It is a tough battle to stay
awake on a stomach full of Cesnacka polevka, but I fighting that fight in order
update everyone on life in Prague…which is incredibly busy, for one thing. I have been here a little less than a week,
and I already absolutely love this city, and even though I know there will be a
lot of frustrating moments, I think I am going to always want to come back here
after I leave. Here are a few main points
about my daily life in Praha (Prague), before I get into any more detailed
stories:
The Apartment. I live at Kostnicke
namesti 1 in Praha 3 (namesti means square).
It is pronounced kost-nee-ss-kay nah-mess-tee (excuse my complete
ignorance to phonetically spell something).
It is not in the middle of town, but is an absolutely beautiful
apartment. We have two bedrooms, a
foyer, a bathroom, a little laundry room, and a big living area with a couch,
kitchen counter and table, and three giant windows that you can open like doors
(I am sitting in one of them right now) and see the colorful buildings across the
street.
The Roommates. I asked for
loud, outgoing night owls on my questionnaire and I got them—and I love them! They could not be any nicer and they are all
about getting the most out of our time in Prague. Brinda is from California and goes to St.
Luis Obispo (it took me forever to learn how to say that), and Monica is from
Chicago and goes to University of Denver.
We have already had a lot of Prague adventures and are starting to plan
some trips.
The Schedule. Right now I
have mostly just been trying to get to know the city and adjust to the time
difference. I am currently in my two
week intensive Czech class, which is…intense.
We go there every morning at 9:30 and usually get out around 2:30. Today we got out early so that we could go
with our teacher to a Czech restaurant to try to order in Czech. After classes we sometimes have a scheduled
activity or tour, like registering at the police station or seeing the Prague
castle grounds. In the evenings we sometimes
meet up with other people in our program and from other programs and hang out
at different bars and pubs in the center of the city, either Wenceslas Square
or Old Town Square (they weren’t kidding that beer is cheaper than water here…Czechs
LOVE their pivo).
The Trips. We have a lot of
scheduled trips through the ISA program, the biggest ones being Berlin and
Vienna. Our first trip is this Saturday to
Kutna Hora, which is a small town in the Czech Republic with a famous Ossuary,
or “Bone Church,” which incorporates actual human bones into its architecture. I am also planning to go on my own trips with
roommates, people from the program and other programs, and my friend and former
roommate Sam, who is studying in Florence.
We are trying to book Croatia, Budapest, and Ireland right now. I would also love to go to Paris, Rome,
Florence, and a few others. A semester
sounds like a long time, but are weekends are filling up fast!
Czech Life. People here are
very different than in the U.S. They are
extremely quiet and polite, but not very friendly. They do not smile at you in stores, and
absolutely no one talks on the public transportation, which—like all things
Czech—is extremely punctual and well-run.
Even Czech dogs are polite, walking around with no leashes or sitting
quietly on the tram. The language is
difficult. There is a sound that is like
a mixture of an r and a j that none of us can seem to get, and of course it is
in the phrase “how do you say ___ in Czech?” (Jak se rekne ____ cesky?…it’s
the ‘r’ and it normally has a symbol over it).
Apparently Czech is one of two languages with this sound—the other being
a small and obscure African tribe. Figures.
This is barely skimming the
surface of life here, but hopefully it will give you some framework for all the
other stories I have to tell!
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