Ahoj

(I forget if I have posted this already, but its my school)

Ahoj! Today I had my first day of classes.  If you thought backpacking at michigan was overwhelming you should see how they do it at AAU.  Much more complicated, but my roommate Emma and I were the first ones there to change our classes.  Although they did not have room for us in the same section, we are both taking czech culture and language, something I am actually very excited about. The first words we learned: Ahoj - hello (pronounced ahoy) and Pivo- Beer.

My professor lived right outside of prague during the communist era, and it caused alot of trouble for her family who was very academic   She said in the 80s people from prague would have came up to us and hugged us for being American, but now many of the country suffers from post-communist syndrome in which they are nostalgic for the old days.  She mentioned how communism is still visible, and we will be seeing how throughout the semester.

This class meets twice a week, with one day focusing on culture, and one day focusing on language.

So far it doesnt seem that bad

poltica=politics

sports=sports

caba=coffee

mleko= milk

pizza=pizza

skola=school (there are accent marks but i do not know how to type those yet...)

Our class wants to make an intramural FLORBAL team 

(like field hockey with a whiffle ball)

Our homework for the week is to try some czech food and learn the alphabet we learned they eat heavy lunch meals here as is much cheaper to eat off the lunch menu.  I also have to learn how to pronounce the alphabet.  While language was something I wanted to avoid I am eager to know what is going on around me.  We have class trips to order food, to dancing lessons, and to grocery shop so i feel as i will really be able to immerse myself in czech culture. (Although we will take it one step at a time, I did have bohemia bagel whre I got a bagel eggs and cheese for lunch and I made eggs for dinner)

Overall I had a great first day.  Everyone says abroad classes are a joke but we definitely have work.  They just seem much more interesting than the classes that we take at home, so it doesn't feel as much like busy work 

Ahoj! (means goodbye as well)