The -Shopping- Experience

Well, I had a short-lived night, as we wound up around 2 am at the bar. Michael and (newcomer) Josh rapped on my door at 8 am, apparently starved and ready to go to the store. So I dragged myself up, showered super fast, and we were out the door. Boy, were we unprepared for what came next. We located the store with no problems, but inside was another matter. Stores here are so small, due to them being inside old buildings, that getting around other customers is difficult. It's even more difficult when you can't read anything on the labels, unless it's an identifiable brand. I spent ten minutes trying to find cream to put in my coffee but couldn't seem to locate it anywhere. So I finally asked a woman who was stocking in the dairy area if she could help me find cream. Bad. Not only did she not really speak English, but I thoroughly confused her by trying to explain what I wanted. Cream, milk, cows. Nope. I'll never forget the look on her face as she repeated, in an incredulous voice, "Cows?" Oh my. Needless to say, we had to find another worker who fortunately (for me) understood what I was asking. I now know the words for cream (smetana), milk (mleko), and cow (krava), but still don't understand why they stock their cream next to the cottage cheese instead of near the milk. Following that, Josh and I hunted all over attempting to find marinara sauce, which I finally discovered hanging up in a refrigerated area, alongside vegetables and fruits. Perhaps they have some logic in their grouping, but I don't see it... Our final discovery of the hour was that here you sack your own groceries, and if you don't bring a bag to put them in, you have to buy one! The checkers were obviously exasperated at us as we apparently were holding up the line, but we managed to make it out of there in one piece and with our various sundries in tow. The only downfall of getting here early was that our metro passes didn't start working until the 15th, so we had to carry everything back to the apartment instead of being able to take the tram. And amazingly enough, my full bag (eggs, cheese, bread, fruit, sauce, cream, lettuce, pasta, etc).. cost less than $20. Oh, if only shopping was so cheap in America...

Having deposited my groceries in their appropriate places, I commenced to crash for a couple more hours until around lunchtime, when everyone met to go to the castle. Andy explained to us that we would have to walk all the way to Narodni trida (about 5-7 minutes from here) to buy our tram tickets. He also told us we needed to make sure that we validated the tickets as soon as getting on the tram, so we wouldn't get pulled off and fined 700 crowns (the equivalent being $35). So, we hiked to the station, bought our tickets and climbed on the tram with the correct number. It was so crowded that we had to validate tickets assembly-line style, with everyone passing their slip to me so I could put it in the little yellow box to be stamped. We rode along, standing and chatting, until something in our conversation caused a man to tell us that we were on the right tram, but going the wrong direction. We piled out at the next stop and caught the tram going the other way. It was good I had validated all of the tickets, since we got checked within one stop going the other direction. We were convinced that someone on the previous tram had called in the stupid group of Americans, but no matter how carefully the ticket-checker scrutinized us, our tickets were valid and he left us alone.

We arrived at Pohorelece (prononuced "po-hoj-e-lets"), which is a small square situated above the castle. The name means "the scene of fire." Pohorolece was founded as a suburb to the Castle District in the 14th century, and it burned during the Hussite Wars, the big fire in Prague in 1541, and once more during the War of the Austrian Succession in 1742. Andy had suggested that we check out the monastary and take pictures of the view before walking down the hill to the castle. (Strahov Monastery, Castle District) We stopped to find a bathroom and then to eat, as some people were really hungry. Allison and I split this wonderful sandwich that had ham, cheese, tomatoes and onions, and everyone had some sort of pastry. It was good we stopped to eat, as it took us a bit to find the entrance to the Monastery (it looks like stairs leading off the road to a small courtyard). After poking our heads inside the monastery, we opted to take the tour at a later point and head on to the castle. The view from just outside the monastery was absolutely breathtaking...

After the nap.. Part Dos

To continue...

(left-right: Allison, Michael, and Paul)

I arrived at the apartment and was left trying to interpret what my driver was asking me in Czech (which happened to be "how do we get inside the door?"). I had no clue, but someone came and let us in, thankfully. Then I had to haul my luggage upstairs, got a whirlwind talk of some very basic things from the apartment manager, and then was left to settle in, i.e. crash for a LONG nap. Eight hours later, around 5:30, I was wakened by knocking on my door. After fighting with the door, I finally got it open (stupid key) and met two of my fellow students, Sandy (VPA) and Allison (BA). They let me get ready to go and then I met a small group of people (Sandy, Allison, Nylece, Michael and Paul) downstairs for some dinner and sightseeing.

We wandered down to Wenceslas Square in search of some identifiable food. Not speaking Czech, our first goal was just to find a menu that had English on it. Everyone got something different to eat (although none of it was Czech food) and we just sat around and sort of got to know each other. Our group was a little VPA heavy (4:2) but it was nice to know that everyone was experiencing a little bit of culture shock and trying to figure out how to adjust. The biggest barrier for us was the language, because no one came here knowing anything. Everything was so makeshift to start out because we had no real prior knowledge of the language, though I did learn a few phrases before I came. So I became the "interpreter" of our little group as best I could, hahaha. (above, left-right: Nylece and Sandy)

After dinner, we meandered up the square and headed toward Old Town. Stopped and tried to take some pictures, but it was dark enough by that point in time that most of them didn't come out too well. I did get a nice shot of the church towers against the evening sky. The city is amazing and full of stunningly beautiful architecture, both inside and out. It's no wonder that Americans love to travel overseas... they have so many things here that our country won't ever have. The art here spans so many centuries

that the average person probably can't imagine how much they can see just within the city, let alone anywhere else in the country. (St. Nicholas Church, Old Town Square)

It was too late to see inside, as they frequently hold evening concerts in the church, so we kept trekking. We wound up on Charles Bridge, which is one of 3 bridges that cross the Vltava River (which runs directly through the city). The Vltava is better known to many people as the Moldau, which is also the title of a very famous piece of music written by the Czech composer Bedrich Smetana. More on him, later... Charles Bridge offers a very scenic view of the river in both directions, and looking northeast, the beautifully situated Prazsky Hrad (Prague Castle). The shot isn't so great (I have no idea how to work the night setting on my new camera, as of yet) but you can see how nice the view is from pretty much any side of the river.

Everyone was tired of walking and some needed to use the restroom, so we opted to head back to the apartments (as it costs to use the public WCs here). Just around the corner from our front door is a little bar, and ironically enough, it's what they refer to as an "American" bar. A little tiny place, but they have live music some nights and on our entrance they had VH1's Greatest Guitar Riffs showing on the tv. It was pretty funny to have drinks and feel like we were sitting in a bar back at home. However, it was a nice relaxing end to a long day and very interesting to hear what everyone had to say about their own impressions of Prague. Tomorrow I will go to the store and stock up on some food, as I am told that groceries here are very inexpensive and it will be easier to eat breakfast and lunch here at the apartment before heading to class every day. It's also worthy to note that the most expensive drink to buy here (not including alcohol) is water, as it comes bottled. There are no refills either... One is served a glass and a bottle of the beverage of choice, so if you want more you have to get another bottle (and pay). Crazy for us Americans, we are so used to having the immediacy of a drink refill, but I guess that $0.35 Coke bottles make up for the difference. :)

After the nap...

Well, it's after my first night here in Prague. The trip here was uneventful but very long. I got to the Dallas airport super early because they said to be at the airport 2 hours before departure time for an international flight. So Russ and I dragged ourselves up and got to the airport at 6:45 am so I could check my bags and make it through security in time. Bah. It took me less than fifteen minutes from when the porter helped me carry my bags upstairs, to check them, stand in line, and go through the security checkpoint. So much for being early. My flight finally left 2 hours later, but I was able to while away the time talking to a very nice older woman about her grandson and the arts. It was incredibly nice to find someone who feels that the arts are important, and that they can be useful tools for children to adjust to new lifestyles. She said that she wanted to expose him to art and music, and that he was going to be taking lessons in both. Why can't the whole world have grandmothers like that?!

Dallas to Detroit was short; the Detroit airport is very nice and open. I talked to Becca and Mom and Caelan, then had to scarf down some lunch before getting on the flight to Amsterdam. Thankfully, there was a little Mediterranean grill right next to my gate, so I got a sandwich quickly (and it was good!). Our flight was 8 hours long, but it was eased a little by the fact that I was sitting on a row with 2 other students traveling abroad, one going to Spain, one to Turkey. We had a nice time chatting about going abroad and why we were going to our specific chosen locations, etc. The plane also had lots of free movies and music to choose from to listen to/watch, so I finally got to see Inkheart. Definitely prefer the book, for the record. Having forgotten Gogol at home, I did some reading out of our course book, but was unable to fall asleep. All in all, I was glad to get off the plane, since I couldn't relieve the monotony by getting any rest. I'd hoped to reset my clock by sleeping during the flight, since my arrival time in Amsterdam was 5:30 am. Oh well, that didn't happen...

In the Amsterdam airport. Thought I had plenty of time, but spent 45 minutes standing in a gigantic line for passport check and then a security check for carry-on luggage (again?!). No one understood why we had to go through a security check if our passports had been okay, but whatever. Then I discovered that my departure gate was at the -end- of the concourse from security, so I basically had to run to the gate and arrived with 5 minutes to spare before my flight left. The stewardess looked totally nonchalant as I boarded the plane, like we were in no hurry at all. Was trying to sleep on this flight, but apparently I needed to eat one more time (we had a snack, dinner, and another snack on the Detroit flight!) and so somewhere in my stomach I managed to fit two rolls, one with cheese and one with mascarpone, and more coffee. About an hour later, I was in Prague. I found the way up and out of the baggage claim and discovered the driver who was waiting to collect me and another couple. He loaded us in the van, and we were off. Literally. We hurtled down the mountain at a breakneck pace, around curves and through traffic. It reminded me of driving through Colorado mountains, except for the fact that in Colorado there are no houses to keep you from falling off the side of the mountain. Needless to say, I had to push away from the window until we finally came to a stop at the apartment building. I then had to haul my luggage to the third floor, which in Europe-speak is really the fourth floor of a building, but thankfully there was an elevator, albeit tiny.

To clarify on the bidet... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bidet

... in Prague!

Well, I made it here after a LONG trip, but am safe and sound. The apartment is huge and I'm the only one here at present. My roommates don't get in until later this weekend. However, there are other people here so I'm not totally by myself. We'll be sharing rooms (2 and 2, since there are 4 of us in this apartment). There is a nice living area with a couch, tv, and table; a mini kitchen, complete with refrigerator, dishwasher, and a closet with a tiny washing machine; a mini balcony in one bedroom; and a pretty big bathroom with a stand-up shower and a bidet. Yes, a bidet. I'm definitely in Europe. More to come soon, but time for a nap...

Procrastination...

oh yes, that is your name.

Still not packed. Playing on here instead. Stupid. But I washed a lot of laundry and dishes. Weird cleaning obsessions when I ought to be putting things -in- the suitcase... I hate trip anxiety. It's stupid of me to have it when I'm only flying to Dallas in 12 hours. Not even the big part of the trip yet. And I have to clean the house? LOL.

Pre-Departure... Part I

So here I sit, at 2 am, procrastinating on more cleaning, and writing here instead. I have yet to pack and am still sorting out multitudinous small problems that seem to crop up each time I cross something off a list. Perhaps I should quit writing lists...

Refunds.. passports... don't drink the water?...

*cram all information into brain*

I'm so excited to go. Now if I can just remember my head...