I just had the best lunch.
I had a History of Fashion class earlier this afternoon, which was long and boring, but afterwards I had an hour and a half to kill before Philosophy. So, I wandered off in the direction of the Old Town Square and I found this place that had a Pizza Happy Hour. I went in, ordered some drink that was the size of my fist, re-ordered water, then my pizza. The reason I am telling you this is because I DID IT ALL IN CZECH.
Oh my god, this is not a drill. I convinced the shit out of the waiter that I was Czech! I cannot express how excited I am. I even ate my pizza with a fork and knife just to reiterate the possibility that I may not be a foreigner. And let me tell you- that's not an easy task to accomplish. My pointer finger really hurts now.
At one point, a woman walked past my table and pointed to my Freud philosophy book that I've been carrying around Prague in hopes that I will all of a sudden get an overwhelming urge to read it (but let's be honest, how many times do you get an urge for Freud?). Anyways, homegirl said something in Czech which I just assumed meant, "Do you enjoy Freud?" I giggled and shook my hand to mean "ehhh..." I even said "neeeh" (meaning "no") She laughed and walked away. As my friends at school would say, "BUCKETS!" I convinced another!
Which brings me to another observation I had while I was at Pizza Happy Hour. I heard the Ketchup Song for the 6th time since I've been in Prague. I swear, if I hear it one more time, I will stand up, declare that I am, indeed, not Czech, and then do the folkdance like it's the last Shabbat at camp. I get a little flustered every time I hear it because I just want to dance. I wish I had urges like this for Freud, instead- it would be more productive.
I guess I should update you about the rest of yesterday because it was pretty exciting.
The metro was closed for some reason another. I assume it was because someone jumped. (I have to edit this line. See, at first I was kind of teasing because no one would automatically assume that someone just jumped in front of a metro. I thought that there was some construction going on or perhaps they needed to clean the tracks, I don't know. Today, we found out what actually happened-- someone did jump. I feel really guilty for assuming that it was such an absurd idea. RIP Metro Jumper.)
So, I had to take the tram. No big deal, right? Especially because I have already mastered the tram system. Oh neh, neh, neh. I had a feeling that it might be an adventure, so I got dinner beforehand at Bohemian Bagel. The food selection was dank and it was actually pretty American, aka free tap water, english menus, etc. I may be visiting there often as well. I got really nervous about what to do with my dishes when I was finished, though. In most places, you can just leave your plate on the table and walk away, but I didn't want to be that obviously rude American, so I tried to watch another table to see what they would do. It didn't help because I was in a completely isolated section of the restaurant. Of course. I stood up, admitted my un-czech-ness, and dropped my plate off at the front.
Afterwards, I took my loyal Freud book and went on my way to find the tram stop. I have no idea where I ended up, but the tram I needed was not going to be stopping there. I studied the tram stops for a good 20 minutes until I recognized that Tram 5 was going to Flora, which sounded familiar. I hopped on it, went all the way to the Prague slums (which, in comparison to American slums, it's rather sophisticated), then got off at Flora. It took approximately 30 minutes to get there. I hopped off, and jumped onto the tram I needed to find that I was only going 2 stops further. Another successful adventure.
When I got back to the institute, I was so mentally exhausted from that, that I expected not to go out, but Jed advised to not let fatigue keep me from enjoying myself. Therefore, when I was invited to go back to Puerto Rico with a group, I couldn't say neh.
To sum up, I got drunk for the first time in Puerto Rico, scratch that- Prague. It was great. Good beer, good company, yayyyyy
I was in a rush when I finished the last sentence because I had my first Philosophy class and I didn't want to be late. But last night was a lot of fun. Most of the group I was with got distracted by a group of Architecture students from Montana, but those that didn't, aka Matt, ended up being my entertainment for the night. Actually, Art was there for awhile too but I have no idea when he left. He never says goodbye, he seems to just disappear. When we got back to the Pension, I was saying some of the most spazzed out things. The whole experience vaguely reminded me of freshman year. Ahhh, memories.
The Philosophy class was okay. Again, it was very long, but most of the conversation we had was about how Media is one present-day myth. I felt a little silly because I'm a media major and so at first I was keeping quiet, but then I brought some of my fancy media knowledge on the table, into what I like to call "pressing questions." Ba-dum-cha. The final thought that our teacher left us with was about how you can never enter the same river twice. That reminded me of the book I didn't get to finish over the summer, "The Alchemist." So, since class ended, I've been trying to find an english bookstore where I could possibly locate that book.
I'm not very hungry now since I didn't want to give away the fact that I'm not Czech earlier by asking for a box to take home. Therefore, I devoured the pizza during Pizza Happy Hour. But, I went over to the Country Life Grocery Store to get some staples to keep at the Institute. It's weird that I am down on the main floor with just one other person (and this chick that's doing an independent study) because I went upstairs to look at the library and it was POPPIN' up there. I'm a little envious that I get so much privacy. Anyways, the moral of the grocery store story was that I am going to attempt to become good at cooking while I'm here. It will become one of my primary goals. Mom- send me recipes (is that considered cheating?) No seriously, though. I just bought what I think is seasoned tofu, tomatoes, multi-grain noodles, and soy sauce? Any ideas what I could whip up with that? I'll take a picture of the creation I eventually make.
