Cell Phones, Tips, and Boston Accents

Now that I've been back for a few days, there are certain things from the States that are different than how my life was in Prague, and there are some I hate, some I love, and some that just annoy me.

First is cell phones. This isn't unique to the Czech Republic, but it is unique to my abroad experience. In Prague we had pay-as-you-go cell phones; therefore, we were cheap and never used them. We used them out of necessity and rarely just texted someone for fun. (Grandma and Grandpa, "texted" means "sent someone a text message"). It was nice because it meant that when we were out somewhere no one was on their phone. Everyone was fully in the conversation and wasn't talking with someone that wasn't there. Now that I've been home I've realized how bad Americans, me included, are when it comes to their phones. I've been going out with friends to catch up, and I don't think that there has been a single meal that neither me nor my friends has read a message while at the table, and it makes me miss that aspect of my semester. I think I might start leaving my phone in the car at meals or turning it off or something. Prague showed me my phone isn't as necessary as I always think or pretend that it is.

The second thing is a difference that I love. There is customer service here. In Prague it barely existed. Waiters and waitresses acted like you were inconveniencing them by ordering, and they made no effort to be friendly. I think customer service is important, so especially yesterday when I worked a cashier shift at Target I tried to be as holiday-spirited as I could. It was nice to hear the other cashiers wishing people a happy holidays as well, and I really appreciated the positive spirirt that just isn't present in transactions like that in Prague. On the other hand, it really stinks to tip again. In Prague you maybe leave ten percent, but it isn't really required, so the price you see on the menu is the price you pay. I wish it were the same here!

Finally, this difference isn't so much a difference as it is a new realization. Never before in my life have I been able to hear a "Boston Accent" or a "Rhode Island Accent" when someone speaks. When you grow up around something like that it's just normal speech to you, not an accent. However, after spending a semester with minimal exposure to such accents, they are now all I hear. I spent my first shift back at Target cringing every time someone spoke. With every dropped r I heard I missed the regular English of my friends from Prague, and I even missed the more broken English of my professors.

I'm off to search my suitcase for all the Christmas gifts I stashed away and subsequently now cannot locate. Merry Christmas to all of you, and thanks for keeping up with my trip this semester!

Vánoční v Praze!

(Translation: Christmas in Prague)

For such an agnostic country (they get slightly mad if you call them atheist), I have been so impressed with the Christmas spirit in Prague. They have Christmas stuff everywhere! The Christmas markets are my favorite! This video is from the one on Old Town Square.



The Christmas markets consist of a bunch of different booths. Some of the vendors have annoying souvenirs, but others have really nice hand-made traditional Czech gifts. There was also traditional Czech foods everywhere, including these cinnamon sugar things called Trdelnik, goulash in bread bowls, sausage and hot dogs, potato pancakes, and Czech wafers. Walking around shopping with the smells of all of the foods was really nice!

On my last day I stumbled upon a fire at one of the manger scenes in the Christmas markets. It was pretty crazy, and I'll put the pictures up when I put up the pictures of the Christmas markets.

Home!

Since I'm back in the States I figured I'd start titling my posts in English.

I made it home! After not being able to sleep Friday night, I left my dorm at 3am Prague time Saturday morning. After spending almost eight hours in the Frankfurt airport due to delays, I arrived in Boston a little after 5pm Eastern Time, or 11pm Prague time.

I'm exhausted, so I'm heading to bed. For now it's nice to be back, and I hope to see you all soon!

Nashledanou!

(Translation: Goodbye!)

Not only has saying goodbye to the city been tough, but saying bye to my friends is even worse. It's not that I don't want to go home, because I am looking forward to seeing everyone, but I just want to be able to come back next semester with all of the same people.

I've given a lot of thought to whether I'm going to continue the blog once I get home, and I've decided that for now I am. There are still a bunch of things from my last week that I want to write about so that I remember them, and I have a feeling that there are going to be a lot of things about the trip that I won't truly appreciate until I am back home and notice the differences and have time to reflect on it. Therefore, stay tuned, because the boring ramblings of my trip aren't over yet!

I leave my dorm in three hours, and my flight leaves in five. I will be back on U.S. soil in about twenty hours. See you soon!

Kvalitní Tři

(Translation: Top Three)

I've started reflecting on the trip and the "top three" in a bunch of categories. I'll start with a few today and add them as I think of them.

Cities I Visited:
1. Paris
2. Krakow
3. Berlin

Three Things that Scream "Czech"
1. Bad Hair: This includes the most fake red hair you've ever seen but it being totally normal for women of all ages, dreadlocks, and mullets.
2. Plaid reinforced pants
3. Dogs everywhere and on every form of public transportation.

Things I Miss from Home:
1. People
2. Vegetables
3. Feeling 100% Clean

Cafes:
1. Rembrandt Cafe (for all the free samples!)
2. Bohemia Bagel (all of them)
3. Kavarna Slavia


K, that's all for now! I'll post more as I think of more categories! I might do some Prague superlatives, so let me know if you have any suggestions!

Finále

(Translation: Finale)

This past weekend was a blur. MaryBeth, one of my roommates from PC, came for the weekend. She is studying abroad in London for the year, so it was nice to get a chance to see her!


We had a great weekend. It was nice showing her around the city because I got to see a lot of my favorite places for the last time! Friday MB got in late afternoon and we got dinner at Lehka Hlava (Clear Head), my favorite vegetarian place. Then we walked around the Christmas markets. (I know I still need to tell you about them, so I think I'll just do a whole post about them tomorrow). Anyway, after the Christmas markets MB and I made red and green chocolate covered pretzels, the closest thing to baking that I have done all semester. Later Friday night we went with all of my friends to a place called Absinth Bar (which is all the explanation of that you are getting), and then we went to a club called Lucerna for eighties and nineties night. It was a lot of fun 'cause the music was so good.


Saturday we decided to go on one of those free tours that I've been doing in the other cities. I figured I should see Prague the same way I had seen other cities, and I knew that they could be better tour guides for MB than I could. After the tour we headed back to the dorm to warm up. This weekend has been the coldest days that I have had in Prague all semester, so being outside was tough at times. We did have a lot of snow flurries though, so it is putting me in the Christmas spirit even more! Saturday night we went to Pivovarsky Dum for dinner, the place that I have taken the dads and Tarah. There were ten of us that went, so it was a lot of fun. It's a microbrewery, and they finally changed their seasonal beer, so we got to have vanilla beer that came with vanilla cookies. After Pivodum we went to U Sudu because we needed a more quiet night after our previous one, but we ended up staying there for hours!

Sunday I showed MB the castle, St. Vitus, and the Lennon Wall. Then we went to see something that I had not yet seen: the infant of Prague, Baby Jesus. In Our Lady Victorious Church is a DOLL that is supposed to look like Jesus and that the Carmelite order is obsessed with or something. It is world famous and people come from all over to see it. When the Pope came to Prague he came to bless the infant Jesus. Kings and queens long ago used to give the doll fancy clothes as gifts, so there is a whole museum with its outfits. It was quite funny, and I have never had to stifle laughter in church so much. We even got to see the display with THE UNDERGARMENTS OF JESUS. It was definitely the highlight of MB's trip. After that experience we went to see the dancing house, grabbed lunch at Maitrea, and did some more Christmas market shopping. MB and I got a nice dinner at U Prince, the outdoor restaurant on the roof that overlooksOld Town Square. It was a great meal. We wrapped up the weekend with a drink at Bukowski's with my friends. I honestly think that I went to all of my favorite places this weekend, and I had a friend from home to do it all with, so it was my favorite weekend in Prague so far.


It is so sad that I am leaving so soon. It is weird because usually leading up to a trip, either coming or going, you are at least a little excited for the change, but I feel like a kid whose parents tell them that they are moving and they don't have any choice. I have to leave behind all of the places I like and the friends that I've made. Not to mention the fact that I don't want to pack an entire semester back into two suitcases. If you thought that my packing to come here was hard, just wait for the packing to leave!

I will take another study break in a bit to put my Paris pictures up, so I hope you like them!

See you all soon!

P.S. Read this article. (Can you tell I'm avoiding studying?) It'll put you in the holiday spirit!

Miluju se Paříž!

(Translation: I love Paris!)

There was not a single city that I visited that made me question choosing to study in Prague until I went to Paris. Paris was definitely my favorite weekend trip that I took. You might get bored by every single detail that I choose to describe, but I want to remember the trip. It may sound like I did nothing, but I felt like I got to experience Paris a lot more than the last time that I was there running from sight to sight.

Friday

Karen, Blair, Jill, Alex, Courtney and I took a 6am flight to Paris, meaning that we left our dorm around 3:30am. Jenny and two girls from her program came as well, so there were nine of us. We got into Paris a little before nine and checked into our hostel. It was the nicest hostel I've stayed at, so it was nice not having to worry about that.

We took a free tour in Paris, just like we had in Berlin, and once again it was very good. The tour guide was great, and we saw some of the major sights early on in the trip. We got crepes for lunch, and then we went to Galleries Lafayette. For those of you who don't know what it is, it's sort of like the Harrod's of Paris. Jenny had found online that they do a fashion show for free every Friday, so being in the fashion capital of the world, we all went. I had never been to a fashion show before, so it was pretty cool to see. Since I have been to Paris before, I was glad to be seeing something different, like a fashion show.

After the fashion show we went to the Louvre. They let people under 26 in for free on Friday nights. I've been to the Louvre before, but never at night, and after seeing The Da Vinci Code it was really interesting being there at night. They don't really turn a lot of lights on, so it almost feels like walking through your house at night using the glow from streetlights. I've been to the Louvre before, and we were all really tired from getting up so early, so we headed back to the hostel after seeing the major sights at the Louvre. We were lucky that we even got to go to the Louvre, because for all weeks for us to be there, workers at French museums had been going on strike on and off all week.


Saturday

Jenny, Emily, and I slept in pretty late and then took the metro to Sacre Coeur. After that we walked through Montmarte and then to Moulin Rouge. We then walked all the way to Hotel De Ville (the town hall), where we had heard there was supposed to be ice skating, but the rink wasn't frozen yet. I'm not going to lie: I was very disappointed! We ended up walking to the Champs Elysees and Arc de Triomph and seeing all the Christmas lights and Christmas markets there, which was so pretty! We then walked to the Eiffel Tower, but since it was starting to rain we decided not to go to the top. It was still beautiful to see again, especially with the sparkly lights. I think that the Eiffel Tower and Prague Castle at night are my two favorite landmarks in Europe. (Just a little fun fact I thought I'd throw in there).



Sunday
I want to thank my friend Cara because even though she is currently in Georgia (the country) with the Peace Corps, she managed to give me some great suggestions of what to see off the beaten path in Paris. I decided to explore the city by myself and see the places that she had suggested and the places that I have never really explored before. I started by going to the Bastille, because I remembered going to a great market there on a Sunday morning the last time that I was in Paris. I bought a great winter hat at the market that I refused to take off the rest of the day. I literally wore it all the way back to Prague. It was so nice out that I was getting so hot and I took my coat off instead of taking my hat off. Pretty genius, I know. Just wait until you see this hat.

Anyway, after I went to the market at the Bastille I wandered around La Marais and went into a million little boutiques and vintage shops, just like Cara recommended. I bought some rolls at one of the many Jewish bakeries around there, just as she had recommended. So good!

After La Marais I wandered down to the Latin Quarter, which I have never really explored before. I went in a million stores there too. Amazingly, the hat is all I really bought that day! After the Latin Quarter and St. Germain, I walked up to Galleries Lafayette and grabbed some lunch and walked back to Montmartre to wander around again.

The highlight of the day was definitely having three different people ask me in French how to get places. There was only rally one place that I could help with, but the fact that I didn't look like a tourist was pretty exciting. However, I hadn't showered all weekend, making me fit in pretty well over there, so that may have had something to do with it!

Having all the people ask me for directions was nice because I got to use a lot of French. That may have been my favorite part of the weekend, speaking in French and understanding everything going on around me, because that is something that I have gotten used to ignoring here in the CZ. I have forgotten how fun it can be to eavesdrop on random people, or read stupid ads in the metro. In Prague I don't have that luxury, but in France I did. I had forgotten how nice it is to understand everything.


Even though Paris made me question my choice to study in Prague, I am still very glad that I did. I love Prague, and I think that Prague is a much more relaxed, comfortable city. It isn't as classy as Paris, but it definitely isn't as expensive either, so I am able to do a lot more here. I would love to visit/live in Paris someday when I have an actual adult income, but Prague is perfect for a student because you can experience everything on a student budget.

Anyway, I will get my Paris pictures up as soon as possible, but for now it is time to celebrate that it is THE WEEKEND again!

**I ended about 5 million sentences with prepositions today. If I could ignore it, you can too!**

Grammy

I just want to wish Grammy a Happy Birthday!

I hope she enjoys her cake. Apparently Dad picked it up today and put it in the fridge. When Nikki got home from school she inquired as to why an ICE CREAM CAKE had been sitting in the fridge, not the freezer, all day, to which Dad replied that that was where it belonged. He must have been too busy with work to realize that ice cream melts. (Dad, you deserved this one.)

If my parents don't start answering my emails, I just may stay here :)

Off to Paris! Be back Monday!

Nikki

My life in Prague is currently dominated by writing term papers. However, I leave for Paris in a little over 24 hours, so I can definitely put up with a little paper writing.

Congratulations, Nikki for not getting cut from the basketball team. I'm so proud.

Všechno

(Translation: Everything)

I haven't updated with a substantial post in a LONG time, so I am going to try to cover the major events of the past few weeks as best I can!

Tarah

Jenny and I met Tarah last Saturday evening at the airport. We had a great week with her, taking her to all of the major sites, and going out for a lot of great meals. To highlight the contrast between my two weeks of visitors: I described the week with the dads in one word, beer, but to describe the week with Tarah, the word would have to be wine. I don't know if I drank as much wine this week as I did beer the week with the dads, but it might have been close.

As great as it was to see the dads, it was different with Tarah. I live with Marc five months out of the year, but at most I see Tarah for about four hours a handful of times each break. Gainesville is far. Jenny, Tarah, and I realized that since Mount, we probably have not all seen each other as much as we did last week, so it was really something special. It made me realize how glad I am that we have kept those high school friendships, at least enough that Tarah would fly all the way from Gainesville to see us!

It was sad seeing Tarah off yesterday morning. It's a good thing that I was still too asleep to cry, but it was almost sadder than when the dads left (sorry, Dad), especially because I know that I will have plenty of time to get sick of Dad over break (kidding), but it will be back to a handful of times with Tarah. Just going to have to start planning a roadtrip to Gainesville!

Thanksgiving

Tarah and I are champs. We put heels on at 1pm and wore them until 2AM. That is talent!

More importantly, Thanksgiving was just like Thanksgiving at home. I got to celebrate with some of the friends that are the closest to family to me, so it was almost like being at home. We started the day rushing to get ready, just like I would have at home. We met Jenny at the pub near her dorm where we had small salads for lunch. Then we went back to her room and had some Thanksgiving wine and just hung out doing not much of anything, just like I would have at Aunt Michelle's. Then we went to the Marriott for the most expensive Thanksgiving dinner I will probably ever have. It was an amazing spread of almost everything you could think of, and we managed to have unlimited wine. For those of you that are wondering, no, I did not have turkey! We met lots of other American students, and we also met a lot of their drunk parents who were so excited to see other Americans. We stayed until they turned all the lights on, and then moved on to Radost. (That's the place I wrote about before, with the Rhianna music video). All in all it was a great Thanksgiving that I will always remember. I was very thankful to not only be in another country to celebrate the holiday but to have two of my best friends right there with me!

School

Worst thing you can do to your grades: have your dad come visit during the week of midterms. In the next few weeks I have to write FOUR ten-page papers and study for four finals. Back to the real world already!

Youtube

I have added several videos to my Youtube account. You can get to them by clicking here. (On the right it says "Uploads 15" and then under the little thumbnails of videos it should say "see all," and if you click that you can choose from all of them which ones you want to watch). They are from various places over the course of the last few months. Sometimes scenery looks prettier in a panorama, or scenery at night comes out better as a video, so in some of them the sound doesn't matter (meaning Grandpa and Dad, if you don't understand/hear what is being said, then it probably isn't that important).



That's about it for now. Next time: Christmas markets! Oh, and I will put my Vienna pictures up soon!

They have gingerbread lattes in Prague. I am never coming home.


P.S. Dad, I just realized that I make fun of you a lot in this post, but I don't mean it; I swear.

Tatínky

(Translation: Dads)

I put the pictures up from the week that the dads were here. I've been falling behind, but I will update on everything else soon!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just wanted to wish everyone at home a Happy Thanksgiving!

I've been having a great week with Tarah, and I will update everyone on it as soon as I have time!

Berlin

Photos are up! There are a million 'cause I took pictures of all the murals on the wall at the East Side Gallery. Hope you like them!

Sleva

(Translation: Sale/Discount)

1. Tarah arrived safely at 16:00h today. Her bag arrived about five minutes ago. At least it arrived!

2. I just wanted to share with everyone the conversation that I had with Mom a little while ago. As she and I spoke Dad was drinking Pilsner beer. Apparently he was able to answer enough trivia questions about how it was brewed when he was buying it that the guy gave him a discount. Congratulations Dad, you actually paid attention on the tour!

3. Vienna was beautiful. I was in my glory because there were Christmas decorations everywhere, and their Christmas markets were already open. Their town hall was decorated as an Advent calendar, with every window having a number. It was so exciting. We walked around the Christmas markets with mugs of hot wine for a while. I loved it. I definitely think that it was the kind of city that I would appreciate much more if I was older and therefore richer!

It will be a busy week living it up with Tarah, so I don't know how much I'll be posting. Pictures to come eventually!

Tatínky

(Translation: Dads)

The post you for which you have all been waiting! (Notice how awkward that sentence sounds because I didn't want to end it with a preposition.) Anyway, this post will most likely disappoint because I don't have anything extraordinary to report.

If I had to choose one word to describe our week, it would be beer. I am not a big beer drinker, so I think that last week I drank more beer in one week than I have since I've been here. (Not that I haven't been frequenting the establishments, I just usually stick to bile vino.) Anyway, I not only had more beer last week than the entire two and a half months I've been here, but I also had more Czech food. They loved their beer and Czech food. My liver and stomach are still recovering!

I think my mom put it best in the email that she sent me:

"they talked the entire way home about everything - you and Jenny, beer, the museums, beer, the hotel, beer, restaurants, and beer. Do you see a theme??"

She was definitely right. I had a great time showing them around the city though. I love Prague so much, and it's not like I can share that with other people here, so it was great to show everything I love to an outside person. We walked the city on Monday, and on Tuesday we went to the castle, Vysehrad, and to our free sangria night on Tuesday. The dads got to meet my best friends that I've made in Prague, and that was important to me. Wednesday the dads were on their own, so they visited various museums. We also went to dinner on the roof of a hotel that night, which was beautiful. We ate outside, overlooking Old Town Square, and it was honestly one of the best dinners that I have had so far in Prague. Thursday Dad and I went to Petrin Hill, and then we all saw a photo exhibit, had lunch at one of my vegetarian places, and did some souvenir shopping. Friday we took a trip to the city of Pilzen where we saw the American Military Museum and took a tour of the Pilsner Brewery. At night we went to a Czech hockey game. In between each of the things we did every day included a stop at some sort of pub. I don't think we ever went more than a few hours without a beer. It was the most Czech that I have been since I've been here!

What I thought was pretty interesting was that after being here for about 24 hours, Dad and Mr. Burns commented on two things that I no longer even notice. They pointed out that doors in the Czech Republic open in, not out. When you enter a store, restaurant, or building, you don't pull the door, but push it. I had subconciously started doing this, without noticing that it was even different from home. It was interesting to have someone point it out. The other thing that they loved to comment on was the "Czech red" hair that is very popular here. People of all ages, from teens to the elderly, dye their hair a shade of obviously fake, bright red. It is all over, and Dad especially loved making fun of it.

In the ten weeks that I have been here before they came, I can honestly say that I was not homesick once. I love it here, and I adjusted very well. However, when I got back to Prague from Berlin Monday night, it was weird no longer having Dad here, and I was slightly homesick Monday and Tuesday. I am definitely over that now, as it is the weekend so I have been out and about, but I find it interesting that it took a part of home coming here for me to miss home a bit. And that was all that it was was a bit. I honestly don't think that I want to be home. I just want the people from home to be here too.

Dad and Mr. Burns, thanks for everything over the course of the week. It was great having you guys, and I hope that you enjoyed it as much as we did!

I got back from Berlin Monday night, and I leave for Vienna in the morning. I am just going for the night because my friend Tarah, who went to Mount with me and now goes to the University of Florida, is coming in on Saturday. I definitely don't even have time to be homesick because I am so busy. The best part is that home is coming to me next week, so I won't even have reason to be!

There is exactly one month from today that I will be back on U.S. soil. I am not exactly thrilled. I guess if I NEVER COME HOME, then there isn't one month left!

Na Tramvaj

(Translation: On the tram)

"What is your major?"

Czech boy: "Forestry"

"Wait, like Smokey the Bear?"

Czech boy: "WHAT?!? I DON'T SMOKE BEARS!"

"Klaus není náš prezident!"

(Translation: "Klaus is not our president!")

Yesterday was International Students' Day, an international day in observance of student activism. In most parts of the world this day passes like any other, but not in the Czech Republic. I had never even heard of this day until I came here, but here it has special meaning. International Students' Day was instituted after the Nazis violently put down student demonstrations in 1939, and this day became even more important to the Czechs in that it was student protests on this day in 1989 that sparked the events that led to the Velvet Revolution. We got the day off from school yesterday, and most businesses were closed. As this year marked the twentieth anniversary of the 1989 protests, there were many events, including a recreation of the march. That was the quick summary, because I don't want to bore you, but if you want to read more about the history of what actually happened twenty years ago, the New York Times has a good article here, and they also have a good article detailing the events that were planned that you can find here.

We gathered at the designated place for the march, along with more than 5,000 other people. For about half an hour people spoke and bands played. Luckily for us, there was a family in front of us who spoke Czech, but the father looked American, and a person who we assume was his father was there as well, and he didn't speak Czech. Therefore, the mother and father kept giving brief summaries to the older man of what was being said. It was eavesdropping for educational purposes. Some of their friends showed up as well, and I listened to one man, who looked about forty, explain to the older man in English about how he had been there twenty years ago. Even though I felt really sick and didn't stay for the whole march, it was a good experience. It was fun trying to figure out what all of the protest signs read, because there were lots of them. Many were against the Communist Party in the Czech Republic, but there were also a great deal against the president, Vaclav Klaus, who is widely unpopular here.

I'm off to take a midterm on my one day of school this week! I promise to put up my Berlin pictures and tell you about the dads' trip soon, if they haven't already!

"Ich bin ein Berliner" -JFK

(Translation (from German, not Czech): "I am a Berliner." -JFK)

I am a Berliner. I loved Berlin. The city was so different from Munich, so it wasn't really what I had been expecting. Megan, Karen, and I did so much in the three days that we were there. We were a little disappointed that our program had planned Krakow for last weekend so we couldn't be there for the 20th anniversary of the fall, but less than a week later isn't too bad, and there were plenty of exhibits still going on that were dedicated to it.

• We took the train to Berlin. I never realized how much I love trains. It was so much roomier than a plane, and on the way there we had a great little cabin basically to ourselves. I honestly think I would consider traveling on Amtrak in the future.
• Our hostel was not so great. We stayed with some creepy people, but we made it out alive. This was our first less-than-stellar hostel experience, so I'm not complaining.
• Once we checked into our hostel on Saturday we went to Brandenburg Gate. That was where these free tours met. This company gives free tours all over Europe, and you just tip the guide at the end. The tour met at Brandenburg Gate and went to most of the major sites. (When I put the Berlin pictures up, you will see them). The tour guide was from Missouri, and he was very enthusiastic so it was pretty interesting. We got to see the Reichstag, the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe (its actual name), the former Nazi Headquarters, the parking lot which now stands above where Hitler's bunker was, Checkpoint Charlie, Museum Island, the Wall itself, and a bunch of other things that I don't really remember. The tour was definitely worth the tip we gave him.
• After a great Indian dinner we went to my favorite museum yet. The DDR Museum (no Katie, it isn't Dance Dance Revolution) is devoted to memorabilia from the German Demoratic Republic (East Germany) and is an interactive museum. This meant it was basically like the Children's Museum for adults. We got to try on clothes, play with toys, listen to music, and sit in a Trabi. We had a lot of fun. The best part was that it was open 'till 10pm, so we had plenty of time there after dinner. (If you click on the pictures, you can see them actual size, I think.)
• Sunday we woke up early and went to the Reichstag where they have a giant glass dome, designed by Norman Foster, which you can walk inside. It's pretty cool because (1) it's free, (2) you can see into Parliament through the glass floor, (3) they give you an entire audioguided tour of it, and (4) it's free. Since Berlin is one of the biggest cities that I've been to so far (besides London), it was good to get to see just how large it was from up above.
• We also visited Museum the Kennedys on Sunday, which was actually a very nicely done exhibit all about the Kennedys and their lives. I was pretty impressed with the exhibit; I don't know if we even have something that nice devoted to them in the States. They had a special exhibit for the wall too which was interesting. Later in the day we also went to a temporary photo exhibit with all pictures from the fall and dismantling of the wall.
• Today we went to the East Side Gallery and saw all of the murals that have been painted on a 1.3km section of the wall. It was colorful and interesting, and I'm sorry that my pictures aren't up yet because those are definitely the best ones.
• Today was also interesting because we tried to go to an exhibit we had heard about called Freedom Rocks about pieces of the wall that are now in North America. It was an the Canadian Embassy. After spending twenty minutes having our backpacks and persons searched we were allowed to go in where we found out that the exhibit was ONE ROOM with four TVs. We made ourselves watch it since they had gone through the trouble to search us, but it was pretty poorly done. Only disappointment of the whole weekend though, so I'll definitely take it!
  
• Everyone had been warning me about pickpockets and beggars in Europe, but until this weekend I hadn't really noticed a high amount of either. However, Berlin was FULL of Roma who came up to you and asked you if you spoke English and held out a card telling their story and asking for money. They were so persistent. I haven't seen any Roma in Prague, so it was kind of surprising.
• Berlin is definitely the most modern city that I have been to so far, besides London. Since 90% of the city was destroyed during WWII, and a lot has been reconstructed since the fall of the wall, it is very modern. Unlike Prague, their souvenir shops, stores, and fashion in general are much more modern, so that was refreshing.

After a weekend in Berlin I will agree with JFK in saying that we are all Berliners (not pastries, actually Berliners), because it reminded me the most of an American city, which I attribute to the vast number of Dunkin Donuts that could be found all over.

My Krakow pictures are up, and more pictures from the dads and Berlin will be coming soon!

Krakov

(Translation: Krakow)

I know that it has been a week since I was in Krakow, and I am very behind, but I definitely couldn't skip this city. You probably would rather hear about all of the adventures with Dad, but that will have to wait. I like order, especially chronological order, so Krakow it is.

I love Prague. Of all of the cities I have visited so far, there hasn't been a single one in which I would have rather studied. However, Krakow did come close. In retrospect, I don't think that I could study there because it was so small. and we did do the entire city in a day, but it was definitely a great place.

We left on Friday with the whole program. The bus ride took us 8 hours, so we didn't get in until Friday night. When we got there all we wanted was dinner. I had been looking forward to dinner in Krakow for weeks because it meant we would get real pierogi. I was excited 'cause I haven't had true pierogi (or "petahair") since Baba passed away. **I searched everywhere online to find the correct spelling/name of "petahair," and was unsuccessful. All I found was that technically the Ukrainian version is spelt "pyrohy," so I don't really understand how we've been pronouncing it all of these years. If anyone could clarify (ahem, Grandma?), I would love an explanation!**

Anyway, we had an EXCELLENT meal of real pierogi Friday night. Then we had a couple scoops of gelato and went out and explored Poland. The best part of Friday night was that I bought dinner, ice cream, and a few refreshments all for under twenty USD! The Polish currency was called the Zloty, which means "gold," but which is fun to say and gave us some laughs. The exchange rate was great too, which made us love it even more.

Saturday our program took us on a couple of long walking tours of the city. It was so small that we saw basically the entire thing. At night we went to a Georgian Restaurant for dinner. I was pretty excited because it's not every day that you see a Georgian Restaurant, and I have a friend in the Peace Corps in Georgia, so it was a great chance to try the food she's eating. (For those of you who don't know, Georgian food isn't grits and fried chicken. She's in Georgia the country, so it was these rich flat breads and cheese and other interesting foods.) Anyway, we loved our dinner and shopping in the Town Square in Krakow, so it was a good day.

Sunday we visited Auschwitz and Birkenau. I am just going to leave it at that.

My pictures from Krakow aren't up yet, but they're coming; I promise! There aren't many, because there weren't a ton of sights in Krakow, but I still loved it!

I did put up a bunch of pictures the other day from a ton of different random things over the last few weeks, so I hope you enjoy them.

There is a city in Europe where I can get dinner, dessert, and good refreshments for under $20=why I am never coming home.

Prozatím

(Translation: For Now)

This week has been a blur. I apologize for not keeping you up to date on the adventures of the dads. For now here's a little something...


Coming soon: all of the reasons why they are never going home.

P.S. I did catch up on uploading some of my pictures. They're sort of a random group of photos from things here and there.

Tatínky Jsou Tady!

(Translation: Dads Are Here!)

Just got back from a weekend in Krakow, which I LOVED. Dad and Mr. Burns finally made it (more about that later), so it is going to be a busy and fun week. I probably won't get to post much, but I just wanted to let you know that they did make it here safely and have already sampled some Czech beer. It's going to be a great week!

Teroristických!

(Translation: Terrorist!)

Since I have a bunch of random thoughts and anecdotes to share, I think I'm just going to bullet this.

• As typical college students, we took advantage of the free admission to the National Museum that they offer on Mondays. Thank goodness that we did, because if I had paid money for that I would have been mad. I really enjoy history, and I find anthropology pretty interesting, but a person can only see so many rocks and so many replicas of bones before they get bored. I do not recommend this museum!
• Tuesday my morning politics class went to see the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of the Czech Parliament. My professor's friend gave us a tour. It was probably my favorite field trip so far.
• The best part of the field trip was when we went through the metal detectors. My professor's backpack was searched and they pulled out his Swiss Army knives. My under-thirty-year old professor held up the Swiss Army knives and with a big smile on his face yelled across the room to his friend "AHAHA TERRORIST ATTACK!!!" The guards chuckled and let him through. Try that one at the U.S. Congress and see if you get such a response.
  
• Tuesday night was my FIRST MIDTERM. I have no idea how I did on it, but school is much different here and much more relaxed. I do feel like I know just as much about Czech history as I do about American history now, and I now know every country and capital in Europe. I plan to use this every chance I get!
• I took a little spill on Halloween and got a small hole in my favorite pair of leggings. I've been wondering how I could still wear them without it being noticeable, and it just dawned on me: electrical tape!
  
• It's a small world. When in Budapest I met a girl at the hostel who was backpacking Europe. Yesterday, while sitting in a cafe I saw her walk inside!

I don't know if you noticed, but I have recently taken to ending these posts with little reasons for why I am not coming home. Apparently this alarmed a certain relative of mine, and as I don't want to be the cause of any heart attacks, I reassure you that those were just jokes! I will have both feet back on American soil (and not the soil of the U.S. Embassy) on December 19th, as reluctant as I may be to do so!

At restaurants a glass of wine is at most about 50 crowns, but most are about 35 or 40. With an exchange rate of 17 crowns to the dollar, you have yet another reason why I am never coming home, GRANDPA.

Děkuji, Táta!

(Translation: Thanks, Dad!)

In anticipation of my father's arrival, which will be a week from yesterday, this post is going to be indirectly about him. Don't worry, Dad-I know that when I usually thank you on here it somehow means you paid for something, but today that actually isn't the case. This post is more about electrical tape than it is about Dad, but I have to suck up somehow.

Anyway, the story behind the electrical tape is that when I was packing for Prague, I borrowed a black backpack from Dad to take as my carry-on. I realized when I got here that there was a roll of electrical tape that he had stashed inside that I hadn't noticed. (I'm lucky it was only electrical tape.) I tossed it into my desk drawer here, thinking that I would never need it. However, that electrical tape is turning into the most versatile and useful thing that I brought to Prague!

Case #1: The Poster-As you all saw with my posters, that electrical tape has successfully held them on the wall, and I didn't have to go buy any sort of duct tape, poster tape, or tacks.

Case #2: The Shower Curtain-My roommate bought a new shower curtain, but for some reason it was about 6 inches too short for our shower. She solved the problem by cutting the bottom off the old curtain and taping it onto the new one. When I got home and saw this I was pretty skeptical about its effectiveness, 'cause I wasn't sure about electrical tape and water, but knock-on-wood it's been two months and it's still intact!

Case #3: The Umbrella-Broke my umbrella. Typical solution would be to buy another one (or use duct tape), but the electrical tape saved me from that too!

Case #4: Halloween-I am sure you all saw my lovely cat costume (gag). As much as I hate cats, I will say that my ears were the best cat ears there, thanks to the electrical tape.

The point of all of this is that Prague is making me even more resourceful. At home my only use for electrical tape was to keep my shin guards in place during soccer, but thanks to Prague I now have a bunch of new uses. Who said I wasn't learning anything here?

You are probably wondering why I even bothered writing this. The answer: my first midterm is tomorrow. This is the best new procrastination method ever.

And a final plug: Thanks, Dad, for being so crazily prepared that you had that stashed in your backpack. I don't know what my shower, umbrella, or Halloween would have done without you.

Šťastné Předvečer Svátku Všech Svatých!

(Translation: Happy Halloween!)

This has been a very interesting weekend, filled with lots of different experiences and emotions. I somewhat went back to the busy schedule, and I also was super American and went all out for Halloween.

Saturday my friends and I went on a trip with our program. We went to the towns of Lidice and Terezin in the Czech Republic. I had never heard of Lidice or the story behind the town, but I was pretty shocked when I heard the whole sequence of events. I'll give you a QUICK summary.

During WWII Hitler's number three man, Heydrich, was assassinated in Prague. In order to teach the Czechs a lesson, Hitler ordered that anyone who was remotely responsible be punished. There were very vague connections to the town of Lidice, so Hitler ordered that the town be "erased from the map." (I'm paraphrasing.) Nazis went to the town, separated the men from the women and children, and executed the men on the spot. They then sent the women and children to separate camps in Poland where most perished. They burnt down the town, blew up any buildings that were left, and even dug up the cemetery. It went from being a town to being nothing but a field.

All that exists today is a field with several monuments and a museum. It was a very sobering experience, and I was shocked and almost embarrassed that I had never heard about this part of history before yesterday.

After Lidice we went to the town of Terezin, which was a major concentration camp during WWII. It wasn't an extermination camp, but it was one of the Eatern-most camps so many Jews from Western Europe went through there during the war. We visited a few museums there, as well as the cemetery and prison. A lot of what we learned was sad and sickening, so I'm not really going to get into details. On a somewhat lighter note we did see a cell that previously held Franz Ferdinand assassin, so as a history geek I found that pretty interesting.

After our day trip I spent a while trying to warm up. It has gotten pretty cold here, which makes some touristy things more difficult. Once I had recovered from the depressing day, I put on my pretty pathetic Halloween costume and was an obnoxious American. I'm not usually that into Halloween at home, as it is one of my least-favorite holidays, but I think that being away from so much American culture I was much more excited to celebrate it this year.

We bought a bunch of candy and some other "spirits" (haha), and had a little Halloween party with our friends in our program before venturing out to a Halloween party at a place called Sasazu. It was a lot of fun, and apparently there were over 2000 students there at one point. It was definitely crazy, but it was a good way to celebrate Halloween.


This morning was a little rough, but we went to Radost (where we had been the other night), because they have a restaurant too which has great breakfast. It felt a lot like being back at PC where we tear ourselves out of bed and drag ourselves over to the dining hall for breakfast and gossip about the previous night. This weekend was definitely a very American one, but it was worth it because breakfast was amazing.

After breakfast some people headed back to go back to bed, but some of us decided to explore an area of the city known as Vysehrad. We hadn't realized that it was like a big park with a lot of walking paths and great views of the city. It was great to walk through fallen leaves and see the colors on the trees. The fresh air was good for us as well.

When I got back to my room I put on some Christmas music, got out more of the decorations I had purchased, and finished decorating my room! The windows are decked with sparkly snow flakes, and I cut cute pictures out of wrapping paper to decorate my doors and drawers. I know this is early for Christmas spirit, even for me, but my room was very impersonal anyway, and Thanksgiving doesn't really exist here, so I can throw out that date as the social norm for when it is acceptable to begin the Christmas season.

Currently we're at the Globe for their movie night. I had some pumpkin soup and cinnamon tea to complete my very autumn day, and we're watching Casablanca. This is a very home-y way to wrap up a fun weekend. I would say back to the real world tomorrow, but Prague isn't the real world. It doesn't just look like a fairy tale; it is a fairy tale, and therefore, I am never coming home.

Obrázky Konečně

(Translation: Pictures Finally)

I finally put up my pictures from Copenhagen. Not many captions 'cause I wasn't really sure what a lot of things were! Enjoy!

I'll update on my weekend soon!

Jídlo

(Translation: Food)

I'll give a quick update on the activities of the last few days, and then I will tell you about the food situation here in the CR.

This week was a pretty lazy/relaxing week, meaning that I only did one or two things a day instead of a million. Thursday I had a class trip for my financial crises class, and we went to the Czech National Bank. It was an interesting little tour, and I even impressed the guy by being able to pick out the counterfeit bills. All you, Dad. The best part of the tour was when we got to hold a real solid gold bar. They're much heavier than they appear in movies!

Thursday night we tried to go to this cute place, Orange Bar, but it's tiny so we ended up spending some time at a place called Radost. This was my second time at Radost, but the cool part about Radost is that it is actually where Rihanna filmed her music video for "Please Don't Stop the Music." (Nikki and Katie might be the only ones that will find that interesting.) If you click here, you can see the music video though. The other cool part, which you can kind of see in the video, is that the wallpaper in the place is the same as the wallpaper on this blog. Funny coincidence.

On Friday my program hosted a tour of Josefov, the Jewish quarter of Prague. We toured a million synagogues and saw the Jewish cemetery. Later last night we went out to dinner at a microbrewery called Pivovarsky Dum. This was actually one of my first dinners at a restaurant with traditional Czech food. They had a bunch of flavored beers (banana, coffee, wheat, sour cherry, nettle(GREEN!), etc.) which were fun to try. It was nice 'cause the restaurant was non-smoking which is VERY rare in Prague. It was great to get back last night and not have to hang my clothes outside my window to avoid the smoke smell!

Last night's dinner was very atypical of the meals that I have been having here in Prague. As I have shown some of you on Skype, my cooking situation is not ideal, so I end up making eggs for breakfast and Ramen, soup, or rice noodles for dinner. That part is getting kind of old, but it's cheap and easy so it works. The part that I am getting spoiled from is lunch. I had been kind of nervous about being vegetarian here, but it is actually very easy. There are more restaurants here that are solely vegetarian than in the whole state of Rhode Island, and all four are walking distance from Old Town Square. Two of them, Lehka Hlava and Maitrea, are owned by the same people and are nice restaurants with AMAZING food and reasonable prices. They aren't all hippie vegetarian either-they don't use weird meat substitutes or try to tell you you're eating "steak" or anything. One of the others is a vegetarian Indian buffet where it's kind of like a cafeteria and they weigh your plate. That one is my favorite to get lunch at, and Alexa and I go way more than we should because it's pretty cheap. The last one is the slightly more out-there one. It's called Country Life, and it is the same cafeteria, weigh-you-plate style, except that it's vegan and I sometimes wonder what the "cheese" that I am eating really is. Overall though, I am getting spoiled by the vegetarian options that I have here. Even when I go out to Czech restaurants there is a section labeled "Vegetarian" on the menu, which is more than I can say for most restaurants at home. Add another to the list of reasons why I'm not coming home!

Dva Svátky v Jeden Den!

(Translation: Two Holidays in One Day!)

Today is a VERY big day for several reasons. First and foremost, JENNY IS TWENTY ONE! Scary to think that we are already that old! Granted we are all basically twenty-one when we're in Europe, it is still exciting none the less. Jenny is spending her birthday in Barcelona, so I just want to wish her an amazing birthday!

The next reason that today is a big day is that it is the "Den Vzniku Československa," or Czechoslovakian Independence Day, which is a National Holiday here. (Even though they are no longer Czechoslovakia, they still celebrate this as their national day). This all means that I DON'T HAVE CLASS TODAY! Yes, my two day week of classes has been reduced to one. Tough life. (I DO have a class trip tomorrow for one of my classes to make up for the missed class, so I guess I don't totally have the week off!)

I can't believe that I am going to share this, but I have reverted to my high school habit of sleeping through my alarm clock. I have had several close calls with making it to various things, but none as close as yesterday morning. I have class at 9:00 in the city on Tuesdays, and yesterday at 8:35 I was awoken by a text from Karen asking if I had left for class yet. Apparently I had slept through all three alarms that I set! I threw on some jeans and ran out the door, forgetting to brush my hair, put on a different sweatshirt than the one I slept in, and totally forgetting the previous night's makeup. I was out the door by 8:40, and the train-wreck that I was arrived at class at 8:58. Not very classy, but hey, I made it! I blame it all on the Halloween party I went to Monday night and the trauma of the crazy tram driver.

Once I had showered and generally pulled myself together after class yesterday, it was a good day. Blair's parents are in town, so we all went out for drinks with them after my night class. Made me excited for the arrival or Marc and Michael, which is about ten days from today!

Anyway, Happy Czechoslovak Independence Day and have fun in class/at work! (I am allowed to rub it in-I didn't get Columbus Day!)

Tramvaj

(Translation: Tram)

If this were America, I could sue.

Less than ten minutes ago the tram driver stopped the tram completely, came out of his little compartment, and wound up and smacked me because my legs were on the seat next to me on the tram. Apparently I wasn't supposed to do that, even though the tram WASN'T EVEN FULL.

Ironically I think it makes me love Prague more.

Jsem Směšná

(Translation: I Am Ridiculous)

I am sitting here in a Halloween costume decorating my Christmas tree. I bought one today. It is beautiful.

Copenhagen: Ta Cesta Oprah

(Translation: Copenhagen: The Oprah Way)

Yes, I just referenced Oprah. Kind of pathetic, I know, but it will make sense soon.

Before I start I just want to throw it out there that here in Europe we changed the clocks this weekend, so it is now a five hour time difference from the East Coast.

Back to my weekend. I feel like my trips thus far have been good in that I am getting a little bit of each region, and the only way that I can really describe Copenhagen is Scandinavian. I honestly don't know how else to describe it. I am going to defer to Oprah on that. Lauren showed me these videos of one of her recent shows, and she describes it pretty well. Here they are:





Basically that gives a much better picture of Copenhagen than I can give. Some of the things may seem like Oprah is exaggerating, but it is true. They really did leave their children outside. I saw the unattended strollers quite frequently in my two days there!

Anyway, Lauren and I basically just wandered Copenhagen. I think that was the best way to experience it. We saw most of the major sites. I got to see the palace (they have the longest consecutive monarchy that still exists, I think), the Opera house, the Little Mermaid statue, the famous street with the boats in the middle (whose name I can't remember), and a bunch of other things that are slipping my mind right now.

If you watched the Oprah videos above, you might be interested to know that we went and got that same type of bread (that is hard to say) from the same bakery where she bought her eight loaves. We also warmed up on Saturday by having a cup of tea at The Royal Cafe where Oprah went with the Danish women. The bread was amazing, and the cafe was quirky and cute.

Lauren and I cooked homemade pizza for dinner, and it was nice to have a real homemade meal. What I have been making definitely doesn't count as homemade, but we even made the dough ourselves, so it was true homemade pizza.

I'm really glad that I visited Denmark because it was a nice relaxing weekend after a busy week, and I was able to experience a Scandinavian country.

Random Thoughts:

• It dawned on me on the way home that I just about doubled my Student Agency bus time this weekend with a weekend total of about 25 hours and a fall total of 52 hours. THAT'S MORE THAN TWO DAYS IN EUROPE THAT I HAVE SPENT ON A BUS!
• With the absence of the apple and pumpkin and general New England autumn festivities this fall, I have had to resist the urge to jump right into the Christmas season. I'm not going to lie, I did break down and listen to a few songs on the bus ride back.
• Have you ever heard of Marzipan? I had never heard of it before but it is EVERYWHERE here. There is so much candy with marzipan in it, and in Budapest there was even a marzipan museum, which I find so strange.
• Dad, ask Santa for a new black backpack, because I think yours may die in Europe. It is getting much more use than I had ever expected.
• Copenhagen is on the kroner, which sounds a lot like the Czech koruna (crown), but don't let it fool you. koruna > kroner. I love the crown.
• I made my schedule for PC this spring. Most depressing part of my weekend. Or of the last two months.
  
• I really really enjoyed the ferryboat rides that I had this weekend. It is probably just the influence of Grey's and my love of McDreamy, but I really did enjoy it. (Dad and Grandpa, I don't expect you to understand that reference, so don't bother.)
• I am really jealous of how much of a running city Copenhagen is. Whenever I go for a run here, people give me strange looks. I have only seen two other people running in general when I was here, not even just when I'm on a run. In Copenhagen I think 1 out of ten people on the street was running or in workout clothes!
  

As for at home, I saw the headlines about Obama declaring a flu emergency. If you ask me, that is an excellent reason for me to stay in Europe and never come home.

And finally I just want to congratulate my cousin Kate (not Katie, she's a sophomore now), on her amazing tennis season! Her team made it all the way to the state finals, and she was the only one to win her match in the finals. Great job!

Autobus do Dánsko

(Translation: Bus to Denmark)

I made it to Denmark! I will tell you about the sightseeing and all of that after tomorrow, but my bus ride was pretty interesting.

Earlier this week I decided to book a bus to Copenhagen, Denmark this weekend. Most of my friends in my program were going to Istanbul for the weekend, so I decided to go somewhere while they were gone. I got on a Student Agency bus (I feel like I live on them) at 6pm. It was delayed for a while, but finally we were on our way to Copenhagen. I watched movies and read for a few hours, and then around 10pm I decided to take some cold medicine to knock me out (and get rid of my cold), and I went to sleep. Around 3:30 the bus attendant woke me to tell me that I had to get off the bus 'cause we would be getting on the ferry. THE FERRY. I hadn't even known that there would be a ferry. This was an interesting little twist. I got off the bus and hung around on the ferry for an hour while we crossed. When I finally got back on the bus, I found out that while I was sleeping we had been stopped by a "German control," (whatever that means, because the bus attendant's English was shaky). Well apparently that had caused us to miss our ferry and have to wait for a second one, so we ended up getting in over an hour late! Thirteen hours on a bus! I thought it was going to be terrible, but I actually kind of enjoyed the experience.

You may be wondering why I chose to come to Denmark, but one of my friends from PC, Lauren, is studying abroad here for the year. I've been wanting to see a Scandinavian country, and I've been wanting to see Lauren, so it was perfect! We had a great morning (that I will tell you about later), and we are resting and regrouping now. Denmark is much different from any of the countries that I have seen so far, but I really like it!

I just wanted to mention that I did get a chance to put up my pictures from Budapest before I left, so just click on the right if you want to see them!

Jsem Unavený

(Translation: I Am Tired)

Just thought I would check in since I haven't all week. I am exhausted. It's been a tiring week, and let's just say I haven't done any homework.

It's definitely getting colder here. It snowed last week, but I um, slept through it, and it had all melted by the time I woke up. In general though it has been pretty cold here-much colder than I remember October being at home, but it could just be that I'm not used to be outside so much in October.

My pictures from Budapest still aren't up, and I will try my best to do that today, but I'm not making any promises! I'm leaving for Copenhagen (Denmark) tonight on a 6pm bus, so if I can get all my errands done today, MAYBE.

I have a new addition to my poster collection. The other night we decided to try a new establishment, but the problem with Prague is that when you try somewhere new, the metro doesn't run past midnight, so you then have to find a way home that is different from the way you came. Blair and I always right very specific directions and put them in our pockets, but even then it can be hard to find the tram stops. On this one particular night, we were looking all over for the tram stop so I decided to ask a group of Czech people my age. We ended up waiting for the tram with them and then riding the tram for about an hour with them (the night trams are very out of the way). They had come from a concert where they had gotten an extra poster, so they gave me the rolled up cylinder. I had no idea what it was, but it was like Christmas the next morning opening it up and seeing what I got! Here it is:


I'll update you Monday on my trip!

Maďarsko: Nejdelší Záznam Vůbec Někdy

(Translation: Hungary: The Longest Entry Ever)

This weekend my Student Agency Bus total reached twenty seven hours in nine days as twelve of us traveled seven hours each way to Budapest, Hungary.

Budapest was an interesting city, and boy do I have stories. I'll try to write each little anecdote in its own paragraph, so if something bores you, just skip to the next paragraph!

We arrived in Budapest Friday afternoon and checked into our hostel, ironically named Casa de la Musica, where we were brought to our twelve-bed room. Ten of the twelve people were from my program, but the other two were JENNY! and a friend from her program.

So that you can all enhance your cultural knowledge, I'm just going to point out a couple of Budapest-related things. One is that Budapest is really pronounced "BudapeSHt," something that I hadn't known until I came to Europe. Also, historically Budapest was two cities, Buda and Pest, and it wasn't until the second half of the nineteenth century that it united to form the present city. We stayed just over the Danube in the Pest district of the city.

Friday afternoon we ventured into Buda to explore. None of us had eated since breakfast, so we split up and grabbed an early dinner. Karen, Blair, Megan, and I ate at a little cafe, and we were quickly introduce to several aspects of Hungarian culture. One was their annoying currency. The Hungarian forint (which is often abbreviated as the HUF, leading us to refer to it as the Hufflepuff), has way too many zeros. For example, I paid 52,000 forints for our hostel. How ridiculous does that sounds? Anyway, that wasn't our only cultural discovery at this cafe; we also learned that they put the unit price of the drink on the menu, not the total price, so Blair's 100 HUF/dl lemonade was not the great deal that we had thought it was. Blame in on our American ignorance towards the metric system or else we would have realized that one dl is pretty small. Besides that we also learned that the Hungarian language, Magyar, is very difficult and strange sounding. Despite the fact that there seems to be a lot more tourists in Prague, I felt that people in Budapest spoke English much better, so the language barrier wasn't really an issue.



After dinner we trekked up the hill to an area known as Castle Hill. There we saw the famous Fishermen's Bastion, a sort of wall with turrets overlooking the city. Fishermen's Bastion itself was very picturesque, sort of resembling a sand castle, but the views of Budapest and the Danube that it provided were beautiful. Right behind Firshermen's Bastion was a great statue of St. Stephen on horseback, as well as a very intersting church called the Matthius (I think). After enjoying the views there, we walked around Castle Hill and found a strange Labyrinth Museum. Built in underground caves near the castle, this museum makes an obvious statement about the progression of humanity. Despite its somewhat annoying displays, it was pretty fun because it was pitch black and we had to carry lanterns. It was like my haunted house experience for the fall! After that experience we headed down to Buda Castle where we saw even more gorgeous buildings. Whereas the castle in Bratislava was clearly the stereotypical castle, Prague castle and Buda Castle are more complexes of palaces than fairytale castles. Don't get me wrong; they are still beautiful, but they are more of a sprawling series of palaces, chapels, and random fortifications than a single actual castle building.

After all that sightseeing, we met up with everyone at the hostel. They all headed to the famous Turkish bath houses, but Jenny, her friend, Karen, and I went to a jazz club. Called the Jazzgarden, it was a cute place that wasn't too touristy. They had twinkling lights and vines that gave the impression of a garden terrace, and there was a great live band that played 'till midnight.

Saturday was a jampacked day. Karen, Blair, Megan, Alexa, Claire, and I got up early and were at the famous Hungarian Parliament building by eight. We knew to get there early to buy tickets, so we got tickets for a tour at noon. We then decided to search for breakfast, but we couldn't find an open cafe ANYWHERE. We ended up at the famous hotel/pastry shop/restaurant, known as the Gerbaud. I just had a great latte, but everyone else had an impressive breakfast platter. It was a classy way to start our day!

I would not be telling you the whole story of my trip if I did not include my near-death (exaggerated, Mom) experience. You all know my love for Target. Well before I left I bought a great pair of boots at Target with the intention of them getting beat up on the cobblestone and me throwing them out to make room in my suitcase on the way home. Unfortunately my beloved Target failed me in this case because it is the third week of October, and the rubber on both heels is fully worn out. This means that not only does it sound like I am wearing intense heels all the time, but it also means that I have no traction. Despite this, I was wearing them on our breakfast search, when I stepped onto the curb from the sidewalk to wait for the walk signal. The curb was wet and when my bare heel met it, my feet slid right out from under me. Dad would be proud that I did not simply land on my elbow since I was holding things in my arms; instead I ROLLED as I fell so that the impact was distributed on not one joint but three, as can be seen by the lovely bruises on my elbow and knees. As if the spell wasn't embarrassing enough, I sort of fell into oncoming traffic, but some guy ran over and shoved me back onto the sidewalk. You should all feel honored that I willingly shared that embarrassing story, and I also want to appeal to you for suggestions of how I could repair those heels so that I don't have to buy some new boots! I don't wnat to give up that suitcase space!

After breakfast we went to the Basillica of St. Stephen. Since it was constructed fairly recently, it was unlike most churches we have seen in that it included many different styles of architecture. It was enormous, and the entire interior was done with colored marble and baroque (or would it be neo-baroque?) decorations. It also had some pretty mosaics which was nice to see since they are not prevalent in Prague.



From the Basilica we headed to Parliament for our tour. While waiting we made friends with a couple from Texas, and it was nice to talk to some Americans who weren't in their twenties! The tour of Parliament was amazing. The Hungarian Parliament is the third largest in Europe (behind the British in London and the Romanian in Bucharest), but I bet that it's the most beautiful. Since their government was originally bicameral, but is now unicameral, there was an entire wing that we could see. For those of you who know my weird affinity for symmetry, you will understand how much I appreciated that this absolutely enormous building was perfectly symmetrical. The tour was in English, and somewhat witty, which after six weeks in Europe you come to appreciate when someone knows English well enough to crack jokes in it!

After Parliament came my favorite part of the day. We went to a museum called the House of Terror. It was all about the terror inflicted upon the Hungarian people by first the Nazis and then the communist regime. I had never known about this part of history, so it was very informative. The museum was in the actual building that was used as a prison for these two regimes, so that was pretty cool too. It took us almost three hours to get through the museum!

After the museum we walked through City Park and saw a castle there, as well as Heroes Square with statues of Hungarian heroes. We were so exhausted that after that we just grabbed some dinner. (I just want to add that we had heard that Hungarian food was so good, but I honestly thought it was TERRIBLE. I didn't eat my meal that night and ended up buying other food on the way home 'cause it was so bad. It actually made me appreciate Czech food.)

Sunday was a tiring day as well because we walked everywhere on Sunday. We walked to the top of Gellert Hill and saw the Citadel and the Independence Monument. It was quite the hike. We were all exhausted by the time we got to the top, but we were also pretty impressed that we had done that mush by nine in the morning. After Gellert Hill we walked back over to Castle Hill and visited the Budapest History Museum. I think I am spoiled by the Smithsonians and museums in Prague, but I wasn't that impressed with this one. It was also difficult to appreciate a lot of things when only half of it was in English. After all of that we continued walking and went to a park on Margaret Island in the middle of the Danube River. We didn't have much time there, but we got to see a nice soccer field and some fountains. Over the course of the weekend we also got to see the second largest synagogue in the world (behind New York), as we passed it on our way to the hostel every day.

All in all, I really liked Budapest. It had a lot more history and a lot more sights than I had expected. It wasn't the most beautiful city-I definitely like Prague better-but I bet that when it's sunny (not gross and gray like it was for us), then it is very beautiful. Everything has a sort of dingy tint to it, but I really think it was just lack of sun (besides the graffiti).

I spent most of yesterday recovering from the busy weekend, but a few of us did leave the cafe long enough to go to a gallery at Prague castle that has free admission after 4 on Mondays. I liked seeing art because that is one thing that we did omit in Hungary. Blair and me and a few other people also explored a new establishment last night, so classes today weren't as enjoyable as they have been. It didn't stop us from going to our Tuesday night places though, so there was no problem!

P.S. I'll put the Budapest pictures up as soon as I can. Took me long enough to write this post, so I can only imagine how long it will take to go through the pictures!

Pojďme Udělat Dohodu

(Translation: Let's Make a Deal)

With all of these long bus rides, I am starting to get sick of the songs on my ipod. I just realized the other day that I haven't even heard of most of the songs on the Itunes Top Ten since they've come out since I've been here and aren't popular here yet. Therefore, here's my proposition: anyone who mails me a CD with new music to keep me busy traveling, I will bring back a super amazing souvenir for you. The music doesn't have to be the Itunes top ten.. just anything because I need something new!

My mailing address is on my Facebook (since I'm smart and avoiding a scene from Taken and not putting it here), so anything you would like to send would be greatly appreciated!

Je Mi Líto!

(Translation: Sorry!)

Sorry I have been slacking a bit on the updates. I just got back from Budapest. I'll write all about it tomorrow. I'm behind on my picture updates, so I did upload my Bratislava pictures, just not the Budapest ones. Blame it on the marathon Skype session with the Naples family today!

Slovensko a Můj Drahý Den

(Translation: Slovakia and My Expensive Day)



Just ignore the expensive part of the title. That's just me whining because I got my haircut today, had to pay the internet fee for the dorm, and had to buy more minutes for my phone. (By the way, thanks for the phone minutes, Mom and Dad). I'm just mad that the internet costs more than the other two combined. Blah.

Enough complaining. I'm in Prague. How can a person complain when they live in Prague? Seriously. I can say things like "Yesterday I went to Bratislava for the day." I can't go visit another country for a day when I'm at home, so I'm not really complaining; I promise.

Bratislava. Another place where I didn't have any expectation, yet I was still surprised, if that's even possible. I'm lucky I even made it there since we were meeting at 05:30 in the lobby to catch our bus and at 5:38 my friend called to ask me where I was and WOKE ME. It's not my fault-my cell phone just isn't loud enough here! Anyway, we arrived in Bratislava around 11. Bratislava was much smaller than I had been expecting. The outskirts of the city with the Soviet housing projects and general squalor were quite expansive, but the touristy part of the city was actually quite small. We were able to easily walk everywhere that we wanted to see. Unfortunately we learned our lesson that most museums are closed on Mondays, but we still got to see a lot, and maybe it was a blessing in disguise seeing as how I spent so much today!

When I finally put up my pictures, you'll be able to see everything that I saw, but I'll just tell you about a few of the highlights here.

(1) We did the coronation walk that many of the kings of the Austro-Hungarian Empire walked, which involved following little brass crowns in the cobblestones. A particularly interesting part of the walk was when we realized there was construction going on and attempted to ask the police officers which way it continued. I'm pretty sure that they laughed at us and talked about us in Slovakian before sending us back the way we came.

(2) The church that the walk started at, St. Martin's Cathedral, was pretty neat. We had debated whether or not to pay the entrance fee because from the peeks we were taking inside it seemed like any other Gothic turned Baroque church, but I'm glad that we did go inside. Upon entering the church we discovered that we got to view an underground crypt, as well as see 11th century remains through a plexiglass window in the floor.

(3) We visited an Art-Nouveau church, the Church of St. Elizabeth, but more commonly known as the Blue Church. It was one of the most interesting churches I have seen in Europe, especially because it was so unique amongst the Baroque and Gothic ones on every corner. To me what was most striking about this church was that we were there around 1800h, and as we were admiring the church's facade this little old woman ushered us through the front door and we found ourself in the middle of a prayer service. People were coming and going as they wanted but the church was pretty full. Having been in Prague for 6 weeks now, I've grown accustomed to a lack of organized religion, but the amount of people of all ages and their devotion to a Monday evening prayer service was quite the sight.

Overall what I found the most interesting about Bratislava was that the eastern influences were so apparent. The Soviet style buildings were everywhere, but so was art and architecture with a more Hungarian and Ukrainian feel. A lot of things reminded me of things in Prague, just with that twist, so that was really neat to see.

Today was a busy day as I had one class in the morning, got my haircut (a whole experience in which the woman didn't understand English), and then went on a class trip with my other class. For the trip we took public transportation for forever just to end up in this little village (population 700) that wasn't too far outside of Prague. Our professor pointed to a road and told us to walk for fifteen minutes and then turn around and come back so that we could experience village life. He then took us to a campground restaurant that I think had opened tonight just for us. It was a pretty funny experience, but we all love our professor so it was great to listen to his Prague stories. It was pretty ridiculous that that counted as a class for us, but I loved it!

Here's the picture of our class at the restaurant so you can see me with my new haircut too! (That's our adorable teacher in the back left of the photo.)
Anyway, to leave you with some parting thoughts:

• I think it turned into winter overnight. I have never been so cold in my life.
  
• In an entire day in Bratislava I spent about 1/8th of what I spent in Prague today. (Yes, I am still hung up on that.)
  
• The people in Bratislava have much better fashion than the people in Prague, yet the city seems to be less economically successful.
• The hairdresser did not understand the concept of layers, so I have my first straight across haircut since elementary school.
• I am currently mad at the French, because the French girls drank all the free Sangria before we got there tonight. Seriously? You come to PRAGUE for wine?
  
• In the period from Friday to Monday I spent 14 hours on buses. That is more time than I spend in class in a week here, and is 14 times what I spend on homework.

Moje Nové Oblíbené Město

(Translation: My New Favorite Town)



I know that after every weekend trip I rave about where I went, but this weekend was especially beautiful. Friday morning nine of us boarded a bus to the town of Cesky Krumlov in the southern region of the Czech Republic. We had heard from several people that it was a great place to go, but I didn't really know what to expect. I did some research in the days leading up to the trip and was a bit worried that we would be very bored as the population of the town is slightly more than North Smithfield - a whopping 14,000!

We arrived at the bus station and walked to our hostel. On all of my other trips so far I have stayed at a hotel or at least a bed and breakfast, so I didn't really know what to expect, but the hostel was great! It worked out perfectly because we were able to get a three person room and a six person room so we didn't have to sleep with strangers. For 12 USD/night per person, we definitely got our money's worth! The place was clean and pretty, and we even used the kitchen to cook ourselves eggs and toast on Saturday morning. For a first hostel experience, it was definitely a good one.

Cesky Krumlov itself was adorable. Surrounded by water on three sides, it was a tiny little town with beautiful buildings. I had been nervous that as the same size as North Smithfield it would have the same level of commerce, but that wasn't the case at all. As a touristy place there were cute shops, cafes, and restaurants everywhere, and as we weren't really there during the tourist season we didn't have to deal with the crowds, (although in such a small city we did run into the same group of Asian tourists, complete with face masks, the entire time we were there).

We wandered around the town most of the time we were there. Friday we visited the castle which is second only to Prague Castle in terms of being the largest castle in the CR. It has over 300 rooms (none of which we saw), and the oldest part of the castle was constructed in the 14th century. (It is pathetic that I remember all of these facts, but we didn't feel like taking a tour so I just read it all out of the guidebook for everyone haha). It was a beautiful castle, complete with a moat with live bears in it! We spent a couple of hours exploring the castle grounds and gardens. The leaves were changing, and it was a crisp fall day, so it was nice to feel like I wasn't missing out on a New England autumn.

After the castle we went to the Egon Shiele Museum. In the tiny little town of Cesky Krumlov, I just may have been the best art museum I have ever visited. (Although, as I was typing that I remembered d'Orsay, but they were so different that it's like comparing apples and oranges). Anyway, this museum was very interesting, not so much because of the work of Egon Schiele, but because of the various other exhibits that they housed. (Though his work was very interesting, if not unsettling). They had a Socialist Realism exhibit, an exhibit of contemporary Russian art featuring Konstantin Batynov, Anna Dubina, Komar & Melamid, Francisco Infante, and Eduard Gorochovskij, as well as an exhibit with political posters of the USSR. I really liked how a lot of the art was political. I felt like I learned more about communism and more about art (from separate exhibits) in this museum than I learned at the Communism Museum or in any art class. (Drea probably appreciated that paragraph more than the rest of you combined.)

After the museum we checked out happy hour on our way back to the hostel. Then we went for a traditional Czech meal (where my only options on the menu were garlic soup and Greek salad), and then we explored the nightlife in the small town.

Saturday morning we had an interesting encounter with the receptionist at the hostel. One of the boys had lost his key the night before, so he paid the lost key fee. We all felt really bad because the woman looked so upset. We offered to give her more money, but she said she just wanted to know what pub we had gone to the night before so she could call them. It was a bit embarassing to inform her that she had to call just about every establishment in the small town. We spent the morning retracing our steps from the night before trying to track down the key.

After our hunt we shopped and visited a cathedral. We completed the New England Autumn weekend by having some hot cider. There was also a kayak/boating/canoeing marathon going on that day, and it ended in Cesky Krumlov, so we went down to the river and watched the boats cross the finish line. It was kind of strange because unlike in the States, no one cheered for them. People only cheered for the people they knew, so the only boat we really got to cheer for was that of a guy we had met in our travels the previous night.

We spent the rest of the day in a cafe as we were all exhausted from the trip. Even today I was still tired. All we really did was go to mass at a different church than last week (which was at least in English this time), and then go to brunch at the Globe afterward. We stayed at the Globe all day hanging out and doing homework. I just got in from watching the Pats. I was weak and didn't stay for the whole game, but I have to be up in 4 hours to catch a bus to Bratislava!

Overall, Cesky Krumlov is probably my favorite place in the Czech Republic (besides Prague). It has the nightlife of the city with the charm of a small town. If I don't come home from Prague, you'll know where to find me!

P.S. I have been adding videos from the trip periodically that I haven't been putting on the blog. If you want to see them, they're at http://www.youtube.com/user/turc224. (Just so you know though, I put the better ones on the blog so you aren't missing much. My camera skills are lacking.)