Leaving on a jet plane.

That's the view from Prague Castle.
I don't even know how I got here. It's unreal.

This time last week I was spending time with Cass, going for walks, and trying to pack. I had a last dinner with my family after having enjoyed the company of my grandparents, godmother, and wonderful friends earlier in the week. Friday I went into West Chester for an early bagel breakfast and very shortly after found myself on a plane. Na shledanou!

On the plane, I read, slept, made friends...and said good-bye to summer with a g&t once we were out of American air space. The school provided buses from the airport to the dorms, and soon I was in Nusle. In the Czech Republic.

Since then I've figured out the tram and metro systems. I got my transport pass. Enjoyed some Czech beer. Got lost in Old Town. Got lost in Minor Town. Got lost in Nusle. Grocery shopped (in Czech!). We've been taking Czech classes all week, which has been helpful because I'm learning the language and because I'm meeting the other people in my program. I've also been attending meetings and tours left and right. My legs are going to fall off if I keep running around like this (on the wet cobblestone no less), but I can't think of a better way to live.

Before I fill you in on my event notes, let me link to the blog I'll be using for one of my classes. The posts are responses to prompts, the pictures are my own, and hopefully there will soon be links up to other student blogs from that class so you can get another perspective on the study abroad experience: Click here for the "Art of Travel" Blog website! (And check out Brianna and Leilah's blogs while you're there!)

At our first day presentation, we had a couple of speakers address us about things like safety, cultural differences, program rules, and available resources. Most of the information was, as expected, common sense stuff. But there were a few moments that caught my attention. This was the first of many times since that I was reminded by speakers that this country had their revolution the year before I was born. They have a history of being invaded repeatedly. That means having to rewrite their history multiple times within a generation so that the sensitivities of different governments are satisfied. That means having to learn new rules, new languages, and new loyalties just to survive.

We were counseled to "forget about yourselves" and "be uncomfortable" in order to really experience the country and get the most out of our time here. Let me tell you, being lost in a place where you don't speak the language and are surrounded by buildings that are older than your home country is certainly uncomfortable. There are times when I almost forget that I have a voice at all because I wander around and for all intents and purposes might as well be deaf and dumb. Yesterday I leafed through Czech children's books and wondered what the stories were. Today I stumbled into a store playing American music and found that the experience was startling. Hopefully I'll pick up a bit more Czech as time goes on. That requires learning how to roll my 'r's though.

Did I mention that 19 kc are worth about 1$ right now? And that my 30 kc beer really is cheaper an ordering tap water? It's a little different from life in Manhattan.

One of the first speakers we had was Jan Urban. He's teaching a class called Modern Dissent this semester but not too long ago he was one of the revolutionaries involved in the Velvet Revolution. Going into the presentation, I was excited because I had heard what a great speaker he is. I didn't really think that his presentation would speak so much to me.

I actually have to go change for bowling now, but I'll explain that last thought more tonight.

Ne shledanou! Dekuji!