Early in my semester, I planned a short trip to visit my friend Alex in Prague, where she's spending her semester. I met her through Josh at Oberlin and, over the past couple of years we have spent a bunch of time together on my visits. This past summer, we bonded over our fear and hesitation about actually going abroad...we made each other write lists of why we were excited, (which kind of helped me) but, nonetheless, we were both super nervous about the prospect of being so far from familiar faces for four months. Luckily, we have both proven ourselves wrong and are having incredible semesters. Hooray!
But before our two day reunion and happy recounting of our semesters began, I succeeded in creating quite the dramatic airport story: Especially since the end of high school, I have traveled quite a lot and I would definitely say I'm a pro at navigating airports like they're my home. Well, everyone's wrong sometimes...despite my double checking the departures board for my check in location and number, I managed to make my way through the absolutely wrong security check point, which I conveniently only discovered after the 30-minute process. I left security and checked the board...no EasyJet flight posted there. Womp #1. Went back up to the security point and asked one of the guards to help, to which he replied, "You're on the wrong side of the airport." With only twenty minutes until boarding, I asked him how exactly it would be possible to make it to my gate, to which he so calmly explained, "You must go down the hall and to the left and into baggage claim and out through customs and back up to escalator and walk FIFTEEN MINUTES to the OTHER SIDE OF THE AIRPORT, go through security again, and go to your gate." Womp #2. Jaw dropped, I was speechless, especially when he yelled, "You better RUN!" Jeeze...there I was, sprinting through Schipol with my legs sore from yoga and backpack weighing me down. Oh, and obviously I was dying to pee. Womp #3. Laugh you may, because yes, it was quite the sight. Huffing and puffing (although my legs are beasts from biking and yoga, so it didn't actually take me more than 5 minutes to make it to the next security checkpoint), I ran up to the security guard and cut the line. Adrenaline is a funny thing; messes with you, even. Somehow, in my mind I had decided that my flight would be the third listed on the EasyJet gates board once I arrived at the waiting area (see Barcelona blog post for a recap on their INSANE check-in and gate system). So, I looked at the board and "my" flight, the third one listed, read, "gate closing." Womp #4. There I went again, long-legs striding as far as they could alongside the normal people, walking at a normal pace, to their gates. Panting and freaking out, I arrived at M3, and discovered that the gate closing was indeed the third listed flight...to Barcelona. Well I just took a little sigh of relief, tried to laugh at myself, and sat down in front of the board to await my actual flight's gate posting. And, the best part is, I was the third person on the plane. Success.
That was definitely my dose of drama for the day, so I was really glad to have an easy time navigating the Prague bus and metro system to Alex's stop. She met me at the top of the escalator and thus commenced our two days of catching up, talking over drinks in candlelit cafes, walking around beautiful old neighborhoods, and marveling at our experiences. I was so so so in need of seeing a familiar face, and of having a different sort of travel experience. While I have absolutely loved the trips I have taken with friends from CIEE, I was definitely starting to tire of the days of long walking, cramming in lots of sight-seeing and trying to really get a good feel for a city, all based on travel guides and our own arbitrary sense of which direction to turn when we decide to be "adventurous." Visiting Alex was so special because she gave me such an insider's perspective, showed me things I never would have discovered without a real local (and that she is!), and joined me in my preference for walking around and discovering cool places along the way, rather than pre-planning out a full, packed day.
After I got in on Thursday night, we headed over to one of her favorite cafe/bars...this awesome, underground place lined with bookshelves and sewing machines for tables. We shared some wine and dark chocolate cake and began catching one another up on the past few months. After that place closed, we moved onto "The Big Lebowski's," the "only bar in Prague where you pick what to pay!" It was filled with cool looking people and we shared some delicious, cheap drinks. It was such a relaxing evening, and the perfect welcome into the city.
After a good night of sleep, we ate breakfast and headed out to wander through Old Town, which was gorgeous. The buildings composed a beautiful color palette and those with cracked paint only add to the classic Eastern European aesthetic. The little cobblestone streets off the main square are even more enchanting, and we didn't need much convincing to stay there for a while at one of Alex's favorite cafes/bakeries. Our walking continued up a hill to take a closer look at the Prague Metronome, which stands overlooking the city and main river (Vlatava River), in place of the ginormous Stalin statue that was destroyed in 1962.
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| Beautiful view of the Charles Bridge |
After strolling through the park and down through the old museum center, we hopped on the tram and got off near the DOX, the Center for Contemporary Art. The exhibits were incredible, and I was especially intrigued by the first:
The Lucifer Effect: Encountering Evil, a commentary on human interaction and the apparent ease with which the evil can emerge. The exhibition was largely influenced by psychologist Philip Zimbardo's studies, which, though now considered an absolute violation of ethical guideliens for psycholgoical research, provided much insight into human interaction and conformity. Very thought provoking. I especially liked a chart (I can't remember the artist's name right now) that mapped out "the self (draft)," linking a series of thoughts, actions, and outcomes of choices we make. It was a really powerful commentary on the interconnectedness of so much of what we think and do, and the inevitability of our actions, as seemingly isolated and simple as they may seem, to affect the rest of our own lives and the greater world. For example, I need groceries: arrow pointing to I walk (ends here); arrow pointing to I bike (ends here); arrow pointing to I drive (links to I propel the fuel economy, I partake in the exploitation of natural resources, etc...) So cool.
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| "What a cute puppy!" |
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| "Oh my goodness, he's eating my sleeve!" |
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| Perfect Eastern European look :) |
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| SO COOL |
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| Looked like a mirror, and it was vibrating, giving off such a crazy effect...actually plastic, though. |
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| Rooftop sculpture garden...Alex is happy |
We slowly made our way over to a really great vegetarian restaurant, where we ate leisurely for a couple hours before heading to a nearby cinema to see "Midnight in Paris," which was so cool to see for the second time after having visited Paris, and standing in so many of the featured spots. My continued visits to art museums also made some of the art history jokes way funnier this go-round. If you haven't seen the film, I highly suggest it (and SO many other Woody Allen productions!)
After some quality people watching at another underground bar (with seemingly endless connecting corridors and hidden rooms), we headed home for another night of quality sleepy-time. Saturday morning brought banana pancakes and a lovely stroll through Alex's neighborhood, including a visit to the infamous TV tower and viewing of the babies that David Cerny added to spice it up (or perhaps as a criticism on our generation's immediate and endless attachment to the digital world...). I headed out on Saturday afternoon--seems like a short trip, but the timing was actually perfect. I didn't want to overextend my stay, and the purpose of my visit was to catch up with Alex more than to see and fully explore Prague, although I definitely felt satisfied with the latter as well.
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| Alex's gorgeous street! |
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| I could be right at home here :) |
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| TV tower |
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| Babies...crazy! |
This end of travel was far easier and more relaxed than the first, and I made it home safe and sound with plenty of time to make dinner, catch up with Josh and my rents, and head over to Marisa's for the evening. All in all, it was an incredible trip, and I am left feeling SO pleased with my semester: everything from the city I've chosen to the way I'm approaching every day, and the attitude I have toward social life and maintaining a balance of time out and time for myself. It's awesome to be feeling so continuously positive about my time here and the radical changes it's had for my head-space and willingness to take time to be present and less wrapped up in jam-packed agendas. What a positive few days!
