A Rather Strange Day

The entire group had to meet at 9 AM, an ungodly hour for college students, to go to a village called Kutna Hora for the day. No one was especially enthused about it but today turned out to be a great day. I got to hang out with a lot of people I really enjoy here. It snowed for most of the day and the snowflakes were actually tiny little things just like you imagine snow to be. We went to a church and to the old mint where this guy actually made us coins like they did in ye olde times. I will probably lose mine as it is super tiny but it was really exciting at the time. Then we went to lunch. It was free (read:included in atrocious costs we paid to be here in the first place) and was three courses of hearty, Czech goodness. It was also warm which was a major plus on such a cold day. Nevertheless, the best part of the day was yet to come. After lunch, we loaded up on a bus and were driven to a rather unimposing church. Then we walked inside to find seriously the coolest church ever. Inside, there were bones from over 40,000 people, many of them plague victims, made into all sorts of decoration. It sounds creepy, which it was, but it was also just really cool. Even the confessionals had skulls and bones on them... talk about pressure. Anyway,that's all for now... enjoy the photos!

Chandelier made of human skulls and I guess whatever other parts of the body were aesthetically usefulThe smith (coinsmith??) making tiny coins for us.The center of one of the 4 pyramids of bones in the church, each of which was at least 20 feet high.

Don't think that's nice morning fog you're seeing. It is, in fact, the ever-looming smog, a nice reminder of Prague's industrialist (read: communist) past. Nevertheless, the view from Prague Castle, where this picture was taken, is wonderful. I think I truly appreciated the city for the first time today as we toured around the castle and were able to see all of the city. There are lots of interesting things to see in Prague aside from the really old architectural structures. There is a mini model of the Eiffel tower, for instance. There is also a "Dancing House" that looks like a building the mad hatter from Alice in Wonderland would live in. My favorite, however, is the giant radio antenna built by the Soviets. In 2000, an artist made giant baby statues (seriously the size of cars) and had them placed crawling up the tower. He took them down a year later but the people of Prague apparently were very sad about this and they were soon reinstated for a trial run of 9 more years. They are the creepiest thing I have ever seen. I have sadly not taken a photo yet but no worries, I definitely will do so.

On another note, I am starting to make progress with the Czech language. I can ask one's name, number, nationality, etc. and can talk a bit about colors and food. Far from fluent and my American accent is still a hindrance. My Czech roommate still laughs at me every time I try to say something.

I started taking more photos today. Unfortunately the weather here isn't much of an improvement from the dreariness that is London. I think I will have to take a sweep of the city when the sun finally peaks through the smog (perchance it ever, ever lifts).

To the left is the sweet office/residency of the Cardinal of Prague which he gets despite a depressingly low number of actual Catholics in Czech Republic. To the right is the main entrance to Prague Castle. 3 interesting notes about PC is that it (a) does not look like a castle at all (b) has a huge church in the center and (c) has guys in furry hats that stand outside with rifles and don't move just like at Buckingham in Britain.

So I have a thing for statues. I just love them and there are hundreds in Prague which is my favorite thing about the city thus far. That being said, this statue is easily the saddest I've seen. Story behind Edgar: He became 2nd president of Czech Republic (Czechoslovakia at the time) and was pretty much ballin' but then in 1938, the Sudatenland was given to Hitler and soon after Edgar fled to America. However, he returned to England when all of CR was taken and formed an exile government. Pretty sweet. So he finally gets CR back and is president again and everyone loves him because he kept the republic going and stayed true to his country. But, in 1948 the Communists held a coup that overthrew the government and they locked Edgar in Prague Castle. They then forced him to sign over his country to them despite him hating communism, etc. And so, Edgar felt he betrayed his country and was so bummed about losing his country for the second time that he went mentally insane while still held in the castle and subsequently died from the effects of his insanity. Poor guy could seriously not catch a break.

*I was going to add more pictures to the blog but I think I may have taken enough of your attention for today with that story. More to come.

Getting Better

I'm still alive with no more unfortunate events (aside from the microphone on my laptop camera kind of dying...) to report. A nice, 14 year old Czech boy even found my cell phone and returned it. I've started Czech class but my inability to pronounce their words, coupled with an inability to really hear myself or anyone else really, has somewhat hindered any phenomenal progress with the language. Unfortunately, I have a quiz tomorrow so tonight real progress has to be made.

Not a whole lot else to report. The weekend was filled with errands. We're still trying to settle in, etc. and CIEE continually fills our schedules. We did have a Georgetown night last night. We all went to a bar/restaurant and just sat around for a few hours talking. It was really fun and it was nice to be around people having similar experiences as what I'm currently having.

More later. Back to class (was on break but alas it is over).

Settling In

I'm having a rough time settling in, right now. I couldn't use an ATM for the longest time and had to wrestle with my banks during my free time. I've lost a debit card and a phone. I've broken out in hives or something like that. I hurt my knee again. Things aren't really going well. It's okay, though. I am still making progress. I know how to ride the metro (Vystup is exit, Prestup transfer, Smer is direction, etc) and where I am most of the time. I've made some friends also to spend my days with. Moreover, it finally stopped being so damn cloudy all the time. There is actually a sun over Prague. Other than that, not a whole lot to update anyone on. My class schedule is really messed up so I have to add and drop I think 3 courses. It will work out, though. I have one class with Shelby so I have someone to take the long trek to school with during the wee hours of the morning. I'm sure things will start looking up soon.

Just a Peek

A couple of photos to ponder until I actually get around to being touristy in Prague. Until today, it has been really cloudy with lots of mist and smog (ew). Of course, today we spent most of our time indoors. So no real pictures as of yet aside from these two.

Prague Castle and the Cathedral (on a cloudy day)

The graveyard and church across the street from my school.

PRAHA!

I have been so busy since I got here that I really haven't had time to blog. My internet has also mainly consisted of that stolen from the cafe across the square from our apartment called Zanzibar (the name should give you an idea of how reliable the internet has thus far been). Sorry! I'm all settled in with a new apartment and three roommates, one of which is actually from Prague. The girls are really nice and the apartment is palacial compared to Village A back at Georgetown. High ceilings, wood floors, french doors, etc. There are 4 locks you have to open to get into our apartment, however, which is still causing problems. It takes about 15 minutes to figure out how to get in each time.

Outside of Americka 20 (my address), Prague is nice. There are tons of great scenes although I'm still not sure what I see about the city that separates it from other European cities. It's supposed to be the most beautiful but thus far I only see it as on par. I'm sure that my perspective and therefore my opinion will change the longer I stay here, however. I've already gotten a decent hold on transportation so I'll be able to explore more once our schedule calms down a bit.

As a side note, Andrea and Kendra were in town for a couple of days so I got to see them. We went to the Chapeau Rouge and, while our clothes reaked of smoke afterwards, we had a good time and it was nice to see some friendly faces (aside from Shelby's which I see everyday).

Added bonus, I have not yet fallen or otherwise thouroughly embarrassed myself in Prague. Downside: I have already had to figure out the pharmaceutical system here (big surprise... it's me).

Pictures to come as well as my last entry for England which is somewhere saved on my laptop.

London Pt. 2

Just one more day in London. I've settled in with Mariam and, like a true world traveler, am sleeping on the floor and re-wearing clothes that smell questionable at best. Oh well. I've done a bit more since last we spoke (read:I typed). We went to Oxford for one day and met our friend Susan W. She gave us a lovely tour and convinced me that I never ever want to actually attend Oxford for school. Way too difficult and they don't even have classes! Upside, the place was beautiful with a mix of Wuthering Heights and Venice that was unexpected. The sun also came out which I didn't know happened here in England. Last note on Oxford: it seems all that the 39 colleges collectively hold the majority of beautiful men of the world. It felt like I was walking through a Ralph Lauren advert and it was wonderful. Oh, and our train didn't run home because of a power outage somewhere else along the line so it took us 3 transfers and about 3 1/2 hours to get home. Lovely.

Yesterday, we went to the Tour of London. It is a veritable maze of cool stuff. We saw the largest diamonds in the world (Cullinan I and II) that were both cut from this single massive diamond. It made me very jealous of the Queen. And there were also tons of these elaborate crowns made and worn at only one occasion. I pointed out to Ellen that if they gave me a piece of jewelry with even one of the huge rocks from the crown, I would wear a lot more often and be a lot more grateful. Alas, I do not think Britain is overly concerned.

So, one more day here (we're going to see the Tate Modern) and then off to Prague in the wee hours of the morn. Final comment, Ellen and I finally got up close to a British guard in a puffy hat and he totally moved! Fidgeted tons, looked around, and even once removed his hat for readjustment. My illusions of Great Britain's pomp and circumstance have been thoroughly corroded.

Jolly Old England

Despite being dreary and chilly, London has thus far been really fun. It's also been exhausting. Yesterday alone we went to Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster (sat through an Evensong), Buckingham Palace, Picadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, and the British Museum. At Parliament, we went inside what was seriously the coolest building ever. I got to see where Sir Thomas More was condemned and we sat in on a session of Parliament. The way it goes in the House of Commons is absolutely hilarious. The US Congress really needs to reconsider how they do business. The Secretary of State actually called another guy's speech a "tirade of rubbish" and apologized to the chamber for having been subjected to it. Good stuff.

Also, at Buckingham Palace, there are little sectioned off areas of garden that you can't walk on. However, the partition is really low so as I stepped backwards trying to take a picture of Ellen, I fell backwards into the off-limits garden. I have officially made my mark on London.

More to come but we just realized our train leaves 40 minutes earlier than we initially thought! Oops!

Staycay

While I haven't yet left the southern region of the United States, I have been a bit MIA over the past week. That would be because I have been on staycay. Sean came for a visit and, though we were in Mobile, I decided to also take a vacation. Possibly poor choice on my part as there is still tons to do before I go abroad. Nonetheless, we enjoyed ourselves, ate way too much, and got to see each other before I leave next week for so very long.

We spent most of our time in Mobile but we took a day to go to New Orleans. We did the normal French Quarter stuff. Sean ate a muffaletta the size of his head, got powdered sugar all over himself at Cafe du Monde (my fault, admittedly), and finally rode a streetcar (not named Desire...) after three failed attempts. We also went to the D-Day museum which has not changed since our numerous trips in high school history class but was nonetheless interesting (we got really cool buttons so I was content). We topped the day off by going to the roof of the Royal Orleans to see the city at night (romantic) and driving by the Superdome (not so romantic). It was swell.

We also went to the Bass ProShop while Sean was here (who knew a hunting and fishing store could be so much fun?), wandered around downtown, and walked around the park. Finally, we spent time with my friends who were all ready to meet Sean after 4 months of hearing about him. He got good reviews. Lilly and Tucker especially liked him.

I also now know the route to Biloxi by heart as an added bonus. Apparently Seany Sean liked the South so much he decided to stay an extra day (read: missed his flight). It was momentarily disastrous but in the long run a fortunate turn of events as we got to spend an extra day together. I'll miss that boy.