Packing, etc...

Well my packing to go home has begun. I leave saturday morning at 6am. My classes finished today, one I will miss the other not at all. My film class was amazing and our teacher was so cool- constantly loaning out his books and films to us and I am now officially in love with every movie Milos Forman ever made (Please go see Loves of A Blonde, Black Peter, or the Firemen's Ball right now! Other great movies of note include Daisies, the Cremator, and anything by Tomas Vorel). Our film professor- the second to last class took us to a pub. So much fun! Of course the guys in the class were very excited. haha The pub overlooked all of Prague. It was right by the metronome.
We also finished Art and Architecture today and I could not be more excited to be done with that class. Our professor didn't even know who Jean Michael Basquiat was and he looks like a giant baby man. Our quiz today was ridiculous. I think I could have written gibberish with my eyes closed and still have gotten an A in the class. haha

Tomorrow my friends and I are spending the whole day doing fun things and plan to go back to the metronome and the place with the roasted duck. Yum!!

In case I don't write much more again, thanks to everyone who has kept up with me and looks at this from time to time! I have loved every single comment, especially those I never expected to get. You have no idea how much your comments have meant to me. See you all soon!!

The Happiest and Saddest Place On Earth....In One Weekend

Well if I ever study abroad again it will be in Krakow, Poland. That city is the happiest place I could ever imagine! I adore it. Walking down the street you can see any number of things including: men doing yoga on the sidewalk, people running around doing Borat impressions asking for high fives, children singing in choruses, men singing in the street sounding literally like women?, people in full dracula cartoon costumes, mothers playing accordian next to their babies in strollers, horses practically have their own lanes in the street, and there is always something to see. There was a jazz festival going on while we were there, as well as some summer animation showcase. It was super hot this weekend! It felt like it was 100 degrees out and the hotel we stayed in (which was beautiful!) had no air conditioning. Ouch. But it was worth it. I loved Krakow!!!

We tried great food this weekend, too! We had Polish food (obviously) which was delicious!(And everything is so so so cheap in Poland). I had dumplings with raspberries and rose. Best food ever! And the next day we ate at a Georgian restaurant. Also amazing! I had chicken with cabbage and honey cake. I think I gained about 50 million pounds this weekend! But the absolute best was for dinner: We ate at a Ukrainian restaurant and it was unbelievable! I had pork with apple sauce and plums and the best fried potatoes I have ever had. For dessert I got this apple pastry which was also amazing!


























Along with loving Poland, we also went to see the remains of Auschwitz and I really do think that was the worst place I've ever seen on earth. It was pretty upsetting. It was not the abundance of remains that was so terrible, to me, but the absence, the absence of people, the space of the area, and the complete silence around all the remains. It was pretty sickening. But the worst part, believe it or not after 70 years have gone by, was the smell. It still smells there. We went to the concentration camp 1 and 2 which is Birkenau and they both smelled. I was really happy to get out of there.

On a lighter note......Poland was still amazing and I think it's one of the most underrated places in the world. I would go back in a heartbeat!

Such Is The Life I Lead...

Tonight was so much fun! My friend Andrea and I went to the Estate Theater which is known in town as Mozart's theater because it is the theater he played in. So cool! And tomorrow, off to Poland. Sometimes I don't recognize my life :) Pictures below include the theater and the view from the Metronome which is my new favorite hangout place in town:

Good To Be Back....in Prague

Well Vienna was interesting...
Fun Fact: In Vienna you cannot breath without someone charging you a few Euros. Not only do they charge you to go to the bathroom (which is a very European thing to do) they charge you for everything else you could imagine.
I love Prague even more now. Vienna was just not for me, way too clean, expensive, not so friendly people. The night before we left for Vienna, we sat on this huge set of stairs and listened to a bum-like character play the guitar and harmonica. It was so beautiful! He sounded like Neil Young. Then we walked downtown to this fifty foot metronome that students placed on a hill after Stalin's rule. It's supposed to symbolize change. To get to it you have to walk up about 100 steps and when you get to the top, there are ledges to sit on, overlooking the entire city. And the moment we got to the top, a huge fireworks show started over the whole city. Who would want to go to Vienna and leave Prague after that?? :)

Some nice things about Vienna: there are grassy places to lay everywhere. Lots of great art exhibits: Egon Schiele, Thomas Ruff, Nan Goldin and Robert Mapplethorpe. I also got to see work by Sally Mann, Wolfgang Tillmans, and some others. Also Vienna has really good dessert! And while we were there the Rathausplatz film festival was going on, so at night over the weekend they were playing Opera films. Pretty cool, as well!