Day 5

Today was B Knox’s first day of class. I slept in a bit because I was really congested. We headed to the Institute around 12:15 and I got some reading done for my class tomorrow, while B Knox was in class. I ran to Albert’s for lunch that was under a dollar (yogurt, bread, cheese SOOOO GOOD) and got a lot accomplished. I headed out with the other roomies and a few other friends (Jay, Susannah, Shelly, Courtney, and Koki) to grab some sushi because a lot of were craving it. After a successful dinner, we stopped at the Potraviny and grabbed some cookies and an apple.

Now let's hear from Brittany Anne!!!

Hi friends and family! It’s me writing my first for real blog post! Weez has done most of them so far (along with some collaboration) but this is Brittany Anne on her own…here goes! J

I am absolutely loving being in Prague! This city is incredible and my favorite place in the world is now the castle and castle grounds. I can’t wait to spend many days up there looking out over this amazing city and seeking out every exciting and interesting corner of the castle and its surrounding area. There will certainly be plenty of time for that in the near future, but now, after several adventures, playing musical rooms, eating yummy food, meeting sweet new friends and doing lots of exploring, we have finally started to settle into a routine. I had my first day of classes today and it was a very interesting start to the semester. I started off with HI 252: Modern American History from 1-4 pm at the Institute. Random class selection for studying abroad?...yup! However, I need a history credit so it was a perfect choice for me and I love history so I was excited for this one! My class is super small, there are only 5 of us, so we will get to know each other very well. It’s going to be a great class and relate a lot to World War II and events in American history that relate to or took place in Europe. We get to go to Berlin for a weekend too so be on the lookout for exciting details about that trip in a few weeks! J J

My second, and only other, class, 19^th Century Philosophy, got pushed back due to the professor’s schedule. It is usually supposed to be from 4-7pm but tonight it was from 6:30-9:30 pm. (Add that to 1-4 and throw in some reading for history in between and let’s just say it was quite a long and studious summer day!) This class is going to be way more difficult for me than history. I tend to think very logically and literally and judging by today, me and the roundabout ways of philosophy will have a difficult time interacting. We flew through information and my brain was literally left hurting. Oh well, that will be one more thing I will have to work on! The most important thing I learned today was a little more about the spiritual climate of the country. According to my professor the Czech Republic is the most atheist country in all of Europe. He said that latest statistics showed only 11% of Czechs believe in a personal God and it broke my heart to hear how few people in this place know that they can be truly free. It’s obvious in just walking around that this is a dark place, people seem stoic and rarely happy or joyful, and churches are few and far between. From a little research it seems the lack of spiritually or any desire for it is likely due to the pain experienced by the people due to its history of communism and the people’s association of that with the Catholic church. I would really like study this more in the next little bit, but for now I just wish my Czech was strong enough to explain to the people around me the incredible joy and freedom they can find in following Christ! If anything could make me want to love this city more it is understanding that they are so desperately in need of knowing the Savior. As Weez and I spend the next few weeks here we would like to ask you to pray with us for this city and nation. It is a place that is hurting and in need of the love and healing only Christ can bring. Hope I didn’t bore you with my forever long post, I love you all! Goodnight!

Beeknox and Weez reunited at this point:

The boys (Jay and Justin) helped us move our furniture around Madeline style (all the beds lined up) for the payment of cookies. We all organized our room and it is beautiful. Our roomies are hilarious and we’ve laughed so much already.

Sara’s quotes of the day: “Like we’re going to get struck by lightning before we have any fun”

“And another thing. The girl on the horse raft looks just like my mom”

“ Do you watch ‘How I watch Your Mother?’”

Dobrou noc!!

Day 4

We ate our last amazing breakfast at the hotel and got picked up in the tiniest car ever for three people and three huge suitcases and two huge carry on bags. I sat on Brittany, not really in her lap and had my head smushed to the ceiling as our driver crazily whipped around corners. We made it to the hostel and FINALLY had a room, but it was currently occupied by boys…but our luggage had a place to be. We then caught the metro like masters, got off at Mustek, and went to the Institute for Orientation. We got our keys and went on a tour. We were told horror stories about pick-pocketing, etc.

We had a delicious lunch of mixed fruit from the market, Laughing Cow cheese, fresh bread, and Florian yogurt, which is our favorite!! [especially blueberry, strawberry, or mixed fruit]. After a brief lesson on Czech language and history, we stopped for dinner in Old Town Square. After watching the Astronomical Clock show with Koki and Bradley, we grabbed dinner from a vendor. We got hugeeeee kolbasas or kielbasas on fresh bread rolls and the boys got this bread thing that looked like pizza that had ketchup and cheese on it.

B Knox got some bananas for the rest of her nutella on the way home. I ran with some people to the Potraviny (grocery) and grabbed a Sprite and some more Milka chocolate! The Sprite here tastes a lot different and better. It’s more lemony and delicious!

Then one of my favorite things ever happened. We got to chat with almost all of our favorite people at once! Gordo the most fantastisch friend ever texted Haley, Chellup, and JWong and we all video chatted for almost 2 hours. I was sooo overwhelmed with happiness :). We had our first night in room 33 and the first night with our new roomies, Molly and Sara, who we love already!!!

Sara's quote of the day: "I feel like beds reflect the Czech Republic, you know like, real abrasive"

Day 3

The fountain right outside St. Vitus Cathedral

Today (5/17) B Knox and I caught the metro for what we thought was the last time from our other hotel to head to the hostel where everyone else was. We made the trek and even got asked for directions [we blend in so well!!!!]. We made it to the hostel and it was a crazy house when we got there with tons of new friends to greet! The managers asked us if we could stay for one more night… :/ We were a little frustrated, but our other hotel was super nice and he charged us the same as the hostel :)

We headed out to lunch pretty quickly and went to Old Town. We grabbed a calzone at a little gyro stand and hit the market for some fresh fruit. B Knox and I got some bangin’ grapes and an orange. We all ate at the fountain next to the institute and stayed pretty warm; it was even a little sunny!

After lunch, we took a nice little hike to the Castle.

We toured through St. Vitus’ Cathedral, which was absolutely astonishing. It was soooo beautiful with so much intricate architecture and stain glass.

After gawking at the gorgeousness, we headed to the Palace Gardens. Again, gorgeous!! We stumbled upon a little gelato chain called Cream & Dream that my friend Chad told me about, so we had to stop. We was SOOOOOO good! I had strawberry!

We saw a lot of awesome other sights that we wanted to hit up, including a toy museum! We headed back to the hostel for a bit and skyped with GORDO!!!! First skype convo and it was AMAZING!!!!!

Then we headed out with a pretty large group for dinner. After dinner at a little Italian place, where I got gnocchi, we headed to the TV Tower. This has been one of the most intriguing parts of the city for me. There are obvious ways the Communists impacted Prague, this being the most visible. This tower was used to block TV and radio signals from Western European countries, as well as the United States. B Knox, Bradley, Koki, and I went exploring and discovering that you can go up to almost the top of it and there was a student discount! The thing is this tower TOWERS over EVERYTHING in the city! It’s so creepy and looming. I skyped with my family for a bit and then we just went back to the hotel for the last time and watched some MTV with German subtitles.

Day 2

Today (5/16) was FREEZING!! It was 40 something and all of us had packed for warmer weather :/ So we headed out to find some warm clothes. I wanted a warmer jacket, but we didn’t find one for under $50, so I decided against that. Kiley needed some more pants, so we headed to the mall. After finding a jacket for Kiley and some Milka chocolate (seriously best chocolate ever) and the boys being tired of shopping we walked in some more circles. We ended up in the Old Town Square and watched the Astronomical Clock. We grabbed some black currant gelato for a dollar, which was phenomenal!!! Kiley got melon and it was BALLLLLLLIN too! We ran into a Pub Crawl guy, who wanted us to come drink that night. We politely declined J but he was the person that we trusted with our camera J

Then we headed to the Fred and Ginger building! It’s some National Dance Centre named after Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Then we split up the guys went to hang out while we headed to H&M!!!!! We got the pants and I got a dress for 100 czk or $10! We headed back to the hostel and met up with some friends for dinner. We went to Sorrento’s, which is an Italian restaurant close to our hostel. We headed back to the hostel and hung out with missionaries traveling with YWAM(Youth with a Mission). [Caleb Durham: I told them about yo mama b/c they were from Kona, Hawaii!!]

After a little while, we realized that the metro ended at midnight so we sprinted to our train, talking in German to avoid strange people, and safely made it to our hostel. Brent hung out a little longer and when we got back to the hostel, the lady told us that the buzzer on the wall was broken. We then asked the lady for the number to the other hostel to call Brent to let him know. She gave us the wrong number and we had to just trust that Brent would be fine and he was J

We're finally here!!!!
After running through the airport in ATL and a 10 hour flight that was only supposed to be 9, we are finally in the Golden City, PRAGUE! On our flight we met the guy that sat behind us after we heard him say that he was from Chapel Hill. We went on with the other regular questions to find out that he was going to Prague for Study Abroad, and just happened to be on our program! RIDICULOUS! After a while we learned that he had been to Prague before! So after our collection of 9 cups of water, two coffees, and adventurous airline food, and watching Leap Year, Bride Wars, How I Met Your Mother, and 30 Rock (more like Weez watched these as BKnox slept), we arrived at PRG. Our newly made friend, Brent, and us stayed together through customs and baggage claim, exchange a little money, and then caught a taxi to our hostel.

This is where the real fun begins...We arrive at the hostel to find that we don't have rooms that we can go to immediately, even though all we wanted to do was shower and sleep. The director of our program was supposed to reserve rooms for us, but we don't know what happened with that. The hostel had our names, so we checked it. The manager was really nice and said that our rooms were just getting fixed up and would be ready in the afternoon, so we stored our luggage there, grabbed our metro passes, and set out on adventure.

Brent lead the way to a small pub where I (Weez) had goulash and Bknox had a yummy mozzarella, basil pasta thing . We were struggling to stay awake, but set out to see our school! The Prague Institute is around a little corner in Old Town, the best part of the city so far. We crossed the Charles Bridge twice and explored on both sides. On the other side, we found a Starbucks and like typical Americans crashed there for a good while. I almost fell asleep and that' s when we decided that of course our rooms should be ready by now, and headed to the hostel to check in, shower, and rest up before dinner. We get there, hang out with some State and App kids and then I hit the couch in the hallway for a nap.

Here's where it gets reallll good. We then head to the front . We're told there's no room for us in the inn :( We kindfully argue with the lady at the front desk, while 4 or 5 people argue in Czech, while we stared blankly. It was finally decided that BKnox, Brent, and I would be sent to a hotel on the other side of town. So we hopped in the car, had too much luggage, hopped in a different car and were off. We arrived to find a beautiful room with a TV, bathtub, mini bar, awesome matresses, etc. Then we decided to headed back to the other hostel to go to dinner with everybody (there are 8 of us here already). So Brent, Bknox, and I hop on the metro that we've already basically mastered, which is pretty easy with only 3 lines. We then meet the friends and wander around the neighborhood around the hostel to see what we wanted to eat. We ended up eating at a Vietnamese restuarant that was MAD CHEAP! (Bknox and I only paid 87 kzc or a little over 4 dollars). We ate our fill of noodles and rice, spent some quality time with the boys, and then went our separate ways. We took the metro back and are now hitting the sack and getting ready to explore the Prague Castle tomorrow!
(No internet in the hotel, so this was 5/15. Our first day in Prague)

This Is It

In 3 hours, I'm leaving my house to go to RDU!

B Knox and I take off around 3, head to ATL, and then off to PRAGUE!

I can't believe it's actually time to go.

This trip has been so unreal for the longest time, but HERE WE GO!

NEXT POST-FROM PRAGUE!!!!!

10 days....

REALLY!?!!!!!

crazy junk right there.

So I feel like a lot of people don't really think I'm excited for this summer...

I really am :)

The problem right now is wrapping my head around the fact that I leave next Friday.

NEXT FRIDAY!!!!!!

I have so much to do before then!

I am soooo pumped, but it's surreal