most people are not a fan of mondays, myself included, but today was an exceptionally wonderful monday. i would venture to say this has been the best monday ever, and details are below! before i start, some recaps.
the picture of the horses and the man in the costume are from last tuesday - we think it was for carnevale (a celebration 40 days before easter). there was music, costumes, delicious food, balloons, and lots of excitement. it was a great way to end my first day of classes and it was going on practically in our backyard (and by that, i mean at jiriho z podebrad, outside our metro station).
on saturday, we went to the stare mesto fair, which was also filled with music and food. going to old town is always a treat, and it was a very authentic, czech experience (though there were tons of tourists around). the weather was also much warmer this weekend, which was a MAJOR plus.
on sunday, i went to ikea with karin, which was AWESOME. we took the metro to the end of the b line (cerny most, which means "black bridge" in czech but there was no black bridge in sight...) and then there was a special ikea bus that took us to the store! i'm not sure if the ikea store is still a part of prague but it definitely looked different from the rest of the city in that there weren't any pedestrians and there were lots of highways around. to be honest it looked more like something from grand rapids than in prague. well this was the first time i had ever been to ikea and i was not disappointed. there were a lot of people there so i think all the excitement is at ikea on the weekends. you can see why:
we also got delicious ice cream (zmrzlina) after our shopping for 10 czk (less than a dollar). score!
as i've said about 16 times, i don't have class on mondays but i wanted to be productive today so i woke up at 10, and went for a morning walk in the park. it was sunny (!!!) and i can see some of the snow starting to melt. sadly, there are still icy patches everywhere, meaning i almost slipped and fell about 8 times during my walk. after that, i made myself some lunch (rice and an omlette) and headed to the mucha museum, which is right next to cerge. i hadn't heard a lot about mucha until i went to the museum but it was neat to see his work, especially the posters he designed. there was a video about his life (in english) which was quite informative, and the only thing that i wish i saw in the museum was the slav epic that was mentioned. apparently (according to wikipedia), those paintings are in a different part of the czech republic. also, the museum did not allow photography but i saw some other guy taking pictures so i did too... haha.
after the mucha museum, i took the metro from mustek to flora and walked to a meeting i had. i got lost (per usual) but found my way to the right street. i was about 15 minutes early and i noticed that there was a "prague christian library" right across the street from where i was supposed to be. i took a picture of the sign, but the lady inside must have seen me because she came outside and invited me in. there were tons of christian books, all in english, and she gave me a pamphlet about joining. it made the "religion major" in me very, very happy.
i made it to baranova 33 a little before 3pm for my meeting with mr. druker at transitions online. professor rutland (my government advisor at wesleyan) told me about the organization (a nonprofit that does research/publishes articles about post-communist europe) and gave me mr. druker's contact information. since it doesn't look like my classes will be taking over my life like they usually do at wes, i thought working at TOL this semester would not only be a great experience, but expose me to another aspect of life in prague. i finally met mr. druker today and it seems like there is a LOT for me to do - i'm mostly going to help with writing grant proposals but i'll also be dabbling in editing articles, summarizing pieces for the newsletter, researching new media and fundraising techniques, etc etc. i'll be interning on mondays from 9am-6pm and i am PUMPED. after i talked to mr. druker, i had my first day of work and i re-formatted an addendum that is being sent to the czech ministry about some of TOL's seminars. neato!
my day got even better after this because i met up with denisa, my czech language partner, at wenceslas square. we went to this amazing dessert place nearby called "cukrana mysak" and talked for awhile about school, summer plans, life in prague, and so on, while having dessert. spending time with denisa has been great because it gives me a lot more insight into life in prague from a czech perspective. one of my only complaints about my study abroad experience so far is that i spend most of my time with other americans, which is not necessarily a bad thing.. but it's nice to get a different point of view. plus, denisa is way awesome. win!
so life is good. not perfect, though, because i am still stressed about finding an internship this summer. there are also days when i actually hate everything because the simplest tasks can be so difficult here. for instance, we didn't know how to use our oven and thought it was broken - turns out you have to turn three dials instead of the two we were using. also, i completely failed at doing laundry this weekend because there are about 180 settings. though i love prague, i would say i miss the familiarity of simple tasks. i still remember my first experience at the grocery store - where it took me over 10 minutes to buy cheese because i couldn't tell the difference between the different types offered. aside from missing friends and family, i also really miss being on a meal plan, which i never thought i would say. i'm learning to cook (sort of), but there are days when i wish i could go to weswings and get a chicken grinder and some strawberry mousse instead of spending 20 minutes cooking pasta.
this weekend we are going to cesky krumlov, which is a unesco world heritage sight and looks beautiful. i'll have my first full day at TOL next monday, which is also the first day of march! i'll be in amsterdam with julie from march 4-7, and then greg will be here in prague from march 7-12!! i can't wait to have a piece of wes while i'm abroad, and i'm already planning out our days (which will be filled with museums and THAI FOOD). after that, sarah and max will be visiting from march 12-18 so the next few weeks will be wonderful. for now, it's time for dinner and czech homework.
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haha wooow. i like how you miss your meal plan when you're in europe! kidding, i can see why, cause we ain't rollin in da dough and you can't eat out for every meal :o( i gotta say the dessert looks really good!
ReplyDeleteyour internship sounds awesome and i hope you do some revolutionary work for post-communist europe! this makes you kind of more eastern european than nina, hahahaha.
miss you poop! <3
You can say hey to Denisa for me.
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