busy busy

the metro stop in the old town square. a lot of them have this same design...but different color schemes

St. Vitus cathedral...i went to a gothic church! i still can't believe that im pretty sure i went to a church that i studied in school.

front of St. Vitus Cathedral

View from balcony of the integration party that most of the international students went to (omg...im an international student) there were three bands that played..and i believe that his band in particular played jazz music...AND...they might have played some blues brothers. but im not 100 percent...i had had quite a few by this point.

View of prague from outside the castle looking down a hill...or something like that

so I have been in Prague for about 5 days now...and it has not set in yet that I am 4 thousand miles away from home. Ive been so busy going from place to place and trying to settled and meet people and such that the reality train has yet to stop at me (i know that was lame...but it sounded like a nice analogy at the time)

From what I have seen so far, Prague is a beautiful city, full of incredibly nice people. This place has a rich architectural and political history. and it is uber clean. i guess i should be going through culture shock, but it does not seem to be all that different from chicago. Their metro makes a lot more sense (they have 3 subway lines and a tram line, and various bus routes), and the trains are usually full and whatnot.

I think so far the only way that i know that i am in a different country is the fact that most of the people hear speak czech, but a vast majority of them know atleast a little english. I feel like I am trapped on a Devon avenue the size of city (but i swear i smell sausage half the time...which isnt a bad thing)

About half of my trip so far has been spend walking around trying to find various buildings on campus, and siteseeing, and eating food. Ive heard several people talking, and either they love czech food or they hate it. I for one think its really good. they have delicious goulash...and ive had czech pizza twice now...and its delicious. i don't think that i have had anything yet that i don't like.

Well...i take that back. i tried this drink called kofola. Its like the Czech version of a coke. only it tastes like rootbeer and licorice. it was definitely different. today at dinner i had juice instead. today at dinner i also had a soup that had salami and beans in it. it was delicious. it tasted kind of like baked beans

yesterday, two of my friends and this guy that we met yesterday at an integration party that they international student club hosted went to an italian restaurant right outside of campus. i had a pepperoni pizza with bacon, red, and green peppers on it. it was amazing! i think i will wind up eating my way through europe. and no joke on that

yesterday i visited a mall called the palladium. it apparently has 200+ shops and is on like 4 floors. we were looking for boots (well i wasnt...but i pretty much decided that im not going to leave prague without a new pair of pumas. its pretty much inevitable.) and sketchbooks. we wound up going to this mall across the street instead and found a store that had notebooks and other such random shit (i guess it was kinda like a walgreens...but no drugs)...and they seriously had a counter full of pens! but most of them were on a wall behind the counter so even i wanted to see one of them i would not have been able to ask for it. yesterday i also signed up for some trips around the czech republic through the international student club. On friday I am going to moravia (which i think is eastern czech republic. and next friday i am going to bohemia...which i think is to the west. one trip involves a trip to a winery...and the other one to the budvar brewery. and other stuff of course. the two trips are about 200 USD (minus booze and such) and include some food and accomodation. thats a pretty good deal.



today...we went on a walking tour of prague.

it was like 20 degrees

and windy

it would have been a lot more interesting in like may. we probably walked about 5 miles and saw a lot, but i stopped taking pictures after a while because it got to be too cold

after that we hung out in the bars that are in the basement in of my dorm. they are very relaxed atmospheres. and the beer is pretty inexpensive.

so far i think i have tried 3 czech beers...pilsner urquell, budvar, and gambrinus beer. i think that the budvar is the best...its not as bitter and a lot smoother than the other ones. BTW...budvar here is known as budweiser...but is nothing like the budweiser in the US. the one in the czech republic is real beer...whereas Bud is brewed with rice.

so there

oh what else...

there is just so much that is new and different than what im used to

oh man...im coming up being here for almost a week!