Settling in

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Since the last time I wrote I went on a city tour and started class. The city tour was awesome. I can't remember the names of everything that we saw but we'll cover it again and more in my Prague Art and Architecture class which I am very excited about. The city is absolutely beautiful, even more so after a snow fall. The weather is good and stays around 30 degrees which is tough for my Hawaiian roommate but feels good to me! Today me and Elisha (the Hawaiian) walked across the Charles bridge for the first time at night which was amazing. We also rode the metro for the first time and it was very easy to figure out. Transportation here is not that hard to do and if you get lost it's very easy to find your way back.
Two nights ago we took a cab from our friend's apartment that was kind of sketchy (sorry Mom and Dad, but I'm still alive). The cab company was supposed to speak fluent English and have a yellow cab but the cab was blue and the sticker on the side was falling off. The driver drove backwards for awhile and Marisa and I thought we were going to crash into something but Elisha thought we were fine, maybe it's just us Minnesotans that get worried. We told some CEA people (the program I'm with) about it and they asked how much we paid and we didn't get ripped off so I guess that's one plus. It's weird because it's okay to not tip here or only tip 5%, 10% if the service was incredible. We clearly did not tip the cab driver.
Classes are going really well. The only class I'm not excited about it my computer science class because it seems kind of boring. My accounting professor made it pretty high up in an international company that he worked with and now just wants to teach because he loves it. I think that's great since he is so willing to help you and explain anything that you are having trouble with. My Czech language class is a little tricky but that's because the alphabet is very hard to learn. Once I have that down it should be easier.
All classes are 3 hours long which gets boring but I don't have class on Mondays or Fridays so it's a nice trade. I'm getting excited for the excursions and the different places we are going to travel to. Prague is rumored to be the most haunted city in Europe and there are a bunch of ghost tours and I'm hoping to go on at least one (I thought of you Lisa!).
Tomorrow we're going to go shopping and look for a few stores that are supposed to be pretty cheap that the CEA staff told us about. They are very helpful and friendly. Today one staff member came to check on our apartment and gave us a ride to class and showed us part of the city that we haven't seen before. It was an industrial looking part and it was like 8 blocks were taken out of Minneapolis. It was weird/cool to see it next to the old buildings.
Also, the food here is pretty amazing so far. I haven't had a good ol' traditional Czech mean yet but I've had the goulash soup and that's great. The fruit is so fresh and good too, that was a pleasant surprise.

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