Update

So I know I promised a Berlin post and I swear it's coming but it's been a crazy week. 3 classes on Monday 3 on tues and then hw all day Wednesday because right now I am on my way to Poland. Update-McDonalds serves fried briee amazing. We have to stop every three hours for 30
Minutes it's a "law". I'm writing this from my phone which is annoying so it will stay short. Bye for now!

(the group)

(big liberty sign outside the front)

Today I went to go see Radio Free Europe, which is headquartered in Prague 10.  They used to be in the main square but after 9/11 and an attempted terrorist attack they moved far away. So back on the metro.  This was an optional trip so it was only me and 4 other students.  This is literally the safest building in prague.  Security was more intense than the airport. We had to hand them our passport, be accepted into a building where we went through a metal detector and had our bags scanned, and immediately following the approval of that we had to wait outside(lucky me I was first) until we could than enter the radio free europe building.  The main press room when you finally enter reminded me alot of The Telegraph(london) headquarters.  There were flags over different sections designating different countrys so naturally I go to take a picture(prime instagram opportunity  and was immediately yelled at. Apparently there is something really secure about the ceilings... our meeting was honestly not that informative because everything is secret and they have many guest writers.  The protection that they can offer their broadcasters is amazing(though is the relevancy of this organization worth 500 billion of our tax dollars...esp when not all media is pro america).  IT was cool to see all the diff media forms, they are very active on social media.  Also interesting is that in some countries the reason they are so popular is because the literacy rates are so low that radio free is the best source. Overall I am glad I went. My favorite quote, "we are in the business of putting ourselves out of business" in response to me inquiring about their future plans as countries stabilize.

I spent the past weekend in berlin but there is way too much to write about now...it was an AMAZING weekend though!


the group pointing to prauge obviously my cheesy idea

DONT LOOK AT THE ROOF!

the broadcast area map

Rockin the Red in Prahaaa

Today was a struggle waking up for my 9:15 class. Czech.  The class.. even more of a struggle.  We had a pop quiz, started learning grammer concepts I dont even understand in english(if they even exist) and she showed us that we can make our names into 500 different words depending on mood and how formal. Except mine, since Jen is a czech word I would have to get a new name completely.  NO THANKS. So needless to say, I dropped the course. While I still have the textbook and will teach myself relevant phrases, there is no way I am going to master the language.  Plus I got off the wait-list for Prague Art and Architecture, which I REALLY wanted to be in. So there will be my cultural part.  I signed up for contemporary american cinema, which will probably be more useful since I have seen no movies and aspire to work in the entertainment business.

CEA offered a program wide trip to the hockey game.  Even though I had class I decided to skip it (you can skip two... totally worth it).  We took the metro to the game.  The metro was built to be a bomb shelter so it is REALLY far underground.  The escalator probably took 5 minutes.  My ears were popping. It was one of those things where you didn't want to look down.  Somehow though, there was still cell service under there (NYC subways take note).

Anyways we got to the game and had 6th row seats behind the goal.  The cost 100 ck(5 dollars) for arguably the best seats in the house with the rowdiest fans and what we believe were a self proclaimed fan club. We got a beer and a hotdog for 75 ck which is insane that would be at least 15 dollars in the USA.(ans yes this means i tried a czech hotdog. It had onion rings and veggies on it but I deff needed to hide the taste with ketchup and mustard) Stadium beer cost the equivalent of 2 dollars a cup. It really is true, beer is cheaper than water here.  There were a bunch of czechs sitting behind as who laughed in the beginning at us trying to learn the cheers. I swear one sounded like go blue and being with Alot of michigan kids we alternated between that, rock the red, and hail to the victors.  I asked the Czechs if they knew Michael Neuvirth.  One boy was excited.  The other responded. "SPARTA IS SHIT". Guess they did know some english...  Somehow we bonded over ovechkin, the only other NHL hockey player they could name.  They are all Ovechkin fans surprisingly enough..So every time we were supposed to do something, the would say Ovechkin to me, and then show us what to do.  "Our" team praha slavia won. Its hard to explain the game experience, so look below at my "picture book" of the night.

does not even capture the height

very modern, but trams are much easier

the game was at the O2 arena 

 right before the game 

Sara, me and Jess 

our czech "friends" showing us a cheer

great seats

man down

some of the group

halftime warm-ups

 me and the mascot 

When the team scored our section spread a huge banner over our heads

sara and I got scarves (only 10 dollars!)

the game was tied, and went into a shoot-out

great save, we won!

a cool tradition after the teams shake hands the slavia praha team sat facing us and everyone in the stadium sat as well

then they stood up, and so did we 

they raised their sticks, we raised our scarves(so glad I purchased one)

then they slid towards us on the ice before exiting the rink

 goalie stood by himself and everyone cheered

and he slid onto us as well

 The hockey game was one of the most fun games I have ever been too. It was the second to last game of the season and I cant skip class again for the next one, but I cant wait for the playoffs and to see SPARTA the main team play.

court and her bloody mary

Typical, dinner at globe with the roomies and some boys across the all . I had a chicken cesar salad. Another item to czech off the list. 

Ok bedtime. 

Ahoj!

Sorry its been so long since I last posted, and apologies in advance for the length of the post, but it was a very busy week/ weekend.  Wednesday, we met some  people who are backpacking through europe at the hotel across the street.  Thank jewish geography for making sure they were not sketchy, and we hung out with them for the night. They took us to a pretty local czech spot.  What I learned... foreigners LOVE photo bombing american pictures.  They kept coming up to my friend and I and asking for pics together but with OUR cameras(weird). It was exciting and different to go to a non-typical abroad spot, but also a very different and even smokier atmosphere. They will be in berlin when we are there and know locals, which is apparently necessary if you want to experience night life in Berlin, so thats a plus. Also met people from australia who thought my accent made me sound like I was from alabama(the only southern state I knew...) very off. So I told them they sounded like they were from london. Note: australians dont like to be compared to british people.   

On Thursday night, a ton of people came to visit from Barcelona and Florence.  Thursday my roomates and I just hung out in our apt, caught up on work, prepped for our visitors, and did some homework.  We went to dinner at our fave spot globe (bucket-list item, try everything on the menu, I had falafel).  Emily and Jeff met us there!!! But Emily was a little hadicapped for the weekend so they didnt come out with us.  After we pre-gamed at our apt and went to radost FX, my fave club.  One of my best friends from school was visiting as well and his cab got there right before ours, was so excited that it was that easy to meet up... then I walked into the bar, and it felt like skeeps. Literally Michigan kids Left and Right. It was def a fun night filled with lots of Michigan friends. Having visitors is really fun and everyones friends are rooming with someone who knows someone somewhere else. 6 degrees of separation shrinks to about 2 abroad so it was fun to meet people especially since we are all still new in Prague.    

(Thanks Jeff/Em/Mizz)

mich reunion at radost Fx!

Friday:  Emily experienced czech healthcare, and then we met up and went to old town square for lunch.  We walked around a little bit, and tried to go to the Communist museum but when we saw it was in the Casino we decided against it.  So instead, we walked along the charles bridge and went to the Lennon wall. 

Em and I at the door our size at the clock tower

lennon wall

Em, jeff, and I before going out

Afterwards we headed to nap and rest before getting dinner in the jewish quarter.  It was not very good.  Then emily and Jeff came back to my apt to get ready to go out to Lucerna for 80's night.  I found a secret backdoor in which was very helpful because the line is always long. It was fun to see everyone.  After we went to James Dean, a cool diner and club in old town square.  Its about a 5 min walk from our house and Rachel and I were pretty proud to make it back on our own without using maps!!

Saturday: My favorite place rasost FX is also pretty famous for their brunch, so Emily, Jeff, my friend lesley from Michigan, and I went to try the brunch.  We got there about 30 minutes later than the rest of our roommates who confirmed how good it was. After I went to show Jeff and Emily the castle. While I dont have any pictures on my camera of this, here is a pic of my roomie Sam and I at the castle, its such a pretty view you can see the WHOLE city. We tried to take alot of panorama pics, but mine didnt turn out so well... really happy i found out the iphone 4 has that capability though

After, I took a nap and then met back up with Jeff and Emily.  We were going to try this restaurant I heard about and I looked up how to take the tram there, which I was really proud of. However the restaurant was closed so I took them to lemon leaf, the no-thai of prague where we saw half of our CEA program and 1/3 of Michigan.  We then went to the 5 story club which is famous in prague.  It is definitely an experience, with a different theme on every floor.  The disco music and R&B were where we spent the most time. 

Sunday: At 8 am we had a free field trip with CEA.  Rachel, Emma, Lauren and I were assigned to go to it that day. We took the tram the wrong direction to the meeting point, but figured out the metro and made it in time luckily!!! (hard enough as it is to figure these out, even harder on two hours of sleep).  We started off at the Pilsner Factory, very informative on how they make beer. Downsides: some of the rooms smelled really funky and the temperature fluctuated depending on the room.  Also i think i would prefer to not know how beer is made.  They gave us a glass straight from the barrel which was kind of cool... but it was also 11 AM so it was not exactly what I was craving.  We then went to see a famous church and the second biggest synagogue in europe (budapest has the biggest).  They were pretty ... and cool to see.. in every sense of the word.  These old stone buildings trapped in the cold.  I couldn't feel my feet for two hours after and Lauren and I stood under the hand warmers dryer things in the bathroom for about 15 minutes.  I've honestly never been so cold I dont know how people sit through services there... though the synagogue does have heat in a smaller room they dont turn it on that often, and especially not for us.  It was cool to see another part of the czech republic though.  There was also a statue thanking americans which i found interesting because in prague the people do not seem to love Americans.   After coming home in the freezing cold I put on all my socks and Marissa and I went to Globe, our neighborhood place (ya second time in a weekend, I know). Tried the spinach burger, it was delicious. Also, DAD I TALKED THE SHOP OWNER. Since we are becoming regulars THERE A LOCAL "friend". He was giving us our 10% cea discount and was talking about how its crazy that so many people study abroad here now. He showed us all the programs they know of and said it used to be just people at charles university, coming for med school because it is so cheap. Scary because my friend from london who went to the Dr here returned home and they told her the czech doctors are "bananas".  Overall outcome of the convo, unemployment is 9% which he thinks is great, (and that praha is better than spain which is 20%).  The main industries are auto and beer... not together though obviously he made a very big point that drinking and driving is not encouraged in prague.  (the absinthe bar also warns against drinking and trying to navigate the trams.. very responsible... prague)

barrels of beer

Factory where they prepare the bottles, apparently some are reused.. kind of questionable so I would maybe stick to canned pilsner

second biggest synagogue in Europa.. deff smaller than har shalom though 

beautiful inside. 

Monday: Slept. Changed my classes. Class was cancelled. Good day.  Went to tesco which i hate, but found peanut butter, honey nut cheerios, and some yummy pesto, which I made for dinner. (update- not so yummy).  Also all the vegetables and fruit are always moldy... kinda gross .. by kind of I mean really. Grocery shopping still weirds me out because I have no clue what I am getting.  Doing Hw and internship apps right now... EW. Tomorrow CEA takes us to a hockey game, but I have class during it. So mad. Tonight I am staying in to try and sleep, hopefully it works. Tomorrow my prague art and architecture class is cancelled because there is a longer field trip next week, but i still have czech in the AM and Photography at night. 

Ok I think this is all there is to report.  If you got to the end of this, congrats!!!

SAM TURNED 21!

HAPPY 21st BIRTHDAY SAMANTHA!!!!! my praha roomie and one of my bff's from mich!!!

Last night we celebrated Sams birthday. First with a cake from bakeshop(AMAZING) and then with a pregame at our apt before we went to one of her fave places.. double trouble! It is a bar less than a mile away from us, with a cool dance floor and a spot where all the abroad kids know to go to.

Something to note about prague TAXI DRIVERS SUCK.  They will try to rip you off charging up to 30 dollars for less than a mile for a cab of 4 people.  Our program warned us of this and told us to only use AAA cab which is the most reliable.  However, even they try and take advantage of the students knowing we are desperate to escape the cold and have no clue where we are going.  Also, they will only take 4 people at a time, and you have to call and reserve cabs which is a bit of an issue since you cant exactly call them on viber. So to avoid these obstacles we walked. Our apt is all michigan and wisco kids, so the snow is not a big deal.  When leaving, half of us took cabs, while others walked.  A man followed my friends home.  She was texting me the whole time, and when she arrived home we went to meet her.  To get into our building there is a huge glass and wood door where u need an electronic key and then a gate where you need another key.  The man followed her into the first entrance.  We pulled them inside the gate and quickly slammed it and ran upstairs.  We heard shouting and a few minutes later we found out he had shattered the glass in the door and broken the wood.  The glass was inside the building so he broke it after he left.  We didn't feel unsafe or threatened, just a little scared in the moment and did not know the mans intentions. We called the CEA emergency number so 1) we wouldn't get charged, and 2) so they could fix it and 3) so they could review the security tapes to make sure nothing else sketchy happened.  They were finishing up replacing the door when we woke up this AM(okay so like 2:30), but lesson learned.. worth it to take the scumbag cabs.

Another discovery of last night. Props to courtney to finding a pizza delivery place.  In prague there are non-stop restaurants meaning they are open 24/7. She ordered on a czech website too.. impressive!

(Lauren when she discovered our re-modled front door)

The landlords however are not very happy with us, and I'm pretty sure they turned off any hot water we did have...because they came in this AM and were playing with the hot water heaters. (They know this is our only complaint). Guess we are going to have to start adapting to the euro way of hygiene..aka none..Although I am joining the gym tomorrow and I am very excited because they have showers there! Hopefully they will be hot. I am now sitting in Starbucks doing some work for internships and things for University of Michigan.  It is weird that I needed to remember to bring a converter to charge my computer.  A bunch of my friends are visiting this weekend and I cant wait to see them so I am getting my work out of the way now. 

sNOw

(hot wine and bread covered in cinnamon sugar are common street foods, that is not powdered sugar on top, but snow)

It is always a good idea to look out the window before going outside in Prague.  Today did not get off to a great start.  I  couldn’t sleep so thought it would be a good idea to take a shower at 5:30 in the morning.  You would think there would be hot water… WRONG.  After finally falling asleep for what seemed like 5 minutes, I woke up and ran outside to the tram only to find the ground covered in snow. While it does look beautiful it is definitely something I could do without.  Also the ground was pretty slippery which I didn't expect.  We are really lucky to live about 2 min from a tram that takes us to school.  The tram runs about every 3 minutes, and there is always room to get on.  While I couldn't navigate around the city on the trams yet, it is definitely a convenient way to travel.  My first class of the day was Czech, where we had our first conversations. Heres a sample:

Ahoj

Jak se mas?

Fajn

A ty?

Fajn jsi student/ka

Jsi american/ka

Ano, jsen student/ka. Jsem American/ka

Odkud jsi?

Z Maryland.

Tesi me! Tak ahoj

Ahoj

Easy right? See if you can figure it out, or even better say it.  But then when we got to the culture half of the class I saw how amazing the Czech republic really is.  This video is a little long but i highly suggest you watch it.  It shows what a truly amazing country the czech republic is.  Watching it today in class we all had chills 

After I had my innovations management class... back to porters 5 forces... may have to drop that one.  Afterwards, I came home for a nap and Sam, Rachel, Marissa and I all ventured back to school for our 6:30 class.  I had digital photography where I was greeted by a dog! Very different than american school.  This is probably the class I am most excited about, as I want to learn how to capture the beauty of this amazing city without the filters of Instagram. We are so lucky school is so close to the castle so we will be taking trips there in different lights. We also will be making a flikr portfolio so as soon as I have that link, I will share it with you guys so you can look at my class work too 

(our furriest classmate picking his seat... i got in trouble for taking this pic... ironic for a photography class)

It is my roommate Sam's 21st bday so we got a cake and are having a party for her tonight!

Ahoj!