Texaly.

Sorry. I realize I still haven't fixed the pictures. I thought I'd get a chance in Vienna, but Shutterfly wasn't cooperating. And to fix them here in Prague would involve interacting with people with whom I don't care to interact. But I'm heading off for Italy tomorrow for 8 days, and I will try (once again) to get some Pope pictures on here, as well as some from Vienna and whatever I take in Italy. If it doesn't happen, though, just be patient because I'll be back in Texas in 10 days and will get it all straightened out there.

So most everyone has a general idea of what I've put up with this past month here in Prague. If not, ask my mom for a quick summary or ask me when I return. I don't feel like typing it all out. In summary, though, it's stupid students and a horrible roommate. Because of this horrible roommate (who was also my original travel companion), all of my travel plans were ruined. We've scrambled over the past few weeks to make alternate arrangements, and luckily, everything has worked out quite well. Better than we could have expected. It's a good thing we know people living and traveling in Europe. And it's a good thing that they are my type of people.

So here's the plan from here on out: I head to Rome tomorrow, where I will meet up with two girls from Texas (one of them will be renting our apartment in the fall). Monday morning, I am going to go with them to Sorrento where we will spend three days and see Naples, Pompeii, Capri, Positano, and the Amalfi Coast. I visited Sorrento, Pompeii, and saw the Amalfi Coast a few years ago and am really looking forward to going back and seeing a few new places in the region as well. Then, on Thursday, I will go back to Rome where I will spend some time with some other friends from Texas (a girl who is studying in Rome and her mother) as well as our tour manager friend who has proven in the past week that she is a tourism genius and the greatest Italian ever (other than Christopher Columbus, obviously, because, well, he discovered my country so I think I kind of owe him a small shout out...even if it was by accident). Then I'll come back to Prague on Sunday evening, spend Monday here picking up my suitcase from Dr. Masselli's and repacking before I finally return to good ole Texas on Tuesday. I'll spend Tuesday night with a friend in Houston and my favorite kid in world, and then I'll fly HOME on Wednesday morning. Home. I can't wait. It's unfortunate that the study abroad friends that I loved from Grenoble live so far away and I'll probably never see them again, yet, I'll probably run into some of these idiots in the B.A. several times next semester. At least it's only a semester, and then I'm out of Tech forever.

Pictures and the weekend

Apparently the pictures didn't post, so I'll try to work on that in the next few days. I've got to find access to a better computer, and I'm trying to avoid the alcoholics who have the laptops in my apartment as much as possible. I've got several pictures to add to Shutterfly, and I still need to get the Pope's picture up here on my journal, so I'll definitely try to figure something out.

My dad and I were talking about how it's strange that I've had two pretty recent, big Catholic experiences: 1) being in Krakow and getting blessed by the Pope as he drove by, and 2) receiving that phone call from Mel Gibson. I don't know what to expect next.

So I've mentioned the alcoholics "study buddies" with whom I'm trapped here in Prague. Two nights ago, one of them spend 6700 crowns on alcohol. That's like $306!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't know what he did or what he bought (I just heard the vague details about it in class the next day), but WOW! Just thought that might give you a better picture of the people I'm dealing with here.

I'm going to Vienna this weekend. That was my plan for this break all along, but now I'm alone because I don't want to travel with the drinking team. I actually want to see Vienna. Some friends of my mom have kindly offered to show me around and give me a much needed break from all of this. They're even going to let me stay with them! That's so nice!

I think it's strange that the culture shock I'm experiencing is a result of the Tech students rather than a result of being in Prague and around the Czechs. I haven't even had time to think about being cultured shocked by Prague. I should say that I've found several people that I like just fine to talk with in class or hang out with in the apartment. This is the "cool when they're sober" club. There are others who are in the "never cool" club.

Tesco

I went to the Tesco this morning. That's the German supermarket/Monoprix-type store that's in the Czech Republic. I've been buying things so I can eat dinner at the apartment some nights because I don't get out of class until
8 pm, and I usually have reading or HW to do. I've been to the Tesco twice before. Once just as I was passing by the day after I arrived here (I stopped in to look around--in the afternoon), and then one day at about 11 am. Today, I went at 9:30 am, things are crazy at the Tesco at 9:30 am. First, the place is packed. I got in line behind about fifteen people to check out, and there are about twelve checkout lines. The people were slow and unfriendly. And the lines would stretch back through the aisles, so when you have to cut through people to get across the aisle, they give you mean looks and things that I don't imagine are very nice in Czech. They actually won't move for you. You have to push through them yourself.

But, they craziest part was the deli section. I was trying to get some sandwich meat, and there were about thirty little old Czech men and women with their baskets crowded around this one section of the aisle. They'd shove their way to the front, get what they wanted, get stuck, and then curse and shove their way back out. If you've seen the movie "Mean Girls," it was a lot like when Lindsey Lohan imagines all of the school kids as wild animals attacking each other. Little old women would yell at each other and shove the others' carts away. They'd dig their elbows and baskets into the backs of the people at the front to get them to move, only the people at the front couldn't move because there wasn't a square inch of space available anywhere. I attempted to get to the front a couple of times--standing there, waiting for a hole to open up, not pushing anyone, but definitely getting pushed back. After about three minutes of that, I stepped back, observed the situation, found an area that appeared to be populated with some more "sturdy" older women with fewer sharp-edged carts, and plowed my way through. I'm not sure what kind of sandwich meat I ended up with because I only had time to grab the first thing I could reach. I wasn't sure what it was, but I knew if I tried to put it back and get something else, I'd get swallowed even more into the black hole of angry, Czech sandwich-makers, and I wasn't prepared for that. I think it's normal sandwich meat, though. I hope. Next time I go (if) I attempt it again, I'm going to take my camera and video it.

I'm still having trouble with those pictures, by the way. You can see all of them on my Shutterfly page, but I'll try to get them put up here eventually.

Oh! I found Leno and Conan on our TV at 11 pm! Other than that, all we get is one CNN program that plays over and over sick of CNN. I was talking to another kid in the group about how I was getting tired of watching CNN. He asked me what I would rather watch, and I told him my family was a Fox News family, and he gave me this strange look and said, "I figured you would really be into CNN." ????? Okay. Nothing against those who like CNN, but I just can't figure out what I've said or done that would make him think I are really "into" CNN. We then started talking about traveling, and he said that he doesn't really get into culture or history or seeing the sights. He's over here more for the nightlife. Yep, that pretty much sums up what's going on over here. Obviously I'm an idiot for thinking there would be others coming on this trip to see and experience the culture and history of one of Europe's great cities. Strangely, I'm not seeing any "study" in this study abroad program except for the studying I'm doing. Actually, it's wrong to say that. There are a few others who are studying some, too. But, overall, the rest of the group acts like Prague is going to run out of beer so they've got to drink it all as quickly as they can. It's Prague. The beer's gonna be here for a while. The beer will be in LBK, too. The castle and museums won't, however.

?

Can anyone see pictures on my last post? I know I posted them, but they aren't showing up on the school computers. I'm not sure if they really aren't there, or if it's just the computers because my posts don't show up on the school pcs until a day or two later even though they are actually posted to the blog. I'll try to check again later, and if they are actually missing, I'll try to put them up again.

I saw something really funny today. At least, it was funny to me. It probably won't transfer as well in type. I was walking to school (1.25 miles each way, by the way...up hill one way. I could ride the metro, but I think I prefer walking), and I saw this strange, little, Czech man. He was probably 50 years old. He looked like he was trying to be French, with this curly mustache. But everything he was wearing was black leather. Black leather pants; black leather jacket; black Italian-leather, pointy shoes; black leather man-purse. Then, to top it all off, he had a black leather beret. I've never seen a leather beret. He was, like, tough/feminine/biker/chic/blah/blah/blah. It was really funny to see. Then, he stopped to look in the window of a bike store, but not "leather"-type biking...cycling. Maybe tomorrow he's gonna go for the Spandex.

So, classes start again in one hour, and I have to say, I'm actually very anxious to get back to income taxes and international accounting.

Krakow, Auschwitz, and the Pope

We went to Krakow and Auschwitz this weekend. We left Thursday night and came back Saturday. We had to cut the trip short, unfortunately, but I really enjoyed Krakow. I didn't exactly know what to expect, but it's a beautiful city. We had no idea, however, that the Pope would be there. When we saw the sign at the hostel (my first--and LAST--stay in a hostel, I think), I made it my mission to see the Pope. I'll get to that in a minute.

On Friday morning, we went out to Auschwitz to see the concentration camp. It was an incredible experience. I learned a lot about the Holocaust in school and from visiting the Holocaust museum in D.C., but actually being at a concentration camp--Auschwitz, in particular--was unbelievable. The Holocaust is so tangible for Europeans, especially Eastern Europeans. But in America, apart from the few Holocaust survivors that are left, our only real exposure to it is from textbooks. I couldn't believe I was actually seeing the barracks, the death wall, the "Work makes you free" gate, and the crematorium. This is where nearly 1.5 million people were killed. I was appalled by it before, but it took seeing it with my own eyes to really understand how devastating it was. Before, I could ignore the especially unpleasant parts, but when it's all right there in front of you, you can't get away from it. I definitely recommend everyone who gets a chance to see a concentration camp to do it. It's difficult to see and think about, but it's an experience that will make the Holocaust more real than anything else, and that's what needs to be done to make sure we never forget it.

Now on to Krakow. I'd made a pact with myself not to stay at any hostels. They just don't appeal to me at all. I prefer having my own room and not being forced into contact with people I don't want to know. I think it's safe to say that a majority of hostellers don't fit into the category of people I want to be around. Besides, I'm an introvert, and hostels don't care about introverts. Anyway, I couldn't find an available hotel room that wasn't incredibly expensive. I didn't know why because I didn't know the Pope was coming. But I found this nice hostel in Rick Steves' book called Mama's Hostel. He said it was quaint and friendly, so I decided to give it a try. We made a preliminary reservation, but when we got there, we found out they had to give our room to someone else because it was only a preliminary reservation. The only place we could find was at Nathan's Hostel, which is for people who like to party. <--Not me. We didn't really have a choice, though, so we figured we could put up with it for one night. The thing is, because the Pope was in town, there was a ban on alcohol from 6 pm Thursday to 6 pm Sunday, and the only places that could serve it were hotels and hostels, and you couldn't leave if you'd had a drink. So, everyone in the hostel plus others from the town were getting drunk all night in the hostel. Including my travel buddy. Not a good experience. I think I was the only sober person there. Let me just say here and now that I refuse to deal with drunk people ever again. That was enough to last a lifetime for me. I honestly just don't like being around drunk people. I'll steal your keys from you or whatever, but I don't want anything to do with you until you're sober (and that's only if I like you enough). That's all.

Back to Krakow. We went out in the afternoon to see the city. Like I said, it's a gorgeous city, right behind Prague in terms of the tourism rebirths that these Central/Eastern European cities are having. We had dinner then decided to wait for the Pope to drive through the city in his Pope-mobile. I've never seen security like I saw in Krakow. It was unbelievable, but you can see for yourself in my pictures. He was supposed to drive through the square at 7:35 but didn't actually show up until 9:20. I guess you can show up whenever you want if you're the Pope. Anyway, it was exciting. Something I wasn't expecting, but an experience that not many people can say they've had.

Here are some pictures from the weekend. We're back in Prague now. I might take a day-trip out somewhere tomorrow or Tuesday before classes start back on Wednesday, but, because I decided to take two classes instead of one, I haven't seen as much of the city as I would have liked, so I want to make sure I take some time to do that in the next two days, as well.

Leaving for first break

I'm busier today than I thought I would be because our train leaves earlier tonight than I thought, so I don't have time to right a full entry. We're going to Krakow, Auschwitz, and maybe Dresden (or somewhere) else for this first break. We have to be back in class on Wednesday. I'll update when I get back on Tuesday or Wednesday if I don't get a chance to use the internet while we're away.

We met a really rude Czech lady at the information dest at the train station today. Not a pleasant experience. If you work at an information desk, you know you're going to be giving tourists information, and you should be friendly and helpful. She was not.

Off to take my Tax test.

In my place...

Here is a picture of my room in our flat. I just put more up on my Shutterfly site. We've got seven girls in four rooms on the fifth (American) floor.

I've got an Income Tax test tomorrow at 1pm (that's 6am in Texas) so say a prayer that I do well!

I'll try to write an update tomorrow.