Braces to Bugsys

Skipping class for a doctors appointment, I found myself outside of Narodni Dividalo with two instructions: stay off your leg, and find a brace. This sounds really simple, and anywhere at home, it absolutely would be. However, when I turned to Tamara, the lovely ISA guide who had taken me to my appointment, and explained “brace” she looked at me with a puzzled expression I had learned not only meant “language barrier” but “cultural barrier”. Just by her face, I knew that “knee brace” was not a common find in downtown Prague.  Lesson abroad: Some things seriously just do not translate. And with one look, I knew that the “not walking” part of my instruction was not going to be followed, at least not any time soon. I waved goodbye to Tamara and headed to Kavarna Slavia, one of the more famous cafés in Prague, and inappropriately brought out my laptop to spend the morning on expats.cz, easily the most useful website for all things American. Making my way through the list of potential sports stores, I called about fifteen “Dobry den! Mluvit anglicky? Ano! Okay I was just wondering, DO YOU HAVE A KNEE BRACE?” Finally, I reached a British guy in Prague 3 who understood the word knee brace. Heading into unknown lands past the part of Zizkov I knew and loved, I found myself in uncharted waters. However, it was during this experience I realized how much this was becoming second nature. Understanding the public transport, the street signs, and enough Czech to get me by in an emergency, I found my way to the bike store, where my trusty Brit friend had pulled the two last knee braces out from the back. Thank god one of them worked! The fact that I was able to pull off finding this precious American item in under an hour was probably one of the biggest feats of my trip.

 Feeling very successful, and MUCH more comfortable, I headed to class. Lucky for me, we ended up going to my favorite art gallery, Veletrzni Palac, that I had discovered just a few days before. This class, we focused on Alfons Mucha’s Slav Epic, a series of 20 GIANT paintings covering Slavic history in the Czech republic. I have seen a ton of art in my life, but nothing this massive before. I am shocked that any other Mucha artwork exists! This guy knew how to be efficient. 

After the exhibit, I headed back home, made myself dinner, and found my way to the coffeeshop I had discovered with Nicole, Amanda, and Delaney. With just my notebook, tram card, and 100 crowns in hand, I found my way into the depths of local Prague 2. Upon entering I encountered my favorite bubbly feeling of realizing I was the only American and tried as slyly as I could to keep that impression. Ordering one of my favorite Czech items, hot ginger tea (legitimately just pieces of ginger stuffed into a strainer to resemble a tea bag, served with lots and lots of honey) and sat down with my thoughts. Channeling my inner Cara Peterson, I found that writing for the sake of writing, getting everything that had been building in my brain out on paper again and again until it sounded how I wanted it to, was such a therapeutic experience. While CCP had always encouraged me to follow suit in her form of creative expression, this was my first all out attempt, and I LOVED it. Now, you will find me at Barista Parlour in the fall doing the exact same.

I came back to find Julie with what I call her “third-child expression” on, “Dana can we please please please go out!?!” Yeah, of course..no need to make a case, I’m down! With plans to discover Zizkov, the wind and rain deterred us from some night climbing, aka trying to walk around and find a place in the surrounding mountainous streets. Instead, we headed in a clear path to Bugsys, somewhere we had both enjoyed before.  Placing ourselves at the bar this time, watching the process of creating the intricate cocktails for which they are famous was a show in itself. Both of our drinks were again, delicious, and I know I will certainly miss having these incredible drinks for so cheap when I am home!

Kampa and Coffee Shops

First plan on our free day, head to the zoo! We started out for Prague 7, traveling past it to the end of the earth, where the zoo was located. This was a bit of a frustrating morning for me..upon arrival we realized that the zoo was actually situated on a mountain. Something that has not seem blog worthy in recent posts, about two weeks prior I hyperextended my knee pretty badly, meaning no running and some trouble walking down big inclines. This had slowly developed into me having a hard time walking pain-free almost anywhere, something I tried to blatantly ignore. However, staring up at the zoo, I physically reached my limit. While I was 

more than upset to have my abroad experience hindered by something as stupid as this, I have come to the conclusion that it did not hinder my experience but slightly adjusted it. Without ability to run around the zoo, I headed to Kampa Island to relax my leg in some sunlight and then meet Claire at the Kampa Museum. This forced time to sit back and just take in the city was wonderful. The Kampa museum was also very cool, with all kinds of interesting modern art situated in a great gallery right on the river. After this, I headed home to truly rest my leg, leaving again only to find myself some tea and a cool coffeeshop nearby on this rainy night. Realizing I would seem insane spending any more time at SOR, I headed past the closed Café Pavlac and found my way to a coffeeshop which I believe is called Pracovna but lacks any real indication of a name. This tiny, all-white space appeared to be a popular meeting space, as at least two dozen Czechs were bent over the computers in groups. With only a one person table available, I found myself tomato soup for less than a dollar and stayed blogging for at least two hours. Honestly, I could not imagine a more relaxing night! 

Art & Football

After a full day of class, I headed to Prague 7 to try to get to know the one “artsy” area I had yet to fully discover. I first tried to find the Orco building, a young, student art collective, but realized I had accidentally found directions to Bistro 8. Whateva, it was a really cool, quirky café. Strolling through the area, I found my way to Veletrzni Palac, the Narodni galerie for modern art. This building could not have been uglier from the outside, but wow, this interior. I first just entered the museum café, which was a huge, white, industrial space with interesting fixtures and odd seating areas. The wall had an incredible mural that resembled tattoo art. 

Already amazed, I headed in to the gallery. I am not sure if it was because of the door I entered or the fact that it was already 5:15, but I ended up sauntering right in to this giant museum without paying. I honestly did not realize it, if that gives any indication of how awed I was by the works in front of me. The first floor was all portfolio’s of recent University graduates, and I especially loved a collection that seemed to be made fully with tissue paper. Next up was "Vivat Musica!" A collection that displayed the connection between music and fine art, particularly within Central Europe and the Czech Republic. Many of the exhibits were very interactive and used multiple senses, my favorite being “Voices of Prague” which allows the viewer to place small pins around the city and listen to the symphony of what that sounds like. 

He Loves Me Not

Deus Ex Machina

Choosing my street, the riverfront, my school, Old town square, Dlouha street, and the beer garden, I enjoyed my very own Prague symphony of my typically frequented spots around town. Moving on however, was when I found my absolute favorite floor or any art gallery ever. A painting called “He loves me not” was completely striking, and just as the museum was closing I found deus ex machina. Unable to continue viewing, I have no idea who made it or anything about it except that it truly struck a chord with me. Ushered out of the museum, I swore to return again and headed back to Old town to meet Hailey and Sam for dinner! 

I am so happy that one of my best friends from high school and one of my oldest, lifelong friends are both overlapping with me with their study abroad in Prague. We tried out Lokal, the Ambiente group’s famous restaurant for local Czech food. This restaurant was HUGE and resemebled a giant cafeteria, serving no-nonsense dishes of Czech food, straight up. I tried a collection of sausages, Sam was introduced to smazney syr, and Hailey tried some authentic Czech steak. It was AWESOME to see them! I then went to meet Julie at Lion and Ball for the U.S. game. We arrived an hour early to reserve seats, and were then joined by Nate, a Vanderbilt friend, as well as some of his fraternity brothers and other guys in his London program. It was great to see more Vandy faces, and even meet some new people from school I did not know before, as well as nice to catch up with Nate. Lion and Ball was filled with US and Belgian fans and the atmosphere was very energetic. So energetic, in fact, that I accidentally had an entire beer poured on me that was meant for the annoying Belgian behind me. (Forever holding a grudge against this Syracuse kid). Still, it was kind of a funny experience…? I guess? While the night was further damped by a loss, it quickly turned around as we headed out on Dlouha. The street is slowly gaining a warmer spot in my heart than even Demonbreun! A busy day in full, I headed back home content and excited for a full day of freedom in the morning :) 

Stockholm for 15 Minutes

Waking up at 6:30 for my flight back to Prague, I knew it would be a long day. I rolled out of bed, down the street to Norreport station, tried to blink myself into staying awake on the tram, and passed out upon finally making it to my seat. However, as we prepared for landing, I did a complete 180. Landing in the Arlanda Airport in Sweden at 9:50, I checked my boarding pass to see that I had to make it to my gate at 11:40. With an hour and 50 minutes to spare, it was go time. Lesson of the day: Find something that makes you move. Since I was young, I have heard stories of my Dad crossing borders in every way possible, whether in be in storage on a big boat, by a canoe, walking, biking, etc. he is the reigning champ of visiting countries. As soon as I left the country, it became a personal competition to beat him. On car rides or over dinner, we have compared where we have been by states, countries, continents, how we traveled there, and more. He has me beat by a mile...but in relation to age, I am totally winning. For fathers day one year, I bought us both scratch maps(the background of this blog) and have become quite obsessed with "Scratching off" countries and adding them to my list. This has lead me to canoeing across the Zambizi to hit Zimbabwe, as well as leaving the airport in Amsterdam at 6 AM to say I've been to the Netherlands. It is the extra push to make me explore, even when I am tired or it seems inconvenient. And thus, I set out for Stockholm. 

Checking into the Airport wifi, I learned that there was a speedtrain to get to the city center. It took 20 minutes and arrived 5 times an hour. The next tram I could make was at 10:20, I would have ten minutes to dance around Stockholm, and then at 10:50 I would go back to the airport, arring at 11:10 to get through security and make it to my flight that left 30 minutes later. With Partition on Spotify, backpack in hand (I had specifically packed light for this little venture) I made it through the airport as fast as I could without causing a scene. 

10:19-bought my ticket at Terminal 5 and headed down the elevator just in time to catch the train. The trainride through the countryside was well worth the cost. On a cloudy day, the bright greens and browns of the countryside were more beautiful than ever. Sweden seemed quite like Alaska, which is not surprising in any sense than by how beautiful I thought it was! 

10:40 Getting off my train, I made my way to a major street, taking in the major bustle of the city. I walked about a block around, giddy to myself about the fact that I was able to fully navigate my way downtown on time. 

10:45 I realized I had five minutes until I did not make my flight, I was not exaaaactly sure where I was, so I walked a little faster

10:48 Spotted: small brunette in glasses and a messy bun sprinting down the street with her backpack flapping behind her.

10:50: Made it on the train legitimately as the doors closed. Spent the trainride invisioning bragging to my father and then realized I should probably make my flight first

11:10: Theres me again, running through the airport.

11:40 SITTING ON PLANE

While this might seem straight up psycho to some people, I have to say that it was way better than sitting in an airport, trying to connect to wifi and debating gum flavors. This little race against time was thrilling and I am so happy to say that I did it! While it might be an absurd family rivalry, I love the fact that this alone pushes me out of my comfort zone. Who knows, maybe Slovakia is up next??

Copenhagen pt 2

Kings Gardens!

Today was a lazy day, and it was absolutely perfect. Sleeping in, I woke up to Melissa and Colleen coming in with groceries for breakfast. Lesson of the day: Learn about the cost of living in different countries before choosing where you go abroad. While Copenhagen seems like an absolutely incredible place, I could not imagine studying abroad there for a full semester, simply because of the cost of living. The food and drinks are so expensive that as an American it makes it very difficult to eat out. This was awesome for me, because I finally got some great home cooked food courtesy of Melissa and then later by Adam. But generally speaking, this is not something that I didnt think about at all when looking to study abroad. Actually, I was extremely lucky to select the cheapest location of popular study abroad destinations without even realizing it. Either way, there are pros and cons to every location, but I was surprised by how the experiences differed solely because of this.

Tivoli

Anyway, lounging on a Sunday with my best friends, eating good, healthy food, was perfect. Colleen and I decided to go out for a little, walking to the Kings Gardens as well as Tivoli. Copenhagen is unbelievably beautiful, super clean, and generally looks like a fairy tale. Later that night, we all pitched in for “family dinner”, 

Finally found some licorice!

with Adam leading the venture with pesto breaded chicken, accompanied by Melissa’s rice, Colleens broccoli, and Kyle and my salad/dessert. It was a great dinner, followed by awesome Turkish delights that Melissa brought back from her trip to Istanbul. (How did I go to Istanbul and never try these delicious things?!?!?). Kyle had been in London until earlier that afternoon, and we went on a walk so I could learn how to get back to the train station. It was great to be able to catch up and walk around. It was really great that I was able to spend quality time with everyone there, as I wasn't even expecting to see Kyle at all! Again, the daylight tricked me, as we got back around 10:30 and it did not seem like it was even 5. The entire trip was wonderful and I cannot believe I was lucky enough to see so many friends so much over the course of studying abroad!