Prague Part IX: Things Fall Apart(not really)

N: Short post tonight, cause...well it is, deal with it...more will come...eventually:)

I don’t know if you heard, but things seem to be going to hell in a hand basket here in Europe. On Saturday, just after Barak Obama left Prague, we heard that the Polish President, several government ministers, and several survivors of a massacre during World War II had been killed in a plane crash outside of Smolensk on the way to commemorate the massacre. And then, about Mid-week, Iceland(or rather a volcano with more constants then vowels and I don’t really feel like trying to spell) exploded, causing a Europe wide shut down of Air traffic, and stranding people across the continent(more on that later).

These events didn’t really cast that much of a shadow on Monday however. We finally got our mid-terms back in both MittleEuropa, and Czech and Central European History. Turns out I was bellyaching over nothing…at least as far as my professors were concerned…As on both, god be blessed. MittleEuropa also brought a rather more unwelcome announcement…in less than a week myself and two others would have to make a presentation to the class about Hungary during the inter-war period (after finishing it, I’m pretty sure my Great-Grandfather got out when he did for a very good reason).

But that was Wednesday problem, and it was still Tuesday. Tuesday for me, was pretty much a rerun day. My first class, Central European Cinema, watched Ashes and Diamonds, a Polish film I watched in Eroticism Power and Fate, and EPF, watched Birds, Orphans and Fools, which I saw in Czechoslovak New Wave…now New Wave just has to show a film I saw in Central Europe Cinema, and the circle will be complete. After I made my way home from class, I discovered that I had received an email from one of my group members. He seemed a little bit concerned about getting the project ready for class on Monday, and so we arranged to meet on Wednesday and Thursday.

Wednesday dawned pretty late, or at least I got up late, and headed up to GJK once again. After a conversation of a hour that involved more discussion of TV then art, but whatever. I basically had to run down the mountain, to get on a train, to meet my partner at a station five down the line from were GJK, and I had to do it in less than ten minutes. I made it…and then had to wait five minutes for my group member, a Frenchmen named Gabriel. As it turned out our third partner, a Spaniard named Pablo would not be joining us that day, as he had a class to attend.

The two of us then went up to Gabriel’s apartment (or flat if you prefer, he certainly does), and got down to work. We managed to split Hungarian History up into three subsections, with me taking the period immediately after World War I to 1920, when the Hungarian version of Versailles was signed, Gabriel taking the foreign policy of Hungary after that treaty, and Pablo being assigned(cause he wasn’t there) the domestic consequences of the treaty. So organized we declared ourselves done for the day. With only a hour or so before class, I got invited to stick around and hang out with Gabriel and his polish roommate. It was a pretty interesting experience I have to so. I was surprised to learn that the Polish President was being buried in the castle normally reserved for Polish National heroes…in Krakow and Gabriel’s roommate, and Gabriel too were not really all that happy about it.

We headed to class, and then I headed out to Don Giovanni, in the theatre in which it originally premiered, the Estates Theatre of Prague. Don Giovanni was a very interesting Opera, more so I thought than the Marriage of Figaro. It was also nice because while I was getting cultured, Matt was being a great friend and registering us for housing (nice going with Jamestown by the way dude).

Thursday started out pretty well. I got an email early that morning that made me rather smile…Marketa, the head of the program had sent one around that stated that we should avoid being rowdy and not be seen enjoying alcohol, because the Poles(and the far right) might take offense. I was informed later that this meant that we weren’t being allowed to have fun in Krakow(I had to smile…I love this country). After watching another movie based on a Kundara story(the Joke), I headed back to Jirho to meet Gabriel and Pablo. We fulfilled our objectives fairly rapidly, firming up everything that Gabriel and I had agreed to. We decided to head out for a bit of a drink afterwards…which reminds me of an old joke(well not that old) what happens when a Spaniard, a Frenchmen, and an American go to a bar? A: They go for a coffee, because its 4:30 in the afternoon and the bar is closed. We did get a coffee, it was pretty enjoyable. Then I came back, and hung out in the dorm for a while, and then went to bed because we had to get up by 8am to go to Krakow.