"So-Dium" Long

Krakow. Oh wow.

So, about a week and a half ago, I committed myself to go to Poland this past weekend. Talk about a whimsical adventure. I went with Matt and then three people we met through the NYU program in Cesky Krumlov; Henry, Michelle, and Stephanie.

We found our hostel relatively easily and it was superb.

It was only $11 per night and they gave us breakfast, a polish salad (more about that later), homemade lemon vodka, and one of the girls that worked there took us out (throughout the trip, of course). Also, they had the radio on at most hours. It was amazing. If you ever go to Krakow, stay at Zodiakus. Best hostel I've stayed at yet.

First of all, we took the night train. It costed us only about 95kc for a roundtrip ticket. That's crazy talk in this continent. We spent half of the ride bouncing off the walls with excitement for the trip and the fact that we were sitting in our own cabin with 6 shelves as beds. It was the first time that I truly felt like I was back-packing around Europe on a college-student-budget.

Amazing.

We finally felt exhausted enough to sleep around 1:30am. Therefore, I climbed up to the highest bed and cozied myself up to the cheap blankets. A few hours later, we heard a tapping on the door. We were 20 minutes away. The train sort of lulls you to sleep. It was peaceful... well, except for when we sat at a train station for an hour or so. Actually, at one point, we were wating for at least 30 minutes, but when we started moving again, we were moving in the opposite direction. I don't understand but we made it to Krakow with perfect timing.

Anyways, we got there around 7am, ate breakfast, then napped in the common room until our room was ready (around 9am). We settled in and headed out around the city. We decided to hop onto a free tour of Krakow but I don't think we stayed for even 1/4 of it because we ditched it about an hour in. Three hours later, we ran into the tour group at the castle. It was silly. We hid from the tour guide so that he wouldn't judge us.

So after we saw beautiful views of the river and the city, we decided to indulge in Polish treats. This wasn’t actually a decision we had planned. We were walking past a treat shop when we discovered it and without discussion, we all walked it. Each of us ordered something different and then shared with the rest. The Polish women that worked there were real nasty. They refused to give me forks so I forced Henry to use his charm and wit to get them. He came back with only 2. Despite Matt being on antibiotics for tonsillitis, we all dug in feverishly.

When we ditched the tour, we got lunch at a Thai restaurant. Overall, it was unimpressive but we weren't hungry afterward. We continued on our own tour around Poland. We went up to the castle and walked around. Great views and better opportunities to take pictures. You see, Henry and Michelle have been playing this game all over Europe where they take pictures in the exact same pose as another tourist. They call it "posing with friends," and I got to join in, too.

We continued our adventure around the Jewish Quarter. Actually, we had intended to see Schindler’s Factory [Schindler’s List], however we arrived 5 minutes after the last tour started. Don’t worry, that didn’t slow us down.

Next stop was back to the hostel for Traditional Polish Salad night! Sounds delicious right? Err, wrong. Well, if I’m being honest, I didn’t mind it. I owe my adventurous taste-testing to my mother’s adventurous cooking (Thanks Mom). Everyone else, however, were left unsatisfied. Henry took one bite and then started to bribe us to eat it for him. I know it’s considered rude if you don’t eat someone’s food in America, but for some reason I feel like it’s 10x more extreme here. Anyway, we ended up splitting up the leftover salad on all of our plates to make it look like we each tried some and then went to go get a substantial dinner close by.

The restaurant we chose apparently had the best pierogies, but that didn’t really matter because OUR HOST WORE WHITE GLOVES. Isn’t that cool? The food was, overall, nothing special. Well, except Matt’s. He got salmon pasta and it tasted like barbeque and death. That's pretty special.

After dinner, we wondered around looking for a place to hang out. We ended up at a place that the hostel recommended called Alchemia (I think). The environment was awesome. There were basically two candle sticks as the only light and all the booths were wooden. Combined with the rooms filled with people and the cheap beer, we were enjoying ourselves. We were real tired after only a few drinks, so we headed back to the hostel and called it a night.

On Saturday, we went back to Schindler’s Factory. I’m really glad we went back because I really – I don’t want to say “enjoyed” because no one enjoys the Holocaust, but I benefitted from the experience. The museum was extremely well done and effective. It was structured in a timeline format and each room had a completely different environment. So, when the Nazi’s invaded Poland with their propaganda, we walked through a room that was everything-swastika, even the floors. When the city was destroyed, we walked through a cave with a soft ground. It opened up to a gravel room. In a display, there were items in the gravel like eyeglasses and buttons. The whole museum was such an experience.

Afterward, we went to a bagel shop called Bagel Mama. Apparently, Henry, Michelle, and Stephanie read about it in wiz-air magazine on the airplane. It was owned by an American. I enjoyed my first tuna melt since I left the states. Mmm, tuna melts.

The next stop was a market area we found. It was cooler than any markets I have been to in Prague because the items were legit. I mean old jewelry, nazi badges, vintage clothing. You had to bargain prices, too. I wanted to get something but couldn’t bring myself to pay 11 zloties for a necklace.

Which brings me to the topic of sluts. The money that Poland uses is called “zloty.” Therefore, a ticket on the bus, let’s say, would be 3 zloties. To make things easier for us, we chose to just say 3 sluts. Everything became slutty real quick. We were passing sluts around all weekend.

Okay, I’m finished being immature. We took the public bus to the famous salt mine about 20 minutes away in Wieliczka. I love public transportation. We got there and paid about 50 sluts to see it. That would be about $17. For a two-hour tour really far below the surface of the Earth (I can’t be specific because I couldn’t convert the measure they use here to something I could understand), it was pretty cheap. Apparently, we only saw 1% of the salt mine, too. These miners were something else though. They’ve been digging in this mine for centuries. They carved statues to prove it. Also, there were salt chapels. We had a really good time here. The highlight of this place, though, was when we spent a solid 20 minutes making salt puns such as “carpe so-dium” or “I’m bitter about that experience.”

We bebopped back to Krakow with time to spare before dinner. Everyone split up at one point. Stephanie had a skype-date, Michelle and I went back to the hostel for a power nap, while the boys went on a bro-walk. That’s code for bonding. Eventually we met back up and the boys took us to a Latin restaurant they discovered during bonding. Michelle wasn’t feeling well, so we had to leave her behind.

Sucks, cause dinner was delectable. I had a massive child-sized burrito. Everyone else had fruit-stuff meat, which apparently tasted like 5 stars and was priced at 3. It was so great that we decided to return again the next night before the meal was over. We shared crème brulee and chocolate mousse. Also, this was my first experience with chili chocolate. Chili chocolate, for those who don’t know, is spicy. I do not recommend anyone to try this unless you have a stuffy nose. It’s not worth it.

I forgot to mention that this was vodka-night at the hostel and they were going to take everyone out to different clubs around Krakow. We all took lemon vodka shots before we left. Actually, we took two because Alicja (the girl that worked there) claims that it is tradition to take a shot whenever someone leaves. It was delicious.

After dinner, we found everyone still at the hostel even though it was past the time that they were going to go out. Alicja insisted to take us to her favorite café/pub. Im glad she came with us because we had a great time in this hidden place. In Poland, people drink their beers with syrup and straws. Punks. While we were hanging out with Alicja, her sister showed up with her boyfriend. Her TWIN sister. Twins freak me out. They were wearing the exact same thing, too. It was funny because when I pointed that out to them, they looked at each and as if on cue, they both laughed at the exact same moment, at the exact same pitch.

We spent most of the time there playing “True or False,” but it was the Polish version and Alicja couldn’t figure out how to translate all of them into Englis. We talked a lot about the differences between Poland and America, Poland and Prague. Poland is actually very, very similar to Prague. I was talking to Ladislav about this today and he said that they have almost identical histories, even with the same king at one point. However, Poland is a lot more religious for some reason.

We didn’t stay out very late because as Henry said, “I don’t want to be hungover for Auschwitz.”

We were picked up the next morning for Auschwitz. It is about an hour drive outside of Krakow, but there was a tour that organized the whole thing for us. I was bonding with a girl from Leeds on the way. When we finally got there, the mood suddenly changed. Everyone became very tense. We walked around the main Auschwitz area for two hours. We saw the famous gate that says, “Work Will Set You Free.” We also saw the torture chambers and a gas chamber. Most of the main camp became an exhibit. I didn’t realize this until I took a tour, but there were a lot of different parts to Auschwitz.

After a short break, we went to Auschwitz-Birkenou, which is the main death camp. It was a bus-trip away, though. This part of the camp was completely preserved the way it was after the war. Most of the buildings collapsed, but there were a few that we could walk in. We saw the bathroom and the building that they slept in. There were two parts, though, where I was really moved: when we were standing on the platform where they decided the fate of each person (fit or not fit), and when we were standing beside the gas chamber ruins. When the Nazis realized they were about to lose the war, they destroyed the gas chambers in hopes of covering up the plot.

Overall, the whole experience was really powerful. I needed to recoup afterwards. We got back to Krakow and were starving. As promised, we went back to Manzana. We thought we could get away with going a second night, but our waitress recognized us (even though she wasn’t our waitress the first night). Henry kept talking about these street sandwiches you can buy and how badly he wanted one before we left. I told him I would split one with him so we did “for dessert.” When we got back to the hostel, Henry tried some Polish sour soup, too. That kid had to have been stuffed afterwards.

I forgot to mention that on our walk back, we met another American. This guy seemed so normal and legit and then he slips it in that he's an opera singer. He sang for us... in the middle of Poland. At 10PM. So funny.

We left Krakow around 10:30PM on Sunday via the night train again. This time, we shared our cabin with a man named Steve from Manchester. He was real friendly, but he went to bed right away, so the rest of us felt obligated to do the same. By 11:30PM, I was out. However, I kept waking up and looking out the window because it was beautiful.

The guy on the returning train wasn’t as nice as the first one because he unlocked our door, turned on our lights and said, “GET UP!” Oy. We got back to Prague and that was it- the end of our Krakow trip!

Not too shabby, eh? I know it took me forever to get this blog up, but I’ve been a busy bee with the beekeeping class making wax candles and a cooking class. I made a Czech meal from scratch last night. More specifically, I made bread, cheese and carrot spread to go with the bread, a soup that starts with the letter K, and Moravian pie. Yup.

Oh and today I went to a provocative museum. The art is called Decadent Art, which Ladislav informed me meant debauched or disgusting art. Techincally, we went to see a textile exhibit, but a part of the provocative exhibit was on the main floor so we convinced Ladi and Nina to let us go see it. It was… well, provocative. For example, you know those plastic doll sets where you break off the different body parts and put together a doll with accessories? There was a giant one of Jesus on the cross. There was a whole wall of pictures of naked people with piercings in inappropriate places, looking like they are getting tortured and fashion bags over their heads. The display was called “fashion victims.”

The building across the street had the rest of the exhibit. I might have to go see just because it was so interesting.

Okay, okay, I’m done writing my novel.

Gestapo Diary Entry

Dear Gestapo,

I am leaving to go to Poland right now. I will be visiting Auschwitz. Prepare yourself.

In other news, I would like to blog about some events that have occurred in the past few days. However, I do not have time.

Therefore here are the highlights that I will elaborate on further in the future:

-Part Dva Club Night with NYU kids and crazy fun falling up stairs to the bro pad.

-Sketching a 68 year old overweight woman.

-American Movie Night

-Czech Movie Night

etc, etc. I'll talk to you later Gestapo.

Shalom,

Iris

Moshed Potatoes

I participated in a sick pot-luck dinner Friday night.

Everyone made dishes and somehow I ended up in a program with a whole bunch of top chefs. Becca and I made spinach-stuffed mushrooms (yeah, I hope your mouth is watering right now). I wish I could describe how awesome everything was. The highlights include beer-battered bread, mac and cheese gnocchi (way to go Matt), and veggie pasta. It was great, though. We rearranged the tables in the main hut to accommodate everyone. I felt kind of mature because at one point, someone made a toast. How adult of us.

Afterwards, a few of the Czech students who take classes with the architecture students took us out to a pub called popo-cafe-petl. It was a music bar and let's just say, we are big fans of music bars. Eva, one of the Czech girls, made a large reservation so we sat at tables and everything. When everyone eventually arrived (we came in waves), everyone was secretly stuffed from dinner and avoiding drinking heavily. As soon as we started to dance off the calories, though, the party started hopping. And let me just say, the DJ was legit. Homeboy was playing every range of music you could imagine. At one point, we even started raging so hardcore that we were moshing. When I say "we," I am not actually meaning me. I took pictures from the side:

So yeah. This night will definitely end up in the Top 5 Nights Abroad category. It was really fun. I think it may have been the people we met this night, too. I met the British guys in the red and blue shirts in the picture above at the bar. One of them slapped Becca's tush, and let me tell you- she didn't enjoy their company anymore. However, don't worry because her mood got better when the DJ came out of nowhere and whispered into her ear, "you are so fucking beautiful." Hahah. Another highlight would be when Peter, one of the guys from State who was visiting someone here whips out fluent Czech. He asked this group of people to move from the table we reserved. It was so funny for some reason because this boy, with a legit southern accent, can speak fluent Czech. Also, we were not even an hour into the night when one girl who were dancing with just stops dancing, looks at us and says, "I'm tired now. Bye." And she just left! What the?!

We started this party around 9pm, so by the time it was 12:30, I was exhausted and ready for bed. We made the tram before it switched over to the night tram schedule. Pret-ty impressive.

I spent all of Friday and Saturday roaming around the city. I actually sat down and leisurely sketched on Friday. Marketa, the drawing teacher, would be proud. Although, the outcome was not pretty. It was absolutely beautiful that day though. I got a few pictures because who could resist a scenery like this:

Did I mention that my camera broke so I take pictures blindly? It's actually pretty fun now that I've gotten over being bitter about it. I upload my photos quickly too because I can't resist looking at what I captured.

Anyway, today I returned to a cafe I found while exploring on Friday. It's called Cafe Ebel and it has bagels. BAGELS. I miss genuine Jewish bagels, but this was a pretty good substitute. I brought my computer and did a lot of work today. It's been nice being surrounded by smart people because they help me edit my essays.

In other news, I moved rooms. I am now living in a single all the way upstairs. I realize I've been a little spoiled living on the main floor with my bathroom just around the corner. You see, there is only a "gentleman's" bathroom on this floor. I have to hike naked to the floor below when I shower. I've been sneaking into the boys room to go to the bathroom, though. This proved problematic today when I snuck in without realizing there was already an old man in there. He starts hacking up a lung. I was so embarrassed that I couldn't stop giggling. But have you ever tried to suppress laughter? You end up laughing harder. I snorted by accident and homeboy stopped hacking, but he didn't leave. I ended up staying in there for approximately 20 minutes because I didn't want to reveal I was female to him. Let's just say, I haven't used it since.

I went to Radost for dinner tonight. Angels sang. It's a vegetarian restaurant with too much good food to be safe. I got pesto potatoes. Just imagine that for a little while. Afterwards, I watched "Bright Star" with Bryan, Maggie, and Jenny. That movie is a guilty pleasure cry if I've ever experienced one. So, hopefully after a mellow night, I'll have an adventure tomorrow.

Welp, I've got nothin' else good for now, but next time I have a wild endeavor, I'll keep you in the loop, blog.

Goat-herding, etc.

The past few days have been "su-per (that's how my Czech teacher pronounces it)."

Thursday was a Czech holiday so a lot of businesses were closed, schools were closed, the city was dead really. We still had classes, though. We convinced our Czech teacher to have a party this day so we arrived with snacks and she arrived with stories. It was awesome. We ate these wafer waffles, lots of cookies, and Zack even brought good ole American candy corn. Everyone brought drinks, too. It was a little weird drinking beer and wine in a language class, but weird is what living in another country is! We spent the entire class learning about the Czech government, stories about movements in the country, and the differences that Lenka noticed between America and the Czech Republic. It was really fun. I was actually pretty bummed out when it was time to end class.

We went drawing in St. Nicholas Church afterwards. My drawing teacher keeps calling me by my roommate's name, Laura. I correct her, but apparently I mumble and she doesn't realize I'm trying to correct her. Anyways, today was the first day that she called my(Iris') drawing "very nice." BOOYAHHHH SUCKAAAAAS. I may be an artist after this. Watch out.

Yesterday, we went on an eco-friendly adventure. The best part of this whole day was getting out of the city. We went to a reeeally tiny town called "Jindřichovice pod smrkem." Yeah, try saying that bad boy four times fast. Anyways, the town is powered by these two windmills. We went to go see them and even got to go into the bottom part of them. It was on the hillside and my god- combined with the fall colors, this place was beeeeautiful! Afterwards, we went to the other side of town (a 5-minute drive) and went to go see a Superadobe, which is a house created by an Iranian architect. He died two years ago, but his daughter continues his work. I tell you this because I heard this story four times. The superadobe sort of looks like an igloo, but its bags of earth coiled around. We saw one in the making and also met the mayor, Petr Pavek!

The mayor looked like a mountain man to me. He was in charge of the construction on this hill. Actually, it looked more like he was the only one doing construction on the hill. The only thing cool about him though was that he lived in a tee-pee. He was boring. I was distracted, once again, by the sweet view.

We adventured around for awhile and I found the perfect gloves for my construction worker outfit. We walked back down the hill and went to a- well, I don't know how best to describe it. It's kind of a like an Amish cottage. It was called the Skanzen and it was precious. Everything was hand-made without modern technology. I've got some good pictures of some of the machines. Upstairs, they had a collection of old items like sleds or bears or books. It was a really great place- unless you had to go to the bathroom. It was an outhouse indoors essentially, with only a candle lighting the room. I felt so hardcore. We ate lunch here. It was handmade vegetarian goulash and it was delicious. They had dumplings and cabbage and soy meat, etc. There was delicious tea as well. I really enjoyed it.

We finished lunch and then traveled an hour to a superadobe house that was completed. Oddly enough, it was owned by a famous Czech actor named Jaroslav Dusek. He wasn't there, but the people that were there were probably a whole heck of a lot cooler. One guy whips out a didgeridoo and starts playing it inside the superadobe. As I mentioned before, this place is practically an igloo so it echoed and homeboy knew his circular breathing. Mr. Frazier, my high school band teacher, would have been proud to know this man. I wanted to start folk-dancing or stepping or something. There was another man with a mean rattail. We had a good time here. A couple people discovered that our bus driver was selling beer for 20 kc (that's about a dollar) so a few people were drinking at this point.

We left this place and stopped at a castle for a hot second. I have no idea why we stopped there because for one thing, it was closed, and another, our two tour guides had no idea why it was significant. We only stayed for 20 minutes before we made our last stop at a Permaculture farm owned by a Czech-American couple. For being farmers, they were extremely well-educated. Their house was in the middle of Srbsko. Never heard of it? Me neither. It was almost tinier than the first town we went to, but their home was beautiful and remodeled. To put it mildly, this couple was loaded and intelligent. They gave us a presentation about food and stuff (literally, it was called "The Science of Stuff"), which was interesting enough. I enjoyed listening to it, but I enjoyed their daughters more. Oh and the tea! It was organic herbal tea. So freaking good.

Actually, let me just say that the entire day seemed involve small children- they were everywhere! One of the professor's granddaughters was with us all day, the other professor's children rode the bus with us, and the mayor's son was about to his us all with a Finding Nemo dodgeball. Well, we ended the day meeting this couple's daughters, who were the only children that could speak English, therefore they were the cutest cause we knew what they were saying.

There were even more animals. There were cows, horses, goats, chickens, a turkey that is too friendly to be used for Thanksgiving, more horses, a cow mounting a horse (I have a picture, don't worry), bees, and yeah- I think that's it. I had a really great time galloping in the fields with goats.

Oh gosh you'll never believe who I ran into at this place! M. GOAT! We took a picture for the friends and family back home.

By the end of the evening, I was exhausted. However, we left the couple's house and saw so many stars. I haven't seen stars in forever because the city is too darn bright. Bryan and I took a romantic walk behind the house to star-gaze. That was the whole day in a nutshell.

I woke up this morning with the intentions of writing a paper all day so that I would feel better about celebrating Halloween tonight, however I got distracted by Becca inviting me to go visit a cemetery nearby. I went with her to find WiFi, but the places we found didn't open for another hour, therefore, I walked with her. The cemetery was beautiful. I know that sounds a bit odd because usually people don't just go walk around cemetery's, but it really was a beautiful place. We decided that we should talk about our futures in the cemetery. It's scary that mine is a semester and a half away, but talking about it around tombstones make me feel better.

We went back to a restaurant with WiFi afterwards, but unfortunately I needed this letter in the password: Á. I know what you're thinking, "Iris you got it in this blog, why couldn't you get it in the password?" Well, cyber friend, I have no freaking idea. It took my almost 25 minutes to figure out how to get an international keyboard on this computer and even though I now have a cool American flag in the corner of my macbook, I still have no idea why I couldn't spell out the word prasátka (pigs). So I gave up trying and came back to the pension.

SO, I procrastinated in posting this and now I have more updates. Saturday night was the mega-Halloween celebration. We went to Radost FX (Rhianna made a music video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yd8jh9QYfEs) and let's just say that I had the exact same experience as Rhianna. It was real fun. We got in fo' free because we were dressed up, too. I was a construction worker. One of the perks of hanging out with design kids is that they can draw me some sweet tattoos. Zack drew a moose on my neck, while James drew a naked lady on my forearm. I didn't take any pictures, unfortunately, but it was professional quality (good thing, too, because it didn't come off for days). The coolest costumes from our group was the blue man group.

The next day and a half was spent working on my Philosophy paper, which I BEASTED. Monday night was movie night this week and it was the best movie we've seen yet. We watched "Lemonade Joe" and it was a spoof of an American Western film. Oh my god. I was dying the entire time because it was so corny and old and perfect. Basically, it was about a guy who was promoting drinking lemonade instead of whiskey. I can't do the movie justice by describing it, but if you ever find yourself in a foreign language film shop and stumble across it, invest in it.

In other news, we went to the Opera Tuesday night. We watched "Rasalka." The only way to summarize it is "Little Mermaid on crack." It was about a mermaid who was trippin' over some prince so she got a witch to turn her human. Homegirl ended up sabotaging the whole relationship herself with good looks and charm (sort of like me all the time), and therefore, Ariel(/Rasalka) was doomed and instead of the happy marriage at the end, everyone dies. That's a bit of an exaggeration, but the prince definitely didn't live. It was really fun, despite the whole show being in Czech. They had English subtitles at the top of the stage, though.

I haven't really done anything cool since then. Mostly applying for internships and real-life jobs... bahhhhhh

Chlupaty Chlab

^ That means "hairy man."

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!

Holiday of Spice and Cheeses, Sleep and Movies

You know, blog, I was very pessimistic about this weekend. However, it really hasn't been that bad.

The Friday that everyone left was spent mostly sleeping. I either slept or watched movies all day and didn't get up until about 5pm. Stephanie, the one other person who didn't go on the trip with everyone else, and I went out dinner at a really cute Italian place down the road. We originally attempted to hit up Ordinary World, but they were booked for the second night in a row. Whatever, I'm over it.

After dinner, we went back to the pension and gossiped for a little while, but then I went right back to watching movies before bed again. I watched "Requiem For a Dream." Holy freaking crap. Don't ever watch that movie before bed. ever. It was an absolutely amazing film, but the entire last 10 minutes I spent cringing.

I obviously couldn't go to bed afterwards, so instead I skyped friends from home. I miss you friends. I went back to my room and watched a Czech movie before I fell asleep. It was actually a movie about an Irish man and a Czech girl who make music together. It was called "Once." I really enjoyed it- a lot more than I usually enjoy films. I fell asleep to the soundtrack that night.

The next morning, I woke up with the promise of Bobsleighing with some friends through the NYU program. Unfortunately, rain was in the future, so we postponed the adventure. Stephanie and I were so disappointed because movies and sleep are only tolerable for so long. Alas, when I found out I didn't have plans for the day, I climbed back into bed and watched more movies. I saw another Czech film but it was really bad. Then, I watched "Amelie." I really love that movie. So much that I might watch it again after I finish this blog.

I decided to check my facebook after that movie and I had a message from one of the NYU friends. They were all heading over to this place called Pivovarsky Dum. Basically, it's a restaurant with flavored beer that they brew themselves. It's one of those restaurants that all the travel books recommend. Stephanie and I met up with 6 NYU friends. I knew 3 of them through the Cesky Krum-Krum trip. The food was sub-par and I couldn't fully enjoy the beer due to the wonderful world of antibiotics, but I did try a little. Flavored beer is bizarre. The company was superb, though. Afterwards, we invited them to our favorite bar- Puerto Rico.

We ended up splitting up with a few of the group and adding another person and there ya go! It was amazing to be out with people when I had been lounging the whole weekend, but it was also nice to be back out at Puerto Rico. I was feeling a whole heck of a lot better. I didn't stay out too late though, and I was in bed by 1am.

The next morning, I woke up and really wanted the maids to clean my room. They way it works is that you turn your key in every day and they make your bed and sometimes vacuum. So, I took my computer, turned in my key, and hung out in the lounge for about 2 hours as I uploaded my photos from the past month. I worked on homework as I did this too. I was really excited to go back to a clean room, but unfortunately they only made my bed today. They didn't even change the sheets. womp womp.

Stephanie and I decided to go explore a little since we were both getting stir-crazy and it was surprisingly sunny outside. We went out to lunch near Old Town Square. On our way, however, we discovered the Holidays of Spices and Cheeses. Haha, they celebrate silly things here. Anyways, there was a festival set up in Old Town Square. It was precious. Ironically, though, we did not see any spices or cheese. We ate our lunch (even though it was already 4pm) and then walked around a bit. We enjoyed some Trdlo (dough dipped in sugar and then grilled to perfection) and then meandered around a bit. It was cold outside (low 40s) so we stopped in a Starbucks and hung out there until we were warm again. Actually, we ended up spending almost 2 hours there just chatting. We didn't actually buy anything, but it was nice to smell Starbucks. It smells like home.

We ended up back at the pension and I decided to try to upload the rest of my pictures. Of course it's taking an hour to upload 10 photos.

Oh I forgot to mention a really exciting part of my day. When Stephanie and I returned back to the pension, my favorite old man was at the reception desk. I don't know his name but I call him Grandpa. Stephanie asked for her number first and before I could say my room number, he gave me my key! He knew my room number! Which means he knew me!! This man was so grumpy the first few weeks and when he gave me my key, he said "dva-cet pet" the same way I say it. It was really cute.

Between Grandpa and Anna the cleaning lady, I feel right at home. Anyways, tomorrow shouldn't be particularly exciting, but everyone gets back tomorrow night. I'm looking forward to that.

Creepy Crematorium

Chci byt zdrava.

That means I want to be healthy in Czech. I learned it yesterday when I found out that I have Pneumonia. This is not a fun adventure. The doctor told Maria that I am under strict orders not to go to Berlin this weekend with everyone else. Therefore, I will be sufficiently bored and I’m pretty sure the weather isn’t supposed to be as beautiful as it has been this week.

After what seems like forever, the sun finally broke through and I realized how grateful I am to be here again. After class on Tuesday, I had to run some errands, but ended up getting distracted by the river. On my way to the river, I saw a man performing saxophone in Old Town Square rather enthusiastically. I stopped and enjoyed for a little bit. When I gave him some change in my pocket, he called me hesky (I love when Czech class pays off) and he thrusted a handful of postcards in my hand. I thanked him, only took one, and went on my way.

I sat beside the river for a while. I wanted to go to Petrin Hill really badly, but knew how much walking that would take from me and couldn’t muster the energy with this sickness.

Which brings me to the doctor experience. I was given directions to the place and Maria set up an appointment for me around 7pm. So, after Philosophy, I began my journey. I’m glad I wasn’t deathbed sick because finding this place would have been a nightmare. I had to take the metro line all the way to the end, then take the tram four stops further. Once I get off there, I have to walk about three blocks away from the main road and navigate using only a map provided. Luckily, I was a girl scout for 2 years in elementary school and navigated that map like I’ve never navigated a map before, but the walk wore me out (most physical activity does). Not only that, but it was getting dark and I was in an unfamiliar part of the city. I must have had a worried face when I walked into the lobby of the center because the receptionist looked at me and before I had a chance to tell her why I was there she opens her arms and says, “I know. Here- take a seat and I will make you a cup of water.” She has been the nicest Czech person I’ve met yet.

The doctor was a tall timid creature and when he asked for my health background and details of my illness, he would type loudly while I responded. I was surprised he could hear me over the typing actually. He listened to my lungs for almost 5 minutes. I listed about 6 symptoms, and he gave me 6 remedies. He had to type out a guide for me that described when I took each. He also asked that I come back for an x-ray the following morning. All of this seemed really excessive to me at the time, but now that I’m taking the medicine, I am thankful for all of it.

The x-ray the next morning was kind of a ridiculous experience, too. Most of my education of Eastern Europe comes from the Holocaust courses I’ve taken. So, I hate to admit it, but I think about the Holocaust a lot while I’m here. Therefore, when I walked into a room filled with old numbered doors that had vents at the top and bottom of them, I was convinced that I was standing in a crematorium.

When my name was called, I went into “Dva, prosim (that means two, please).” I opened the door to find another door in front of me and a chair to the right. I didn’t know what I was supposed to do, so I just stood there waiting. A woman opened the door after a few minutes and looked surprised at me. She said, “undress.” Pardon?! Undress? That’s it- I am definitely getting burned today. That’s the only thing I could think of. I awkwardly took off my dress and then waited for further instruction. She said, “no, bra too please.” Thank goodness I wore leggings with my dress that day, but I am now topless in a creepy old crematorium. She then proceeded to grab my shoulders and direct me to the x-ray machine. It was then that she noticed I was wearing a necklace. She pointed to it and then pointed to her mouth. I couldn’t help myself from blurting out, “YOU WANT ME TO SWALLOW MY NECKLACE?” She said “no, hold it in your mouth.” Haha, I wish you could have seen the horror in my face. I actually had myself convinced that the doctor ordered me to get an x-ray because he found out I have Jew blood and wanted to trick me into the crematorium.

Alas, I got x-rayed then shooed back to change. The woman didn’t close the door, though, and two men walked into the room I was just in for some reason. I am still topless and really uncomfortable now, so I scurry for my clothes and put them on with rapid speed. I went back into the waiting room and looked around at the people there differently. I wondered if they knew they were about to strip down for a nurse.

I got the x-rays back and I assume they write a memo that tells you what the results mean, but I couldn’t read it because it was in Czech. I went back downstairs and gave my x-ray to the receptionist (it wasn’t the same woman from last night unfortunately. I got pretty attached to her.) She had me talk to the pediatrician and as soon as I met him, I wished that he had been the one I originally saw. He was the sweetest old Czech man I have ever laid eyes on. He kept giggling, too. Actually, that might be a little discerning considering he was explaining that I had Pneumonia.

Well, that’s that. I have been sick for a while now so I wasn’t planning on staying in bed this whole time. I hate the feeling when you’re lying in bed thinking about what’s outside your window. Typically, Raleigh is outside my window. Or Reisterstown is outside my window. But right now, PRAGUE is outside my window. How the hell do you stay indoors when Prague is outside your window? However, when I tried to go to class today, Maria yelled at me to go home.

Curse you, pneumonia. But, I am now in bed. I spent the afternoon sleeping and now that it’s bedtime, I can’t fall back asleep. I have a lot of work for classes now so hopefully that will keep me busy in the meantime.