oktoberfest glory

[Kate, Heather, Erinn, Chesky, Sean, Me, Erinn]

Hello! I am sorry I haven't blogged but I was in Munchen for the weekend. It was superb. I am warning you now that this is probably going to be a long post so read it when you have some time!

So..
Thursday Erinn, Chesky, Beeler and I went shopping in the vintage stores and I got a very much needed belt. It has been saving my life. I forgot that they, being Europeans, don't really use dryers for their clothes so when I wear pants and they stretch out, they stay stretched out...bummer. So thats the belt story. Thursday night, all of us Slavojos [thats our collective group of students in our apartments. When its only the boys from our building its the slavobros and when its the girls its the slavohos. Pretty silly but thats the name thats been given to us from the other buildings] went out to a hip-hop club called Radost FX. It was sooo fun! It's only one stop away on the metro and girls got in free. Awesome! It was really fun. Super nice to hear something besides techno. I mean, I am all for techno and always love it but after a month of going out and hearing only techno, it was fun to dance to some American beats. Haha. So when I was waiting at the bar to purchase a pivo, I met this really silly Irish guy. He was here for just two days and he he was moving on to the Oktoberfest. But turns out his mom's maiden name is Foley. We had a good chat. I even got a kiss on the cheek at our goodbye, though that was more than I was looking for. But we [me and Chesky] believe its better than a butt grope. Haha.

Friday morning I had a flight to catch at 9 so I left my apartment at 7 to make the long, free trek to the airport. So I made it through the metro and got on a bus. After the first stop the bus just stopped and sat there for forty-five minutes. When it finally started moving and I got to the airport I was too late to check in. So I had to book another flight for fifty Euros [major bummer] and wait four hours for the next flight to Munich. Then I realized that I didn't have Isabelle's number. [Isabelle is the girl that I stayed with. I met her in Germany when I did the GAPP exchange through high school.] So I was frantically trying to get her number which turned out to be fruitless. When I finally got on the flight and made it to Munich, I was really lucky that Isi had stayed til that flight. So I did actually make it and I met up with her. She took me back to her apartment, which is really cute. Its pretty small but in a great location and its perfect for three college girls! I love it! We walked over to the Oktoberfest; she lives about ten minutes walking. Pretty ideal. Anyways, the Oktoberfest is definitely unreal. I couldn't really believe I wsa there. It is kind of a like an exceptionally inflated OC Fair or something, but obviously way cooler because its Oktoberfest. There were so many people. Like I said, just unreal. I can't really describe it. We just walked around the fest and took it all in. Then we left for dinner which was a delicious doner! It was just down the street from her, like I said, ideal location for an apartment. Haha. After dinner we went back and watched a movie because we were both pretty wiped out from our disastrous day at the airport.
Saturday morning we woke up early, at eight and got ready for the Oktoberfest. The only way to get in a tent is to go early and just stay all day so that was our plan. We were going to meet two of my friends from Prague, Cody and Jesse, but they overslept their alarm and we didn't want to sacrifice our chance to get in. We went to the Hofbrau tent and got it! And if I couldn't accurately describe the outside of the fest, there is no way I can do the inside justice. But it was swarming with people. When we were outside waiting to get in there were tons of people and then when the doors opened it felt like we were in a river, just flowing downstream. I didn't even have to try and push through people, I just got pushed in. And it was awesome inside! The decorations were awesome and the noise was unreal. Isi and I walked around looking for a table or anything but it was already too full. So we stood by the standing tables and just kind of people watched. I took tons of pictures and videos. At several points during the time we were in there, someone started whole tent wide cheers and chants which were amazing. It was hilarious to see the entire tent raising their beer and shouting. Hysterical! So we finally got some beer. My first Oktoberfest brew! It was delicious! But I couldn't believe I was drinking beer at ten in the morning. When in Rome, or Munich, I guess. So we started talking to some of the German guys next to us. It was really funny. They were all in liederhosen and every time we made eye contact they wanted to cheers. It was hilarious. They asked us if we wanted to join them at their table but we were going to be leaving to try and find Cody and Jesse. Bummer. So I had another beer and then we left to find them. Oh, but I forgot, at one point in the tent a live band came on and every one started dancing. It was awesome!
So we left the tent and met up with Cody and Jesse. We walked around a little and they wanted to get in a tent, which was very unlikely at this point in the day so Isi and I decided to leave and go to downtown Munich. So we went back and changed, she was wearing the traditional dress. We got downtown and she took me to the liederhosen store and I got to try some it. It was so awesome, greatest thing EVER. Then we walked around and I took more pictures and everything, you know, the ideal tourist. We went back to her house and then got dinner at a cafe down the street. It was really good! Then we went back and watch a movie again. Right when the movie finished these two guys, wearing liederhosen mind you, walked into her apartment and were super drunk. It was really funny because we both thought they were walking into the wrong apartment but it turned out that they were the cousins of one of Isi's roommates. Pretty funny.
Sunday we slept in, thankfully and then went over to the Oktoberfest again so that I could get some gifts and something for me. Just as a side note, my favorite thing about Oktoberfest is the liederhosen and how all the men wear them and their matching jackets, making it reminiscent of Georg VonTrapp and gave me lifetime full of them. Loved it! After the Oktoberfest we went back and I grabbed my bag before we went to find another doner. The one by her house was closed because it was Sunday. Luckily, there was one across the street from the U-bahn stop. So we had delicious doners before continuing on to the Olympic tower. So cool. We walked around the Olympic area and then we went up the tower. It was awesome, but would have been much better if it weren't hazy like it was. But cool nonetheless. Then we caught the train to the airport and I departed.
When I got back to Prague, the Slavojos were leaving for a birthday dinner for Beeler. Impeccable timing on my part. We all went out to dinner at this really delicious place. Most of them went out after but Andy, Andrew and I went home.

It was a fantastic weekend! The Oktoberfest is unreal and I urge everyone to experience at least once. You won't be disappointed, I promise.

Ps. I commend you all if you read this in one sitting, pretty long..

lenin, not lennon

Monday night I got home and caught up with everyone. There were some good weekends! Many of my friends went to the first weekend of Oktoberfest [I'll be there this weekend!!], others went to Krakow, and some just hung out around here.

Tuesday I had class. I find my gender class to be one of the most interesting classes I have taken yet in my college career. It has a lot to do with the history of Czech and the transformation from a Communist country into a democratic one and where women fit in, in both societies. Its exceptional and I love it! After class, [it doesn't end until 18:50] Chesky, Kate, Beeler, Nate, Erinn, and Sarah Jo tried to go to a vegetarian Indian place for dinner. Turns out it was closed so we kind of wandered around Old Town Square until we found our way to Bohemian Bagel. Sooo good! We got lots of delicious sandwiches and they had free refills and ice. We were in American style heaven! It was wonderful, though I'm disappointed to report there was no Diet Coke. One of life's greatest mysteries... After dinner we were going to go to the wine bar underneath one of the apartments but Erinn, Sarah Jo, Nate and I decided to go home. Well, that was the plan at least. Instead, we got a call from Orange. His parents are in town [until tonight] so we went over to their hotel room to have a few pivos and socialize. Their room was pretty awesome. They had a huge balcony [they were on the top floor] and consequently had an amazing night view of Prague. Pretty spectacular. It was kind of nice too because we got to hang out with a bunch of the guys who we don't really hang out with, including Alex, Coozy, Nick, and Sean. It was fun. And turns out Sean is hilarious!! It got kind of late and Sean, Erinn, Sarah and I decided to go home because we were kind of tired. We got down to the street and to the metro stop and then decided that maybe we weren't quite ready to go home. So we wandered around trying to find a bar that was still open but with no luck. So Sean went to McDonald's and got a Big Mac, which he regretted immediately after the last bite. A conversation ensued about how we can't let him do that anymore. Pretty silly. Then we tried to catch a night tram but got on the wrong one, following Sean's directions. Oops, but this was the best part of the night. Sarah pointed out that there was a bar open that we passed so Sean ran over to the button that alerts the driver that someone wants to get off. We [being the rest of us] weren't sure if we actually wanted to go out so when the tram finally stopped it was just Sean that went to the door. We were trying to decide what we were going to do when the doors all of a sudden shut on Sean. He was being smashed in between the doors when he wrenched them open, kind of like Superman, held them open, turned around, looked the tram driver in the eyes, and said in English, very sternly, "Don't close these yet!!" Needless to say we shortly followed him out of the tram, me almost completely incapacitated because of laughter. It was absolutely hilarious! So we finally made it to this bar and met this super freaky Czech guy who loved that we were from California and played us a song [on a jukebox] called California Uber Alles by the Dead Kennedys. And every time the song said California he would look over, raise his glass and shout "California." We were cracking up. Then we jammed to some Ace of Base and Spice Girls before leaving for home, finally. While waiting for the tram we ran into Coozy and Donnie and Alex and Orange were on the tram when it finally came. It was a really great night! Lots of fun!

Today I had class again. For my Reading Prague class we took a field trip up to the Vysehrad. It was my third time up there with a class but still very interesting. I really love that place! It’s probably my favorite place in Prague that I have been.

Anyways, thats it for now. A lot of people went to the club Mecca again tonight but I stayed in with Andy and Nathan. We're just hanging out tonight. It’s pretty rainy so I've just been reading and doing laundry!

prague, sweet prague

[from left to right: Jakob, Pille, Paul, David, Julia]

Before blogging, I just want to clear some things up. It has been brought to my attention that I have some nay saying relatives that have grossly underestimated my tolerance for coldness. I would like to point out that when I left Germany this morning, the temperature was a warm 4 degrees Celsius [not the joked about 50 degrees huh?].

Anyways, now thats out of the way...
So were still on Sunday at lunch time.
Martin Selje made some delicious crepes/German pancakes. They were awesome! We had lunch ones which we filled with a mushroom and sauce creation that was to die for and that was put over ham. Then there were enough to make sweet crepes. Naturally I had a nutella one. Too good to pass up! After lunch, David and I walked to Wolfer [the soccer field, theres more than one at Wolfer] to watch Spence's game. Upon arrival I discovered that many of my friends [David, me, Julia] were on Spence's team so that was a pleasant surprise. It was Marko, Mika, Spence, Ante, and then Julian, Zippi, Dom, Einholtz, Jakob, and his brother came too [pardon the name dropping but this is as much for me now as it is for all of you!]. Ended up that they never actually played because the referee never showed up. Bummer. But it was alright because we started a big game instead with about eight of us. We then decided that we wanted to go to the VFB Stuttgart soccer game [VFB is the professional team in Stuttgart]. The game was the derby, which means that it was against a team that is a major rival, usually when both teams are geographically close. We got to the stadium early and tried to find tickets. The tickets from the booths were uber expensive so we ended up scalping tickets from a very nice man. As we were entering the stadium we heard an explosion of cheers which could only mean one thing, a goal. It was the opposing team that scored unfortunately. It stayed that way for a while until VFB scored to huge amounts of celebration. Every time they scored, I think permanent damage was done to my ear drums but it was totally worth it! The final score was 3-1 VFB. The game was so fun! David taught me some of the cheers so I could sing along when they scored! It was also really cool to see Gomez [he plays for the national team] and Lehmann [the ex keeper for Arsenal]. At the end of the [Lehmann in green] game there were some brawls between fans which were quite funny but I think only because I was a safe distance away. The favorite chant of the fans [translated, of course] was "We shit on Karlsruher!" It was pretty hilarious. Definitely one of the best games I've been to. Ps. The people who came with us included Jakob, Pille, Paul, David, Julia, Me, Spence and Mika.
After the game, my darling German family took me to get a Doner at City Imbiss. So delicious! They are too good to me! Haha. We took the train back home and then Julia and I went over to Spence's to watch a film. We basically just hung out and talked to the movie as a soundtrack but watched parts. I had to say bye to Julia last night because she had work at the hospital early this morning. It was hard! I know I will see her again soon but I miss her already! David woke me up this morning before he left for school so I could say bye and Martin took me to the airport. They are so great! I couldn't have asked for a better host family! I am so lucky!
I flew from Stuttgart to Milan again. So I have this theory that only boring people get bored and I had ample time to test it out. I had an eight hour layover, major bummer. But it turns out I am not boring, good to know. I did a great many activities including touring the Milan airport, eating lunch at a cafe, eating ice cream at a cafe, doing all my school reading, doing sudoku, and my personal favorite silently serenading an imaginary audience. And I was brilliant might I add. Surprisingly my iPod lasted the eight hours even though it was near death the entire time. My flight to Prague was uneventful except for the exceptional sunset, to with the picture does no justice but is included nonetheless.
All in all a fantastic trip and one of the greatest weekends to date!!

Ps. just in case any of you darlings want to send me anything here is my address:

Bonnie Foley + USAC Office
Vratislavova 13
Praha 2
12800
Czech Republic

[David, me, Pille]

epic fail

So shortly after writing the previous blog Julia indulged me and my döner cravings. We went to City Imbiss again and I had my two of my favorite things! As good as ever! After lunch we came back and watched Walk the Line but they only had it in German. I could understand about every 5th or 6th word, not enough to be helpful so instead I just napped. Haha. Its easy to sleep when you can't understand it!
Felix's mom came and picked me up for the game at about four. And she saved my life. I had on these little flats that are very cute but not practical for subzero temperatues which it ended up being. Thankfully her maternal instincts kick in and she made me change shoes. So we arrived at the game just in time for kick off and I was very excited to watch Felix; he is one of the best players I have played with. So it started off good, they (being Felix's team) had a couple of good chances, many orchestrated by Fi himself. It was looking to be a good game until after about five minutes when Fi got hurt, his foot got inbetween the legs of the keeper as he dove and it wrenched his ankle and then he twisted it when he landed as well. He wasn't hurt super badly but enough so that he couldn't play anymore. So much for watching Fi play huh? There were a few more injuires on his team and they didn't have many subs, only two. All in all they got slaughtered. They must have all been having an off day at the same time because they didn't look that good. Its a shame Fi got hurt. And I can't help but think that they could have used some Foleys out there. So its a good thing I enjoy watching soccer as much as I do or it could have been nightmareish. Oh, Ps. Fi's mom drives a smartcar sports car. It was awesome!!! I have never seen one of them! I loved it! And we drove on the Autobahn. Ahhhh-some!
When I got home from the game Julia and I had some dinner. David went over to Pille's house and the parents went to a birthday party. At about nine, Zippi came and picked me up with Spence, Julian, and Saskia and we went back to Spence's house where Mika was. We started to watch a movie called the Hills Have Eyes. Quite possibly (and I say this without exaggeration) the worst movie EVER. It was horrible. We watched it for about an hour and no one could figure out why we were still watching it. So we switched it out for The Big Lebowski, a classic. And a much better choice. After napping through the movie (turns out I'm more like my momma than I thought) Zippi took me home and I slept.
This morning Julia and I had a delicious breakfast again, much like the breakfast from yesterday! We were the only two awake though. Haha. Later today Spence has a game that he wants me to watch and then a few of us are going to get some zmrzlina (ice cream for all you drop out czech students).

Side note: sorry that all these posts have been picture free. Its just that none of this stuff is really new to me because I've been here before. I have taken a couple pictures but you all will have to wait until I get back to Prague and put them on my computer.

German heaven

Hello again. Sorry I didn't write yesterday but as you can tell by the title I am a little preoccupied with German heaven! I have been reminded why I love it here so much! Shortly after posting the last blog and remembering how much I wanted a döner, my lovely friend Zippi wrote me to say that he wanted to take me to get a döner. I have never loved him so much! Haha, so I stuffed myself with more food and a delicious peach iced tea (the one that Jill and I drink like 8 liters of whenever we are here). It was amazing but I definitely ate way too much! When I got back to the Selje's David was here! So we all hung out for a bit and then because I was super tired and David had school Friday, we went up to his room and watched the Longest Yard. Haha. He had school early but he was done early because his teachers had to do something, I think it was a hike, so he was going to get home at 1130 ish, so I made a joke for him to just wake me up when he got home from school. Turns out, he could have. I slept for an embarrasingly long amount of time, 12 hours, and we all laughed. For lunch we had my most favorite thing ever, maultaschen. Oh man, I could live off of that and be the happiest person who ever lived! It was superb, way better than my attempts, but I tried right? After lunch, Julia and I went into the city and walked around. It was super crowded because the weather was way nicer than it had been. We met up with Isi and their other friend Jule and got some coffee/ice cream. I got a banana split, and it was fantastic. Their ice cream is just so much better and creamier than ours, its a shame... After chatting for a while Julia and I went back home and then Spence came and got me so that I could go with them to Burger King. Lame right? I know, I went for the company, which included: Spence, Zippi, Jakob, Urs, Einholtz, and Mika. It was kind of fun to see everyone but they all talk in German like 95% of the time so it was kind of silly for me to be there. But we made a date for ice cream on Sunday with all the girls too so I am excited for that! When I got back, David was just leaving with Rapha and Pille as well. They were going to Felix's house. Julia was at a friends house too so I went with them. We played FIFA and this Olympics game. It was pretty funny! When I got to Felix's house I met his mom and it was funny because she said "Ah, yeah, you are Tommy's sister. I recognize you from Felix's pictures, as the girl who smiles all the time." Haha, could be worse I guess! David and I walked home after and then just went to sleep.
This morning we had a delicious breakfast! Martin, the dad, made some of his special scrambled eggs, very delicious! And we had great bread and cheese and homemade jams and jellies, and of course Nutella and even some peanut butter. It was delicious! Today I am going to Felix's soccer game at 430ish. Hopefully they win and its not too cold!

Greets from Stuttgart!

Last night a bunch of us from my apartment building went out to a club called Mecca. It is kind of in the middle of nowhere so its a little hard to get to a freaky to leave from but we managed. The club itself is pretty cool and modern, and they play all techno music and other freaky dance stuff, but we loved it. Haha. Just to be clear, the people who went were Chesky, Sarah, Pat, Andrew, Max and Alex Unger, Orange, Erinn, Kate, Donnie, and myself, so it was a pretty big group. By the way, it was soo cold last night, it was ridiculous. I left the club earlier than everyone else because of my flight this morning. I didn't have a jacket beacuse it was checked with Pat's bag. So I ventured out into the basically frozen tundra and made it to the tram stop about 15 minutes early. Horrible. By the time the tram came I was frozen and unhappy about it. I took that night tram to Charles Square in time to be able to wait for 30 minutes for the next tram. Naturally, I wasn't having that so I just booked it home. I am actually suprised that I didn't catch my death.
This morning I woke up early to catch the metro that would take me to the other metro which would take me to the bus which would take me to the airport. Bummer huh, but its free so whatever. After finally making it to the airport I had about and hour and a half before my flight left. From Prague I flew to Milan (and thought of Gerald the whole way) where I had a four hour layover before boarding my flight to Stuttgart. In Milan I got some delicious food and watched the many delicious males. Haha, well, actually, I only saw one impressive one, but believe me, I was watching! Haha. My flight to Stuttgart was enjoyable. But before we get into that, let me just say that our plane was propelled by actual propelars. I was super scared. Haha. I sat next a very nice German guy who kept speaking to me in German, and I was able to pretend that I was actually German. He didn't realize that I wasn't until I spoke to the flight attendent in English, guess my two summers and semester of German were worth every cent, huh? Haha.
Anyway, Julia was at the airport to pick me up and then take me back to my german home. It is very nice to be here again! Being here reminds me why I love it so much!! Julia cooked me and Martin some food and it was delicious! So thats where I am now. I am in Stuttgart and loving every second!! But I still am waiting for the heavenly döner. Can't wait!!

chleb please

Last night, Chesky, Sarah B, Kate and I went to the Italian place for dinner [yes it was my thrid time in a row, and yes it was embarrassing]. Still so delicious. We also decided that it will be our "Cheers" because we ran into about 10 other people from our program and we saw a lot of other walk by. Yesterday was the birthday of one of the girls in our program named Jenny. She was in my Czech Intensive class, so after dinner we met up with them [others had gone to dinner with her] and we walked around and stuff. Naturally we ended up at a bar Andrew and I only had one pivo and then we returned home. It was pretty freezing cold last night.
This morning was also freezing, we figured it to be about 40 degrees including wind chill, [we Californians asked the more weathered veterans from Maryland and Ohio.] I had Art and Architecture; we had little mini lecture and then we took a field trip to the Prague Castle. It was pretty awesome, because I hadn't been there before. It was crazy and full of tourists [yes, I do live here and am therefore not a tourist]. But it was cool to look at it from an architectural point of view. I really like that class, its very interesting and we get to do a lot of practical stuff, like go to the actual buildings rather than look at a picture. We also got to see the changing of the guards at the castle entrance, so that was pretty cool, but we just caught the tail end. Up that the entrance is a great view of Prague as well. There is an open area just in front of the gate, and on a clear day, I am sure you can see for miles. Its pretty fantastic.

was it something i said??

So, I have some more info to post but I am too tired at the moment, I have been chatting with my darling Aunt Cathy and am much too tired to write anything. Sorry, but I will write tomorrow after class. Good talk Aunt Cathy. :)

Alyssa, your head was just on fire.

So yesterday my roommates and I switched flats. Instead of being on the top floor, now we are on the first floor so we have no stairs to climb. Awesome. And now I have a room to myself with a double bed and its super! I got the good end of the deal, for sure. So after moving flats I went up to Andrew's and he was kind enough to share the potatoes that he was making for himself. They were delicious, and when sharing this with him he replied, "its all I can cook, potatoes." Haha, impressive nonetheless. Then Andrew and I went over to the K apartments to hang out with Sean and Pat. We hung out and played some rummy until about four. At that time we went to the HC Slavia hockey game at the 02 arena. It was sooooooo fun. We met Heather, Katie, Jesse, Cody, Alyssa, Eli, Channing, and Anette there. So we went and sat with them for the end of the second period and then the third as well. The game was really exciting. HC Slavia scored first twice and then the other team came back and tied it. Then Slavia scored again but so did the other team and then Slavia scored twice again. It was super fun! [picture: alyssa and heather] We were sitting just outside the fan section so we involved ourselves in all the cheers and chats just making up our own words so they sounded the same! But the very best part of the game was the end! After the game was over the whole team skated over to the end where the fans were and all banged their sticks on the ground, like they were clapping for them. The fans went crazy of course. Then the team left but the fans kept chanting and singing and everyone I was with wanted to leave but I said we had to wait until they were done singing. Good thing we waited because the team came back out and sat in a line by the goal. Then they all shouted something and the fans shouted something back and that happened a couple times and then all the fans took their scarves and pumped them above their heads while the team did the same with their sticks. It was pretty awesome! We are definitely going to be going to more games!
After that, we went back to that delicious Italian place from the night before. Haha. Too good to pass up. So Andrew, Heather, Katie, Alyssa, Eli, and I had dinner there. While were getting ready to pay they started asking our waiter if he was a hockey fan and he said he was more of a soccer fan and that he supported Bohemians so naturally Andrew and I started talking to him. Alyssa was leaning over a candle and all of a sudden her hair ignited and no one really noticed except Katie who reached over the table and put it out. It was crazy. Thankfully it didn't do much damage except make the place smell. It was super bizarre. After that Andrew and I came home and then exchanged stories with the Berlin crew. Pretty great weekend!!

purely pictures

I wish I still wore diapers.

[picture: cody, pat, me, jesse, andrew] So, in order to keep things more interesting I've decided to name the blogs using quotes from the trip, hence the title of this one.
Side note: this weekend, the girls from my apartments and three of the guys went to Berlin, so that's why they're not featured here.
Anyways, Andrew, Elinor, Jenny, Sean, Pat and I played soccer in this great park Friday afternoon. It wasn't a great park for soccer but in order to get there you have to walk up about 200 stairs so once you make it, you have a phenomenal view of Prague. It was awesome. After soccer, we went to the top and just stood there taking it all in. It was very nice. Probably would be great at sunset. Friday night, we [me, Andrew, Pat, Jesse, Alyssa, Heather, Anna, Katie, and Cody went to the bar below the Krizkova apartments. It was fun, we had a couple of pivos and then we were going to go to the five story club but couldn't find it, so we ended up just walking around, making friends. It was pretty funny. Andrew and I went home earlier than the rest, and we both almost fell asleep on the night tram, that would have been bad. Haha.
Saturday was the day of the trip to the castle. Andrew and I went together, but Andrew had the name of the station wrong so we were there at ten waiting for everyone. I called Petr and found out we were at the wrong station and we had about 8 minutes to get to the right one, so naturally my internal GPS kicked in and we bustled over to the right one in about six minutes. The people on the trip included: Petr, Heather, Katie, Alyssa, Cody, Jesse, Anna, Merea, Virginia, Andre, John, Andrew, Pat, and the two Korean boys. We took the train about 25 minutes outside of Prague to a place called Karlstejn. It is a castle that was commissioned by Charles IV in 1348 as a safekeeping place for the crown jewels and it only took 17 years to build. Both the Czech crown and the Holy Roman Empire crown were there at one point. So we walked around the castle and then we were given a tour. It was pretty awesome because they actually have some stuff there from the 14th century.
After the tour we walked down and had some delicious lunch. I was feeling adventurous and decided to go with some soup and some friend cheese [sooooo delicious]. Turns out the soup was "liver ball soup" as we have since named it. I tried it, not bad but the texture was awful so I couldn't finish it. So that was a first. Haha. After lunch we were supposed to go on a little hike to a pilgrimage point for Czechs but some of the girls were wearing flip flops so we took a vote and decided to just do the 2 km walk to the next little town. Well, that is not what happened. When we had gone about 2 km, we came to this hill off the side of the path so I ran up it to see if we could see the castle from there. Nope we couldn't, and then Petr asked me if I saw a little village there, and when I said "no" he then told me that were lost then. Haha. So we walked more and came to an open field. I wanted to run around in it but not everyone did. So Petr said he would run with me so we ran into the field and then others started. From that field we could see a village so we decided to head that way. While some people were still in the field a tractor came and started to [picture: everyone running from the tractor that is out of frame] chase them. It was one of the funniest things I have seen in a long time. I almost bust a gut. So we all made it to the road and started for the village. All along the road were apple trees full of ripe apples. Needless to say we picked a bunch and ate them all. Probably the best apples I have ever had or will ever have again. It was really funny because we would all just stop at a tree and pick a bunch of them.
So we finally made it to the village we had spotted and asked for directions where we needed to be. Following the directions took us past a really cool old church and cemetery. So we stopped there and looked around before continuing on. We walked up past the town and to this lake type thing. It used to be used as a steel mining place, but it has since been cleaned of all machinery and is now a really cool canyon looking thing. So we went there and then got lost again. We ran into these nice people who helped us find the right path.
All in all we walked about 15km instead of the 2km or even the 8km which would have been the other hike. And it was a hike, not just a walk. We went up big hill and then down big hills and then back up and so on. It was pretty intense. And everyone was impressed with my hiking ability [yay momma!] It was really a great day though. We all had a lot of fun despite the being lost and trekking through Czech.

ahoj

[above picture is from dinner. top row: adnan,
andy, nate, sarah, me, erinn, chesky, kate. bottom row: orange and donnie.]
[other picture: kate, chesky, me, erinn]
Hello everyone!

Sorry I haven't written in a while. Its been busy! Wednesday night we went to dinner at this delicious Thai food place. It was superb! I am definitely going to go back there! It is in the middle of old town, which is a really great part of town! Its full of all these gorgeous old buildings that I am going to have to revisit so that I can get some great pictures! That night we just hung out because we had a quiz the next day!
Thursday, we had the quiz which I did pretty well on. I got a B+. Later that night, at nine, I went to go play soccer with some Czech guys and some of the other guys in the program. I went with Andrew, Chris, John, and Brian. It was really fun! Andrew and I got picked up by Evo, one of the guys on the team and he drove us to the place. It was indoor but not with walls, kind of like a basketball court. And the ground was sort of like concrete but green and very smooth. It was a lot different than what I am used to playing on but everyone was impressed so I did fine! Haha. It was really fun! Yesterday, we had Czech class again but the last hour of it was for lunch. We got to go to a restaurant and order in Czech and talk with our teacher and Petr, and our food was free! It was really good! And the restaurant was delicious, and good news, it's right by our house! After lunch, Sarah, Alyssa and I had our inter-cultural communication class. It seems interesting but not very fun. But we have a lot of good people in our class so that makes up for it! After that class, Sarah and I went to find some riding stables because thats what she does at home. It was freaky. Jan told us where to go, so we went. Turns out it was the sketchiest place I have ever been. We got off the tram and walked around trying to find it. So eventually we call Petr for some help and when Sarah tells him we're lost he starts cracking up at us and then he puts Sarah on speaker-phone so that she can talk to Jan too. It was really funny. We find the stables finally, after about an hour of wandering around, and it was super sketchy. It was an adventure to say the least. After our adventure a bunch of us went to a concert in the park. It was a punk concert, so not really my type but it turned out to be a lot of fun! We had some pivo, listened to some music and had some superb people watching sessions. At the park there we found a kid's fortress that was really awesome. Heather, Donnie, Andy and I went and played on it for a while. It was really fun! Erinn and I walked around to see everyone which was fun. We actually saw Simon [I don't know if you'll remember him, but he is one of the guys from the club we went to last Friday]. We also saw these guys doing "freestyle frisbee" as they call it. It was one of the coolest things I have seen. It was sort of like juggling with a frisbee but they would have to keep it spinning and they used everything, like their chest, back, arms, fingers, feet. We got to talking to some of the girls they were with. They were really nice! It was nice to hang out with some Czech people. Haha. Today we're going to play some soccer again, this time just in a park. And tomorrow we are going to a really cool looking castle. I am excited!!

another day, another blog.

Yesterday was pretty normal. We had our language class, very intense still, but it is shorter because this week we have each of our actual classes once, for the intro and everything. But, luckily I didn't have one scheduled for yesterday so I got out an hour early and just got to hang out. But on Friday, before the trip to Morovia, I had my tram pass in my pocket and at some point in the night it fell out. Big bummer. So during one of our breaks I asked Petr how to get a new one. He responded with "You've lost it already?" [Haha] So he wrote me a note in Czech to give to the person who was to help me. [picture to the left: chesky, front and center, moving to the left, donnie, adnan, sarah, nate, emily, andrew, sarah j, erinn]
It was funny because he told me "you should go up to them and tell them that you lost my pass and that you need a new one but they probably won't understand you, so then just give them this note." [Why wouldn't I just give them the note first right?] So then he writes down all these directions about how to get to the building and everything, nice right? Wrong. The directions were right but very vague, failing to point out that the tram drops you off about 3 and a half blocks from the street I needed, and the building is "really big and black with lots of windows." Not at all helpful. But Sarah and I finally found it. Turns out you need a passport, which Petr failed to tell me again, so we had to go all the way back to my flat and then back to the building. It was disastrous, but now I have a new one so thats good news.
Anyways, last night after finishing our homework and such a bunch of us went out to meet some of the other students from different flats. We met in Popsicle Square under the horses butt, like we did for orientation. We went from bar to bar trying to [above to the left: clockwise, me, matt aka orange, sarah b, erinn. above to the right, clockwise: me, sarah j, adnan, andrew, andy, nate, chesky.]find a price we were willing to pay. We went to the place that I ate at which had live music my first night but we were only there in enough time to have one beer. So we went from place to place and saw many strange bars before we split up. Chesky, Andrew, Adnan, Nathan, Sarah J, Erinn and I went to a little cafe type place and sat for a while drinking pivo and caj [tea]. It was fun. I still can't really believe that I am here studying. It all still seems kind of surreal like I'm on vacation. It is pretty danging awesome!!!