Home Life and More

I’ve now been in Prague for 3 weeks and I consider myself officially settled in. I’m sleeping well, my classes have gotten geared up, and I have to do laundry. I find that there is so much going on here and so many things to try that I sleep a lot less than when I am at La Crosse. It’s like when I was in high school and had sports and homework and still had to be up at 6:30, I just make due with less. I live in the George Apartments and we’ve—my roommates: Jack, Lucas, and Eric, and the girls next door: Callie, Maggie, Lois, and Caitlin—have become pretty close. We hang out a lot and we have a lot of outings together. We also go out to eat a few times a week but I missed both times this week, once for practice and I forget why I missed the other one. It’s really nice that I live with such a solid group; I never have to do anything alone if I don’t want to. Grocery shopping here is pretty different, things are sold in smaller quantities and the small fridge and lack of zip-lock bags mean grocery shopping has to happen a few times a week. I can always find at least one of the other 7 to go with me though. We’ve also started making family dinners and all eating together a couple times a week. That is a lot of fun. We did chicken parmesan on Thursday and last night was fajitas. If anyone has any easy recipies—my cooking skills are not well honed—you should send them to me, I want to make something and right now the best I can think of is tuna melts. We also do outings together. The first weekend we went on a boat tour of the river, this week we went to the Museum of Torture Devices and St. Norbert’s Monastery. The Torture Museum was interesting if a bit morbid, they had some crazy stuff. The chopping block with axe groves and hack marks was interesting in that I stood next a block that actually was used in beheadings. We salvaged the afternoon by going to a coffee shop for dessert. On Saturday some of us went to the monastery, it was a really cool place. It was very beautiful inside and was so clean and fresh and peaceful we were all blown away. I don’t know why, it may be a hidden jewel of Prague, but we were pretty much the only people there. The only place we saw anyone else was the art gallery upstairs and it was still only a few people. Then we went to the restaurant and tried the beer. The monks are famous for their home brewed beer, understandably as it is very good. In addition to our trips to places we sometimes just go for adventure walks and see what we can find. The night life is really impressive here, tons of clubs, pubs, and hidden local bars. Each part to city—in the areas I’ve been to—is a bit different. There are very touristy places, ex-patriot places, and local places all of which have a different vibe. The Czech’s don’t like Americans very much, we’ve had some really rude service and some people have been flat turned down but if you find the right places people don’t mind at all. The clubs are a whole different animal, they can be pretty intense. I’m not really a big club fan but I will say that here they are way better than back home. Mostly I’m not all about the clubs because I’m not a big dancer but here it makes no difference. They play such intense, bass heavy music that as long as you can move with the beat you’re fine. I don’t really get Techno, but the house beats are pretty cool at some places. It’s also funny to see people on their own, just rocking out and dancing with themselves. We also play cards occasionally, Eric taught us Pinochle. I can’t believe how quickly this trip is going, it already seems like I don’t have enough time left. I’m buying a ticket to Dublin soon and I have to try to get to Madrid to visit a friend from school. There’s another friend in France who invited me to visit and I still want to ski. Plus I have the CEA trips to Krakow and Budapest and I’ll start to have my rugby games in March or April. And I want to travel around the Czech Republic some more, see some other towns. And there’s no way I’ve seen all of Prague, I’ve barely been to any one bar, restaurant, club, or coffee shop more than once. I’m having a great time and I’m sure I’ll have some more cool adventures soon.

Slavia RFC

This Tuesday I had my first rugby practice with the team I’ll be playing with here. I joined the Slavia Rugby Football Club, they are connected to the Slavia soccer team that I saw play Tottenham. It’s really cool, I get to practice at Eden, the Slavia complex and everything has the star logo. The first practice was tough for several reasons, I’m out of rugby shape, my rugby skills are rusty, and the whole practice is conducted in Czech. I had fun, it was good to be playing again and the captain, Jan, is a really nice guy. He’s huge, with a nose that’s been broken many times and he looks like a barbarian but he speaks English with a British accent and says, “cheers” a lot. He is always asking me if I’m enjoying myself and having fun, he’s a good guy. We had a tournament yesterday and it was awesome. We had a glorious spring day—first of the year—sunny and 60s. There were 5 teams, Slavia A and Slavia B, Sparta (Slavia’s rivals, they are the other Prague sports complex and have the other Pro soccer team), and 3 other area teams. I was on the Slavia B team which was a bit harsh, we didn’t win any games. We lacked knowledgeable players, team discipline, and chemistry. Despite all that I had a great time and really re-realized what I like about playing rugby. I was rusty and didn’t play great, but by the last game I was getting back into form again and I had a great game. I played well and was involved a lot and I scored 2 tries back-to-back! Try is the rugby word for a touchdown. The first one I was out toward the sideline and got a pass from a teammate who was about to get hit and I just cut against the flow of the play and blew though the defense to score untouched. Then a few minutes later we had gotten the ball back and were attacking. The ball got swung out wide and Diego, who’s from Argentina, had the ball and passed it off to me at the last second before he got hit. He timed his pass perfectly but it went a little high and behind me. I then made one of the best athletic plays I have ever made and shot my arm up and caught the ball one handed as I cut back against the defensive flow again. The two defenders I split each almost brushed me with a hand but they were off balance and moving the wrong way and I went in to score again. The coolest part was the crowd reaction; all these Czech fans got up and yelled! I got one of the bigger cheers of the day, it did help I was playing for Slavia and we were at their stadium so they were all fans of my team. It was a great day but it really took it out of me, I went to be around 8:30 that night and slept more than 12 hours. I am excited to keep playing. I’m going to officially join the team and I get to play in 5 regular season game and I get a personalized Slavia jersey with my name and number. The jerseys are awesome, with real sponsors and everything, they are totally legit.

Bohemia

This past weekend we went to Bohemia, which is in the northern part of the Czech Republic. It was an interesting trip; it was the first time that I really saw the whole group together. I found that I like most of the people that I’m with but of course there are exceptions. There is one group who seems to know each other, only hang out together, and is extremely obnoxious. They were extremely loud, drunk, and explain why so many foreigners hate Americans. That was too bad, but other than that and the cold weather, the trip was good. We were told that we were starting at a castle, but it really turned out to be a château not a very interesting one at that. But the second half of the tour was wine tasting in the cellar; that was awesome. The cellar had huge arched ceilings, giant casks of wine that you could live in, and a giant griffin. We got to hang out and taste six different Czech wines; it was a lot of fun. We then ate in the small town the chateau was in and got to meet some more people in the group. We drove to the hotel we were staying in and then went out on the town, which was not much of an experience, it was a small town. The next day we toured a glass blowing factory which was pretty cool, not at all what I expected. The Czech’s are way more laid back about work place safety. These guys are all just hanging out in sandals and shorts with no safety goggles or hard hats next to liquid glass and 2500 degree furnaces. It was pretty awesome; one of them even had a beer at his work station. We then went to the store where they sell the glass, that was cool too. After lunch we hiked a mountain type thing that was interesting but not everything I had hoped. On Sunday we stopped at one more castle, it was way better than the first one, it was huge and had an unbelievable interior. The carved wood moldings on the ceilings were incredible. One interesting difference between the castles was that the first one was returned to the original family after the fall of communism and the second was still owned by the state. The family that owned the second castle joined the Nazis when they annexed Czechoslovakia and by doing so they renounced their Czech citizenship. Opps, picked the wrong side it seems

SK Slavia vs. Tottenham Hotspurs

Last night I went to see my first pro soccer game, it was an experience. SK Slavia is the local team and because they are the best Czech team the qualified for the Champions league which is the best few teams from each league. They did well enough in the Champions league to qualify for the EUFA Cup which is why they were playing Tottenham, a team from the English Premiership. Tottenham is the better team by a fair amount and won 2-1. I can now understand why people are into pro soccer, I never did before this experience. I have always thought that soccer was too slow and that not enough ever happened. Tottenham already had a 2-0 lead at half time and was in total control of the match but Slavia came back after half time totally fired up and they were the better looking team in the second half. They scored their goal to bring themselves within 1 in about the 65 minute—soccer games are 90 minutes. The next 25 minutes were very tense; I was really getting into it and every time Slavia got close to scoring was intense. Slavia had some great opportunities but couldn’t quite finish. I am glad that I now understand the draw to soccer and won’t make fun of it anymore, well not as much anyway. The Slavia stadium was torn down recently and they are building a new one so they played in the crappiest stadium I’ve ever seen. It was small and rusty and just screamed Cold War construction. I saw some concept art on the internet of the new stadium and it looks like it will be amazing, I guess I’ll have to come back eventually to see a game there. The fans are a large part of what made the game exciting, they are hugely dedicated to the game and did a lot of yelling and chants. The chants are awesome, the whole stadium—minus the visitors section—chanting in unison. It was also interesting to learn that they don’t boo, they whistle to jeer the other team and mostly the ref. At first we went to the upper deck, where our tickets were for, but we left after half time because it was very obvious that we were not wanted there. In the second half we learned it was because we got confused and sat with the season ticket holders, that explains the stares, glares, and the guy who said a bunch of stuff to me in Czech that I didn’t understand. We were going to leave early, it was cold and we wanted to beat the rush, plus the team was losing 2-0. Once Slavia scored and the game got intense we decided to stay until the end, I’m glad we did it was very fun and exciting. As the game wound down the announcer asked the Tottenham fans not to leave their seats until instructed to do so and as we walked out we saw about 100 cops all in full riot gear on just our side of the stadium. They are serious about game security, there guys looked they were about to invade and didn’t look like they’d hesitate to use their clubs. Soccer fans are so rabid they won’t even let them leave the stadium at the same time, wow. I guess that’s part of what make the game great. Also, I got a Slavia jersey earlier in the day (thank you Grandma and Grandpa), it’s really cool and I’m going to wear it this weekend when CEA takes us all to Liberec, a Czech city.

The First Week

It’s been a very busy first week in Prague. I spent the first few days just trying to get acclimated to being in such a new place. The third day I was there, Thursday, I got up early and didn’t have class so I went for a walk. I just picked a direction and started walking. That’s what’s great about this city, no matter where you end up; you can always get back home on the world’s easiest Metro system. All three lines are linked at a central triangle, genius and in former East Bloc country, who’d of thunk. The walk was great, I really like the city, it’s beautiful. The next day was more of the same, walking around the city and taking in the sights. There is tons of walking to do here, not having a car really changes getting around, at least most things in Prague are close to each other. It is hard to find things though, I’ve gone out several times looking for restaurants and the rugby pitch and wasn’t able to find them. Last time I looked was last week though, and now I have a much better sense of where things are in the city. I’ve had to do some grocery shopping, which is quite different than in America. They lack the instant foods that I relish (and know how to cook), no EasyMac or frozen pizza. I’ve had to exist on lunch meat and toast with Nutella. It’s ok though; all the cereal is chocolate based which is awesome. On Sunday Lucas, Eric, Lois, Caitlin, and I went on a boat tour of the river. It was a lot of fun and I learned some interesting things about Prague, for example Praha—the Czech name for Prague—means ford. That’s the reason that the city was built where it was. I started class on Monday, they all seem like they will be interesting, and I’ll keep you updated on how they go. I have a really big weekend planned, it will be awesome. On Thursday I’m going to go to the UEFA match between Slavia—the Prague soccer team—and the Tottenham Hotspurs. It should be awesome, I can’t wait for that. Then for the weekend we are going on a trip to the rest of the Czech Republic. I’ll let you all know how the game and the trip are.

In the Beginning

My flight into Prague landed about 1 PM local time then off to the baggage claim for luggage. The Prague airport seemed pretty small, based on how close the terminal was to the baggage claim and the fact that our luggage was already on the conveyer belts. Customs was next and I was a bit apprehensive, not sure what to expect and nervous that they were going to quiz me about my visa. I need not have feared, it was an absolute breeze the dour looking security guard swiped my passport and let me pass. As we drove to my apartment I got more and more confused, it seemed we were driving away from the river, and my apartment was supposed to be right by it. Turns out that they switched our apartment at the last minute and put us somewhere else. I think the switch worked out great, we are a very short simple commute from the school and now we have CEA neighbors. My roommate is Jack; he’s from Chicago and goes to Michigan. The other two in my apartment are Eric from NY (not the city) and Lucas from Pennsylvania. They seem like cool guys so far and I am optimistic that we’ll all get along really well. The girls next door are Lois, Caitlin, Callie, and Maggie. Callie and Maggie are from Kansas and had to drive 8 hours to Kansas City to fly to Chicago to fly to Europe, that is brutal. The other 2 are from UWV and they went to dinner with us last night. We just walked around our neighborhood for a bit until we found a place that looked appealing. It was, the food was tasty and cheep. I had a delicious cheese stuffed pork chop with a cream sauce and 2 beers for only $15 American. I am glad that I chose to visit a country that is so dedicated to rich, tasty food that they stuff their pork chops with cheese and use a cream sauce. The next day, which was the second but due to lack of sleep and long hours of travel felt like a week later, we had our CEA intro. They showed us the school, how to get there, what to do, et. all. Then it was back to the apartment for a nap and some unpacking before a CEA welcome dinner and some wandering around the city

Gulliver's Travels

I arrived at the Minneapolis airport shortly after 11 AM with my bags and a delicious Jimmy John’s sandwich in hand—beach club combo for those who were wondering. My Dad walked me to the check-in desk and we waited a bit before checking in and being informed that my flight was not going to leave until 2 PM. This presented a problem as my flight out of Chicago left was scheduled to leave at 330 PM. They were able to put me on a 1245 PM flight and all was well, and they were able to check my luggage the whole way through. That flight went well and I met up with my traveling partner from La Crosse Kellie in O’Hare. Our 330 PM flight didn’t take off until 5 PM because the plane had been struck by lighting on the way into Chicago, which I thought was pretty cool. The flight went well, about 7 hours long and the seats left something to be desired but the staff took good care of us (2 meals and lots of drinks, but oddly no cranberry juice). We were flying Lufthansa, the German national airline, it was pretty good—standard German efficiency—and the only point of note was Sandra Bullock stewardess. She looked uncannily like Sandra Bullock—although it took me most of the flight to put a name with the face—and for some reason she never once smiled the whole flight, don’t know what that was about. Oh, another amusing story, while we were eating our dinner we each had the bottle of beer we were given on our tray/tables. Randomly the guy sitting in front of Kellie reclined his chair which knocked her beer off and caused it to spill all over her. It wasn’t really funny, but if you had been there and seen the absurdity of the situation, you would have laughed too. Plus then Kellie stank of beer the rest of the trip so her roommates probably think she’ll be a handful. Anyway, we landed and due to the previously cool lighting strike and subsequent take off delay we had missed our connection from Frankfurt to Prague. We had to wait about 4 hours but Lufthansa gave us a €15 food voucher and then I took a nap while we waited so it wasn’t so bad. The flight into Prague was very short and easy, which by this time was much appreciated as I was feeling pretty traveled out. We met our contact and some other people from our program in the airport and were whisked into a taxi/bus and taken to our various apartments. All in all an easy and not unpleasant trip, plus all my stuff made it without incident.