Na shledanou v Praze.

112 days later and here we are...

I returned to the states on Wednesday the 16th. I have been back for a few days and am just now writing this post. Why? Putting it off like I have many other times. This time I am probably putting it off so I can ignore the fact that it is all over. I am learning to accept the fact that I am not in Prague and that I will not be returning there in the foreseeable future. Don't get me wrong- I am happy to be home. That is probably the one question I have heard the most the last few days. "Are you happy to be home? I bet you aren't." I am happy! It is just hard. I think it is always hard to leave a place that has become your home. It was hard to leave Edmonds the first time I was going down to Monmouth. It was hard to leave Monmouth after my first full year of school. But with both of those departures, I knew I wasn't leaving forever and I knew I would be back in a matter of months. This time it was different. I can't tell you that I am going back. I can tell you that I want to, that I think I will, that I plan on returning. But I cannot tell you for certain and I cannot tell you when that will happen if it does. So that makes this departure harder. But I am happy to be home, to be with my family, to see my old friends, and to be in my own home.

My time in Prague and the rest of Europe was truly amazing. There is not one word I could use to describe it. I was truly blessed with this incredible opportunity and I thank everyone that had a part in making this experience possible. If any of you are considering studying abroad, DO IT! Follow your dreams and go. You will not be sorry. Two of my other good friends from WOU were also abroad this semester and we all had different but great experiences. And, although I can't speak for them, I will say I don't think one of us will ever regret our decision to go. So to any of my young cousins out there, keep your grades up and start begging your parents now to let you have this experience. When else in your life will you truly get the opportunity to travel around carefree? Studying abroad will forever be a time in my life that I will look back on with big smiles.

So to sum up my past semester I have made an "ABC's and 123's" style list. It was a fun way for me to think of some of the great (and some less than great) parts of my last few months. If you have further curiosities on any part, let me know and I bet I can tell you some great stories!

So here goes...
A- Absinth
B- Burčak
C- Chapeau Rouge
D- Drinking
E- Eurofood stands
F- Fried cheese sandwiches
G- Gulaš
H- Hostels
I- Insect infestations
J- John Lennon Wall
K- Karlovy Lazne
L- Legalized peeing in the streets
M- Moravia and Mikulov
N- Night tram
O- Overnight train rides
P- Potato pancakes
Q- Quirky techno music
R- Random meetings with people at hostels and bars
S- Singing Czech Christmas carols
T- Traveling
U- U Sudu
V- Visitors and Visiting
W- WizzAir
X- eXperience of a lifetime
Y- Yellow Student Agency buses
Z- Zany good times...

0- Regrets
1- Amazing semester
2- Cameras
3- Great visits to Chapeau
4- Roommates
5- Story club
6- Christmas markets visited
7- Caves in U Sudu
8- Countries seen
9- Trips away from Prague

Other fun facts...
5106 or 14GB of pictures and videos, 112 amazing days, 13 cities slept in, 24 cities seen



I went through all 5,000+ pictures and tried to make a cool slideshow. I failed. Apparently I am not as tech savvy as I thought. I might have even lost all my pictures in the process... We are still working on the data recovery. If I ever figure out a way to make this slideshow happen, I will post it. If not I will just post pictures in a seperate entry.

But otherwise I will say na shledanou to the blogging world! I gave it my best effort and I hope you all enjoyed it.

The Little Ging and The Tall One in Spain

The final trip... Where was I headed? To meet Kate Arnold. What was our destination? Barcelona.
Side note: Kate is one of my friends from WOU that is studying in Oviedo, Spain this semester.

We both flew into Barcelona on Friday and had quite the adventure trying to find each other. We had plans to meet at either my gate or at baggage claim. Well I sat at my gate for a little while. There was no Kate. I went to baggage claim. No Kate. I went outside the secured area, a risky move, and looked among all the people that were meeting long lost friends and lovers. No Kate. I sat and waited there for a while thinking she would eventually find me. When I began losing hope in her I decided to walk to the other baggage claim area. In the middle of this long walk, in a big open area, I saw my little ginger friend, with a frantic and worried look on her face. I ran up to her with my arms in the air! It was a joyous moment.

After getting on a bus into town and wandering to find our hostel, we decided to go walk around a little bit. We walked all over but to be honest, I can't tell you where we went or what we saw because we were just talking and catching up after so long apart.

Saturday morning we tried to find a walking tour but failed. Instead we made our own. We wanted to see Gaudi, so Gaudi we saw! We went to Palau Guell which was some of his early work. Not that awesome but free. Then we went to the port and saw the boats and wandered around there. We decided after this that it was time for some lunch. We found some seafood paella that was pretty freaking delicious! After lunch we went to La Sagrada Familia (The Sacred Family) which is Gaudi's unfinished masterpiece. It is meant to be a cathedral but is still unfinished. I think it is supposed to be done in a year or so. I don't know. It was pretty sweet looking though. After this we went down to Casa Batllo, also a product of Gaudi. This place was freaking sweet. It is this house that Gaudi renovated and designed everything after the sea. VERY cool. I really enjoyed it. After exploring this house, Kate decided it was time for another Spanish delicacy. Churros and chocolate. Imagine a plate of churros served with a small sized coffee mug filled with melted, hot pudding. There you go. They were pretty bomb. After churros we went to rest at our hostel for later when we met up with some guys from CouchSurfing. It was very awkward meeting.

Sunday we went to the Picasso museum with some people from Kate's program in Oviedo. Since it was the first Sunday of the month, the museum was free. It was interesting but there was not alot of well known pieces. Or even pieces that you look at and think "That is Picasso." But It was still very cool. After the museum we went to Park Guell, out last Gaudi destination of the weekend. This is a big park that had pretty views of the city. It also has two houses, by Gaudi of course, that were modeled after gingerbread houses. The other amazing thing about Park Guell, and the true reason I wanted to go- ANTM was there! That is right folks- Tyra Banks and the America’s Next Top Model crew went to Barcelona one season and the final runway challenge was at Park Guell. Pretty freaking sweet. We had a little catwalk session and took some pictures. We made Tyra proud. It was just like my Sundays back in Monmouth when I would sit and watch ANTM all day, but it was in real life! It was fun. After Park Guell we headed back in towards the main part of Barcelona and decided to hit up the beach. Well whenever you take Anna for foreign waters she will, of course, have to go in them. So the second we hit the sand I started kicking off my shoes and rolled up pants and ran right into the Mediterranean Sea. I only went in knee deep, but I went in! After splashing around for a little while we decided to just sit and enjoy an evening on the beach. It was nice to just sit by the sea and listen to the waves. Later in the evening we went and got some more Spanish food. We enjoyed some delicious sangria and tapas. It was quite delicious.

Monday morning Kate and I decided we were going to spend some time popping in and out of shops near La Rambla. Later on we met up with two of Kate’s friends and decided to go to “The most beautiful man made thing ever.” This was in the words of one of Kate’s friends. It was this big and pretty beautiful fountain. And as if being told it was beautiful wasn’t enough, it was another ANTM spot. I was sold, we were going. It was pretty sweet. ANTM filmed a mock commercial there so we of course did an ANTM photo shoot. We got some pretty awesome pictures too. We sat and had some café con leche at a small outdoor café by the fountain and then made our way back to La Rambla. We had one last stroll down La Rambla and got our fill of the performers on the street. We then got our bags from the hostel and headed to Plaza Catalunya for me to catch the bus back to the airport. Kate and I said our farewells to each other and parted ways.

It was a very nice weekend. I really enjoyed Spain and the Spanish culture. I think I would enjoy spending more time there someday.

Catching Up... For real this time.

OK! I have decided to do a hard core Readers Digest version of the past month or so...

-Leah came to Prague! We had a superb time! We did a free walking tour of the city which ended up being really entertaining. We went to the Zoo. We did a Pub Crawl. We went to the castle and all the other big sites. We had a fantastic time hanging out together!

-Leah and I went to Vienna with my friend Kate! That was a good weekend. Vienna was a nice city. The highlights from that trip would definately be seeing Schonbrun Palace and eating weinerschnitzel!

-Leah went home. That part was sad. It was very fun to have her come out and visit me!

- I went to the Jewish Quarter of Prague! I had been in the Jewish Quarter before, it isn't like it is closed off to the world anymore, but I hadn't been inside any of the sites. I went to the Pinkas Synagogue which is very cool. On all the walls of this synagogue are the names of all the Jews in Prague that were taken to Terezin Concentration Camp which is nearby to Prague. Also, in the upstairs of the synagogue is artwork by kids from the same camp that was done as art therapy and later found when the camp was liberated. It was very cool.

-I went to ITALY! I spent just under a week in Italy with my friends Kate and Mikaela. We flew into Milan and spent an hour or so there before hopping on a train to Venice. We spent about two days in Venice. We rode a gondala. Ate some pasta and seafood. Saw the sights. Went to a big fish market. The depressing thing about Venice? The Bridge of Sighs (which I consider to be semi famous) was under some sort of construction! It kind of killed it for me. Construction has been plaguing my European experience. After Venice we got on a train to Florence. We got in there pretty late and met up with some couchsurfers that were hosting us for the two nights we were in Florence. They didn't have a place for us to sleep that night however, so they offered to stay out with us all night. After a drink at one bar, they took us to a secret pastry shop. Then after our pastries, they took us to a place with a pretty view of the city at night. Then realizing how tired we all were, it was decided that we would sleep in their car which was named "The Car of the Dreams." And folks, it really was! It was tiny too! The five of us squeezed into the little car and slept inside the car when it was parked in a random parking lot in Fiesole. It wasn't as shady as it all sounds though. I promise! The next day we toured Florence and saw The David! As well as some other sites. The David was pretty amazing though. That night they hosted us at their "House Near the Sea" for dinner and drinks. We slept there and the next morning they were nice enough to drive us and drop us off in Pisa where we spent about an hour. Just enough time to take some cheesy tourist shots with the Leaning Tower and then get to the train station! From Pisa we headed to Cinque Terre. This is a set of 5 small towns built into cliffs right along the sea. They are all connected to each other by some intense hiking trails and a train track. They are all gorgeous as well! We hopped around from town to town. Ate some delicious pesto for lunch and some fantastic seafood pasta for dinner. Also sipped the local wine. At the end of this long day we got on a train headed for Rome. It was an overnighter that got us into Rome at about 5am. We arrived and since nothing was really open yet we decided to take a nap on the floor of the station. At about 8 or 9am we woke up and headed to the Colleseum and Roman Forum. Those were both very cool to see. It was one of those moments where you are standing there and realize that you are staring at the Colleseum. Something you have seen many times in books and in movies, but never really thought you would get the chance to see in person. It was awesome. After those sights we went in search of a place to sleep. We found a hostel, dropped our bags, and headed to see more of Rome. We went to the Spanish Steps where we sat and felt cool chillin' on some steps. We went to the Trevi Fountain where we each tossed three coins in and drank some of the water. It is said that if you toss three coins in or if you drink the water it ensures you will one day return. We did both. Better safe than sorry. We went to the Pantheon which was pretty freaking sweet as well. After all this we went back to the hostel, showered (which we hadn't done in a while) and then hung out. Our hostel was having a bruschetta and sangria night so we stayed in and had a great time meeting people from all over the world. That is probably one of my favorite things about hostels. You can literally meet people from all over. I have friends from 5 continents now! We are still working on meeting someone from Africa. The next day we got up early and headed to The Vatican! I was very excited for this part of our trip. We went on a guided tour of the Vatican Museum which was very benefical as there were no signs up to tell us what we were looking at. We went into the Sistine Chapel which was GORGEOUS. And in case you were curious Kim, no one needed to trash their bag afterwards. We then went to St. Peter's Basillica. First stop was to the grottoes where we wandered among the tombs of past popes. Then we went into the actual basillica part and wandered around. It was very big and very pretty. After we had our fill of The Vatican we went for more pasta and then went to our hostel to get our stuff and then headed to the airport. Italy was pretty sweet. I liked it there alot.

So that portion of this post ended up being alot longer that I had planned.

-After I got back from Italy I enjoyed being back in Prague. As you have now seen, I was running like crazy all over the place. So it was definatelly nice to be back home and sleeping in my own bed for a while.
Enjoying Prague consisted of hanging out with people from my program, going to a Slavia-Praha vs Brno soccer game, and Thanksgiving! It was very hard to not be home for Thanksgiving, but luckily I was surrounded with other people that have become like family and who also were having a hard time being away. Along with 4 girls from my program, a Czech girl who is friends with one of those girls, and one mom, I celebrated a Czech Thanksgiving! I was in charge of dessert and people wanted somthing chocolatey. So I made French Silk Pie, one of my favorites. Then I found out there was going to be no stuffing. Thanksgiving without stuffing? Not ok. So I decided to be ambitious and make stuffing. Fun fact: The Czech Republic does not have any kind of premade stuffing like StoveTop. So I truly was ambitious and made stuffing, for the first time in my life, from scratch. It ended up being quite delicious. And the pie turned out great too. We also had salad, rolls, mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potatoes, and chicken. No turkey, it isn't common here in Prague and when you find it, it is really over priced because the stores know only the Americans will be buying it. But Thanksgiving was still pretty good, different but good.

-The other exciting thing that happened was April's parents Sandy and Gary coming to Prague! April is my brother's girlfriend and I had the chance to see her mom a few times while she was visiting. We went on a ghost tour and a boat tour or Prague. Both were pretty neat and it was fun to get the chance to know Sandy.

Well that just about sums it all up! I have caught up! However, I will have a great post about my last weekend coming soon. I promise! Now that I am close to caught up I refuse to get that far behind again!

2 Fraine's and a Connearney in Frankfurt

What up world, it's me again. I have been seriously lacking at blogging and failing to fulfill promises of new blogs to you people. And you have all been so kind as to remind me quite often. I am sorry. I am still trying to play catch up with life but I think I have almost done that. Look at me being behind at the blog as a sign that I am out living!

So we are still playing catch up here, and we are on to one of the most exciting parts of my time here. The day that LEAH stepped foot back onto European soil! That is right folks, my sister got some big kid, fancy job and decided to buy a plane ticket to see me! And within days of her booking a ticket, our cousin Jessica, who is studying in Finland, decided to book one to see us for a weekend! That is right, three Fraine kids decided to hang out in Frankfurt for a weekend. Germany is still trying to figure out what hit it! So after leaving Bruges I hopped on a bus and got to Frankfurt. I got to the hostel and as I was trying to get my bag into a locker for the day I heard Leah and Jess coming down the stairs! It was a very exciting moment, as you can imagine!

Leah, Jess, and I had a fantastic weekend together. We arrived Thursday and stayed until early Monday morning. The weekend was full of crazy stories, crazy adventures, and crazy people. We met more people than I can really count. There was our roommate Doug, these peace corps guys that had just been evacuated for Guinea, some crazy people that worked at our hostel, some people that actually LIVED at our hostel, and then the random people we met going out. We toured around Frankfurt on Friday which was nice. It was fun for us all to get to experience a new city together. Saturday was Halloween and we went to a small town nearby called Heidelburg. They have a nice castle grounds and the world's largest keg! Standing at over 220,000 liters (or over 55,000 gallons) it was pretty massive! We went out for Halloween and had fun. We also met up with our "German Cousin" Johanna who lives in nearby Wiesbaden. Sadly, this was the first Halloween I can remember that I did not dress up. It was a little strange and didn't quite feel like Halloween, but it was a fun night regardless. And we even sang some karaoke! Sunday the country of Germany essentially shuts down! But we took a train out to Mainz where we thought we could find a few things to see and do. We were mistake and we instead wandered around a little bit. We got back to Frankfurt and had one last dinner together. Then we went to bed early so that we could get up early and catch our buses and planes home. It was awesome to get to spend a weekend with Jess. Leah and I hopped on a bus and she came back to Prague with me!

Mid Term Break!

Hello world. It's Anna. Do you remember me? I know it has been quite a long time...
Sorry for the lack of posting. The past month has kept me so busy it is crazy. So get ready for a series of mega posts to inform you all (or whoever still cares) about my adventures. We are going to break these up into probably 4 seperate posts so none of us are sitting here staring at a computer screen wanting to stab our eyes out.

Round One: Mid Term Break
First off let me say that midterm break is a genius idea. Whoever thought it was a good idea to give you a week off in the middle of term is just amazing. WOU should introduce one of those. So being in Europe and without classes for a week just screams opportunity to travel to somewhere. And somewhere that deserves more than just a weekend. So where did I go? I went to 3 countries (4 if you count the Czech) and 9 cities (10 if you count Prague) in that week! Ok, now some of those cities probably shouldn't really count since it was just an airport and then got on a bus to another place, but still- that is some serious travel right there.

AMSTERDAM: The Land of Legal Marijuana
Friday afternoon Katie and I got on a plane and flew to Eindhoven where we then got on a train and went to Amsterdam! I really liked Amsterdam. I already want to go back. I wanted to go back about two hours after we left. It was just so pretty! It was full of canals and boats and bikes and alot of character. Here are the highlights from that leg of our journey...
-Hot waffles with hot chocolate poured over them are amazing.
-The Anne Frank House and The Van Gogh Museum are both very amazing.
This is the actual annex that Anne Frank and her family hid out in during WWII. It was very cool to see it. Anne's father, Otto Frank, was the only one of the family to survive and after the war he agreed to work towards turning the annex into a museum for people to see but said he didn't want any of it to be furnished again. So what we saw was how it was left after the family had been taken and after most of the annex was cleared out. So it was really like a few empty rooms but the pictures and magazine clippings that Anne had glued to her walls were still there and parts of the kitchen were still there. It was very interesting. We also saw her original diary as well as some of the added pages she had written. After the Anne Frank House we went to the Van Gogh Museum. This is the largest collection of Van Gogh's work in one place. The museum houses over 200 paintings as well as many letters he wrote to family and friends. It was very cool. There was so much to look at! If you ever make it out to Amsterdam these are two things that are definately worth seeing.
-There are bikes EVERYWHERE in Amsterdam. It was crazy and I thought I might get hit by one!
-We slept homeless the second night. That was an experience. Don't worry mom- We were perfectly safe the whole time!
-Wooden shoes are seen around every corner and you can find them in every color with every kind of design! I was slightly obsessed with them.

After two nights in Amsterdam we got on a bus and rode down to...

BRUSSELS: The Capitol of Europe
Brussels was a nice city. We arrived Sunday morning and immediately found our hostel. Then we went to wander the city.
-The best gelato in all of Europe that I have tasted thus far was in Brussels. I don't know that it has been mentioned but I am on a mission. To get gelato in every city I go to. Krakow was holding the top rank with their disaronno and their tiramisu. Amsterdam had some really good homemade chocolate. But Brussels had an amazing butter pecan and some kind of amazing vanilla with chocolate swirls and chocolate cookie, crispy, gooey, goodness. So if you go to Brussels, go the the Austrailian Home Made Ice Cream shop and get the one I just described. You won't regret it.
-Belgian waffles are AMAZING! The ones that have the sugar baked into them are like a little piece of heaven! Gooey, sweet, goodness is what they are...
-The Mannekin Pis is a cute little statue that is very tiny but attracts alot of attention. I completely forgot about wooden shoes and got hooked on that little guy in Brussels!

We only stayed one night in Brussels. We got up on Monday and went to the train station to figure out our best option as to where to go next. We decided to buy something called a "Go Pass" that allows you to make 10 train trips within Belgium and you can share it with as many people as you want. So we split one and hopped on a train to...

BRUGES: The City of Romance
Bruges, the place for lovers and the place the Collin Farrel movie "In Bruges" was filmed. I've never actually seen this movie and I had never heard of it before going to this town, but Katie had heard of it. Bruges is a tiny town that was very cute. It was easy to walk around and we saw all of the town in about a day.
-We met some Austrailians the first night that were travelling and we had a good time hanging out with them.
-I had a 57 year old man by the name of Stefan approach me the first night. He said, "You have beautiful eyes." Then it became, "You have a beautiful heart," which quickly became, "You have a beautiful personality and I just don't want to see you give it away to just anyone." Yah. That was really said. He also told me that he had been waiting 30 minutes to come tell me that he thought I was beautiful. That's right folks, 57 year old (older than my father) was sitting a few tables away watching me for 3o minutes! Not creepy at all!
-There is a chocolate shop on every corner in Bruges.
-With our "Go Pass" we also went to Antwerp and Ghent which were pretty neat cities as well.
-Katie and I were going to stay up all night so that I could catch a train at 4am to get to a bus to Frankfurt but we didn't want to spend money drinking all night. When the bartender at our hostel saw us sitting in a corner he came and gave us a free beer. Then when he got sick of listening to the drunken locals he begged us to come sit at the bar. He kept giving us free beer all night. That is my favorite kind of drink. Eventually I missed my train so we just went to sleep but I was able to stay up all night the next night and actually made my train and made it to Frankfurt!

Frankfurt is where I met up with Leah and Jessica! But That will have to be saved for another blog post. It was a pretty epic weekend.

There are no pictures to show of Amsterdam/Belgium because I didn't have a camera with me. But Katie did take alot of pictures which I do plan on stealing from her. I will post some once I do!

The Bones, and the Cold, and the Bears. Oh My!

Well it has been quite the week here in Praha! Here are some of the major happeneings...

-Alana had her 21st birthday so we went out and celebrated on Sunday. It included a tasty dinner, a disgusting shot (which I intend to bring back to the US), and finally alot of dancing!

-I went to coffee with a random Czech connection. Ready for the tree here? My friend Kaitlyn, her stepdad Jerry, his friend Lin, his stepdaughter Draza. Did everyone follow that? I met Draza last week for coffee. She is 33 and lives here in Prague with her 4 year old daughter and her husband. I was put in contact with her through Jerry and his friend Lin. She is very nice and agreed to meet with me. She brought along her mother and daughter. She was pretty adorable. Her husband came and met us later. They were all very nice and it was fun to meet with some local people. They also asked me if I would be interested in a weekend in the countryside with them!

-I had my first midterm on Friday. I think it went pretty well. I have another one tomorrow and then I have a paper due on Thursday. Fun times lie ahead! But midterms means its almost midterm break. And midterm break means time for TRAVELLING!!!

-The heat in our apartment was finally turned on! On Wednesday at noon it was 39 degrees farenheit here in Prague. At that same time it was 3am in Seattle and it was 48 degrees farenheit. I have the weather on my desktop so I know I'm not exaggerating! It was cold last week! It also sleeted a little bit. Everyone was calling it snow, but being a true Seattleite I know the difference between snow, sleet, rain mixed with snow, and snow mixed with rain. It was a decent sleet or a snow mixed with rain. But we survived are in the high 40's and low 50's this week.

The other events of this weekend are a little bit bigger...

On Friday (after my midterm) I hopped on a train and headed out to Kuntá Hora. This is a small town 72km east of Prague. What is Kutná Hora's claim to fame? The Bone Church. What the heck is a 'bone church'? It is a small church that is completely decorated with bones. Human bones in fact! It was incredible! There were bones everywhere and all of them were incorporated into statues of some kind. And the focal point of the whole place was the chandelier that hung from the center of the room. It was stunning in a weird, morbid, creepy sort of way. The town itself was not that amazing. It was very cold outside and we could not figure out the public transportation. But we were able to wander towards town and then find a small restaurant to eat dinner in. Then, even in the cold, we stuck to my goal of having zmrzlina (ice cream) in every city I go to. I have to test them all out and see who has the best! So far I think Krakow is the winner, but the journey is far from over. There is still much ice cream to be had! After our ice creams we headed back to the train station and got back into Prague.

On Saturday our program took us to Český Krumlov. This is a small town in southern Bohemia. It was a very cute town. They took us on a tour of the castle which was nice. The coolest part about the tour? In about every room there was at least one, if not more, bear rugs. Full bears. I really wanted to bring one home, and they kind of reminded me of the animal skins that Grandma and Grandpa used to have down at the beach house. But bigger and bears and still had their heads. And their eyes which was a little creepy, but cool. Little did I know that it is likely these bear rugs came from the bear pits on the castle grounds! In the 16th century the Rožmberk family decided to put a family of European brown bears on the castle grounds and today you can still see the bears in their bear pit! I was not lucky enough to see these bears, but rest assured I did try! The rest of the day in Český Krumlov was spent having lunch and wandering the small town. It was gorgeous and full of very cute little shops. We played at some playground. We took alot of pictures of random things. We just had a fun time wandering aimlessly. Definately a fun trip.

That essentially covers this past week in a nutshell. I am very excited for the upcoming week. My roommate Katie and I have some exciting travel plans. Want to know where? What fun is it if I just tell you? You can guess, but here is a hint- we are heading west. Oooh the possibilities! I am even more excited because a week from Thursday I will be hanging out with my sister and cousin in Germany! Stay tuned for Three Fraine's taking on Europe! Watch out!

Na víno zemi!

This last weekend I went down to Moravia. This is the southern region of the Czech Republic and is typically referred to as the wine country. I have heard that the people in Moravia have an elitist attitude about themselves and their wine. They say that the people in Prague don't know what good wine is so they send all of their bad wine up here and keep the good wine in Moravia. So basically, if you want good Czech wine you are supposed to go to Moravia.

I left Friday after class and took the bus to Brno. From Brno I had to travel one hour farther south to Mikulov where I was staying for the weekend. Since none of the people I was travelling with had class on Friday they all left in the morning, but being the good student I am I left later. This meant that I would have to figure out getting around Brno and into Mikulov on my own. After spending close to an hour in search of the bus station in Brno I tried to go buy a ticket. I quickly learned that they do things differently here. You don't buy a ticket at the station. When you are getting on the bus you hand your money to the driver and he prints off the ticket for you. Well I was not aware of this so when I went to tell the lady at the window that I wanted a ticket she snapped back at me. I think what she said to me was, "You're in the Czech Republic, we speak Czech. No English!" But I can't really be sure. I tried my best to ask her in Czech where I catch the bus and she told me. At this point I decided to leave and try to figure out the ticket part later. I then had an hour to wander and explore Brno. The city is not that big but when you have a small map it can be hard to find certain sights. I tried to find the Old Town Hall but I passed the street and ended up at the Town Square. This is when I heard the voice of an angel! The square had quite a bit going on. There was a floor hockey court set up with a pee-wee league playing and there were a bunch of new cars sitting around it. As I was standing in the square I heard the song "I've Got To Break Free" coming from some speakers nearby. I went to watch and was thoroughly amused and entertained. He danced, he sang, and he even stopped mid line to pose for cameras and make jokes with people in the audience. Needless to say I enjoyed my time in Brno.

After watching two songs by this handsome devil, I decided to turn back to the bus station and head to Mikulov to meet my friends. Once the bus arrived I got on and told the driver where I was trying to go. He said something in Czech to me and I just replied with "Anglicky" (meaning English) and so he shook his head, mumbled something to himself, and took my money. I grabbed my ticket from his machine and I went to find a seat. As I started to walk away he said to me, "Arrivederci!" I laughed, said thank you, and sat down. The ride to Mikulov went fairly quick and painless. It was when I arried in Mikulov that the problems began to arise. I didn't have a clue which stop I was supposed to get out on. So after debating with myself for quite some time I finally chose one and hopped off the bus. It's a good thing too because I think if I had stayed on much longer I might have ended up in Austria.

Once I got off the bus the search for my friends came. That was tricky but after some wandering around the tiny town I finally found them! We went and had some wine and dessert at one restaurant and then decided to go to the sports bar by our hostel. While we were there we watched Czech Slovakian Superstar. This is essentially the same as American Idol. After that the bar changed the channel to MTV which was showing the Beyonce-Justin Top 20 Countdown. It was really fun to watch that!

On Saturday we got up and were getting ready to check out of our hostel. About a half hour before we were going to leave, the old German lady that ran our hostel brought us a plate full of apple pastries for breakfast. She was such a sweetheart. She spoke no English but was really nice to us and gave us the entire flat in the upstairs of her hostel/house. After we checked out we went and walked around the castle grounds and then went to the edge of town to some caves. The caves were really cool, but I kept bumping into the walls and low ceilings. I was a little concerned that I might bump into something and the whole place would come tumbling down. Luckily I came out alive and the cave is still in tact. Cool parts about the cave: There were bats, there was a mammoth bone, there were some weird statues one of which was a weiner dog, and one of the pockets in the cave had been flooded. After the cave we went back into town and had lunch. Some delicious goulash!

When we finished lunch we went on a hunt for some wine tasting. Unfortunately all the cellars in town were closed due to harvesting. But we still had some good wine throughout the weekend. And a few of us bought bottles to take home to Prague. And we all bought some burčák! Now, you may be wondering, what is burčák? Simply defined it is delicious! It is commonly referred to as the impatient person's wine. It is extremely young and not fully fermented. It is only left to sit for five to ten days and after it is pured you have about four to six hours to drink it before it goes bad. We all bought a liter, which was served to us in big plastic bottles, and we hit the road back to Brno. When we got back to Brno we had about 2 hours to kill so we went in search of Old Town Hall. We found it and this is where we saw the Brno Dragon and the Wagon Wheel. The Brno Dragon is really an alligator hanging from the ceiling that was given to the city by Archprince Matayás. And the wagon wheel was created by a carpenter that said he could cut down a tree, make a wheel, and roll it to Brno from Lednice (40km) all in one day. The townspeople didn't believe him so he set out to prove them wrong. He did it but after that the people of Lednice were convinced he had assistance from the devil so they never bought his work again. Sucks for him. The other crazy thing we saw in Brno- a McWalk. A walk through window for a McDonalds. It was amusing.

After we had wandered as much as we could we went to catch our bus back to Prague and got in late Saturday night. It was a very nice and relaxing weekend. I decided one day when I retire I will move to Mikulov and own a winery. I will sit around drinking wine all day. Any of you are welcome to join me!

Say hello to my new boyfriend!

Here is a little preview to my weekend. I was wandering the streets of Brno when I heard this man's sweet, melodic voice coming from a speaker. Thinking there was a karaoke stage set up I quickly went to watch the stage. It was not karaoke, it was just this man dancing and singing on stage to a small crowd in the middle of the town square. He was quite entertaining and amazing!

The King of All Fests...

I spent this past weekend in Munich, Germany. Why? One simple answer. Oktoberfest! Never in my life did the thought occur to me that one day I would go to Oktoberfest. But let me tell ya folks- it was AMAZING! I am going back someday. You can count on that!

Our trip to Munich started early on Friday morning. I, along with three of my roommates and some other members of my program, got on a bus at 7:30am and headed out of town. This was possibly the best travelling bus ride I have ever had. Granted the only comparisons I have are the Greyhound I took to Ellensburg and the bus I took from Salem to Portland, neither of which were that great. This bus was comfortable, had leg room, gave you free coffee and tea, AND played movies. And the movie selection was FANTASTIC! I was going to listen to my own music and sleep the way there, but I looked up at the screen shortly after leaving Prague and what do I see? Some slow motion grinding in a sepia tone. That's right people- they were showing Dirty Dancing! I, of course, took the opportunity to watch one of my all time favorite movies. After watching Patrick and Jennifer I thought, "Ok, now it would make me day if they showed Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights right now." I knew this was wishful thinking so I put my iPod back in and was contemplating sleeping again. As I was talking to Hailey who was sitting across the aisle from me, she asked me if I knew what movie they were showing. I looked to the screen as the film was starting and knew I recognized it but just couldn't quite put my finger on it. Then after a few more minutes I realized exactly what movie it was. Not Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, but Mamma Mia! I was ecstatic! Another one of my favorites! By the time that movie had ended and they started showing another movie I decided that the three hours of sleep I had the night before would not be adequate for the weekend ahead so I decided to skip the third movie and sleep. It wasn't a musical anyways so it couldn't have been that good.

Once we got into Munich we had to go find where we were staying and drop our bags off. There was glitch number one. We were staying with some girl we had found on CouchSurfing and she had called us to let us know that she had left to go to Oktoberfest so we wouldn't be able to get into her apartment. Although she did tell us we would be able to store our bags, for free, at a hostel down the street. We weren't so sure about this plan so we decided to go with our friends to their CouchSurfing apartment and drop our stuff there. That was glitch number two. After going on a mini journey to find this place we decided it was too far out of our way to keep it there so we went to the hostel. And then came glitch number three. The hostel told us we couldn't keep our stuff there since we weren't guests at the hostel. However they did tell us that if we went back to the Metro station we would be able to keep our bags there. So that is what we did.

After dropping our bags we met up with our friends and wandered about the city. We didn't really have a map or any ideas of what there was to see so it was alot of wandering down streets and guessing what things might be. But still, the parts of Munich we did see were quite nice. We found a small pub where we had dinner. Afterwards we found a gelato stand and got some dessert. I love ice cream a bit too much. We then all went our separate ways and headed home. My roommates and I went to grab our bags and got onto the tram to find our apartment. We started talking to people on the tram and then realized we had missed our stop. But the guys we had been talking to told us about this hostel they were staying at and said we should come hang out. So we did. The "hostel" was really a giant tent with about 160 bunk beds set up. Next to that tent was a slightly smaller one that was empty. And then there was a big field for people to pitch tents at. We decided to see if they had room since it would be cheaper than where we would be staying and it turned out they had a little bit of room in the smaller empty tent. So they gave each of us a sleeping mat (that was rainbow colored) and a few thick blankets and we joined the group of people sleeping on the floor! It was very fun and everyone at this place was extremely nice.

We got up early on Saturday and headed to Oktoberfest. We ended up meeting this mom and her two daughters while we were in line to get into the Hofbräu Tent. The mom ended up getting all seven of us in through a kitchen door and then we found a table full of Italians that let us all squeeze in with them. We were set! They had just started serving the first steins of beer at at 9.30am we were served ours! We had an amazing time standing and dancing on the tables and benches, making friends with people that had come from all over, and drinking beer! I really loved it. The most memorable moment for me came in the afternoon. At about noon we went to see a few friends that were on the upper level of the tent. Shortly after going up there the security gaurds were clearing out the entire section and not allowing anyone to go downstairs. We all had to go outside. We then were put back into a line to get back in. We begged the gaurds to let us in since our purses were all at the table with the other people in our program but they refused to believe us. After a little while of waiting in line I had to pee. I thought I would try to hold it until I got inside so I didn't lose my spot in line but it got to an urgency level. So I got out of line and found the restroom in the Hofbräu beer garden. As in all women's restrooms there was a line that was extremely long. So I decided to go find another one. This meant I would have to leave the Hofbräu altogether and would likely have to fight to get back inside the beergarden alone. This was not acceptable since my purse was still inside the tent. So I went to a security gaurd and explained my situation and he let me out to use the restroom. Well I couldn't find the women's room and I was about to die so I ran into the men's room. This consisted of 4 long rows of urinals. And not individual ones. They resembled a metal industrial sink, but lower to the ground and stretching for a few meters. So I decided to pop a squat at the urinal and hope that the place didn't fill up. I had a few guests come and go as I was there. Most made comments in other languages but one spoke English and simply said "Well that is a solution." And that it was. I went back to the friendly security gaurd and he let me slip back in and I was left to fight my way into the tent. I decided to go try to find another entrance which is when I found another nice security gaurd who spoke English and I explained to him that my purse, wallet, ID, passport, and everything I had was inside the tent and I had been kicked out. He asked nothing more and let me in through a kitchen door. So I was reunited with my friends and my belongings! The rest of Oktoberfest was spent hanging out with people, attempting to sing the German drinking songs that were playing, and making friends. It was an awesome giant party!

We took an overnight bus back to Prague that night and got back to our apartment around 6am on Sunday. It gave us plenty of time to recover and relax and get ready for the week ahead!

Poland and The Pope

This post is long overdue.

Last weekend CEA took us to Poland. We took an overnight train Friday night and arrived in Krakow on Saturday morning. They put us on a bus and after a quick breakfast at our hotel we went to Auschwitz. As we were boarding the bus I realized I didn't have Rick Steves with me. So I jumped off the bus but they had already locked up our stuff. So I got back on the bus but as I was walking up the stairs my flip flop got caught on a step and broke. And, being the brilliant packer I am, I didn't have any extra shoes with me. Luckily, three of my four roommates have the same size feet as me and two of them had packed extra shoes. So we went to our luggage, got me some shoes, and I got my Rick Steves!

Auschwitz was very cool. I'm glad I got the opportunity to go. We had a tour guide that led us all over the camp. We started at Auschwitz 1 and saw different cell blocks that had many of the things found when the camp was liberated on display. Things like hairbrushes, shoes, luggage, and hiar. Lots and lots of hair that was shaved off the heads of people from the camp after they had been killed. We also saw some of the cells in the "Death Block" and we saw one of the shower areas and crematoriums. We then went to Birkenau and had a brief tour of one of the barracks and "bathrooms" that they had there. This is where the less than amazing part of the trip came. We had a very short tour of this huge camp and had close to no time afterwards to explore it on our own. But otherwise, it was still an amazing experience and well worth it.

After Auschwitz we got back on the bus and went to Krakow to check into our hotel. We got settled in there and then I headed to Old Town Krakow with some other girls from the program. We got separated pretty quickly so I toured around with two friends. We saw a few different churches including St. Francis Basillica. We also saw the Archbishop's Palace where Pope John Paul II lived while he was archbishop and while he was the pope on his visits to Krakow. We walked towards the Old Town Square where the Main Market Square was and lots of other shopping. We wandered around there a little bit and then decided to go find some food for dinner. On our way we got convinced by someone named "Ice-Man" to take a golf cart tour of the Jewish quarter with him. He was quite the character. It was very fun. After the tour we told him we wanted to find some dinner so he dropped us off at a Polish restaurant that he said he goes to all the time. It was mighty tasty. After dinner we headed back to the hotel and met back up with people from our program to go check out the Polish nightlife. It is not so hoppin'. Although, we didn't dance to the YMCA twice as well as a nice medly of other oldies. But no one was doing the YMCA except for us. It was still fun.

On Sunday we had our official tour of the city. This started with going to Wawel Castle and going inside the cathedral as well as part of the castle itself. It was very pretty and full of artwork. We then wandered through the streets hearing little bits here and there about things and ended at St. Mary's Church. This was absolutely beautiful. The altarpiece was completely carved out of wood and was stunning. I could have sat in there for hours. At this point the tour had ended and so we were left to do whatever we wanted. So Katie and I wandered around Main Market Square some more and then headed back to our hotel to listen to a speaker that our program had arranged for us.

Mr. Bernard Offen lived in the Jewish ghetto of Krakow and survived 4 different concentration camps, including Auschwitz-Birkenau. He was a very interesting guy and we were able to spend two hours sitting with him and asking him questions. He lives in California but spends 4-6 months each year in Krakow to help with his healing process. He also makes films about his life. He, along with his two brothers, were the only ones from his family to survive. They both also live in the US and are both writers.

After hearing Bernard we got on the bus for the last time and went to have a traditional Polish dinner. We had some mushroom soup; Polish rice; chicken cutlets; a "mixed salad" that consisted of a pile of shredded carrots, sauerkraut, beets, and a pickle; potato pancakes; and pierogis. After dinner I got the best gelato since I got to Europe and then we headed to the train station to take an overnight train back to Prague.

Poland was great. I really enjoyed Krakow and I'm glad my program took us there because otherwise I don't know that I would have gone on my own.

A normal person, after taking an overnight train and spending a weekend out of town, would have gotten on the metro at 7 am and gone home to sleep. I on the otherhand have never been all that normal. I got on the metro and went the opposite direction of home so that I could get on a bus and go to Stara Boleslav. Why, you may ask, did I decided to spend my Monday off from school going to a small town 30 km from Prague? Pope Benedict XVI people! That is why! Monday September 28th was St. Wenceslas Day in the Czech Republic so all schools were cancelled and The Pope decided to take a trip to the Czech Republic for the holiday weekend. He flew in on Saturday and spent some time in Prague with the president and his wife. On Sunday he went to Brno and on Monday he went to Stara Boleslav, where Wenceslas was murdered by his brother, for a special mass. I went to the mass in this giant field along with hundreds of thousands of people from all over. I didn't understand any of the mass because it was all in either Czech or Latin but it was still very cool. And I got to see the Popemobile! It was pretty sweet and a great way to end the weekend.

Sorry this post is so late. School got the better of me this week. If you are part of the Zuelke or Fraine family you probably got the email/facebook message about my homework assignment. I turned it all in Thursday night. Six pages of facts covering over 100 people. If you need a way to kill a tree or two, just borrow my family for a family tree assignment. You could wipe out a rainforest with us!

Art, Animals, and Fights.

Dobry den!

Here are a few of the highlights from my past week here in Prague...

Last Thursday I went to DOX The Centre for Contemporary Art. It was a really cool modern art museum that had some really interesting pieces. All over the walls were little phrases and what not in both English and Czech. Those were neat. There was also a room with three giant projector screens that were showing different things. One of them was showing the movie Psycho but had it slowed down to where the entire movie played in 24 hours. It was creepy and cool. There was also a giant sculpture outside that showed all the countries in the EU with their stereotypes. It was fun to sit with the descriptions and figure out each one.

On Friday I went to the Prague Zoo! It was so cool. It was pretty big and had alot of animals full of character. There were few animals that were just lying there, they were all very active. They had about 15 giraffes too that were all inside eating when we saw them so we got to be really close. It was very cool. I made friends with a small monkey who I named Harold. He let me take his picture and then I turned the camera to show him and he stared at it for a while and pressed himself up on the glass. He was adorable.

Saturday I went to Ladronka Fest. We thought this was going to be similar to JoyRide with some extreme sports and stuff like that. It was more alot of booths set up, some of which you could do an activity at, and then a big stage that seemed to be having some sort of talent show. Sort of... We saw some middle/high school girls do some dancing in some very creative costumes, some ballet, and some rock bands. It was still very fun.

On Tuesday our program took us to the Slavia-Praha vs Pilsen hockey game. It was very exciting! We were sitting right in the middle of the Slavia cheering section where there was a man standing with a megaphone leading the crowd in cheers. And we were about 6 rows up from the ice so very close to the game. We all had alot of fun and Slavia won 4-3! One of the most exciting moments came when a group of rowdy teenage boys fell into a man probably in his mid-20's and knocked him over. The 20-something mad got obviously upset and started yelling at one of the boys in Czech and soon fists were flying and other fans were pulling them off each other! The younger boy ended up with a bloody nose. And all of this happened in the seat directly in front of me! If I had taken a step forward I might have gotten hit myself. It was intense.

In other exciting news, our router got replaced on Monday! We had been having internet issues since we got here so we are all pretty happy that those are gone. Now I should be able to talk to people back home without getting kicked off the internet! Woohoo!

I think that about wraps it all up for now. I am very excited because I am leaving for my first trip away from Prauge this evening. Our program is taking us to Poland to go to Krakow and Auschwitz! I am looking forward to it! I will definately let you all know how it goes!

Hope you are all well!
čau!
Anna

Holka Modrooká

It has been a while since I have really sat down and updated you all on my happenings in Praha... So here goes. Forgive me if this gets beefy, I am going to try to keep it exciting.

I talked to my student services advisor (Radka) a while ago about getting involved in some way with the Deaf community here or taking some Czech sign classes. She is awesome at her job and quickly found a community center for the Deaf here in Prague. They offered classes and when she talked to the woman on the phone she said that me taking classes shouldn't be a problem even though I don't know much Czech. Well that lady lied. After taking the tram and the bus out to Prague 4 we arrived at the center and met the teacher. He knows no ASL and no English so us communicating would be extremely difficult. But he did give us the contact information of another place in Prague that does the same work that they do but are focused more on youth. Radka emailed them and is waiting for a response...

Last Wednesday we had a CEA activity where we could sign up to go bowling. So of course since I didn't have anything else going on I took advantage of the free opportunity! We had three lanes and about half way though our first game Radka came and told us all that the top two bowlers of each lane would get to move on to the championship round. Well I made my parents proud and got first in my lane! With a score of 103 I think. I was bowling with a lane full of girls who didn't know what they were doing and asked me repeatedly, "Have you done this before?" Bowled? Who has never bowled in your life? I think it just is not a big event for midwest and east coast kids. What a shame. Well after finishing that first game I went on to the final round where the goal was to finish quickly because we wanted to go home. Well I ended up doing pretty well in this round too. I finished second with a score of 120-something. Somebody get me a Bowl-A-Rama-Mama's shirt!

Friday I went to the Petřín Tower with Hailey, Kelsey, and Hayley. This is also known as the Mini Eiffel as it is a replica of the real Eiffel tower. It is one fifth the size but stands at the same elevation as the Eiffel tower due to the fact it is on top of a hill (Thank you Rick Steves). We climbed the 299 steps to the top and had a nice view of the city. At the base of the tower there is a mirror maze that we wandered through and a rose garden that we looked at. Hayley and I decided to walk back down and go see the Monument to Victims of Communism Who Survived.

Saturday Hayley and I wanted to go to the Jewish Ghetto. We didn't think we would have any problems but upon arriving at the Old-New Synagogue we found that it was closed. Then we realized it was Saturday so of course it was going to be closed. So since we were nearby we decided to go see the astronomical clock chime and then wander towards Wenceslas Square. We didn't make it to Wenceslas Square but we did do some wandering around the city a little bit and went in to The Powder Tower which was just a small tower that used to store gun powder and was used as a lookout point in the medieval times. It was a nice afternoon. That evening we had some people from our program come over to our area of Prague and we cooked them dinner. It was nice to have people out here for a change.

Last night we had another free CEA activity that I was excited to partake in. Bobsledding. I was excited and was thinking it was going to be Cool Runnings style. I heard it wasn't on snow or ice but I still thought it was going to be a four person sled type of a thing. Once we got there we quickly learned it was not Cool Runnings style and it was one person sitting on a scooter/toboggan type of thing. It was still really fun and we all had a good time. It was definately something I would consider doing again. After bobsledding we went to Wenceslas Square for dinner where they had about a dozen little booths of different foods set up. It was delicious.

In other news, my Czech is very slowly improving! I use little words here and there but outside of class I don't speak it too much. However we did learn an old Czech folk song in class last week and another new one today. So that is fun!

So I think that has caught you all up on the last week or so of me being here. Look forward to my next blog when I will tell you about my upcoming trip this weekend!

Miss you all!
Na shledanou!

Rugby Boys, Burgers, and Torture

It has been a busy few days in Praha. I spent Friday and Saturday afternoon at Joyride, an extreme sports and music festival in Prague. There was rugby going on but don't worry mom, I didn't play. I wanted to, I brought clothes to play in, but I didn't play. It was just some men playing beach rugby, which meant they were barefoot on the sand. And they weren't really playing a game, it looked like my team when we practice. It was a little weird but still fun to watch. They also had a cool ropes course that I did. I kind of got stuck at the end though and had to be lowered down on a rope by the man running it. That was awkward but still fun! I also went back to Prague Castle on Saturday morning with two of my roommates, it was still gorgeous and we decided pictures just don't capture the beauty that is there. After this we went to the Medieval Torture Museum that is by the Charles Bridge. That was disturbing but well worth checking out. I am glad we went but I am even more glad that none of those things are used today! Saturday night on our way back from Joyride my roommate Hayley and I decided to stop for dinner and we found this small pub near school that advertised for "Seriously Huge Burgers" so we decided to give it a shot. It was delicious! The whole place was kind of an American style place and played American music so it was like a little slice of home! It was a very fun weekend just wandering around and exploring Prague!

Some people have asked for my address while I am here. Letters and postcards (which I would LOVE to get!) you can send to my apartment. That address is...
CEA
Anna Fraine
čsl. armady 34
Praha 6
160 00
Czech Republic

Packages or anything that won't fit in our small mailbox have to go to the CEA office at school and I don't know that address.

I love it here. The food is good (Goulash soup in a bread bowl- amazing!), the people are nice (for the most part at least!), and the beer is cheap! Where can you go wrong? Maybe I just won't come home. Hmm...

Where There's a Will...

I successfully made Muddy Buddies. Or, Bahnitý Kamaráde as I am now calling them. The Czech cousin to Muddy Buddies. Or Puppy Chow or Monkey Munch or whatever you choose to call it. They are a pretty good alternative. They don't appear to sell chocolate chips in this city so I used a chocolate bar. I also couldn't find Chex cereal so I used some other cereal that was close enough. It is a little different but it is still chocolate and sugar so it works for me. And for you East Coasters, I found some big jars of Marshmallow Fluff in the American secion of the international food secion of the grocery store. It weirded me out a little bit that we had a section there at all, but it does make sense. But they had the same Marshmallow Fluff that I had when I was in Boston in 2003, complete with the Fluffernutter that my dad made me eat promptly upon my return from that same trip. For those of you who don't know, the Fluffernutter is "America's Sandwich" or something like that. It is peanut butter and marshmallow fluff on bread. Mmmm...

I just got back to my apartment from wandering around looking at little shops in my neighborhood. As I was approaching my building the wind started to pick up pretty hard. I had dirt flying into my eye, people were about to start blowing away, it was some serious wind. By the time I got up into my apartment it was pouring down rain. Serious rain. It actually made my day. I have missed the rain. So after closing all the windows in the apartment I sat at my window and watched the rain. It was pleasantly surprised to see that people didn't freak out over rain here. They all carried about their day like the weather hadn't changed a bit. Some pulled out umbrellas but most people just kept walking and continued with their lives. I think I like it here...

My First Week In Prague!

Ahoj!

It has been an eventful few days here in Prague and I have almost been here for a whole week! That just doesn't seem right. Saturday we had a historical city tour that led us from Wenceslas Square and ended near the Prague Castle. Our tour guide, Dagmar, led us along and shared little bits of information along the way. We stopped at the astronomical clock which was so cool. We didn't see it chime but I do plan on going back at some point to see it.

After the clock, we went on to the Charles Bridge. The bridge was crowded and busy with other tours, tourists, street performers, and little booths of things to buy. We didn't really stop on the bridge much until the end where there was a little more space. But it is definately a very cool piece of the city that I have already been back to multiple times. On the other side of the bridge we took a quick break to grab coffee or a snack. I went to use the restroom but had to pay 5crowns to get in and there was a black light in the stall. So bizzare. After the break we went by the most narrow point at Prague. Mom, you would go crazy in here. Dagmar told us that you have to be sure to go through when the light is green. Otherwise you could end up like some large German woman who got stuck in the middle and had to be rubbed down in soap so they could slide her out. Then we went to see the peeing statue. That was an interesting piece of art. Apparently you can text some number and they will write you message in the water.

After this stop we wandered through town and heard some small facts as we worked our way towards Prague Castle. This was gorgeous! There were some awesome views of the city. We went into the castle courtyard and were right outside the cathedral which was incredible! It costs money to go anywhere in the castle so we couldn't do that as part of our tour, but to go in the cathedral was free so we did that. It was so amazing in there. After the castle we wandered back down towards where our school is and we ended our tour there.

That night my roommates and I all went to another apartment of people from our program. There ended up being quite the crowd there and we had a great time mingling and getting to know people.

On Sunday, I decided to make myself some dinner. If you haven't already heard the embarrasing story from my mother, here it is. I have a new rule for shopping in Europe. If you plan on buying some sort of item for cooking such as sugar, flour, or baking soda, you must look up what that word is before going to buy it. Why did I create this rule for myself? Because otherwise you may end up using powdered sugar in place of flour. And let me tell ya folks, mac and cheese just doesn't taste quite the same when you try to make the cheese sauce with powdered sugar. Grandma, please don't kick me out of the family for this one. So that was one of my "Oh, I guess I'm not in the states anymore" moments. It just means I know have a bag of powdered sugar to make an abundance of muddy buddies and frosting with. Any other suggestions?

Yesterday was my first day of school. I had my Exiles and Expatriate literature course. The nice thing about school here is each class, except for my Czech class, meets only one day a week. And the nice thing about my schedule is I only have one class a day. Katie and I went early to get our books and get other things at the school set up. It was a very busy afternoon. Class was good. My teacher has lived in many different parts of the states but was in Seattle for the last 8 or so years before moving to Prague. He and I had a nice chat about Seattle, and Greenlake, and Wallingford, and Magnolia. After class got out I came home to meet my other three roommates and we went to the CEA Welcome Dinner. It was very fun to get to relax and see people again and meet more people. Today was my second day of class and I had Czech. It is a pretty small class but I seem to like the teacher. He was shocked to hear that I had never learned a second spoken language. But I am excited to try to learn this one!

That has pretty much summed up my last few days here. I hope everyone is doing well. I miss you all!

Na zdravi!

Anna

I have arrived!

Dobry den!
Well, I have arrived here in beautiful Praha! It has, thus far, lived up to what people told me and proven to be a gorgeous city. I arrived yesterday (Thursday) morning and met some man from my program. He pretty quickly put me and two of my roommates into a taxi. That alone was quite the experience. The two roommates I was picked up with (twin sisters from Arizona) had two suitcases each. All four of them bigger than my one. When we got to our taxi our driver looked a little concerned. He had a rather small car so I didn’t blame him. I was very impressed when he was able to fit it all into his car. He, amazingly, was able to fit two of our bags into the trunk along with one carry on. Then he put the other three into the backseat with the two other girls, literally sitting on each other’s laps, and I sat up front.

When we got to our apartment we were pleasantly surprised by its size. Although the living spaces are not quite as spacious as I am used to, my bedroom is about my dorm room size times two. There are a total of three bedrooms one of which you can only get to by going through another room. There is also one full bath although it is separated into two rooms. One room is off our laundry room, (really just a room with a washer in it) and has the tub and sink in it. The other half is on the other side of our hallway/living room and only has the toilet and sink. That part of the bathroom reminds me so much of the spare bathroom at Grandma’s house on the lake. You know where you could sit on the toilet and wash your hands all at the same time? But I do really enjoy my new home. It seems to be completely furnished by IKEA so it is kind of like living with Britta again! Oh, also our dining room table and chairs are the EXACT same set that were at my apartment in Monmouth. It was a little freaky when I first walked in.

We wandered around a little bit of our part of Prague yesterday. We found a few little markets, a bakery, and a few restaurants and bars. We also have a suspicion that the bar directly across the street from us has a strip club in its lower half. I don’t foresee solving that mystery personally. My roommates and I all get along pretty well so far. Let me introduce you…
Hailey and Kelsey B- Seniors at University of Arizona. Originally from Albany, NY. Business management majors.
Hayley H- Also a senior at UA and a business marketing major. Originally from Lake Tahoe, CA. She has lived with the Kelsey and Hailey since they were all freshman.
Katie G- Junior at SUNY Brockport. Psychology/English major. Always from Brockport.
They are all very nice girls. I am living in the same room as Katie which I think is great.

We had school orientation today and I got all the classes I wanted. Elementary Czech; exiles and expatriate writing; culture, identity and film; and social anthropology. We also had a brief practical city tour that led us from campus to Wenceslas Square. It wasn’t very practical for me because my apartment wasn’t near any of these grocery stores or other useful shops that people will use. But it was nice to wander around a little bit. Tomorrow we have another tour of the city that will show more of the history and big sights. So that should be nice. I think that just about wraps up my first two days here! I am loving it all!

Na zdravi!
Anna

T-Minus 15 Days.

My departure to Europe is rapidly approaching! I could not be more excited or nervous! All the stress is starting to sink in but I am having no second thoughts or anything of the sorts.

I decided to make a blog that I will (hopefully) update soewhat regularly while I am gone. That way all you people will know what I am up to! I think, if I did this right, it is set up that anyone can leave comments. But I am also going to be checking emails and facebook and everything else as much as possible. From what my program has told me I have internet at my housing but it is really slow dialup. So I shouldn't count on it too much. We will see what is up with that when I get over there.

Here are some other funfacts about my program...
-I am going to be attending the Anglo American University in Prague.
-I am living in an apartment with other people from my program. No host family or anything like that.
-I will be there from the end of August until mid-December.

I think that is all I have for now. I really just wanted to get this started and let people know that this will be here while I am gone to keep you all informed! I will hopefully fill out the sidebar to the right with useful links for you people to get a taste of what I am experiencing over here!

Bye for now!
Anna