Well after almost 6 days in Prague I finally have the time to sit down and work on a travel blog. It has been a busy week.
I have decided to keep a journal not only for you all to read about and see what I am doing, but to also keep the memories for myself.
Hopefully I can remember all I have done until this point...
After my mishaps with the airport and getting here I have had an amazing time. Our first full day here we all met at 9 to do a walking tour of the area around us. I live right in the heart of Prague, right next to old town square. For those that know anything about Prague I am a block away from the square, the one with the cool astronomical clock. We walked around the "Old Jewish Town" which was pretty cool. There is a bunch of old synagogues because way back when Prague had a huge Jewish population. We saw a couple of museums full of Jewish history because when the Germans took over the Czech Rep. they took anything in the country related to Jews here for storage, but never had the opportunity to destroy them before they were booted out. Also got to visit a Jewish Cemetery that had approximately 60,000 dead buried there, all within maybe the size of a football field. After that we returned to out apartment and had the rest of the day free. I just hung around and got to know my flat mates. A bunch of real cool people.
Fri night we went out and did some bar hopping which included Harley Bar (yes, as in Harley motorcycles) fat boys bar, and the chateau (sp?)..I came home when the sun was coming up just to give you an idea of the night I had.
Sat 6/23
Prague Castle- What an awesome place. It’s located on the other side of the river on top of a large hill. We met up and jumped in a bus to drive us up there. The place was simply spectacular and hard to put in words. I will add pictures for all to see. It currently holds the President of Czech Republic. The castle had a huge Cathedral in the center of it which was amazing. It was shut down in the morning for a few hours, so myself and a few other students decided to stick around until it re-opened to see it, and I am so glad I did. Even though it rained on us all day. The weather here is crazy...it goes from sunny and hot to cold in rainy in 5 minutes, 5 times a day. After touring the castle me and some students decided to walk back down the hill and over the Charles Bridge to our flat, as it decided to stop raining on us. Charles Bridge was cool, a little overloaded with tourists but still an interesting bridge.
Kind of just walked around for the rest of the day orienting myself with the city, DEFINATLY not as easy to get around here as in NY! There is no #'d streets, and obviously everything is in a foreign language (more about the language in a little bit). I did however stumble across a restaurant right around the corner from us with awesome food. Red hot and Blues- it’s a tex-mex place owned by an American from New Orleans. Food here is so cheap, especially compared to NYC- I love it.
It was a girl in our group’s bday so we all headed out to a club, 4 stories and cheap beer. Had a porch that overlooked the Charles Bridge which looks beautiful at night. Again, came home with the sun up.
Sun 6/23
Old Prague Castle- Headed up to the old Prague Castle...not as cool as the first castle, but did have an awesome overview of the city. On way home our director Dr. Greek had his wallet stolen out of the metro, which must suck big time. Prague isn’t full of crime but you have to be careful (more on this later too).
That night went across the bridge with the girls and a good sit down meal at a Czech place. Went back to their place for awhile and then bed, limited my booze consumption to one glass of wine...I needed a break! Especially because I had class the next day...
Mon 6/24
In the morning we went to the Police Museum. Cool place had a lot of cool history stuff from the Secret Police and stuff, as well as exhibits on famous crimes committed in the country.
Then WHAM back to the real world. Class. Haha we were a little spoiled not having class the first few days. I had both my Crime in an emerging democracy and visual criminology....6 hours of classes...ugh
Had some amazing ice cream for jen's bday...then went to bed...it was pouring out again and I had no interest in going out unlike many of my roommates.
Tues 6/26
Finally a day off. So far today I’ve been shopping, finished unpacking and relaxed. Going to just go walk around in a bit.
The language here sucks...very hard to pronounce or understand. Most people speak English, and some just act like they do not...Americans as a whole are not loved here, but that is mostly because of Bush.
Crime- haha a little different than the states. Have to very careful of pickpockets. Also drug dealers and hookers. The other night I had some girl grabbing my "Junk" and kept saying party time. She finally left after me and my roommate started yelling at her. Oh the crazy stories I have...I told some Czech girl I was from the US and she goes "F*&@ you" when she actually said something that sounds like it, only it means really. Didn’t find this out till the day after....
In other great fantastic news my computer has crashed....freaking sweet. I’m using my roommates right now because mine is beyond screwed. So I’m a little pissed about that.
Ok enough writing...I have a phone here in Prague that has a NYC area code...so if anyone wants to call it won’t be long distance to Europe, it’ll ring into this computer the # is (914)410-6616
Hopefully I can write in this more so each entry won’t be as long. Miss everyone!
Peace
I posted some pictures too...
