hello from prague - 10/27/2005

Hey everyone!

I just got out of my lesson, which was amazing. Next week it is going to be pushed back because Frantisek will be in Sweden with his family. Lastnight I went to his show at aghARTA. It is a funky little jazz club that looks a little like the inside of a HUGE wine cellar, anyway, it has great sound and it was a lot of fun until I had to leave after the second set to go home and finish up a midterm paper.

Last weekend my friend Sarah had a bunch of her friends come to visit from Rome. The group was from UPenn and Tufts. We did all sorts of touristy things like go to Prague Castle and shopping and our favorite restaurants like Radost (happiness) which is run by americans and had only vegetarian food. I was very cultured last weekend. On thursday I went and saw Swan Lake for $1.35. It was my first non Nutcracker ballet and I was proud of myself for enjoying it. i couldnt really delineate a plot line...there was a good guy and a bad guy and they were fighting over a girl who changes costumes a lot, and there was a queen in a gorgeous dress, but the music was wonderful, then costumes were pretty and there were a lot of men in tights. It was playing at Narodni Divadlo (the national theatre) and it was worth it to go even to see the theatre from the inside, wowis it breathtaking, but i wasnt allowed to take any pictures. I also went to see Popelka (cinderella) which is a prokofiev ballet. It was in quite a different style dancing wise, but the music was fantastic and we had some pretty good seats....and there was a plotline that I could follow. I would put it more under comic ballet (if i can invent that as a genre.) OH YEAH...and I went to the zoo. I saw pelicans at the zoo, I thought that was a little funny, and I saw elephants and gorillas and lions and lots of flamingos! It was a nice way to spend a sunday afternoon and it only cost $1.25.

So......In an hour and I am going to go and pick up NICOLE FROM THE AIRPORT! I have the entire weekend planned out and I cannot wait for her to come. As it turns out all the girls that I live with are having people come and visit this weekend, so it is going to be a huge party in room 13. I am only being minorly stressed out because I am in the middle of midterm time...that is until wednesday the 9th of november when I have four midterms in a row. That isn't going to be much fun.

Last weekend was absolutely amazing. I went to cesky krumlov which is a little town about three hours (75 miles....there are no highways so we took little side roads the entire trip) northeast in the czech republic. I had the most fantastic time. It was a group of 13 NYU students and we left at the crack of dawn on friday morning. Our hostel had the most comfy beds ever (though one girl came home with bed bugs...ick) We did a castly tour, i have lots of pictures, we went through the castle gardens, which were breath-taking and had a huge maze of shrubs, and we all went out to dinner together because everyone in the group was so cool. There were tons of bars around and after dinner (the food was okay, the real plus was that is cost about $3 for an entire meal and a beer) we went to a couple. One of the ones we went to was called Horor Bar and inside it had skelatons and graves and knives and torture tools, I got a great picture from inside you cannot miss it :)

So the next day we really wanted to go horseback riding because that is a popular tourist activity and we got all ready to go sign up and it was all booked for the day. We decided to rent bikes instead, let me tell you this was the best decision ever. Me and two other girls went on a bike ride through the mountains of cesky krumlov, probably a 20 km bike ride, but it was literally through the montains. I have never had to bike something that steep on a rocky trail in my life...even living off of Long Hill Rd. We road by HUGE fields and gorgeous views (because we were up soo high) and we stopped by a river to have lunch halfway through. On the way back all the village people we passed were laughing hardcore at us because the hills were so steep and we were struggling. Whatever, we made it and we felt really good afterwords. We got home just in time to have smoothies at a beautiful little cafe RIGHT on the edge of a little canal and run to the bus for our trip home.

Upon getting back (around 8:30pm on saturday night) me and Sarah rushed over to U Stare Pani to see Frantisek's quartet playing. It was a great show and we made it there in the middle of the second set.

Lately I have been completely sleep deprived because my poor roomate is pretty hardcore sick. Therefore she falls asleep immediately and sounds like she is dying in her snores. I really thought that I was going to have to take her to the emergency room one night because she sounded like she was going to choke to death. I hope that she gets better soon. Chicken pox broke out at NYU. One of my professors is pregnant right now so she is not allowed in the building. Therefore we have been watching lots of weird communitst movies in czech. Class is starting up again next week. It is also time to start registering for next semester! Strange!!!!! My registration date is actually in the middle of my fall break so I have to find an internet cafe somewhere.

My italy plans are pretty much finalized because I am going in two weeks, that is pretty scary but I am sooooo excited!! I have some good travel partners so I know that I will be able to get a lot done. And also, the girls who visited us two weekends ago already have our entire Rome stay planned out with sites to see. I am so excited!!

I think that is all for now, but I always forget things. Time to go to the airport!!

Emma