Well, I have been in Prague for just a little over a week now. I can still remember the bus ride from the airport to our hotel. I started talking to Lance and finding our that he went to CVHS and asking him if he had Mr. Schick for music and him saying no but Eddie did and then striking up a convo with Eddie about Mr. Schick. I also remember seein an Ikea and feeling like we didn't really go anywhere (like we just flew in a circle for 14 hours, LOL). The next thing I remember is the billboards. The Czech Republic is definitely not as concerned with censorship as the U.S. is. That was a culture shock for all of us. I remember crossing the vehicluar traffic bridge and looking to the left and seeing the Charles Bridge and then the feeling I got seeing all of the old buildings for the first time. I remember thinking, "This is going to be one of my greatest adventures!" I AM TOTALLY LOVING IT!!! This city is soooo incredibly beautiful!!! By far, the most beautiful place I've ever seen! I have made friends with all of the "young" people (all 7 of them). Out of 30 people on the trip, only 8 of us were actually college students, the rest were over 55. Apparently, Study Abroad trips are a cheap way for older couples to travel; I'm going to have to keep that in mind. It's so funny how we are all getting along so well.
We just got back from a weekend in Budapest, Hungary. We left on Friday morning and came back this evening. Our school hours were Monday-Thursday which allowed us to have 3-day weekends. I don't exactly know what I was expecting of Budapest (pronounced Boo-dah-pesht), but I was a little let down. Budapest is not a very clean city (at least the part we stayed in). My theory is "Budapest is a poor man's Prague." After talking to a friend of Nicole's (who is one of my oldest friends), who, oddly enough, was a classmate of mine at GHS, my opinions of Budapest have changed but I still think Prague is way more beautiful. We walked ALL OVER on Saturday and saw a lot of the landmarks of the city like the Parliament building, the castle, and some of the many statues. It is very similar to Prague but like I said, it's a lot dirtier. But I still had a lot of fun and I got the opportunity to go to another country. The hostel we stayed in was more like a cheap hotel and one night we decided to have a pillow fight with rock hard pillows. I was knocked down and had a headache for about an hour afterwards (and I was winning at the time).
Anyway, we were all happy to be back in Prague. I guess I should talk about my buddies on this trip now before I get further. I'll start off with my roomate, Adrine. She's okay I guess. I mean, I like her, but I'm starting to get annoyed by her. She's kind of an attention whore, and she has to put her two cents in about everything instead of just letting things go. Like if someone makes a joke at her expense, she's got to come back with something which would be funny if half the things she said were actually funny. Then there's Garineh. She's just like me, only Armenian. We get along really well. We laugh at a lot of the same things which is great and I can be a total dork w/her too. Then there's Shawna. She's a quirky one, but in a cool way. She's an Art major and is kind of the stereotypical "Art major" but of course she's got qualities that separate her from the stereotype. I haven't been able to speak to her alone too much but I think she's a cool chick. Ok, now for the guys. Eddie is the one we pick on all of the time because it's so incredibly easy to. He does things to provoke us. One of our favorite sayings is "Eddie is a douche bag!" It's fun and we only do it because we love him. Then, there's Ryan who is the cynical comedian of the group. I love his comic timing & he makes me laugh. He refrences "The Simpsons" a lot and knows just when to interject one too. Alex is kind of the random one of the group. He's very quiet but comes up with some pretty good one-liners every once-in-a-while. We were playing poker the other night and Alex folded by saying, "I fold, this is bullshit!" He's very calm and sometimes when Eddie does something stupid, Alex says something angrily, but the rest of us find it completely funny because it seems so out of character for him. Then, there's Lance. He's the one that I get along with the best I guess (out of all of the guys). We've flirted (and that's all that will happen) a little, I have to admit. I'm pretty sure he's got a girlfriend and I've got Travis so yeah. I think we're kind of in the same boat when it comes to our relationships and I think that's what draws us to each other. That and he and I just seem to enjoy each other's company. We can joke around and laugh and maybe it's the idea that there are no strings attached that makes me like him. But I can also see myself being friends with him after the trip.
Anyway, I'm enjoying my classes very much and I'm learning a lot about music and art and I love that because that's what I'm here for. But obviously most of the fun happens outside of class. I have to interject that I absolutely love talking about art and music now because I've learned so much. The group of kids (collectively "we") have come up with a bunch of inside jokes. Some of them have come along during the trip and others have come from seeing the movie "Eurotrip." That was so funny. There's a reference to Bratislava (Slovakia's capitol) in there and on our way to Budapest this weekend, we passed through and all of us had to get pictures of the sign at the train station. The group calls me either "Grandma" or "Nappy Napperson" because I take naps all of the time. It's weird because @ home I never take them but here, I have to take them all of the time. I think it's the walking we're doing. We're doing A LOT of walking. Which is good, but considering it's all cobblestone that we're walking on, it's a little painful.
We've seen so much so far, and there's still more. We've seen some of Prague Castle, St. Vitus Cathedral (inside the castle compound) the most exquisite church I've ever seen, Old Town Square, the Charles Bridge, the National Theatre (we saw a ballet there) That's where the above pic was taken. I've never been in a more beautiful theatre and to be able to see my first ballet there was such a privelege and I can't wait to go back, and Tyn Church (which is in Old Town Square). I can't wait to see more! I guess that's it for now!
We just got back from a weekend in Budapest, Hungary. We left on Friday morning and came back this evening. Our school hours were Monday-Thursday which allowed us to have 3-day weekends. I don't exactly know what I was expecting of Budapest (pronounced Boo-dah-pesht), but I was a little let down. Budapest is not a very clean city (at least the part we stayed in). My theory is "Budapest is a poor man's Prague." After talking to a friend of Nicole's (who is one of my oldest friends), who, oddly enough, was a classmate of mine at GHS, my opinions of Budapest have changed but I still think Prague is way more beautiful. We walked ALL OVER on Saturday and saw a lot of the landmarks of the city like the Parliament building, the castle, and some of the many statues. It is very similar to Prague but like I said, it's a lot dirtier. But I still had a lot of fun and I got the opportunity to go to another country. The hostel we stayed in was more like a cheap hotel and one night we decided to have a pillow fight with rock hard pillows. I was knocked down and had a headache for about an hour afterwards (and I was winning at the time).
Anyway, we were all happy to be back in Prague. I guess I should talk about my buddies on this trip now before I get further. I'll start off with my roomate, Adrine. She's okay I guess. I mean, I like her, but I'm starting to get annoyed by her. She's kind of an attention whore, and she has to put her two cents in about everything instead of just letting things go. Like if someone makes a joke at her expense, she's got to come back with something which would be funny if half the things she said were actually funny. Then there's Garineh. She's just like me, only Armenian. We get along really well. We laugh at a lot of the same things which is great and I can be a total dork w/her too. Then there's Shawna. She's a quirky one, but in a cool way. She's an Art major and is kind of the stereotypical "Art major" but of course she's got qualities that separate her from the stereotype. I haven't been able to speak to her alone too much but I think she's a cool chick. Ok, now for the guys. Eddie is the one we pick on all of the time because it's so incredibly easy to. He does things to provoke us. One of our favorite sayings is "Eddie is a douche bag!" It's fun and we only do it because we love him. Then, there's Ryan who is the cynical comedian of the group. I love his comic timing & he makes me laugh. He refrences "The Simpsons" a lot and knows just when to interject one too. Alex is kind of the random one of the group. He's very quiet but comes up with some pretty good one-liners every once-in-a-while. We were playing poker the other night and Alex folded by saying, "I fold, this is bullshit!" He's very calm and sometimes when Eddie does something stupid, Alex says something angrily, but the rest of us find it completely funny because it seems so out of character for him. Then, there's Lance. He's the one that I get along with the best I guess (out of all of the guys). We've flirted (and that's all that will happen) a little, I have to admit. I'm pretty sure he's got a girlfriend and I've got Travis so yeah. I think we're kind of in the same boat when it comes to our relationships and I think that's what draws us to each other. That and he and I just seem to enjoy each other's company. We can joke around and laugh and maybe it's the idea that there are no strings attached that makes me like him. But I can also see myself being friends with him after the trip.
Anyway, I'm enjoying my classes very much and I'm learning a lot about music and art and I love that because that's what I'm here for. But obviously most of the fun happens outside of class. I have to interject that I absolutely love talking about art and music now because I've learned so much. The group of kids (collectively "we") have come up with a bunch of inside jokes. Some of them have come along during the trip and others have come from seeing the movie "Eurotrip." That was so funny. There's a reference to Bratislava (Slovakia's capitol) in there and on our way to Budapest this weekend, we passed through and all of us had to get pictures of the sign at the train station. The group calls me either "Grandma" or "Nappy Napperson" because I take naps all of the time. It's weird because @ home I never take them but here, I have to take them all of the time. I think it's the walking we're doing. We're doing A LOT of walking. Which is good, but considering it's all cobblestone that we're walking on, it's a little painful.
We've seen so much so far, and there's still more. We've seen some of Prague Castle, St. Vitus Cathedral (inside the castle compound) the most exquisite church I've ever seen, Old Town Square, the Charles Bridge, the National Theatre (we saw a ballet there) That's where the above pic was taken. I've never been in a more beautiful theatre and to be able to see my first ballet there was such a privelege and I can't wait to go back, and Tyn Church (which is in Old Town Square). I can't wait to see more! I guess that's it for now!
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