and every day is a start of something beautiful

I have two papers to write by the end of the week (14 total pages, maximum), which would be a joke by Richmond standards for any given week but here in Prague is quite a bit of work. I haven’t had to write anything all semester, unless you include the blog. But I’m pretty sure that this thing is neither mandatory nor graded, so, naturally, I got a massive case of writer’s block when I started trying to do real work. Last night I even pulled up a 20-page research paper from sophomore year ((mostly about) Klaus and Havel’s differing opinions on the Czech postcommunist economic/social transition) and spent the next hour trying to figure out how I could rework it into an 8-10 pager about an aspect of the Czech economy for my Czech economics class. Not my most successful endeavor. Anyway, I also haven’t updated in forever, and I feel like any writing at all might be better than none. SO even though the blog doesn’t count as academic writing, maybe it’ll put a crack in the wall that stands between me and two finished papers.

I just realized that I haven’t even written about Ireland yet. Phew. How’s this: I’ll do as much justice to everything that has happened over the past few weeks as I can without making this into a short novel (and consequently something that even the parents-and I know you two actually read this thing-wouldn’t make it through).

SO, let’s go back to where we left off..  May 3. Ok, so this is fairly easy. The highlight from that week (which was the week after the unrivaled trip to Austria, for a reference point), was WTCD! Surprise, surprise. We went to Prague Castle, which was totally overrun with tourists, and since I’d already been there, I sort of zoned out and took about 200 pictures instead. That’s actually not an exaggeration. We spent some time in gardens that are only open during the summer, and it was just too tempting. Also, Pavel was gone again, and Ondrej is great, but WTC was made for Pavel.

Thursday I ran off to Ireland on Ryanair.

Side note: I hadn’t actually flown anywhere since coming to Prague, because I’ve been able to do all my traveling by bus or train, so it was a bit of an experience. I’ve never done an entire airport trip by myself. I mean, I’ve come very close, and I’ve done some ridiculous transfers (like Frankfurt on the way over to Prague) but I’ve never gotten myself TO the airport. Haha. In Prague, the best way to do this is by going to the end of the A Metro line and then catching a bus. I sort of enjoyed the drive there. I’ve decided that during the next few weeks, one of my goals is to travel more to the outskirts of Prague. Prague proper is great, but things get a lot more interesting and more Czech, if that makes sense, the further you get from the center. And I came to Prague to experience Czech culture, not just the Prague lifestyle.

Anyway, the Prague airport was painless, and Ryanair plays kickass Mozart music before takeoff, so both Ryanair flights (I transferred in Dublin) were enjoyable. I got to Cork right after dinner and met Katie on St. Patrick’s Street, which is sort of a main street in Cork. A few things:

1)     I told dad about this, and he said he always had the same thing happen to him when traveling from the East to the West in Europe: I had total sensory overload when I first got to Cork. Being able to understand everything that was being said around me was really weird. I haven’t been in an English-speaking country since getting to Prague, and I think I eavesdropped by accident on about 15 different conversations within the first couple hours of landing in Cork.

2)     People driving on the left side of the road truly is as scary as everyone who travels to the UK/Ireland says it is.

3)     There aren’t really that many redheads in Ireland, or at least not in Cork. Katie and I were definitely in the minority like we are everywhere else (well, except at home)

4)     Grocery shopping is a lot easier in English, but not quite as exciting

5)     There are a lot of palm trees in Cork. ?

Katie and I spent lots of hours catching up (not like we hadn’t seen each other the week previously in Prague or anything…) and in the morning we went shopping then met up with Hannah at lunchtime! We went shopping some more, then.. hm. I think we got dinner at Wagamama’s (shoutout: 10^th grade honors English trip to Paris/London) and went to a party with a bunch of Katie’s awesome Cork friends.

Saturday, we got fish and chips with Katie’s friends and then came back and slept a lot. We went grocery shopping again, and I made mom’s pasta and some vegetables for dinner. Yum. That night, we hung out with a bunch of Katie’s friends again. Before going out, we played a Twilight movie drinking game, which was actually more fun than it might sound... Some examples, just because this is too good to pass up.. Drink if:

1)     Bella stutters

2)     Edward looks creepy

3)     A line totally clunks

4)     There’s unnecessary slow motion

5)     Edward tells Bella that he's dangerous

6)     Bella bites her lip

7)     Edward says something rude to Bella

You get the idea. Also, you can pick and choose. Otherwise, you probably wouldn’t make it halfway through the movie.

After Twilight, we went to a gay club a few blocks from Katie’s dorm. SO MUCH FUN. Lots of dancing.

Sunday, Hannah and I went on a quest for nature at the Blarney Castle park. Our original plan was to meet Gerard Butlers while walking through a national park, but as it turned out:

1)     There weren’t any huge national parks close by

2)     Turns out Gerard Butler is actually Scottish. Fail.

The fact that Gerard Butler is Scottish did not diminish our desire to see Irish nature, though, and in that respect, Blarney was very much a success. We climbed trees, saw cows (yeahhhhh Farmville), green fields, a lake, Hannah’s first wild swans, some magic steps, a waterfall, some really big plants, another epic playground that we totally took advantage of, a fern forest… uhh. We went to the castle and all that stuff, too, of course. Kissed the Blarney stone, because apparently you have to do that. It was fun. We came back and Katie had made TACOS for dinner, and it was just about the most amazing thing ever ever ever. Then we went to a goodbye party for Katie’s friend Kat, which was super fun. Monday morning, Hannah left and I left in the early afternoon to come back to Prague. Wonderful trip. A mini-Hampden-Sydney reunion was exactly what we all needed, and catching up was just the best.

I was up fairly late Monday night after getting back because I had a final in my Regionalism in geopolitics class on Tuesday, and I had to study. Luckily, lots of studying and little sleep paid off and I think the final went pretty well (knock on wood). Tuesday night we hosted a bunch of people at our apartment for TNP (Tuesday Night Pong), and we didn’t really play that much beer pong, but it was a

great night, regardless.

Wednesday, I had my internship at the Fulbright office, and that went just fine. Then, we had our test for WTC (SO SAD). It was the most ridiculously easy/absurd thing ever. Class ended with an invitation for all of us to go discuss “universal truths” with Pavel  at the beer garden by our apartment. Naturally, Rhee-Soo, Kyra, Pranadhi, and I took him up on the offer. Roman and Annabl came, too. We had some pivos, Pavel drew a map of Europe, and we played some foosball. I think we discussed universal truths and the meaning of life, too.

Thursday was consumed by Czech class, errands, and Politics of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Czechoslovakia. Yesterday, was the last Politics of etc., etc., class, and we talked about Slovakian politics. The Slovakian government is weird. Two interesting facts:

1)     Well, first, the Czech president is directly elected in a two-round voting system. That’s not the weird part. In a Slovakian presidential election, in order to win in the first round of voting, the President has to get 3/5 of the votes from all ELIGIBLE voters. Not 3/5 of the votes. So, if less than 51% of citizens vote, for example, then automatically, there would have to be a second round of elections. I don’t really understand how this system works without mandatory voting.

2)     In the case of impeachment: Parliament must first make a motion to impeach the president. If 3/5 of the members of parliament agree, then the people vote on whether or not the President should be impeached. Again, the vote is taken from the ELIGIBLE voters, not the people who turn up to vote. If 3/5 of the eligible voters in the country vote to impeach him, then he’s out, and early elections are held. HOWEVER, if less than 3/5 vote then:

a.     It is interpreted as a vote of no-confidence for the sitting parliament, and parliament is dissolved.

b.     The president gets to start a new term

This hasn’t ever actually happened, but I feel like these are the rules to some kind of board game, as opposed to part of a country’s constitution. I’m a little jealous. It sounds potentially very exciting. Thursday night, Rhee-Soo came over to hang out for a while, and we actually used our porch, for once, and made use of the Gambrinus left over from pong night.

Friday, I went to Plzen with Michael, Nathalie, and Tess. The main attraction in Plzen is the Pilsner-Urquell beer factory, so that was the focal point of the day. We took a factory tour, which was really cool, and got to try some unfiltered beer. We also had lunch at the oldest restaurant in Plzen, and I had some really good goulash. Sad that you can’t get goulash everywhere in Virginia. Friday night, Mark invited a bunch of people over to the Hvezda dorms for a party, so I ventured out to the Charles dorms for the first time. They weren’t quite as hard to find as I’d expected. Finding exactly where to go was a little trickier, but not too bad. There's a pub and a bar at Hvezda, so it was a fun time. Lovely night. 

Saturday afternoon, well, as stated at the beginning of the entry, I tried to do some work, but I ended up falling asleep at 8pm and sleeping for 13 hours. Today, I will do work. It is a promise. The sooner I finish, the better. Except that as I’m writing this entry, Kyra just said everyone is going to Petrin Hill… Decisions decisions. If only papers really would write themselves..