First week of classes

Here's the rundown of my classes:
-Introduction to German Language
-Literature and Place of Central Europe
-History of Czech Architecture
-European Union and Central Europe in Transition
-The Art of Travel

The last one is my blogging class, so it doesn't have a meeting day. Which is really nice. My German language class is going to be interesting, and I really hope that it helps me prepare for Berlin. The Literature and Place class is absolutely amazing. My professor is amazing and I've been really enjoying the readings so far. My History of Architecture professor tends to jog around the city while lecturing so I have to run and listen very closely to keep up. But he knows everything. And my European Union and Central Europe class is an international relations class...I know nothing about anything related to it, but that's all the more reason to take it. Again, my professor is as knowledgeable as he is friendly. It's intense, and I'm grateful.

Of course, since we're still new to the city we're exploring. The school organized a Jam Session on Wednesday since all the music students are in the same dorm and there are many of them. I met up with friends there and got to hear Vladimir sing. An eerie thought: we were a room of Czech and American students singing Beatles music in a painted basement. 20 years ago, we could have all been arrested.

After the Jam Session we went to a music bar called Cross Club to admire their industrial-style decorations. Light fixtures made out of strawberry pots? I approve. Then Friday we found a place that made and served blueberry beer. We wandered all around Minor Town exploring and decided to come back the next day.

So we did. Saturday we visited the monastic library in Charles Castle. I paid the extra $2 for photo permission and the pictures are here. We also explored some gardens, found wild lavender, ate yummy Asian food... Then we wandered back to Old Town. Sam had been away on a trip so we met up with him at Aloha for dancing and catching up. Meeting in one place was actually somewhat difficult because there was a huge race going on and many of the streets had been closed to pedestrian traffic as a result. We did finally get together though.

After the bar, we went home but weren't sleepy yet so Sam and I decided to watch a movie. We watched "The Firemen's Ball."To be honest, we watched it twice through. It's a great example of how dark Czech satire can be. That isn't to say that it wasn't funny. It was really funny. It was just very dark.

And of course I got up early the next morning. Byron had suggested going to Sunday mass at St.Vitus...so we did. The service was half in Latin and half in Czech. I didn't understand a word. I'm so glad we went though. Knowing that the cathedral is still in use and hearing the organ music echo made me smile. Beautiful buildings are beautiful, of course, but it's always better to be in them when they come alive.

After mass, we went back to the monastery that had the library. They were having a bonsai exhibit that we had been interested in the day before but hadn't gone to because we were in a big group and people had wanted to do other things. I actually learned a lot. Thanks to Waterloo, I could identify most of the smaller plants and some of the trees, but I really don't know much about bonsai. Byron explained some of the techniques that bonsai artists use. The whole experience made me miss having plants around. Maybe I'll start a bonsai when I get home. Dave had suggested a ficus or rosemary to start...

From there we met up with Brianna for vegetarian food at Gopal, a Hare Krishna restaurant where they have an all-you-can-eat option. And then I went back to the dorm to do some homework. Even my homework is interesting at this point. As I hoped it would be.