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!