Sunrise and Zoo

I got up at 4am today to watch the sunrise from Charles Bridge! And I ran there which was my first run since I've been here. On the way back, I took a tram because I got lost, not because I was tired. Mostly.

I got some other great pictures too! And then we went to the Prague Zoo. You can buy your dog a ticket too!

There was also some kind of thing going on where if you wore striped pajamas, you got a discount to get in. This dog got the memo and I did not.

And this dog reminded me of Jasper.

But before Jeremy gets too happy, I also saw this.

Probably my happiest moment was the elephants. There were so many! And they were so freaking cute.

I also thought that Gen would be jealous of how many giraffes I saw so I made sure to take a ton of pictures.

I even saw these famous vultures. And there was no net or anything separating them from us. That was kind of terrifying actually. We got so much closer to the animals than any zoo in the US would have let us.

I saw a ton of other animals too, but here are my favorite pics (with captions!).

"Now we move into sun salutation. Deep breath in. And out."

"Praise! CAN I GET AN AMEN BROTHERS"

"amen."

"I am SO high right now"

"I've been spotted! Blend! Blend!"

"Dig a tunnel, dig, dig a tunnel! Quick before the hyenas come!"

"Shenzi Marie Predatora  Veldetta Jacquelina Hyena, would you do me the honor of becoming.... my bride?"

"Paint me like one of your french girls"

"I ain't no part of your system"

Anyway, I had an awesome time at the zoo. I also ate grilled pork and potatoes for lunch there and it was the most delicious thing ever. Then I made dinner and finished my homework. I'm definitely going to take a bath and relax and go to bed. I have to be up early for class. Bye.

Swan Lake

Today we went to a farmer's market, some sports fair, and a fashion festival. I bought the cutest, cheapest coat and I'm in love with it. Then, we went paddleboating on the vltava river in a swan-shaped paddleboat.

It was really awesome. And a great workout. My next workout was to climb to the top of the clock tower in Old Town Square.

And now here I am procrastinating from doing work. I have a one page paper due every day. Yes, it's one page, but that's gonna get old real fast. Like do these people think I came here for school?

Open Churches Night

I would just like to say that Mama Faust would be super jealous of all the amazing organs that I've seen. Last night many of the churches were open for free and we went to some of them, but they are all so decorated that it's impossible to photograph it all or even see it all. It's all a bit overwhelming to be honest. But they're super cool. Czech it out.

I also saw Prague from above at night and I saw the biggest dog I've ever seen too. Speaking of dogs, there are so many freaking dogs and it makes me miss my puppies. I should've brought Dexter with me here. I've seen so many dogs. So many. dogs.

Here's St. Vitus at night.

Then, we headed to Old Town Square to meet up with our other roommate and we passed the John Lennon wall! Although I definitely want to go back during the day to take better pictures.

Then, I had a delicious kielbasa, saw the astronomical clock, and it started pouring. I had none of my rain stuff with me because all week the weather report said rain but it never came. Until we were in the middle of Old Town Square very far away from transportation. We tried taking cover, but it didn't look like it was going to let up so we made a run for it.

Kutná Hora Day Trip

Today we traveled to Kutná Hora! It was quaint. First we went to St. Barbara's Cathedral which was freaking beautiful and huge.

I feel like Kutná Hora seemed like a place that if I were by myself, I could find more cool things, but we had our group so we just traveled in packs. We were then supposed to go into a silver mine, but because one kid was a half hour late in the morning for the bus, we had to switch to a coin minting place. It was cool there too though perhaps not as exciting. And I went on this balcony and pretended I was a princess.

After our tour of the coin place, we had lunch. I will admit I ate fried cheese again. I should probably work out. I also had steamed rice and we got gelato afterwards. And then we went to the Bone Church. They actually let you go there at night, which I would totally do if it wasn't over an hour away from Prague. It would be so creepy. It is literally a crypt decorated with 40,000 dead people's skeletons soooooo

It was pretty cool actually. And tonight all the churches are open for free until midnight and there is some kind of concert in the one my our study center. Yay Prague.

Exploration

So on Thursday morning, I went to a cafe and had a macchiato and it was strong and delicious. I'm definitely going to be doing that a lot. It's so cheap.

Then we had our first class! One of my roommates is in my class with me. And I'm definitely looking forward a lot more to going to see the architecture than learning about the different styles. But it should be good. We're going to be taking a lot of afternoon trips to see places, which should be awesome. But the first week or so may be more classroom time.

After class, two of my roommates and I explored Vyšehrad, which is where the Study Center is. It's a really cool area. And it used to be a fortress so you can walk around the top and see a lot of sights.

We also explored a Czech cemetery where famous Czech people are buried. And some of the tombstones were super fancy. 

Then we stopped at a little store where I bought my first souvenir for a sister. And I hope she appreciates it. Because it's awesome.

Later, some of my friends and I were going to go to a concert, but we got lost in a really rich part of the city and then could not find a suitable place to eat. But when we did, I had what was probably my first authentic Czech meal. It was Roasted Pork and dumplings with stewed cabbage. It wasn't really what I was expecting. The cabbage was actually rather sweet. And the dumplings filled me up super quickly. But it was good overall.

And after that, we came back to the apartments and hung out. I was considering going to a different concert with Elaine, but she was tired from work and it was a little further away. So instead, we hung out in our apartment and drank a little before going to a local pub. It is called u sudu and it's an underground place with a bunch of different rooms and somebody in our group befriended this Canadian guy and this British guy who were hilarious and who hung out with our group for a while. Then, since we had to be up pretty early for our day trips, we headed back and went to bed.

First night out, getting lost, and on the water

I went out for the first time last night and it was pretty awesome. We went to a place called Karlovy lázně which was actually pretty tourist-y, but there were locals there and we danced on all five stories of the building. It is probably filled with more tourists on the weekends. It is the biggest music club in Central Europe and one of the downstairs floors is even an Ice Pub.

Earlier in the day, I was mistaken for Czech! I made it mom. A European man in Tesco asked me if I spoke English. He then asked about buying bottled water and I told him my roommate drinks the bottles he was referring to and I believed they were sparkling water, but I usually just drink tap. He then realized I had no idea what I was saying and I asked him for a white wine recommendation. I got a delicious one thanks to him so thank you random man. The night was not too wild, but it was super fun. I also ate a fried cheese sandwich, which was heavenly.

Today, we had to find our own way to the study center so of course everybody was late including me. But that was because my roommates are all slow. I'm really starting to get the hang of the public transportation here. It's really cool to see how well-integrated it is with the drivers. One of the CIEE employees told us that Prague drivers are hated all over Europe and I can see why. (singing) THE WOOOOOORSsTT!

We had some information sessions. Although one of the people never showed up for our Academics session and I did not learn that I was taking Art and Architecture of Prague until much later. We then ate lunch and headed up to Prague Castle. We did a lot of walking and it was a large group so I had a hard time hearing what our CIEE guide was saying sometimes. And then a few of us got left behind at one of the observation decks because we were taking pictures. Thinking that they had been walking pretty slow and we would catch up, we soon followed, but we lost the group. We knew we could just get home by tram, but instead we went on a pretty cheap boat tour. Then we found a park by the water where people were doing acrobatic yoga and we saw some other cool sights too. Like these penguins.

We walked over the Charles Bridge for the first time too and I wore my backpack like a frontpack because it was so crowded and I did not want to be pickpocketed. I'm a smart one. Then we went home and cooked dinner and it was delicious. There's a really cool Czech custom that when you are at a dinner party, you do not refill your own wine glass. If somebody sees that somebody else's glass is empty, you grab the bottle and ask if they want some more. Apparently that's how they find out who the alcoholics are...the one's filling their own glasses. So we did that at our dinner and we felt cool. Then we just played cards and drank wine. And some people went out, but I'm saving my energy for tomorrow night. We have classes tomorrow too and I am going to try to find a good cafe in the morning. I'm super pumped to see all the famous architectural buildings around Prague. Good night world.

Czech, Czech, Czech!

I explored a bit last night. I walked around Wenceslas Square and tried to look like I belong. I even took this picture of a trashcan for Colette.

And then I went to bed at 8pm and slept off my jet lag. Now I won't need any sleep for the rest of my trip! jk.

This morning we had eight different orientation sessions, ranging from safety to transportation to what clubs not to go to. We then toured to city. Side note: the escalators going down to the metro are trippy and you feel like you are going to fall on your face. It was a lot of walking. I kind of wish I had stolen somebody's fitbit just for this trip. We saw a lot of great sights, but our buddy guide literally made us ran one time to catch a tram. Everybody seems to be in a rush here at all times, making me think this trip is going to go by even faster than I originally thought. A lot of people are actually traveling to Vienna this weekend, but I think I'm going to stay here to get to know Prague better. Our last weekend is a good time for traveling too and I think I might go to Budapest then. Anyway, I basically saw a few awesome sights today and learned a lot about the culture at the orientation sessions.

Today was very cold, but it was still great. Tomorrow we explore the Prague castle so I'm super pumped for that. And now I have cash so I feel less anxiety. And I'm definitely hittin up some bars tonight. Here is the awesome pull-out shoe rack in my closet here that I am building when I get home.

I think I just bought a pizza for $2

After I was dropped off at security, I found other people who were waiting for the flight. We chilled. When we were chill, we moved closer to our gate, then we took a shuttle to a different waiting area and chilled there. Finally, completely chilled out, we boarded our plane (Although they did pull me aside to verify my passport because my boarding pass didn't scan or something). And I actually ended up sitting next to a girl in the CIEE program, which was great because I don't like strangers that much. And she was nice. Team bathroom breaks. We took off and the lights from the houses looked really cool with the sunset. I have pictures on my phone. I read my letters (which I loved, thanks friends <3 ). Then I watched The Devil Wears Prada. They served us snacks and then they served us pasta and salad and cheese and bread. And then people started to go to sleep. I tried really hard. But I probably slept for about twenty minutes only sometime between 11:30 and 12:30am. I did not like it. My spine did not like it. And I couldn't figure out how to recline the seat either. I gave up on sleeping because the sun was coming out and watched two episodes of the Mindy Project and completed a Sudoku puzzle. They gave us a breakfast of orange juice, coffee, a breakfast sandwich croissant thing, and bruschetta thingys and cheese spread. I think I might have caught a glimpse of Frankfurt when we were flying over it. We were above very thick fluffy clouds most of the time. I was very excited to descent through the cloud blanket. It was awesome when the time came. And I got my first glimpse of Prague. First impression: their greenery is very organized. We got off, got our passports stamped, got our bags, and found the CIEE people. Then we did more chilling as we waited for our individual taxis. Finally, me and this kid Christian were called and we got a pretty long taxi ride to Rubesova, our apartment building. My flat buddy, Julia, took me up to our apartment. And it is super nice. I'm actually rooming with Julia because the other girls were here first and I suppose they chose the other rooms. But Julia is super cool and helpful. Since my roommates had already been here, however, they immediately wanted to go for a walk and I wanted to lay down but I went of course. We ate pizza. It was really cheap and good. And Julia showed us where the grocery store and the metro are. And then we headed back to the apartment where I unpacked, took a fifteen minute nap, and wrote this. I don't feel like unloading my camera yet because I haven't taken too many pictures anyway. They will be posted soon. No worries.

The Start of an Adventure

Tomorrow I leave for Prague and that is both terrifying and super exciting. I don't know if I'll have a lot to say, but here is a place I can upload pictures and share my adventures with you. I hope I get on the right plane.