Friday, May 19, 2006

Suffering from random downpours, I spent my last days in Prague running between the raindrops. Tuesday I wrapped up all my business at the fortress, like getting my transportation refund and returning my Czech cell phone. After a nice nap (during the rain that peeled the plaster off the walls of my flat), I met Jaime at Svandovo Divadlo to see the Vaclav Havel play "Zebracka Opera" or The Beggar's Opera. It was performed in Czech but had English subtitles. It was quite funny but a little long. Since it is difficult to watch a play with subtitles, I want to read it if I can find a good English translation of it. Havel is my hero. Playwright turned first president of Czechoslovakia after the Soviet occupation. Who knew?

At the play, Jaime told me that she lied to everyone about visiting a friend in the hospital in Vienna last weekend and on Tuesday. She actually found a cyst in her uterus and went to Vienna to have it removed. I don't know why I'm blogging about this but I thought it was strange but I'm glad that she told me the truth. She is one of my favorite people on my program and I'm glad she trusted me with the truth.

That night was our last night at Nebe for 80s night. I messaged John about it and he and his friend (who knew a girl on my program) showed up. It ends up it was John's 21st birthday and I drank as if it were my own. I had an amazing time up until I got the spins and eventually got sick. I didn't properly say good bye to either of the guys but I will see John in the fall.

I have no idea what time I got home that night but all I know is the next morning was awful. My last day in Prague, which consisted of graduation from my program, lunch on a boat in the Vltava, the last supper and karaoke at Meloun, I was more hung over than I have ever been in my life. Graduation was fine, especially seeing everyone dressed up and receiving a diploma and shirt from Charles University. However, the boat ride was awful. If I didn't not have my head in my hands or was sitting in the bathroom, I was contemplating jumping ship. I didn't even eat because I was so nausiated. After the boat ride, I jogged in the rain to my flat and passed out. Then I went to Villa Incognito for free wireless and nachos for the last time. The last supper was with Jaime, Allie, Mary and Jessica at Mozaika, the restaurant with the best burger I have ever had in my life. It was nice spending it with these girls because after so much social awkwardness and, apparently, being intentionally excluded by Mara and Rachel (Jessica made a large-scale apology to me at Nebe to my bewilderment for being so mean to me during the semester. I'm not sure I forgive her but I appreciated the apology I never expected), I could have fun with them without being self-conscious. The last few weeks have been amazingly fun for me, like the Chateau night that Doug, Ben, Jessica, Luke, Abby and I ate a ridiculous amount of McDonald's burgers at 5am when I.P. Pavlova was bright with sunshine. Anyway, after dinner we went to Meloun for karaoke. I was completely sober (and finally not hung over anymore) and Tori asked me to sing Michelle Branch's Game of Love with her. It was great singing for so many people in my program because I had not done that before. The rest of the night consisted of random goodbyes, dancing to off-key renditions of Livin La Vida Loca, and contemplating the finality of this night. I wanted to leave hours before, but I did not leave until after the last karaoke song of the night, the CIEE-dedicated Leaving On a Jet Plane. We all rushed the stage, held each other, and sang at the top of our lungs. Then I knew I had to leave. Saying goodbye to Dyani and Abby was the most difficult because I can't imagine I will see them again. Abby's face just melted into sobs and I could not hold it back. Saying goodbyes to everyone, even those who I was not friends with, took so long and emotionally taxed me. I was happy when I finally got out of the bar, hugged Jaime "see you later," and got on the tram to go home.

I arrived at home around 3:30am and got in the shower. I got dressed, finished packing, cleaned up a little, ate my last Vitalean yogurt and went down to Mary's flat. We took a cab together to the airport. 24 hours later, I am home, watching Law and Order SVU and feeling as if I made up this entire semester in my mind.

I only suffered from a few small symptoms of culture shock but I feel like reverse culture shock is going to be more pronounced. I have already felt strange being around such a diverse span of races, using soft water on my face, and turning off lights with small switches.

Study abroad is such a strange concept. It is such an isolated experience in my life that whenever I see anyone from my program or return to Prague for a visit I will never be able to recapture the same meanings that they and the city had for me. I'm not excited about talking about it, even though I want to. Nobody, unless they were there, will understand why certain things were important to me. Even people who studied in other countries did not experience what I experienced. However, I would not take any of it back. All the bad and all the good came together to create this blip in my life that I will always remember. I can't believe it's over and that I'm back at home (I erupted in sobs when the flight attendent announced on my final flight that "If you live in Grand Rapids, welcome home"), but it will hit me soon enough.

Na shledanou Praha. Goodbye Prague.

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

After starting the horrific process of packing, saying goodbye to Olga, and getting pretty drunk and stealing a Pilsner mug from U Sudu, I was scarfing down a smazeny syr when I noticed a familiar face walking towards me at 4am on Wenceslas Square. It was none other than John, this music industry major who I see at school a lot but have only officially met maybe once. I couldn't even remember his name. Because of my state and my intolerance of coincidences, I kind of freaked out. I don't really recall much of the streetside conversation (just little bits about the city, music industry, Julia--eek, and Grand Rapids) or how I ended it besides running frantically away for my night tram, but I could not believe that twice in one semester I have unexpectedly run into someone I knew in Prague--by coincidence. The world is way too small. I say that frequently, but it is. I almost cannot handle it without freaking out or laughing hysterically.

Today is my last free day in my city. The anxiety is unbelievable.

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Should I stay or should I go? I really have no choice but if I did, what would my choice be? I hate new experiences because they have to end sometime, and the question is whether to let them end before they start to bore me or to "experience" them until I've squeezed every drop of fun and enlightenment out of it. I hate this part of the cycle. But I'm just going to enjoy my last few days and try to do everything I haven't done in the last four months.

Bah.

Sunday, May 7, 2006

This week has been crazy, stressful, fun and fantasticky. My parents arrived on Monday and I took them to Pivovarsky Dum for dinner for some microbrewed heaven. My first official drink with my parents...I'm finally a grown up.

Tuesday we did some normal touristy stuff and then I went out with my friends for my birthday. It was after midnight so it was official...and I partied. I got bought a bunch of shots and suffered for it the next day. But I sucked it up, skipped a bunch of classes, and spent the day at Prague Castle. That night my parents and my friends took me out to dinner at Efes, a Turkish restaurant on my street. Then I realized I could not stay awake and went to bed.

Last night we went to a jazz club called Reduta near Narodni Trida. The band was amazing and for some reason, the bass player KNEW my mom was a singer. He invited her up without asking her name or anything and she blew the crowd (and the band) away. She sang Fly Me to the Moon and they made her sing another song. She chose Wave and then the singer, he launched into a long, audience-participation number of Mas Que Nada. That closed the night. My mom exchanged emails with the band and they all hope to work together. This confirms, disgustingly, that I can't take my mom anywhere. I can be in Prague and they just pegged her as a singer and trusted she actually could sing. I just don't understand.

They left this morning and now I am trying to finish all my papers and projects so I can just enjoy my last week and a half in beautiful Prague Spring. I won't lie--I don't want to leave at all.

Tuesday, May 2, 2006

Mommy and Daddy are here. And its so great.

I had a beer with my parents last night. And I turn 21 tomorrow. Where did my childhood go?

Saturday, April 29, 2006

Munich was a wonderful chance to forget about all the work I should have done in Prague, because, you know, I'm still in school. But pass/fail, so I really don't have to do quality work.

I took a train by myself (gasp!), which proved to be quite confusing, considering I speak very little Czech and absolutely no German, and neither country is very accommodating. There was a point where we got off the train and took a bus over the border, and I really had no idea what was going on. Then I didn't even get a stamp in my passport! I was counting on having 8 countries in my passport and now I'm stuck with only 7. Because you know that is the only reason I've traveled...

I finally arrived in Munich and found Rachel with almost no problem, other than that I was late. We went back to her place and I fell asleep very quickly because it had been a long trip. The next day we went to the Munich Zoo which, yes, a zoo is a zoo, but it was still fun. I'd say 50% of my pictures are from there. We then went into the city center. Dear God is Munich CLEAN. Prague is a crap hole compared to the pristine sidewalks of Bavaria. The cleanliness gave the impression of a small city, when Munich is the second biggest city in Germany. I liked it a lot but I definitely prefer Prague's big-city feeling and character. We walked over to the university district and ate at a nice restaurant. I, naturally, ate schnitzel and drank weissbier. Afterwards, we met up with some of the new arrivals to Rachel's program who go to Michigan for drinks in one of Studentstadt bars. Sara and I ordered margaritas and when the bartender finished them, they were clearly half empty so we watched him take the handle of tequila and fill them the rest of the way. That was one of the most disgusting drinks I have ever had in my life.

The next day, I went to the Neue something art museum that had works from the late 19th and early 20th century. I got to see some original Monets, Klimts and Van Goghs. I then met Rachel back at Studentstadt and we went to the Hoffberg House. I drank a liter of beer and ate a large meal as a large group of ruffians were pre-gaming for a football game. When we got on the U-Bahn, there were a ridiculous amount of football fans chanting on their way to the game. I got very close to all the people on the train. We then went to the English gardens right by Studentstadt and drank beer and threw around a frisbee with Sara, Kate, and Chani. After resting in Rachel's room for a while, we went for gelato and then to a Sneak Preview movie, which is an American film that has not been released in Germany yet that is a secret until the credits roll. It ended up being Proof, which I saw on the plane to Prague from the States, but it was still a good movie.

The next day we went grocery shopping and then Chani, Rachel and I made the nice long hike up to the Andechs Monestary and beer gardens. It was an absolutely beautiful day and we ended up running into Rachel's boss at her internship. They ate lunch with us during their break from their biking. It was very pleasant to talk to a native German and Australian. We made our way back down and then relaxed until we went to a Mexican bar with Sara, Kate, Chani, Daniel and Jon. We ate nachos, drank margaritas, danced to a ridiculous mix of music with crazy sorority girls who couldn't dance, and then Rachel and I called it a night.

I left for Prague Sunday morning and met an Australian girl who was backpacking across Europe for 8 weeks on her way to London, where she was moving without ever visiting. We ran into each other later that night in Prague but we never met up again, unfortunately. Kelly was very nice and we commiserated that we didn't understand the point of taking a bus over the German/Czech border.

That night I went to the Earth Wind and Fire concert at Lucerna Music Bar. The opening act was a Czech group called the Navigators who I liked except they had a white rapper...and all I could think was "Who does this guy think he is?" Then, after a ridiculous 45 minute change-over, EW & F came onstage. Just so you know, this venue can only hold a few hundred people and I pushed my way up to the front. The concert was fantastic. I cannot really describe it in any other words. Rivals my favorite concerts of all time, Prince and Nikka Costa. Afterwards, they sold CDs and signed autographs. Of course, I got most of their autographs and talked to some of them. They asked me why I was in Prague and I asked them the same thing. We both responded with "Why not?" That sums up this entire experience for me.

Monday, April 24, 2006

I hate how after three months of hardly any real academic work, I suddenly am bombarded with papers, projects and presentations specifically at the time when the weather is nice and I want to just enjoy my last waning moments in my beloved city. It always works like this! I just hope I can manage to get all my stuff done this week before my parents arrive and my 21st birthday (!!!), so I can just enjoy the last few weeks of my European adventure. I really don't want to leave.

I will blog about Munich and Earth Wind and Fire (best thing EVER) after I finish reading about the birth of Israel. Yay Jew class.