These two days haven't been incredibly blog-worthy but I have nothing better to do right now than update you.
I didn't start classes like everyone else yesterday because the one class that I did have was cancelled. Instead, I decided to go to the area of the institute and see what I could find. The best thing I have found in the past two days is a restaurant called Country Life. It is a vegetarian restaurant so it was nice to finally be able to enjoy anything! It may become my staple here because it was really healthy and came to about $4.
It's typical in Czech for strangers to join your table if there is space, so I got to experience that for the first time. Homegirl straight up looked at me, then the chair, gave me a little eyebrow wiggle and sat down. I was excited that she was enjoying her meal with me as if I am also a Czech, that was until she tried to talk to me. I shrugged my shoulders and said, "english?" She laughed and went back to her meal so I hope she didn't originally make fun of Americans or something haha yikes.
Which reminds me, the same thing happened to me while I was in Tesco. Tesco is like the Wal-Mart of Prague. I had to get notebooks, so as I'm perusing the kid school supply section, this manly creature with defined features approached me and asked me a really fast czech question. I said, "english?" Then, I batted my eyes. He said, "Dutch?!" I said, "uh.. english?" he said, "where do I buy my panties?" ... Granted, he wasn't actually holding panties, they were more like briefs, but I pointed to the checkout lane and shrugged off regardless.
I had my first class today and it was the Czech language class. I am really excited about it because the professor is really enthusiastic and fun. I learned how to read Czech today. So now, when you come to visit (yes, you- aka all of my friends. come here. now.) I'll be able to read you the names of places, street signs, beer names, etc. I also learned my first sentence in Czech:
"Ten kluk je hezky." It means "That guy is good-looking." Just the basics, you know.
After class, I tried to take the tram back to the Pension, but traffic was so bad that I just jumped off at some random stop. It just so happened that the random spot was somewhere I had been before! Petrin hill! So, I took the funicular halfway up, then walked down to where there were people sitting on the grass. I popped a squat underneath a tree and god, the view was to die for. I read my Philosophy book (you know, the one I should have been reading this whole summer), but I kept getting distracted with people watching. I tell you one thing- Czechs have no shame when it comes to PDA. One couple was so hot and steamy that I was embarrassed when an old couple walked by with their cute dog.
I don't know if I mentioned that dogs here don't have to be leashed and therefore, they are EVERYWHERE. I mean everywhere. Grocery stores, department stores, metros, the lobby at the Pension. However, they are city dogs so they are trained really well. Thus, Czechs hate it when you pet them. It's counterproductive in their training apparently. It's like the forbidden fruit, though. Since I can't pet the dogs, I want to more. Today, I was walking in the metro station and it was really crowded and someone pushed me up against a wall. At first, I thought I was getting robbed. Then, I thought I was getting raped. Finally, I realized that a dog was just trying to get by- it was a big dog. hahahah
I stopped somewhere to get a coffee and enjoyed the sunset outside (today was 70 degrees!!). I found a Cosmo magazine in Czech- that was pretty cool. I enjoyed it (I couldn't understand it, but I could read it aloud if you needed me to :-)
As of right now, I'm planning on going to Scotland for Fall Break. I was going to try to go to London too, but it would be waayyy too much traveling in one weekend. Right now, I could have a layover for like 10 hours in london, then go up to Glasgow, (stay for a night?), take a bus to Edinburgh (stay with RaJa!), then back to Glasgow, layover in Manchester, then home to Praha. Yeah, if any of those places come close to you, holler at me. I'm looking for people to play with.
Welp. see ya later.
