Orientation Day

After the comedy club on Friday, the genral consensus was to call it a night. Everyone was too tired for dancing. The show was fun, and the comedian really appreciated us coming to see him again. We also brought along Eisha, our third roommate. Eisha and I are sharing a room togeather. 

Metro Comedy Club

On Saturday, after catching up on sleep, we made our way to a cafe for some study time. We spent about 3 hours chugging away. Later, we took a break and headed to the grocery store to get familiar with all that they sold. I picked up a to-go open faced sandwich as well as some apples and other nessecities. Then we wandered back to our apartment to freshen up before dinner. 

Open faced sandwich, with ham, a boiled egg, a small pickle, and some sort of yam/potato salad I am guessing. I was not a fan..... 

Nöelle found a cute restaurant very close to our flat, so we went to check it out. We were joined by Nathan, and another student Charlie. The dinner was very good, and so was dessert. Nöelle got pinapple ravioli that she let me try, it was soooo yummy. 

 A church down the street from our flat. 

Dinner! I got the salad. No photo of dessert though... 

The same church on the way back to the flat. 

On the walk back, Nathan and I decided that we couldn't wait any more to check out the club scene. After dropping off Nöelle at our apartment, I walked with him to his hostel around the block. I got to meet his roommate who flew in that day, Ben, and the three of us had some drinks to pass the time. 

Around 10:00 we started making our way to a place called Bike Jesus. Nathan found it, and I was along for the ride. Ben also walked with us, but he didn't want to join the clubbing adventrue. While it wasn't our favorite, we still had fun and it was nice to just move around in the dance club. We got home around 2:00 am.

Inside the club

We had to walk across one of the bridges to get to the club. 

Sunday was the first day of our grammar boot camp, and orientation day. Fighting my hangover, I was lucky to have my roommates to lead me to the school. We spent two hours reveiwing tenses and practicing them with examples. 

Promptly at 12:00, our orientation leaders Dan and Derek arrived. They did the course in 2021 and have been in Prague sence. The organized a scavanger hunt, we went on a walking tour to the main castle in Prague, had some dinner, and ended the night in a beer garden. The photos are organized from the end of the night to the beginning. 

Dinner was duck and bread dumpling. It was very yummy. 

Check out those skulls in the back! This is Eden and Shelby

Outside the resturant. 

The veiw from part of the castle

The cathedral. This took over 500 years to complete. They used sandstone, which turns black as it is exposed to weather, and if you look closly you can see the right part of the cathedreal is darker. That side was built in the 1300's.

The most recent side. 

Some stained glass

It was really incredible. The glass turned the light to all shades of pinks and blues.

The front again. 

A lot of political offices are in this castel, including the presenets office. 

There were lots of open space between buildings. 

This used to be a moat. I believe it was called stag moat becuase there were so many deer that lived there, until they all got eaten by people attacking the castle. 

We took a tram up to the castel. 

This was where Beethoven orginally stayed.  

The Lennon Wall. This was important to the people of Prague during the cold war. At the time it was a communist country, and they could only listen to certien music. The Beattles weren't allowed, but people still brought in the records. This was was choosed to write hopeful messages or quotes from the music. Dispite efforts by the government to cover the wall, people still found a way to add too it. Now, every year or so it gets re-painted, and starts fresh again. People still aren't techniclly allowed to write on it, but thats becase there were too many disrespectful messages put up. The government doesn't wan't a wall of "Marcus was here" or graffiti penises, and I can't say I blame them. 

Our guide also gave us some insite to Czech culture. Because of the cold war and how close physically people live, the locals grew to be distrustful of everyone. This distrust still comes out, and explaines why they often don't share much about themselves or start conversations. 

Quick break in the park, with some champagne

We crossed the King Charles bridge to get to the castel.

We did a scavanger hunt in old town, and I had Nathan, Boris, and Charles in my group. 

The x's on the ground is where 27 people were publicly executed for fighting for religious freedom. 

Albert Einstein Memorial

Clock tower. Also, open containers while tecnically illegal are highly tolerated. 

We had to take a selfie with and american chain.

Selfie!

Veiws of the square

Veiws of the square

Walking to the square

Almost to the school! 

Our group ended up winning the scavanger hunt! We all got a shot glass as a prize. I was so suprised that we won. The night ended at a beer garden overlooking the city. We got to meet a bunch of alumni and exchange information. We have plans to meet up on different days this week for drinks. 

Today (Monday) was a long day. We had our first offical day of class and it went well. There is so much information to absorb, but I feel like I did my best. I wasn't feeling so well after class, and decided to stay in and study instead of push myself to go out with everyone else. I don't think I will regret that... .

Also, I have seen a few more birds. Some pigeons and one crow. I guess they just aren't active in my areas during the day.... still weird to not hear them very much. 

Tomorrow will be more classes, some studying, and maybe even a small dinner with some of us. 

Wishing for the best on your adventures, 

Cienna