroad program), and sang about assimilating into Czech culture, interspeced by some of the funny, basic phrases we learn in intro Czech. They followed it up with an encore of Stand By Me.

Yesterday was pretty nice too, since midterms were over and my last class of the week ended at 10:30. I bought a ton of groceries at Tesco (in hopes that I will actually try to cook for myself) and a pumpkin. Afterwards, I fulfilled my civic duty by going to the US Embassy to vote (because CT never got around to sending my absentee ballot) and wandered around Mala Strana for a little while. I finally caved and went to Starbucks for the first time. My roommate shock her head when she heard this, although seriously, what's so wrong with a little familiarity once and a while? Although it was ridiculously over priced (almost $5!!), it's hard to get coffee to go anywhere in Prague and I was really craving a mocha latte. It'll probably be my first and last Starbucks visit, I'll be honest, but I managed to make up for it by *almost* completing my entire order in Czech.

Post Starbucks, I went back to my flat to carve my pumpkin (very very hard without pumpkin tools) and cook some dinner (pasta, but hey, I'm working on it). It's hard to believe that it's finally Halloween here, especially since the Czech Republic doesn't really recognize it. Tonight I'm dressing up as Sarah Palin, circa her beauty pagaent days (or should I say, hopefully-not-our-vice-president?). One of the other flats is throwing a costume party, but I'm not quite sure what else is going on beyond that. I'm a little jealous that back at school, Halloween is a weekend-long affair.

Awesome Austrian Adventure

2008-10-28T14:50:00.000-07:00

**from Monday

So I’m a little in love with Austria right now. I know I never got around to describing my birthday party (11 empty bottles of wine, 20-odd grilled cheeses) or meeting my Czech family last week (awkward, kind of), but I really just want to jump into my fabulous long weekend.

Okay, so I didn’t tell my parents (or really anyone back home) until after I got back to Prague, because I didn’t want anyone to worry. But, I spent my weekend in living with a family in rural Austria, farming/gardening (kind of) with my friend Caity. Random? Well, over the summer, I read the Frugal Traveler column in the New York Times, and for one week, the writer decided to go WWOOFing in France. It was this amazing article about how the writer contacted this family, and lived and worked with them for a week.

So two weeks ago when my Tunisia plans fell through, Caity and I were kind of joking around WWOOFing over our long break instead. Except this turned into a “Hey, that’s not such a bad idea.” Soon enough, we found a different program on the internet (WWOOF was difficult to sign up for) and sent out a few emails to families that sounded interesting. A few hours later, we received an email from Eliza, a student in Vienna whose family lives in Rohr, Austria. Her description on the internet was one of our favorites (probably because it mentioned making apple cider!), so we jumped at the chance and bought our tickets to Linz a few days later.

Fast forward to Thursday morning: Caity and I took our Czech midterm (ughh) and ran to catch our train from Prague. We even made chocolate chip cookies for the family, an American sort of welcoming gift. Somehow we managed to catch all three of our connecting trains (even with 4 minute layovers!). It was a long ride, and I’ll be honest, we definitely noticed a difference crossing the border from the Czech Republic to Austria. We had non-sketchy modern trains, the landscape was greener, and there were far fewer abandoned old buildings. The Austrian countryside was beautiful!

We didn’t really know what to expect when we got off the train in Rohr Bad Hall. But a small, smiling woman came up to us and asked if we were Emily and Caitlin, so we followed her. She was Eliza’s mom, Cathy; she walked us back to her house about 2 min. from the train stop, showed us where to drop our bags, and immediately began feeding us (little did we know, the theme of our weekend.)

Although it was a little awkward at first, complete strangers and a little bit of a language barrier, it was a great first night. Cathy made us pumpkin soup, fried mushrooms, potatoes, and even pulled out some homemade apple cider (sus most, in German). One of her sons, Elias, came home from high school, and we met Christian, her husband, as well. We spent most of the night talking about different things (the US election, if Americans are fat, haha) but mainly we poured over their German atlas book, pointing out different things. Cathy and Christian were shocked at the lack of mountains where Caity lives in Indiana. Christian also brought different types of nuts from their farmhouse a few kilometers away and a bottle of Austrian red wine. I had a feeling it was going to be a long weekend forcing myself to eat new foods; which ended up being true, but not too bad. The pumpkin soup was delicious, the hazelnuts okay, although I hate mushrooms and don’t like red wine. I must say that while the mushrooms were really well cooked, I just couldn’t get over the fact that I was eating mushrooms. I decided, kind of as a joke, to keep tabs on all the new foods I tried over the four days.

The next morning, we ate delicious musli mix (granola, yogurt, fruit, etc.) and went with Christian to their farmhouse in Schliebham. It was pretty much in the middle of nowhere. The house had no modern heating system, only two woodstoves. Caity and I gathered walnuts in the back yard and picked apples before Christian showed us how to make most, the alcoholic version of the cider we had for dinner the previous night. Caity and I had a trip picking apples, as we realized that we were standing on top of a hill in Austria, using this old wagon that seriously would be an antique decoration back home in the US. The most machine was crazy too, another thing I can imagine being on display in the historic Hyland House back in Guilford as some farming machine.

Now, we slept in Eliza’s room on our first night, but Cathy and Christian kept asking if we would rather sleep in Schliebham or in Rohr for the rest of the week. We ended up gathering our stuff and bringing it with us to Schliebham that morning. Later that afternoon, it kind of dawned on me that we were staying in this freezing cold, rural farmhouse for the night. When Christian left us with a box of spaghetti, sauce, and bread for the next morning, I was kind of like, “Woah, did this really just happen? Is he really leaving us here alone in this house?”

Caity and I barely had a grasp on how to light the woodstoves when he left, and we needed showers, despite the fact that the bathroom was not heated and the hot water wasn’t working in the bathtub. I’ll be honest, I was getting pretty nervous after neither Caity or I could relight the bedroom stove, even though Christian said it would probably stay warm all night (it was the awesome clay heater that stayed warm for HOURS after the fire went out, amazing). Caity washed her hair in the kitchen sink, but I chickened out because the kitchen was still really cold even with the stove on. We cooked our spaghetti and watched Pride and Prejudice on my computer before going to bed early. Although scary and uncomfortable at first, we ended up having a cozy, quiet evening. Plus, the super thick, heavy, down blankets we had were amazing.

On Saturday, both Cathy and Christian met us back at the house in the morning with a big breakfast in tow. Caity and I sheepishly explained how we couldn’t get either stove to light earlier in the morning, but soon, Cathy got it going and started cooking again, so the house was warm and cozy. We bundled up again (did I mention that I wore 3-4 layers most of the weekend?) and gathered some more nuts and cleared leaves. We had a third (!) meal of grilled chicken, potatoes, cheese, and salad and Christian showed us his studio (he’s an artist) upstairs before we packed up our things again and went back to Rohr.

Just as we arrived back in Rohr, we met another family member. There are six people in the family, by the way; Cathy, Christian, Elias (17), Julian (18), David (21), and Eliza (23). In Austria, everyone has to either serve the military for six months, or do civil service for a slightly longer time. Julian just joined the military in Linz, and he came home on Saturday for the weekend.

Then, Christian asked us if we wanted to go for a walk to “see the sun” (the sun became another theme of our weekend). We had pretty gross weather on our entire trip – cold, damp air and very cloudy skies. Christian said that we could drive part way up a mountain and break past the low fog (fog being his and Cathy’s new favorite English word). I remained unconvinced, but it sounded like fun.

So, Caity, Christian, Cathy, Elias, Julian, and I drove to a mountain nearby. Julian just has the equivalent of his driver’s permit (driving age is older in Austria), so he decided to practice, and Caity and I teased him after the car stalled, despite that we can’t drive stick shifts at all. But anyway, the mountain was ridiculous. We parked about halfway (maybe) up, but we hadn’t reached the cloud level yet. Christian, however, was convinced that we would if we just did a little hiking. So hiking we went. Not kidding, the MOST INTENSE hike I have ever gone on. Again, I was still wearing two pairs of pants, two shirts, a sweatshirt, and my jacket because it was so cold. By the time we got to the top, I was ready to pass out and was sweating profusely, as was Caity. The “trail” was crazy steep and I was breathing at my normal running pace, but for 45 min. of solid hiking. Despite taking a break on heavy exercise in Prague, I still thought I was in pretty good shape too. The rest of the family more or less took it in stride, and Caity and I laughed in between gasps as realized that we were owned by two middle-aged adults. Unfortunately, even at 1100 m (3300ish ft?), we didn’t break the fog.

Coming down was almost worse. It was easier effort wise, but again, this was no well-traveled trail from back in the US. We could barely find our way back down, and the whole way was coated with slippery, wet leaves. I was happy that I didn’t slip on the way down, almost everyone else did. Still, Caity and I were good sports and laughed about it most of the way. Christian joked about how only two crazy American girls would join the family on their adventures. Afterwards, we returned to Rohr for (hot) showers and another big dinner with the family.

It was such a nice evening too. Caity and I talked for a long time (instead of studying for our midterms) about tons of different issues that come up when you’re in a radically different environment. Both of us felt really refreshed after we had recovered from our hike, and just realized how good this trip had been for us. I had been pretty tired over the past few weeks and even getting a little homesick. I kept wishing that I could go home to Connecticut for a weekend for some peace and quiet in my own house. Rohr was the next best thing. Caity and I were able to de-stress in a real house, detox from the polluted Prague air, sleep a lot, eat real, unprocessed, good meals, have a family around (even if it wasn’t our own!), exercise, and basically get all the good things our body had been missing. Staying with the family in Rohr was like getting a tune up after getting so worn down.

But anyway, Cathy and Christian had been telling us that we didn’t have to “work” on Sunday because they were taking us to meet Eliza and go hiking. Eliza had been hiking and staying with friends for the weekend about an hour from Rohr. We enjoyed another big family breakfast and watched a skiing competition on TV before driving out to a bunch of mountains by the deepest lake in Austria. The surrounding village was one of the most gorgeous towns that I have ever seen. As in, I want to move there someday. Pictures don’t capture the beauty of this place. Anyway, we finally found a parking spot (seriously, every Austrian was out hiking with their family) and started up one of the mountains to meet Eliza. Caity and I were still sore from the night before!

The weather was pretty intense too. The sun finally came out (more Austrian jokes here), but it was freezing cold in the shade and warm in the sun. Caity and I spent most of the hike burning hot and panting, yet faces freezing. The hike we went on similar to the previous night’s, but was longer and had more up and down areas towards the top. I still wanted to pass out. But the top was amazing. Wonderful view of the giant lake and surrounding mountains and villages. We ate bread and cheese for lunch, along with some tea and coffee (surprisingly no water…) and took some photos. Caity and I marveled at how some little children seemed to have taken the hiking in stride as we almost died on the way up. We have decided that it’s a mixture of some crazy Austrian hiking genes and the fact that they start hiking at the age of two.

But again, the trip down was out of control. We took a more direct route down the mountain, and let’s just say we didn’t pass any other hikers on that trail for a reason. I thought the previous night’s hike down was bad, but it didn’t compare. I fell four times in the span of five minutes in one particularly slippery part and sustained some intense bruises and scrapes. After that, I was shaking the entire rest of the way down, and we had a long way to go from that point. It took about two hours to climb all the way down! Even Caity admitted that she had never been so scared in her entire life. Anyway, we collapsed into the car and went back to Rohr.

For our last dinner, Cathy went all out. She cooked weiner snitzel, potatoes, carrots, salad, rice; played a traditional Austrian music CD; and brought out more cider and Austrian beer. Did you know, by the way, that the drinking age in Austria is 16? Anyway, Eliza, Elias, and Julian all teased her about her efforts and why she wasn’t wearing her traditional Austrian dress. It was a fun, delicious, relaxing last meal. Afterwards, Christian gave us some of the photos he took over the weekend (he’s an amateur photographer) and we looked up the chocolate chip cookie recipe we used online because they liked our cookies so much. We said goodbye to Julian, who was heading back to the military, and Cathy who was going to bed early before going to work the next morning.

This morning, Christian showed us how to make the delicious musli mix before we packed up. Eliza also showed us some of her pictures from rock climbing in Greece and from Istanbul over breakfast. We packed up our things, and before we left, Christian filled the kitchen table with apples from the tree outside their window, some fresh tea leaves, and a bunch of vegetables and pumpkins for us to take home.

It was really hard for us to say goodbye, especially with the impending doom known as midterms that wait for us back in Prague. Caity and I really felt like 5th and 6th children in their home for the weekend and it was hard to thank their family enough in the note we left behind. I can’t wait to go back to Austria in November, even if it will be a totally different area.

More photos soon!

2008-10-20T13:37:00.000-07:00

So, unrelated to Prague, but I turn twenty tomorrow.

I sort of remember being excited to become a teenager around my 13th birthday. Like, "woah... teenagers are cool and... old," sort of thing. Now it seems to carry slightly more negative connotations. But hmmm, am I cool and old enough to be a twenty-something? Is twenty-zero even considered to be a twenty-something? Can I think of it as my "roaring twenties"?

Today I went grocery shopping for myself again. I realized at the cash register that there wasn't a single chocolate-y thing in basket. A sign of getting older? Or did I just have too much chocolate this weekend?

Krakow

2008-10-20T04:21:00.000-07:00

I originally intended to do most of my traveling in Eastern Europe while I was here, with the expectation that I would always be lured back to larger Western cities in the future. I figured I would travel to Bucharest and Bratislava because I might never be in the area again. However, with flights to smaller cities being more expensive and the draw of cities like Amsterdam, Krakow, I've realized, it probably one of the few Eastern destinations I'm going to get around to.

I was actually surprised at how much it reminded me of Prague, on a smaller scale. Krakow has its own Old Town Square (photo above), a Jewish quarter, and looks similar to Prague on the outskirts. I was also shocked at much Polish I could read/understand because the two languages are so closely related (ie. Stare Mesto vs. Stare Miasto).

Food at restaurants is a little cheaper, but beer a little more expensive. We ate really well while we were there, a nice Polish restaurant by the main market square on the first night, cheap Georgian food for lunch, delicious Polish apple pie, and I finally got some pierogis on the last night (photo number two, and yeah, forgot to mention that I dyed the tips of my hair purple). I thought the exchange rate in Poland would be worse for us (they’re on the zloty), but I don’t think it was.

Backtracking a little, we actually didn't arrive in Krakow until Friday evening after leaving Thursday at midnight. Now, the trip was a semi-pre-organized trip by CIEE, about 30 of us went. I was really dreading the 7 hour overnight bus ride, but I actually slept more than I thought I would. We stopped for breakfast at a youth center in Poland around 7:00 and arrived to Auschwitz around 8:00. We had a great tour, but it wasn't the easiest after a long night, especially since it was freezing cold and rainy as we walked around. I don't really want to reflect upon everything here, but let's say that our cold, wet, miserable selves probably appreciated the conditions of the concentration camp a lot more, especially as we realized that we were lucky to be there in October with coats and mittens and a warm bus to return to, and our inner complaints seemed a lot quieter. I feel like a lot of what our tour guide said wouldn't have really impacted us in the same way in June.

We checked into our hotel around 14:00, more somber than usual. A few people napped, but most of us went out to explore a little bit and ate an early dinner. We did a little bar hopping around the main city center before getting back to the hotel around 23:30 (!). Now, one of the bars we went to wouldn't serve us because they said we had to be 21. We left a little confused, but moved on.

The next morning, we had a bus/walking tour of Krakow, mostly in the Jewish Quarter, Wawel Castle, and in churches around Old Town. Schindler's List was filmed in Krakow, and basically, the movie restored Krakow. It was a pretty big city with a large Jewish population, but WWII destroyed the Jewish Quarter (there are very few Jews still living there). It was a pretty rough neighborhood before the movie was produced, but it drew in a lot of tourists to the city, and provided a big incentive to restore the area. In fact, Krakow would be nothing like it is today without the movie. We saw a bunch of scenes from the movie on the tour, and the neighborhood was pretty lively with restaurants and cool looking cafes. I really wanted to go back and explore the area more, especially with the local weekend market going on, but we ran out of time.

Anyway, I'll post some pictures soon. The tour dropped us back in Old Town Square, and Kelley and I went shopping on our own for a while. Shopping was so much nicer in Krakow than back in Prague, actual stores in the main district instead of a million touristy shops. I bought a few souvenirs to take home which was nice. Unfortunately, I've had a bit of a cold over the past few days, and it really started to hit on Saturday afternoon. We ate a late dinner and I called it a night after we returned to Camera Cafe for a second apple pie. Apparently I didn't miss much though, since again, people ran into difficulties with the age-21 issue. I still don't understand that!

On Sunday, we checked out early and visited these famous salt mines a few miles outside of Krakow. At first, most of us didn't want to leave Krakow early to tour some lame salt mines, but they were interesting. We went really deep underground, had a historical tour of the mines, saw these crazy salt statues/cathedral/chandeliers, and even got to lick the walls.

The ride back was another long affair, but driving through the Polish and Czech countryside was gorgeous. Perhaps I’m a little biased, but I do think the Czech lands are a little prettier. And driving through Moravia (eastern CR) is much more scenic than Bohemia (back from Cesky Krumlov and Karlovy Vary). We passed all of these small villages with signs for castles, Freud’s birthplace, and two zoos. Fall is in full force here, so all the trees were changing colors and the sun was setting behind these rolling hills… The only things that really gets me is the number of abandoned buildings that we always drive by, I can’t believe how many old buildings with fallen in roofs and missing windows I always see. But still, I can’t help but wonder what my study abroad experience would be like if I was studying in some small Moravian village, mulling cider, and sitting by the fireplace. But then, I’d probably be bored and wonder about life in Prague, who knows…

2008-10-15T05:42:00.000-07:00

Saturday was a bit of a let down. I spent an hour or two cleaning out filthy kitchen (we never really picked up after our Thursday evening dinner party) before meeting Leah to do some shoe shopping. We met at Narodni Trida and wandered in and out of shops from around the tram stop, to Vaclavski Namesti, to IP Pavlova. There are TONS of shoe shops here; many cheap shops packed with metal racks covered with boots and heels (around $20), as well as Bata (famous Czech shoe chain), Humanic (another chain), and sporty stores (like North Face, etc.) that have wayyyy over priced sneakers. I've been looking for a good pair of black boots for ages, but I keep having problems find good looking ones in my size and price range. Alas, neither Leah and I ended up buying shoes - we spent our money on some soup and beer (to quell our disappointment) instead.

I went out to dinner with Maya and her father who was visiting Prague before his business trip. Shockingly, I think it was the first time I had had goulash in a real restaurant here! We tried to a jazz club, but we arrived late and couldn't eve get into the room where the band was playing. Instead, we walked across Charles Bridge which was very eerie looking, blanketed in the thickest fog I've seen in Prague. We ended our night in a pub called Hany Bany (I think) and enjoyed our last glasses Burcak. The wine can technically be sold through November, but already, it tastes different since it's started to ferment more.

On Sunday, I more or less camped out for most of the day in our flat with a pot of tea and a week's worth of homework to catch up on. I was doing pretty well for awhile, but I could see the sun come out through my window and started getting restless. Around 3:30, I called my friend, Caity, and we both abandoned our work to enjoy the gorgeous weather and go to the traveling World Press Photo exhibit at charles University (it was the last day it was in Prague).

Now, while I was doing my homework, I recieved an email from Emma, one of the girls who lived in the apartment above my friends at Tufts who I visited over the summer. I've probably only talked to her once or twice before, but she said she was visiting Prague for the weekend (she's studying in Paris for the semester) and my friend Eric (who lived below her) told her to get in contact with me. She said she forgot until last minute to email, but hoped I was having a good time and joked that we'd run into each other. Anyway, as I'm going up the escalator in the metro to meet Caity, I look up and see a familiar face... I think you can see where this is going, but while it took me a few seconds to recognize her, it was Emma! We talked for a couple seconds as we passed each other on the escalator, but she was going to the airport while I was running late. Crazy coincidence though, a big city, in the biggest metro stop, at the same exit, same time, and both of us happened to look up at just the right time...

But anyways, the World Press Photo exhibit was AMAZING. It was super crowded (we went two hours before it closed on the last day), but the photos and topics they covered were excellent. On the news side, they covered the Iraq War and Benazir Bhutto’s assassination, to more obscure issues like the mining dangers in Russia and the dissolution of circus culture in Eastern Europe. There were also photos explaining how drilling in Alaska affects native tribes and how the introduction of guns to narwhal hunting has impacted the species. I enjoyed the photo stories (series of photos) telling stories about news issues and daily life the most, although I have to admit that the sports photography was incredible. I could literally go on for hours about the exhibit, but really, check out (some of it) for yourself.

So Caity and I left the exhibit just as it was about to close and move on to the next city. We ended up talking outside for a long time, first about the photos and stories, but then more about being in Prague and what we planned to get out of our semester. I think it's so odd, in retrospect, that CIEE asked us to write down some academic, personal, cultural, etc. goals at the beginning of the semester, because I feel like someone entering a period like this (studying abroad, moving, etc.) really has no idea what to expect. My "goals" seem kind of silly now. But what do we expect to get out of this experience? I keep bouncing back and forth. On one hand, I want to get to know Prague and Czech culture more, and almost wish I had chosen to study abroad with a host family somewhere where I wasn't tempted to plan away all my weekend visiting other countries. But if I was in Chile practicing my Spanish, I know I'd seeing all of my European friends' travel photos and wish for that instead. Not to mention that while it's hard to separate city culture from traditional Czech culture, learning to live on my own in a city has been a big learning experience.

I realize now that it's near impossible to explore every cafe and museum, find the best goulash, become fluent in Czech while still traveling most weekends. But I have many more cities to visit than I have free weekends, and I may never have such an easy launching pad to visit them from again. Caity and I debated the merits of our choice to come to Prague and how we've tried to "assimilate" here for the past month. We really can't define what it means to have a "good study abroad experience" because everyone is looking for different things. Some want to be totally immersed in rural village. Others want learn the in and outs of the best clubs like European socialites. The art history major simply wants to see the places they've seen in pictures, and others just want to try out city life and perfect their language skills.

Again, neither I or Caity know where we fall, besides wanting a little more "cultural immersion" than we've been getting. For now, we've vowed to drag each other out to more concerts and visit areas of the Czech Republic outside of Prague. We both also signed up to meet with Czech families (I meet mine on Tuesday, but she knows so little English, I'm nervous). We also have the most AMAZING sounding trip planned for our five day break next weekend. However, I've had a terrible pattern of trips falling through lately, so I'm going to hold back so I don't jinx it.

In the meantime, I am STILL not completely up-to-date with this blog, but I'm leaving for the weekend in about an hour, so I'm just going to lay out the SparkNotes. I went to FORUM 2000 (an international human rights conference held in Prague every year) with my classes on Monday and Tuesday. Too bad the Dalai Lama got sick last week and couldn't attend... But I went to an awesome econ panel on the financial crisis, which mentioned a lot of terms that I just learned in class and cleared up a lot of my confusion on the issues. It was held in a building that was portrayed as the Vatican in a few movies, it was so pretty! But Tuesdays panels on the "age of fear" and civil disobedience took place in Zorfin Palace on an island in the Vltava. The panels weren't as good (in my opinion), but again PALACE. I cannot even begin to describe how ornate this building was. Perfect for an over the top wedding. And delicious free lunch with Prague's most popular beer on tap. I left early for an internship interview at The Prague Post, the english newspaper in Prague. Great interview, but my schedule is virtually the exact opposite of what they're looking for. The editor is going to get back to me, but honestly, I'm not sure if I have time, as much as I would love write for them. Tuesday evening I saw the famous Czech opera, The Bartered Bride (Czech with English subtitles), which had good music, but the longest, most cliche last act ever. Wednesday was all class, followed with a ridiculously dissappointing end to my original 5 day break plans to go to a resort in Tunisia (so cheap, but you can't book for only 4/5 days!). Today, a couple of us went to The Globe Cafe (ex-pat cafe/bookstore) after mornign class where they were replaying the presedential debate on a big screen. It was pretty fun to watch it with a cafe full of people booing McCain and a plate of American-style french toast, but it was really hard to hear and pay attention, actually. Afterwards, Caity and I launched new trip plans for our 5 day (which should be even better than a beach in Tunisia, if not the exact opposite). I also went on a date to a surprising good Mexican restaurant (and realized how much I miss Anna's Taqueria and Boloco back at Tufts!). For now, I am just about finished packing before I meet said date and a few friends at a bar and leave for Krakow at midnight! Back on Sunday night!

2008-10-15T04:16:00.000-07:00

** post from 10/11/08

So after Oktoberfest, I spent last week running between classes and meeting my family who arrived in Prague on Tuesday.

Tuesday evening was pretty uneventful, as my family was pretty tired. We went to an American-like Czech restaurant (read: modern, English menus, served cheeseburgers and goulash) that was near their hotel and called it an early night.

On Wednesday, my family wandered around the city in the morning while I went to class, and we met up for lunch at Karvarna Slavia, a famous cafe in Prague on the edge of the Vltava river with views of Prague Castle. Many dissidents, including Vaclav Havel, used to frequent the cafe during the revolution. Today, the cafe is pretty touristy, but they make mean apple strudel and have good hot chocolate and lattes. I ran a few errands and went back to class while my family went on a few tours of Prague. We met up again in Andel for dinner. My original plans were to take my family out to an authentic Czech restaurant nearby, but plans fell through. Earlier in the day, I tried to make reservation for six, but the only guy who spoke English there told me that they were "all full" for the evening. Again, it was a Wednesday night... My family ended up coming back to see my flat for a little while (sorry, no pictures of Grandma in the tub, she was too tired after walking up the stairs!). I made Aidan try a few Czech things, like Cofola (licorice tasting Coke), spa wafer cookies, and Kinder Bueno (an amazing chocolate bar). Afterwards, we went to Meduzzy, a pasta restaurant near my flat.

Unfortunately, the trip back to their hotel was a nightmare... The 6 tram, which normally runs directly from my apartment to their hotel, stops running at 20:00. The trip otherwise involves a lot of tram-transfering and Grandma didn't like climbing the tram steps to get on. So, my *brillant* idea involved us taking metro part way instead. It was a disaster. I misjudged the metro transfer stops, and instead of accepting the error and going back up to take the trams, I decided to just go with it since we were already in the metro station. Sooo... to make a long story short, the metro was a terrible decision that had few escalators, lots of stairs, and difficult-to-find tram stops. It took over an hour to get back, and honestly was probably the worst metro/tram trip I've had here in Prague! And this was as I was trying to demonstrate my knowledge of the public transport in Prague to my family!

I ended up staying at the hotel with my family that night because we had gotten back so late and skipped my Czech class the following morning. We went to Old Town Square first, went to the top of the astronomical clock tower, and did some souvenir and garnet shopping. Afterwards, we walked across the Charles Bridge into Mala Strana where I interduced Aidan to the wonders of gyro/doner kebab.

While waiting for the metro to go back to the hotel, Grandma asked me if they will still be speaking Czech in Prague in a few years. I jokingly said that all of Europe plans to adopt a new European language soon, but Grandma didn't get it and believed me. She thought it was a good idea. A few seconds later, she asked what langauge that would be. "English," I said. "Oh, of course," she replied. I'm not sure if she ever figured it out. Perhaps it worked out better that the Czech restuarant on Wednesday was full, because they don't have any English menus and I'm not sure if Grandma could have dealt with that...

I went back to my flat later that evening where Maya was throwing a break-the-fast party with a bunch of other Jews/people-who-love-Jewish-food. She made delicious kugel, challah bread, and fruit plates and we sat and ate for a while. One of the clubs in Prague was hosting an international student night, so we decided to go out and dance despite still being stuffed from dinner. I still can't get over being an "international student" here, at Tufts, the international kids always hang out together, super well dressed and everything. Here in Prague, we're finally part of the minority. As I was walking through the crowded dancing area, a guy suddenly grabs my hand and kisses me on each cheek before making me guess where he was from. It was a little weird, and of course, he was from Spain. My friend, Watson, who was behind me said afterwards, "Wait, did you know him?!" Anyway, it was a fun night, although I ended up leaving early because my dad was worried that I wasn't going to be able to get into the hotel if I came back too late.

Anyways, we all went out to Cesky Krumlov yesterday, a small, medieval, tourist town in southern Bohemia. We didn't have any set plan on what to do once we got there, but we ended up wandering around the castle for most of the morning. My parents and Aidan and I all climbed up to the top of the tower that had an amazing view of the entire town and surrounding mountains. Mom and I joked around about how to chill Grandma out. We walked though the castle gardens a little and saw the "revolving theatre" before walking down into town. We poked into a few shops and had a relaxing lunch in a cafe behind the main street. After heading back to Prague, we ate dinner at a cheap and delicious italian restaurant that I will definitely remember for a later date.

This morning, I said goodbye to my family as they headed out to the airport. Overall, I think it was a pretty good trip. The hardest part was planning out things for everyone to do. I had this relatively flexible plan of what to do each day, but it really fell by the wayside. From the Czech restaurant being "full," to Grandma and Grandpa not wanting to walk too much, to the hotel being far away... there was a lot of things I had planned that we just never got around to doing. But I guess that's just how trips go. I'm pretty tired now just from showing everyone around, but we did get to see a lot. I'm just not looking forward to the rest of the weekend and catching up on everything I've neglected while "traveling" around Prague with my family!

2008-10-14T08:45:00.000-07:00

**post from 10/6

Ironically, I don’t think I could have had a drier experience at Oktoberfest. Yes, I mean alcohol-wise. You’ll see.

I woke up on Saturday morning around 5:30 before catching my 7:00 bus to Munich (or Munchen, whichever you prefer). Julie, being crazy, went to Oktoberfest on Friday and took the midnight bus back to Prague. She actually arrived home just as I was inhaling a quick cup of coffee. It’s about a 5 hour ride on a cheap, but surprising unsketchy bus. I ended up sitting near a bunch of American students studying in Prague through another program, and we talked for a little while. Apparently we drove on the Autobahn (I never saw any sign evidence of this, but then, I also can’t read a word of German). The German countryside is beautiful, by the way.

I met my parents at the airport and we attempted to conquer the crazy ticketing system for the metro so we could get to the hotel (success, on account of a special ticket-buying assistant). Being terribly jetlagged, my family more or less collapsed at the hotel. We had a questionable dinner at the hotel bar and went to bed at like, 8:30.

Post breakfast, my parents, grandparents, younger brother, and I decided to give Oktoberfest hell, and followed the steady stream of Germans in the metro. I honestly thought that Oktoberfest was going to be some capitalist, tourist trap, but it really wasn’t too bad. Sure, there were terribly over priced carnival rides and a bunch of trashy souvenirs, but it was just full of German families, decked out in traditional costumes. I’ve never seen anything like it, just tons and tons of people in lederhosen and beer maiden (?) dresses. It kind of made me realize how the US lacks a cultural background. We have the whole “arriving off the boat and raising yourself up by your bootstraps” kind of history, but nothing like a nationality/ethnicity in common like the Germans, Czech, etc. I guess it’s something obvious that I just never really thought about before. But that’s another conversation.

We wandered around for an hour or so, went on the giant ferris wheel, ate some chocolate covered fruit, and tried to hit up the beer tents. They were RIDICULOUSLY crowded. Full of German families in costume and drunk tourists – apparently you either needed to make a reservation a year in advance or arrive to the beer halls very early in the morning and wait for a table. We gave up after an hour or so of looking for a table and went back into Munich, towards our hotel. We ended up getting a nice early dinner in Marianplatz Square, a traditional-seeming German meal, and a beer or two.

This morning, after failing at using the Metro ticket machine once again, I headed back to the bus station and waited around for the bus which ended up being almost an hour late. I talked with a Czech student for awhile, she was in Munich for an annual meeting of some old friends from her study abroad program in the US two years ago. For now though, I’m relaxing on my long ride back to Prague, before I finally get to check my email and realize all I’ve missed over the weekend!

2008-10-06T12:52:00.000-07:00

**post from 10/4/08

So I’ve just finished my second week of official classes and I’m quite excited to meet my family in Munich for Oktoberfest this weekend. But rather than write about my classes (later, perhaps), my first class field trip yesterday will be much more interesting.

Yesterday’s trip was for my Contemporary Alternative Czech Culture class, most definitely my favorite class. Through a sort of complicated class credit-hour system, my field trip was almost a ten hour affair, so now, our class is meeting just once a week (plus one or two more field trips) because we’ve fulfilled our credit hours.

Anyway, the class is so awesome because our professor is legitimately one of the coolest people ever. She’s scarcely younger than my parents, but she’s in a rock band, dyes her hair, and asks us about our clubbing experiences in class. Alternative culture in the Czech Republic is particularly interesting because of its roots in the revolution 20 years ago. Vaclav Havel, the former Czechoslovakian/Czech Republic president, is/was an incredible playwright and human rights activist. It was Havel and all of his artsy, dissident friends who really brought the revolution forward, and that was how he fell into politics (which he said he never liked anyway).

Anyway, being “alternative” here isn’t just about wearing skinny jeans, listening to obscure music, and going the way of “rebel without a cause.” I thought this class was going to be some BS sociology class about culture (which it kind of is), but I never realized that alternative culture was such a big deal here. It’s hard to explain the gist of the class in a paragraph or two, but while I feel like many people (in the US and the CR) follow alternative subculture as a group to fit in with, for many people here in Prague, it has a more historical context and real purpose.

I digress a bit, but basically, my professor is quite involved with the whole movement. Most of my class admires how “in the know” she is, mostly because she knows all of the hip, dissident cafes/clubs/etc. and the people who frequent them. One of my more cynical classmates though, pointed out the cliché of “aging hipsters and wannabes drinking black coffee and complaining about life in lame, dirty, “obscure” cafes,” which, I guess, is something else to consider.

So the trip… Our class met up yesterday and spent the first two hours examining graffiti at a legal site and other illegal tags around the city. Unfortunately, it was freezing cold, but we managed to sit for awhile and discuss what types of graffiti qualify as art and debates graffiti on private property. We saw some pretty awesome artwork, don’t get me wrong, however, I am intolerant toward illegal graffiti, unlike the majority of my class. My professor is obsessed with it, as an act of rebellion and expression that can’t be communicated in other ways.

Afterwards, we ran into some planning issues because we spent too much time looking at graffiti and eating lunch. We kind of ended up going on an impromptu tour of Staromestska (Old Town Square) and Vaclavski Namesti (Wenceslas Square). It was pretty cool because our professor pointed out (you know) all of these hidden, hip cafes and tea houses that only the “real rebels” know about. We saw a few alternative art exhibits which were hit and miss too. My favorite was one exhibit by a political artist who superimposed different images to communicate different messages. One was an advertisement of a housewife spraying Febreeze juxtaposed with a bombed out, completely destroyed building from the Iraq war.

After dinner, our professor had a bunch of places for us to go and see a show and get a beer, but we kept getting unlucky and a bunch fell through (we were five minutes too late for the show, too crowded, etc.). In the end, we went to The Black Swan. I’m not really sure how to describe what type of place it was, but it was on the top floor of a huge office building. We walked in, and there were two rooms, one with a small wine bar, and another gorgeous room with two walls of windows and a gorgeous view of the Prague skyline. There were small tables with candles lit, a grand piano, and black walls with photos of famous musicians in black and white. We all bought glasses of wine and listened to the band that was playing. It was pretty classy, haha. The band was interesting too. Kind of ambient music; there was a pianist, violinist, drummer, two singers, and an interpretive dancer. Our professor actually knew the violinist randomly, so he kept trying to practice his English on us when they talked about their songs. In the meantime, we joked about how our professor could probably tell us some story and name drop Vaclav Havel, and we wouldn’t even skip a beat anymore.

2008-10-02T11:06:00.000-07:00

Another long week!

CIEE required that every student attend one of four day trips this weekend. Many classes recommended going on particular ones (Jewish Studies going to Terezin, Political Science to visit with war prisoners, etc.), but none of my classes had any particular connections with the trips. I ended up going on the trip on Friday to Lidice and Terezin. I didn't know anything about the two sites beyond that they are important historical sites related to the Holocaust. Lidice was a small farming town a few miles outside of Prague that was burned to the ground on orders from Hitler, in retaliation for the Czech government-in-exile's assassination of a German higher-up who was currently ruling the Czech lands. All that's left of the town now is a few old building foundations, a museum, and open fields that eerily remind me of the open end of a big cemetery.

Terezin is the site of an old concentration camp, specifically the one the Nazi's used as a model to show the Red Cross. It was also, ironically, the worst one to live in. We took a tour of camp and a museum nearby. To be honest, it was an extraordinarily emotionally stressful day. There's not much more I would like to say about it.

Saturday was a completely different experience. I woke up tired and kind of cranky, and all I could think about was how much I just wanted a nice, big, breakfast. The Czechs don't really eat anything more than a quick breakfast, and I had pretty much just had cereal and instant coffee every morning before class. But then, like she had read my mind, my flatmate Julie asked if I wanted to go to Bohemia Bagel, and all was fulfilled. We ordered french bagel toast, pancakes and REAL coffee. And it was amazing. I told myself I was going to be cultural and stay away from American-y restaurants and places like this, but it was probably the most satisfying meal that I've had to date in Prague. It was exactly what I wanted.

After breakfast, I finally tried out the enormous tub in our bathroom (see our yellow bathroom?). It to, was awesome. Then I met my friend Leah in Staromesta where we intended to cross the Charles Bridge for the first time since being in Prague. But since it was Saturday, it was a mob scene full of tourists, so we went off in search of some espresso. We ended up running into two other girls, Mairead and Quinn, who live in Leah's building and decided to try Kavarna Slavia, a famous (but touristy) cafe opposite of Narodni Divadlo and the Vltava River. We had delicious but overpriced lattes, but enjoyed a wonderful view of Prague Castle (although not like I don't see it on my way to class every morning!). Afterwards, we went for a relaxing paddleboat ride on the river (yeah, that's the Charles Bridge in the background), hunted down the Lenin Wall, and spent about two hours trying to find a certain biergarten at the top of Petrin Hill. We never found it, and ended up settling for bad but cheap Chinese food instead. When Maya returned back from her CIEE trip that evening, we went to another flat to hang out, and let's just say my night ended up with a fried cheese sandwich and a can (yes, a can) of beer at 2 AM by Narodni Trida....

Sunday was ugly. The high point? I ended up at Bohemia Bagel again.

Argh, the school week later. And about my classes. And my crazy 40-something Alternative Culture professor who's in a rock band. And who is taking us on a field trip tomorrow to see graffiti and go to club. Oh, and Oktoberfest this weekend?

2008-09-24T05:56:00.000-07:00

So the weekend was a nice break from all things CIEE. On Friday after the harvest festival, Maya and I went to Czech ska concert with Helena. Unfortunately, we met her at the concert a little late and only caught the tail end of the show, but it was really fun. Maya also met up with Stanislav (now that's a name for you), a Czech friend of one of her Brandeis friends who studied in Prague last semester. All of the music was in Czech, but Stanislav at least translated the gist of the songs for us. There were tons of people at the concert too, apparently the band we saw is pretty popular, and it was a free show. Afterwards, Maya, Helena, and I went out to a pub with Stanislav, his sister, and his sister's friends. All of them knew English pretty well (two had previously studied abroad in Amsterdam), and the funniest part of the night was when one of sister's friends asked why some states in the US require people to own guns (they're illegal here).

On Saturday morning, we woke up a little early and took a bus to Karlovy Vary with a few friends. The bus was pretty cheap (about $18 round trip), played a movie, and gave us drinks and newspapers. Unfortunately, we got off the wrong stop in Karlovy Vary because none of us realized that there was more than one station! We figured things out relatively quickly, but it was pretty unnerving at the time because the station is in the "bad" area of town and also, there was a kid, maybe 16 years old, dressed in camouflage with a hanker chief tied over his face and carrying a big gun walking around. All of us were like, "What is this kid doing?!" although we figured the gun had to be a fake gun. After a few minutes, he walks away from the station, and we thought he had left. But then, someone sees him watching all of us from a bush a few metres away. Honestly, we were all glad when we figured out where to go to find our hostel.

The hostel ended up being about a 30 minute stop away from the bus station, at the completely other end of Karlovy Vary. But the walk was gorgeous. We walked right through the center of the tourist-y spa area and up a huge mountain where our hostel was tucked away. The hostel itself was also great. It was the first hostel I have ever been in, but other students who have more traveling experience said that it was the nicest hostel they had ever seen. It was very modern and clean, and every room was part of a two-bedroom suite with a kitchen. I paid for a 10 bed room, that ended up being a 6 bed/4 bed suite, but stayed in my own room with a double bed since my friends Kelley and Joe's suite had an extra room that was never booked. Not to mention, we also had breakfast included and we all paid between $20-$30 for the night depending on our room.

After we unpacked, we went our for a long, late lunch and wandered around a little more. Now, Karlovy Vary is famous for their hot springs and spas, and we all had brought our bathing suits and high expectations. However, unless we just didn't know where we were going (which we didn't...), we never found them. I think perhaps that there really aren't any "hot springs" as we typically imagine them. Plus, all the spas are owned and controlled by hotels. We ended up going to one of the "spas" for 100 CZK, which ended up being little more than a lukewarm pool with mineral water in it. It was fun nonetheless though, and we all had a good laugh. Afterwards, we began our epic quest to find a pub to end the day. Let's just say about 2 miles and an hour or two later, we found one pub with an open table and finally collapsed. Perhaps pubs and spa towns just don't mix too well...

On Sunday, we ate breakfast at the hostel and wandered around Karlovy Vary some more. We took a tour of the "caverns" for 150 CZK, which in retrospect, was probably the worst money I've spent so far in the Czech Republic. A 15 minutes tour of an underground pathway and a guide who barely spoke English... I had a wonderful three course lunch for 150 CZK, and then we took the "funicular" railway up the side of one of the mountains. Karlovy Vary is known for is mountainous location as well, and we had a gorgeous view of the countryside. Luckily, the sun came out for five minutes while we were up top, so we snapped some pretty sweet photos. Exhausted afterwards, we headed back to the extremely sketchy bus station and went back to Prague.

So... more about classes and this weekend later!

2008-09-19T09:17:00.000-07:00

**written a few days ago, sorry, no internet connection to upload it!**

Friday!! Everyone is super excited because our end-of-intensive-course exam is over and we finally have free time (two whole days!). Although hours and hours of Czech class everyday has been helpful, being in class for so long on top of all the activities they've been scheduling in the evenings has been ridiculous. We come home, go grocery shopping, cook, do Czech homework and either go out to the bar, or more likely, just go to bed early.

Last night, CIEE bought us all 200 CZK (about $12) tickets to a ballet at Narodni Divadlo (National Theater, picture 3), a gorgeous building a few tram stops from my flat on the Vltava River. It was nice seeing everyone from the program all dressed up. The ballet itself was interesting... a couple of modern acts before a more traditional final one. One dance featured only male dancers, dressed kind of like thugs in a parody.

This afternoon, Maya, and I went with Leah, a girl from another CIEE flat, to a harvest festival in Narodni Miru (Miru Square). We ate tons of sweets, bought liters of Burcak (picture 2, sweet Czech wine only sold during the fall, or punch with a surprising strong kick), and watched a folk show (picture 1). I tempted to think that this is a typical weekly market, but really, I think it's more like a smaller Durham Fair to Connecticut - a special annual festival. Anyway, big sugar high.

More later. Tomorrow we leave for Karlovy Vary (Carlsbad, in German), the Czech spa town, and tonight Maya and I are visiting another flat before going to a ska concert with Helena!

2008-09-17T10:54:00.000-07:00

Every time my computer logs me out of blogger account, the site reverts back to Czech and it takes me about five minutes to figure out how to log back in! At least all of my language classes are starting to come in handy and I can finally recognize some words.

Anyway, the last few days have been pretty uneventful - just class and a few CIEE activities here and there. A few of us are planning a trip to Karlovy Vary this weekend, the big spa town west of Prague. I'll have a big surprise story about that on Monday, if all goes well, you'll see why. I'm also probably going to Oktoberfest with my family in two weekends.

Eh, I'm a bit in a rush. I have a bunch observations about Czech life in general though, so I'll leave with that:

- Czech drivers: they're nuts. They drive about 100 kph in the city and stop for nothing. Of course not pedestrians.

- Trams have the right of way over pedestrians.

- Tesco labels their food in English, but the cooking directions are only in Eastern European languages. Tough for people like me who really don't know how to cook/estimate.

- Czech fashion: also nuts. Today, the women on the metro next to me was wearing snakeskin print cotton pants. I was worried I wasn't going to up to snuff with European fashion, but honestly, very very few of the Czechs would qualify as stylish under our (US) standards. A lot of women dress like US hookers, in Tesco...

- Czech "gangsters": this is as amusing to me as seeing my skinny, translucently white younger brother pretending to be a rapper.

- Although, Czechs and minorities: hardly any. I've seen two black people total while here. One was wearing a shirt that said "I'm not a rapper," I found this to be especially funny here.

- Food, in general, goes bad in about two days here. Milk, fruit, bread. This is why people go grocery shopping pretty much every day.

- Not an observation, but when I'm commuting alone, people keep approaching me and talking to me in Czech. Do I look Eastern European? Also, Czechs are supposed to be reserved, we learned that in Czech class.

- People (generally) LOVE IT when you try to speak Czech, even if you kill the pronunciation.

- Chocolate bars are amazing. Kinder Bueno especially.

- Czech love their dry cookies.

- Tesco bill a couple days ago: two bottles of wine, two bottles of liquor, soda, cookies = 400 CZK. Or, about $24.

- $1.50 bottle of wine, verdict: terrible. That was a dare though.

2008-09-13T10:45:00.000-07:00

So today was all about castles. We met up with everyone in CIEE at 8:30 (ugghh) in the city center and took buses out into the Czech countryside.

To be honest, I've seen a few castles in Ireland, so while I was looking forward to going today, it wasn't the most exciting things ever. The first castle, called Krivoklat Castle (in English), was about and hour and a half ride. We left Prague, drove through the suburbs (all old Communist-style architecture), and through miles and miles of fields and woods. Most students took a nap during the ride, but I love riding through different areas and looking around. The country around here isn't too different than in New England, but there are a ton more hills.

The ride was also ridiculous though because our bus driver was really aggressive and just INSANE. The giant tour bus we were on was kind of old, and the bottom kept scraping when we went down the mountains. We took mostly narrow back roads that could barely fit two cars across normally, and they had sharp turns and wound around the mountains with super steep ledges on one side. After leaving the second castle, we hit a guardrail, and the driver backed up without even looking behind us. The poor driver behind us almost got run over.

Anyway, we had a guided tour, translated into English for us at Krivoklat Castle. A couple was even getting their wedding photos done while we were there. After, we got back on the bus for another hour and a half and went to Karlstejn Castle, closer to Prague. We ate a late lunch in a restaurant and then were split up into groups for a scavenger hunt. After finishing, a couple of us stopped for food in the tourist-y village that surrounded the castle, and then headed back to Prague.

Tonight, a few students are coming over to our flat to hang out before we all go out to a club. Tomorrow is the first chance we get to sleep in and have a free day, which everyone is excited about.

2008-09-12T11:22:00.001-07:00

Ah, internet! I'm actually sitting in the middle of a shopping mall in Andel, just down the street from my apartment. The wifi that we were "borrowing" in our flat officially went down the other day, so my flatmates and I have been visiting various internet cafes and internet bars (yes, beer and wifi) over the past few days. Perhaps this is good for my compulsive email checking habit though! Anyway, that's why I haven't been posting much, but hopefully I'll be able to better keep up now.

So, orientation is finally over and I'm halfway through our two week intensive Czech course. Orientation was this crazy five day affair where we'd have classes like "Dealing with Bureaucracy," "Minorities in the Czech Republic," and so on, and go on scavenger hunt-like activities. Except we would be be in all of these scheduled activities from 8:30 or 9:00 and not get back to our apartment until 17:00. Most of us were exhausted all the time and wanted to wander around Prague on our own, instead of schlepped from one tour to the next.

It's probably better that I didn't have a chance to update last week - honestly, I was tired, homesick, and miserable. I would get back to my flat and collapse, all I could think about was how unhappy I was and how much I wanted to go home. And this from the girl who couldn't stop talking about leaving for Europe all summer! I think it was a combination of sleep deprivation, a "bad" housing situation, and generally eating terribly.

At first, I hated living in my flat. Don't get me wrong, it's a nice apartment in a nice area, and I appreciate it now. But it's much, much different than living in a dorm. My flat is really far away from the others in my program, and it was really hard to make plans with other students at first. It was terribly isolating in the beginning, but now that I'm getting used to putting in more effort to call people and so on (as opposed to knocking on my floormates' doors), things have gotten a lot better. And also, catching up on sleep definitely gave a rosier tint on every situation I've encountered in the past few days. I feel tons better now, no worries, but I feel like no one ever mentions the difficulties of adjusting to studying abroad at first, and just how important a good night of sleep is!

So yeah, since Monday, I've been struggling with the Czech language (SOOO HARD!), but commiserating with everyone else in my class. My Czech teacher is really funny and easy going, despite the fact that few of us can pronounce even two syllable words. We're usually in class for about 4 hours a day, but today we cut off the last hour and our teacher sent us to practice our "shopping vocab" by taking us to a neighborhood in Prague 10 where few people spoke English. We then had to track down a marketplace, a butcher shop, and ask for the prices of different items. I was successfully able to ask two women for directions to the marketplace, but the cashier had no idea what I was saying when I tried asking if the pastry I was pointing at was apple (apple is jblkno, 'j' sounds like a 'y' and where'd all the vowels go?). However, it's really exciting to be able to recognize words in conversation on the trams and on signs now that we've been in class for a few days.

Before dinner, me and my two American flatmates, Julie and Maya, went to explore the park next to our street. Not even kidding, it's like Central Park but cooler. I took pictures, but I haven't loaded them onto my computer yet. Perhaps tomorrow? Anyway, I went to the park yesterday when I went for a run, and was completely surprised at how big it was and that it's more or less a steep, steep mountain. There's a gorgeous view of the entire city from the top, not to mention that the Eiffel Tower of Prague (yeah, that's right) is about one block from the park fence. And a labrinyth maze. And an observatory. And a mountain tram-thing. And giant gardens. Seriously, coolest area ever, and right next to our street. More exploring on this later.

We went back to our flat around 18:00 for dinner, because our Czech flatmate, Helena decided to make this Friday her cooking night. She made this delicious pasta pizza with vegetables (which I actually ate) and some salad. We sat around and talked about Czech food for a while, and learned that the fatty, carb-intensive, "traditional Czech meals" that we'd been eating in restaurants all week are actually not too common in real Czech houses. Apparently they take a long time to cook and, of course, are really unhealthy. Despite this, I am in love with bread dumplings.

I could write an entire entry on Czech food and my Tesco (giant supermarket chain) shopping experiences, and I probably will later. Within a 30 second walk from our flat, there's also a portaviny (small, usually Vietnamese-run grocery store) that sells cheap wine and delicious looking ice cream, a pub, and Karvarna Cirkus, a cafe/breakfast place that I want to try this weekend.

Otherwise, I think I should probably head back to my flat soon. I was out late-ish at some other students' flat last night, and ended up walking halfway across Prague at 1:30 because I took the wrong night tram. Tomorrow we've got a trip planned to a castle at 8:30 (through CIEE, my program) and Sunday is our first day off, yay! Pictures soon, I promise.

2008-09-06T04:06:00.000-07:00

Ahh, so I am arrived and (almost) over the jetlag. Or perhaps it's just the strong coffee I gulped down from the stand down the street.

Prague is pretty awesome, but overwhelming. To be honest, today is the first time I've really felt relaxed and okay. I had read all about culture shock and adjusting and everything prior to leaving, however, I pretty much just assumed that I'd be the happy, upbeat person I always am. But traveling, jetlag, a new country/city/language, and the pressure to socialize with everyone new has been pretty rough. Everyone wants to go out to the bars at night and meet everyone else, but at the same time, I'm so exhausted all the time, I don't want to go out (or confirm the drunk American stereotype like half the rest of the students here have been doing). It's been a mixed bag.

But on the upside, Prague is gorgeous (when it isn't raining), and easy to get around. I feel like I know more Czech than most of the students on the program, which can be difficult since I don't much more than please, thank you, hello, goodbye, etc. The Czech language, by the way, IS SO HARD! I'm staying in a flat for the semester with two other girls from the program and our "Czech buddy," Helena. Helena is super nice and patient (especially when we wander around Tesco, the cheap superstore for food/everything, for hours). Our flat is far away from the other flats in our program, but we're in a nice area and have the coolest bathroom ever. The bathroom is enormous with a deep, full size tub. Unfortunately, the hot water runs out very quickly! Internet in the apartment is unreliable for now, so I am just quickly writing this post before more orientation classes in a few minutes (apologies for the randomness!).

Intensive Czech classes start on Monday morning, and I hope that we'll have a break in oriantation activities sometime soon so we can explore the city on our own. I was excited this morning because I successfully navigated the metro for the first time, even though I'd been half asleep when Helena explained how to use it! Otherwise, I'll update again when I have more internet time, and perhaps even write about my "misfortunate tragedy" on the first night getting lost on the way back from the bar...

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

2008-09-01T18:28:00.001-07:00

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!