Monday, January 31, 2011
Sunday, January 30, 2011
I'm never coming home
Prague is the most beautiful city in the world. Seriously. Walking through the streets feels like walking through disneyland, but its the real thing. Each building has a story. I had the opportunity to take part in a three hour walking tour today, lead by Z (We call him that because we cannot pronounce his name). He is an adorable grandpa-type guy with a thick czech accent and blue eyes. He calls me "Hanishka" which is obviously spelled wrong but apparently it is the czech name for Hannah. On our tour he spoke very quietly so we all have to lean in close.
"These buildings are very special. You might not care about architecture, but by the end of the semester, you will care a great deal. You are like puppies, and I will train you"
We walk to old town, passing Franz Kafka's house and the theatre where Mozart debuted. Most Czech people are atheist but there are a lot of churches.
My friend turned to me and said "Let's live here. Let's get an apartment". We mapped out where we would live ( a baby blue apartment overlooking the city), picked out where we would get coffee each morning, and found a seven story shoe store to spend our money in.
"These buildings are very special. You might not care about architecture, but by the end of the semester, you will care a great deal. You are like puppies, and I will train you"
We walk to old town, passing Franz Kafka's house and the theatre where Mozart debuted. Most Czech people are atheist but there are a lot of churches.
My friend turned to me and said "Let's live here. Let's get an apartment". We mapped out where we would live ( a baby blue apartment overlooking the city), picked out where we would get coffee each morning, and found a seven story shoe store to spend our money in.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
A glimpse into my past few days
After all my time spent on airplanes, I don't really stress out about them anymore. However, this all changed after watching the 6 seasons of Lost. On the plane from Seattle to London I experienced 45 minutes of extreme turbulence. I'm talking glasses clinking, bags falling, and several very anxious people gripping their arm rests. I guess they have seen Lost too. My anxiety grew and grew and eventually I had my journal out and I was scribbling down 3 pages of desperate prayers saying GOD SAVE THE PLANE... haha I just kept replaying episode one of Lost and thinking about what I would do if the airplane were to suddenly snap in half. Rose would be sitting next to me saying "don't worry the plane wants to stay in the air" and Jack Sheppard would be stressing out behind me. Twenty minutes the plane was chilling in the air like nothing had happened. The flight attendants came out and several people chose the wine over ginger ale. This was my first dramatic moment of the trip.
I went to London for a couple days but it seems like a miniscule detail of my trip so I won't give an elaborate description of my events. 3 hour bus tour, no shopping, pub crawling, and getting to know the people in my group, whom i love! There are 30 girls and like 13 boys.
Munich, Germany.. ha. It was a good time. We were only there for one night but I definitely feel like I surpassed my expectations. Five of us girls went to a cafe to get some lunch. People say all Germans speak English. These people are lying to you. The result of this was a miscommunication in ordering, leading to my retrieval of a crusty bun covered with burnt cheddar. We sat around and awkwardly ate our meal, experimenting with nutella and marmalade spread. We were laughing but stopped after noticing everyone was staring (glaring) at us. oops.
After our almost lunch, we were forced to go on a three hour bus tour of the city. I'm not normally a fan of touristy things and this was no different. I fell asleep. From the bus, all the buildings look like rectangles. They are all pink, white, gray, or yellow. There are some amazing buildings but the architecture was not as cool as London. When we got off the bus and finally started walking around, I fell in love. Munich has so much charm. I love the winding streets and the old buildings. I love the Bavarian decorations. I love the scary german accents and fur coats. Our entire group went out that night to the Hofbrauhaus, a famous German beer hall. I believe it was build sometime in the fifteen hundreds. Basically its a huge building with long tables and benches, filled with locals and tourists. The room was full when we got there so we had to stalk a table and make the occupiers uncomfortable with our staring until they hit the road. To order, you have to "hail" the waiter or waitress (this means flap your arms around like a crazy person). The beer comes in a huge glass, probably ten inches tall. We were there for quite a while.
After the Hofbrahaus, we hung around outside, looking like a bunch of drunk Americans. Which we were. Someone has the great idea to take a cab to the clubbing district of Munich. We weren't sure if such a thing actually existed but we were trusting the words of a local. A small group of us grabbed a taxi and attempted to explain where we were trying to go. "There's like 4 clubs?" He replied" Oh ho ho ho, not four, TWENTY" in a thick german accent. He was indeed right. The clubbing district looked like a carnival. It was a block of clubs in the middle of no where. Dance beatz came out from every door. We were ushered into the first one, and I'm not sure how we ever made it home.
I have definitely been rambling on here, but that's what happens when I am away from my computer for several days. I now have internet so I should be able to update my blog more frequently.
I went to London for a couple days but it seems like a miniscule detail of my trip so I won't give an elaborate description of my events. 3 hour bus tour, no shopping, pub crawling, and getting to know the people in my group, whom i love! There are 30 girls and like 13 boys.
Munich, Germany.. ha. It was a good time. We were only there for one night but I definitely feel like I surpassed my expectations. Five of us girls went to a cafe to get some lunch. People say all Germans speak English. These people are lying to you. The result of this was a miscommunication in ordering, leading to my retrieval of a crusty bun covered with burnt cheddar. We sat around and awkwardly ate our meal, experimenting with nutella and marmalade spread. We were laughing but stopped after noticing everyone was staring (glaring) at us. oops.
After our almost lunch, we were forced to go on a three hour bus tour of the city. I'm not normally a fan of touristy things and this was no different. I fell asleep. From the bus, all the buildings look like rectangles. They are all pink, white, gray, or yellow. There are some amazing buildings but the architecture was not as cool as London. When we got off the bus and finally started walking around, I fell in love. Munich has so much charm. I love the winding streets and the old buildings. I love the Bavarian decorations. I love the scary german accents and fur coats. Our entire group went out that night to the Hofbrauhaus, a famous German beer hall. I believe it was build sometime in the fifteen hundreds. Basically its a huge building with long tables and benches, filled with locals and tourists. The room was full when we got there so we had to stalk a table and make the occupiers uncomfortable with our staring until they hit the road. To order, you have to "hail" the waiter or waitress (this means flap your arms around like a crazy person). The beer comes in a huge glass, probably ten inches tall. We were there for quite a while.
After the Hofbrahaus, we hung around outside, looking like a bunch of drunk Americans. Which we were. Someone has the great idea to take a cab to the clubbing district of Munich. We weren't sure if such a thing actually existed but we were trusting the words of a local. A small group of us grabbed a taxi and attempted to explain where we were trying to go. "There's like 4 clubs?" He replied" Oh ho ho ho, not four, TWENTY" in a thick german accent. He was indeed right. The clubbing district looked like a carnival. It was a block of clubs in the middle of no where. Dance beatz came out from every door. We were ushered into the first one, and I'm not sure how we ever made it home.
I have definitely been rambling on here, but that's what happens when I am away from my computer for several days. I now have internet so I should be able to update my blog more frequently.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
I am not a fan of packing.
Packing seems like a minor detail. You always hear people say "oh, shoot. I still need to pack" on the night before their departure, but I am not one of those people. I began my packing festivities approximately 7 days ago. I was still shoving things into my suitcase as I ran out the door today. I'm pretty sure I packed some stuff while I was in the car.
Packing consists of several steps.
Step 1: Laundry. You can't pack dirty clothes. Because that is gross.
Step 2: Gather up all of the clothing worn on a regular basis.
Step 3: Assess clothing for versatility. Ex. Can this sweater be worn with those pants? Can it be worn with that dress? etc etc
Step 4: Process of elimination. If you are like me, you will still have too many clothes. During step 4, you must discard at least one item from each category.
For example... Too many shoes?
Too many shirts of the same color?
Too many v-necks?
Step 5: Repeat step 4
Step 6: Repeat step 4 again
Step 7: Reconsider the things you discarded in step 4
Step 8: Wander around your room and look for other things you might possibly need. Add to pile.
Step 9: Remember that you have already packed too much and see step 4.
Step 10: Try to cram everything into suitcase.
Step 11: When suitcase does not close, consult your mother and she will do it for you.
Packing consists of several steps.
Step 1: Laundry. You can't pack dirty clothes. Because that is gross.
Step 2: Gather up all of the clothing worn on a regular basis.
Step 3: Assess clothing for versatility. Ex. Can this sweater be worn with those pants? Can it be worn with that dress? etc etc
Step 4: Process of elimination. If you are like me, you will still have too many clothes. During step 4, you must discard at least one item from each category.
For example... Too many shoes?
Too many shirts of the same color?
Too many v-necks?
Step 5: Repeat step 4
Step 6: Repeat step 4 again
Step 7: Reconsider the things you discarded in step 4
Step 8: Wander around your room and look for other things you might possibly need. Add to pile.
Step 9: Remember that you have already packed too much and see step 4.
Step 10: Try to cram everything into suitcase.
Step 11: When suitcase does not close, consult your mother and she will do it for you.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
The one week countdown begins
On January 25th, precisely one week from today, I will hitting the dusty trail (via airplane). This will be my third flight to Europe and I think I'm beginning to get the hang of things. I look forward to the never-ending supply of pretzels and diet coke with ice that melts too fast, the plethora of movies on my personal screen, the frequent treks down the aisle to the bathroom on account of the frequent refills of diet coke, the subtle fight for the arm wrest, and if i'm lucky, the crying infant.
But in all seriousness, "eek". Two weeks ago I was not nervous. Two days ago I was not nervous. But now, very slowly, the nervous feeling is beginning to creep up on me. It's not about the going, it's about the leaving. I am not fond on the idea of leaving behind my family, my friends, and god forbid, leaving behind Ramone (my cat).
For those of you who don't know where/what Prague is (I know you're out there) I wish I could help. All I really know is this: Prague is in the Czech Republic. The Czech Republic is in central Europe. The people speak Czech. I heard this language for the first time three days ago. Czech men have unibrows (or so I have heard). A main part of the Czech Republic is Bohemia, which is what the word "bohemian" is derived from. If you don't know what that means, google it. Prague is supposed to be one of the most beautiful cities in the world--beautiful buildings, beautiful art, beautiful landscapes, beautiful music. This is why I am going. As an English major, you can go to England.. that's about it. I didn't want to go there. England is boring (no offense).
But in all seriousness, "eek". Two weeks ago I was not nervous. Two days ago I was not nervous. But now, very slowly, the nervous feeling is beginning to creep up on me. It's not about the going, it's about the leaving. I am not fond on the idea of leaving behind my family, my friends, and god forbid, leaving behind Ramone (my cat).
For those of you who don't know where/what Prague is (I know you're out there) I wish I could help. All I really know is this: Prague is in the Czech Republic. The Czech Republic is in central Europe. The people speak Czech. I heard this language for the first time three days ago. Czech men have unibrows (or so I have heard). A main part of the Czech Republic is Bohemia, which is what the word "bohemian" is derived from. If you don't know what that means, google it. Prague is supposed to be one of the most beautiful cities in the world--beautiful buildings, beautiful art, beautiful landscapes, beautiful music. This is why I am going. As an English major, you can go to England.. that's about it. I didn't want to go there. England is boring (no offense).
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