First Week in Prague!!

So Prague so far has met all of my expectations (which were fairly easy to meet).  The city is gorgeous, all of the architecture is amazing.  A mix of really gorgeous old old old stuff, and some more modern stuff (although even the "new" buildings are still  largely stone, and beyond beautiful).  The public transportation is freaking amazing.  I cannot even express how easy it is to get from one place to another.  Naturally, I'm a little sore from walking this much, but it's actually much less stressful going new places by the Metro (ie the tube, train, underground, subway whathaveyou) or by the Tram (ie the street cars) than it is driving new places in the US.  Or at least, I find it less stressful.  Especially the metro.  It's also what I categorize as very European, in that there are a lot of really cute small restaurants, bars, pubs, etc. that are easily within walking distance of wherever you are (I kid you not, from my window I can count at least 5 bars, 4 restaurants, and 2 little convenience shops).  In any case, I have a city bias because I've never lived in a downtown area, so I have always been fascinated by that kind of lifestyle.

This week is all orientation.  Everyone (or mostly everyone, the poor Irene victims are still straggling in a few a day, but they should all be here by Monday, hopefully) got here Monday morning, and we just chilled-- in true American style most of the group went out and got fairly shitfaced which looks like a growing trend (which in all honesty is rather concerning, because the people here are more reserved, and because they drink beer etc. from an earlier age, they can hold their alcohol much better- so acting like drunken idiots is basically a massive sign that you're a foreigner.. and considering that Americans have a kind of shaky reputation in European countries, I hope people cool it a bit in the next few weeks so I can stop feeling really ashamed of being a foreigner here).  But, in case you didn't know, the Czech Republic is very well known for their beer.  A common saying (or rather a generalization) is that beer here is cheaper than restaurants.  In restaurants they don't serve tap water, even though Prague water is totally safe to drink and actually tastes better than my water at home, so bottles of water are more expensive than pints of beer.  Pilsner is one of the more well-known native beer brands, and from what I've had it's pretty good- although my knowledge of beer is more than limited.  There is a bar/pub where they have a keg under each table, and 3 taps at the center of the table so you literally pour your own beer, and there's a little machine that keeps track.  It's actually really clever. 

So far we've done a few walking tours so we know where some important things are, and also so they know we can navigate our way around by tram/metro/bus.  And despite getting slightly lost on the Metro finding my way home yesterday afternoon after orientation, I think I'm getting the hang of it.  Although I'm sure it is definitely not the last time I'll take a train going in the wrong direction and have to switch sides at the next stop.  I got some really funny looks yesterday when I ran across the platform to catch the other train when I realized I was going in the wrong direction.

Today coming back from the study center I stopped at a little fruit stand right next to my metro stop, and picked out my little basket of strawberries.  But of course she didn't speak any English, and as of today my Czech vocabulary pretty much consists of 'hello,' 'please,' and 'beer'.  So of course I had no idea what to pay here and just kind of handed over 30crk (the exchange rate is 17 to 1) and hoped for the best.  She just nodded back and was like 'okay,' but I think I might have haggled that price down on accident.  But we start our intensive language classes next Monday, so maybe once I can speak a bit more I'll stop  by and apologize.

Okay well I think this is a sufficiently lengthy blog post!  I'll probably update this every other day or so, and tomorrow I think I'll put up pictures of my flat (the kids in our program are so spoiled, I think the standard of living that we're experiencing is above the average Czech, so I feel quite pampered) and the little square that we live on.

Much love!

PS. let me know if you want my phone # (it costs the same rates as in the US) or my mailing address.