Paradise Lost

Just kidding with the title. This isn't quite that long. But it is an epic novel among blog posts. My apologies. 

Tuesday, I had my FIRST (Faculty of Social Sciences) CHARLES UNIVERSITY CLASSES! I’m not usually this enthusiastic about starting classes, but to be totally honest, I was getting a little stir crazy without anything on my schedule, and my apartment mates had all started their CERGE classes last week. The staggered class start date meant that I was also starting to become the receiver of such statements as “well it doesn’t MATTER when you go to bed, because you don’t have to get up at 7am for CZECH CLASS”. Legitimate and guilt inducing (both because I did not, in fact, have to get up at 7am, AND because I wasn’t formally learning any Czech yet). I should also mention that the classes at Charles aren’t particularly daunting, either, since they meet once a week for an hour and a half (with the exception of Czech, which meets for two hours twice a week).

Waking up early was a little rough, but I was still out of the house with what I thought would be sufficient time to get to my 8:20 Czech class a little early. However, it turned out that finding the correct barely-marked building on Olpetalova wasn’t the hardest part of getting to class. My classroom was on the 6^th floor, and when I reached the 5^th floor the main stair case stopped. At the opposite end of the 5^th floor, there was a tiny, enclosed spiraling staircase that went up to what I figured must be the 6^th floor. At the top of this staircase were two closed doors, neither one obviously leading into a classroom, so I went back downstairs thinking that maybe I had missed a wing of the building or something. I hadn’t. I got back up to the 6^th floor, totally flustered, and opened the door to “Graduate Student Study Room” to find my entire class a couple minutes into the lesson. There’s probably some sort of important life lesson to be learned here, but I’m not really sure what it is. Maybe: Don’t underestimate tiny spiral staircases that lead to attics with classrooms?

The Czech class was pretty fun. I have it with Renee, three German guys (one of whom has dreads and is named Sebastian. Nice, right?), A French girl, and a Spanish girl. I think it’ll be a good class.

After Czech, I headed over to the Jinonice campus (30 minutes by metro) with Renee. Our first class was cancelled by the professor, so we had a lot of free time before the next class, which we also had together. We got lunch at the cafeteria. Well, I actually bought my sandwich from a vending machine before I realized that it was just as easy to get food from the cafeteria No matter. We ate lunch in the cafeteria, and I was going to respond to some emails, but Jinonice doesn’t really get any wireless internet. Since we still had about 3 hours before “Great Powers and the Development of Czechoslovakia in Central European Context 1938-1948” we decided to explore the area around the campus. Turns out there’s an elementary school and some highway. Unless you're into the whole "sidewalks beside highways" thing, there is not really anything of interest at the Jinonice campus except for the cafeteria and classes.  When we got back to campus after our excursion, we met up with this Canadian kid named Scott who we met at orientation last week. We still had about 2 hours to kill, so we headed back into the cafeteria/social zone and hung out until class.

The doughnut looked so delicious.. unfortunately it was covered in prune paste, not chocolate. Not quite as tasty. 

The sights to see around Jinonice

“Great Powers…” was ok. The teacher seemed to be boring himself with his own lecture, and would occasionally look out the window (which was next to the desk at which he was sitting to read off of a computer screen). The lecture was accompanied by an outstanding supplementary PowerPoint presentation, consisting of four pictures of famous men (whose names I don’t remember). It wasn’t really as bad as I’m making it sound, just dry. The professor seems like a nice guy, anyway. As long as the reading is interesting, I’ll probably keep the class. I can sit through one boring hour-and-half  lecture per week.

I wasn’t signed up for the 3:30 class afterward, but I took it anyway just for kicks, because it was called “North America since WWII.” I mean, how could I pass up a chance to hear someone from another country teach a class about America? I think it's really interesting to hear other opinions about things subjects-like the United States- that are so close to me that it's hard to form objective opinions. The professor was great, and I think I would have liked to switch into the class. However, the while the class was listed online as being only 40 minutes, it was actually an hour and a half.  Therefore, it ended at 5pm, just as my next class 30 minutes away at Opletalova was beginning. Fail. We were, obviously, late to the next class. Two things I can remember from my lone class on North America:

1. “Ok next topic, American politics. You’re all too young to remember this, but who here has heard of Ross Perot?” ..what a way to introduce American politics since WWII.

2. “Dr. Putnam (he pronounced it ‘Pootnam’), as many of you know, is the author of “Bowling Alone” etc., etc. ….and I think I might write him sometime and ask him whether his name is pronounced ‘Pootnam’ or ‘Putnam.’”

Student: “It’s definitely Putnam.”

“Ok, do you really think so? I will have to write him sometime and ask.”

After “North America” we were running very late for “Economics of the Czech Republic” so we got landed with second row seats in the lecture hall. It was a great class, though. There is no doubt that I’ll enjoy it. I could write about the Czech economy here, but maybe I’ll save that for another time when I’m not still waiting for the coffee to set in? Not that the Czech economy is boring (quite the opposite), but because I cannot possibly do it justice right now.

Renee and I went and got pizza in a tucked away pizzeria after class, and it was fantastic. Then we ran by the giant bookstore in Wenceslas, where I picked up a book by David Baldacci and a novel by Cecilia Ahern, who also wrote P.S. I Love You. I will start getting real Czech literature soon, I promise. It’s just that after reading “Atonement” it is absolutely necessary that I indulge myself with some upbeat reading (that undoubtedly has also just caused whoever is reading this blog to pass serious judgment on me). It was the perfect way to end the day.

The Fanta bottle was really interestingly shaped. 

Yesterday was the first real day of my internship at the Fulbright office! I was a little nervous, just because I’ve never been an intern before, and I wasn’t sure exactly what would be expected of me.  However, after I got to the office and Jakub introduced me to all the other staff (the Director has red hair!!) and pointed out the COFFEE ROOM I felt much less nervous. He let me draft and send out a letter to about 40 people coming to a U.S. higher education fair in March, and I’m their contact. I haven’t written much in the way of formal correspondence, but I thought it looked all right. Usually I will intern on Mondays, not Wednesdays, so I’ll get to start communicating with all these representatives when I go back into the office Monday.

I work somewhere in that bulding.

I left the office at 12:30, and set off to find an umbrella because there was a chance of rain and it was WALKING TOUR CLASS DAY! I love WTCD. I was supposed to meet friends for lunch at an Indian restaurant behind CERGE before WTCD at 2pm, so I thoroughly searched the mall at the Flora metro stop in hopes of getting one before I headed to lunch, but, alas, no umbrellas were to be found. However, when I got off the metro at Museum, the street vendor on Wenceslas Square was selling them for five dollars. Go figure. Problem solved (it never ended up raining, anyway). The Indian food was superb and cheap, so I will be returning there frequently.

The topic for yesterday’s tour was “The Medieval Town of Prague: Prosperity and revolution.” I know it would be hard to ever persuade Richmond that I’m learning more from this class than I could learn from any classroom history class, but I think it might be the truth. Information sinks in better when you can see and be a part of the history that you’re studying. In the interest of time and space, won’t do an entire recap of the tour this week, but I’ll touch on a couple of interesting points and put in some pictures, since WTCD is so awesome.

Much of the focus this week was on the Hussite movement in the Czech Republic (Jan Hus, Wycliffe, etc.), so most of the architecture we looked at was connected in some way to that subject and general time period. We stayed primarily in Old Town. In addition, we looked at the reign of Kind Charles IV. Couple interesting things about him:

1. He was a talented city planner, and largely responsible for planning “New Town” in Prague. It is easy to differentiate Old Town from New Town if you look at a map because while New Town has wide lanes, green spaces (there used to be more), and a general orderly look, Old Town has small streets and is very close together without the same level of organization.
2. After his coronation, he partied in the garden of a convent.

Prague loves Charles, so I’m sure I’ll have more substantial Charles facts to share in the future. I’ll let the pictures do some talking for the rest of WTCD:

One of King Charles's planned green spaces in New Town

Inside the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Snow (interesting fact from Pavel: there is a sister church to this church in Italy)

Only lightpole of its kind (cubism!) and the gate to the garden of the (currently active) convent where King Charles partied.

Place where the first Pilsner was served!!!

Wenceslas Square from the spot where the dividing wall/moat between Old and New Town used to be

(Only?) preserved part of the original moat, available for your viewing pleasure in the Mustek Metro Station

A view of the marketplace in Old town that has been active for centuries (I think since the 1300s, but I could be wrong). It's primarily a tourist attraction now, though.

Sometimes tourist stuff is just too good not to appreciate.. hahaha

Part of the original building of Charles University

GIANT NUTELLA JAR!

Bench in the square!

I had never noticed this before, but if you look closely at the two towers on the church, you will notice the the tower on the left is slightly smaller (the "female") and the one on the left is bigger (the "male"). This architectural distinction is apparently common on churches, but I had never noticed it before. Also, fun fact: the female tower burned down and had to be rebuilt. 

Our fearless tour guide/professor Pavel pulled out his microphone when he saw someone else with one. It ended up not working, but we were all very impressed that he came armed with a microphone in the first place. 

Bethlehem Chapel, reconstructed in the 1950s by the Communist government for a reason that I cannot remember but will insert here as soon as I find it. 

After the walking tour, Pavel helped point Rhee-Soo, Pranadhi, and me in the direction of the nearest metro, and asked if we wanted to go get a beer with him and Ondrej, the other tour guide. It sounded fun, but we weren’t sure if he was serious or not, so we didn’t go. I asked Jeannie later, since she’s the resident expert on all things Prague, and she said that it’s totally normal to go have a beer with your professor, so fail on us. He wasn’t just being polite. Next time, we’re totally taking him up on the offer. Who passes up a beer in Prague?! Apparently, I did yesterday. I’m still kicking myself.

Rhee-Soo, Pranadhi, and I stopped by Tesco to get pasta, then went to their apartment, which I had never been to before and is RIGHT BY THE BABY TOWER. Sweet, huh? Dinner was fantastic, and we did some trip planning. The more I think about it, the less I want to travel too far out of the county while I’m in Prague, and the more I want to travel around to all the different towns and cities within the country and to places like Bratislava, Slovakia, and Vienna. When else will I have an opportunity to thoroughly take in Central Europe like this?

Baby tower

Dinner with Rhee-Soo and Pranadhi!

Dessert! Nutella, apples, and bread. Wonderful combination. 

Yesterday, we ended the night in the best way possible: going to Popo’s for gin and tonics.

Shopping and Sporcle

Sunday was EPIC. In every possible IKEA sense.

It was a day that started out innocently enough. I woke up at 9:30, and forgot, as usual, that no one else in my apartment would be awake until at least 12:30 (on this particular morning, it was actually something like 1pm before anyone else woke up). Now, I want to make clear that this is not a swipe at my apartment mates, because if I could sleep in a totally would. Rather, it is entirely the opposite. It is a bitter lament that I will never be able to do anything close to waking up at 1pm. Thank you Norwegian gene pool. Or maybe Dad's freakish ability to wake up at 6:30 every morning (I love you parents!). Anyway, I got up early, and after making lots of coffee and eating breakfast, I proceeded to play Sporcle games for three hours. Yes, I typed that correctly.  Instead of taking advantage of being up early on a beautiful Prague morning, instead of going to an historic museum, instead of going for a walk in a nearby park, instead of doing anything remotely admirable or noteworthy, I played Sporcle. My only small saving grace here is that I had discovered Sporcle the night before when I clicked on a link on Rhee-Soo’s blog (which you should totally check, by the way, out if you want another perspective on Prague http://rheesooinprague.blogspot.com/. For example, while I had a very productive Monday today, Rhee-Soo had the BEST MONDAY EVER.). I can name all the presidents now, though, and do other useful things like name 21 out of 25 songs on "DJ Earworm's new video United States of Pop 2009" and list the states in order of entrance to the Union..

After realizing with a jolt of shock and horror that it was 1pm, I decided to make plans. Here’s where it gets good:

I got in touch with Rhee-Soo, who was also up, and we decided to go do something noteworthy. On this particular day, IKEA seemed like the most enjoyable noteworthy thing to do, so that’s what we did.  We went back to the IKEA that I had visited during orientation, BUT this time we spent over two hours there!  IKEA is pretty much the most amazing place ever, and I got lots of good stuff like..  a laundry basket, which I desperately needed since a suitcase is no place to keep one’s dirty clothes, some rainbow colored bowls, IKEA-brand coffee, an apron, and random cooking utensils. I have never been to an IKEA in the states, and I assume that they are all pretty much the same.  However, IKEA is all new to me, and I was just totally in awe of the completely furnished model rooms all over the place that you could walk into and explore. It was just TOO much and I was sort of all over it. So much all over it, in fact, that I took about as many pictures at the IKEA as I take on walking tours. Okay, that is a lie. But we did take a lot of pictures, considering we were in a store, and not viewing anything particularly historic (although I guess you could make the argument that IKEA should be considered historic because it is so awesome). After we were done shopping, we got ice-cream downstairs at the snack booth. The ice-cream was so much fun, because there is no person to put the soft serve in a cone for you. Instead, you just get an empty cone, which you place in a machine that makes you the perfect ice cream cone. Very interesting. OH, I almost forgot to mention the most important part of the IKEA experience: there is an IKEA bus that transports shoppers from the metro station to the IKEA store. It’s even painted with the IKEA logo.

Rhee-Soo hard at work at her IKEA desk

Best bedroom ever, except for the kid who has to sleep on the floor. Clearly, we know which child is loved more in this scenario.

Seriously. This bed is awesome. 

Oh, to be a child at IKEA...

I came back and worked on a couple apps for stuff at Richmond, then went to Popo’s with the apartment mates for a little while.

It was my turn to order the nachos. 

As of today, I am the proud (trend-following) owner of straight leg jeans. Might as well just make me an official E.U. citizen. Just kidding. But it will definitely be easier to wear my boots now. Since I didn’t have class today, I decided to go out to the mall at the Zličín metro stop and get all that stuff I had been meaning to get since I got to Prague and just hadn’t gotten around to getting yet. Clothes shopping takes a little more effort here, since sizing is different in every country, but I’m going on 4 weeks in Prague, so I thought that I was ready to brave the mall scene in Prague. I got some random clothes and an extra pair of running tights, since it’s hard to keep up as well with laundry here as I would like to. I also went shopping for groceries in a GINORMOUS grocery store attached to the mall. It was set up similar to a Food Lion or Kroger, and it had a fantastic selection of Parmesan cheese, which I may revisit once mine runs out (although I’ve also heard there’s a fantastic cheese show down the street from the apartment, so it might have dibs). I was able to accomplish all of this before dinnertime because I was actually out of the apartment close to noon today!

Tomorrow is a very important day because it is my first day of REAL CHARLES UNIVERSITY CLASSES, which meet, generally once a week for an hour and a half. The exception to this rule is my Beginner Czech class, which meets two days a week for two hours a class. Tomorrow, I’ll be in class for quite a while, because this week I am taking all the classes I signed up for so that I can decide which ones I want to take for the rest of the semester. I get to start off my day at 8:20 with two hours of Czech, followed by three more hour and a half classes. It should be an absolute ball. In all seriousness though, I am really excited to start classes, and I think that the more Czech I know, the more comfortable I’ll feel in Prague. Also, fun fact, I have Beginner Czech with Renee, so I already know one person in my class! That’s always a nice thing. 

BEAT MACON.

WE INTERRUPT THIS BLOG FOR THE FOLLOWING NEWS STORY:

HAMPDEN-SYDNEY BEAT MACON!
News travels slow across the Atlantic..

For details on the event itself:
http://www.hsc.edu/athletics/basketball/2009_10/game_releases/rmc2.html

For a little more insight:
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=3476639

Even Wikipedia knows how important this is:
"Hampden-Sydney's rivalry with Randolph-Macon College is one of the longest-running college rivalries in the United States. "The Game" is often referred to as the oldest small-school football rivalry in the South.^[7] Athletic events involving the two schools are fiercely competitive, and the week prior to "The Game" between Hampden-Sydney and Randolph-Macon is known as "Beat Macon Week." "
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hampden–Sydney_College


Anyway, back to all things Prague. GO TIGERS!

Even days with colds are fun!

Yesterday, something very important dawned on me: I have ENTIRELY too many identification cards here in Prague for a person of my (to be kind) somewhat absent-minded nature to be carrying around. Now, before anyone freaks out, I have NOT lost anything. I haven’t forgotten a vital card at home when I needed it most. Not yet. But it’s going to happen-I just know it- and it’s going to happen when I least expect it. If you’re skeptical, or think that I am, perhaps, exaggerating my identification dilemma, I will make a list to prove just how dire my dilemma is. Actually, I’ll just list them all here anyway, so I can come back to this blog and use it as a checklist when I inevitably get that uneasy feeling in my stomach. I have a:

1. Passport
2. Driver’s license
3. Insurance card
4. ISIC Student card
5. CERGE student identification card, which I must have at all times to get into CERGE palace
6. Charles University ID card, which I must have on me for everything else Charles University related
7. Gym membership card, which I must produce every time I go to the gym
8. Transportation pass, which is checked by the police force on random days at random metro stops. I have already been checked once
9. University of Richmond ID. I should have left it at home. I do not need it. It’s in a suitcase right now so that I can’t lose it

And then there’s also my debit card, which is not exactly a traditional form of identification, but does have my name on it, AND is my sole source for ATM cash. Of course, I don’t take my actual passport anywhere, so that’s not really an issue. Same with numbers 2 and 3. It’s numbers 4 through 8 plus the debit card that are going to cause problems. Time to invest in a real wallet? I think yes.

Wednesday, I had my first real class since I’ve been in Prague! It was my 3-hour walking tour class through CERGE. We were all a little apprehensive about spending 3 hours outside in 30 degree weather, but it turned out not to be to bad at all. Granted, we only spent 2 hours outside this time, because the first hour was an introductory lecture by the professor. However, I think it’s going to be a great class. The theme on Wednesday was “How Statues Speak,” so Pavel, our professor, talked about the significance of some of the statues in Old Town and on and across the Charles Bridge. One easily recognizable figure that appears in many statues, for example, is St. John. Legend has it that when he was tossed from the Charles bridge after being tortured, five stars appeared in the sky as he hit the water. Therefore, many statues of St. John have a halo of 5 stars around their heads. The stars also appear elsewhere. On one fountain, they appear to be coming out with the water from a lady’s pitcher. We ended the tour by climbing many stairs to the top of a tower in Lesser Town. Long hike up, but there were excellent views of the city.

St. John and his 5 stars

5 stars on the water coming out of the pitcher

Only surviving arch from the first bridge across the river

One view from the tower

Another view with the river in the background

On the tower!

 We went to dinner at Radost a couple hours after the walking class, because it is so wonderful and Rhee-Soo and Pranadhi hadn’t been there yet! The original dinner group was six people, but we had a difficult finding seating for 6 at 7 on a Wednesday night. This was the case because restaurants in Prague don’t turn over tables like American restaurants (as in, a waiter will not offer you a check or make it seem like maybe it’ time to go). They will let you sit there for hours. It’s sort of nice, but not really very efficient. We did find a table for four, though, and in the interest of Rhee-Soo and Pranadhi getting to try the food there, we split up the dinner party. The food was fantastic, as usual.

Coca Cola Light! I love the bottles. None of that"Diet" mess, either.

Pranhadi and Michaela

Rhee-Soo and I

After dinner, Kate and Renee (the two girls I met at international orientation) came over to hang out at the apartment, and then we went to the Charles University International Club’s Welcome Party at a club right next to the Charles Bridge. It was literally jutting into the river. We had a great time, and I was quite proud of myself for using the tram system for the first time afterwards to get back to the apartment. I would have just used the metro, but it’s closed from 12 to 5, so it was not an option.

Thursday, I woke up with a cold, and spent most of the day choosing classes and trying to figure out a schedule for my classes at Charles. It took forever and a day because the class descriptions weren’t really in the same place as the class times, and the number of credits each class was worth was also not entirely obvious, and so on and so forth. BUT at the end of the day, I had a pretty decent selection of classes from which to draw.

Friday morning I still had a cold, but it was definitely better. I registered for classes at 10am and some of them filled up quickly, but for the most part this was not the case. I guess Charles University students aren’t as crazy-obsessed with picking out the perfect classes and best schedule as Richmond kids. No fear. I was there to represent in all my obsessive class-picking glory. I spent at least 2 hours pouring over the schedule, and worked out what I think is a great schedule. After nearly taking a class on the History of Poland that would have been taught in Czech (oops) and signing up for two back-to-back classes that were in buildings across the Charles Bridge from each other (oops), I have classes that I like and that are possible for me both understand AND attend. As soon as I’m sure about my schedule, I’ll write about it, but I don’t want to jinx anything (yeah, it’s that good).

Yesterday night I went out for dinner with Kyra, Jeannie, Kate, and Renee at a delicious Thai Place near the Charles Bridge called Lemon Leaf Thai. I got some sort of curry dish with vegetables and pine nuts. Perfection. After dinner, we got Michaela and went for drinks at a super cute cocktail bar a few blocks up Vinohradska, where Rhee-Soo met up with us! I guess super cute is not really the right description. More like… small and cozy with a hint of 70s themed décor. I got a Pacific, mostly because I wanted something blue. Kate got the Flying Kangaroo, so fitting (but she’s going to kill me for putting it online), and Jeannie got this great gin/cucumber/ginger drink that everyone else started ordering, and which I’ll apparently have to try next time.

Lemon Leaf

Lemon Leaf

Pacific!

Today, I will go to the gym. I have decided that I must find the motivation to trek to the gym here, because it is sort of far away and I have only been twice since I got my pass. Unacceptable. Therefore, I have decided to sign up for the Hervis Prague Half-Marathon! http://www.praguemarathon.com/en/2010/hervis-prague-half-marathon-10/hervis-prague-half-marathon/about-the-race. I’m doing it because it sounds fun, of course, but also because I figure that a long distance run looming in my immediate future ought to provide a little extra incentive to get to the gym. Jeannie might do it with me, which would be totally awesome. Half-marathon number three, here I come! Haha..

This has gotta be the good life

Monday and Tuesday of this week I had my orientation at Charles University, quite the contrasting experience to my orientation at CERGE. I found the Hollar Gallery building, where the orientation was to be held, on Google Map the night before so that I wouldn’t get lost, and it was definitely a good idea. The building is located right on the river, a beautiful location, but there’s no huge sign out front that says “Hollar Gallery” so it was reassuring to know what it looked like (it did say Hollar on the outside wall I guess, but I don’t always notice that sort of stuff). I walked in and followed signs to get to a fairly small, stadium seating lecture hall. It was pretty nondescript except for the serpent head at the bottom end of the railing on the wall. Prague is full of wonderful touches like that.

There were about 100 international students in total, and I sat next to a friendly girl from the Ukraine named Helen. Cyril Simsa, the guy in charge of all the international stuff at Charles talked to us for about an hour and a half, with two breaks for coffee (or smoking). I took full advantage of the nifty coffee machine downstairs that makes instant cappuccinos, mochaccinos, lattes, or whatever else you want from it’s 20 choice dropdown list. Plus, they’re less than 50 cents, so what’s not to love?

Cyril Simsa has a dry humor comparable, I think, to Ricky Gervais (thinking specifically about his character in the British version of the Office or as the museum curator in Night at the Museum). Some amusing deadpan lines from his lecture:

“You can see the Jinoice campus from this side of the river, actually. It’s the building that’s painted brick red. It’s not actually brick, but they decided to paint it that color for God knows what reason. We’re all still trying to figure that out..”

“Don’t unplug the computers in the computer lab to plug in your own computer. The connections only work for those specific computers, anyway, and the only thing that can possibly happen if you do this is that the entire system will likely shut down and everyone will hate you.”

“You’ll need a class code to register. Now, they are all assigned at random. There is absolutely no logic to it. So don’t look for any logic. The letter for social sciences is ‘J’. Again, no logic behind it.”

Maybe you had to be there.

Anyway, after class I came back to the apartment to chill and baked cookies with Hannah from the apartment upstairs. Then Kyra, Michaela, and I went to the Mucha Museum, which is, incidentally, right beside CERGE palace. Mucha is a famous Czech artist, and you’ve probably seen some of his work before. I really enjoyed the museum, and will likely go back while I’m here.

I also want to note here that I’ve tried to pay my rent for two days in a row, but the first day I came too late (3:30, and the work day finished at 3, which I did not know) and yesterday no one answered (even though I was thinking ahead and got there at 2:30). Oh well, today I’ll go around 1, and there will be no excuse for no one being there. My apartment mates found the landlord earlier yesterday and said she seemed almost surprised that they were paying so close to on time, so I don’t think my two-days late payment should be too much of an issue. Fingers crossed.

Monday night we went to a fantastic Greek restaurant called Taverna Kri Kri that was about 6 blocks from the apartment. Service was a little slow, but the food was excellent, so it was all right. Then we headed to Popo’s with Rhee-Soo and Pranadhi, two other girls on the program who live a couple blocks away from us. Apparently, word got around about how much we love Popo’s, because like 10 other kids from the program also came. Good times.

Yesterday I had more “orientation”, but it was mostly just paperwork and getting us registered for classes. I had a chance to meet some more people, including a girl from Transylvania, Romania (cool, right??), a few guys from the States, a girl from William and Mary, and a girl from Australia. I ended up going to lunch with Renee (W&M) and Kate (Australia), which was a lot of fun. Also, I need to express here my gratitude for all the stuff the people at CERGE have done for us. While I realized that they were taking care of a large number of issues for us (phones, foreign police, meeting with realtors, getting us to a good location from the airport, etc.), I hadn’t really realized exactly how difficult it is to get all this done. Or, to put it more accurately, I realized how difficult it was, but I hadn’t considered the possibility that one might really come here as a student and have to do all that without any help. However, this is exactly what happened to a lot of the kids studying at Charles. In the case of the two girls, they’d gotten dormitory housing, not realizing just how bad it can be here. Forget bad dorm cohesiveness, or that section of rooms in the basement of the old dorm, or the floor that has the air conditioning system that never works quite right. This is "bad dorms" at a whole different level. Like, dorm projects. To illustrate, one girl’s taxi driver asked her if she was sure she wanted to get out in front of her dorms because it was “no place for a young woman to be.” She was going to stick it out for a week and look around for alternate housing. But, then she decided to take a shower, and there were no shower curtains on the showers in the co-ed bathroom. That was the final straw, and her mother freaked out and told her to stay in a hotel as long as she needed to. Similar stories from a couple other people. The good news is that I hear people ARE finding flats.

After orientation, I headed over to the Fulbright office to meet Jakub, who will be my supervisor for the internship. He couldn’t be nicer, and the office staff members seem great, too. I’m really excited to start, and he’ll set me up with a regular weekly shift once I know my class schedule at Charles. The only potentially dangerous thing about this internship is that the “Flora” metro stop where I get off is quite literally connected to a mall. Ok, so mostly kidding about the dangerous part. Mostly. Sorry, bank account.

I came back and made mom’s pasta for dinner, which was amazing, and then set about doing stuff like updating my resume for Jakub, replying to friends that I’d been meaning to get in touch with, and taking a shower.

I haven’t done much to speak of yet, today unless this blog post counts, but at 2pm I have my first real class (the one through CERGE). It’s a three-hour walking history of Prague, and I’m really excited. I have it once a week all semester. Today, it’s a little chilly, so I’ll have to bundle up a little bit, but 30 degrees is nothing compared to the temperatures we took the tours in last week, so I should be fine.

Also, title reference http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPDV7JDA2f8

Chilling

I viewed this weekend as sort of a breather, since I just finished the CERGE orientation, but haven’t yet had the Charles University orientation or started my internship at the Fulbright office. Friday, CERGE had an “end of orientation” lunch at Café Louvre downtown, and it was fantastic (http://www.cafelouvre.cz/en/). I had excellent espresso and a lot of wonderful food. 

Excellent espresso and wonderful food at Cafe Louvre

Afterward, I tried reading Atonement again, but I’ve decided that this is a book I’m just going to have to skim through for the time being if I ever want to finish. It’s just so depressing. Therefore, I read some of Freakonimics. That was interesting, but I think I need to get my hands on a real novel. Friday night, we went out to the Cave Bar, a bar whose real name I still can’t remember, even though I’ve been there twice.  I was exhausted, though, and left with some friends after about an hour. After getting some pizza and the best junk food ever, smažený sýr (fried cheese- it’s basically a mozzarella stick sandwich, but so much better..), I went to bed.

Saturday, I formally declared Chill Day, at least in my head. I got up late, made banana bread, then went running at the gym. This was my second trip to the gym, and I feel that I should say a few words here about going to the gym in Prague. I had heard before coming over that most people in Prague are not as fanatical about going to the gym as Americans. When I got here, I realized that this is definitely the case- at least sort of. There are plenty of gyms around; in fact, there’s one about a block from my apartment. However, you can’t walk into most of these gyms and just hop on a treadmill then go do some weights. Instead, you go take classes (which is usually an option at American gyms, but perhaps the exception rather than the rule?). While I totally respect this attitude toward working out, I don’t really subscribe to it, so I needed to find a gym where I could go work out on my own time. Enter: World Class Fitness Center in Wenceslas Square. As I pretty much expected (though it sort of surprised me anyway), World Class was not that much bigger or busier than Farmville’s YMCA, occupying a few large basement rooms. It is definitely smaller than Richmond’s fitness center, and the TVs by the cardio equipment are probably from the late 90s or early 2000s. It’s got a retro feel, and I love it. I also have already had a tard moment there. The treadmill I started using on the first day kept distance in kilometers instead of miles (obviously, they all do). That much I saw immediately, and I was pleased that I had noticed. However, I didn’t quite make the next step, which was that my speed wasn’t in miles per hour. I tried to start running, and after putting it all the way up to 8 "mph" without it getting noticeably faster than my normal pace I sort of shrugged and made a face at the machine and walked away to find one that wasn’t “broken”. This was witnessed by runners on both sides of my machine. It hit me on my way to the second machine that it was me, not the machine, that was the problem. I set my pace with kilometers per hour, and everything was smooth sailing from there. Almost manages to make running on a treadmill interesting. A couple more interesting points about the gym:
1. There are no water fountains. Like everywhere else in Prague, you must pay for a water bottle if you don't want to die by dehydration.
2. There is a free-for-all tanning bed in the locker room, which I think I will probably not take advantage of, owing to the skin tone that came with my red hair.

Anyway, after the gym, I went to the National Museum with Kyra. The museum is about 4 blocks from our apartment, and it’s beautiful. It must have originally been a palace. I’m not really sure why it’s called the National Museum, because it’s more of a natural history museum, but it’s great. There are tons of museums in Prague, though, so it’s quite possible that there’s other buildings with different subjects. In this museum, though, there’s an exhibit on volcanoes where you can walk though the volcano and stand on fake lava outside it. It was very exciting.  In retrospect, I probably got a little more excited than is acceptable for someone who is 20 years old. Whatever. If (when..) I go back, I'll probably like it just as much. There’s also an ocean exhibit, a prehistoric exhibit with a huge dinosaur skeleton, and about ten thousand rooms of STUFFED ANIMALS. Seriously. I think I have never seen so many stuffed animals in my entire life. A taxidermist’s dream-come-true. Really interesting, but a little morbid. Downstairs, we found posters advertising a bunch of other museums in and around Prague. A lot of them were located in breathtakingly beautiful old palaces and have gardens, so I am opting to see them once it’s a little warmer outside. I’m already starting my spring sightseeing list, and it’s February.

Volcano with fake lava you can walk on

Dinosaur skeleton

One view of the palace museum

A small, small taste of the taxidermy craziness

Michaela made her amazingly delicious potato soup for dinner again last night, and then my apartment mates went out to the 5-story dance club. I opted to stay in, simply because I was exhausted and wanted a night to do nothing. I borrowed Michaela’s copy of “9 to 5” and was totally content chilling on the couch and trying to figure out my travel schedule. Also, I hadn’t taken the time to listen to OneRepublic’s new album in full until last night. It was the perfect music for chilling.

Today, I got up late again, and the apartment went to Café Louvre for brunch, since it IS Valentine’s Day and all (not celebrated quite as much here, but, nevertheless, celebrated). Then I went to Tesco and shopped for makeup. I went straight for the Maybelline, simply because it was familiar. Also, I realized that I’ve gotten really good at using the metro and changed lines with no problems on the way back to the apartment. I’ve never actually had a problem with the metro system here (probably at least partially because it’s ludicrously easy as far as metro systems go: three lines, three intersections), but for a while I always felt like I was going to mess it up. No longer the case.

I got back to the apartment and Skyped with my family for a while before they went to church. Nitra is in the midst of college searching and visited Richmond yesterday to get the official tour! I had told her that she’d probably get one of my friends as a tour guide, and I was right. She got to take her tour with Jenn! Super exciting.

Tonight, the apartment may go out to see Valentine’s Day, the movie, even though the New York Times gave it one of the most scathing reviews I’ve ever seen (http://movies.nytimes.com/2010/02/12/movies/12valentine.html). 

A Picture Post!

I haven't been putting pictures up with my posts, because uploading pictures onto this site is tedious, and I have lots of pictures on my Facebook page already. However, one of my friends pointed out that not everybody reading this blog will look at my pictures on Facebook. SO, I'm going to start putting a couple pictures up with the blog entries when I have time. This is sort of a catch-up post, with some favorites from what I've done so far. 

Leaving the country

My room!

I found the peanut butter before the nutella... go figure. hahaha

High Society! My first legal drink out (besides Pilsner)

Oh, Starbucks. You know just how to cater to the Czech farmer..

Metro!

Old Town

Friends!

More Friends!

At Radost

Baking chocolate chip cookies!

An important building on the left and a Pilsner van!!!

Converse shoes on the cold cold cold day. My toes are freezing under those white tops. Literally. 

Charles Bridge on the left. So beautiful. 

SO COLD.

I am in love with the Jewish Graveyard because it is a photographer's dream. Hence, the next thousand pictures that I couldn't narrow down very well for the blog. 

Jewish Graveyard

Jewish Graveyard

Jewish Graveyard

Synagogue

Jewish Quarter

Prague Castle

When the flag's up, Klaus is there

Good King Wenceslas's Tomb

Prague Castle

Man on the right is the best tour guide EVER. Seriously. He knows everything about Prague. 

Prague Castle

Prague Castle

THE WINDOW WHERE THE SECOND DEFENESTRATION OF PRAGUE OCCURRED.

Obviously, I had to act it out and take a picture. 

Prague Castle

Fun fact: the ribbing is purely decorative. It didn't become functional in architecture for a couple more centuries. 

Prague Castle

Prague Castle

I don't think this is historically significant, but my favorite coffee shop at the beach in Oak Island, NC, (where my family goes for a week every summer) is called the Flying Pig. I am printing this out and sending it to them. 

Golden Lane at Prague Castle

Friends!

Prague Castle

Alright, I think these photos give an okay photographical summary of my time in Prague so far. Not perfect by any means, but I have four months to post pictures, so I think this is a pretty decent start.