Hello Prague

Day One.

I got to the airport at 7:30am on Tuesday. Luckily, I managed to make my luggage weigh exactly 50 pounds, thus avoiding a hefty fee—this was a very good sign, hopefully signifying that the next 16 hours of traveling would go well.
While waiting to board my flight to Toronto, I met a film/television professor from Chicago. He had some great words of wisdom for me and I really enjoyed chatting with him—another good sign.
The flight to Toronto was short (hour and a half?), but I had to spend about 4 hours in the Toronto airport waiting for my next flight… I spent the time organizing the music on my computer and watching about half of Lost in Translation (which I deemed to be somewhat appropriate for the occasion).
Finally, I boarded the plain to Frankfurt. It was about a 7 hour flight (I think), so I was lucky enough to get a seat on the plane with leg-room (which happened on 2 of my 3 flights… And nobody was sitting directly next to me, which also happened on 2 of my 3 flights... It seems that the prior signs hinting at good travels came true). I sat in the same row as an extremely friendly Romanian man who was going back to Romania to visit his family. We talked about nearly everything—family, women, work, and whatever else there is to talk about. He also proceeded to get me slightly drunk on the plane (free wine on international flights?!?) which led to wayyyyy too many trips to the bathroom. After trying to sleep unsuccessfully (some asshole behind me got mad when I tried to recline my seat and the seat hit his computer), I watched The American (terrible movie), and then the documentary Catfish (decent movie). As we neared Frankfurt, I tied up my shoes so that I would be prepared for the run to my next flight. While I only had an hour to check in to my flight and find my gate in one of the biggest airports ever, I arrived—smelly and gross—to my gate only to realize that the flight had been delayed a half an hour. It wasn’t bad, I was able to stretch out and relax.
After a brief 45 minute flight (in which I sat next to a very friendly Saudi Arabian teenager who was touring Germany/Czech Republic… He was somewhat impressed that I knew where Saudi Arabia is located, which I found to be very funny), I had finally arrived in Prague.
By the time I arrived at my new apartment, I had been awake/traveling for a little under 24 hours. I was too exhausted to really converse with other students, but everyone was very understanding of this (and also very exhausted).
I met my roommate Michal, a 20 year old Slovak majoring in film at Charles University. I also have two other flatmates (they sleep in a different room), John (from Washington D.C. and attends school at Columbia in New York), and Ben (from Texas, and goes to school at Austin University Texas).
There was no time for us to rest however—Michal would not let us: “You HAVE to come out to the pub with me and let me buy you a beer.”
Soooo, he brought us to a pub that happens to be UNDER MY SCHOOL. Yes, underneath all of the classrooms and such, there is a pub in the basement of my school. Michal says that it is where a lot of students and professors get lunch during the week and talk about film and such. I knew that I was in heaven when 1) a beer cost me about 2 dollars, and when 2) Anna, a Prague native, brought up the movie Enter the Void in a casual conversation. In a moment of self-realization, I had the weirdest feeling that I picked the ABSOLUTE perfect place to study and I probably had the biggest smile ever stretched across my face.

After quite a few beers, I went to take a nap at my place. For dinner that night, we all went out to an old building that seemed to be a ballroom or something… There was A LOT of Czech food and it was the weirdest feeling to grab a plate of food despite not knowing what we were grabbing, or what it tasted like. Overall, it was good—a lot of pork, several sauces, rice, bread, and such… Afterward about 10 of us went to a pub. The first pub didn’t have enough room and the backroom was reserved for a private party. The second one also didn’t have enough room. The third pub finally had enough room (we had to crunch together, which probably was a good way to break the ice). Each pub has only one or two types of beer (because, according to my Czech language professor, “The beer is so good that you only need one or two kinds”).

The Czech system of serving was also slightly confusing at first. For example, when I ordered my first beer at the bar under FAMU (my school), I tried to order in Czech and then paid. The bartender took my money, put it in the cash register, and then walked away, thus leaving me without a beer. It turns out that you are supposed to ask for beer at your table, they will bring you your beer, and then at the end of the night you tell them how much you have had to drink and pay for it. This may take some getting used to because I fear that I will have too much to drink one night and forget how many drinks I have had (or forget to pay altogether).

I also had absinth for the first time. It smells like black licorice or jagameister (but way lighter and with more of a vodka-esque bite to it). Michel taught us how to dip a spoon fool of sugar in the glass, light the spoon full on fire, and then put it in the glass… I also learned that Michel really likes tequila, which may or may not be a bad thing. John, my other roommate, and I decided that Michel may be the death of us. He was really disappointed when we left the pub at 11:30pm (he rolled in at night at 2am).


Day Two

On day two, I woke up at 9am and went to orientation. We talked about things like safety, where to find the hospital, how to use public transportation and such. After a few hours, we had pizza for lunch, and then we split into groups and were shown around the cities by local FAMU students.
Prague is the most beautiful city I have ever seen. I’m sure that I stick out like an obvious tourist because I am always looking up and gawking over the beautiful architecture… I will have pictures soon.
After a lot of orientation stuff and a pretty long nap, all of the American students went out to a 5-story Club (because we wouldn’t have fit in most of the pubs, where they expect people to all sit down and drink their beer). The club was insane and had a different kind of music on each level (including a “Disco Floor” and a “Black Music Floor”—yup, I’m not even kidding). After too much absinth and just enough disco music, our group left the club. Somehow, one of the American girls and I made friends with three German kids. The Germans led us to a supposedly exclusive pub in the middle of the city, but we didn’t stay long—we were too exhausted. So, a German woman called a cab for us so that we could go home… Unfortunately, Mimi and I couldn’t remember the name of the street that we lived on (I blame it on the absinth), and the cab driver didn’t speak English. Luckily, he knew a little bit of French, and Mimi told him to drive near the Charles Bridge and we found our way home. I crawled into bed at 3 in the morning… I was dead tired.

Day Three (Today)

The next day was more orientation and we started learning Czech. We also had to go on a scavenger hunt and we were required to travel through the city all by ourselves. The final destination of the scavenger hunt was a brewery where we had dinner with two Czech professors and the dean of FAMU. The food was excellent (beef with gravy and a special type of bread that you dip in the gravy), and one of the Czech professors even paid for our beer. Afterwards, we walked around the city together for a couple hours, chilled in our apartment, and then I went to bed at 10:30pm because I was still exhausted from the traveling.

This morning, my third day in Prague, we had Czech class for 3 hours and 15 minutes, picked up our student ID cards, and we’re about to go walk around the city again. I have been busy, but I will soon have pictures and video posted.

Peace and love,
-Adam

Hellooooo

Hey everyone.

So I haven't done this in forever... Mostly because I had the hardest semester of my life and I was stressed out constantly.

Well. That's over.

On January 27th, I leave for the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, Czech Republic. You can expect an entry from me nearly every day (mostly because my mom is paranoid and will think that I am dead if she doesn't hear from me).

In the mean time, I may update you on my preparation (but I may also spend all of my time relaxing). Soooo... to keep you slightly busy, I posted most of my 35mm prints from my photography class on my flickr account this morning.

Go check it out, and comment on your faves

http://www.flickr.com/photos/adamspanier/

Here's a taste: