Charles University @ MindSay

well i was  excepted in to program number 2 about 2 weeks ago. i didn't  write about it because thats all i really could say. now things are getting ugly. time is ticking i need to get a ticket and a visa and helth insurance.  im not that ups set though because i am going to prague any way and i think the CUNI program may be better and cheeper!   it is all very frustrating because i need to get my visa. if you have ever tryed to do this my heart goes out to you.  you need notorized copies of  like every thing including proof of insurance, and bank statements and letters in czech  saying that you will be supoted wile you are there. it is insane!!!!  that's the good thing about CIEE  it takes care of all of that for you. they send you all the documents you need  and all you have to do is send them to the embasy. but for  something like half the cost i supose i can take care of everything my self.  i just need to desided CIEE or  CUNI  so i can know  who to put on the  visa App. and so i know i f i need to track down all the records and go to school to get classes apoved. its such a mess.  atleast i knwo im going now though.  i was  alot more  worried about it but now i just want to leave. i've read soo much and talked to so many people  i just want to be there.  pluse i kinda feel like  need a break from the boy.  he whent home yesterday and i was relived. he asked me to come to his house  ( 50 miles away)  tonight  and i made up excuses.  i love him but  i don't trust time and part of me wants to just go and find my own way.

it's  so cleche to do it in europe but then i never said I wanst cleiche. any way im really leaning twards teh CUNI program less  suport and  sturcuter but the same basic positives and  threre is this one really cool class that i really want to take hopefully i can get anthro credit for it. i may just pass/fail it and take it for fun. but it is an actual class where they just  take you around the country and teach you about the culture. you go to pubs and museums and you get credit. that sounds amazing to me. im just soo excited to go... only 3 more mounths... but ahhh soo much to do be for i get there!!!!

Besides the language barrier and freezing cold, I’m settled into Prague and feel like I am no longer a tourist. When I was finally able to direct a lost English-speaking couple through Old Town Square the other day, I knew that I was no longer just on a quick visit to the city, but living here as a local. We’ve blown through the American must-stop-at bars and pubs by now (although I am typing this for just such an establishment) and are going completely local.

Adjusting to the city and living abroad has been no problem. Before coming to Prague, my biggest worry was getting around the city and feeling lost just going from school to my flat, but the transportation system in Prague is so outstanding that you can never get lost. Trams run along nearly every road in both directions and come every view minutes, while the metro has three main lines that cross the city, hitting the major spots and run until midnight. All are really safe to travel alone, but like I wrote the other day, watching for pickpockets is a full time job. Maybe we are more paranoid because we are tourists, but the New Balances and North Face stand out like a pink elephant to awaiting thieves.

My favorite experiences so far have not been in seeing all the beautiful historic sights of Prague and the Czech Republic, but the little conversations I have had with some great native Praguers. The other night my roommates and I met up with a Charles University students for drinks that had studied in the states for a semester in high school and had kept in contact with families there. We discussed Prague and our daily lives, our schooling, and what we had planned for the weekend, and then, of course, the conversation turned quickly to politics and the U.S. involvement in world affairs. The people we spoke with, 18 and 19 year-old students, were more informed on U.S. government and our history that my roommates and I combined (this including history and politics majors). Both girls had such strongly formed opinions about the Czech and U.S. governments and their leaders, knowledge and depth far beyond any student I have known in the states. This is not to say that we are not adequate in our schooling or care for world matters, don’t get me wrong, but these students had clearly been studying government and keeping an eye on international matters since they were in grade school, and they both genuinely cared about what the U.S. was doing around the world. One was a photographer and the other a chemistry major, but both spoke like CNN political analysts.

This last week we just completed the Intensive Czech course section in which we were in class from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Talk about draining. The language isn’t too rough and class is usually more entertaining listening to everyone struggle with Czech, a language full of words with no vowels and every pronunciation mark you can image. Since we didn’t have much homework to do besides a quiz every other day, our afternoons were spent finishing up getting to know the city, which quickly led into dinner and then heading out for the night. We are all so eager to take every moment of this trip that there were a few days in there that I left for class in the morning and return home after hitting up a pub or two and seeing the city at night (and so the reason I have been slow in my writing). Today, however, we start regular classes, so I will be in school everyday with a computer and internet.

In my classes in the U.S., I always felt that the professors expected the students to learn the information they present the first time, but they never really demanded it. So much time in my lectures at home is spent reviewing and going backwards before we go forwards. Here, however, the professors demand that information is retained right away and they everything mentioned, whether in passing or not, is considered important information. It isn’t uncommon to hear, “I mentioned that the other day,” when a question is asked that no student thought was fully, or even partially covered. If we learn one verb on page 87 that means to learn the entire page of verbs. Fortunately, the classes have not been too difficult and the professors understand our transition from the states.

I have an Alternative Czech Culture course that I am heading to now, so have fun and enjoy.

So here we go.  It has taken a little while, but I’m up and running in Prague and am excited to share it all with you.  I’ll start with an explanation before I tell you all about this amazing city and the absolutely unreal time I have been having roaming the Czech Republic.  For one, I’m without internet in my new apartment and I was without a computer for the first few days as the adaptor situation seems to always go wrong while traveling abroad.  When I finally got that settled after two days, my computer looked like it wanted to explode each time it took the European voltage, but that’s the past.  So welcome to Prague.

I arrived a few days ago as the snow was just finishing to fall and the views from the airplane were out of this world.  The city was covered in fresh snow and the red roofs of the city were peaking out from beneath.  CIEE, the program with which I am studying here at Charles University, meet the group of 20 students that rushed off my plane at the airport and we were off to the city.  Our van of guys riding to our apartments were so pumped to be studying here.  None of us had been to Prague and we were soaking it all up as we traveled through all the Prague towns leading to Prague 1 and 2, the center of the city and were I was going to live.

I’m living with two guys from the states and a ‘Czech Buddy’ (my CB for the rest of my blogs).  It is really great to be living with a Charles University student who is from Prague and knows the area.  So anyway, our apartment is unbelievable.  We are right on the river, I’m taking inches.  Prague 2 is about a four minute walk to the center of the city, the area is loaded with pubs and restaurants, and my school is a ten minute walk, or 1 tram stop, south.  When I have been telling locals were we live they have been shocked to say the least.  We were randomly assigned here my the school, paying next to nothing, but it is in the hottest area, just one block from the Dancing Building, a famous new building by Frank Gehry.

So we spent the first day just touring around the city with the CB and checking everything out.  We must have looked hilarious walking around in a complete daze, soaking everything in.  The city is rich with buildings hundreds of years old lined everywhere.  No building rises much higher than six or seven stories, so the views are great even if you get just thirty of forty feet up when you’re walking up a hill.

After a quick nap, because we were knocked dead by jet-lag, we headed for some authentic Czech dinner – read: meat, potatoes, sauce, sauce, sauce, smothered in sauce.  It’s tasty but rich.  We tried some fried cheese, meat and potatoes, and some awesome soap.  My roommates and I roamed the city that night, having NO clue were we were headed, but managed to find a great local pub.  I should note here that beer is the staple of the Czech Republic.  Lunch, after work, dinner, after dinner, and when you go out, great Czech beer is always involved.  Czechs definitely aren’t getting trashed at every moment of the day, but beer is always around.

The next day started our little orientation that we are just finishing up after three intense days.  The mornings were full of walking tours with our CBs (the program has about 97 students and 25 CBs, which makes it really nice for taking small tours with local university students) and our afternoons were full of instruction in the classroom about the program, housing, and all the basic survival tools.  The people in the program are an absolute blast.  Everyone is totally excited to be studying abroad and especially Prague.  It is a smaller study abroad community here, maybe six or seven programs throughout the city, so everyone seems really committed to Prague and living here.  It is not loaded with students like Italy or London, so there is a very local and native feel.  Since our flat, yeah that’s right, my using that word now, is in a building of just ten flats and we are the only American flat in the place, it really feels like I’m a native Praguer.

So I’ll spare you the details on the three days of orientation because I can’t really remember every place we went.  Most of the walking tours were spent finding the right metro stations and tram stops so we can get around solo and then finding the major points, American emergency medical stations, cell phone stores, and major points like the National Museum and Wenceslas Square.  We headed out each day after orientation and just roamed the city until dinner and had some more local Czech food and pivo (beer).  The nights were filled chilling in great local pubs with all the new students we were meeting on the program.  Some great conversation, some excellent Czech dark beer, and great music made for some amazing nights the last few days.

I’ve got some pictures for you I’ll throw up too.  Enjoy it, give me some feedback.  Have fun.