Praha

So this past weekend my friends and I went to Prague!  It was our first trip and it went so well, no major problems or issues and no delays with the trains or flights.  Actually, getting through the airports was easy, nothing like it usually is in the states which was great.  We had Friday off so we left Thursday evening and got to our hostel around 9.  The hostel we stayed at was really nice as far as hostels go.  It was called St. Christopher's at the Mosaic House and it was part hotel part hostel, which I think was part of the reason why it was so nice.

The lobby area/bar/stage

Mere and me, first drink in Prague at our hostel :)

This was my first hostel experience and it was a good one... the interior and lobby area were really nice, I think it was about 60 euro for 3 nights, the beds were nicer than the ones we have in Milan, our rooms were clean, there was a bar in the lobby, the staff were extremely nice and helpful, and everything we wanted to go to or see was within walking distance.  Anyone else traveling to Prague should definitely stay here! 

Something that made our visit to Prague a good one was a guide sent to us by a friend of Mere's who had previously studied abroad in Prague.  She listed everything from things to see, places to go, and general tips and directions.  The first night we went out to a club she recommended and had a good time there.  The next day we woke up around 9 and made our way out to the New Town of Prague where we walked around the National Museum and the Charles Square, which has a lot of shops and places to eat.  We decided to have authentic Czech food for lunch and it was tasty but let's just say we all were very grateful for the food we have here in Italy :)  It was heavy and a lot of it is fried, I couldn't eat it day in and day out.  We're glad we tried it, though, and everyone at the restaurant was really nice. 

Standing outside of the National Museum, Charles Square is ahead in the distance

View from charles Square, facing the National Museum

I forget what this was but it was really cool!

Afterwards we walked to the Old Town Square which has Prague's famous Astronomical clock, the Church of Our Lady in the Tyn, and the Jan Hus Monument.  The city offers free tours daily at 2pm so we decided to take one.  Our tour guide was our age but really knowledgeable and pretty funny.  The tour was really well done but we were absolutely frozen so that made it uncomfortable unfortunately... we were fine weather-wise when we were walking around by ourselves but on the tour we would stop at certain places for 10-15 mintues which was when we turned into icicles.  An hour and a half into the tour, he took us to Bohemian Bagel for a break, and although the tour was supposed to continue after, we decided to not continue on because we were so tired and cold and it was getting dark outside.  We went back to the hostel, napped, had dinner there, and then went on a bar crawl our tour guide pointed out to us.  The pregame for the bar crawl was in a Church of all places and it was being renovated so it was pretty... rustic you could say haha but it was fun, we met a bunch of people from all different countries.  There were 3 or 4 bars on schedule for our bar crawl and the deal was that if you made it to the last one, you got a bar crawl t-shirt.  We made it to the last one we think but somehow missed the t-shirts?  Oh well, the bar crawl was a blast and I have to say it's pretty cool to say my first bar crawl was in Prague :)

Old Town Square

The Church of Our Lady in the Tyn

The Astronomical clock

Walking along the streets of Prague!

Bar Crawl time, hello English boys..

Girlssss :) Archana, Mere, Kasia, Me, Linds, Jen, and Ann

The following day (Saturday), we got up later than the first day because the first day took so much out of us.  For brunch, we followed Mere's friend's recommendation and went to this place called The Globe.  It was a really cool place and the food was delicious.  After, we walked to the Charles Bridge and crossed the river to see the Prague Castle.  This area of Prague was very quaint and cute.  The walk to the Castle was steep but we got some cool pictures overlooking Prague once we reached it.  On our way back towards our hostel, we walked through the Jewish Quarter and then did some shopping in the New Town.  We had dinner at a Thai restaurant down the street from our hostel, napped, and then got ready to go out.  This time, at the recommendation of just about everyone we knew who have been to Prague, we went to the five story club called Karlovy Lazne which is apparently the largest club in central Europe.  It was so much fun!!  Each level  played a different kind of music and each had dancefloors and then other places to sit and hang out.

View from the Charles Bridge

End of the Charles Bridge, making our way towards the castle

View of Prague from the Castle area

Me, Ann, Mere, Jen, Kasia, and Linds... we made it!

Kasia and me...taking our usual coffee/hot chocolate lunch break to warm up

Cathedral within the Prague Castle walls

This puts size in perspective doesn't it!

Trying to be artistic... I think this is the view of Prague from the other side of the Castle

Heading back down to town from the Castle

The next morning we had to check out of the hostel by 11 so we got up and out the door by then and stored our luggage at the hostel since our flight wasn't until 5pm.  We had brunch at The Globe again and walked around and shopped in the area close to our hostel.  By this time, we were worn out and delirious from the lack of sleep we had gotten over the weekend so we ended up hanging out in Starbuck's after we finished shopping and at 3, went back to the hostel to catch our shuttle to the airport.

Overall we had a great time in Prague and were really glad that we decided to go here for our first trip.  None of us realized how Americanized it would be, which was actually a really refreshing break.  We also didn't realize how much we had adapted to life in Europe in just the 2 weeks we'd been living here.  It was nice to get in touch with my American self :)  Conversing with locals was painless (Czech looks like an impossible language so almost everyone in Prague speaks English), we got to eat American food, and we could be loud!  I never realized how much it would take out of me to live in Milan and how quickly I would alter my American habits/ways.  One small thing we also noticed was how hilly Prague was!  Or better, how flat Milan is!  I can't think of a single street that's been on an incline here in Milan but we never noticed this until we went to Prague where there are hills everywhere.  Weird!

Although we enjoyed our stay in Prague, we kept saying the whole weekend that Prague is great but our hearts are in Milan. It was weird, we got homesick for Milan!  I really never expected to say that, especially so soon but I found myself missing Milan the whole weekend.  I love my life here, as frustrating and tiring as it can be to live here because of the language and cultural barriers.  We all agreed that we're so spoiled living here... the food is utterly fabulous, everyone is so stylish, public transportation is at our fingertips, and our penthouse apartment is bigger than my apartment at school.  The only thing about Prague that was definitely an improvement was the peoples' reception of Americans... they were definitely more welcoming to us than people are here.  It can be pretty hit or miss here... some Italians love us and some aren't too keen on having us here.  It's very different for me to be initially not liked just because of where I come from.  If anyone has a problem with me it's usually something that I did to them or a reason they came up with after getting to know me.  But here, they see you and stare at you (according to our culture shock seminar, a common thing for Italians to do haha) and you can tell by their body language that they don't accept you and don't think highly of you.  Like I said, this is not true of everyone but it's relatively common especially in places like the metro or in restauratns. 

Something funny I noticed this weekend was that I have so many "homes"... I have Milan, Penn State, the United States, and Philadelphia/PA.  Obviously everyone asks where are you from? And all of us are kind of stupified as to what we should say... do they mean originally? Where in Europe are we from?  Where in the US are we from?  Do they know we're from the US?  So many questions for such a simple question.

I am absolutely loving this whole meeting new people from all over the world thing.  Just this weekend, we met people from Scotland, England, Germany, Austrailia, Brazil, the Netherlands, and another South American country that I can't remember... how cool is that?  Such a transient state of mind, everyone is so free and eager to experience new things.  I want to meet as many people as I possibly can... everyone has a story to tell, something to share, and something to teach me. 

We got home safe to Milan and have spent the beginning of this week recovering from traveling.  We were planning on going to Rome this weekend and booked a hostel and everything, only to find out that the train workers decided to strike this weekend!  Perfetto.  Today, actually, we experienced our first metro strike!  The workers decided to strike from 8:45am-3pm and from 6pm-midnight.  I wonder what it's like to just say hey, I'm not coming into work today because I don't like how you treat me and there's nothing you can do about it :)  Haha, not having the metro today was actually a huge inconvenience and I found myself having to take 3 cabs which is expesive, annoying, and time consuming.  Welcome to Italy, right?!  Since we couldn't go to Rome, we were going to take a day trip to Verona on Saturday but realized we couldn't because the train workers will be on strike. So, Milano it is!  We actually weren't too upset, it'll be nice to spend a weekend here and get organized and experience the weekend city life.  Milan is such a cool city and I feel like there's so much to see and do that's a little off the beaten path, places you have to discover.  Looking forward to spending the weekend here for sure.

Oh and yesterday I was pretty proud of myself... Linds, Mere, Ann, and I had to exchange our Czech crowns for euros and so we went to the bancomat on our way home from class.  Easy process, right?  Show them the crowns, ask to exchange them for euros, and you're done.  Wrong.  First of all, my two roommates who are really good at Italian were not with us which made me the most proficient of the group (yikes!).  So, when we went up to the teller, she started speaking in English but switched to Italian when I said I could speak a little.  I could pick up certain words and understood enough to realize that we could only exchange crowns for euros at the train station and that they could only exchange American dollars (Linds and Mere had some US money) in the afternoon.  It was a pretty stressful couple of minutes but she said that there was another bank down the way we could try.  We still needed to take money of of the ATM though so on our way out, Linds and I tried doing this but something didn't work and no money came out.  We were hoping that it wouldn't post the transaction even though we didn't receive any money.  We checked our accounts when we got home and luckily this didn't happen.  So, next step was to walk to the other bancomat.  The guy working there started speaking Italian and it didn't seem like he knew any English but regardless, they didn't do exchanges there but he said we could use the ATM.  In the end, we were able to take money out of our accounts and although I didn't do the best job of communicating with everyone, it was still exciting to be able to translate some of what they were saying to me. 

We have Italian class as usual tomorrow and then are planning on doing some shopping after while there are still sales everywhere.  I really haven't bought that many clothes or boots, mainly because I really wanted to get my bearings on what things cost and on the style here.  People here must get out of bed looking like they came out of a magazine, it's so impressive how well-put together everyone is, men especally.  Rob and Larry- pack your best clothes when you come to visit haha I'm wondering when the fashion here will click with me and I can fit in better with the locals... I hope it's soon! 

Hope my friends and fam on the east coast are surviving the snow!  Can't say I miss the weather at Penn State all that much ;)