PRAGUE: THE BEGINNING

I'm in prague! It's crazy to think i've been here two and a half weeks now, but it's true. Time has been flying by and it is very difficult for my thoughts to catch up with me, so i figured this blog might aid in my ability to share my experiences as well as keep track of everything. I don't even know where to begin, but here goes...

First off, I'm SO HAPPY that i have my own room! At first I was bummed that all the other girls were together and I was down the hall, but that was for a very brief moment until i remembered who i am--- a total introvert who thrives off of interesting conversations and connections with people, but who can not function without substantial alone time. It's so wonderful knowing that I can come back to my room and be alone, and cook dinner or watch a movie or write or take a bath and just be alone and soak in the day. And the added bonus to this living situation is the ability to stay neutral in the drama-filled zone that is 6 girls living in close quarters of each other. Let me tell you, I am not envious of that! With only 10 of us in the group-- having all our classes together, eating meals together, going out together, and traveling together-- I am certain i would already be insane if I didn't have my own room.

Moving on to the good stuff-- my first reaction to this city is a general sense of disbelief, and awe and I often find myself very overwhelmed. I say this because everytime I look around I can't believe that Prague is as old as it is, not only because of the history that lines each and every cobblestone street, but the beauty and the overall 'clean-ness' of the city. I don't really know how to explain it, but it is simply one of the cleanest urban areas I have ever seen. Maybe the all the bridges, the large presence of parks and the bright signs blind me to see it, but there is something very unique about this city that i have never seen anywhere else. The awe starts to kick in next, being surrounded by such amazing architecture as well as natural beauty of the Vltava that flows through the whole city and promotes this sense of calm over the people here. In every direction you look, you are bound to see one of the remarkable landmarks of Prague, whether it is the castle, the charles bridge, the tv tower or petrin hill, there is something exciting around you at all times. And yes, this is where I begin to become overwhelmed... there is SO MUCH to see and do here!

I can't even believe someone could make a 'top ten list of things to do in prague' without having their head explode because there are seriously so many museums, parks, churches, cemetaries, cafes, and pubs that I would already highly recommend to any travelers and I've barely experienced all this place has to offer! I probably wouldn't feel so strongly if I wasn't trying to balance these adventures with all my classes and attempting to learn some czech (i find myself pronouncing everything in a spanish accent... which is only like 10 words anyways...) but everytime i think of doing research about other places to travel in europe my brain gets veryyy angry at me. It really is so much to take in all at once, and the excitement of the city and the people really make me want to spend all my time exploring more. The fact that we have all of our class hours monday-wednesday really helps, but at the same time, being in the same classroom for about 6 hours a day talking about sacred communication and the philosophical meaning behind art and religion really wears me out.

oh, haha, I must explain my two professors: Dr. Redick, the professor from CNU, is a total hippie and a generally ridiculous man. He often gets really excited about what he's talking about and then somehow always manages to relate our conversations about the symbolic meaning of religious traditions to a story about how he was high on shrooms... no joke! it's crazy! He is a very adventurous man who is generally happy about life and living and experiencing the most he can, which is a really great mindset for traveling, but at the same time he's not the best planner or communicater and I sometimes find myself wondering what the hell he's gonna do next. Like, yesterday instead of having class, one hour before we were supposed to meet he told us that we were going on a 3 hour hike. That's awesome, but at the same time, I was so physically and emotionally exhausted I was not ready for something to be sprung on me like that...and i ended up having a really bad asthma attack and crying on the top of a mountain... haha... funnnn times..... But yeah, I'm trying to find a balance between greatly appreciating him and dealing with the areas we clash-- particularly his inability to understand that not everyone likes to be spontaneous to the point of not knowing where you are going or what the heck you will be doing in 5 minutes... I guess it's something I need to work on too, but the second week in a foreign country isn't particularly the time I want to be doing that...haha

Moving on, my czech professor is absolutely adorable! his name is Dr. Kabat, and i'm pretty sure he is the jolly-est i've ever met. He sometimes struggles with certain english words, and he has a slight lisp which makes it even funnier when he cracks so many cute jokes. But yeah, he is a really great guy, and actually took part in protests and underground meetings during the communist era andddd he was a part of the velevet revolution! It's so exciting to learn from his stories instead of a text book, of how things really were and how scary it was to live here, just 40 years ago. To give you an idea of how cute this man is-- he took us on a tour of malastranska which literally translated is "small town" and it is the smallest quarter, next to old town square. He was walking around, showing us some old churches and then he got on the topic of Christmas, and how it's celebrated differently in the czech republic-- he then said something about baby jesus, and i quickly raised my hand and asked him about the infant jesus of prague that my aunt noemi had told me so much about, and his jaw dropped. He couldn't believe that I knew about the baby jesus, and was so shocked that he gave me a prize in class the next day, which was a little glass baby jesus.

soo, there's the background info, and i don't want to bore you with any more of the details of settling in, but you've got the basics. So far the best day was probably last weekend when i went with a couple girls to a photo exhibit called 'liberation, occupation.' It was a collection of a bunch of different photographers work, with the left side of the gallery being the liberation of czechloslovakia by the ussr, and the right side of the gallery was the invasion of russian tanks on wenscelas square. It was by far the best photography exhibit i've ever seen, and really helped me understand the czech people a lot more. I can't even explain in words how great not only the historical documentation was, but also the amazing composition by each of the photographers-- it was incredible. After the exhibit we saw a bride and groom in kampa park taking wedding pictures and then accidentally discovered a line of about 25 plastic, yellow penguins on the dock of the vltava river, behind the charles bridge-- i think they were associated with the museum of modern art, but they were hillarious. Then we went to the lenin wall (which i am very eager to get some paint and write on myself), and walked accross the charles bridge.... yeah, it was a pretty phenomenal day.

and in other news, last night i met a realllllly adorable puppy in a pub and his name was barty, and we became good friends.... and i was also offered cocaine and extacy.

ok, i think that is enough information for now.
talk to you soon!

<3

p.s. my skype name is the same as the blog, AROCinPRAHA so call me!
(just remember i'm 6 hours ahead of eastern standard time)