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.