I apologize whole-heartedly for my lack of blogging. I don't even have an excuse for it, so I'll just accept that our relationship has been one-sided and move on.
Here are the highlights from the past week-ish:
I no longer have pneumonia!!! It's going to take awhile to get back into the swing of things. I have been out of the social game for quite some time.
I woke up early on Friday to go on an Architecture Tour around Prague with the Architecture students. It was fun... at least for me, who doesn't look at this stuff every day. By the end of it, I
was cold, hungry, and sleepy, however it was nice to do something different.
Afterwards, I got lunch with Matt and then we went on a hunt for a legit windbreaker for our 80's themed night. It was unsuccessful, but we did find a store called Second Hand, which was conveniently placed to the right of Erotic Shop. So when you weren't really paying attention, it looks like one store called Erotic Shop Second Hand. When we parted ways, I found another good vintage shop that had leopard print gloves. Yes, please. It only cost me $1.
That night, a group of us decided to go to Lucerna, which is an 80's/90's music club. We got dressed up really hardcore. I was wearing my yellow baseball cap, my new leopard print gloves, tights with shorts, and one of Devanne's jackets (because apparently, they are all from the 80s). Heavy makeup and hair-teasing ensued. We got to the club around 10:30-11pm and didn't leave until 2:45am. Yes, it was that good. I kept feeling waves of fatigue, but as soon as your favorite childhood song would end, another would come on and you couldn't resist getting into it. We spent most of the night on the stage, where we got a full view of all the Sketchy Mcsketchersons. We finally headed out and got on the tram towards the pension. However, after a few stops in, this large group of Czechs around my age came on and just started to
vandalize the tram. It was really scary actually. One guy reached over my head to draw on the window above me. I thought he was aiming for my hat. Another guy called me a Hammerhead. I don't know the significance of that, but it could be because I was wearing my hat the only was one should wear a baseball cap.
Well, alas they got off, and a few stops later, so did we. I slept well that night. The next day, I went to Petrin Hill with Matt. This was the first time I've been there since the trees started
changing colors. For all of you southerners back home who are chillin' in 80 degree weather, I am walking to class in 45 degree weather. Think about that. Anyways, we've had some beautifully sunny days recently and this was one of them. We were exploring Petrin Hill when we found ... well, not Petrin Hill. So, we turned around and decided to find the mirror maze that someone told us was at the top. We found it right beside the mini-eiffel tower, but unfortunately, it was really tiny and not as exciting as we expected. However, we didn't pay 50kc for nothing because while we were walking through it, we saw this little 3 year old run straight into a mirror. I mean, head first. And then he fell over. Hahaha.
Okay anyways, later that evening, we met up with Becca M., Bryan Brooks, and Becca H. (that's a lot of B's) for dinner. We decided to explore and ended up near Namesti Miru (the metro stop beside ours). We found an Italian restaurace called Matylda's. It was so good. Everyone was drinking barrel wine, which I don't really know what makes barrel wine good, but I couldn't join in yet due to antibiotics. Afterwards, everyone got their American fix with a McFlurry. We were all pretty exhausted from the adventures from the night before, therefore, we watched a movie in Bryan and Matt's room. We watched Heath Ledger's last movie, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009). Not bad, my friends. It's a little weird and mini-me was an awful awful actor in it, but I did enjoy it.
Let's see, the next day.. Ah yes, the next day I wanted to go exploring alone. I grabbed a baguette from the grocery store and walked to a park nearby. This park was so legit. It had a zip line! This really skinny boy was sitting on it, about to go down, when his overweight friend said something and climbed on top of the skinny boy- now straddling him- and they went down together. I was dying. I had to leave the park after that because I couldn't control myself.
I walked back toward the pension, but kept going further. I haven't ventured this way at all since I've been here. It was really nice. There were a lot of paths and small walkways. I ended up in a different part of town and decided to do a little tram-hopping. I tell you what, if you are ever bored in another country, I recommend tram-hopping. I saw the funniest people. It was nice too because I was getting a little tour of the city in areas I haven't been to yet. I found some great places, but I don't think I could navigate back there again. I wasn't paying attention to
which trams I would catch.
That evening was relatively boring from what I recall.
Monday, I went into school earlier than usual so that I could meet up with the fashion girls to discuss the big fashion show! Haha. This is going to be great, I just know it. The girls are designing clothes and the architecture students are going to be modeling for them. Somehow, I received the role as director. Ladislav, who is quickly becoming my favorite person in Prague, suggested that I make a dress for myself. I admire his optimism, however, I can barely sketch a dress, let alone sew one. Well, we decided that the Romeo and Juliet theme of their project will be depicted through a Gossip Girl genre. This means that I, the narrator, am Gossip Girl.
SUCKAS. Prepare yourself for details.
Philosophy class was kind of fun this afternoon, too. The teacher told me at the beginning that he was lacking sleep, so that might be why he was funnier than he usually is. He asked us if we wanted to go on a Philosophical Scavenger Hunt around Prague after one of our classes (is that even a question?). When we all agreed to this philosophical adventure, he said passively, "well then, if you get lost in a difficult question or a dark neighborhood, you cannot blame me." Well- played, sir, well-played.
Monday night was uneventful. In Czech class on Tuesday, man oh man did I learn how to say something good.
Byl tak oskly va, ze bych o neho kolo neoprela.
That means "he was so ugly that I would not lean my bike against him." It's going to be handy, I just know it. After class, I went to the Jewish Museum. It was awesome. There were drawings all over the walls made by Jewish children in the ghettoes. It was the way that the Jews kept the kids occupied and optimistic during the Holocaust. In one building, there were engravings of all the Jewish people from Prague who perished. We also went to the cemetery. The Jews were only allotted this small area in the city to bury their people, so they would pile dirt above other graves. Therefore, there are approximately 12 layers of a whole chunk of Jews. The tombstones are all leaning against each other.
On the way back, Matt and I picked up a bottle of wine each in preparation for anti-antibiotic night and movie night. The movie we watched was about Czech pilots who fought for Britain during WWII. It was a lot like Pearl Harbor and the best movie I've seen during movie night yet. After movie night, we stuck around the institute until it closed and then headed out to a bar called "Los v Oslu," but we just called it the Moose bar because there is a giant moose head inside. It was the first time we went there as a group and it was pretty fun. It closed around 1am, so we spent one more hour at Puerto Rico, our beloved bar close to the pension, before we called it a night.
This morning, I went to the Prague Castle with the Fashion History class. We go to a museum every other week. We went to a museum near the castle. I didn't ever check which it was, but it was everything Baroque. We saw Baroque Fashion (appropriately) in the basement, then Baroque paintings and statues. We followed a path into a cellar with Baroque artifacts that were brand new. That didn't come out right. We found a brand new exhibit with Baroque artifacts. That was a pretty sweet find.
When we left the museum, we went around the castle courtyard and ended up taking a different route back to the institute. It was so beautiful and Ladislav was narrating the whole time about how it used to look before Communism lifted and what certain doors were used for (ie, one door led directly to the King's room and he used for his secret affairs). We walked through the vineyards, back across the river, and right into Old Town Square. It was gorgeous today, too. I took awesome pictures and promise to post them ASAP.
Well that's the abbreviated version of the weekend/week/past. This weekend will include an excursion and bob-sleighing perhaps, so stay tuned kids!
