prague, in a nutshell

to be honest, i haven't had too much time to reflect upon my prague experience like i thought. every day in paris has been wonderful but very busy. it almost feels like after paris, i should be jetting off to another european location instead of going back to the states... or maybe that's just wistful thinking. 

it's hard to sum up three months in a foreign place - being in prague has meant more to me than i can properly convey. before departing for the unknown in many senses of the word (language, culture, people, food, and so on) in february, i was in a pretty strange place. i had a really difficult fall semester - it was academically, socially, and all-around mentally exhausting. i got pwned pretty hard at school (more than usual), had some rough patches with friends, and a break-up, on top of a new job that involved a lot of noisy freshmen and the weight of being a junior... well. somehow i made it to winter break, spent a fantastic month at home, then it was time to go.

luckily, prague gave me a fresh start. it wasn't easy at first - with jet lag and the housing craziness, the pressure to meet new people and constantly go out, spending money but not making any... there were a lot of struggles involved. but over the course of the semester, i learned. one of the most important things i learned is how to do things on my own - i'm normally pretty independent, especially because i spend almost all my time away from home (aka i have to do things on my own like pay bills and figure out travel plans and life plans etc etc), but in prague i realized that it really is okay to do things alone, and enjoy it. i experienced so much in three months - from museums to the rudolfinum, paneria lunches to walks in the park - i did all the things that i wanted to do, when i wanted to do it. i also was not weighed down by stress from schoolwork for the first time in a very long time, which was unbelievably wonderful. with time, things fell into place. despite my complaints, i did learn things this semester (from how to pronounce words with no vowels in czech to little bits and pieces about european integration... and that st. vitus cathedral is typical gothic architecture, of course). i learned how to live with someone else. i bought groceries and learned to cook. i traveled to some great places. i also stayed true to who i was, and i feel like i am in a much better place now than i was five months ago. the transition back into my "real life" will be a little strange, but i am so excited to go back to wesleyan and see my friends there, go back to a job that i love, and i can't wait to have classes that I LOVE!!! yeah, i'm a nerd. i'll also be reunited with my best friends in my new city in a matter of weeks, and also see some familiar faces in dc and new york :)
 

when i left for montana over a year ago, i thought that the wilderness would be the time to "find myself" and figure my life out. instead, i made incredible friends that i naturally wanted to spend all my time with, prague was different because i was able to get both - perspective and introspection, along with great friends. many parts of my prague/abroad experience will remain with me for a very long time, including going to cesky krumlov, seeing auschwitz, getting pivos with pavel, our wonderful flat at na svihance 2, general ridiculousness at 32 vinohradska, the carnival rides, the time the power went out at lemon leaf, wine tasting at litomerice, sitting on the rudolfinum steps, finding old town by accident, ordering my concert tickets in czech, seeing prague castle in the distance, and so much more. prague will always have a very special place in my heart (corny, but true), and it's only appropriate to end this entry with my favorite place (old town square, with horses!!)

well. my european adventures are continuing in FULL FORCE in paris. details forthcoming!

bonjour, paris!

hey friends!

after staying up all night, practically getting into a fistfight with the smartwings lady (ok, more of a verbal fight), and making my way to the suburbs of paris, i am happy to say that i am all settled in and loving paris, even more than when i was here in april. this marks the last part of my european adventures - for those who are new readers (which sounds incredibly vain and it's not like i expect my blog to have a super-wide following so this is really for my friends who may have forgotten why i'm in paris) - i will be in paris from may 19 to june 9, doing research for my senior thesis about french representation of religion in colonial north africa thanks to the generosity of the wesleyan davenport grant. after two days in paris, i am REALLY looking forward to the next two weeks!

so, a few things, starting with housing.

i am doing a homestay outside of paris - it's a 10-minute ride on the commuter train - with a lovely married couple named val and ben, and their little son armand, who is adorbs :) i have my own room on the first floor, which leads into an outdoor garden!! it's nice living in a home and val/ben are very nice except it's sort of hard to communicate because my french is extremely rusty. i mostly nod my head and smile and hope that they don't ask me something i can't answer. i still have to figure out how to ask about the washing machine..

paris, so far.

on wednesday, i didn't sleep and got to the airport at 4am. there was some trouble at the counter with my luggage (the smartwings lady was a TOTAL bitch to me, btw) but somehow i made it to paris, with my 39kg of belongings. i got to val and ben's around 8:30am and proceeded to sleep until 1pm. i met up with julie and dani at st. michel and we went to get delish burgers while watching some trashy american music videos. YUM. also, i got a new pair of sandals on day 1. haha.

today, i went to musee d'orsay with dani - it was part of my proposed research to see visual representations of north african societies but there wasn't a whole lot. d'orsay was cool (and i got to use my czech visa to get in for free, which was nice) and not overwhelmingly large, which is not something that can be said for the louvre, which i will be visiting tomorrow. after that, i went to l'institut du monde arabe which i guess was the real start of this research adventure. they have a great bookstore of arab books - both fictional works written by authors in the maghreb and in the middle east, as well as books on history, architecture, contemporary politics, and so on. i got two books that i think are going to be SUPER helpful and i'm really excited about reading them - but they are in french so it's going to take me awhile. after that, i went upstairs to the library and did a bit of reading. the building is BEAUTIFUL and has a wealth of resources so i will definitely be going there soon.

outside musee d'orsay!

the next few days are a bit up in the air, mostly because i have a lot to read before i really delve into the material i came to paris to see (like actual primary documents and whatnot). my plans are sort of set, though - i'll be heading to aix-en-provence from may 30 to june 2, then i'm going to take a few days off and enjoy what is my summer vacation (though it doesn't feel like it to me) in NICE, FRANCE! aka beaches, here i come!! i'll be there until saturday, then a few more days in paris before flying to jfk on june 9. should be wonderful!

i still have a lot of things i want to say about prague, which i miss already. i saw pilsner beer at monoprix (the grocery store) and felt very nostalgic... i will say that studying abroad was a really great decision at a great time for me, and i think i am in a much better place to go back to wes and truly enjoy it in the fall. being abroad also made me feel a sense of extreme accomplishment at small tasks (even until my last week, i still liked going to the post office and buying stamps in czech) and really made me feel independent. i've always considered myself to be pretty independent (especially since i don't go home very often as it is) but living in prague, and now being in paris, really solidified that. well, more thoughts to come. for now, i should probably figure out a game plan for tomorrow...

prague, i love you

so it's 2:28am on wednesday morning and i am heading to the airport in approximately 75 minutes to head to paris. i am feeling all sorts of things that can't really be put into words. but. this has been an incredible three months, and i will hopefully properly reflect on this in the days to come. for now, i'm going to try to stay awake and enjoy the last hour in my lovely abode with my roomie and cross my fingers that i can make it to paris in one piece. so thank you, prague. this has been unforgettable.

three days left.

it is actually unbelievable to me that i have three days left in prague. i know i'll be staying in europe for another three weeks... but still. it's weird to think about moving out of my flat. not using the prague metro (which i love). not going to lemon leaf all the time. too much to think about at this point.

this past week has been relatively uneventful, since it's finals week. for some reason, i seem to have a lot less work than other people though i don't really know how true that is since i had three papers and an exam. well. i'm almost done with all my work meaning i can spend the next couple days exploring/going to new places. on friday, our trip to the vietnamese outdoor market was canceled because of the rain.. so i tried looking for the ethnographic museum but failed. instead i climbed to the top of petrin hill by walking, which was nice but also sort of sad because it made me realize how much i love prague and how sad i am to leave. i don't think the rainy weather or the mopey k-pop ballads i was listening to really helped my mood.. anyhow. after that, i scurried home and then met up with kyra in front of the state opera where we saw madame butterfly, a totally spontaneous thing. it was fantasticky and i loved the music, though the story itself was incredibly sad.

from the top: cerny statues near ujzed, flowers on top of petrin, and me at the opera house!

yesterday, kyra and i went to plzen - famous for the pilsner urquell brewery. plzen was sort of a strange-looking town. it was cold and deserted on a saturday, but that could be because of the cold weather. we ate lunch, walked around a bit, and then went on the brewery tour which was really cool. overall a great day :) and the hot cocoa on the student agency buses were also super, haha.

so i am this close |----| to finishing junior year. just final edits on my eu integration paper left. i've started packing, and it just feels SO strange to think about how fast this semester has gone by. in a week from now, i'll be in paris. in a month from now, i'll be working in dc. wow.

and one last thing. wednesday was our last prague as a living history class - the exam for the class was 15 questions and had lots of pictures, ridic. afterwards, we went to the beer garden right next to our flat with PAVEL and we also played foosball, talked about hopscotch, and the meaning of the universe. per usual.

HE ALSO INVITED US TO HIS CHOIR CONCERT!!!!!!!! but we aren't going to be in prague for it. sadness.

pictures!

lots of overdue photos from cesky krumlov, LONDON, and general prague antics. coming soon: the conclusion of prague as a living history :( and hanging out with PAVEL!!

above: cesky krumlov! below: london!

general prague ridiculousness below:

anyhow. in other news.

i have less than a week left in prague. not. okay. i am trying to get my ducks in a row before leaving, and i am still in the process of figuring out travels. i'm leaving for paris next wednesday and i just bought my ticket for the states - flying from paris to JFK (via iceland...??) on june 9. i think i may spend a day or two in nyc before taking the train to dc. still no sublet in dc, working on it. today is my last day of class as a JUNIOR, which is weird.. but not really, because i'm ready for classes to be over. i think a future blog post will be grades for my classes (if i have to get grades, then it only makes sense for me to grade the classes too). some excerpts from teaching evaluation for one of my classes, which i'm currently sitting through right now..

"the only way he could keep my attention is when his shirt was unbuttoned."

"i wish he wouldn't WRITE ALL HIS POWERPOINTS IN CAPITAL LETTERS. that's unnecessary."

"my favorite thing about the class was the documentaries."
"he was very masochistic and it was clear that he was in love with himself."

oh study abroad. details soon.

destination: london!

i'm back from a three-days of pure awesome that was london. i was pretty skeptical about going for many reasons, two reasons which did turn out to be legit:

1) i didn't want to sleep in the frankfurt-hahn airport on wednesday night.
2) the british pound is expensive.
3) we were couchsurfing for the first time. 

i left my humble abode on wednesday night and flew from prague to frankfurt. upon arriving in frankfurt at 11pm, i had 7 hours until my flight to london (6am). there were a lot of people sleeping at the airport since people who fly ryanair (read; cheap european airline that tries to sell you raffle tickets and charges you 5euro for water) have to give up some luxuries like decent flight hours... i slept maybe an hour or so but then just played "snake xenzia" on my cell phone until my flight.

i met up with greg around 9am on thursday and we really hit the ground running. with my expert map-reading skills, we saw westminster abbey, big ben, houses of parliament, and walked to trafalgar square. we ate lunch (THAI FOOD!!) then went into the national gallery. even though london is ridiculously expensive, especially compared to prague, a lot of the cultural activities like museums are free. we went on a free guided tour and heard about four painting in-depth.. after all this, we finally headed to our couchsurfing host bron's place.

this was my first time couchsurfing and i was a little skeptical, mostly because the concept of sleeping at a stranger's house seems a little sketch. it was actually a good experience though - a really good one. bron had an election party since thursday was the british election and it involved lots of wine, risotto, and listening to british commentators make fun of all the candidates. unfortunately i can't tell you too much more about this party because i fell asleep..... BUT it was still neat. bron went away on a sailing trip over the weekend and she let us (me and greg) stay at her flat while she was gone. again, that's crazy to me - letting strangers live in your house when you aren't even there - but maybe it's just a different way of thinking. well, i will also be couchsurfing for three days when i go to aix-en-provence at the end of may, so we'll see!

greg and i did a lot of other touristy stuff on friday and saturday (towers of london, walking along the river, taking pictures in the red telephone booths, tate modern, buckingham palace, british museum, and so on) and i also got to see two familiar faces - we hung out with shana, one of my friends from high school in korea (she goes to university college london), and then we saw sue-jung (a friend from wes who is abroad at UCL for the semester... and shana and sue also know each other now, small world!) on saturday for lunch. it's always good to see friends while you're abroad, so that was wonderful :) pictures forthcoming (i'm currently at the TOL office with nothing to do).

three things i will say about london. first, one of the reasons why i loved london so much is because the city is incredibly multicultural. being in prague has almost been like a living in a bubble for me, where i am clearly outside this bubble because i stick out like a sore thumb (i am often mistaken for an asian tourist). in london, i fit right in - everyone does. i loved being in an atmosphere with lots and lots of different people (the british accents don't hurt, either). we must have looked pretty legit because someone asked me for directions when we were about to get on the tube. speaking of the tube. second, i love the british lingo. like that's rubbish. and names for stuff like piccadilly circus!!! that's just cool. third, scones are delicious.

i think rome may have been my favorite city but london is the only place where i could see myself living - whether for studying abroad or in the future. i have been thinking about the future (which usually leaves me feeling sad and/or depressed) and i think i am seriously going to consider/look at working abroad after graduating. we'll see.

i have so much more to say about london and how great it was... but i am getting pretty sad thinking about the next few days. not only is the weather supposed to be gross and wet like it has been for the last week - this is my last full week in prague. i bought my ticket for paris before i left and i am leaving on may 19, 6am. the past three months have gone by SO quickly.

we'll end on a positive note: my thesis got approved, so looks like i will be writing one with professor gottschalk as my advisor - in his words, hurrah! also, i will be in DC in less than one month!

LOST

i'm heading to london for the weekend after watching what was quite possibly one of the BEST LOST EPISODES, EVER. i'll have plenty of long layovers (i arrive in frankfurt at 11pm tonight and leave for london at 6:30am tomorrow - when i return, i'll have 10+ hours in frankfurt) to think about the implications of this episode.

only three days of class left for the semester.

also, i am officially going to paris on may 19. woo!

school's getting in the way of being abroad

whoa. it's may.

lots and lots to write about. i'm actually at school between classes and it is starting to hit me that my time in prague is running out. AHH!!!

so moje maminka (my mom, for those non-czech speakers who follow my blog) was in prague from wednesday night to monday morning. it was awesome to have her here because i won't be going home this summer, plus i got to eat a lot of food and show my mom around the city! we did a couple things i hadn't done before, like taking a boat tour (highly recommended), going to the kafka museum (side note: the museum is a must-see, mostly because it plays a lot of eerie music and creeped me out), and eating so much that my stomach hurt (lemon leaf). we went to cesky krumlov on saturday and we were there all day - since it's a really small town of 14,000 people, some of my friends asked what we were going to do from 10am to 7pm.. but we went up to the top of the tower, saw the inside of the castle, and spent a lot of time sitting and eating, which happen to be some of my fave activities. it was epic! plus it didn't rain. cesky krumlov was just as wonderful and beautiful as i remembered it, so a very fruitful trip. julie and dani were also in prague this weekend and though i failed at finding the cave bar (u sudu), i managed to hang out with them at night and i will be seeing them shortly in paris!!

we have a week and a half of classes left and i wish that cerge would just cancel class altogether. i mean my czech exam is next thursday and i know that's important but truth be told, i feel like i haven't gained that much academically this semester compared to my time at wes so why make us sit through 3 hour lectures when we could be doing other stuff? like drinking a liter of pivo for less than five bucks right around the corner? or going to kutna hora? or walking around the many many parks that i have yet to see? school really is getting in the way of being abroad, and i am not a fan of this fact. i also have a lot of random loose ends to tie up like buying a suitcase, changing my plane tickets, buying a ticket for paris, paying rent, sending some more postcards, etc.

in other news, plans for paris are sort of coming together! i've been looking through notes from last semester and the articles i used for the basis of my grant proposal and i'm getting excited!! money for research!! i still can't believe that. well. three weeks is not going to be enough time to do everything that i want to do in terms of proper research but it should be a good start. plus i get to go to the south of france (aix-en-provence) to visit the colonial archives. i will most likely take a side trip for a day or two to nice and possible to marseilles as well, meaning i am going to see a BEACH and something other than the eiffel tower. plus i may have dani and julie as traveling buddies!

i am heading to london this weekend to see greg, which will be great :) we are embarking on our first couchsurfing experience, which should be quite interesting... plus, the britisn election is on thursday which is our first day there. our host is actually throwing a small election party which we will be attending. seriously. cool. i think the next two weeks are going to be filled with a lot of different activities - when i'm home, i'll be working on my papers (two done, two to go). but i still haven't been to u sudu for foosball, haven't gone to the top of the baby tower, haven't been to plzen......... but first, class. time to go talk about multiculturalism = good, assimilation = bad.