Week 4: Its worth it.

I am sick. I have been sick pretty much all week, but just not wanting to admit it to myself. I woke up around my usual 9:15 AM time today after having a dream about me, Wendy, and Lauren kicking each other. (don't ask me why, I couldn't tell you) I had breakfast and returned promptly to bed until now, around 12:30. For those of you who know me well, this probably doesn't sound that strange... but here I really never sleep past 9:30 and I rarely take naps. I'm not "really sick" by any means, just annoyingly sick because it is slowing me down. Anyways, that is the downside of living in close quarters with 6 other people and always using public transportation. What goes around comes around. Its worth getting sick to do all the things I have gotten to do. Besides, I really needed to make a new post, so it works out.

So a lot has happened in the time since the last post. Friday was spent planning my trip to Greece! The itenerary includes 2 days in Atens, 1 day on Santorini Island (there is a volcano there), and 1 day on Ios. The dates are the 28 of March through the 1st of April. I am soooooo excited! The whole thing, including food, flights, ferries, and hostels, should cost under 500 bucks, which is less than you could even get a flight for from the US. Friday night was spent hanigng out with a bunch of Scottish people who live in the dorms next to Scotty and with the "Spanish Speakers" (Latin Americans, Spaniards, and Catalonians even though they don't really speak Spanish).

Saturday I can barely remember... we watched KSU get beaten by KU again... and then we played uno and went to the pub in the basement.

Sunday I got up and went on a walk and then went to church. The english speaking mass isn't til noon here which is really nice because you don't have to worry about waking up early.

Me in my new european church clothes and my trusty/amazingly cute camera. :)


A decorative parking bollard.

A courtyard in front of the Cathedral (not the church I go to). Notice the castle in the background.

The Cathedral facade with a tower from the Charles bridge on the horizon.

The church I go to.

I like where the light hit this painting.

The infant Jesus of Prague.

After church I grabbed a bite to eat at my traditional favorite lunch spot, Bohemian Bagel. They have asiago cheese bagels with vegetable smears and bottomless fountain drinks with ice. **heaven** Plus its like 3 blocks from church... sooo tempting.

Around 2 I met up with my friend Alena. She is Czech but studied abroad in Spain for a year, so we speak in Spanish whenever we hang out. We went to a park called Letna that overlooks the whole city. It was the first real day of Spring here so tons of people were out soaking up the sun. I have a bunch of panoramic shots from different days, but blogger won't let me upload them, so I will have to show you when I get back if you are interested.

Here is a view of the city from Letna. The scale of Prague is small, mostly 4 story buildings, so it has a very different feel from most modern cities.

This is a view of the park at Letna with a cafe in the background.

So from Letna I went to dinner with Malcolm and Jeff at a really good Mexican restaurant around the corner from the dorm. And by around the corner I mean like 8 blocks, but this is Prague measurements, just like there is "European Time"... basically its impossible to be late. Anyways, after the delicious Mexican food, we decided we wanted some of the Cafe Louvre's amazing "Velky Cokolada" which literally translates to "Large Chocolate"... So this is a Pic of Jeff and the Cafe.

Finally around 10 PM I met Ondrej and Alena for some dancing at Popo Cafe Petl. Its a local joint hidden under the noses of all the tourists in oldtown. Its down an alley and in a basement and pretty much perfect. I love it.

Whew.. ok so that was Sunday. One crazy busy day. Monday, however, was also crazy busy. I woke up at 9:30 AM when Pavel called to talk about working out on Tuesday (we had made plans). He stopped by the dorm and we decided to go to the castle because I haven't been yet. Little did I know, the walk to the castle turned into a 7 hour walk. It was awesome though. I pretty much threw on clothes and we walked out the door. We didn't take any public transportation all day until we came home... so a ton of walking! Pavel knows a ton about the city because his Dad loves it and taught him about it, plus he is in architecture too so we appreciate similar stuff. (Pavel studied at KSU for a semester and dated my roomie Sten- that is how I know him) So yeah, we started at the castle.

The courtyard outside the castle "Hradcasnka".

Me and Pavel with Prague behind us.

A view of the Cathedral spires.

So this is pretty cool I think. I was trying to get a view into this chapel from the inside of a souvenier store. The shop keeper was so nice- she opened the door just for me and Pavel for no reason. We had to scoot a bookshelf out of the way to squeeze though, but it was worth it.

Here is the inside without looking through the grill... pretty cool. That lady made my day. :)

The interior of the Cathedral.

Going up?

Gorgeous statue on a gorgeous day.

The entrance to a park... talk about a sense of arrival.

The 1/3 scale replica of the Eiffel Tower that overlooks Prague... I still need to go in it.

The Planetarium.

The Strahov dorms... its a real blessing that I live in Masarykova. We had lunch at their Menza though, and it did kick the pants off ours. (menza=cafeteria)

One of three parks Pavel and I strolled through. This one is called the Star park because the white building at the end of the park is shaped like a star.

Another gorgeous park. This one has huge rocks that you can climb in it and mountain biking trails. There is also a pool filled with water from the creek you can use in the summer.

Whew.... I told you it was a long walk! ;)

TUESDAY: I have no pictures for Tuesday. I ran errands in the morning, went to my first figure drawing class, worked out with Pavel, and went out with Martin, Scotty and Malcolm for some drinks. Figure drawing class was hard! Not only is it a little awkward at first, but drawing people is just tough- naked or not. My teacher speaks only French, so that is awkward. Working out here is quite an elaborate process. You have to change there and have a towel and bring stuff to shower with etc etc... I think the reason is because people can't just go straight home from working out. They have to take public transit, and don't want to be stinky. Luckily, Pavel has a car, so I just waited to shower until I got back. Overall though, people here are much less shy of nudity. Its interesting to me how differently all the Americans feel about it. Its the result of being taught modesty I guess... I don't know. Its definitely confusing to me.

Wednesday: No pictures again. I was pretty sick, so after Czech class I got back in bed and slept til around 5. Then we had another country presentation party... yeah... I definitely dropped my phone in a beer. :( It was a little mad at me, but I think it is working fully again. If you want pictures of that, check the isc website. They post pictures from all the events on there.

Thursday: Well I hardly slept all night on Wednesday because I was so nervous about sleeping through studio. We had to meet at my Professor's house in Mukarov where my studio project site is. Let me just tell you I had no idea what I was in for. I had to get up at like 7, left the dorm around 8:15 and took the green line clear to the other end. Then I had to get on a bus for about 30 minutes, and then walk to Ivan Kroupa's garden... without an address. Luckily, a fellow student was on the metro with me, so I just piggy backed with him. I was offered coffee, apple strudel, and homemade alcohol when I arrived at 9:30 AM. The moonshine was a bit shocking to me... but I politely had a little sip, not knowing what was ahead of me.

After we were done there, we walked through the town to... you guessed it, a pub. At 10:30 AM! The town is gorgeous though.

So obviously I thought this was weird, and I didn't get anything at the pub. Meanwhile, everyone else is getting .5 L beers and potato rum shots (a left over from communism i guess). So about 5 of us are doing Mukarov for our project. The other 12 have other towns, so they start off on a walk and we are supposed to meet up with the later. We walk around Mukarov for a while to think about our projects. Then, its time for soup, and MORE drinks at 12. At this point I have just sort of given up resisting because, well why should I? So I get some very watery soup and a beer. I am starting to get to know the people I am with, and they are getting confident/intoxicated enough to speak english with me. Good times. It always takes Czech people about an hour to decide they want to introduce themselves, but after that they are very friendly. After lunch we start on our hike. I think the best way to describe the trip is a "long distance pub crawl." We start off through a field.

And past about 5 pond/lakes. Someone bought a bottle of dark rum and a litre of cola (hahaha but really... if you have seen Super Troopers you know why this is funny). So between the 5 of us both bottles disappear.

Cerny Vorady is where the next pub is... only 7 km more! (We had already walked about 5)

Through more forests.

Up and over one enormous hill and we arrive in the town. More beer ensues. Its about 4 PM. More beer. 5 PM. We set off again for yet another town and yet another pub, which by the way no one really knows where it is. Notice the sun is going down.

Right outside the final pub. Gorgeous. More beer.

At this point its like 7 pm and I am ready for this little "field trip" to end. About half of us hop on a bus back to Prague. I stop off the metro to get a smazeny syr and some chipsys as they call them, because both are delicious. Then I get back to the dorm, watch the new Lost on Jeff's computer and go to bed around 1 AM. Not a bad day... in fact pretty cool. Nothing here is what I expect it to be. Its crazy.

Tomorrow Adrienne is arriving from Orvieto. She is hangin out and seeing Prague with me until about Wednesday. Then we are going to Munich together. Scary... I don't speak German. But I guess I don't speak Czech either, so hopefully it will be OK. Anyways, I am super excited to see her. I probably won't get back from Germany until Sunday and then I am leaving for Greece on Tuesday night. Basically, there is a possibility I might not update for like 2 weeks, so don't worry if you don't hear from me. I am just having the time of my life, thats all. :) Thanks for the emails and comments! Talk to you later!