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!