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!