Praha

So, my trip to Praha is now over, and so now I will write about it. Sorry for the choppy English. I am really starting to have major problems. It's really strange. I will not use the right case of a verb or something, and it's definitely different.

So anyway. Praha.

Friday I went on a bus to Prague (2.5 hours) in the morning with 3 other exchangers from around Brno. We all met up at the bus station in Prague at like noon, and after some wondering where the Spanish guy was, we all were there, and then headed to our hostel. This time we were actually in the city, which was really nice. Only like 20 minutes tram ride from the center. The place we stayed was a bit strange, like a gymnasium/hotel thing, but it was nice. And cheap by Prague standards (especially since it is the start of tourist season)...

About the tourists. I guess because the weather is really nice and it is spring, the tourists come. Like my first time in Prague, this was one where hearing czech is unusual on the street. There are SO MANY Italians in Prague. I guess (or so someone told me...) because Italians like culture, and it is cheaper for them to come to Prague? There are also lots of Germans, Asians (a variety of countries) and a fair share of Americans. The Thais even ran into some Thai tourists.

Anyway, Friday, I had to go to the AFS office to have a pointless conversation with an AFS person which I had already had twice on the phone, and countless times on email. I would have rather gone to the Dali exhibit with Maria and Marta, but I had to miss that to go here. Friday night was Chinese night, in an actual Chinese restaurant, run by actual Chinese people (very unsual here; lots of stuff parades as Asian food, but it rarely is real). It was really good, and I improved my chopstick skills with a bit of help from the kids from Hong Kong. Friday night we also went to Febio Fest, an international music and film festival. We went to a (bad) concert from Romania until midnight, when I went with some people to a movie from the Netherlands. It was the saddest and most moving movie I have ever seen. It is about a Jewish woman in the Netherlands during WWII and what she has to do to survive. It is called "Black Book". I would recommend it to anyone, but I really warn you, it is incredibly sad.

It was really interesting to talk to the kids I went with (from Iceland, Turkey and Hong Kong) afterwards, because they don't know much about the Holocaust and WWII. I am finding that a lot of the world is ignorant to Judaism and what has happened to Jews.

After getting back to our hostel at 4 am, we went to bed, seeing as we had to be somewhere at 10. After a fitful night of sleep, because of a strange dream about having to hide identities and get information on random trams, I got like 3 hours of sleep. Normal for these things, but it didn't hit me too much.

Saturday we went to Prague Castle (though most people, including myself, didn't want to because we had already been there), but we had to stay as a group because the AFS volunteer we were with decided we had to. She was nice, but far too "ghaadkf". We also went to a mirror house and the fenicular. Afterwards we had some free time, and I went for Turkish food and to a vintage store with some other people. Then we went to a "modern" theatre. I hated it. I really did. It was like a film background and then strange modern dancers. It was horrible. Not my type of thing. I fell asleep, I believe. After this, though we were all planning on going to a disco, I decided to go back to the hostel with some other girls because of the lack of sleep the night before, and we just talked for a couple hours, and then went to bed "early".

Sunday morning, I woke up early (8) and went by myself for a bagel. The only place to get a bagel in this country is in this one store in Prague, and I really wanted one. And I have to say it was worth it for a half an hour tram ride each way. Just for a bagel. But it's more than just bread, as some others described it. It is life. Sunday also we went to the Czech Cubism Museum, which was pretty cool, and then we all just hung out until our respective modes of transportation left.

I really like Prague. It is a wonderful city with so many different things to do. Unlike Brno, when you go out of the center, it is still exciting, with many things to see. It has so much history, and great architecture, but it is a modern city. Though there are many tourists, that just means that it really is an international city. I would like to see more czech there, but I think that will come in the future. If I were ever to live again in the Czech Republic, I think the only place I would live would be in Prague.