One last hello from afar

Cau,

I am now done with my semester. I just had my last final (10 minute czech oral which wasn't bad at all.) I don't really know what to do now. It is a very strange feeling. I started packing yesterday, Katrina moved out already. The good thing is that I did most everything I set out to do in Prague.

Over the last couple of weeks I went to my first opera at narodni divadlo (the national theatre.) Just going to see the theatre is worth it, but the show was wonderful! I saw Puccini's La Poeme (what Rent is based on.) The set and costumes left a little room for improvement, but the singing itself was wonderful.....and there were czech and english subtitles, so I actually sort of knew what was going on! Oh yeah, and I saw it for three dollars.

The next thing on my list to do was go to a hockey game. Hockey is HUGE here. Prague has two teams...Sparta and Slavia and they are 1, 2 in their league at the moment. People are warned not to wear Slavia clothing because fights break out over the hockey teams. Which is actually very different than on the ice because in czech hockey there is no checking. A lot of people say that is makes the hockey game boring, but I don't really love hockey at all....so it made no difference to me. SO.....first of all, the stadium is three years old so it is huge and beautiful and new. We got out tickets and went to sit down, only to realize that we were in the crazy czech section. Basically that means that you can't walk down the isles because there are men sitting on then banging drums...for the ENTIRE game. People fully adorned in SLAVIA hats, scarves and jerseys stand in their seats all game shouting and cheering (sometimes even in english, which makes me wonder if they even know what they are saying.) Even in between play commentating and jingles are all in english. I felt like I stuck out like a sore thumb though. But it was really fun and Slavia won 5-3!

My concert was also last week. I played three pieces: Pacabelle's canon (originally for string quartet...played at this concert with violin, saxophone, trumpet and harp) It was a lot of fun and turned out pretty well. Then I played the second movement from the Creston Sonata with my accompanist Ed on piano. Then was an aria from a monteverdi opera originally for piano and two violins, played at this concert with a dobro, saxophone and harp. The concert went reallly well and it was at a very famous restaurant called kavarna slavia. It was a really fun venue to play at and our farewell dinner took place there after.

The last thing I had always wanted to go was to go to this flea market called Prazke Trznice. It is right by the bus stop I use to get to school and it is HUGE. I finally went there last weekend. It kind of resembles touristy china town, both with the appearance of the people and the quality of the products. But I got a 2 dollar thing of makeup and had a good time walking around.

Also this weekend I said goodbye, or farewell rather, to my favorite jazz club. I spent many many nights listening to jazz at U Stare Pani and the atmosphere was so nice and calm. If I had to pay the cover, which was rare it was never over 5 dollars. For that quality in NY, it would cost at the very least $30. I am having coffee with my saxophone teacher tomorrow because he has some cd's to give me and I want to say goodbye. He has been to the US before and he is planning to come again, so I know this is not a goodbye forever situation.

Tonight I am going to my internship's Christmas party. I am looking forward to seeing my supervisor one last time. She came to my concert :) It was really nice of her. She made my internship this semester so enjoyable, I am thinking that we also will keep in touch.

This past week both of my roommates parents were here. It was a lot of fun. We took them around everywhere. I love being a tour guide, especially when I think about how little I knew about Prague four months ago. Everyone is going out to celebrate the end of finals tonight, it should be a good time. Most of the people I know are taking the group flight back on Friday morning with me. I don't think the goodbyes will be bad because most people that i am friends with either go to NYU or Tufts. It will be interesting to see where these friendships turn when everyone is back in NY.

I can tell you one thing I am excited for. A CHAI! Here they have caj...pronounced the same, but it just means tea in czech. Stacy is meeting me and my mom at the airport so we can spend some time together before she goes to Paris for the spring and you better believe that I am going to get my soy chai!

I hope everyone enjoyed my saga this semester. I certainly did. I hope to see all of you soon, i will actually be able to TALK on my cell phone because it wont cost money!!! I am so excited to have that back. Can you picture me not talking on a cell phone for 105 days? Yeah, neither can I. It is also going to be pretty strange having TV back in my life, I wonder if I will start to watch it again. And cars, I won't be afraid of them at home. The czech people are the worst drivers I have ever witnessed, and I live part time in New York and in Boston. I hope that everyone has a wonderful holiday season! and see you soon!

Love, Emma