The language barrier has proved to be quite a challenge (most notably when we thought a "homeless man" was taunting us in a park, when in all actuality he was the groundskeeper trying to tell us he was locking the park), but luckily we begin our "intensive" Czech training tomorrow.
The last few days have been a (great) daze of jetlag, more trips to Tesco (an odd combination of Bloomingdales, Vons, and Target) than I can count, pubs in caves, some traditional Czech food (think garlic soup, schnitzel, sauerkraut, etc.), and then some not so traditional food (McDonald's froyo cones--just as cheap here as in the US!). Tonite Pabst and I cooked our first meal, a sausage and veggie stirfry. We've found great ways to live on a budget--the whole meal cost us maybe $4.50.
We are also the only two people in this city who run. We went on our first run yesterday: across the Charles Bridge, and on Petrin Hill--GORGEOUS. Today we explored Wenceslas Square and Mala Strana, the area on the other side of the river. We got some funny looks and a few people took some pictures, but it's been such a great way to explore the city and gain our bearings. The only issue was when we came across giant peacocks in a park--slightly terrifying.
The staff at the school are really interesting people, and I'm excited to start class tomorrow. My group has Czech in the morning and then a field trip to the Castle as a part of the Czech Culture Class in the afternoon. We have two weeks of these core classes and then I switch to my regular schedule: Economics, Art History, Reading Prague, and Czech Language.
In an attempt to overcome this jetlag situation I am going to head to bed soon (it's 11:00 PM here, a 9 hour time difference from PST). I promise more updates on adventures soon, plus real pictures (not of the sheisty Google Images variety). For now, here are a few mobile uploads from our run this afternoon!
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| No joke. |
KP
P.S. E-mail me at katherine.perry@u.northwestern.edu or Skype at katherineannaperry. I would love to talk to all of you!
Katherine this is hilarious: the groundskeeper for the park, the giant peacocks, etc! Also... I can't believe people were that surprised to see runners. What the heck?
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