Czech in the Nude

Today was a good day! it started out very well, I woke up in a good mood, listened to some Harry Potter on tape, and took off for drawing class. when I got there I was a bit late and so there was not a easel left for me to use. I pretty much got in everyone's way for a min. before settling down on a spot on the ground. As soon as I sat down this old woman who was one of the models for class started to speak very loudly at me and I couldn't understand a thing she was saying! It was very funny, I started looking for help from the other students but they just looked at me and I couldnt help myself from laughing because here this naked model was getting in a fuss over something I didn't even understand! oh man, I feel like that is a classic experience :) eventually I got a spot and did a full size drawing (In this class, by the end of the period you have to have attempted to finish a large drawing). For lunch a few of us went for pizza. It is hard to find cheap food in Prague 1. It is so touristy, so some things are pricey. Beer flows like water though, ha! you can get a glass of beer for as much as water from a vending machine, it's crazy. The last class of the day was a book making class. very simple, I think they dummed it down for the foreigners...but still interesting. I made myself a egg and ham sandwich for dinner, and a banana :).

The Weekend

OK. It's monday now, but lets talk about the weekend! Saturday morning was fine I got up made a list of stuff I had to do, did some of them, walked around Prague and discovered some streets that had very helpful shops on them. Then around 9pm (CET) I headed out to a housewarming party I had been invited to by a fellow exchange student. It was a few tram stops away and I ended up bumping into a student I had met the day before headed to the same place. The party was fun, it was much like a MICA party (if you have ever been to one) except everyone smokes their cigarettes indoors instead of moving to the balcony (did I mention that you can smoke in pubs too?). At first I hung out on the couch with the few people that I did know, but then a girl approached me and started asking about Baltimore. So by the end of the party at the house I had a group of friends from the Czech Republic and was persuaded to go to two different clubs and didnt get home until around 6:30am...it was pretty sweet.

Home Sweet Holešovice

So the apartment that I live in is located in Prague 7. not to far from the place where most people visit (prague 1) it is twenty min. by subway, but hard to navigate. Day 1 (Friday) I was trying to get to my new school but got lost after I left the subway station because I didn't understand the street signs. found it eventually and got to meet some other exchange students on a tour of the city that the school gave us. I also ate at this great little pub and ordered a tuna and cheese baguette...when they gave it to me it was HUGE!!! I could only finish half of it...you think a five dollar foot long is a good deal? well this sandwich was definitely a bit bigger and only about four fifty, and coke was like a buck! After hoofing it around the city for a while with new friends, went back home to Holesovice but not before picking up some food for dinner and three banana's from the corner store...in which no one speaks english...I still have so much to do, but I keep getting distracted...you can imagine how distracting a foreign country can be...

Getting There

Tuesday Morning. day after Valentine's day. Finally got the F***ING VISA! Dad bought the plane ticket for Wednesday. The next morning went to New York and picked up the visa, almost didn't get it; apparently the Czech Embassy is "Closed" Wed., because they work SO hard the rest of the week..., went to the airport and got on the flight.

Wednesday Evening/Thursday Morn. On the plane. oh...my...lord. I knew I was going to be sitting behind wining, screaming kids whose parents no ENTIRE family thinks they are entitled to all of the room they could possibly take up. w/e I used the knitting doll I got as a going away present from Sheila :)...for ten hours :( arrived in vienna somehow, went through customs and onto my next flight to Prague.

Thursday Afternoon. First thing I did when i got my luggage was visit the ladies' room. An Older woman walks in on me and is surprised...but takes about ten min. to close the door again all the while saying something to me in what I think was Czech (probably: "lock the door you idiot!") oh, how embarrassing! I wait another fifteen minutes after she leaves the bathroom to get out of the stall for fear of running into her again, ha, then gather my belongings and yet again go through the authorities and I am in Prague!!!

The first thing I notice when I get outside: Holy S**t it's cold. tttthhen I catch a cab and the driver starts shaking his head vigorously in some kind of anger or disappointment, im not sure which, at the weight of my bag (mind you, I have only one bag of luggage and one backpack...I thought I was quite the Girl Scout) but he was obviously not happy with me. So, me not speaking Czech...at all...and he not speaking too much english, I showed him the address I needed to go to on a piece of paper. The cab was fast, but I feel like most european drivers are, and I got to the location of the flat that I am in. it is small, and not what I expected, but it has everything that I need...just not everything I want :)