BLOG POST 3

Before I continue my story, I better introduce another couple key characters. You’ve met Adrian, Kate, and Ryan, but that’s only a tiny portion of the gang. There’s Allie, the snow-loving South Carolinean whose biggest desire, it seems, is to go sledding. She can be found traversing Prague in an oversized poofy winter coat with little pigtails, and she’s the group’s appointed “mule” – by bringing a backpack, she won the honor of lugging around everyone’s random crap. An awesome little lady. Then there’s Kacy, my usual partner in crime when it comes to shenanigans. The girl’s got the most infectious giggle imaginable plus she likes Deerfield – she’s just an all-around winner in my book. Next up is Jake, the Murph look-alike. I’d say he has a kick-ass sense of humor, but as he voted me least likely to survive in jail, I’ll be holding back any compliments today. Take that, Jake. We can’t forget Walt, the boy who shares his name with Disney and his tolerance level with Ghandi. See, with a name like Walt, there are only too many puns: “Where’s Walt-o?” and “Wall-e!” are two of my favorites, yet the boy has yet to throttle me. Yay for tolerance. I suppose I’ll pause there for now lest you start mixing up the characters, but expect more introductions in my next post.


January 30, 2010 (continued)

Anyway, when I left off last, we had arrived at Old Town Square as a gawking clump o’ tourists. We stood mesmerized in the center of the square while some people exchanged American dollars for Czech crowns and accidentally caught the “on-the-hour, every hour” show at the Astronomical Clock. Rick Steves describes this old-fashioned (and honestly, quite lame) show really well: “At the top of the hour, Death tips his hourglass and pulls the cord, ringing the bell, then the windows open and the 12 apostles parade by acknowledging the crowd of onlookers; then the rooster crows; and then the hour is rung.”

After this famous but utterly forgettable ordeal, we began wandering the streets of Prague, keeping careful not to slip on the ice everywhere. We were looking for a place to eat dinner, but since lunch is the main meal of the day in the Czech Republic, a surprising number of restaurants were closed. The walk itself was beautiful what with the old buildings, the sweeping spires, and the snow gently falling, but I definitely appreciated when we walked into the heated restaurant and were able to rest our feet for a while. Only one waiter there spoke any English, so it was kind of a challenge to order. Somehow we ended up ordering 2 large baskets of bread for the table (some blamed Kate; I blamed the language barrier) but the meal itself was delicious and wonderfully filling. We left and within minutes were on a metro heading home to Masarykova Kolej ready to unpack and pass out after this long day.


January 31, 2010

Today started fairly slow and relaxed. Somehow I had ended up with all the leftover bread from last night’s dinner (at least a loaf’s worth) so Kate, Adrian, my suitemate Michelle, and I had a nice little lazy breakfast of bread and shmere in our kitchenette. At 11am, we met in the lobby of the dorm and split into 4 groups for a walking/orientation tour of Prague. First, we walked from the dorm to the metro and then rode to the main building of Charles University, where the majority of our classes will be held. From there it was only about a 5 minute walk to Old Town Square, and WOW – the square was even more beautiful in the daylight! Jana (our tour guide) led us all over town, from her favorite coffee shop to the AIFS office to Tesco (the main department/grocery store in town), and then back to Charles University. We had time to grab a quick lunch, so we hit a sandwich shop down the street and practiced our Czech. At this point, all I can say is please (“pro-seem”), thank you (“dyek-oo-ee”), and good day (“do-bree den”) but I was still fairly proud when I was understood.

Next up on the agenda was an orientation meeting in the main building with Marketa, the AIFS director. It was mostly an administrative meeting (fill out this form, yadda yadda) but she talked about a couple of interesting cultural differences. For one, the Czech people are more likely to be blunt (to an extent that might be considered “rude” by American standards). They are also less likely to be as open or outgoing as Americans, mainly because only a couple decades they were under a communist regime that forced them to censor their words or risk punishment. I’m sure I’ll discover more as I go.

The meeting ended by 4pm and my group was off yet again, trekking through the city to run errands. First stop was Vodaphone where we all got cheap pre-paid cell phones so that we’ll be able to communicate with one another while we’re here. I made sure to program in everyone’s phone numbers because more likely than not, I’ll be lost and in need of directions a LOT. Our next stop was Tesco, the giant, 5-story department store selling everything from milk to Barbies to camping supplies. I bought groceries, a hair straightener, and hand soap for the suite’s central bathroom – definitely wise investments. I was surprised by how cheap the groceries were compared to at home, but I guess it makes sense considering the great exchange rate. By now it was approaching 8pm and we had been on our feet almost all day. I was tired and hungry, a little grumpy because my ankle was feeling sore, and ready for food and a nap. I perked up after a delicious gyros dinner but I puttered out by about 11pm, exhausted from the walking and the overload of information we’d received throughout the day.


February 1, 2010

I woke up wonderfully refreshed and happy, ready to take on the new day. At 9am Marketa led the group from the main lobby to the metro station, with the intention of leading us to the ECES orientation in the Mirror Chapel from there. However, the group had to split to fit everyone on the metro, and I ended up in the first group. Rather than wait for Marketa, we decided to set off on our own, fairly confident we knew where we were going. A couple minutes later we were near Old Town Square -- definitely NOT where we were supposed to be. By now, I wasn’t even phased by the idea of getting lost – it’s happened so much this past week, it’s almost a GIVEN I won’t know where I am most of the time. We had to ask a few people on the streets for directions (note to self: learn how to say “do you speak English?”!!) and what should’ve been a 5 minute walk took more like 20 minutes. Turns out the Mirror Chapel was practically next door to the original metro stop… oh well. You live, you learn, I suppose! We entered the meeting about 10 minutes late, and nabbed the last seats in the very back of the chapel. Most of the speakers repeated what Marketa had told us yesterday, and I zoned out for quite a while. By the time they released us, I was bored out of my mind and ready to get moving.

We navigated our way through town to the AIFS office, one metro stop and a short walk away from the Mirror Chapel. Here we could use the computers to check email, print out our schedules for next week, etc. We also had to turn in a refundable 500kc (~$28) deposit for all the trips this semester, the idea being that if we misbehaved, we’d lose the deposit. We also had a chance to look through the list of cultural activities for January and sign up for those that looked especially appealing. Adrian, Allie, Kate, and I signed up for a lot of the same ones, including 3 shows: an opera, “Romeo and Juliet” the ballet, and the Philharmonic Orchestra. (And we’re seeing a black-light theatre show on our own tonight – man, I feel cultured!) All of the shows and activities are included in the semester’s tuition, so I’m going to try and do as many of the cultural activities offered as possible.

From the AIFS office we made stops at Tesco, Vodaphone, and an adaptor shop to load up on the miscellaneous items we’d forgotten to pack. Our last stop before heading back to the dorm was at a food stand on the street. These things are amazing: they’re like hot dog stands, but prettier and with more options. We all got traditional sausages on baguettes (the Czech version of hot dogs, I suppose) and they were DELICIOUS. I’ve never tried real sausage before in my life, and I absolutely LOVED the taste. I’ll definitely be trying more while I’m here this semester.