Prague for the weekend?

So this is the first weekend I’ve spent in Prague in a long time. It feels like I haven’t been here for a weekend since I got here. It’s unfortunate that the weather still isn’t as nice as I’d hope, but its getting there. My family comes this week and I’M SO EXCITED!!! Not only do I really miss them a lot, but I’m really excited to show them where I’ve been living the past few months. This place that has become my temporary home. I haven’t really gotten home sick since being here, but I do miss things about home (both DC and Oakland) and the US in general. I guess I just get home sick for the familiarity of things. When I want something to eat and don’t feel like cooking, its always a project to order at a restaurant, and take out doesn’t really exist here. Although most people speak english, I feel like it’s ignorant to assume they do.

But there’s a phenomenon here where people get offended when you try to speak Czech. I was ordering pizza the other day and practicing my Czech so I said “dva pizzu” (2 pizza’s in the accusative form because that’s how you order food, in accusative). The woman looked at me like I was crazy and asked if I spoke English. I said yes, and she said well speak it then. I was bewildered and a little embarassed. I had tried and she shot me down. Its hard because I’m not a tourist, I’m living here, I have an address, I’m learning Czech, and she just assumed I was a tourist. Then I was mad. Mad because I just don’t get Czech and people are just mean here. I’m trying! Ugh. This will make me think twice about getting angry with non-english speakers in the US.

On another note…this week was birthday week. Starting Wednesday night. It was a late one and I had a full day of classes Thursday, but when in Prague, right? You only live once. After not very much sleep I was proud of myself for waking up for a 9 am class (meaning I had to leave my apartment at 8:30) and continuing through 3 classes. Staying awake proved difficult and I practically fell asleep standing up on the tram ride back to my apartment at 4 pm. I stumbled up the steps to my bed and passed out for 2 whole hours. Like deep deep sleep. That rarely happens during naps for me. That night was a another birthday so out we went again. And Friday morning we had to get up early to go to Ledice, a small former town destroyed by the Nazi’s during their search for Heydrich’s assassin. The killed all of the men, sent the women to concentration camps and gassed the brown haired brown eyed children and sent the blonde haired blonde eyed children to German foster parents. Then they burned down all the buildings and houses, leaving nothing but some foundations. The story of the town is overwhelmingly sad. There is nothing left of the town but a memorial to the citizens. It is a green field spotted with foundations and various statues. There is also a museum on the premises about the atrocities that happened there. The museum was set up very well and was very moving. What I liked most was the old footage of Hitler and the town and Czech Republic in general. It is something that we don’t see in the US. Only in Europe can you go out partying and drinking only to wake up and go to somewhere as moving as Ledice.

So finals have started to become something to worry about. Well maybe not worry about, but consider. I have started writing final papers and finishing up projects. I only have two written in class tests, one for Czech Language and one for Politics. I’m more worried about Czech language and will have to study hard for that. Not so worried about politics considering I did way better than expected on the midterm. One thing at a time and it’ll all get done. But first family comes to visit! And I cannot be more excited. I still have some stuff to get done before Wednesday to make our weekend here more enjoyable : )

Hope all is well in the states and I have less than a month left here … yikes.

Foggy London Town (and Budapest)

Last weekend I went to London to visit my friend Katie from school. She is attending BADA (British American something about theater). She is studying theater and having a great time. The weather was gorgeous upon arrival early friday morning. We went to Camdentown, the area around her school with a lot of funky little markets and interesting people. I felt very un-stylish compared to everyone we saw. Everyone had a style (good and bad), but everyone had something. It was interesting to see, because Czech fashion is all bad and non existent. We’ll see what pops up when the weather warms up here. We also went to Primrose Hill, a park that overlooks London and sat in the sun for a while. It was nice to see something I didn’t get to see when I visited London last time in 2004…4 years ago. Then we went back to her apartment and met some of her friends and had fish and chips at a pub across the street. It was nice. Since everything was really expensive (club wise) we just hung around her flat.

The next day was a little cooler and rainy, but we went around the city and saw the main sights again. Just a quick overview and orientation. Then the fun part. We explored the Tate Modern museum for a very very very long time. It was amazing. It may just be my favorite museum in Europe. I didn’t get to go there last time so I was very excited. They also had an awesome exhibit about Du Champ, Man Ray and Picabia, the main leaders of the dada movement. I really find this artistic movement interesting because it was a reaction to a social event. They’re motivation and execution interest me more than the art. It is a little silly and when looked at with a detatched eye, I could understand why someone wouldn’t like it. But to me it is interesting. I had a background in what Dada is and how it started so this exhibit was interesting and took a different angle because it was about the relationship of the three artists and how their friendships formed themselves as artists. The influences they had on each other are astounding. There was one work by each of them next to each other, and I had a hard time deciphering who’s was whose because they were ridiculously similar. It was a very large and extensive exhibit that was well curated and nicely divided into time periods with fantastic quotes by all of the artists and of course their art works. It was glorious. We really spent over 3 hours there not realizing the time. It was late and on the way home we walked across the millennium bridge at sunset and stopped at St. Pauls which is beautiful. Then we bought some cheap wine and beer and hung out at the apartment again.

Sunday we woke up to 2 inches of snow and rain outside. We ate at cafe and I read my book until it was time to go to the airport. Nothing else to eventful but the plane ride home. Got back to Prague and felt home.

This past weekend was Budapest trip with the group. The weather was the most glorious fantastic wonderfully amazing weather I have seen in a long long long time. It was in the 60’s/70’s practically the whole weekend. Even at night. It made the whole trip so much more enjoyable. We also had a lot of free time to ourselves which was nice. Friday the group went to a place outside of Budapest called Szentender (? St. Andrews). The town was sickeningly cute like every other town outside of a city in Central Europe. There are no suburbs. The city ends and farms begin. It’s kind of nice, but strange because in the US the lines between city and town and village are skewed and blend together, but in Europe its very clear cut what’s what. We also did the Turkish baths. Basically a pool sized hot tub with and outside and inside and multiple pools, also men in speedos, I forgot we were in Europe. It was quite the people watching spot. Sunday we had a few hours before we had to get on the bus again for 8 hours (mom would have died) so we had a picnic in the park with some champagne and real cheddar cheese (it doesn’t exist in Prague)!! So good. Then we got on the bus to come home getting into Prague around midnight. Only to get up for classes the next morning. It was long day.

My family comes to visit next week! WOOHOO! I’m so excited to show them Prague and the places I’ve come to know and love. Its similar to having them come visit DC but much better. Prague beats DC in terms of the city, but not the people. After parent’s leave Kelly and I travel on to Barcelona! Then it’s time to go home. I have exactly one month from Thursday left. I cannot believe it. Time is flying, I’m going to continue to say it, because its true. The weather is finally getting nice here and I’m loving it. We ate lunch in a park today behind our school and it was fantastic. I’m looking forward to getting some color. I’m very pasty. Wearing a bathing suit was not fun.

Hope all is well in the states and I’ll see everyone in a month!

Also, my camera wasn’t working for Budapest, so I have no digital photos. Sorry : ( You’ll just have to wait for the prints.

Ireland

So time is flying. Literally. I feel like I have spent no time in the city of Prague. The first month took forever but since February I can’t seem to find a down moment. I don’t mind though, every now and again I have taken a “personal day” and done nothing but watched tv shows (ie. the office and weeds, I have finished all of the seasons I can get my hands on) or read a book or taken a nap. School is finally picking up too. It seems like everything at the same time, as always. Funny how that works… But with midterms now taken care of, I just have to worry about a final photo project and paper and a presentation and paper on The Joke by Milan Kundera, which I wanted to read anyway. I still don’t feel as though I am attending school. The situation with classes here is so bizarre and unlike any school setting that it’s hard to actually believe you are in college. Basically I have class on Monday and Thursday, but all day. Having Friday’s off is super nice and allows for some generous time to travel..leading to my next topic, Ireland.

Dublin is awesome. I really liked the city, and I recently learned that Ireland has the most “wealth” among the countries using the Euro (we just had a guest lecturer lecture us about the EU and its economy…it felt like macro economics all over again so naturally I tuned most of it out). Anyway, the trip was good, started off a little rough but overall excellent. Our plane was delayed leaving Prague by 2 hours, so instead of leaving at 8 we left at 10:30 pm. We passed the time in the airport fine, and finally took off. But just as we got to cruising altitude I felt the pangs of vomit rumbling in my stomach. I excused myself to the bathroom and was sick. I thought I felt better, but was sadly mistaken. Three more trips to the bathroom and I decided to sit in the back of the plane near it. Once I had nothing left in my stomach I thought I was good, but I was sadly mistaken. The flight was relatively smooth and I ate the same thing as Charlotte and she didn’t get sick, so it wasn’t something I ate. At this point I wanted to tell them to turn the plane around and take me back to Prague but I had to persevere (there’s my tenacious attitude, dad). I muster my strength and we’re the last people off the plane. Loaded with barf bags, we find a taxi and, after a very expensive taxi ride, we make it to the hostel (Globetrotters/The Townhouse on Lower Gardenier St.). It is now 2 am and the room is freezing (side note* I forgot PJ’s so I slept in my jeans) but I was so tired I just went to sleep.

The next morning I woke up feeling weak but not sick, which was good because we had a lot to do in Dublin. We got breakfast at the hostel and set out to see the sights. Trinity College and the Book of Kells, The National Archive of Photography, The National Photography Gallery and numerous cafe’s and random statues along the way. The weather was quite unpredictable as well. One minute it was pouring, the next it was sunny and hot. Very strange, not something we get in the states. We also did a lot of shopping (it’s cheaper than Prague and I found some great things) and saw a rainbow! Over a bridge! It was the biggest rainbow I have ever seen and also the brightest, each color was easily identifiable. No, we did not find a leprechaun or a pot of gold at the end of it, so please spare the jokes (Dad).

That evening we signed up to do a bus tour of the Wicklow Mountains and Powerscourt Gardens. We decided on the bus tour because the weather was so unpredictable that we didn’t want to get stuck outside in the rain, but wanted to see some more of Ireland besides Dublin. The tour was fabulous… It was nice to see the southern shores (cute little beach towns) and the mountains. Not only was it green, it ended up being sunny some of the time!  The Powerscourt Gardens are an old house and its gardens from the 13th century (http://www.powerscourt.ie/). There we had a great lunch (probably the best chocolate cake I’ve eaten in a while) and walked around the gardens and got to see the pet cemetery before it started down pouring. On the route back we went a different route through the mountains and saw a wedding going on at an old church that has a wait list for weddings that is two years long! Sign up now. As you can image the tour guide made many many many MANY jokes about his mother-in-law and marriage. Naturally this went over very well with the foreigners, I suppose marriage is something to joke about in any culture. The group really enjoyed it. After that we returned to the hostel and relaxed for a little. By this point the weather was nice again so we walked around some more, found somewhere to eat and then went to Porterhouse Pub (very large, touristy and very expensive, 4.5 euro for a small beer) but they brewed 10 of their own beers which is nice.

Sunday our flight out was in the afternoon so we only had a few hours in the morning. We went to the Modern Art Gallery (which was free and had a cool reconstruction of Francis Bacon’s studio) and the Writer’s Museum (including a free audio tour with the price of admission) because we couldn’t find the James Joyce Cultural Center). After that we got some lunch and ran into the stinky boys who were staying in our room at the hostel then left. Goodbye Dublin, I will see you again.

It was weird to be around people who were speaking ENGLISH! It’s funny how much I zone out on the trams here in Prague because I can’t understand anyone, but there it was good to overhear people’s conversations about what they did today, or how the weather was. Also Irish people are just friendly. Everyone was ready to help if we needed it and were polite.

This weekend it’s off to London to visit Katie who was here in Prague a few weeks ago. I leave early Friday morning and return Sunday evening. Next weekend we have a program trip to Budapest, which I’m really excited for, and then my family comes to visit, then Kelly and I satiate our love of traveling together in Bracelona, then my program ends and my friend Elsa comes to visit and then I leave! It’s all happening…