The evening of our return from Vienna proved rather less relaxing then I would have preferred. You see, I had a midterm at 9am the next morning, and, like most people in my class, I was not nearly as ready for it as I would have liked. Fortunately, I think I managed to pull off a pretty decent grade, given my blow by blow review of the exam with Adrian afterward.
From there, I headed back to GJK, to hang out with smart Czech kids, which proved extremely relaxing after a rather stressful morning. I got three suggestions to visit the Prague Zoo, which, especially because it is nice and warm, I may have to act upon. MittleEuropa brought me back to earth a little bit, as the professor reminded us that we have an exam in a little less than a weak. Given the level of detail she throws out in each lecture, everyone was understandably a little bit panicked.
Fortunately, Tuesday would prove unexpectedly relaxing. You see, as I was getting to class, about a minute after 10 in the morning, one of my friends informed me that the class had been canceled, for reasons not explained. Somewhat nonplussed at being up at 10 in morning when I didn’t have to be, I realized that I know had three hours to kill, and it was a beautiful day in Prague.
I decided to wander down to the Charles Bridge, which as it happens is only about a block and change from the main building of Charles University. The Bridge has a commanding view of the castle, as it was designed by Charles IV in the thirteenth century to link Straromeska(Old Town) to Malostarska(really Old Town). The bridge, befitting its age, is lined with a number of states, including one of Jesus on the cross.
The Bridge
Jesus
The bridge is also home to a number of people selling various touristy items, including caricatures and pictures, as well as magnets and key chains. There was also a rather humorous Czech man with puppet he was making dance to various pieces of classical music. I got a funny little video of that. On the other side of the river I wandered around for a moment, and discovered a small group of buildings with an odd statue of men peeing in the center. As quickly discovered, this was the Franz Kafka Museum. The Museum was in the 1920s, one of the homes of that Kafka occupied in Prague.
Since it was relatively cheap, and in English, I decided to check out the museum. Somehow, I doubt the interior looks much like it did when Kafka lived there. The Museum s a collection of artifacts from his life and some exhibits about some of his stranger books, which include a rather disturbing mirror room from an unfinished story, and a seemingly endless rows of office drawers, with names like Kafka, Samsa(main character of the Metamorphosis) and K on them. Over all, it was a very interesting museum.
After finishing up there, I wandered around the banks of the river a little more, eventually coming to an English language book store, where I managed to pick up a copy of the Economist. The Economist was mildly different from the ones back home, in that it was organized with the United Kingdom and Europe before the United States and Asia. It was nice to get some news from home, but by that time I had to rather hurriedly make my way back to Charles University to be sure to be on time to my one remaining class of the day, Eroticism Power and Fate in the Cinema of Central Europe.
That evening and the whole of Wednesday were pretty much write-offs as far as anything fun or interesting that I can about or put pictures up of goes. I had to write a paper for my Czechoslovak New Wave class, and unfortunately, why New Wave filmmakers should have invested more money in plot or story was not an option (I challenge anyone to watch Birds Orphans and Fools, or Daises and tell me that they have a plot…of any sort.) I did manage to write a pretty good piece about how Birds Orphans and Fools, and the French New Wave Film Jules et Jim were similar, but it took two days.
Fortunately Thursday proved to be a relatively good day. We didn’t get our mid-terms for Czech History back (for which I was rather thankful) and the film in Czechoslovak New Wave, All My Good Countrymen, was a very interesting, if somewhat slow look, on how one Czech village experienced the revolution from 1948 to 1960. And then, thank god almighty it was the weekend. Unfortunately, because it was Easter weekend, most of my friends were scattered to the four winds. Jake and his family headed off to Paris, Kate and a friend from home went to Greece and Bulgaria, Kacy and her family went to Budapest, Alex was traveling with his family, and I didn’t hear anything from Adrian, Allie or Diego until Sunday.
That said, being me, I was not without people to hang out with, at least not on Friday or Saturday. I spent Thursday in a deeply relaxed state after finishing my paper for Czechoslovak New Wave. The next day, I got up late, as it was Friday, and did some wandering around Prague. I headed to the Old Town Square, and paid an arm and a leg for a slab of good Czech Ham. From the Old Town Square, I headed past Tyn Church into some of the back streets of Prague, noticing a couple of restaurants and things that I might have to check out later. From there, I headed to Charles University and across the bridge onto the other side of the river. I wandered around there, and came upon the ISIC store(who issued me an international student card) and a Catholic Church, St. Thomas’ which had services in English. Armed with the knowledge that I would be able to do my bi-annual duty to God (Christmas and Easter) at 11 on Easter Sunday, I headed back to the dorm to find out what people were up to for that evening.
Friday, a whole bunch of people, including myself, Ian, Steve Thomas who lives on my hall, and a couple of Ian’s roommates headed out to the old AIFS watering hole, Lucerna, with their once weekly 80s/90s night. We danced the night away, until about two in morning, when Walt, and some people he came with headed back to the dorm, with yours truly in tow.
On Saturday, I decided to once again wander around Prague. This time, I took one of the trams, a number 20 to a place called Divorka Sarka. At first I thought I had made a terrible mistake, since the place seemed to consist of a tram depo, and a local hangout…aka Macdonald’s. As I looked around however, I noticed a large patch of green, and what seemed to be mountains. Intrigued, I head down for a closer looked and discovered the Divorka Sarka is in a fact a national park located inside of the city limits of Prague. It was a very nice place to walk around, and I swear I spotted a couple of Czech Labradors walking with their masters. I wondered if Kira could have communicated with them any better than I could with their owners.
Divorka Sarka
After walking round in Divorka Sarka, and spotting what I thought was a Dharma Initiative Station(Nobody spoil lost for me, or I will time travel back to the seventies and killer your younger self, using Prague as my constant), I stopped briefly at the Macdonald’s a grab a Coke Light, and then headed back to the dorm to make some Chicken Teriyaki(may not be available for the home kitchen, but it certainly is for the Czech kitchen.).
Lost?
After my wonderful dinner, I met up with Ian, his roommate, and some of his friends, including one from my dear old home town of Arlington Virginia. As it turns out, it was one of games of NCAA tournament, so we headed down to Wenslaus Square and a bar called the Bear Factory to watch the game. I was kind of bored with the game, but did some dancing, so it was a good time. We once again headed back pretty late, but all and all it was worth it.
The next day, I got up rather earlier than usual, as I was hoping to catch some of my friends as they headed off to Mass. It turned out to be me, Steve, Tom, and Ian’s roommate Lucas, all Catholic, and a couple of girls. The service was reasonably interestingly and the homely was far better preached then some I have heard in my day. The pries t used Easter eggs as a comparison to Christ and his rebirth. Very effective I thought. Anyway, after mass the four us, Steve Tom, Lucas and I grabbed some food at a restaurant, and then headed back to the dorm.
After relaxing for a few hours, I was beginning to wonder what I should do for Easter dinner, when Allie and Adrian answered the question for me. They got me, Diego, Walt and Ian together to go to the Pizzeria for Easter dinner. Yep, that’s right I had pizza for Easter dinner. It was pretty cool. And then, like good Czechs, Adrian, Diego, Allie and I, headed out to a bar to celebrate in a Czech fashion, beer, darts(which I’m ok at) and Foosball(which I suck at) . Then the four of us headed back to the dorm, because the next day was going to be a marathon study session for the MittleEuropa Mid-Term.
Ian, Allie, Walt, and I met up the next day to head out to Coffee Heaven, a little café just off Wenslaus Square, where the people speak English. After grabbing some sausages for lunch, and some hot chocolate from downstairs, Ian and I began the Bataan Death March of learning that would occupy the next four hours. We were joined by Diego, about two hours in. After those four hours though, it felt like our faces might very well melt.
As I was walking back to the dorm, I noticed several Czech people engaging in one of more amusing Easter traditions I have heard about .Apparently, it is traditional for Czech men to acquire willows or reeds and fashion them into a sort of whip thing. They will then walking up and strike/mildly flirt with, young women, who are expected to give them alcohol and other prizes. The one woman I saw this happen to, did not seem particularly amused, and did not give the young men anything.
After that, my study group promised to get back together on Tuesday and then headed back to the dorm. Later that evening, after a little more studying, I was feeling a little hungry, when Allie once again anticipated my desire, and announced that she wanted Cinske(Chinese food). I was game, so we walked down the street. As we were eating, this strange Czech man walked into the restaurant and proved to be my roommate, Jake. After that, the three of us, headed down to the student pub, and then off to bed.
Tuesday was a relative return to normalcy, with classes, and a short essay that needed to be written for Eroticism Power and Fate, but nothing particularly difficult. That evening, Walt, Allie, Kacy, Jake and I were treated to one of the best meals I have had in Prague, at a vegetarian Restaurant, courtesy of Jake’s mother(Mom, sorry to tell you this, but when you’re here in May, you’ll have to take us all out too). It was amazing to have food, and salads, that didn’t have some form of cooked meat, or potatoes in them. I had to hit the books right after though.
Then Wednesday came, and after teaching some English to the Czech kids, and handing in my essay in Eroticism Power and Fate, it was time for the big event, my Mid-term in MittleEuropa. Being the clever people that we are, it seemed that Ian, Tom, Diego and I had studied that the right things, as I knew at least something about all of the questions, and a lot about some of them. In fact, I think the worst part of the exam was my pen running out of ink half way through, at least I hope so.
That night, feeling that I had earned a bit of celebration, I headed out to one of the many American food restaurants, KFC, and treated myself to a Chicken sandwich and French Fries, and then returned home to watch Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog, with Jake, Walt, Allie and Kacy.
Thursday would be pretty much the height of my week. As it turned out, the President of the United States and the President of the Russian Federation were both in Prague signing a nuclear disarmament agreement. After class, I headed up to Prague Castle, were the two leaders, plus some others were meeting. After about an hour standing around shooting the breeze with some girls from AIFS, and an American Teacher, we were all excited to see a motorcade shoot by, until we realized that the red, white and blue striped flags were those of the Russian Federation, and Medvedev would not be showing us his face. About forty five minutes, and more chit chat later, we were rewarded for our patience when a motorcade with American Flags drove by. Right in the middle of it were two limos, one with an African American body double staring resolutely ahead, and other with a very familiar smiling face as the crowd cheered for him. That’s right; I was close enough to the limo to see Obama smile. It was amazing.
Next: Prague Part IX.
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