Prague Blogue

As promised, the last leg of my journey. 

Croatia was unbelievable.  I spent my last hours there walking the fortress walls of Dubrovnik and snapping picture after picture that could easily be a postcard. 

I left from the Dubrovnik airport to Stockholm solo.  I watched my last European sunset in Sweden (which didn’t occur until around 10 PM).  Finally, I arrived at the airport to find out that my flight from Sweden to Iceland had been delayed 2 hours.  This was unfortunate because my layover there happened to be less than 2 hours.  For some unknown reason, the plane in Iceland decided to wait for me and the other travelers coming from Sweden through Iceland to Newark.  Although I was a little later than planned, I made it to NJ where my friends were waiting for me!

A few days spent at the Jersey Shore were filled with swimming, laying out, trips to the boardwalk and fires with the best s’mores ever (replace chocolate with Reese’s cups!). 

I made it up to the lake just in time for my sister’s graduation party.  Now I have spent the last few days getting into the summer lake routine:  sleep-swim-boat-picnic-fire-sleep-repeat.

Admittedly, it’s nice to be home.  At the end of my trip I was getting a little worn out from traveling all the time and living out of a small suitcase.  I’m glad to be home and get back into my boring home routine. 

So after exactly 5 months of being in Europe, I am finally home.  Although I saw a lot (including 11 countries), I keep finding myself thinking about the things I didn’t get to see.  Looks like I’ll have to plan another Europe trip in the near future!

I don’t have the time or energy for a complete post at the moment, but I promise to do one last comprehensive post when I get home.

My birthday turned out to be better than I ever could have imagined! We got cocktails in a fancy beach bar while seated in a tree house over the water, explored a deserted island, swam in water that was so turquoise it looked fake, and cruised around the water singing at the top of our lungs. I had such a great day that I will always remember.

Now, I am in Dubrovnik, Croatia. In the morning, I will fly to Stockholm, Sweden for a whirlwind 24 hour tour. After that, it’s back the States. Just to ease the transition, I’ll be landing in NJ and spending my first few days home at the beach with my friends. After all, I have had a pretty rough 5 months, and I could use a vacation.

I’ll be back to NY just in time for the 4th of July to reunite with my family, eat some American food, and enjoy the summer seeing all of the people from home who I have missed so much (i.e. you reading this blog).

See you soon!

I hopped on a plane from Prague to Split, Croatia the other day.  It was a bittersweet goodbye.  Of course, I am sad to leave the place I called home for four months, but how can you be sad when you’re on your way to Croatia?  I decided to go out my last night for a final Prague party, which may have been a mistake.  The only reason I woke up early enough to catch my flight was because my landlord rang my doorbell to pick up my key.  At least I made it!

The weather here is GORGEOUS and the beaches are even better.  So far we have rented a car and driven to a national park, swam under water falls, visited a few beaches, walked through an ancient palace and hopped on a ferry to a new island.  I’ll spend the next seven days island hopping so don’t expect any updates because wifi is hard to come by.

At the moment, we are staying in a luxurious apartment on the island of Hvar.  We have air conditioning, a big kitchen, balcony over the ocean, and our own bedrooms.  All this for $18.00 per person.  This is all due to our negotiating skills at the port where many proprietors are waiting to try and convince you to stay at their place.  It works out well for us. 

Now I must go help cook our dinner which consists of fresh seafood and local beers!

#14 Order a meal speaking only Czech - preferably beer and goulash:  “Rád bych guláš, pivo a Medovník prosím”…This was what I was planning on saying but when the waitress came over and asked us something in Czech, I panicked and it came out more like, “Um, can I please have the guláš, pivo and Medovnik prosím.”  A little mix of English and Czech but, hey - at least I tried, right?  The best Czech meal ever and it came to a grand total of 160 Kc = $9.50.

So, I survived my first night train experience.  The ten hour trip from Prague to Krakow was luxury.  Lucie and I had a cabin to ourselves (designed for six people), snacks to feed an army, a good book, and got a good night’s sleep.  The way home was a different story.  Six people stuffed in the little cabin, window open all night, freezing cold, no snacks, too dark to read, got no sleep.

In between train rides, we got to enjoy a few days in Poland.  We explored the castle, and some churches (anyone else noticing a pattern here among Eastern European countries?). 

We also had the opportunity to visit an old Salt Mine.  There were cathedrals, lakes, statues and stairs, all made of salt!  Pretty amazing stuff. 

“I’d like a roundtrip bus ticket to Auschwitz, please.”
“We only sell one-way tickets.”

I’m not sure if this is purposefully in honor of the 1 million+ Jewish people who only got one-way tickets to the extermination camp, but it was a chilling way to start the day.

Visiting Auschwitz was not another check off my tourist to-do list;  This was something I needed to see and feel for myself.  There is no picture I could post, or words I could write to share the experience.  This is something you need to do on your own.

The one who does not remember history is bound to live through it again.

There are several blacklight theatres around the city and apparently Prague is known for the style so, how could I leave without viewing a show?

I went to see Aspects of Alice tonight, what I thought was going to be something along the lines of Alice in Wonderland.  No, that would be way too predictable.

Instead, I was impressed by a magic show using creative colors and illusions with lighting.  This first part of the show was fun, lighthearted, and rated G.

After intermission, things changed.  This part of the show was some weird interpretation of an Adam and Eve encounter.  There was nudity and a giant, flourescent apple. I’d say it was a little unneccessary for the storyline…

Prague just continues to surprise me. 

We are getting closer and closer to the end.  For some reason we all thought this semester might just last forever, but the fact is we all have lives to return to and new adventures to pursue.

Our group of 10 has already dwindled down to 7.  People have gone home for internships, or started on summer-long Eurotrips.  Over the next few weeks, it’s just going to be sad goodbye after sad goodbye.  We all have staggered departure dates, so it prolongs the inevitable.

Last night, we sat in one of our usual spots in a park and watched the sunset over Prague Castle.  Sure, we have plans to meet up again someday in the future, but who knows if that will really happen?  Regardless, it’s very unlikely that all ten of us will ever manage to be in the same place at the same time again.

I’ll be one of the last to leave, on June 20.  From Prague, I’ll be making a few stops on my way home and spending my birthday on a very beautiful beach in the Balkans.   

Our days of laying out in the sun, reading books and drinking wine have been getting a little mundane and predictable.  Today we decided to switch it up and went to Karlovy Vary for the day.  This is a small “spa town” in western Czech Republic that has been known to attract celebrities and also film crews (remember the hotel from Casino Royale??). 

Several natural hot springs can be found in Karlovy Vary, and everyone seems convinced that drinking this mineral water can be beneficial to your health.  Everyone carried around these porcelin tea pots to collect the water from the springs and sip it casually.  Well, everyone except us.  First of all, the porcelin tea pots are kinda pricey.  Secondly, after we finally did taste the water (out of a shot glass we bought = so classy), we had to spit it out.  It’s hot, and salty, and just tastes like dirty pipes or something.  All those trendy people walking around with their tea pots are definitely faking it, because there is no way they are enjoying it. 

We toured the Becherovka museum which is a Czech liquor we have become fond of.  I’m not sure if they sell it in the U.S., but I’m sure this will be one of those things that whenever I taste it in the future, I will be brought back to many memories of my time in Prague.

The afternoon was spent relaxing in a thermal bath.  While we were expecting a hot tub with benches, it was a more of a warm pool that smelled a little strange.  Either that was the smell of the “healing minerals,” or the water was just dirty.  Regardless, it was a wonderful way to switch up our routine over here in the Czech Republic.

…you and your roommates scrounge around the grocery store to get all of the necessities for the same amount of money you’re getting back from returning beer bottles.

Not going to lie, I am pretty proud of this moment. My roommates and I returned the beer bottles from our kitchen this morning. We received a little reciept worth 72 Kc. We needed dish soap and toilet paper. After finding the cheapest brands and doing some painful math in our heads, we were able to get a healthy sized dish soap and 12 rolls of tp for…(drumroll please)…. 72 Kc!! I’m talking an exact exchange here people. We literally just handed them a slip of paper and no money changed hands. And this was the highlight of our day.

Spent the weekend in England, visiting my friend who is studying in Leeds.  She describes the city as, “not a place you would go to sightsee, but a student city with a great night life.”  I would have to agree.

We did manage to take a bus to London for a day!  My first time in the famous capitol city, and I was impressed.  We saw the palaces, ate fish & chips, and pushed our way through the crowds to watch the changing of the guards (nothing special, seriously).  My only regret is not taking an cheesy photos in the red telephone booths.  Just an excuse to return to this exciting city. 

Luckily, I made it back to Prague before the Icelandic volcanic ash blanketed England!

Completed my one and only final today!  I wrote papers for the other classes in place of an exam.  So now, I’m finished with all of my work!  Usually, with this day comes a big feeling a relief but I can honestly say, I feel pretty much the same way I felt all semester.  Maybe because I never really had much work to do, and the most stress I felt this semester was booking flights for weekend trips.  Yesterday was the first day I made an appearance in the library all semester, and it was to use the printer to print off my boarding passes for my trip to England this weekend! 

Finally, summer vacation can begin! :)