I know, I know, it has been several months since my last update. While I have been having an adventurous and exciting few months, I have neglected my duties of keeping everyone full informed of my going-ons here in Prague. I will begin retelling my adventures here from our great trip to Berlin.

My roommates and I went to Berlin a little over a month ago. We left on Friday evening after we all finished teaching and took a train through the countryside and arrived in Berlin, Germany. It was really quite a sight to watch the Czech and German countryside fly by us as we travelled between the two cities. We followed a river meandering through the country for the first hour or so. There were small villages speckling the banks of the river. After a while, the sun began to set and turned the countryside gorgeous shades of yellow, pink and purple.

After about an hour and a half on the train, I decided to get another seat and take a little nap. A loud banging on the train window startled me out of a fairly deep sleep. I was shocked to see two police officers standing over me talking to me in a foreign language. I sleepily mumbled the best Czech I could to tell them that I didn’t speak the language. They then switched over

to perfect English and said they were the International Border Police and on the train checking identities. Luckily, we all attained our long-term visas from the Czech Republic the week before and were legit in the country. I found my passport and got the ‘go-ahead’ from the police. Needless to say, waking up to German police officers- not the most enjoyable experience I’ve had so far. After the police incident, we opened some bottles of wine to get our trip started the right way.

We arrived in Berlin and found our hostel. We met up with three of our friends and explored the city a little bit. After a couple of drinks in some Berlin bars, we found some late night food to settle our growling stomachs. We found a Middle-Eastern place with gyros and falafal. It was our friend Adam’s

first time eating a gyro…ever. We were all a little shocked by this and wanted to make sure that his first experience was a good one. Luckily the gyros turned out to be the most delicious gyros ever made. I don’t know if it was the new city, the Berlin dirt, the drinks before, or the fact that it was 3 AM, but they were great. This was not the last time that we would be dining in this particular gyro shop.

The next morning we all met up and went on a walking tour of the city. Berlin is a city deeply laden with devastating history. From the sights of the Holocaust to the riots of Communism, each step brought us to a different historically significant location. One of the stops on the tour was an insignificant parking lot. Our tour guide, Clare, then told us that we were standing on top of Hitler’s secret bunker, the place where he schemed, ruled and later died. A chill went through my body as I realized what monumental history took place on this spot and in this city. It was amazing being in such a place.

After our long day of walking, the whole group went out to dinner. We drank several bottles of wine and relaxed over a long European dinner. This is quite foreign to the Prague-way. In Prague, dinner is an overlooked meal that occurs between 5 and 7 oclock. We were all surprised that the European manner of eating late and leisurely does not occur here, so we took our time in Berlin eating and enjoying the scene. After dinner, we wandered the streets for a while looking for a good place to go. We heard that the Berlin nightlife was epic, but had trouble finding these so-called ‘epic’ clubs. It was very difficult to find the good clubs as a tourist, unaware of the good areas and places to be. We finally found a cool looking club to go to. After a small scuffle with the scary German bouncer, we got in and enjoyed ourselves.

We woke up the next morning for our final day in Berlin. My roommates and I went to the Holocaust museum for the morning. It was quite a disturbing and moving museum, as any Holocaust museum is and should be. We then ate some great Indian food and headed back to the train station for our journey back to Prague.

Berlin turned out to be a very eye-opening experience for me. It was amazing to see such a young city and its journey into the modern world. Every corner had either a Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, or McDonalds on it- hello Capitalism. They are truly embracing the ways of the modern world. It was very hard to forget about the events of history that occurred there. Several times I stopped to think, ‘what if I was born a couple decades earlier?’ I would not be able to walk these streets freely. I would not be able to eat in this restaurant, sleep in this hostel, go to this place or that. I really enjoyed my time in Berlin. I am happy I went on there, but not eager to return to the city.

That was my trip to Berlin. Next on the update list is Plzen, the birthplace of the Pilsner beer.

Budapest

Last week we went to Budapest. It was a really fun trip. 10 of us piled onto a bus and took the 7 hour trip to Hungary. We stopped in Brno, the second biggest city in the czech republic, Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, and then finally arrived in Budapest. We arrived with zero HUFs in our wallets so we were immediately faced with a challenge in a new city. After negotiating with two cab drivers they finally agreed to take us to our hostel. Little did they know that we had no money to pay them with. We told them "bankomat" and stopped at an atm. After all of us piled out of the cab to take out money, the hungarian cab drivers started to get pretty annoyed. While they were cursing at us in Hungarian, we rushed back into the cabs hoping they wouldnt drive away with all of our luggage. After another fight or two with the drivers, we finally arrived at Colors Hostel.

10 of us in one hostel room made for 8. It was quite an experience. We dropped off all of our bags and went out in search of a low key beer garden. We took the night easy in preparation for the big day we had in front of us. Thursday morning we woke up and set out to Sziget music festival. Sziget is one of the biggest music and cultural festivals in Europe. It is held every year in August in Budapest, Hungary. It it located on a small island in the middle of the Danube river. We spent the day enjoying the scene and listening to good music.

There were several stages and we saw two concerts, the Ting Tings and Bloc Party. I was pleasantly surprised with the Ting Tings performance. I had heard some of their songs, Thats Not My Name and Shut Up and Let Me Go, but thats about it. I was not expecting much from them. For about 45 minutes they bounced around the stage exuding amazing energy into the crowd. Bloc Party played later in the evening. They also put on a good show, but the rampant outbreak of mosh pits detracted from the concert. Two of my friends went crowd surfing and enjoyed the concert from atop the crowd.

The next day was filled with relaxation while all the girls soaked in the famous public bath houses. The bath house was filled with different kinds of pools: inside, outside, hot, cold, mineral salts. We spent a majority of the day pool-hopping and enjoying the soak. That night we experienced a bit of the Budapest ngihtlife. After walking and walking and walking, Farah, our faithful map carrier, took us to a cool bar. We spent a good time there and bounced around a couple different bars in the area. It was our last night in Budapest so we had to do it right.

The next morning we unhappily woke up in order to check out of our hostel. I hadn't yet seen any of the sights of Budapest and could hear my mom in the back of my head saying, "you went to Budapest and didnt go sightseeing?" So I recruited some friends to walk around the city and take pictures of the sights. We walked up the Danube river and saw the Academy of Natural Science (I think) and Parliament. This is a picture of the front of Parliament. It is a massive and intricate building. After getting the required sightseeing pictures, I stopped at a cafe to wait for the rest of the group before we headed back to the bus stop to return to Prague.

I know that I am way overdue for an update....but I've been a busy girl.

The last two weeks of the TEFL class were insanity. We had hours and hours of class followed by hours and hours of lesson planning, grammar tests, and one-to-one tutoring. It was exhausting. I have a new found appreciation for teachers. I saw that a well prepared teacher is a much more effective teacher, and that this takes both a lot of time and effort. But all of our hard work definitely paid off....

We finished our TEFL certification on Friday. That afternoon, my group was teaching a class of 8 pre-intermediate woman for 4 hours. I was the caboose of the group, teaching the last 45 minutes of the class. The last to teach the last class on the last day. I was pumped to go out with a bang and teach a great lesson. But things did not go according to plan and I BOMBED the last lesson. My timing was off, I never got into a good rhythm, and knew the students were not even remotely interested. With 10 minutes left in the class, I threw my plan right out the window. Luckily, I had a fun game in mind and used that to salvage the last few minutes of the class. It was the least I could do to save the last lesson of the last day.

But I didn't get too upset about the awful last lesson because we were finally done! Word on the street was that the champagne celebration after the certificate ceremony was epic. But we all had our doubts. How can they throw an epic cecelebration for 25+ people? But they did not disappoint. The champagne was flowing for several hours while we all celebrated with each other, snapping as many photos as possible. This is a picture of our teacher, Terry, and his "biatches" as he so kindly refereed to us. Terry was a great teacher and I learned an enormous amount from him. He was determined not to just teach the information but for us to discover the information and learn for ourselves. On top of his great teaching, he is also a very funny guy. I don't know if it his British accent of his immense collection of anecdotal stories, but he could keep us laughing for hours.

After the champagne ran dry, we continued the celebration and hit the town. We left the Vysocanska metro station one last time as a big group and went downtown to find some fun bars. The excitement buzzing through the whole group was palpable. We were ready to get down....it was business time (hat and all). Our teacher, Trisha, led the way and brought us to two fun bars. We danced the night away until the sun was finally coming up. A fun time was had by all.

Saturday morning....not so much fun. We had spent our last night in Hotel Pivovar. We were hung over and tired after only 3 hours of sleep. We checked out at noon and had a surprisngly easy move into our new apartment. From the first minute of putting my bags down, I haven't stopped loving this apartment. It is amazing. It is located in Nove Mesto, a cute and fun part of town. We have hundreds restaurants, bars, and cafes all within a several block radius from our house. We walk out of our front door, turn right and less than a block away is the Vlatava river. A 5 minute walk brings you into the center of Old Town Prague. Its amazing. This is the view from our balcony. We look over the National Theater. At night, hundreds of white birds prop themselves on the roof and just hang out. Every now and then, all of them will start circling the building. It is a little errie but amazingly beautiful at the same time.

Now that we are living in the city, I am trying to see as much of it as I can. The streets alone are enough to be awed by this amazing city. Every building has intricate detailing and beautiful moldings. The pastel colors of the buildings makes for a beautiful canvas atop the cobblestoned streets. Yesterday, I went to the Jewish quarter with my friends Farah, Clinton and Jake. We walked around a bit and went into the Spanish synagogue. It was beautiful. The stained glass windows were purple and yellow and illuminated the building magnificently. I have never seen a synagogue be so ornate and magnificent. The signs said no pictures, but I snuck a few in.

That is all the blogging I have in me for today. Now that I am no longer in school all day every day, I hope to keep this blog a little more up to date. Next time I will tell you about finding a job and hopefully signing a contract.

Bohemia Jazz Fest

Last night I went to a free concert in Old Town Square. The original plan was to see Medeski, Martin & Wood. We got out of class around 6 oclock and my friend Jake and I headed into town to see the show. We met up with another friend and got comfortable with a beer and a good view. We realized as the band was setting up that MMW would not be playing. Apparently, Medeski was sick and they switched the lineup last minute. Jake immediately started pouting as he is a huge MMW fan and has been looking forward to the show since he arrived in Prague. After sipping on a beer and hearing the first few beats of the new band, we immediately started enjoying ourselves once again. How can you not enjoy yourself when you are listening to live music in the center of such a beautiful city? Just looking at the buildings surrounding us was enough of a treat in itself. As the sun set and the monuments and castles around us starting twinkling in the night, we reveled in the fact that we were living in this beautiful city.

Class is about to start soon, so that's it for now.
XOXO

Getting Settled

Hello from Prague!

After a long day of traveling, Farah and I finally arrived in Prague early Thursday morning. Our adventure started Wednesday afternoon, when we arrived at the airport. We immediately encountered a speedbump in the road when Farah's bags weighed a total of 23 lbs overweight. Realizing the overweight charge was upwards to $150, we rearranged her luggage to make it an acceptable weight...but the 23 pounds of extra clothes and shoes didn't just disappear. Together we lugged the extra weight through each airport in some spare carry-ons we found in our baggage. As we watched the clouds roll in, we both sighed with a sense of relief that our plane was to be taking off in the next few minutes. Next thing we knew, the pilot came on the intercome and announced that we are number 31 for takeoff. Not number 3 or number 7, but, number 31. I began to panic thinking that we would miss our connecting flight in Atlanta, our luggage would disappear, and our trip would never get going. Farah tried to calm me down, reassuring me that we have enough clothing with us on the plane in our carry-ons to last us a good month. Luckily, we got bumped up in line and took off soon after the previous announcement. Calm was restored and the rest of our trip over the ocean was smooth sailing.

We arrived early Thursday morning and got settled right away. Before even unpacking, we met about 8 of the 27 students in our class. Together we set out to explore the city. We took the metro, which is just a quick walk up the street, into the center of town. We walked past the famous castle and wandered the cobblestoned streets until we came across the Old Town Square. We found a cafe, ate lunch, drank beer, and got to know each other. At the top of every hour we could see massive crowds of tourists gather in front of the famous Astronomical Clock to wait for the show to begin. We continued to explore the city and get settled in our new homes for the next several days.

Our TEFL Worldwide class started yesterday. We had been warned that the class was fairly challenging and intense, and that was no lie. We were in class yesterday from 9:45 until 6 with an hour lunch break. Today we started teaching in front of a class of Czech students. We were assigned into group of 3 to teach intermediate level English speakers. It was a daunting task but we did fine. I'm sure every day we teach it will get easier and easier. The class as a whole seems like a challenging endeavor, but a rewarding one. Once we get certified, we will get jobs and start living like the locals.

That's it for now. Farah and I are going to make some dinner and hang out. Until next time. We miss and love you all!