Blog entry #1: 27/9/2011
It's been about 33 days since I stepped off the plane in the Prague Airport and around 20 some days since I had the idea to start a blog for this trip. Finally today, after the first class with an incredibly energetic professor by the name of Petr Bilek, I am starting my first entry. To be honest, keeping a journal/ writing a blog is 25% of my grade for Bilek's “Reading Prague” course; however, I am actually very grateful for the assignment. The importance of keeping a blog throughout this once in a lifetime experience is obvious, so I won't bore my seven readers with a list (5 being the members of my immediate family, the sixth is my dog whom my mom will hold up so he can see computer screen even though can't see anything, and the seventh will be Professor Bilek, himself). All other readers are totally welcome, though. In this entry, I'll try to give you a quick rundown of my first month in Prague.
So, where to begin? I'll start off with my favorite part of Czech culture. During the first two weeks, we, the students on the program (the program will henceforth be referred to as CHP) took a trip up the beautiful Petrin Hill. It was on top of Petrin that I found one of my favorite views of Prague, as well as learned from Professor Bilek that the Czech Republic has the highest beer consumption per capita in the entire world. Czech that out on Wikipedia. The reasons for such consumption is simple: it is delicious and it is super duper cheap. I can already feel disappointment setting in as I think about the relatively imminent end of this experience. I'll have to go (back?) to drinking canned beer from Milwaukee, Milwaukee if I'm lucky. Let me state the obvious: Milwaukee Best is nowhere near Praha's finest. I don't want to talk about this Czech delicacy too much, but the last thing I'll say is that .5L, which is almost 17 oz, costs around 30 krowns (the currency here is Czech Koruna) which is the equivalent of not even $1.75. It is excellent. So anywho, that's my rundown of the brew, it's cheap and magically delicious.
During the first two weeks of CHP, everyone takes an intensive Czech language class and an intensive history/ culture class. This was a great experience because right away we learned most of the things we'd need to know, if not at least how to get around the city and get back. I learned how to order food, ask for things at a supermarket, what to do/where to go if there was an emergency, etc. It was also a sweet way to see the city. Every day we had a three-ish hour walking tour of a different part of Prague or the greater Prague area. We hiked Petrin Hill, traveled to Zizkov, went to a town that still operated and looked like it was still under communism, the whole nine. We also took day trips to Kutna Hora and Terezin. Kutna Hora is a quaint little town with an incredible cathedral, just amazing. The trip to Terezin was a little more serious, obviously because of its darker history as a concentration camp. The visit was a little disappointing because we didn't really have enough time to look at the really heavy stuff, but I'm definitely going to try and get back there before I leave. OH, I made a flickr account: www.flickr.com/thanrossoff so feel free to check that out; however, I'm probably not going to use that from now on because there's a limited amount of memory per month so I think Facebook will be the place for pictures. (Mom, just go on Dad's facebook and he'll show you how to get to my pictures).
Another quick thing before I end my first entry, sorry, this is a long one. Back at Northwestern, I remember reading reviews of CHP and most of them said that it's pretty tough to integrate yourself into the Czech community. The NU advisor said that a good way to do so would be to frequent a cafe or bar and eventually strike up conversation with those around. I have taken the first step. I frequent this sandwich shop/bakery, some may call it a delicatessen, and now when I go in, the girl behind the counter (who is pretty cute, might I add), knows exactly what I want. “Dobry den, kureci bagatu, prosim,” is my smooth opening line (Hello, chicken baguette, please). Not only is the sandwich solid, it's also only 45 krowns. You'll notice a theme in this city, it's cheap and it's great. But yeah, maybe one day I'll muster up the courage to ask my sandwich girl “jak se jmenujute?” (What is your name?). We'll see, one step at a time.
Thank you for reading this verbose entry. Until next time.
All the best, Than
