Prague Part XII: Goodbye Prague

I would very much liked to have left things the way they were at the end of my last post…with me back from Berlin, studying for test with some of the best people I know, Walt, Ian and Ross that never comes…sort of a groundhog’s day scenario. To constantly be 21, and in Prague would be amazing.

Unfortunately every great story, every great adventure has to come to an end, and my sojourn in Prague over the course of the last four months is no great exception. The goodbyes, to my friends, to my professor and to the city itself would cover the entirely of the last week of the program.

These began even before I returned to Berlin. Kate left at some point that weekend…I don’t when because I was in Berlin. Monday, after easily passing Petr’s exam in history, I would see the last of Adrian, when we shared a meal at Bohemia Bagel and talked about our plans for the summer. I had already said goodbye to the high schoolers, and their teachers, as they were also entering final exams during my last week in Prague. I didn’t realize at the time that that would be our parting, but it was a finding end, since I first really met Adrian when he found us food in Munich.

Monday night would see me put to bed my final exam in Film Class, with a, hopefully, well written essay about Hitler and Stalin, and how they have influenced the films produced in Central Europe. I headed the paper in Tuesday morning…after some confusion about whether it had to be typed or emailed, there was no film. Next up was the last edition of Kevin Johnson’s film class. We watched a film called Grill Point, about a German man that owned a restaurant and his wife, and their family friends, who all ended up having affairs. After the film, Professor Johnson stuck around for a little while, and with me, Marnie(one of the girls from Minnesota) Jesse(a dude Ian and I met on the bus to Kutna Hora), and another had a brief review session. That review session would serve pretty much as the last time I saw Marnie, or Jesse either for that matter.

Tuesday would also mark the ending of ECES as a whole. That night they had a party for us on top of Strahov, the big monastery in Prague, which brews its own beer. The night was filled with conversation, and served as a sort of fairwell to Sarah Pilchek and Spencer and Jerry from the high school. It would mark the moment when I was given a certificate for my ten hours of volunteer work up at GJK. All of AIFS was apparently very impressed with that…I don’t why, all I really did was bother to turn in a list hours signed by the teachers, it wasn’t all that hard. The food at the party was nice (they had a whole roast pig and assorted other Czech foods. I got a few minutes to chit chat with my professor, Kevin Johnson. He seemed like a really interesting guy…I wish I had gotten to know him a little bit better.


ECES people at their party, which I basically crashed.

That was pretty much end of the party though, as Ian and I headed outside to hang out with Jan and Zee for a few minutes, during which time Zee explained both his own love of history(he came to it via art…I very diplomatically did not express my opinion of art history), and Jana told us that the weather was unusually cold for May. That night, some guys went out drinking with Jana, while Allie and I decided to stay in and finish up various papers.

On Wednesday I went out to lunch with my parents. We went to a small Italian place which was recommended to them by one of the people that worked at their hotel. It was quite good. From there, I headed to Professor Johnson’s exam. The exam itself wasn’t that difficult, though I do think I rushed a bit at the end, because I was running out of time, and I had to get to my next class…

Which was MittleEuropa. We got the finals back…three guesses as to what my grade was…I’ll give you a hint, I was very happy with it, as well as my overall grade for the course. We then watched a film about the early days of the Presidency of Vaclav Haval, at the beginning of 1989. It was really fascinating. They had lots of interviews with members of his staff, himself, President Bush(the first one), and Madeline Albright. Haval was, according to the documentary very important in bringing about the end of the USSR, and the fall of the Warsaw Pact, well as aiding the transition of the Czech Republic into a democracy.

After the film, I walked with Gabriel and Pueblo for a moment, and said farewell to them, as well as the other Erasmus students in my class. Then I headed back to the dorm in order to start preparing for family dinner with Allie. As it turns out, I didn’t need to hurry that much, because Allie was running a little bit behind schedule, so I got some work down on my paper for the last class that I had to worry about, Czechoslovak New Wave.

At it turned, Jake and Walt were later then Allie coming back from class, so we had enough time to cook some Tandori Chicken, make plans with my parents, and in Allie’s case change Jake’s computer background to a picture of Dave Groli, and sloppy potato him. Once he showed up, we took the food into the dining area for the last family dinner. Present were me, Jake, Allie, Walter, Kacy, Ryan, Jordan, Celia, Jenny, Sara, Sarah, and Alex Horn, it was almost like a rehash of the first dinner, minus Kate and Adrian, and with a slightly more maudlin feeling. After the ice cream, which Walt provided at great expense to himself, I could sense everyone’s reluctance to leave. It would be the last time I saw Jordan. But alas, I could hear my paper calling, and “I knew it was the only one” (yeah Wagon Wheel lyrics). I finished it before midnight, emailed it, and went to bed.




Thursday, was the second to last day before I left for the US. It began with Petr’s last class. He talked a bit about the break of the Czech Republic, and the Presidency of Vaclav Haval, but not too much, and then he gave us back our exams. They were good. Or at least mine was. Then it was Czechoslovak New Wave’s turn. After a presentation on the film we watch last week, The Party and The Guests, which was a very political film, we watched Closely Watched Trains…which to say the least, I did not closely watch.

After that I headed back home for a few minutes, and then left to meet my parents. We walked to Old Town Square, were we picked up Jake, Walt, and Kacy, and headed to Matria, The six of us ended up eating in the basement, where we were eventually joined by Allie. It was a good dinner and I think everyone really like my parents…and my parents really liked everyone.

After dinner we tried to get some drinks at the Hany Bany, or the Pub, Pub, but they were overwhelming crowded with Czechs watching a hockey game, and we had to go to one end of the metro system to catch a show, performed by the band Pavement. Instead we stopped in at the bar next to the venue and had a round, and then headed to the show.

Pavement was awesome. Like really mindblowingly awesome. I think they might actually have been the first Rock and Roll show that I enjoyed without any reservations. I think the good Czech Beer helped in that regard a little, but whatever. After the show, Jana showed up, and we hung out, and drunk a few more with her. After that, well I was done for the night, and headed back to the subway, and bed.


Pavement

Friday…was a both a really bad day, and a really good day. It was bad because well…it was my last in Prague, and I really didn’t want to go home. I spent most of it trying to avoid packing my suitcase. To do this, I first went to the AIFS office to return my ATM card(with only $3.16 still on it) and drop off some dishes. While there, I said a long goodbye to the Czech version of Dr. Whittenburg, Mr. Zee Benes. I hope to god I get back to Prague again, just so I can hang out with Zee some more.

After that, I had my last lunch in Prague, KFC. Then I headed back to the dorm, in time to pack up my suitcases. The room looked very bear without all my and Jake’s stuff in it. After packing, I headed out with Kacy, Walt, Allie, Elyssa, and Jake for our last dinner in Prague. We went to Clear Heads, another vegetarian restaurant. The food was awesome. Then we wandered around a little shopping for souvenirs. I bought a t-shirt(not one of the Prague drinking team ones though, I thought they were kind of tacky). We stopped briefly at a corner store to purchase some uniquely Czech Alcohol. Then Jake, Walt, Kacy and Elyssa went back to the dorm to pick up some other people, and Allie and I stayed down town. We shopped for a few more minutes, and then went to one of the fried cheese stands. We bought a couple, and gave them to some homeless people(it was something Allie said she had wanted to do on her last night in Prague, and I’m pretty much an enabler, so I went along with her. I ended up being the one who actually gave people the fried cheeses though). I also had my last sausage in Prague, spending pretty much my last couple of crowns on it.


Allie after feeding the homeless

But, I had just enough for one last beer at the Hany Bany. Allie and I were quickly rejoined by Jake, Walt and Kacy, and the five of us had a second round, and then headed back to the dorm. But not for very long, we all gathered In Walt’s room to listen to a rap about Prague he and Jake written and performed. It was really pretty awesome. And then, we all…and here I mean pretty much all of AIFS, me, Jake, Allie, Walt, Kacy, Stef, Diego, Bryan, all three Toms, Ry and John (Walt and Alex’s suitemates), Alex, Sarah, Sara, Jenny, Celia, Becca, Ross, Hadley, the California girls, Brittany, Rebecca Nieb and all their crew, Kim, who I hung out with London and of course Ian and Ross. It was like our own little impromptu farewell party.

And then it was nearly 2:30am, and time to go to bed, and that’s when the tears and the goodbyes really got going. I managed to stay pretty cleared eyed though, as I said goodbye, first Steve Thomas, then to the Toms, then to Ian, then to Alex, before heading inside with Walt, Jake, Allie and Kacy. Saying goodbye to Walt and Kacy, and Alex and Ian was pretty hard.

The next morning came rather sooner than I would have liked it to. Four hours of sleep was barely enough. We checked out of the dorm without a problem…except that our towels were all wet, but that was ok, and then headed out to Prague airport.

The Airport was a bit of a nightmare. For those you who haven’t been trying to travel anytime in the past couple of weeks, British Airlines, the airline that our tickets had been booked on had its cable crews go on strike. As a result, BA had to cut a number of flights from its schedule, including all of my flights back to DC, as well as many other people in the programs flights. Fortunately, they were able to reschedule us. Unforunatly, this meant instead of a nice straight through London to DC flight, I had to go Prague, to London, to JFK in New York, to Washington DC. On the bright side this considerable delayed the moment when I would have to say goodbye to Jake and Allie.

Anyway, this had all happened before we got to Prague Airport. The fact this though, that because of the strike, BA was only able to open their ticket counters at certain times for certain flights. As a result, Jake, Allie and I had to wait almost two hours until the counter opened to allow us to check in, and then to wait again in a long line, with some impatient Midwesterners to be checked in, and check our bags. After that though, getting to the plane, and getting to Heathrow was pretty easy.

Heathrow…was well Heathrow. It is the largest airport, or one of them at any rate, in the world, and we had to go from one terminal to another and get through security in under an hour and half to make it to Jake’s flight to Boston. We made…but just barely, the plane was already boarding, and had to run to grab a sandwich, and we had a fortunately abbreviated goodbye (any longer, and I probably would cried, and so would Allie).

Now that our trio was down to two (Lion King lyrics…yeah), Allie and I returned to the waiting area for our flights to New York. We both purchased some food with our left over pounds, and joined a couple of other people, Rebecca Nieb, Kim Phan, and Kristina for a brief chat session, until found out that Allie’s flight to New York had been delayed, and she might miss her connection unless we could move her to mine…which left slightly earlier. After saying goodbye to Kim, Rebecca and Kristina, Allie and I headed to the BA, Virgin (who was running her flight) and American (who were running mine) to try and get her changed. After some running around, we managed to get it done. Together, Allie and I headed to the gate to wait, and were joined by Jessica.

Seven hours later, at 7:30 New York time, we landed back in the USA, back in the USA (paraphrase of Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the USA….yeah). The three of us cleared customs and the border without any sort of the problem, rechecked our bags, and raced for our gate. I spent a few US dollars…my first in four months, on a bottle of water, and then waited with Jessica and Allie for my flight home.

It came much sooner than I would have liked…so I said goodbye to the last of the people that have made the last four months so awesome and got onto my little tiny plane to Washington, while they waited for their flight to Raleigh.

In many ways, my trip to Prague ended as it had begun, with my on a plane by myself, and thinking. Wondering…what had (or would) transpire in the last four months…what did it mean...will I ever see any of my friends again?

Well, I’m home now…so that much concludes the story….I will post one more update…today or tomorrow as a kind of epilogue…and then…see were we go from there.

Next: Washington and Epilogue.