Border crossing

We just crossed over the border into Austria. I had a fantastic semester, so instead of getting sad & sappy, I made lists. While watching Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince. Because that’s really the logical thing to do, right?

What I’ll miss, in no particular order:

• Speaking Czech (you really can’t beat “typicky” and “yo yo yo” and “zmrzlina” and “pivo”)
• Coming home to hear everything Emily ate and watched that day
• Classes with Jiri and Vanda
• Socially acceptable lunchtime beers
• Traveling around the continent
• Not really needing to care about 4/5 of my classes
• The candy-colored buildings of Prague
• sniff, sniff. “I smell like U Sudu.”
• Friday nights at Lucerna
• Spending $5 and getting a good meal
• My friends!

What I’m looking forward to in the good ol’ US of A:

• Food. Homemade, Mexican, Chinese, Thai, Greek,
• Occidental, glorious
• Netflix & Hulu
• Taking a film class!
• Wi-fi that works all the time
• Driving
• Understanding everything and being understood
• The Green Bean
• My friends!

Closing time

So my family is here now and while I’m happy to show them around my city, it feels weird not to return to Pod Karlovem 12 at night. Also, everything non-touristy is closed the 24-25-26 of December, which is 3/5 of their time here. So that’s a bummer. We’ve been having fun anyway, though – dinner at Cafe Lourve, walking tour around Prague and some good old-fashioned family bonding time.

Aren't they cute?? (+ our tour guide)

Tomorrow is Christmas, which means literally NO WHERE WILL BE OPEN. Not even the Chinese place by my old apartment. (Side note – calling it my “old” apartment makes me really sad. I need Emily & Lisa & Leona back!) We found a kosher restaurant that *might* be open, so we’ll try there for lunch. It will be family game night day with Bananagrams and cards. The Baer fam goes hard.

It’s hard to realize none of my friends are here. I keep thinking I’ll drop my family in Vyšehrad and go back to Pod Karlovem. Then I think about how I’ll be home home in a week and it blows my mind. Then I think about my dad’s grilled salmon and my mind is blown even further. Oh, the joys of a seaside state!

My bags are packed…

I’m NOT ready to go. No one’s standing here outside my door and no one woke me up to say goodbye. And I’m not leaving on a jet plane, I’m taking the 11 to Vaclavske Namesti and having a girls’ night with Gwenllian. In short, my life is not a song.

Currently, I have a vacuum in one hand and a dark Kozel in another, typing via the Force. (BTW I’m a Jedi.)

I’m ready to go home, but I’m not ready to leave this beautiful, carb-loving city. And I’m certainly not ready to leave all my new friends. It feels like I’ve been here forever, in a good way. Eagle Rock and Oxy feel like another lifetime and Fairwood seems like a lifetime once removed. What am I going to do without 6 hours of class with Jiri per week or bonding with 6 other students over environmental politics or jammin’ to 80s music videos till 4 a.m.?

We’re going to U sudu, one of the typicky CIEE hangouts, tonight. Remember I have my mother’s genes – meaning I’m already sappy with goodbyes, and $2 beer will only make it worse. Whoever invented water proof mascara, I thank you.

I’m sure you’ve all had this feeling…

Like you’re in a giant hourglass and you’re about to drown in sand because time is literally running out.

exactly. that feeling.

All the Night at the Museum 2 references blog posts in the world can’t change the fact that the program ends in about 40 hours. FORTY HOURS. ČTYŘICET HODINY. Ugh. I’m going to miss the friends I’ve made here so much. I won’t miss Prague because I’ll still be here! Tomorrow we have graduation (I didn’t know you could graduate from a study abroad program) and then Thursday we move out. I can’t believe how quickly this semester has passed. It feels like just yesterday I was going on an awkward walking tour when it was warm enough to stand outside.

My environmental final is tomorrow.

The best hot chocolate in Prague didn’t even fix my current misery. And hot chocolate is scientifically proven to fix all problems.

In other news, here’s the Czech President. Or, as I call him, the lesser Vaclav. He says anyone who drinks water from a plastic bottle and/or carries a backpack is a hippie.

Guess I’m a hippie.

Vaclav Havel

Vaclav Havel passed away today. He was 75 years old. This man was a major dissident against the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia. He helped write Charter 77. He served President of democratic Czechoslovakia/Czech Republic for 14 years. He believed that “truth and love must prevail over lies and hatred.” He embodied the Czech nation.

Vaaclavske Namesti, where the Velvet Revolution took place, was packed tonight with mourners. The statue was shrouded in black fabric and adorned with candles. A stranger handed my friends and I a bag of little tea lights and told us to take what we needed and pass them on. It was the most thoughtful action I’ve seen during my time here. We lit our candles and placed them under the statue. Some people were singing and some words were said in Czech, but mostly people were quiet. It’s hard to lose such an essential person. I didn’t know who he was four months ago and I felt awful when I heard; I can only imagine being Czech right now.

Thousands of words

cruisin' the Vltava

"hey let's go to the Rihanna club!"

first Lucerna with 3 great people.

Prost!

DOT takes Prague

 

21 candles. Not a catchy movie title.

regressing in Krakow

 

Pod Karlovem visits the Swedish baker (& her hubby)

one of the only times in London spent not eating.

one of the only times in Dublin spent not eating

Vienna waited for us!

wheelin' around Berlin

we were the beer in the Heineken experience.

Nut Carols and Christmas Crackers

All week, I’ve been unable to contain my excitement for Thursday night. Why? Because my friends and I were going to the Nutcracker! I love the Nutcracker. My dad used to take me every year (I think we only missed my freshman year and this year, right? Am I forgetting? I am quite old.) and when I was small he’d paint my nails. Awwww on three. Miss that man.

Anyway, we all got dressed up for the affair and went to Cafe Slavia, one of Prague’s famous cafes. Then onto the Nutcracker at Narodni Divadlo (the national theater). We sat waaaaaaaaaaaaay up in the nosebleeds, which was kind of fun because nosebleed people are more likely to take things less seriously. Which, as you will see, was necessary.

The Narodni Divadlo is gorgeous. Everything is gold-plated, intricate, and lovely. I left my camera in my coat pocket in the coat check, which is unfortunate. You will just have to rely on your imagination and my sweet, sweet way with words.

The play opened with townspeople dancing in the town and running from a stingy business man who keeps reminding the townspeople of their debts. A little girl freaked out over a blue nutcracker doll for about 4 minutes of the 12-minute opening. Then the businessman went to bed and dreamt. In the dream, he was visited by 3 ghosts. Oh, I dunno, does this plot line sound familiar to you at all?

Then the Devil comes in through the fire place. Guys, I wish I had a picture of this dude. It was… a sight to be seen. He whipped the ghosts, made them do pushups, and whipped everyone on stage (including himself). Then Glinda the good witch (I mean snow queen) came and made the devil go away. And by go I mean he strutted off the stage. The businessman (still dreaming) is visited by Clara and the nutcracker, who is now a handsome prince. The rest of the play continued as usual except that Clara and the nutcracker are pretty much replaced by Scrooge and a random group of small girls. He wakes up gives away money, buys Clara the nutcracker, and everyone dances in happiness.

All in all, it was a good play and I’m glad I went. Definitely…entertaining, to say the least. Afterword, we went back to Slavia for some dessert before going to the club featured in this video.

And in other news, on Wednesday I saw the fridge where the mummified body of the Czech Communist leader was kept when it wasn’t on display in the museum. (yep, you read that right – his body was on display for years.)

How to master world languages

Brought to you by Jiři Holub, Jedi master.

1. You must begin with Latin. Latin is compulsory. You must study Latin for one year. Forget about French and Portuguese and Romanian. They are not important. Latin is the base of all European languages. You must learn 1 to 2000 words, then travel to Spain when you are 40.
2. After you master Latin, you must study one Slavic language. Not Swedish. You already know 300 Czech words [highly doubtful]. I say you really know 5,000 words if you think about them and switch them around.
3. You must study each languages for 10 hours per day.
4. So you know Latin, German, and English. But stuuuuuudents, we must study Greek!
5. After you master Greek, you must turn to Asian languages. Study Chinese first. Without Chinese, you cannot understand ancient Japanese legal texts. Which is, of course, why you study languages.
6. And finally you must study Arabic. Arabic is compulsory!
7. Do not worry about grammar. Grammar is not so hard. Vocabulary, now, that is what you should focus on. 5,000 words.
8. To be proficient, you must study everything twice. Ya.
9. To learn you must start tonight.

In sum: learn 5,000 words from every world language, forget about grammar, and start RIGHT NOW.

Typicky Jiři.

Vocab lesson

In order to understand me upon my return to the good ol’ U.S. of A., here are the new words and phrases you should know:

Ahoj (aaah-hoy): informal hello, or “hey!” Used with friends, family, small children, and dogs of all sizes.

Kde (k-day): where. Usually used in the sentence “kde jsi!?” or “kde je?!” meaning “where are you!?” or “where is it!?”

Proč (proch): why. Used to question the absurdity of a given situation. For example: it is raining outside. The natural response is yelling “PROOOOOOČČČČČ???” to the sky.

Mám rada: I like it. Usually used when I like something.

Nejlepší (ney-lep-shi): the best. Not to be confused with nelepší, which means “not better.”

Jak se maš? (yak say mah-sh): wazzzuuuuppp. Used when asking someone how they are in an INformal setting. Do not pull a Madeline Albright and ask the Czech Prime Minister this question.

Dam si pivo: I’ll have a beer. Usually used when ordering a beer, which happens to most Czechs každy den.

Každy den (kaj-dee den): every day. More accurately, the “eerr day” in the phrase “all day errr day!” Used when describing an activity or phenomenon that occurs frequently. For example, let’s pretend I didn’t study last night and complained to Lisa about my inability to get off Facebook and into my Czech textbook. Her response is “každy den!”

Celý den (tsel-y den): all day. Usually follows každy den in a phrase. For example, Kate is watching Sherlock. An appropriate response to the statement, “Kate is watching Sherlock again” is: “každy den, celý den!” (As in “every day, all day” because Sherlock is one of the top 5 best TV series ever.)

And my favorite…

Typicky (ti-pits-kee): typical. Used in the exact same way as in English. However, typicky is SO much more fun to say than typical. Try it! See? Didn’t that just feel so cool?! Here are the many, many situations in which typicky can be used:

• Emily’s watching TV. Typicky.
• Lisa bought three bananas and four apples at the store today and that should last her… 36 hours. Typicky.
• Leona is making something delicious-smelling in the oven at 10pm. Typicky.
• Chelsea went for a short, 13-mile run. Typicky.
• Chloe is using hand gestures. Typicky.
• Ariane name-dropped a celebrity she met and/or has a picture with. Typicky.
• Gwenllian said something weird and is now backtracking but really just making everything more and more hilarious with every statement. Typicky.
• I am procrastinating by writing this blog post. SO TYPICKY IT’S NOT EVEN FUNNY.

I hope you all liked that breakdown of my friends’ weird habits vocabulary lesson. I know I did! If I come home and people say these words to me, I will be ECSTATIC. And by people I mean you.

Oh and also…

Typicky AND každy den AND celý den. Sorryimnotsorry Emily.