fiesta tuesday?

One of the best things about studying in another country is that there are people here from all over the world. Yesterday after a long day of shopping I came home to a party in my apartment. There were about 10 people in a very small narrow kitchenette. Two of my roommates are from Mexico and they have a lot of friends who are from Mexico and Spain, they decided to cook us traditional food. I helped make the guacamole and we all had a great time getting to know each other. Luckily, we used the large room across the hallway because the party keep getting bigger and bigger and all of those people would not have fit in our apartment.

We were told that the Americans will make brunch- apparently that is something no one else does. I am excited; because that is something I miss about home, big yummy breakfasts.

saturday

It has been a long two days. The international students club has planned trips for us this weekend. Today I chose to go on the Karlovy Vary and Castle Loket. We started with a 2 hour bus ride and then a tour of the castle. It was a very cold day, but the castle was beautiful, it seems to grow out of the mountain is sits on. The area is surrounded by the river, it is almost a complete circle. Karlovy Vary is only 15 min from Loket, and is known for the natural hot springs. If you drink from the springs, they are supposed to bring you health; the only problem is they don’t taste very good. We also visited the Becherovka distillery. You may have heard of it, but I hadn’t. It is only made in Karlovy Vary, but is sold in most countries. The taste is very unique, kind of like Christmas- I’m not even kidding. Tomorrow I am not going on the tour, but I am looking forward to resting.

friday

It has been a long two days. The international students club has planned trips for us this weekend. I chose to go on the sodka car factory, nature walk, and med-evil tavern. Even though we started early and the car factory was not that interesting, it turned out to be a really good day. The nature hike was fun, and a nice break from the city air. And the med-evil tavern was crazy. As you might guess, the building was staged to be set in the med-evil times, everything down to hay on the ground was there. The waiters were dressed for the part. There were belly dances, some musicians, and men who danced with fire. There was a big skit where they took one of the girls from our group and said she was the witch they were looking for and but her in a cage. They through holy water at her and acted like they were going to burn here.

from another bridge

the famous charles bridge.

inside the cathedral

The cathedral is from the gothic style, the large stained glass windows are coloring the stone across nave in the upper left hand corner of the picture. Some of the girls and I maybe going to mass there in the coming weeks.

walk to the castle

In the background you can see the very tall cathedral and Prague castle which surrounds it. The castle is a working castle, the president of the Czech Republic works there.

all moved in

I didn’t have the internet until yesterday, but this is what I would have posted Sunday…

I have been in Prague for 3 days now. I am trying to get used to the time change, but it will take a few more days. Tomorrow we start orientation week and it is the first day that I have to get up on time.

Carrie, Heater and I arrive Friday morning and our Czech buddy helped us get from the airport to the dorm. We met in Cincinnati and we were close to missing the flight to New York, luckily the plane was also late and there was no problem. And then there was a 4 hour layover in JFK, but it wasn’t too bad, we ate dinner, or lunch depending on how you look at it and then figured out how to get to the right terminal. The 8 hour flight was long and uncomfortable, but I got a little sleep.

Yesterday our buddies took us on a walk to Prague castle and cathedral and then to the old town square. It was really nice to see the city center as they call it. The Charles Bridge was very busy, and there were cute shops. And the buildings are painted with beautiful colors.

Today the girls and I went to Tesco, it like a 5 story Wal-Mart, to get some things we need for our rooms. It was easy to get there on the metro. And we didn’t buy much so we could carry it back to the dorms.

one week to go

i still haven't packed a thing!! ahhh. luckily i have this weekend to get started.

i have been doings things here in st. louis that i will not be able to do in prague, like going out to my favorite restaurants and spending time with my family. Some time next week i will make it to glazed and confused.

i'm really excited that erin, best friend from high school, will be visiting me in prague for her spring break. she just got her tickets, the plans are that we will spend a few days in prague and then train to berlin, and meet my parents then erin will fly home and i will take my parents back to prague. and then in june abi, will visit me too. one of her friends is getting married in a castle in germany and we are going- we are so excited. also i just found out that my friend catherine may be visiting me in may- i will be a travel guide by the time i come home.

well that's all for now...