Music Videos filmed in Prague

It makes me proud to see that 2 inspirational/influential music videos by Kanye West were filmed in my old stomping grounds! Ferni and Andre, our neighbors that lived below us, turned me onto these music videos, and I have watched them a few times since I have returned to the states as a means of catching a glimpse of Prague. A lot of people on my program actually saw the production set being set up for "No Church in the Wild", but "Blood Diamonds" was filmed a few years earlier. In "Blood Diamonds from Sierra Leone", Kanye shoots his video on the famous Charles Bridge, in the Cathedral of the Prague Castle, and in Old Town Square. This video is the less violent of the two videos. The "No Church in the Wild" video was shot near Narodni Divadlo, the National Theatre (with the gold roof) where we saw the Ballet, so it is really great to say that I lived here and even more amazing to recognize the locations throughout the videos!


Be forewarned, though, they aren't PG videos and include violence.

Goodbye Praha! Hello home!

As I sit in the Paris Airport, I find myself contemplating whether or not the excitement of going home outweighs the sadness of leaving Prague. In the process of reminiscing over my trip, and thinking of all the great things I have to look forward to at home, I started compiling a mental list of the things I am going to miss the most about Prague, and the things I am most excited about in California and Seattle! And, I will most likely continue to add to it as the days pass by, but other than that, California here I come!!!

What I am going to miss about Prague:

• Our apartment
• Riding the metro and trams
• The view from our balcony overlooking Andel and the rest of Prague
• The nearly constant police and ambulance sirens that echo into our apartment
• The noise of the trams on the tracks all day and night
• Taking an elevator to get to my apartment
• Tesco 
• Dumplings
• Roasted Duck
• The Vltava River
• $1.50 beers 
• Just the taste of the beer in general, and how easy it is to find a pub (my liver won't miss it though ;) )
• Ridiculously cheap fruits and vegetables
• Hearing the Czech language
• Shopping
• Our professors, all of them, who became our friends over the course of the trip
• My roommates
• Using crowns to pay for things
• Ve Schmetscka Street (aka Brothel Street and location of Paddys)
• Sausage Stands
• Gothic and Baroque architecture that is scattered throughout Prague
• Fried Cheese
• Using a drying rack
• The people I met, expats, bartenders, tourists, stag parties, and locals
• Pubs everywhere
• Vodafone and re-learning to text on a phone with "T-9" only in the Czech language
• Walking through Wenceslas Square
• The boys that lived below us 
• Knowing my way around enough to help fellow foreigners find their way around
• Seeing castles and steeples in the distance all the time, making Prague feel like a fairy tale land
• Knowing the I live in Prague! 

What I am excited about in California and Seattle!

• Being 21! Finally! Where it matters!
• Seeing my dogs, mom, dad, and brother--I can't wait!
• In-n-out
• Wendy's
• Chipotle
• Real Mexican Food
• Sushi (even though I ate it in Prague a few times)
• Driving! (A little nervous about it though...)
• Warm weather
• Getting healthy by losing weight, sleeping, and going to the gym
• Boating (hopefully it works out when I'm home!)
• Seeing my girlfriends that I haven't seen since Christmas
• Wifi that doesn't cut out all the time
• Grocery shopping
• Buying liquor at Costco in Seattle now that it's legal!! (just because I can) :) 
• Listening to the Radio
• Netflix will actually work
• El Pollo Loco
• Del Taco
• Claim Jumper
• Jacuzzi!!
• Going back to work
• Pancakes 
• McGriddles from McDonalds!
• Huntington Beach
• Seeing my roommate for the first time in SO long!!
• Driving and seeing my car that my dad made sure to get repaired from my accident
• Seeing movies
• Watching the news
• New season of Keeping up with the Kardashians and all new Kendra! :D Guilty pleasure
• Garbage Disposal
• Bagels
• The Gym

Busy, Busy Birthday Month!

Well, it has been QUITE a month here in Central Europe! Hence the reason I have not been keeping up on my blog! Unfortunately, I am also sad to admit that I have been sick since the end of April :/ Between a cold, pink eye, a horrible cough, not being able to speak followed by a one week break and then having "walking" pneumonia (not the viral kind),  I can honestly say I have found myself (at times) to be exhausted. However, my frequent bursts of energy have kept me going, perhaps a little more than I should! At the beginning of May, I missed our trip to Budapest, staying home with my friend Victoria who had sprained her ankle the previous week. I was really, really bummed because I was so excited to go, but in the end, I ended up having a fantastic weekend in Prague.

Since then, we have had two papers due, lots of homework and cultural events, and visited Berlin! Berlin was absolutely amazing, which was surprising given its history. We went to a few museums, Parliament (which was boring and our tour guide was a pompous you-know-what), and our professors took us out for a surprise treat to an ice cream place that sold ice cream dishes the size of my head for 10 euros! They gave us each 14 to spend, so I made use of it and got a fruity crepe (trying to avoid getting sick, but I got sick anyways...) and a cappacino! Apparently Berlin is supposed to be one of the most highly spoken of trips of our program, but we went on a holiday week, so it was kind of dead as far as night life goes. But then again, I was sick, so I didn't really complain too much! The one night we did go out, half of the people did not have their passports to prove they were over 18 (I'm sorry, but we do NOT look under 18), so half of the group didn't get in anyways. My favorite part about the trip aside from riding bikes through Tiergarden (at least 4 times the size of Central Park), was seeing the longest part of the Berlin wall that is still intact and is now home to artwork of commissioned artists from around the world. Some of them were absolutely fantastic murals, others spread a message about politics, society, or life. It was great to incorporate so much about what we have been learning in class about communism and central Europe because we were able to apply what we knew, and be ahead of our tour guides!

From Berlin, three of my friends and I flew out of Berlin to London! The scariest part of this adventure?? Almost not being allowed to leave Berlin because my passport wasn't stamped! The guy looked and looked for the stamp and couldn't find it, and kept pestering me about how I got into the country, but seeing as I was no harm to flying to the UK, he let me in. Once I got in I browsed through my passport and found the stamp so faded out that I could hardly see it, but I went back and showed him in order to get another stamp at Berlin so they didn't hassle me once I flew into Gatwick.


London was absolutely phenomenal. We got in very late on Thursday night, and passed out immediatelyyyy. The 4 day international trips to various places are exhausting enough, but to add a flight and an extra 4 day trip to the schedule right after definitely caught up to us. On Friday we spent all day site-seeing, and let me tell you how NICE it is to have everything in English! I would not trade living in Prague for the world, however, because London is A) too easy to figure out, and B) WAY TOO EXPENSIVE! I will never take another $1.50 beer in Prague for granted again because in London, they are 4 or 5 pounds!! Which is 7 or 8 US dollars! So anyways, we got to see Big Ben, Westminster Abbey (so glad I paid 17 pounds to go inside because it is stunning), Buckingham Palace, St. James park, the Tower of London, and London Bridge! And then we finished off the day by going to the mall, of course :) The best part about London had to have stemmed from our accommodations at the Hilton. You see, my friend's dad booked our hotel for us, and he happens to be a diamond member. What does this mean, you might ask? Well, it means free breakfast (I'm talkin eggs, sausage, bacon, pastries, coffee--real coffee!, tea, milk, cappacinos, lattes, toast, all kinds of fresh fruit--AMAZING), free wi-fi in the rooms, a free bottle of wine every night, free afternoon tea (snacks provided), and the best money saver? Free cocktails in the evening! With the cocktails they also served hors d'oeuvres such as egg rolls, bacon wrapped mushrooms, bread, soup, fruit, and all the fixings! It saved us all so much money, and we have since given Larry, our friend's dad, a best dad award! We were very catered too....such a nice change of pace from living in hostels and an apartment with 5 girls and one bathroom!  On Saturday we went and saw the British Museum, and then celebrated my friend's birthday at night, which was an absolute blast! Unfortunately one of the 'tubes' (metro) closed down on our way to meet up with people, so my friend and I had to meet with the birthday girl about an hour later than we wanted to. The other thing about London that I didn't particularly like was that bars close by 12, and clubs close by 2 or 3 AM... and London is a MESS. There is trash everywhere....very unlike any of the cities in Central Europe that I have been to! By the end of the trip we were all ready to go home because we hadn't been in Prague for a week, and I remember landing in Prague felt SO fantastic. Really felt like I was home!

This last week has been halfway decent, mainly because school was stressful, and I was sick on my birthday (the 24th of May), but I am proud to say that I am probably one of very few people who have turned 21 and not been hung over the next day! :D Instead of going crazy on my birthday, I spent the day first at school, then getting my much-craved sushi, followed by a wonderful dinner with two of my roommates at a place called Sudicka (pronounced Sue-ditch-ka) that served Cheese and chocolate fondue, and a variety of appetizers. For 3 people we walked out of there eating as much as we could, each ordering a juice, a coffee, and a water only for 75 US dollars! None of us drank because we were all sick, so it made it a very casual, pleasant girls' night out :)

My second-to-last weekend in Prague that just passed turned out to be the most productive weekend I have had the entire time I have been here. My friend who lives downstairs who took my to the castle a couple months back hung out with me all weekend and we spent our time playing pool one night, going to the Prague Castle, the Mini Eiffel tower on top of a hill that overlooks all of Prague, and even the zoo and out to sushi! When we went to the castle we went with one of his friends who has an 11 month old baby girl named Amily who is SO adorable. She is the most friendly, smiley child I have ever seen, and people just flocked to her on the streets. It was kind of funny though because of all ages, I think under 2 is the most intimidating. They are so small, so adventurous, and are SO time-consuming and attention-needy!! I'm sure I will get over that some day, but with Amily, I was nervous to be left with her for more than 5 minutes because I could hardly keep up....maybe we shouldn't have let her have some of our ice cream at McDonalds..... hmmm.. sugar + baby = tiredness and crankiness and hyperness all wrapped in one. Very difficult thing to deal with when you are at dinner! Haha gave me something to think about for the future.... 

So after a great weekend in Prague, I got to go to our last group outing to a Modern Ballet performance at the famous National Theatre in Prague, where we saw "Solo For Three". I have seen classical ballet by seeing the Nutcracker, but I must say that Modern ballet is SO much better! It is more like interpretive dancing, less props and more focus on the music and the words, and no orchestra. It was absolutely the most entertained I have ever been at an event that requires an intermission! I highly recommend seeing any kind of modern ballet if you get the chance, because it truly is spectacular! I loved that it was in several different languages ranging from Russian to French to Czech, too, because it really made you focus on the dancers and their body language... simply a wonderful experience :)

Well, it is 10:47 PM my time and I have class in the morning (we are going to go to see a movie at 10 AM), so I think I will get my exhausted self to bed... only 10 more days left in Prague! :(  Goodnight!

The sun comes out in Praha!

The last two days have been absolutely wonderful! It has been 75/80 degrees both days, making this one of the warmest weekends of the year. Because we don't have classes on Fridays, we were able to enjoy this Friday and Saturday outside in the sunshine :). It is funny because Prague is a little bit like Seattle when it comes to weather--whenever it is raining, people are moody and irritable--when it is sunny, everybody comes outside and makes a point to completely enjoy themselves! On Friday, we all had a paper due by 6pm (I had finished it on Thursday knowing the weather would be too good to miss--such a good college student ;) ). I decided to make the most of the sunshine by going on a 3 or 4 mile run at 8 in the morning, followed by laying out in my new 12 dollar bikini for a few hours here and there for the rest of the day. The best part about laying out on our massive deck is that we live right across from a huge ING building, where I am sure people notice us all tanning, doing abs, and working out our legs and butts in our bikinis. We laugh every time we think about it, but then remind ourselves that they probably don't mind--and besides, we are simply doing what we should be doing! Staying fit and enjoying the sun!

Then at about 4, one of the guys that live below us took me to one of the Prague castles (not the main one--he said it is really touristy and that I would enjoy this one better--which I did!!). It was really nice to stroll along the castle grounds which were atop a hill that overlooked the river and the rest of Prague. But of course, we didn't just experience the castle grounds, we also made a point to stop at one of its Beer Gardens and get a beer. It was packed and we couldn't find anywhere to sit, but I was fine with it because it was sunny, there was a gorgeous view, and I was drinking a beer on castle grounds...and I was with a really great guy who has taught me so much about Prague and the European (American) Football (American) League (which he plays). How could I complain about anything at that point?!?  After walking around the grounds, which took about 2 hours, I was hungry and wanted to get back, so we took our last pictures and hopped back on the metro to get home.


Later that night, we made the...okay, somewhat stupid...decision to have an Absinthe night.....long story short, I will never consume that much Absinthe ever again...and it was only 6 shots, but then again, it is 70% alcohol.. (sorry liver!) There was no sickness involved, but it was a wild night and quite frankly, the "drunk" was not that great, and every single one of us admitted that we had now had our first non-fun clubbing/drinking/adventuring experience. We were home by 2 AM, the earliest we have gotten home when 'going out' in Prague.


Hangover brunch was spent at an American restaurant called James Dean (which turns into a club in the basement at night), where we were able to get our fix of hash browns, eggs, sausage, orange juice, coffee, bacon, etc. I also got a milkshake :) It was nice to be able to walk through Old Towne Square looking at tourists as though they were tourists, because now I truly feel like I live here. 4 out of 5 of us decided to make the 30 minutes trek home rather than taking the tram because, again, we wanted to enjoy the sun. (I would like to a sentence to share that I was a good redhead because I went and bought SPF 50 sunscreen upon deciding to partake in this adventure :) ).

After we got home, 3 of us decided to go out again and go paddle boating because it was 80 degrees and none of us wanted to stay inside and do nothing. Unfortunately, when we got to the paddle boats, there was a line of like 20 people, so we decided against waiting for an hour or so and instead continued walking along the river. On our way there, I finally got to see the architecturally famous Dancing Building, and take photos of me on Charles Bridge! We walked around for about 2 and a half hours, and by the time we got back I was exhausted, my legs hurt, and I was pretty hungry. Such an awesome day!

It is still incredibly warm and sunny here right now, at a little past 7PM, and we are trying to make plans to go see a movie (with English subtitles) later tonight. These past two days have been SO productive, and I'm really, really glad I am continuing to bond with my roommates :)

Poland--The Ultra Conservative Catholic Country

...Or so I thought! Upon arriving in Krakow after our 10 hour bus ride, we started our afternoon off by going as a group to Wawel castle. On our way, as we perused through the central square in the center of Krakow, we were all astonished with the attire of the people! Prague tends to dress rather conservatively and causally, whereas Krakow citizens tend to wear mini skirts, high heels with short dresses, and very vibrant clothing with heels to match! Even as we walked around the Wawel castle on the outskirts of town, we saw many, many women dressed in skirts as short, if not shorter than, what you would see at a Frat party...Again, for such a Catholic country, this came as an absolute shock. Wawel castle, however, was not what I had expected at all after seeing the Shoeppburn Palace in Vienna. Rather than a single palace, this castle was actually a Catholic community of gorgeous churches, atop a hill, surrounded by gardens and multiple "castle" buildings. Within the walls of the larger church that we toured on the castle grounds, were tombs of many prominent monarchical figures of Polish history, Kings and Queens included. Additionally, the President of Poland who died in a plane crash two years ago along with several other important government officials, had a tomb in commemoration for his sudden and tragic death. It had hundreds of live roses on it and was really quite beautiful and moving.








That night we were on our own for dinner, and a group of us decided to go to one of the many famous "Milk Bars" in town which are essentially places where you can get large portions of self-serve style meals that are incredibly cheap. My meal was absolutely fantastic and was only 22 Zlotys (about 8 US dollars)! I got a traditional polish dish with beets, sauteed carrots and peas, and chicken with some kind of mushroom sauce.

The night life 'vibe' in Poland was incredibly relaxed compared to in Prague and Vienna. It was great, though, because our Professors invited us all to the Jewish quarter to grab a beer, and we ended up staying as a group the entire night, drinking the night away, being social, bonding with our Professors, etc. To top off the evening, every one of us got these AMAZING baguette pizzas that were nearly a foot and a half long, topped with Feta cheese, salami, olives, tomatoes, bell peppers----and ketchup. I was in loveee because I feel like I had not had salt in forever, but thanks to the 3/4 cup of ketchup that was dumped on that pizza, I think I have cured my craving ;)

The second day (Sunday), we started our day around 10 AM by going to the Rynek Underground Musem. Apparently it just opened over the summer of 2011, so it was cool being the first group with this program to experience it. Essentially what it is is a tour of medieval Poland in the 12th-15th centuries, depicting how Poles lived and how they were a center point for trade and commerce between the Baltic Sea. They had collected all kinds of artifacts and remnants from digging from 2005-2010 in the middle of the central square. My favorite part was seeing some of the jewelry made of copper, amber, or silver that were engraved with inscriptions and designs that were meticulous and amazing! The funniest part? Being told that redheads were evil in the medieval ages and that once I died (had I been living in the 13th century) they would have chopped off my head before burying me so as not to upset the area with evilness..... Odd.... My least favorite part though had to be the smell. In the medieval ages people essentially lived in dirt-and being underground, surrounded by dirt and the smell of musty dirt was a little more than I could handle after 2 hours on our tour. Nonetheless it was a neat experience.

 In the afternoon, we had a 4 hour bike tour planned from 130 - 530, followed by a group dinner at 630. I must say, this was definitely one of my favorite experiences of the trip. Just imagine 27 bicycles (including our guide and professors) cruising through the crowded streets of Krakow, ringing our bells and spreading in a 200 foot line of bikes. We stopped continuously throughout the city near places including a fire-breathing dragon statue, a Jewish ghetto, along the river, numerous churches and synagogues, the Pope's window where John Paul II used to give prayer services, and even to the top of a steep hill/look out point (definitely the HARDEST part of the entire ride). Luckily, the weather was consistently nice all day until about 5 o clock when it started drizzling, but even then we had worked up a sweat and were in need of a little refresher. Our guide on this tour was fantastic, and we were able to explore so many more things than we would have been able to on foot-we stopped at at least 12 different places all over the city!

Our group dinner was at a surprise restaurant that we were all led to, that our professors had already chosen and ordered our meals at. They brought out tons of red and white wine for us, and then these huge platters full of meat - lamb, duck, pork, chicken, turkey - and potatoes and beets and cabbage salad came out! The food was delicious. We ate like kings, needless to say :)

The next day we had an early morning conference at a local Polish NGO (Non Governmental Organization) that advocates for women's rights and health, i.e. abortion rights. We mainly talked about abortion in the Catholic-influenced country of Poland, and how it has greatly affected women all over the country. In 1993 and before, when abortion was legal and took place legally, there were 200,000 abortions per year. Now in 2012, abortions are legal, but doctors rarely perform them for fear of stigmatization and unpopularity within their church and neighborhoods and in their career, and there are now only 129 abortions recorded yearly that are performed safely and legally! The rest have to undergo illegal abortions or go to surrounding countries that allow and perform abortions. It was really interesting to hear about just how influential the church can be, and how hard it is to avoid those conflicts.

Then came our communist tour of the communist-made city of Nova Huta. First of all, this all took place on a bus that took us to destinations in Nova Huta--a 1963 bright red "cucumber" shaped bus as our guides said, or as they also said... "c*ck" bus..... that definitely set the tone of the rest of the trip. It was the loudest, bumpiest bus, and it was honestly so much fun to ride in! Especially with 24 other college students. Although it was a very informational tour, and we learned alot about the Leninized Steelworker town of Nova Huta both before, during, and after communism, it was still clear that this was meant to be really fun. The first stop on the tour was a restaurant where Stalin and Lenin had dined. We pulled up and our guide said "okay who wants vodka and who wants beer?" thinking he was kidding, we laughed it off until he said "no, really, we're in Poland now, this is what the communists did, and this is a communist tour!". So, here we were at a huge table with our beers and vodkas (and sodas, they didnt FORCE us, but of course I did not pass up a free drink or two...), and the guide tells us all kinds of stories about Nova Huta, his parents' lives in Nova Huta, and all kinds of information about Lenin and the peoples' hatred towards him and, in particular, their hatred towards his statue that was in one of the central squares of the town. Then, we walked outside and saw a hot pink leopard car the size of a mini cooper and all stopped to take pictures of it, when all of a sudden the guides said we would all get a chance to ride in one! They were "Travants" the ultimate car of communism, made practically of plastic, with a mere 25 horse power! So they ended up having two Travants and drove three of us at a time in each car between our stops. It was so much fun! Just like a little go cart! And our drivers were crazy fun! Our third stop was to an apartment where we could see how a family in communist times lived. Back when the town was built, these apartments were built with the intension of giving them out to Steelworkers as an incentive to move to this Utopia and join the party. While at the apartment, they passed out several shots of vodka followed by sweet pickles! Ak! It was surprisingly a good chaser, but after the third shot (which I took with my professor, saying "Nazdrovia") the pickles stopped tasting as good.

The bus took us to a few more stops including a preserved tank that we took a group picture on, and a church that was shaped like Noah's ark. Our final destination was another group dinner. This restaurant, Mia Melina, was awarded a Michellin Award, which is apparently an award recognizing the restaurant as one of the top places to eat in all of Europe! And we had 26 people going! My meal was absolutely incredible--consisting of 'Mazeria' - cucumbers in vinegar with sour cream and dill on tops, and a traditional entree of cabbage wrapped meat and rice in a vegetable cream soup. It was TO DIE FOR. And of course, a tiramisu, and some glasses of vino. We had 100 Zlotys to spend, so our money stretched pretty far, and with all that food, I was feeling pretty full and ready for a good nights' sleep!

This is where our trip ended, and then it was back to reality the next day...if you can even call what we experienced reality. We were heading to Aushwitz on our way back to Prague, and we all knew what emotional roller coaster we were all in for.

I will absolutely blog about it, but it was really a lot to take in, and therefore it might take me a couple of days to figure out what experiences to share, and how to share them. So, tata for now! I am headed out for a roommate cocktail with the girls :)

Pivo anyone?

I have become aware over the last two weeks that Prague is Europe's Vegas. Not merely because this city never seems to sleep and because Absinthe is completely legal (and disgustingly strong), but also because there are influxes of "stag" parties (bachelor parties) and people on "holiday" (vacation) that come here for the cheap beer and to meet people from all over the world. As a group, we continue to linger at Paddy's Irish Pub, where we have come to know the owners and some of their friends quite well (they constantly thank us for putting their children through college with the amount  of time and money we spend there, but at $1.50 a beer and a great, friendly, mellow(ish) atmosphere? How could we resist?!). Paddy's is great too because it is a hot spot for the stag parties and people on business who are always friendly and ready to drink beer and have great conversations! We have met people from Germany, Wales, England, Ireland, Denmark, Austria, and a fair share of Americans as well. I must say, I am definitely heading in the right direction to expand my worldly/cultural knowledge! The clubs here can be great too, and it is actually quite comical because Eastern Europe absolutely LOVES American 80's and 90's music--so we have definitely had a great time going out dancing to Madonna, Michael Jackson, Spice Girls, and the Beastie Boys.

This past Saturday was one of my favorite days because a group of 6 of us, including an American-Italian guy who we met at Paddy's and are all good friends with now, went to a beer garden from about 130 until 6 in the afternoon. The beer garden is basically a large 200 ft x 200 ft marked off area with benches and tables, two beer/cocktail stands, a stage with a huge TV playing soccer on it all the time, and a sausage stand. We had a greattttt time drinking and talking and sitting in the sun. It was so much fun especially because by the time we all got back to Paddy's, our American-Italian friend took me to Charles Bridge for a romantic-like stroll across the bridge, pointing out all of the gorgeous sites to me. It was amazing, and yes we were that annoyingly cute and cuddly couple leaning on the side of the bridge enjoying everything around us and just being crazy for each other. SO I got to FINALLY see Charles Bridge, and on top of that, it was a hell of a night and day that I will be sure to remember! 

While I am taking full advantage of the night life and going out to have a great time, school and learning the city (during the day!) is my main reason for being here. I have truly become very familiar with the layout of the city and how to navigate it with the public transit, as well as with my pronunciation of streets and how to haggle cab drivers who try to rip tourists off. At school, our political science class is one of the more information crammed classes out of the three we are taking, but I am absolutely in love with the material and its relevance to where we are living. I cannot believe I didn't know the details of Communism and its collapse across Eastern Europe! I suppose I wasn't born when it was all happening, but it amazes me sometimes how briefly we touch on some very important worldly subjects and events in primary school. Nonetheless, I am glad I am learning about it now in this history-rich city. And on Friday night, we went to the Opera! So we all got to get dressed up and go sit for 3 hours to watch the opera which was my first one ever :) It was just okay, the show we saw was Il Truvatore or something, and we were supposed to see Carmen (the rotating stage broke so they changed it two hours before the show was supposed to start). But it was a really cool experience! I felt like I was in Pretty Woman, minus Richard Gere which would have been a nice touch to the evening......

On yet another social tangent, it is great how tight knit our group has become, including our Professors. On Sunday night for example, one of our Professors invited us to her show at a music hall because she is a musician. We all went as a group and got to experience the Flamenco Singers that went on before our Professor, followed by her rock band of 7 people. It was really cool to see her playing the piano, guitar, and singing and rocking out on stage outside of her school appearance!! 

As far as roommates go, I am very lucky because our apartment all completely clicks and we have not had any drama because we talk everything out if and when there is an issue, so it's really great :) In fact, tonight we are having some of our neighbors over that we met who play American Football over here and live right under us. We are planning out a Pasta Bolgnese dinner followed by Cupcakes with Ice Cream, and some bottles of wine. After that, we are all going to go out and go dancing to burn off all those calories we're going to consume!

Well that's the last week and a half or so :) I have to write a paper and get that out of the way before it is due on Friday, and this weekend we head off to Poland, which is going to be a longggg 9 hour bus ride :/ not looking forward to it at all! But when we get to Krakow, it will be amazing and sombering at the same time because we are going to Auschwitz on our last day there. Definitely a place I have always wanted to go, but there is no way that it wont be a moving, emotional day. I will be sure to take pictures and continue documenting my adventures! 

First week of classes, Trip to Vienna!

Sad fact number 1: I have eaten McDonalds EVERY day that I have been here. Sad fact number 2: The exhaustion from Jetlag has unfortunately carried itself over into this week after a whirlwind of a trip to Vienna! Happy fact: I am in love with where I am living, and in love with Vienna!!!!

So, on that note, here is my week in a huge nutshell:) Our classes are held in the Tutor Building in Prague, where study abroad students have the option to rent out a room for lecturing.  It is a tight space, but our teachers are fantastic and dedicated to the program and it has plenty of room to sit, listen, and learn. The first day of classes was a bit embarrassing, though....A group of about 15 of us (out of 25) met to go to class together on the metro (subway). Once we were all on the subway, somebody asked if anyone knew where the classroom was once we got off at a certain spot......we didn't. Therefore, we spent 35 minutes walking up and down the streets as a huge group as Victoria pulled out her map and attempted to find the Tutor building. Finally, we asked somebody where it is and they gave us a general idea of where to go, so we back-tracked our steps and finally found the school only 15 minutes after 10, when we were supposed to be there. That first day was more of a meet and greet with the professors, followed by a tour to Olde Town Square (famous for the clock tower that we climbed up), and ending with an amazing pre-determined lunch at a restaurant as a group. Of course at this restaurant we were allowed to have two drinks, which most of us took advantage of. It is definitely strange to be drinking beer/wine with your teachers, that's for sure! 

The next couple of days involved going to class from 10-3 with a lunch break in the middle that I utilized to explore the city, attempt to get lost (which is hard to do because I am starting to understand Prague more and more), and stopping at a 'cool' restaurant to eat and have a Pilsner. These two class days were followed by a lengthy nap as I continued to fight off jet lag. Finally, by Wednesday evening, I was ready to let loose and have fun with my roommates and some of the guys, in order to get ready to go out for Mexican food for Katherine's birthday. Unfortunately, it is really difficult to seat 20 people together at restaurants in Prague, so we had to split up for dinner. Those of us who had cracked out the Captain and Coke at 5 pm were equally satisfied to just be in the same restaurant :) Then came my decision to buy some cheap speakers so we could have a dance party on the balcony, which went quite well actually. Kelsey and I went to Tesco (it's like a walmart) and bought some for only 150 Karunas (about $6 US dollars). The dance party was a successful way to kick off and prepare for our weekend in Vienna!

Thursday morning at about 8AM, we left for Vienna by train. The trains are amazing and just like you see in the movies: compartments for 6, a restaurant cart, bathrooms that flush into the tracks etc. For 5 hours we rode the train, and as soon as we got to Vienna we hopped on a subway and dropped off our things at a hostel and within an hour we were all out for our first tour day in Vienna. I have to say, VIenna is GORGEOUS. The architecture is stunning, the streets are wide and paved, and the people speak good English. Our hostel was located across the street to a market similar to Pike Place Market, where scarves, pastries, vegetables, fruits, and Gyros were prominent.

Our first outing in Vienna was to attend a conference/meeting at the USOSCE stationed in Vienna. This program has 56 members that specializes in promoting security, non corrupt elections, and human rights among other things. We had the opportunity to sit in a real conference/presentation room for an hour and a half to hear two government officials explain their roles in the government, as well as promote the ideals of the OSCE. It was amazing to see this all in action! Throughout their presentation, we were allowed to ask questions which, of course, I took advantage of. They were very informative and nice and for a program I didn't even know existed between the US, Canada, and 50 some-odd European countries, I definitely learned a LOT! After this academic rendezvous, we ventured to dinner to eat at Cafe Central to have a group dinner. This Cafe has a lot of historical ties to World War 1 and 2 both politically (Hitler, Stalin, and Lenin used to dine here regularly when visiting Vienna) and architecturally (the interior of the cafe has not been changed or altered to fit contemporary standards, which is why it was chosen as our destination for our Vienna group dinner. 

After dinner, we went back to the hostel, and everybody met downstairs at the Hostel's bar, which was decorated to have a fun, contemporary, party atmosphere with Purple/Red Leather booths, a pool table, Chaise lounge chairs, and of course a large sized bar. And so Night 1 began in Vienna! Something I learned? It is fantastic to meet the locals who can show you were to go after the bars close :) A group of 8 of us, for example, met a couple of guys who worked for the hostel who took us to a Viennese nightclub. It was underground, it was dark, it was loud, it was small, and the people were partying like crazy despite it being 3 AM. It was a little intimidating at first, but the fact that we were in a large group and with 2 trustworthy locals, we decided to jump in and dance the night away! And we did just that. . . til about 6 AM, lost in loud music and dancing with each other, knowing we needed to get up and tour Vienna all day starting at about 9 AM. I'm not sure where the energy came from, but despite lack of sleep and incredibly sore legs from dancing all night, I was able to keep up 110%, and enjoy Vienna and our tours to the Palace, Palace gardens, and empress Sisi's apartments and dining/silverware display with full and complete excitement and enthusiasm. After walking ALL day, my feet hurt even worse, but I was absolutely amazed with what I saw, and wanted to see more---so I toured up and down the 3/4 of a mile long market place across from our hostel. Here I bought cheese stuffed olives, cheese stuffed prosciutto, and a flowery scarf. Successful market day if you ask me! 

Back at the hostel, people started making plans to go out--but seeing as I hardly slept the night before, I wasn't sure that was such a good idea, so my roommate Arial and I decided to find a pub that served fried food. Deciding on an Irish pub around the corner, we collected two more girls and headed over to enjoy Black and Tans, good conversation, and lots of fried food. By that point, my adrenaline had picked back up and I wanted to try to hang out with people at the bar again. We ventured into the bar and realized we weren't the only ones with the idea to have a good time! The hostel bar was JUMPING with people (it was a Friday night, after all), and made the atmosphere seem more fun and social now that we were mingling with people from other programs and travelers from other countries all over the world! Night two was similar very similar to night 1, in that we ended up calling our buddies from the night before, who were going out to celebrate a bachelor party and invited us to join. Again 6-8 of us went while other people stayed at the hostel bar. This club was much larger than the first, though still somewhat sketchy, containing 3 stories with different music--one of which was a techno/big band/swing dancing floor! It was amazing to laugh along and attempt to dance to this as a group and we all had such a blast, dancing all the way until 5 AM! Vienna sure knows how to have a good time at night, and has a lot to offer during the day! 

After such a long couple of days, and such a long night, I was ready to go for day 3, our last day in Vienna. My enthusiasm this day was less than the previous day, but 6 year old Sebastian, our teachers' son, brought out my inner child/babysitting role and we held hands and followed the group all over Vienna! It made me miss the girls I babysit back home so much!!! With Sebastian in tow, we started out touring the home of a Viennese artist from the 80's who believed in nature, non-straight lines, and promoting a healthy environment. His artwork was abstract, bright, colorful, and a bit crazy, but what he is really known for is his architecture, though he does not view himself as an architect. For example, the floors of the first floor matches the earth it was originally on, and therefore has some bumps in it as high as 3 feet! The walls, too, were based on curviness and were also not straight, and never met the floor at a straight 90 degree angle. Very eccentric! 

The best part was going to an amusement park (more like a carnival because you have to pay for each ride) and riding a super old ferris wheel that has, instead of seats, something like miniature portables that hold 20 people! It went up so high and was really slow moving, so we were able to scope out all of the rides we would go on! Again, Sebastion (Seby/Sevvy for short) was by my side the whole time,  even announcing to everybody, after asking me to go on the ferris wheel with him, saying that he is going with me :) Adorable!! I want one! But clearly not any time soon . . .  :) 

The train ride back was full of conversation and excitement, too. Our group took up 5 compartments that were all next to each other on the train, so we were all within a small distance of each other. At 10 PM approximately, we hear this AWFUL, loud, ear piercing scream/howl from down the hall, followed by a series of doors slamming and people talking/yelling. All 5 of our compartments slammed their doors shut, wondering what in the world was going on. We thought somebody was getting murdered, raped, or that Sebastian (who has diabetes), had something happen to him. After the talking subsided, we all peeked our heads out one by one from our compartments in efforts to find out what that horrific hollywood-worthy scream was all about. Vera, our program leader/teacher came out laughing hysterically. Her scream was surely warranted, but apparently she woke up to a man in their compartment trying to steal their bags! So being caught off guard, she woke up and let out a howl/scream. The guy (a Roma) she caught grabbing her and her husband's bags proceeded to tell her he just wanted to join them because they were so cute... ya right! We all got several laughs out of the scream, and were glad everybody was safe!!  

That was a hysterical way to end our trip, and I was happier than ever to get back "home" to Prague, which has surely already started to feel like home. Hope you enjoyed my accounts the days and nights of Vienna :) Oh, and it is currently snowing in Prague on this lovely, lazy Easter Sunday :) 

Time Travelling!

This is so cool! I said good-bye to my dad and rainy Seattle and hello to Europe all within a matter of 15 hours (1 of which I slept....).

After a 9.5 hour flight to Amsterdam (sadly not on a 747 as I had so eagerly anticipated--but plenty large nonetheless), and a 1 hour flight on a puddle jumper to Prague, I have finally made it to this beautiful city! I truly wish that I was able to get a photo on the first leg of the sunrise while we were flying over Greenland-It was gorgeous, yet so odd to realize I had been going the opposite direction of the sun, literally time travelling:) Three of us were on the same flight from Amsterdam to Prague, and upon arrival to Prague we found another study-abroad student in our group who joined us on the metro to head out to our apartments! After one bus ride and two subway rides, I made it to my apartment. I didn't know how to get a hold of anybody because we didn't have phones, but I had facebooked the girls who were already at the apartment and informed them to be there around the time of my arrival to let me up to the apartment. Therefore, I simply buzzed every single apartment (had no idea which one they were) which got their attention and the three girls came out on the balcony and waved at us then ventured down to let Adrienne and I in :) In the process of getting the attention of our roommates, however, I also got the attention of several people speaking Czech through the speaker....If you are not familiar with slavic languages--good luck! It has been very evident that there is definitely a language barrier, especially where we live in what seems to be the suburbs of Prague. Anyways, our apartment is WONDERFUL. It is on the top floor, has two bedrooms, a toilet room, a bath/shower/powder room, and a kitchen and dining room. The best feature, though? THE BALCONY! We have a complete wrap around balcony as we are on the corner of the building, and it has the most amazing views and greatest natural lighting!!

All of the girls I live with are really cool, and it was great to get settled in my room. I definitely was thankful for, but certainly not expecting, having a queen size bed. Not only that, but I can confirm that our apartment is above a KFC and a McDonalds, and RIGHT next to one of the larger malls in Prague.... oh lord... this could be trouble!

My first adventure was to the store. Sounds like an easy feat right? ...It definitely isn't when everything is in another language! All we needed to get was wine, pasta, cherry tomatoes, garlic bread, and zuchini so that Victoria, one of my roommates, could make us all dinner (she is going to spoil us with her wonderful cooking!). Well, it is incredibly difficult to find anything outside of the produce aisle because all of the signs are in Czech. Even all of the wines were in Czech! So I opted for an Australian wine that was only 59 Kc (about 3.50 US) and was in English. At the checkout we were confused when the lady wouldn't give us a bag and continued to say something along the lines of "un karuna" really quickly....soon we realized you have to pay for bags, and they cost one koruna each...and you have to bag your groceries yourself, and bag them quickly or else the next persons items get mixed up with yours! Well, either way, we made it through the store and found all of our items and headed 50 yards back to our apartment to indulge on wine and pasta with veggies :) Our spacious place seems to have already been dubbed the hangout spot because last night we had a bunch of other girls from the program meet up here for wine night--which I simply could not push through past 9 PM when I finally hit a wall and crawled into/passed out on my bed. I realized by about 730 that I had not slept for nearly 30 hours and I was truly exhausted. After sleeping for about 8 hours, I woke up to gorgeous sunshine shining into my room, realizing I am in another country, about to have a fantastic adventure -- what a lovely feeling!! 

It wasn't until about 45 minutes later that I realized there was no way I would be able to do anything strenuous or adventure-filled today... Jet lag has truly hit me like a truck and I literally could not even make it far enough to experience real Czech food, so I am embarrased to say that for my first meal in Prague, I opted for a Cheeseburger and a hot fudge sundae with a large Diet Coke from McDonalds. Since then I have been sitting in my bed eating potato chips and blogging--taking a minute every now and then to step on the balcony and watch people be active. At this point, I feel hungover from Jetlag and cannot wait until it is over with!! I just want to get out on the town and explore something beyond my balcony, the store, and McDonalds!!! 

Here are some pictures of my place:) It truly is a great set-up. I'm amazeddddddddd!