Czeching Prague Off Our List

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Finally finding time to talk about Prague, by far the coolest place I've ever been. I spent the weekend with three of the girls on my study abroad trip: Aly, Shelby, and Erin. We didn't arrive back in Strasbourg until about 715 this morning, and we then had about 50 minutes to dress up in business casual for our professional visit to the Mercedes Benz factory. After spending the previous 12 hours on a train, our appearances were lookin pretty rough, but we made it work I think. So I'll start from the beginning...

Friday: We took an overnight train from Strasbourg, and got into Prague around 1030 am on Friday morning so that was a smart move on our part instead of spending all day traveling. Despite the fact that there were some snorers on board with us and the seats were about as comfortable as sleeping on nails, we got a little bit of rest and were ready to start our day when we arrived. Unfortunately it took us about an hour to find our hostel from the train station. Would it have killed the Europeans to use a grid system when they were designing their cities all those centuries ago? Anyway, we finally found it, and our room wasn't going to be ready until 2 so we stored our bags, went and got some traditional Czech food, and set off to kill time... at the nearest mall of course. After spending around 2000 Czech crowns at H&M (yes, my heart stop when I saw the total...), we went back to our hostel to check-in and freshen up before setting out. We walked around Old Town Square where people were watching a Euro Cup game on a big screen, and a live band was playing Czech music, ate some dinner, and then went to go sign up for something we had heard about before our trip, a pub crawl.

That night the four of us and 100 other participants went on a "tour" of four different clubs around Prague, and ended up at a 5-story one that played different styles of music on every floor. We got to meet people from all over the world, and there were even three other Aggies on our same pub crawl! It was a lot of fun, and we made it home safe and sound without having to get ripped off by a taxi driver. Who knew you could still use a map without a phone these days?

Saturday: In attempt to regain our lost sleep from the train ride the night before, we slept in a little bit before heading out to sight-see. One of Shelby and Aly's friends from high school met up with us and hung out with us all day also. We took a free walking tour of Prague in the afternoon, sat outside in the Town Square and pretended to care about the Euro Cup game going on that day. After that, we went on a Ghosts and Legends Tour that I had seen advertised and we all thought would be pretty cool... We were mistaken. If it hadn't been just the five of us and three other people we probably would have strayed off from the tour. What the tour was SUPPOSED to be was a creepy walk through all the haunted parts of Prague and to hear the legends behind them. It turned out to just be a really awkward walk through town folling a fully cloaked woman carrying a noose as her leader pole. There were a few murder stories thrown in the mix, but it wasn't nearly as spooky as we thought it would be. Not even one bit. So after that was over we went out on the town again, and stayed close to our hostel so that we wouldn't have to walk too far. It was a good night and we were out pretty late, but we knew we had to be up early to check out so we kept it pretty tame.

Sunday: Check out time at the hostel was 10am so we got up and did that whole thing, stored our luggage, and left to go see Charles Bridge and the Prague Castle before our train at 630. The walk was pretty far, but we were used to it by then. However, in our hustle to get out of our room, we all neglected to check the weather, which would have told us that clouds and freezing rain were going to roll in right as we were as far as possible from our umbrellas and warm clothes. Being the adventurous girls that we are, we thought we could handle the rain, but it finally broke us down and we made a pit stop at a souvenier shop to buy some ponchos. Of course, the ponchos they sell at those kinds of store are the brightest colors, and the most unflattering shape to label you as the biggest tourist on the face of the planet. So our final few hours were spent trying to appreciate the beauty of this city while we were absolutely miserable. Alas, the time came to say goodbye. We found the train station a little better this time with only one minor detour. To save time because I actually have to study tonight I'll just say that we did have to run for our train after realizing it was leaving in 5 minutes only to find that it was 15 minutes delayed. But we made it home just like I said, and got ready in time to head to Mercedes Benz.

Overall, the trip was incredible. Prague has the most beautiful architecture and incredible history. Even though we didn't manage to pick up a single world of Czech, most people spoke at least enough English to give us the right food.

New Discoveries:

-My math skills have significantly diminished trying to convert all the currencies, times, and measurements over here.

-Service at restaurants here is beyond horrible. I know Europeans like to take their time, but come on, I do not need to ask for my onion rings FOUR times.

-Guys seem to think "Where are you from?" is a unique pick up line.

-Sandals and cobblestone were not made for each other.

We have a midterm on Wednesday, and considering it is now 10:10pm, I should probably do something scholastically productive. I'll write again before I head out for the weekend!

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