January 31, 2009
Tour de force: Prague in 2 hours
Our program hooked us up with a tour of Prague. There were four of our flats on the tour. Our tour guide was a very strange man, but he was quite knowledgeable. A lot of places that we went on our scavenger hunt are now set in my mind on a map, which is very useful if you are wandering around. The more I discover in Prague the more I realize that its a pretty small city. Of course, there are endless things to do, but the places where you would go are basically in three locations. Wenscelas Square, Old Town Square, or across the river by the castle. Its definitely an adventure though, and I'm sure I still won't have seen everything there is to see by the time I leave!
January 28, 2009
Patt
Sidenote: Just so all the characters in this unending drama are recognizable... In our group there is a 53 year old woman. She looks much younger, but thats besides the point. She attends Smith College and is involved in a program for older women and people with children. She is ridiculously nice, funny, and easy to get along with. Her name is Patt (with two t's so people know that she is female). I sit next to her in intensive Czech. She is 5 years older than my mother.
Supermarket je crazy.
After another painful session of intensive Czech, we had "academic orientation." This was ridiculously boring. Jiri (there are accents but I can't type them) and Kim battled for cultural position in the front of the room. Kim is the director of the program and Jiri is the RD for the CES program. You often hear Czechs speaking on top of one another, but Kim refused to allow Jiri to say more than 5 words without a comment. Typical America...
After the abusively long session in a hot room with 40 people, me and three of my flatmates hopped on the tram literally outside our building to go to Tesco. Tesco is Prague's version of WalMart. Its nuts.
Let me set the scene. Its approximately 4:45pm in the Center (as downtown Prague is called). People are busy, people are in a hurry, the what light that makes it through the clouds is slowly dimming, and people are grumpy (in general, but more during rush hour).
So with this in mind we head into Tesco, the four story giant of a shopping experience. The first floor is the American equivalent of a drug store, we continue up the escalator. The second floor is purses and women's clothing, we continue up the escalator. The third floor is men's clothing and sport clothing. We continue up the escalator. The fourth floor is home supplies and toys. We get off.
I went to go grab a mat for outside our tub. We have a handheld shower and the hook that it attaches to aims the water about an inch from the edge of the tub, hence floods every morning.
I pick one out, we're good. Its time to go to the food store. Thats in floor -1. Thats right. They have floors 0 and -1.
So we ride the escalator all the way down. All the carts are taken. So we start our trip through the supermarket with the first aisle, alcohol. As I glance at the wines, liquors, and beers, it feels strange to not feel like I am 14 year old in a sex shop. I've bought alcohol here, but the feeling that I can and not get caught most likely won't leave.
This store is huge. And theres about 200 people in there. Their carts are on four wheels but they can move in any direction. And I soon found out the critical reason for this. These people are like sardines in the aisles. The lines to check out are so long that they block certain aisles. You hear many languages too: Chinese, British English, American English, and obviously Czech. Most of the patrons are tiny ladies buying copius amounts of beer and rolls. Two standards of the Czech diet. For a bottle of beer, and I'm talking a bottle, its 10 crowns for Gambrinus (which is better than any American beer). Thats about 50 cents. Whaaaaaaaaaa. I know...
We went to the meat aisle. You want to talk about confusion... They eat everything. They love pork, all areas of the pig too... It was nearly impossible to figure out what was quality and what was disgusting, so I went with some prepackaged salami.
The highlight of our trip was when I went to the deli. They have all kinds of cool pasta salads. I picked out that looked edible. It was 10 crowns for 100grams. I wasn't really sure what 100 grams looked like, but I looked at the lady and said "Sto." Which yes, is 100. Thats first word I've said that isn't thank you, hello, goodbye, or beer.
While waiting in line I said something to one of my flatmates. The guy behind up perked up, obviously an English speaker. He asked us if we were studying here (there are a ton of American students). He wound up being from the larger program in Prague called CIEE. About half of those in this program are from USC. This guy was from UMD. Our backyard. Its crazy the people you meet.
We left Tesco, hopped on the tram right outside, got off three stops later two blocks from our apartment. Then proceeded to unload our goodies. After many rude instances in Tesco I've decided to avoid it during peak hours. These people are crazy.
Tonight there is some huge HUGE international student party at a club downtown. I don't think we are going, but it is just a small example of the incredible amount of students in this place.
Until next time, ahoj.
After the abusively long session in a hot room with 40 people, me and three of my flatmates hopped on the tram literally outside our building to go to Tesco. Tesco is Prague's version of WalMart. Its nuts.
Let me set the scene. Its approximately 4:45pm in the Center (as downtown Prague is called). People are busy, people are in a hurry, the what light that makes it through the clouds is slowly dimming, and people are grumpy (in general, but more during rush hour).
So with this in mind we head into Tesco, the four story giant of a shopping experience. The first floor is the American equivalent of a drug store, we continue up the escalator. The second floor is purses and women's clothing, we continue up the escalator. The third floor is men's clothing and sport clothing. We continue up the escalator. The fourth floor is home supplies and toys. We get off.
I went to go grab a mat for outside our tub. We have a handheld shower and the hook that it attaches to aims the water about an inch from the edge of the tub, hence floods every morning.
I pick one out, we're good. Its time to go to the food store. Thats in floor -1. Thats right. They have floors 0 and -1.
So we ride the escalator all the way down. All the carts are taken. So we start our trip through the supermarket with the first aisle, alcohol. As I glance at the wines, liquors, and beers, it feels strange to not feel like I am 14 year old in a sex shop. I've bought alcohol here, but the feeling that I can and not get caught most likely won't leave.
This store is huge. And theres about 200 people in there. Their carts are on four wheels but they can move in any direction. And I soon found out the critical reason for this. These people are like sardines in the aisles. The lines to check out are so long that they block certain aisles. You hear many languages too: Chinese, British English, American English, and obviously Czech. Most of the patrons are tiny ladies buying copius amounts of beer and rolls. Two standards of the Czech diet. For a bottle of beer, and I'm talking a bottle, its 10 crowns for Gambrinus (which is better than any American beer). Thats about 50 cents. Whaaaaaaaaaa. I know...
We went to the meat aisle. You want to talk about confusion... They eat everything. They love pork, all areas of the pig too... It was nearly impossible to figure out what was quality and what was disgusting, so I went with some prepackaged salami.
The highlight of our trip was when I went to the deli. They have all kinds of cool pasta salads. I picked out that looked edible. It was 10 crowns for 100grams. I wasn't really sure what 100 grams looked like, but I looked at the lady and said "Sto." Which yes, is 100. Thats first word I've said that isn't thank you, hello, goodbye, or beer.
While waiting in line I said something to one of my flatmates. The guy behind up perked up, obviously an English speaker. He asked us if we were studying here (there are a ton of American students). He wound up being from the larger program in Prague called CIEE. About half of those in this program are from USC. This guy was from UMD. Our backyard. Its crazy the people you meet.
We left Tesco, hopped on the tram right outside, got off three stops later two blocks from our apartment. Then proceeded to unload our goodies. After many rude instances in Tesco I've decided to avoid it during peak hours. These people are crazy.
Tonight there is some huge HUGE international student party at a club downtown. I don't think we are going, but it is just a small example of the incredible amount of students in this place.
Until next time, ahoj.
January 27, 2009
Prague: Dirt and Gold
So I've been in Prague just under a week. Here are some reflections:
I live in New Town. Its the "newer" section of Prague. There are no real modern buildings here. New means communist era. There is a real post-communist feel to the buildings and this part of the city. After all, its been less than 20 years since the Czech Republic was a communist country. This section of town is dirty, loud, and congested. You see copious amounts of dog shit, cigarette butts, graffiti, and KFCs. Its still an exciting place to be though.
Wenceslas Square is not far from our flat. This square holds a large variety of Americanized culture. Today a woman dressed in a subway sandwich was dancing down the street. Pathetic that this is the impact of America on Czech culture.
The place where we take classes is about 20 minutes walking. We are going to try and Metro it next time. The public transit system is suppppppppppper easy. You don't need to stamp any ticket or anything. You just need your prepaid ticket on your person. A man with a ring can stop you and ask for your ticket. Happened to me once, it was no big deal. CET gave us free transportation for our entire stay so its even easier to ride trams and Metro.
Old Town: We had to do a scavenger hunt for our program. We were in groups of 9. One guy in our group was a genius with a map and led us to victory. (Free t-shirt!). I got to see a lot of the city that I hadn't seen before. Like Old Town. Old Town is olllllld. Its gorgeous. Beautiful. Despite the many many tourist shops and fake crystal stores, its a great place to walk around. The cobblestone streets are unlike any other.
Overall. Prague is great! Its going to be real easy to live here for 4 months. We are taking intensive Czech so I've got some basic words down and all that. Its a real interesting language despite its ridiculous pronounciation.
Well theres some random thoughts. I think I am about to go out into the city and walk around. Theres not a whole lot to do during the day yet. Its a good city to just wander though, grab a beer, and relax. With the transit system you are never terribly far from home (depending on where you live).
So thats about it.
I live in New Town. Its the "newer" section of Prague. There are no real modern buildings here. New means communist era. There is a real post-communist feel to the buildings and this part of the city. After all, its been less than 20 years since the Czech Republic was a communist country. This section of town is dirty, loud, and congested. You see copious amounts of dog shit, cigarette butts, graffiti, and KFCs. Its still an exciting place to be though.
Wenceslas Square is not far from our flat. This square holds a large variety of Americanized culture. Today a woman dressed in a subway sandwich was dancing down the street. Pathetic that this is the impact of America on Czech culture.
The place where we take classes is about 20 minutes walking. We are going to try and Metro it next time. The public transit system is suppppppppppper easy. You don't need to stamp any ticket or anything. You just need your prepaid ticket on your person. A man with a ring can stop you and ask for your ticket. Happened to me once, it was no big deal. CET gave us free transportation for our entire stay so its even easier to ride trams and Metro.
Old Town: We had to do a scavenger hunt for our program. We were in groups of 9. One guy in our group was a genius with a map and led us to victory. (Free t-shirt!). I got to see a lot of the city that I hadn't seen before. Like Old Town. Old Town is olllllld. Its gorgeous. Beautiful. Despite the many many tourist shops and fake crystal stores, its a great place to walk around. The cobblestone streets are unlike any other.
Overall. Prague is great! Its going to be real easy to live here for 4 months. We are taking intensive Czech so I've got some basic words down and all that. Its a real interesting language despite its ridiculous pronounciation.
Well theres some random thoughts. I think I am about to go out into the city and walk around. Theres not a whole lot to do during the day yet. Its a good city to just wander though, grab a beer, and relax. With the transit system you are never terribly far from home (depending on where you live).
So thats about it.
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