Today I'm feeling a lot better today than I was yesterday.
Czech class today was interesting. I guess I'm kind of a nerd when it comes to language, because people were falling asleep in class but I was really into it. The pronunciation is starting to come a bit more naturally. I had forgotten the worst part of learning a new language is the rote memorization involved... so much vocabulary. And since we have Czech class 4 hours per day this week, it's pretty fast paced. But it's really really cool that I'm starting to recognize words. It's also nice to be able to say hello and thank you and such in a shop, because I felt so ignorant not knowing ANYTHING.
After class, I had a bit of time off, then it was time for the guided walking tour of Prague. It was really cool to get the back story on a lot of the monuments and things. The guide was excellent and made sure to recommend restaurants and spots to spend time. I got to go back by Prague Castle and St. Vitus Cathedral... I have a feeling I'll head there often, it's just so beautiful, and the view from the top of the hill is literally breathtaking.
Amusing sights from today:
- A child wearing a do-rag. He looked to be about 4.
- A guy with a mohawk wearing a kilt
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Monday, August 30, 2010
It's certainly been an eventful couple of days.
Saturday, Elana and I went to Plzen to go check out the Pilsnerfest. This was a somewhat spontaneous move, which made for some difficulties. We had no problem (surprisingly) getting to the train station (Havlani Namesti) here in Prague and buying tickets to Plzen, or even finding the train. But once we got to Plzen, things were a bit difficult. Unlike in Prague, there was no English signage anywhere. The information booth at the train station was closed. And due to poor foresight on our part, neither Elana nor I knew anything about Plzen. We hadn't even looked at a map of the city. This realization was somewhat overwhelming, and it made for a frustrated, tense half hour or so. We began to wander, hoping to find either someone to ask or signs or some sort of map. The weird thing was that almost everything was closed, stores and restaurants alike. I hadn't eaten lunch yet at this point and it was already past 3, so I was certainly grumpy. We made our way towards a large museum, then heard music. We followed our ears and found Pilsnerfest!
Pilsnerfest was interesting. It was on the grounds of the historic Pilsner Urquell brewery, the birthplace of Pilsner beer. There were a ton of people, including parents with their young children. Again, there was nothing in English. We made our way around the festival. It consisted mostly of tents selling beer, tents selling more beer, tents selling all kinds of unknown foods (some of which looked pretty unappetizing, to be frank), some stages with live music, some inflatable carnival-type things, and a ton of people.
I was overwhelmed by the whole thing, so when I saw a stand selling hot dogs, I wimped out and went for the familiar. I also bought a beer, which I tried to drink.. but after a few sips I couldn't stand it because it was so bitter.
We left Pilsnerfest and went back towards the museum, where there was a beautiful garden. After exploring that, we decided to head back to the train station, and took the train home to Prague.
Yesterday, we had the second half of our orientation, in the form of a scavenger hunt. I was teamed up with a guy named Peter and two girls, Emma and Hayley. I knew Hayley a tiny bit because I'd seen her around AU. We did an awesome job running around Prague collecting things and answering questions. It was a lot of fun, and we got to see a lot of sights that I plan on returning too, particularly Prague Castle, home of St. Vitus Cathedral, by far the most beautiful building I've ever seen.
Today was the first of our intensive Czech classes. It was really overwhelming to be at the beginning of learning this complex language, but our teacher is very kind and patient. I still haven't gotten some of the pronounciation down well yet, but I should with practice. Afterwards, I just came home and took a long nap. I'm feeling a bit under the weather, and I can't tell how much of it is just being constantly overwhelmed and exhausted, how much is fatigue, how much is just me being in a mood. Tomorrow morning I have Czech class again, and in the afternoon I go on a walking tour of Prague. Tonight, I need to head to the store to get notebooks and some other miscellaneous things.... I just have to get motivated to go to the store, which I know will be another challenge. But I'm trying to keep positive and remember that overcoming these small challenges is what studying abroad is all about.
Saturday, Elana and I went to Plzen to go check out the Pilsnerfest. This was a somewhat spontaneous move, which made for some difficulties. We had no problem (surprisingly) getting to the train station (Havlani Namesti) here in Prague and buying tickets to Plzen, or even finding the train. But once we got to Plzen, things were a bit difficult. Unlike in Prague, there was no English signage anywhere. The information booth at the train station was closed. And due to poor foresight on our part, neither Elana nor I knew anything about Plzen. We hadn't even looked at a map of the city. This realization was somewhat overwhelming, and it made for a frustrated, tense half hour or so. We began to wander, hoping to find either someone to ask or signs or some sort of map. The weird thing was that almost everything was closed, stores and restaurants alike. I hadn't eaten lunch yet at this point and it was already past 3, so I was certainly grumpy. We made our way towards a large museum, then heard music. We followed our ears and found Pilsnerfest!
Pilsnerfest was interesting. It was on the grounds of the historic Pilsner Urquell brewery, the birthplace of Pilsner beer. There were a ton of people, including parents with their young children. Again, there was nothing in English. We made our way around the festival. It consisted mostly of tents selling beer, tents selling more beer, tents selling all kinds of unknown foods (some of which looked pretty unappetizing, to be frank), some stages with live music, some inflatable carnival-type things, and a ton of people.
I was overwhelmed by the whole thing, so when I saw a stand selling hot dogs, I wimped out and went for the familiar. I also bought a beer, which I tried to drink.. but after a few sips I couldn't stand it because it was so bitter.
We left Pilsnerfest and went back towards the museum, where there was a beautiful garden. After exploring that, we decided to head back to the train station, and took the train home to Prague.
Yesterday, we had the second half of our orientation, in the form of a scavenger hunt. I was teamed up with a guy named Peter and two girls, Emma and Hayley. I knew Hayley a tiny bit because I'd seen her around AU. We did an awesome job running around Prague collecting things and answering questions. It was a lot of fun, and we got to see a lot of sights that I plan on returning too, particularly Prague Castle, home of St. Vitus Cathedral, by far the most beautiful building I've ever seen.
Today was the first of our intensive Czech classes. It was really overwhelming to be at the beginning of learning this complex language, but our teacher is very kind and patient. I still haven't gotten some of the pronounciation down well yet, but I should with practice. Afterwards, I just came home and took a long nap. I'm feeling a bit under the weather, and I can't tell how much of it is just being constantly overwhelmed and exhausted, how much is fatigue, how much is just me being in a mood. Tomorrow morning I have Czech class again, and in the afternoon I go on a walking tour of Prague. Tonight, I need to head to the store to get notebooks and some other miscellaneous things.... I just have to get motivated to go to the store, which I know will be another challenge. But I'm trying to keep positive and remember that overcoming these small challenges is what studying abroad is all about.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Ahoj!
So I definitely planned to write EVERYTHING about this trip down, but already I've fallen short of that goal. However, the trip is young and I plan to document it as best I can.
My journey here was mostly uneventful. On the 8 hour flight from JFK to PRG, I sat next to a slightly large, very friendly Russian woman. I'm not much of a talker on plane rides, especially since I knew I wanted to get some sleep on the red-eye, but I did end up talking to her some. She was from Brooklyn, and was going to a Spa outside of Prague for a few weeks because her sons sent her. She was a nice lady, but she had some practical issues... She couldn't figure out how to adjust her seatbelt, so I did that for her. Then, we both were watching one of the in-flight movies (Ugh, The Bounty Hunter). We had been watching for probably a half hour when she turns to me and says "so you speak Czech?" I replied in the negative, and she, puzzled, asked how it was that I was following the movie if I didn't understand the language. At this point I leaned over and changed the audio channel on her armrest to channel 2, which provided the English soundtrack for the movie. She was embarrassed and kept saying "Oh! So stupid! So stupid!" I felt bad. But she seemed to have an overall pleasant flight.
Upon arriving at the airport in Prague, I met up with three other girls from the program who were on my flight. The first two that I found were my apartment-mates. They were both from New York, and both seemed a bit out of it. I helped them exchange their money at the airport (after warning them that it would be a bad exchange rate, but they didn't care) and went to the baggage claim, after which I led the way to terminal two to meet our shuttle. By this time, comments such as "Wow, you're so, like, on top of everything" and "I guess I'm just in my own little world" had begun. In addition, they both had blackberries that work over here... and were messaging like crazy. My phone didn't have its SIM card activated, so it was unusable.
The shuttle was late, and we were the last to get dropped at our apartment. NYC girls (Laura and Sara) immediately laid claim to the bigger of the two bedrooms, but I didn't really mind, because the apartment is WAY nicer than I expected. There are 3 bedrooms... one I share with Elana, one for Laura and Sara, and one for Zuzana, a Slovakian woman living in Prague while studying at Charles University. I spent awhile unpacking, then Laura, Sara, Zuzana and I went to lunch (Elana hadn't arrived yet). The lunch was good, but Sara and Laura seemed a bit unnerved by the language barrier, and the different type of salad, and the fact that when they asked for water they were brought sparkling water. They also asked Suzanna some inane questions about clubs and drinking... at this point I was in a state of near-panic (or as close to panic as I could be, considering my body thought it was 5 am and I had only gotten 1 hour of sleep on the plane). Would everyone on the trip be as loose with their money and as into partying as these two? Was the amount of clothing I had brought, which I had thought to be excessive, actually woefully inadequate? Was I really in for a semester dealing with girls that reminded me of ladies I had gone to high school with? I went back to my room and laid down for a nap.
I slept like a log, even through my alarm, but was awakened by the arrival of my roommate, Elana (cue trumpets). We began talking, and found that we have much in common... her birthday is about a week before mine (21st birthday celebrations in Praha! Woohoo!), she does tech theater, we're both in the social sciences, we don't drink or party too much but are open to doing so while here, we're both into history and sightseeing and exploring... it seems as though we're gonna get along just fine!
Later in the evening, we headed to a restaurant to meet up with the whole group (about 30 students and some adults). We were kind of at the end of the table, which made socializing difficult, but it was fun. I had my first goulash.. it was really just beef with a thick gravy and a special, squishy bread. I also had a famous type of Slovakian cake.
Today was overwhelming but fun. We had orientation this morning, which was exciting because we started to find out about all the exciting things we get to do. Instead of a fall break, we're going on a Traveling Seminar to Krakow, Auschwitz, Brno, Vienna (and at least one more city whose name escapes me at the moment). I cannot wait to go to Poland and Austria! Then, later in the semester we're heading to Budapest. Soon, though, we're going to a small town in southern Bohemia, called Cesky Krumlov.
After orientation, we went to put credit on our czech cell phones and get our Charles University IDs. In the process, we ran into the International Folk Festival, which consisted of random little parades of people holding flags, playing instruments, and dancing in traditional garb. I hope to go back to see more of it sometimes in the next few days. It was highly amusing to see children in what looked like garden gnome hats and a man carrying his double bass, playing as he walked!
Afterwards, I had lunch with some of the group, then came home and have relaxed for most of the evening. Right now, there are like 20 people in our apartment... pregaming, despite the fact there's no need to since we can all drink. I have so far tasted a sip of Pilsner and a sip of .... some other type of beer, neither of which I like. Right now, I'm debating whether I should go out with them when they finally get their act together to go to the bar, or whether it's not worth it cuz it's so late and I'm tired. I don't want to be pegged as antisocial, but they've been here for at least an hour and it's already midnight... I suppose it depends on when they leave.
Well, that's all for now!
My journey here was mostly uneventful. On the 8 hour flight from JFK to PRG, I sat next to a slightly large, very friendly Russian woman. I'm not much of a talker on plane rides, especially since I knew I wanted to get some sleep on the red-eye, but I did end up talking to her some. She was from Brooklyn, and was going to a Spa outside of Prague for a few weeks because her sons sent her. She was a nice lady, but she had some practical issues... She couldn't figure out how to adjust her seatbelt, so I did that for her. Then, we both were watching one of the in-flight movies (Ugh, The Bounty Hunter). We had been watching for probably a half hour when she turns to me and says "so you speak Czech?" I replied in the negative, and she, puzzled, asked how it was that I was following the movie if I didn't understand the language. At this point I leaned over and changed the audio channel on her armrest to channel 2, which provided the English soundtrack for the movie. She was embarrassed and kept saying "Oh! So stupid! So stupid!" I felt bad. But she seemed to have an overall pleasant flight.
Upon arriving at the airport in Prague, I met up with three other girls from the program who were on my flight. The first two that I found were my apartment-mates. They were both from New York, and both seemed a bit out of it. I helped them exchange their money at the airport (after warning them that it would be a bad exchange rate, but they didn't care) and went to the baggage claim, after which I led the way to terminal two to meet our shuttle. By this time, comments such as "Wow, you're so, like, on top of everything" and "I guess I'm just in my own little world" had begun. In addition, they both had blackberries that work over here... and were messaging like crazy. My phone didn't have its SIM card activated, so it was unusable.
The shuttle was late, and we were the last to get dropped at our apartment. NYC girls (Laura and Sara) immediately laid claim to the bigger of the two bedrooms, but I didn't really mind, because the apartment is WAY nicer than I expected. There are 3 bedrooms... one I share with Elana, one for Laura and Sara, and one for Zuzana, a Slovakian woman living in Prague while studying at Charles University. I spent awhile unpacking, then Laura, Sara, Zuzana and I went to lunch (Elana hadn't arrived yet). The lunch was good, but Sara and Laura seemed a bit unnerved by the language barrier, and the different type of salad, and the fact that when they asked for water they were brought sparkling water. They also asked Suzanna some inane questions about clubs and drinking... at this point I was in a state of near-panic (or as close to panic as I could be, considering my body thought it was 5 am and I had only gotten 1 hour of sleep on the plane). Would everyone on the trip be as loose with their money and as into partying as these two? Was the amount of clothing I had brought, which I had thought to be excessive, actually woefully inadequate? Was I really in for a semester dealing with girls that reminded me of ladies I had gone to high school with? I went back to my room and laid down for a nap.
I slept like a log, even through my alarm, but was awakened by the arrival of my roommate, Elana (cue trumpets). We began talking, and found that we have much in common... her birthday is about a week before mine (21st birthday celebrations in Praha! Woohoo!), she does tech theater, we're both in the social sciences, we don't drink or party too much but are open to doing so while here, we're both into history and sightseeing and exploring... it seems as though we're gonna get along just fine!
Later in the evening, we headed to a restaurant to meet up with the whole group (about 30 students and some adults). We were kind of at the end of the table, which made socializing difficult, but it was fun. I had my first goulash.. it was really just beef with a thick gravy and a special, squishy bread. I also had a famous type of Slovakian cake.
Today was overwhelming but fun. We had orientation this morning, which was exciting because we started to find out about all the exciting things we get to do. Instead of a fall break, we're going on a Traveling Seminar to Krakow, Auschwitz, Brno, Vienna (and at least one more city whose name escapes me at the moment). I cannot wait to go to Poland and Austria! Then, later in the semester we're heading to Budapest. Soon, though, we're going to a small town in southern Bohemia, called Cesky Krumlov.
After orientation, we went to put credit on our czech cell phones and get our Charles University IDs. In the process, we ran into the International Folk Festival, which consisted of random little parades of people holding flags, playing instruments, and dancing in traditional garb. I hope to go back to see more of it sometimes in the next few days. It was highly amusing to see children in what looked like garden gnome hats and a man carrying his double bass, playing as he walked!
Afterwards, I had lunch with some of the group, then came home and have relaxed for most of the evening. Right now, there are like 20 people in our apartment... pregaming, despite the fact there's no need to since we can all drink. I have so far tasted a sip of Pilsner and a sip of .... some other type of beer, neither of which I like. Right now, I'm debating whether I should go out with them when they finally get their act together to go to the bar, or whether it's not worth it cuz it's so late and I'm tired. I don't want to be pegged as antisocial, but they've been here for at least an hour and it's already midnight... I suppose it depends on when they leave.
Well, that's all for now!
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