muj návrat!!!

In 8 days, I'm making my triumphant return to Prague! With this lady:



Oh yeah, the Czechs are gonna be thrilled to see us.

Also Nate is coming, because he's studying in London right now, which is a great thing because it means Anna and I will have a reason to get off our asses and do more than sit around in Zanzibar and recover from nights at Cross Club (where Anna will be turning 21 - I AM SO JEALOUS.)

And after three-and-a-half days in Prague, we're moving on to Amsterdam. I have never been there and I'm quite excited. Should be a spring break to rival last year's in France/Italy.

moving back to DC

I think I would like to keep this blog going, although it obviously now has little to do with Prague. But I've tried keeping blogs before and I'm going to try it again, dammit!

I'm moving back down to DC in 4 days, and for the first time I'll be living off-campus, in a house one block away from the AU Tenley Campus and just a few more from the Tenleytown metro stop. Today I was browsing DC Blogs and came across this entry. To spare you the details, it's about a guy in Petworth escaping a possible-mugging situation, and the post inspired over 60+ comments about nighttime safety in the DC area.

Reading this gave me a HUGE reality check. In Prague, I never thought twice about safety. The city has very little violent crime, and the only crime you're really warned about is pickpocketing. I regularly made 10 or 15-minute walks home by myself in the middle of the night, anywhere from 10 pm to 4 am. There were a few occasions when I'd see a drunk guy stumbling around in front of me, or someone would start walking behind me about 30 feet away, and yes, I'd feel a little nervous. But the nervousness was mainly created by my own instincts as an American, and no one ever caused me any trouble in the four months that I lived there.

Another example of the difference is something that happened in Vienna. Anna and I were leaving a club by ourselves at around 2 am, and were having a hard time figuring out on our map how to get back to the hotel. A group of 4 or 5 drunk guys came around the corner and headed right for us. Of course my first thought was that they were going to hit on us, be creepy, follow us, whatever. But no. Instead, they asked us if we needed help with our map and pointed us in the right direction for our hotel. Then they moved on their way.

I can't imagine that happening in DC! Every time I've had someone approach me at nighttime it's been sketchy and freaked me out. The Tenleytown area is certainly safer than Columbia Heights or Petworth, and my house is quite close to the metro. But I still can't take 3-am-solo-strolls home any longer, and that is really sad. We say our country is the most civilized and progressive in the world, but a girl (or guy, as evidenced by that blog post) can't even feel safe walking home at night. There's something wrong with that.

Chci jet do Prahy. :(

So I'm back at home, which blows. But because a) I'm fucking bored and b) I guess I like to be a completist, here's a bit of a rundown of those trips that I neglected to write about.

Copenhagen (November 16-18)

Copenhagen was a really, really beautiful city and also a ridiculously expensive one. The coolest thing there was probably Tivoli, an AMAZING amusement park. Tivoli was really beautiful and I got a superwarm winter hat from a stand there. However, I also paid $12 to go on ONE ride. Granted, the ride was amazing because it was the swings and it took you up really high so that you could see over the whole city. But still. $12!!!!

The other awesome thing in Copenhagen was Christiania. Christiania is basically this little shantytown populated by hippies who refuse to pay taxes. They even have their own sort-of police force. They also sell a lot of hash there, some of which we smoked. It's not really legal, but apparently the government doesn't care because it keeps drugs out of the actual red light district. Also, you're not allowed to take pictures in Christiania, mainly because of the drug thing.

In Copenhagen I also learned my new favorite word ever: hyggelig. It's pronounced "hoogely" (no. clue.) and apparently the Danish say it all the time. It means "comfortable" or "warm."

Budapest (November 22-25)

The whole CET program went to Budapest for a long weekend, and it was an awesome time. Except for the first day...because our 6 hour bus ride ended up being 12 hours long. Our bus broke down after a little under 2 hours of driving, and we had to wait in a roadside restaurant for another 4 before a new bus came to get us. It was ridiculous and unfortunately it cut down on a few of the things we got to see there.

But what we did see was very cool. The second day we had a question/answer session with an English guy who works for the European Roma Rights Center. He was very interesting. Then we went to the little town of Szentendre, where there really wasn't much to see, except a cool ceramics museum.

The day after that we had a long but really good tour of Budapest. It actually used to be two cities, called Buda and Pest - they're separated by the Danube River. Budapest was one of my favorite cities we visited, probably because it was vaguely reminiscent of Prague. It wasn't a whole lot bigger in size, which I liked, and it also had a pretty river with a pretty castle on it. A few of us also had a CRAZY dinner that night at a tiny restaurant where we were the only customers, a gypsy band played for us, the menu consisted of "meat or no-meat", and the food was LITERALLY homemade. It was incredibly weird.

Geneva (November 29 - December 2

Geneva was one of my absolute favorite places I visited this semester. I liked the small size, loved the lake, and LOVED the food. The chocolate was predictably amazing. The first day, Rachel and I had a tour of the UN and then went to the Red Cross museum. We then walked all around the city and saw the Jet D'eau and the flower clock. Our dinner that night was probably the best one I had all semester...and also the most expensive. Geneva was every bit as expensive as Copenhagen, and I bought so damn much that I spent over $400. Oops.

The next day we went to a town further east into Switzerland called Lausanne. There we went to the International Olympics Museum, which was really cool. Lausanne was incredibly beautiful, and I think I liked it even more than Geneva. It was just the kind of place where I think it would be amazing to live.

Our last day in Geneva we had a lot of time before our flight so we went ice skating at the outdoor rink near the lake. It was awesome, except for the fact that we were the only people over age 10 without children, and that said children were like little bullets I had to dodge every 5 seconds. But all in all, it was a great trip.

čtyři dnesy...

Well, I have four days left in Praha and I'm not happy about it. Right now I'm sitting in KFC because they have free wifi (and I like fried chicken), faced with the prospect of next going to the darkroom and spending hours printing ugly pictures I took in Geneva. Not exactly how I wanted to spend the end of my semester but what choice do I have?

I've been thinking about whether there's anything I regret doing or not doing here and I really don't. I think I experienced the country extremely well and there's only a few things left I wish I'd seen - the Bone Church in Kutna Hora being the main thing. It would also have been kind of cool to see the John Lennon wall but since I'm not much of a fan I'm not heartbroken about it.

Anyway, I am now going to take this opportunity to post a ridiculous list I made a few nights ago when I couldn't sleep. It is inspired by one Samantha Kramer, who made a similar list on her Facebook and I read because I like to stalk my dear ex-roommate.

101 Things I Did This Semester!!!1!!1! LOLZ

1. Boarded a plane and flew from Philadelphia to Frankfurt to Barcelona, my first stop
2. Got wasted, smoked a joint with random French kids outside the metro, went to a club where we couldn’t find the exit, and somehow made it back to the hostel in one piece
3. Was terrified by the squeaking cat-man street performer on Las Ramblas
4. Earned applause for peeing in the street in Barcelona
5. Had my camera stolen from my hostel in Barcelona
6. Ate at a restaurant on my first night in Prague where they really did keep bringing you beer until you put the mat on your mug
7. Went to an empty Czech hospital on my first Friday night with a 104 degree temperature
8. Discovered the wonders of Becherovka
9. Discovered the wonders of Staropramen, Gambrinus, Pilsner, Budvar, and basically every other Czech beer that is miles better than American brews
10. Got free shots from a non-English-speaking Hungarian at Kross Klub, and then enlisted the help of some guys from NYU to get home when I somehow lost every single person I knew
11. Got lost in the middle of Prague at 5 am after getting off a tram on the way home from Kross Klub with Brandon and Clay
12. Danced drunkenly to a gypsy band in Česky Krumlov
13. Danced sober(!) to awesome 70s, 80s and 90s music at Futurum, all the while surrounded by broken glass
14. Lost the tan that I somehow managed to achieve this summer
15. Translated some Rolling Stones lyrics into Czech in Czech class, and then sang them, a lot
16. Took a tour of Karlštejn castle after it turned out the castle wine festival was the NEXT weekend
17. Almost died of heart/lung/body failure in the Czech mountains
18. Learned that „di doprdele“ means „fuck you“ in Czech
19. Explored the Jewish quarter, Josefov, with my parents
20. Partied with international students at a club on the Vltava
21. Fell asleep in a pub on Italska after one (or two or three) too many
22. Drank beer fresh from the barrel at the Plzen factory
23. Fell in love with garlic soup
24. Chatted with a fairly cute Australian guy who sucked at dancing and hated pop music, „except for Justin“
25. Went to a tiny photo exhibition opening for my photo professor where everyone spoke Czech and I awkwardly ate lots of food
26. Was thisclose to being homeless in Rome when I visited Katherine
27. Ate tons of delicious gelato in Rome, and also got it all over my clothes
28. Saw the tomb of Pope John Paul II in the Vatican, but more importantly saw the guard of his tomb, who was really hot
29. Missed Prague so much in Rome that I ordered Pilsner at a beer bar
30. Went to a performance by the Black Sufis of Gujarat India at Akropolis
31. Finally reached the point where I can inhale when I smoke cigarettes
32. Saw the church where the Czechs who assassinated Heydrich were killed
33. Saw the destroyed town of Lidice, where the entire population was killed by Nazis in retaliation for the assassination of Heydrich
34. Checked out marionettes with moveable boobs with Cristen
35. Took the greatest picture in the universe of midget-size Brandon
36. Had my mind blown by black light theater
37. Was miserable when Cristen had to leave Prague
38. Saw Alfonse Mucha’s amazing Slav Epic
39. Received a tour of Křomeřiž castle from a drunk, opera-singing tour guide
40. Went clubbing in Brno, where everyone GOT CRAZY to Summer of 69
41. Drank tons of wine at our wine-tasting dinner in Mikulov
42. Suffered through a miserable rainy day in Bratislava, and bought new Tesco rainboots as a result
43. Ate a delicious cake, Mohr im Hemd, in a Viennese coffee house
44. Ate a delicious burger, the Double Whopper, in a Viennese Burger King
45. Discussed the merits of “Flavor of Love” with Wolfgang, our Austrian tour guide
46. Found the entire minority population of Austria at a club in Vienna
47. Learned far, far more about World War II and Communism than I ever learned in the states
48. Ate fried cheese from a street vendor on Wenceslas Square and absolutely loved it
49. Stayed out clubbing in Old Town all night until the metro reopened at 5:30 am
50. Cheered the HC Praha Slavia hockey team to victory
51. Witnessed Mike get his tooth knocked out by a drunk douchebag, all for defending a homeless guy
52. Saw a temporary memorial to the Czech victims of Communism on Wenceslas Square
53. Thought about the fact that less than twenty years ago, this entire country was still under Communist control, and that they’ve made such progress since that time that you’d hardly know it otherwise
54. Played the most intense game of Jenga ever
55. Spent an entire day eating mac & cheese, sitting in an internet café, and playing Diner Dash 2
56. Co-wrote and performed “Vinečko Techno“ with Anna using GarageBand
57. Downloaded every single episode of Gossip Girl and became obsessed with the clothes
58. Witnessed a drunk/high 15-year-old Slovak pass out and puke on the kitchen floor at Lublanska
59. Witnessed Marek draw a penis on his face, because it was his cousin
60. Introduced Amanda to the wonders of beer that costs less than €7
61. Introduced Amanda to the wonders of Zanzibar and its yummy crepes
62. Stayed in the world’s absolute cutest hostel in Dresden
63. Ate ox meat in Dresden, which tasted a lot like my mom’s beef stew
64. Changed my major for the billionth yet final time, to Communication Studies with a concentration in International Media
65. Saw a pretty terrible American movie, “Itty Bitty Titty Committee,” at the first night of the Prague Gay & Lesbian Film Festival
66. Gazed in awe at the restaurant level of the Palladium, Prague’s brand-new mall
67. Gazed in disgust at the creepy baby statues crawling up the TV Tower in Žižkov
68. Ate at Boulevard Bageterie so often that I recognize every single employee, and vice-versa
69. Gave Katherine and Lauren a one-day whirlwind tour of Prague
70. Saw a bearded lady on a crucifix at the Loreta
71. Saw a shriveled human arm hanging from the wall at St. James Cathedral
72. Saw Katherine and Lauren become impregnated with Czech food babies
73. Went to the first competition of the Prague Short Film Festival
74. Ate amazing pancakes at Bohemia Bagel
75. Smoked hash in Christiania, the part of Copenhagen where crazy hippies refuse to pay taxes and forbid photography
76. Paid $12 for a single ride at Tivoli, which was still the most badass amusement park I’ve seen in my life
77. Drank Danish Christmas beer and then kicked ass at playing pool
78. Had my awesome new hat from Tivoli stolen by Rachel, but luckily recovered it
79. Successfully completed a power hour for the first time
80. Ate trout with the head still there, multiple times, and wasn’t really bothered by it
81. Bought leather boots from Bata, one of the only Czech-owned businesses in Prague, and looked 40% more Czech as a result
82. Had a Hungarian-style Thanksgiving dinner in Budapest
83. Earned the title “the Carmen Sandiego of making out”
84. Went to a gay bar with swings instead of barstools and a garage bar with a giant whale skeleton hanging from the ceiling in Budapest
85. Ate a literally homemade Hungarian dinner where the entire menu consisted of “meat” or “no meat”
86. Was highly amused when it turned out the “no meat” option had tuna in it
87. Lost miserably at foosball to Jiři and Brandon
88. Visited Radio Free Europe in Prague and decided I might like to work there one day
89. Received a tour of the UN from a Swiss man who obviously hated his job, and us
90. Ate my best meal of the semester in Geneva, as well as lots of delicious Swiss chocolate and desserts
91. Went to the Olympics Museum in Lausanne and saw beautiful views of the Swiss Alps
92. Was almost killed by hordes of children at the outdoor ice skating rink in Geneva
93. Celebrated Hannukah for the first time with three-and-a-half Jews and a tinfoil menorah
94. Celebrated Mikulaš for the first time on Old Town Square with a pair of flashing devil horns
95. Watched Anna be accosted by a fully-dressed, chain-shaking devil in Old Town
96. Learned four noun cases in the Czech language, was satisfied, and then realized that there are three freakin‘ more of them
97. Realized that I pretty much know everything in our Prague guide book by heart at this point
98. Drank more beer in four months than I’ve drunk in my entire life
99. Made a few really awesome friends
100. Decided I definitely want to live in Europe after I graduate for at least part of my life
101. Overall had the best! semester! EVER!

Nechci odejit Prahy!

Normally I write my blog entries in Word when I'm bored and lying around the apartment. But right now I'm at CET using the internet and actually writing this into the Blogger application. I guess there's not much to update in this particular entry...later I'll write one about my weekend trip to Copenhagen, which was amazing but also amazingly EXPENSIVE. (It's the 6th most expensive city in the world. Let me put it this way: I paid $12 to go on an amusement park ride.)

Other than that, this Thursday our entire program is leaving for a weekend trip to Budapest! It sounds really awesome and best of all, really cheap. I've been spending money out the wazoo somehow for the past week or so and a break will be nice. After that I've got a weekend in Geneva (the 7th most expensive city in the world), where I'm really excited to speak some French. And after that...just one more weekend in Prague and then a few days. I'm already getting really sad about it. Sometimes I just want to give the whole city a big hug, if that makes any sense.

One thing I'm also looking forward to is the opening of the Christmas Markets in Prague! The big one that I already knew about will be on Wenceslas Square, near my school. But when I got home from Copenhagen on Sunday I saw that there were already lots of stands set up on Namesti Miru, the metro stop near my apartment. So far there's nothing actually in the stands yet but there's a big Christmas tree, and I can't WAIT for the crafts to start selling.

Katherine a Lauren navštívily Prahu!

Note: This all happened November 9 -11 and I'm just now getting around to posting it.

This weekend Katherine and Lauren flew in from Rome for a visit! Unfortunately we were cursed with some shitty weather but it was still a really fun time. I picked them up from the airport a little before noon on Friday, and after dropping our stuff off we hit the nearest KFC. Lame, you may say. But they’ve been in Italy for two and a half months, where there is neither fried goodness nor meat. So some fried chicken was in high order.

Then we started our superspeed tour of Prague (which really isn’t that superspeed because the city is not that big.) First we went to the Loreta, which is a 14th-16th century church by the castle. It’s a cool little place, but what makes it really worth seeing is the Chapel of Our Lady of Sorrows, because there’s a bearded lady on a crucifix there. Explanation from my guidebook of Prague: “She was St. Starosta, pious daughter of a Portuguese king who promised her to the king of Sicily against her wishes. After a night of tearful prayers she awoke with a beard, the wedding was called off, and her father had her crucified. She was later made a patron saint of the needy and the godforsaken.” Weird. You’re not supposed to take a picture, but I did.

Next we went to St. Vitus Cathedral. I would have liked to walk around the castle gardens a little, but it was rainy and cold so didn’t seem worth it. We then made our way to the Charles Bridge, and walked over that into Old Town. We walked around Josefov and saw some of the synagogues…walked around Old Town, saw Tyn Church and the Astronomer’s Clock…walked around New Town and tried some hot mulled wine, which I wasn’t a fan of. Then we went to the Palladium, the AMAZING new mall that just opened a week ago. The shopping there is good, but we really went so I could show them the top floor, where there are something like 15 different restaurants that are all ADORABLE and different kinds of food – Italian, Lebanese, Japanese, Indian, French, Mexican, etc. We had drinks at one of the bars located in the center. And there was a cute bartender, which is rare in Prague, so, yeah.

By then it was around 5 pm so we decided to head back home and rest a little before dinner. We got dinner with Brandon, Bill and Clay at a restaurant right near my apartment. I just had the usual fried pork, but Katherine and Lauren shared a big two-person meal that basically hit them with every traditional Czech food in one platter. It had roast pork, duck, and more meats, two types of cabbages, potato dumplings, bread dumplings, and possibly more. Ridiculous.

We went back and hung out a bit more before going out to Cross Club, the one place that every single person visiting Prague is dragged to. It was a little more crowded than I like and we were really tired so we weren’t there too long. For some reason a German guy started talking to all of us and he was telling me some story about Bill Clinton and racism, and I’m not sure what his point was but he kept using the n-word and I was like ooookay, bye now. I got fried cheese from a stand on the way home. It was yum.

The next day we got up and tried to decide what to do. Ideally we could have gone to Petrin Hill or Vysehrad, but it was still rainy and freezing. The girls were NOT used to cold weather; they had to wear tights under their jeans (something I’ve been meaning to buy but haven’t got around to.) So instead we went back to the mall for lunch, and ate at the Angus Burger place. There’s both a restaurant and a service counter, and we got burgers from the counter. They were decent but overpriced, so I don’t think I’ll be trying that one again. We then went back to Old Town so they could find postcards and souvenir-type stuff. We looked at the Astronomer’s Clock again to see it chime, and I realized that some of the figures on it were missing! I guess maybe they’re out for cleaning?

We were pretty cold after walking around more so we found a nice café and had hot drinks and apple strudel. Then Lauren decided it was time for some new shoes. The shoes she’d been wearing all day were thin flats and her feet were soaking wet, so we went to Humanic and she bought a pair of boots. We went home after that and took a two-hour nap.

When we finally got up we went to a restaurant I like on Vinohradska for dinner. We ate SO MUCH. I’m kind of used to it, but they weren’t, so even though we had planned on going to Futurum that night we just stayed in and let our stomachs deflate.

Then this morning they woke up at 8:30 to get to the airport. Nothing remarkable happened except…IT WAS SNOWING! It’s snowing right now as I’m writing this! I love snow and it’s going to look awesome, but: it’s November 11th. I still have another month of snow in Prague!?

Cestovala jsem do Dresden!

Last Saturday afternoon (as in November 3) me, Rachel, her friend Susie and Susie’s roommate Megan (both of whom are studying in Madrid) took a train from Prague to Dresden. The ride was fine, we got a compartment to ourselves, but about halfway through the lights went out and it was pitch-black in there. It made me think of the 3rd Harry Potter movie, when the dementors attack the train. Kiiiinda creepy.

Anyway, we got to Dresden, where it was drizzling, and found our hostel pretty easily. Now let me just say this: I will never, ever ever stay in a hostel I love as much as I loved that one. Our room was the CUTEST THING I’VE EVER SEEN. When we walked into our room, we thought we’d accidentally entered a 13-year-old girl’s bedroom. The walls were plastered with pictures of celebrities from magazines. Lace canopies hung over the bunk beds. Christmas lights were all around the room. There were even STUFFED ANIMALS TIED TO OUR BEDS WITH STRINGS. If we hadn’t been starving, we probably would never have left the room.

The staff at this place was also awesome. The girl working the desk was Irish, and when we asked her for good restaurant suggestions, she named about twenty and marked them all on a map for us. We ended up going to a place called Plan Wirtschaft. Service was incredibly slow…I think we were there for about 4 hours total, including waiting time beforehand. But it was a really good dinner – I had ox meat (!) with potatoes, and then Megan and I shared a dessert that was some sort of sweet bread dipped in hot vanilla sauce. It was definitely more expensive than a meal in Prague, but worth it.

After dinner it was nearly midnight, and because Susie and Megan had to leave early in the morning for their plane back to Madrid, we walked around the city a bit and took pictures of the “old” buildings. The interesting thing about Dresden is that although it was destroyed by World War II, they rebuilt the city center to look as though it were hundreds of years older.

Then we went back and slept. There was another person in our room, and she was a bitch. We were trying to be as quiet as possible getting back in the room, and she woke up and bitched that “it was late.” Then when Susie and Megan got up to leave at around 4 am, she bitched that “it was 4 in the bloody morning.” I’m sorry, but aren’t you paying €15 a night for a 6-bed room? If you’re too cheap to get yourself a private room, you have to deal with the consequences.

Rachel and I got up the next morning at around 9:30 and, per the Irish girl’s recommendation, got a breakfast brunch at a place called Cup & Cino. I ate a lot of croissants and had a tasty hot chocolate with a cute heart of cinnamon floating on top. Seriously, I don’t think there was a single thing in Dresden that WASN’T cute. The area around our hostel in general was very cool, with tons of restaurants and shops (almost all of which were closed, unfortunately, because it was Sunday.)


We then set about walking around the city…and as it turned out, there wasn’t much to it. We saw two cathedrals, the palace, some little parks and some museum lobbies all by 3 in the afternoon. Which is not to say that I didn’t love Dresden, because I definitely did. It’s not much for sightseeing, but if you just wanted to chill out with friends for a few days it would be a great place. One funny thing I noticed was that all the dogs there were HUGE. There are tons of dogs in Prague, and they come in all sizes, but I’d say the average dog is cocker spaniel sized. In Germany they were all humongous German Shepherd types…which I guess makes sense.

Once we were done walking around, Rachel and I found a cute (there’s that word again) café where we sat by a fake fireplace and drank hot chocolate and tea. We weighed our options – there was a train at 5:09 and at 7:09. We decided to go for the 5:09, because we really had nothing else to do there. The train station in Dresden was very modern and nice, and we got Burger King (again: DELICIOUS) and ate it on the way home. Overall it was a fantastic weekend and I’m so happy I was actually able to go to Germany, because until I decided to go to Dresden it looked like it wasn’t going to happen.