How Does a Czech Person Laugh? Prahahaha...Please Disregard that last statement.

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Jan. 23

So here goes this whole travel blog thing. Lets start off nice and easy, and then slide our way into the juicy* stuff. I’m Paul. …So far so good… I’m from New York, go to the University of Wisconsin, and have been in Prague (or as the cool people say “Praha”..and by cool people..I mean Czech people) for about a week now. Words can’t begin to describe my first week in Praha. To put it simply, this city is gorgeous.
We’ve only been here for six days, but with all of the walking, touring, walking, eating, walking, poor attempts to speak Czech, beer, avoiding dog shit, scavenger hunting, and walking..it feels more like six weeks. The program I am in is great, and really small. Around 22 students in total. As a result we’ve all become really close in a matter of days. Several of us met at JFK waiting for our flight to Frankfurt, some stragglers were picked up along the way..and at about 4 in the morning Germany time, we were all drinking coffee at some café in the Frankfurt Airport waiting for our next flight. From there we boarded for Praha.
A lot happened in those first two days between departure and arrival, but sleep was not one of them. This will be a common theme throughout the semester.
I live in Praha 7. For those of you not in the know, that is district 7 of Praha (shocking). Minus the fact that there is no internet or tv, our place is amazing. Praha 7 is a really pretty place to live, and it’s kinda cool to know that you are living in a building that has been around for hundreds of years. Our flat has ten people living in it. 4 guys, 6 girls. One of the girls is actually our Czech Mate (the puns will only get worse. I assure you) even though she’s Slovakian—er..she’s Slovak..she’s a Slovak…She’s from Slovakia. Our place is awesome (which in Czech would be how you pronounce the number 8) and we’ve all become one big ol’ happy, dysfunctional family.
Other things I guess you** should know…On the third (I think) day my apartment all went down to the Lennon Wall, which was actually a really inspiring experience. It’s a wall of graffiti which was started in opposition to the communist regime and is composed of several portraits and sayings of John Lennon and overall peace. The communist government kept painting over the graffiti and the people kept adding more to it in resistance. It was really powerful and moving to see, and we all left the wall with a new mindset.
We’ve gone around Praha 1 (the oldest part of Prague along with the urban area) a lot lately, and its sheer beauty really never gets old. It really is amazing to walk across the Charles Bridge and see that big ol’ castle staring you down from across the water. It would be too time consuming and difficult to explain everything I’ve seen and done in this past week, but I assure you it has been absolutely incredible. Prague is gorgeous.***

*Please note, this is not composed of fruit nor vegetable. I cannot be held responsible for any juice produced, nor can I assume it tastes good…...I am a shmuck.

**who’s actually reading this crap?

***these are asterisks.

Eventually I'll get photos up.

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