Week 3: Finals!
Monday, September 11th
Our Czech class was rescheduled for the afternoon, so I slept in, went to free breakfast a little later in the morning, and relaxed. I met up with Aislinn and Sadie at a cafe before heading to class.
That night, I hung out and did homework while others planned weekend trips. I was guilted into going to Oktoberfest and only became enthusiastic about the idea after learning there are souvenir cups.
Tuesday, September 12th
During today's Czech class, we climbed the steps of Old Town Hall to the lookout tower and to see the backside of the Astronomical Clock.
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| I can see my house from here! |
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| Old Town Square from above |
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| Back of the Astronomical Clock |
After class, I wanted to run to the National Theatre's box office to pick-up reserved tickets to a ballet on Sunday and then take the tram back to the dorms. Halfway through the run, I realized I forgot my transportation pass and would have to walk back to the dorms. Then, the reservation number was wrong. I emailed one of our directors about the number and decided I would wander around for an hour waiting for a response before heading back.
I found TRESemme shampoo and conditioner and watched the sculpture of Franz Kafka's head rotate, which met my average expectations. I'm shocked by the number of people waiting around for it to rotate at any point throughout the day. It doesn't seem like it should deserve to draw such a large crowd, but maybe there's a secret I'm not in on.
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| Crowd around Kafka's Head |
I didn't get a response from our director, so I started to trek back to the dorms. I made a horrible mistake and ended up walking through an alleyway full of animal hides (and whole animals) hanging to dry. I'll do anything to forget the smell.
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| Dehydrated fish |
Wednesday, September 13th
After today's Czech class, I headed back to the National Theatre's box office because our director sent me an updated reservation number. However, the number was still incorrect. I called our director and she was able to work it out with the ticket people and I was finally able to get my ticket! It doesn't seem like a big deal, but after the ticket booth worker saw me huffing and puffing and blowing the house down after running there the day before, finally having her hand me a ticket was a big win.
I spent the afternoon working out and studying for our final on Thursday. After the sun set, my roommates and I walked down to the mysterious art installation outside the Rudolfinum, which I'll let @praguetoday on Instagram describe:"Unique audiovisual installation Dvořák’s Dreams by @refikanadol pays tribute to the Czech composer Antonín Dvořák and the Dvořák Prague International Music Festival. This traditional festival presents a series of cultural events inspired by the life and creative legacy of Antonín Dvořák 🎶
This installation was displayed from September 7 to 13 in front of the Rudolfinum in Prague." Thanks, @praguetoday! It was really beautiful, but also looked eerily similar to the Macbook backgrounds Apple uses to hypnotize its customers at some points. |
| Dvorak's Dreams |
Thursday, September 14th
Our Czech final was today! I felt pretty confident and had fun taking it. Afterwards, I went shopping for a few things to decorate my room with. I was really excited about the battery-powered string lights I found to hang near my bed so I don't have to get up to turn the lights off at night.
When I got back to the dorms, I opened my string-lights to put batteries in them and realized it was screwed closed. I spent longer than I'd like to admit trying to unscrew the little box before Aislinn and I decided to hang out at the park. We sat by the frog pond for a while and then got stamps at the post office in Prague Castle. It's crazy and also so cool that our nearest post office is in a castle.
I spent some more time trying to unscrew the battery box before deciding I needed to break in. I cracked some of the plastic and battery insertion was a success! I spent the rest of the afternoon doing laundry and hanging out with Julianna before we headed out to meet Jana and Katelyn for table tennis.
Jana reserved two tables for us at a sports park and we played for about an hour. I had a blast and feel like my family's Christmas ping-pong tournaments prepared me well (Ben, you're getting ping-pong paddles for your birthday this year).
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| Ping-Pong Players |
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| Ping-Pong Park |
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| Ping-Pong Dinner |
Friday, September 15th
When I went to return the laundry key, they lost my yellow student ID card that we use to get our room keys and check out a laundry key. I'm still unsure how it got lost, because, in theory, you put it in a stack next to the laundry keys and it doesn't move and also it's bright yellow. They made me a new one, so it all worked out in the end. My last name is spelled very wrong, but it has the charm my previous card was lacking.
Today was our final day of Czech class; we reviewed the final exam, tasted some Czech kolac (a popular pastry you can find at almost any cafe in Prague), and learned some more phrases that may be useful during our time here. We had a break (Aislinn, Eleanor, and I got ice cream to celebrate the last day of school!) and then met up with the other classes to watch Adéla jeste nevecerela (Adela Has Not Had Supper Yet), a kooky 1970's Czech film that screams John-Mullaly-made-this-and-will-now-explain-to-you-what-is-funny-about-it.
After the movie, I spent some time sitting on the river bank and then helped some nice British women get to Prague Castle. I took a nap, which goes against everything I feel I am as a person, and then watched the Project Runway finale with Julianna, Ella, and Lilly. I'm really happy for Bishme, but feel like it was a lackluster finale overall. When the finale ended, Lilly put on Grey's Anatomy and the episode she chose (the one with the ferry crash) happened to be the only episode of the show I'd ever previously seen, which I thought was crazy and the universe trying to tell me not to get on a ferry but other people seem to think is just a silly coincidence.