Praha (one month ago)

Some of my favorite memories from this weekend:

- We started it all with a 7 hour adventure of a bus ride to Prague over night from Thursday to Friday. This was no comfy ride and sleeping on it was practically impossible so I read and ate chocolate instead. It started with me being told by one of the grouchy bus drivers that I was not allowed to sit in seat #3 (the one I had reserved when purchasing my ticket), because I was not "the chauffeur"; it was his row. Seeing that he was a tough guy, I made it my goal to make him like me by the end of the trip; this internal response reminds me very much of my father. Since I asked a different question every hour throughout the night, couldn't figure out how to get into the bathroom on the bus, struggled with paying for the public bathroom in the Czech Republic because I didn't have the right currency, freaked out when we had to change buses because I was concerned that my friend's luggage hadn't gotten on the new bus in the transfer, became the translator between the drivers and passengers who didn't speak Hungarian and was trying to do all of this in my own imperfect Hungarian, it is no wonder that he was calling me "kis drágám" (my little dear) by the end. I clearly needed help!

- There were literally no lights on the bus so I used a friend's head lamp to read until I realized that it was probably driving all those around me who were trying to sleep a little nuts. Also, the bus would completely turn of every time we stopped at a traffic light.

- Upon arrival we spent 20 minutes trying to locate the metro. Later we came to find out that exactly where we had been standing when we got off the bus there was a huge "METRO (with an arrow)" sign painted on the pavement. 

- After arriving we took some time to rejuvenate at our hostel and then headed out to see Charles's Bridge. The bridge is a pedestrian bridge only full of vendors selling their art work.

- At first while walking up and down the streets that we thought led to Prague's Castle we couldn't seem to find it, but with time we realized that the building surrounding the streets we had walking on was the Castle. Whoops! But we did get to see the guards rotate locations and found the castle's Basilica.

- I had a Skype interview in my hostel room for a position back at Hope College. I got it, so I guess it wasn't too terrible. 

- That night we ate some incredible Thai food and took a stroll around the city, where we found the Grand Clock which we also we visited two days later in the day time on the hour so we could see its chime performance.

- On Saturday we made an attempt to tour the Jewish Quarters; however, were humiliated when reminded that Saturdays are the Jewish Sabbath after we asked why everything was closed. 

- We saw the city from a lookout tower above.

- We stubbled upon a little Carnival celebration of music, food, costumes and crowds. All of the children were dressed up in what look like little Halloween costumes. 

- We had the opportunity to visit The Lennon Wall too. It was so colorful!

- I thoroughly enjoyed trying to navigate the public transportation. At one point we got on a tram which decided to take a route different than the one indicated on the map, due to construction. We eventually got to our desired destination, and were able to see a little bit more of the city in the process.

- I ate my first falafel. Probably one of the most delicious foods ever created. 

- We saw a woman doing crack cocaine in the metro station. We hightailed it out of there pretty quickly. 

- While in a jewelry shop looking at rings for the other girls in my group, the salesman asked me if I wanted to buy anything. After telling him that I do not wear a lot of jewelry he told me he wished I was his girlfriend, because I would be a cheap one.

Until next time,

Emily