Back!

I'm back in the USA!!!

Two things I have noticed -
1. cashiers are soo nice here. people are smiling and making small talk. Hooray for customer service!!!
2. the recession! There are no christmas lights or people shopping anywhere! I didn't expect to see this so... obviously.

Anyway - happy happy, I am home after a fun delay/flight bump/30 hours of awakeness... There is a chocolate cake here and mom and I are working on Christmas.I am so happy to be able to sleep without earplugs - there are no drunk clubbers singing right outside my window.

Can't wait to see y'all!

family together at Christmas

There is only a week left!

I am going home in 8 days. This is a crazy thought - my time in Prague has been spent. I am furiously studying for my finals now, after which I will be furiously packing and moving out and cleaning... but for now...

I'm looking back on what I've learned...

• The effect of national identity on the personality of a people.
• How Europeans (and ex-pats) feel about America - and more specifically, our new President-elect.
• That journalism means something completely different in places where democracy is young.
• The history of art in the Czech lands. And, that I really like art - though I may never be able to produce it :)
• At least 3 new perspectives on Stalin and communism in Eastern Europe.
• The history of Prague and the Czechs - in art, fiction, journalism, and politics...
• Lots of fun facts about Prague, Dresden, Berlin, Athens, Finland, Estonia, Slovakia, and Krakow... including where the big churches are.
  
• That I can learn languages (and German wasn't just a fluke) - I think I might try to pick something else up when I get back (Arabic? Spanish?)
• That I can show up somewhere and start my life from scratch with no contacts or language skills (as long as I have a map!) - and that it is completely possible to communicate without language. mostly.
• That I can cook for myself - even if it's mostly disgusting and bland :)
• How people/I search for the familiar in foreign places (see: bohemia bagel).
  
• How crazy drama gets when six 20-year-old girls live in an apartment together for 3 months.
  
• And - on that note- how to say "it's complicated" in Czech. (to je komplikace)

See you soon!!

A Beautiful Weekend (a real blog post, for once)

It's winter!!!

Winter has begun! and Breanne and I bought a 2-day pass for the Prague Castle Museums, so this has been an actually interesting weekend at home.
Yesterday we had a relaxed breakfast, then took a tram up to the castle and learned about the history of Czech royalty in the "Story of the Castle" exhibit. We then visited the Romanesque basilica of St.George... and when we came out it was hailing/raining and so very cold!

the gargoyles were breathing icicles... so cold!

We didn't have umbrellas or rainproof coats (although all the czech people did, and were not surprised by the sudden change in weather..) so we ran to the tram and were very very wet by the time we got home. But we put on some dry clothes and made dinner... fish sticks and rice and green beans. mmm comfort food.

This morning we woke up and there was a dusting of snow on the cars on the streets. Snow really doesn't stick on the streets... but you can get the idea and that's what counts.

the view out our window onto the fresh morning snow

Then I turned in my second article for the paper - it's about the student council President and honestly I have just lost interest... but I'm glad that's finally done.

We returned to the castle and visited the portrait gallery and national gallery, full of all the most famous Czech paintings. It was so nice and culture-y. And we also toured the palace, home of the great big royal ballroom thing (also where they threw people out the windows during revolutions, but no big...).

isn't this room nice? not bad to be royalty...

Then as we left the museums to go home... it was snowing!!! So beautiful!

St.Vitus Cathedral, in the beautiful wintertime

Cassie, Ali, Breanne and I made a big "breakfast for dinner" (ok, they cooked and I dj'd...) and listened to Christmas carols.

Ellie, cooking up some potatoes

You can find my youtube playlist for the evening here... it was an 'eclectic variety' (we don't have the comcast cable music channels, so we have to make it up). I call the mix "Christmas at Home: when home is full of weird college-aged girls who have been away from America for 3 months."
Billy Idol's music video for "Jingle Bell Rock" was probably the biggest hit, although the animated gifs in the "feliz navidad" video we found were PRETTY FANTASTIC. And if you've never seen the David Bowie/Bing Crosby duet of "Little Drummer Boy".. prepare yourself.

After dinner Ali, Cassie and I took a nice walk around town and saw everything dusted with snow... the ol' Jan Hus statue, astronomical clock, Charles bridge, churches, Winceslas square... it's a whole different city now.

good ol' Jan Hus... all covered in snow

What a nice night... but I miss my family and all our traditions at home. I will miss thanksgiving... but won't Christmas be great!!!

Love!! Please leave comments if you can!

(if you want to see the rest of the pictures I've been taking here in hometown prague... here is the place: link)

Your Destination for Colbert Nation Procrastination

I have still 2 chapters of politics and one chapter of journalism to read, my article to finish (an interview tomorrow morning to prepare for, the rest to linear-ize and pare down, I am beyond my word count) - my politics 300 word analysis thingie to write (I don't know!), a Czech worksheet to finish... and I want to sleep so bad and the debate is in an hour and 20 minutes and I can't decide whether it is more moral to watch it or not to (it's a town hall style, so probably, not to).
Good news is that, as long as I do my Prague Art & Architecture project on Thursday, this may be the last night I am up this late this semester doing homework.
Maybe I will just go to bed now, do everything between classes tomorrow, and hope that the world doesn't mind if I am half-assing?
This is helping me procrastinate. :)