london calling

I JUST BOOKED TICKETS TO LONDON!

They were $220 total, including tax and fees. I'm going to go so broke this semester, but damn it, I will see the world.

On another note, I know this city is very ethnically homogenous, but I seriously feel like the only Chinese girl in all of Prague. Not only can I count the number of Asian people I've seen on one hand (which is so weird coming from a summer in Vietnam/Asia), but I'm pretty sure all of them are Vietnamese (apparently, there's a huge population here), which I suppose is weirdly appropriate.

As for today, Czech class was a total joke. Probably around 6 of the 20 people actually showed up to the "mandatory" class, and I really only did because I forgot to turn my alarm clock off last night (and because I had to meet this academic advising lady, since last night left me enrolled in only 2 classes -- which means I wasn't even a full-time student anymore -- after I completely failed at drunkenly trying to drop/add classes and coordinate schedules with my roommate at 4 am). I'm pretty sure every person doing NYU in Prague was at Mecca last night, which has no cover Wednesday nights and has a free Sex on the Beach for ladies until midnight. It was a cute club that's overall what you'd expect when you think of European clubs: flashing lights, smoky dancefloors, techno music, guys in tight shirts and gelled hair, girls in flashy outfits, and people awkwardly bopping around on the dance floor. And I finally tried absinthe for the first time!

let's spazz

As one of our suitemates said to me last night, "Cross Club will change your life."

Stepping off the metro, I first saw what I thought was the Czech version of a frat party until I realized that people were all coming out of a metal building that seemed to melt into the surrounding grounds. The place is about four levels, the bottom three screaming of metal, grunge, dreadlocks, techno, and smoke and the top one (the one where you bought your ticket and which I suspect was actually ground level) surprisingly classy with yellow walls, tables, and paintings. I was immediately in love with the place the minute the bouncer took my arm and stamped a white stamp on my wrist that only shows up under blacklight. After we took shots of absinthe and some "dark, Czech" rum, the rest of the night, I'll admit, is a blur of swirly metal lights, loud music, and the smell of weed. We met some guys from our dorm -- one of whom is apparently the grandson of some knight in England and hangs out at the gym in Beverly Hills with Penn Badgley from Gossip Girl.

...And Amanda, Lily, and I definitely woke up at 2 pm today.

In other news, I need to get out of the habit of immediately rating clubs on the Shooters scale the minute I step into them.

cheers to immersion

We made a Czech friend!

So after spending about three hours at a French restaurant having wine, cheese, and fondant chocolat (side note: I LOVE how they don't rush you at restaurants here at all. People not only eat later, which is taking me some getting used to, but they eat for a much longer time too, which I've discovered is also the best thing ever because I feel like I'm really enjoying my food and having a meal), we were giggling and squealing our way down Old Town Square, when we stopped to take a frappucino sample at Starbucks (aka my lifesaver for these past three days thanks to late nights and early Survival Czech class). The guy handing them out was really chill, so we ended up talking to him for a bit, and he asked us for our emails and if we'd ever like to go with him and some of his friends (he's 19 and goes to university in the city) out at night sometime.

Um, hello? Partying with the locals?
Sign me up!

Lesson learned: yeah, it's surprisingly quiet here (i.e. everyone gives us really weird looks wherever we are because people talk in super quiet voices and are really reserved, even in public places like restaurants and the metro), and yeah, people don't generally smile, but the Czech people really do seem to be a lot friendlier than we anticipated.

the food the wine the cheese the people

Can I just say?
I LOVE EUROPE!

i'm in love with a city

I'M IN PRAGUE.

Now, originally I was going to start My First Study Abroad Blog Post talking about the moment I fell in love with the city. Or, in other words, the moment my cab from the airport hit the top of a hill (after a few miles of nothing but normal-looking trees and flat road), and I saw the entire, fairy tale city spread out in front of me, the red roofs, the spires, and all. And I was in awe. There is no other word to describe it. The image of Cinderella's town at the very beginning of the movie comes to mind (the old-school version, where they used to show an overview of the "town" and then zoom in on a particular area as they began the narration), thanks to the dominance of the Prague Castle. I mentally played cheerleader to my taxi driver (...who did not speak English) by, given my generally decent sense of direction, I would think, "Please turn right, please turn right. ...YESSSS! Go left! Go left! ...SCORE!" in order to somehow -- through mental willpower -- make my dorm building end up in the center of the city.

But instead of all that, I'm going to focus on the moment I first really interacted with a Prague local.

So it turns out that not only is my dorm pretty near the center of town, but I'm also on the fifth (read: TOP) floor of my dorm, which means I have a great view, but that my thighs are going to get a killer workout in the upcoming four months. That also means that after unpacking, trying to figure out how to use the Internet/phone, laughing with the girl living across from me about how we both are now super inspired to visit Greece thanks to Mama Mia! and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 (don't judge us), I was about to faint from hunger. Literally! So, since Lilly (the girl living across the hall) was taking a nap, I decided to venture out on my own (this is big, you guys) to find lunch.

My map was totally incomprehensible (it was all in Czech!), so I walked out, turned left and headed straight, as per some general directions a girl downstairs had told me to take to get to an area of cafes/restaurants. I walk down the adorable cobblestone alley and see this cute little shop with a sign that says "Sandwiches." It looked cute, so I open the door and am about to go inside when I hear a man's voice yelling Czech at me.

Oh no.

Well, after I worriedly go, "Sorry?" he informs me that the place is closed. Relieved that I wasn't breaking some previously unknown intrusion law and totally despaired over how I was going to find food, I ask if there was another place nearby where I could get a bite to eat, he asks me what I wanted, and when I say I just want a sandwich or something, anything, he goes, in the classic way that only a Central European can say it:

"...I could give you a sandwich."

I probably could've kissed him right then. So he unlocked the cafe, went down into the kitchen, and I waited outside by the road for my free lunch.

Well, turns out, there were no more pre-made sandwiches downstairs since it was the weekend, and the place apparently didn't get that much business. The feeling of doom comes over my entire body, until all of a sudden I hear Czech Guy go, "I can make you a sandwich. If you're not scared, you can come to the kitchen."

What? "Should I be scared?" I ask.

"Well, no. Well, you'll see."

And that's when I break the first rule of How Not To Get Screwed While In A Foreign Country; and I told him that it was my first day in the city. "In that case," he goes, "we're making you a sandwich."

I walk downstairs with him into the kitchen and survey that it's 1) pretty clean, with the ingredients all packed away, but also 2) that the ingredients did not have any labels on them to tell me what they were or when they expired. Czech Guy started poking at the bread to see if they were good or not, and when I asked about their status, he said he wasn't really sure since it was Bio Bread.

What the fuck is Bio Bread?

Well, he didn't know how to describe it in English, but basically he just said that it was "really healthy," so I figured it was probably organic or whole wheat or something like that. I poke at it to see what it feels like, and it's rock hard. I'm crushed, until I realize that: THIS IS PRAGUE! THIS IS ONLY THE FIRST RESTAURANT I'VE SEEN! I'll just go down the street to look for another cafe!

And thankfully, I found one with outdoor seating.