Sunday, August 30, 2009

"I can't believe we actually live here"


The title basically summarizes the general zeitgeist within the group. Every block I walk down has at least 3 architecturally beautiful/interesting buildings. The city as a whole is simply gorgeous. And, gotta say, Nate was wrong. The Czech people that I have met are not rude and awful. My Czech roomate, Mirek, is legitimately the nicest person I might have ever met. I know that that's sort of a ridiculous statement and sounds like pure hyperbole but seriously, he's incredibly nice. He's not from Prague, from 3 hours away in some small Czech town, so he really wants to spend time with us and go everywhere with us because he doesn't have other friends to ditch us for. He was super helpful when we went to the supermarket and just getting a feel for the neighborhood and giving us directions during the first few days. Since I'm on the topic of roomates, I might as well briefly describe the others right now. I share a room with Kelley, she is very nice and we get along great. Another roomate is Rob, from AU, really chill and very nice. I was with him from like....... 12 pm through 4 am yesterday and we got along well so I think/hope that we become/remain good friends. Last is Alice. I don't really know how to describe her, she's kind of a character. Let's just say that applied for and got accepted to the Real World but ended up not joining the show. She's Real World material. She's like, a ball of crazy... very loud and very opinionated and beyond talkative, but she's really nice and I somehow ended up on her good side so hopefully i'll stay there, and hopefully she won't annoy me, and hopefully we'll be friends.

Next, the apartment is pretty sick. Great furniture (I got my first ever queen sized bed! it's the only one in the flat, but I got here first, so..... I took the liberty of claiming it as my own). I share my room with Kelley, and we're connected to the lving room. Kitchen has potss and pans and an oven and a small dishwasher. Shower is WAY better than the Avalon's. Location is 10 minutes walking to the main square, Wenceslas square, and about 15 minutes maybe from the CET center where I'll be taking classes.

I don't really know how to describe my activities during the past few days, it's been such a whirlwind. I've basically spent the days exploring the city by foot, through the old square, around my neighborhood to a nearby mall, down by the river and over to the Frank Gehry building.... etc. The first night we went to two bars. the second night we had people over, pregamed and played kings, then we went out, and it was a very very good time. Last night Rob, Kate, Mike, Juliana and I joined a bar crawl until we realized that they were going to this 5 story club that we weren't quite dressed for, so we went to this reaaaalllllllly weird bar for a few minutes. The bar was close to the Charles Bridge and it had these crazy dancers (though someone suggested they might have been hookers) and motocross/japanese game shows(?) being projected on a screen and really loud latin music. So.... we left that joint and hit up this super cute bar, drank a bit outside by the river, then went over to this girl Juliana's to chill before heading home.

Today, we took part in, as APO people say, a "fact-finding mission". Basically, we scavenged the city on foot from 12-6. The highlight was a trek across the Charles Bridge to the Prague castle. My team was fun, Juliana, Steph C, and Lisa, we had a great time and saw some cool stuff. Quote of the day: "And then he fired himself", told to us by a high school aged waiter trying to explain to us who Jan Palach was.

Ok. i was lame tonight and didn't go out because I'm beat. Only one of my roomates went out though, so I don't feel too bad. I start my week of intesnive Czech Language classes tomorrow, so, I'm gonna hit the hay. hopefully, I'll be free to update soon.

lots of love to anybody reading this :)

One week!


It's been a week, and SO much has happened. Possibly the busiest week of my life, and also one of the most spectacular. I'll start with London.

I arrived in London bright eyed and ready to roll at 8:05 AM on Monday morning. Well, maybe not so bright eyed because I was running on mayyyyybeee two hours of sleep (you know how it is), but, was so excited to see the roomates that I think my adrenaline kicked in and allowed me to function. Got my bags and headed out, Supriya's dad picked us up and we drove to Supriya's place in Wimbeldon. Autumn and I napped for an hour and then Nate came over for lunch. It was extremely good to see him, he's doing really well. Same old Nate though, he shared with us that he accidentally used "poor" as as synonym for "black" in a conversation with someone :P. But yeah, Nate stayed until around 10, and I don't think he planned to hang out with us that long but it was a good time so I'm glad he did, made the transition away from jetlag much more pleasant!

Tuesday was our busy touring London day. Below were our major stops:
  • took the District line from Wimbeldon to Victoria Station
  • Went to go see Buckingham Palace
  • Saw the Victoria Memorial opposite Buckingham Palace
  • Walked along (and through a little bit of) St. James Park
  • Walked by the Cabinet rooms
  • Saw Westminster abbey
  • Walked along the Westminster bridge and got a great view of London Eye, Big Ben, and the Parliament Building
  • Walked to 10 Downing Street (there was a big Pro-Palestine protest in front of the gate, and Prime Minister Gordon Brown was home)
  • Went to Trafalgar Square and saw the National Gallery
  • Walked to Leicester Square and ate lunch at Garfunkle's
  • Waled around Covent Garden (really liked it)
  • Walked down Oxford Street
  • Went to Piccadilly Circus
  • Went to a pub just off Shaftsbury Ave (first ever legal drink!!)
  • Saw Priscilla Queen of the Desert at the Palace Theatre. Autumn and I got pulled out f the audience to dance with castmembers on stage!
Day 3 in London was also "quite" fun. We went to Hampton Court for the Day, walked around the Garden and learned about Queen Mary, King William, and King Henry VIII. We ended the day by going to an Australian pub near Supriya's to watch Arsenal play the Celtics (won 2-0). I tried some Kangaroo (Supriya got Kangaroo curry. was surprisingly good. )

Day 4, August 27th, was the end of my short stay in London. Autumn, Supriya, and her Dad woke up to drive me to the airport at 6 AM so I could make my 8 AM flight. Encountered no major problems.

I'll just say here that it was fantastic to spend those few days with Autumn and Supriya, and I love them both to infinity and back. Can't believe we're spending this semester apart and that we may only have one more semester all together if Supriya does graduate early as planned, but, i know this semester will be great for all of us.

And now, to describe the most surreal of surreals, life in Prague!!!!!!!!!!

Friday, August 21, 2009

Countdown begins

In under 48 hours, I will be on a plane to London, flying Aer Lingus. I am SO looking forward to what I'm sure will be just the loveliest pitstop in Ireland, where I have the blessed opportunity to switch planes at the wonderful hour of 5 am. But, I'll be in London by 8 AM (p.s., sorry Autumn, looks like you're gonna hafta wait that hour for me in the airport with Supriya. But if you want i'll stay up an extra hour after you've gone to bed so we can be equal in our ammount of sleep deprivation), so it shouldn't be too bad. Hopefully I'll have gotten some sleep on the plane and extra hopefully there will be no problems with getting my bags to London.

Speaking of bags..... it looks like I'll be able to fit all my stuff in one suitcase! I'm planning to check that suitcase and another smaller bag at the airport. I've been freaking out all week because I really didn't think it would be possible to fit most of my life into one suitcase, and really didn't want to be forced to bring two large suitcases because I think it will be too difficult for me to deal with that if I stay past the program's end date and do some independent travel (or dependent travel, if one or more friends would like to join me :) ).

Anyway, things are shaping up well. I have one more day to do most of my packing, and then.... off to Europe!

Can't wait to see my roomates and London!