24 hours

I got up at 4am on Monday because Mel, Ali, and I were going to go to Charles Bridge to watch the sunrise. However, they were actually leaving at 5:20ish to go to the airport. So instead, we climbed onto the roof of Rubesova. I didn't even realize how tall the building was until I was on top of it and could see the Prague castle, the national museum, Petrin Hill, and basically all of Prague. It was awesome. It wasn't pretty in terms of the sunrise and I'm kind of sad we didn't discover it sooner because there were other days that probably would have been super pretty. None of us had cameras, but it will be a great memory. It was probably pretty risky, but worth it. There were stairs going up to the satellite. So we just had to shimmy on over to those. And it probably didn't help that it had been raining so the roof was also wet. It was a great last thing to do though.

My flight was delayed an hour, but we still had to be out of the apartment by 9. Julia, Julia's mom, and I left around 8 actually. And I took the metro and a bus to the airport. It was pretty quick, but my bags were super heavy. My suitcase was under 50lbs though! And I went through security very smoothly actually. It was a lot of sitting around. At one point, Emily, another CIEE person on my flight and I stopped at this little food place to grab a last pivo and I ordered a cidre and a pretzel. She had gone to find an ATM so I was by myself. And I tried to put the menu back on the table, standing up, like it had been. And I knocked a glass cup full of silverware over. And I grabbed the cup but all the utensils fell in a wave of clanging to the ground. And everybody stared at me. Even people on the other side of a glass wall in a waiting area stared at me. And then I had to pick them all up and take them over to the guy at the bar and be like "I dropped all of these on the ground." Not my proudest moment. And I found another fork under my bag later.

The flight itself was great. Much better than on the way there. The Czech guy I was next to was super nice. He took my backpack out of my hands and put it in the overhead. And he was super nice about when I had to get up and stuff. I watched 12 Years a Slave, Big Hero 6, a Nate Ruess special, and Cinderella. And I read some of my book. And ate lots of candy and snacks.

And then we all encountered the most idiotic lady I've ever seen. We had landed already, and some people tried to get up and start gathering their things, but it was announced to sit back down so they did. Except this one lady. She opened the overhead and took down her suitcase. And the stewardesses are all yelling at her. And she just would not listen. And they went up to her and told her to sit and eventually she did. And the plane is still driving along. But then we had to wait because there was another plane pulling out of the gate we were trying to get to. And the lady got up again. And they were like "DO YOU SEE THE SEATBELT LIGHT THAT MEANS YOU HAVE TO SIT DOWN" and she tried to say she had places to be or something. And the rest of us are like are you freaking serious. And when she stood up AGAIN, one of the older more important stewardesses was like "WE AREN'T GOING TO MOVE UNTIL YOU SIT DOWN" which I'm pretty sure was a lie, but she sat down and stayed down that time. What.an.idiot.

Customs took a while because there were like 20 flights that got in at that time. And then I got my suitcase and went out to find mother. Who had at this point been there for about an hour and was best friends with all the limo and taxi drivers. The drive home wasn't too bad. Much faster than I thought it was going to be.

And then I got to see my puppies! And I stayed up until after 10pm here so it was 4am in Prague and I had officially been up for 24 hours. It's good to be home.

Cleaning, and a celebrity surprise

Christy and Olivia left today. But before they went, we went out for breakfast. I had "Slavia Pancakes," which were crepes with ice cream, whipped cream, and strawberries. They were good, but they were also very sweet so I could not finish them.

Then, I packed the rest of my crap (praying my suitcase isn't over 50lbs) and we cleaned the apartment. Yay! Just kidding. It sucked. But I used a mop I think for the first time in my life. They're pretty annoying. But I'm a pro now. Also, I took pictures of our apartment because I realized I never really did that.

In the afternoon, I went and had a last klobasa and a last gelato (coconut and coffee flavored). And then I came back and took a lil nap. And was trying to find a good song to use for my Prague video that I plan on editing when I get home. So I listened to a bunch of Czech singers (foreshadowing).

Then, I was bored so I decided to go on a walk. And I wanted to take a picture of this graffiti that I passed a few times. It means peace or ease. I just like the word pohoda. And jahoda. That one means strawberry.

I also found this cow car.

I DON'T KNOW ABOUT YOU BUT I'M FEELIN 22.

is what I always sing when I'm waiting for the number 22 tram.

And then I was just walking. I remembered passing this garden once near there so I was gonna try and find it. And then I heard somebody rapping. And I was like "oh I wonder if there's a concert. I should czech it out." So I went over and as soon as I got there the guy stopped singing and left. But everybody in the crowd remained standing there so I came to the conclusion that somebody else was going to perform as well. So I stood there for 10-15 minutes.

And I was like "ooh a floating whale. That's cool."

And then the guy came back and announced Karel Gott. And I watched his whole concert and it was awesome. Julia had just been telling me about how he was this Czech legend because I asked her about music for my video. And I stumbled upon a concert right by the river. It was a pretty solid way to spend my last evening here.

I have a feeling I'll end up having a good airport story so this may not be my last post. But if it does, na shledanou, it's been real.

Kromeriz (Shake, Rattle, and Roll)

Yesterday morning, I woke up and had the song Shake, Rattle, and Roll stuck in my head. But no, it was not just the regular song. I think you all know exactly what I'm talking about when I say I had the rock n' roll Elmo version stuck in my head. And then, when I realized what I was singing, I was also singing the ABC as easy as 123 song. And at lunch, I had the My Little Pony song stuck in my head. I don't understand anything.

We got on a bus at 6am and traveled to Brno. Then, from there, we took another bus to Kromeriz. It was a very small city, but I actually loved it. There weren't a ton of people like in Prague. And it was raining. But it only rained when we were in the chateau and when we were eating lunch and then it got super nice out when we were walking through the gardens.

We walked around when we first got there because our tour of the chateau wasn't until 11.

There were a lot of cool buildings. And like I said, barely any people! My favorite. I don't like people.

This square made me want to dance around to be honest. Don't know why.

This dog just plopped down and demanded to be pet by his owner. She complied.

Chateau courtyard.

Creepin on this couple from inside the chateau. Scandalous.

We weren't supposed to take pictures, but I snuck a few. This statue looks like she's going "dafuq is that?"

 Some old clarinets.

Some original Mozart and Beethoven. That was pretty cool.

View of the square from the tower.

My lunch. "All salads served toasted toast." There is apparently a difference between toast and bread here so no, it is not just toast. It is toasted toast. And it's definitely not toasted bread. We sat and ate lunch and drank wine while it rained. It was great. I had garlic soup and this caprese salad. And a dessert of vanilla ice cream with hot raspberries. Nom.

Then we found ourselves in the oasis of the flower garden.

 I think Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was filmed here.

 This pheasant thing sprinting past us squaking and it was hysterical.

There was a little zoo in the chateau garden so there were a lot of birds and goats and deer and other strange things. This duck isn't that strange, but they looked funny diving for fishies.

It was a solid day. We explored a lot and I think that is my favorite thing to do in new places. The bus ride back from Brno to Prague seemed to take forever. But I'd say it was worth it.

How to Get Stared At on Charles Bridge

Step One: do something awesome.

Step Two: change your name to Katrina.

Last night, Julia, G, Olive, and I went to Friends! We met up with some other CIEE people there and we danced. And there was a drag show. It was chill. Then, we went to a dog bar. What is a dog bar, you ask? It's just a bar, but there are dogs that walk around and you can pet them. There was a gigantic one under a table. It was so big. I pet it intensely. I felt kind of bad for them if they live there all the time. It was a pretty dank place. I would prefer a puppy bar. With newborn puppies. Outside.

Today, I bought the rest of my presents for people and had a last Czech meal. Tomorrow we go to Kromeriz.

welcome to my crib

This morning at Costa, I was just sittin chillin and this black lab appeared out of nowhere and he was so happy and I pet him and then I was so happy and then his owner made him lay down. But he kept looking at me. We bonded.

Our class went to the Troja Chateau today. It was super cool. Not only did I think I could have happily lived there back in the day. But they put modern art inside, which contrasted greatly with the rococo and baroque wall art and decorations. It was an interesting choice.

On the way there, however, our tram broke down a bit. Just our luck. The people in our class have had varying levels of back luck on this trip. Three of them got stuck in an elevator and had to call firemen to help them. They said their landlord stated, "I lived in America for six years and never met Americans as stupid as you!" Which I just think is hilarious. But anyway, the tram suddenly screeched on the breaks and I was 80% sure we ran a person over. But I think it was just stopping because of a car. But then it wouldn't start up again for about 5-10 minutes so we just kind of sat there. But then we made it to the chateau.

 So deep.

 I found these dogs highly amusing.

 This glowing box was mesmerizing.

And these were the fanciest stables I have ever seen. The horses lived better than I do. If I couldn't live in the chateau, I would be happy here too.

Then, CIEE gave us a farewell lunch and I'm forcing all of my roommates and some other people to go out with me tonight. I may have to nap before that.