That's All, Folks

Aaaand I have reached the end of my solo Central/Eastern European jaunt.

My last like, 12 hours in Prague were amazing. I wrote that we were going to go to the Nutcracker, which had been the plan in the morning. (My Argentinean friends and I split up and they were going to go to the cheap ticket booth to get tickets.) They instead, however, got tickets to the opera Don Giovanni, performed AT the theater where Mozart world premiered Don Giovanni 200 years ago or whatever it would have been. AMAZING.

I have never been to an opera before and was sort of scared. This might make me sound like a pretentious ass, but I really, completely thoroughly enjoyed the evening. They had subtitles up in Czech and English for those who didn’t speak Italian, and had it not been for those, I think I would have been bored stiff/wouldn’t have had the slightest idea what was going on. I’m not sure if it’s just the translation or the style of writing at the time, but someone of the dialogue was so stilted it was hysterical. Characters would say stuff like, “You have stabbed me. My blood is exiting my body. My life is over. I die now.” (I wrote that one down on my program because it was an especially excellent example.) Anyway, it was highly enjoyable. It really didn’t feel like three hours. It was great. Also, it cost the equivalent of 8 dollars. Eastern Europe FTW.

That same night I said goodbye to my Argentinean friends, which was super sad. I woke up this morning and just generally got myself to the airport – pretty boring. I’m waiting to board my flight now.

A couple of general observations:

1) I’m glad I gave solo traveling a try. I would not have wanted to have been stuck in Galway for 2 weeks alone before class started. I’m really glad I got over the, “but I have no one to go with me!” fear. That being said, I don’t exactly think solo traveling is going to become my preferred method of travel. I’ve discovered that I like doing daytime stuff by myself. I genuinely enjoy going to museums alone and I don’t even really mind eating lunch by myself. It gets HELLA awkward at night, though. I mean, there are SO many solo travelers in hostels all over Europe, but I am an exceptionally awkward person even with people I know quite well, so trying to strike up conversation with people in the hostel bar or common area is completely nerve-wracking for me. But I also feel stupid coming back at like 8 and just reading or going to bed, because I feel like… I’m in Europe! I can’t just stay in and read! But that doesn’t make chatting with other travelers any easier. Anyway, I’m glad I did it because now I KNOW I can do it, so if I really want to go somewhere and I can’t find anyone to go with, I know I have the capability to go it alone. But I definitely much prefer traveling with other people.

2) I am absolutely shocked nothing went wrong on this journey. Like, everything went SO smoothly. I was worried about forgetting to book a hostel, booking flights on the wrong date, going to the wrong city, getting pickpocketed, or just generally doing something insanely stupid but very me. (I am not very good at the logistics of traveling. One infamous incident would be May of 2010 when I booked a Megabus ticket going from DC to New York… instead of New York to DC. It was horrifying.) I mean, I shouldn’t say it quite yet because I’m still at the gate in the Prague airport, but it really seems like this entire journey is going to go off without a single hitch.

3) This is more specific, but I have to say it – I don’t terribly care for the Czech people. Our tour guide described them as “dour and sullen” and I’d be inclined to agree. They act really pissed off at you all the time. I don’t think it’s because I can’t speak Czech (kind of like how the French get angry when you don’t speak French) because I’ve tried to start all my conversations with waiters, museum employees, public transportation employees, etc, in one of the Czech phrases I committed to memory (mluvite anglicky?), and they also appear to be super angry at regular Czech people who approach them. Also, paying for services rendered in this country appears to be totally optional. I can think of numerous occasions where I’ve attempted to pay my bill in a restaurant or bar, only to have the waiter get extraordinarily frustrated with me and just wave me off or ask me just to leave. I also can think of times when I’ve been presented with the bill, and the only thing on it is a beer when I ordered a meal as well. When you try to correct the mistake and pay the correct amount, they also get really frustrated and just insist on you only paying for the beer. I also have tried to pay for tickets on the bus, tram, whatever, again only to be told just to get on the bus, followed by an exasperated puff of air. I don’t understand it at all. I guess they don’t quite have the hang of capitalism yet. It’s totally bizarre.

ANYWAY. So that’s the rub. Now I’ll go back to updating this thing like, once a month or so. haha :-) Thanks for reading, eeeeerbody.

Czech This Out: Prague

So I know that's the corniest title for a blog entry EVER, but I honestly could not resist.

Prague is, in a word, totally enchanting. It's just what I think of when I think of Europe. Old cobblestoned streets, this castle up on a hill, great old architecture, dark and windy streets... it's awesome. I am loving it. I can't believe I have to go to CLASS on Tuesday! Ugh.

So I got in on Thursday night, kind of too late to really do anything except go out. Agostina was meeting up with some of her friends from Argentina here, and they all took me under their wing and have become my friends. I literally cannot thank these people enough. This hostel is about the nicest hostel I've ever seen. It's honestly more like a hotel than a hostel. It's... awesome. I honestly can't think of another word to describe it. The downside, though, to it being kind of hotel-y is that it would have been a LOT more difficult to meet people than it was in my hostels in Munich and Berlin. Thank goodness, though, I don't have to! I can't get over how nice these people have been to me. They go out of their way to speak English to and around me (even though it's obviously none of their first language, and one guy in particular clearly really struggles with it, but he persists in speaking it in group settings when I'm around), they include me in everything they do, etc. When I was waiting in the hostel bar with Agostina for her friends and they showed up, I kind of hung around for about 15 minutes and was like, "okay, see you guys later." I didn't want to impose on them since they had all just been reunited (they all traveled with each other for awhile but then they all wanted to do their own thing, so they were split up for about 2 weeks and reunited here in Prague). They were all like, "What? Where are you going? You don't want to hang out with us?" I was like, "I don't want to impose..." and one girl got up from the table, did the thing were you kiss someone on both cheeks (very Latin, I feel) and was like, "you are very welcome here with us." They've been so great.

So ANYWAY by the time they all came in it was about 8, so we just ate dinner at the hostel and went out. We went to the club that virtually every visitor to Prague under the age of 30 goes to... THE LARGEST MUSIC CLUB IN CENTRAL EUROPE! I don't even remember the name, but I know EVERYONE goes here. If anyone who is reading this has been to Prague, I'm sure you know exactly what I'm talking about. Anyway, it was sort of an obligatory thing. The club has five levels and each does a different type of music... it's actually a really weird place. But now I can say I've been there.

So Friday we got up and did a walking tour of Prague, with that same New Europe tour company. Again... it was really cool. We hit all the main sights... Old Town, the astronomical clock, the Charles Bridge, etc. Then in the afternoon, I did a walking tour of Prague Castle, which is apparently the largest castle complex in the world. It. Was. Incredible. ALSO I SAW THE CZECH PRESIDENT THERE!!! His offices are there and he was in his car driving away from the building! The tour guide confirmed it for us (mostly because, in the words of Derrick Testa, "If I saw the Czech president, he'd have to be holding a sign that said, 'Czech President' in English for me to know who it was.") Regardless. So cool.

Today I went to legitimately two of the coolest museums I have ever been to in my life. First, the Museum of Communism was incredible. It had all this Soviet memorabilia and exhibits on life under Soviet rule... it was really, really cool. Then I went to the Kafka Museum, which I'm still sort of trying to process. It... I sort of can't explain it. That sounds so stupid. But the museum was one long...path, I guess, and you go through the Prague of Kafka's imagination. That sounds weird, but I legitimately can't think of another way to explain it. It was... wow. It was really good.

Tonight I'm going to a performance of The Nutcracker with my new Argentinean friends. For the equivalent of seven dollars. I. Love. Central. Europe.

Ugh. I have to leave tomorrow. Gross.