Bye Europe...

I am now officially back in the US of A!  My 7 weeks abroad were amazing- from Amsterdam, to Den Haag, to Cologne, to Dresden, to Prague, to Vienna, and back to Prague- I had a blast.  My last day in Prague was extremely eventful as well.  In the morning we visited the “Dancing House” which is a building in Prague that has just about zero historical value but was recently built with a very modern design.  Since the building is so modern, it caused a lot of controversy, which made the building infamous.  

Luckily, when visiting the “Dancing House” we noticed where we could rent paddle boats and go paddle boating down the Vtlava River.  Later that day, after an intense packing session, myself and two others decided to rent a paddle boat and enjoy the weather.  With what started with splitting a casual mini-wine bottle quickly turned into a water-bar-paddle-boat-hopping experience.  Since at the beginning of our adventure we decided to rent the boat with a slide on the back, we of course, in time, began to threaten going down the slide.  NOTE: no one swims in this lake, especially when it’s cold out.  There were many people on the water, but nobody in it.  With that said, we decided to post up near a bridge, because paddle boat sliding is a spectator sport, and down we went.  One, two, three girls down the slide, fully dressed, and making the most of our last day.  All is fun and games until somebody gets hurt.  My friend, while video taping my other friend going down the slide, slipped and fell overboard.  Into the water she went with her dry clothes in hand (she had worn a bathing suit underneath, just in case- smart), and her camera.  To our excitement, the video she recorded survived the fall, though her camera did not.  It was successful.

We also decided it was necessary to symbolically dispose of the horrendous  Global Player Polo shirts that we were forced to wear on multiple occasions.  The first shirt, mine, was sent of on the river.  We laid it on the surface of the water and watched as it floated past the “forbidden area” and down the waterfall.  The next was placed on a monumental statue in the middle of Old Town Square.  My friend climbed the statue in pure daylight, left the shirt on the top of it, and climbed down.  The next was thrown off the top story of a major tourist spot, the Clock Tower.  Every hour, on the hour, there is a production at the Clock Tower in which many tourists gather around to watch.  My friend ran to the top and threw the polo shirt into the crowd.  The final polo sendoff involved a manican at a souvenir shop.  My friend stopped in front of one of many souvenir shops on the main road and dressed a manican in our GP Polo.  All send offs were creative and necessary, and a great way to end the trip.

 

I was sad to leave Europe and all its interesting places and people, but I am also glad to be back home in the United States.  Since my life is bound to get far less exciting now, this is goodbye loyal readers.  It’s been fun.

A Global Compilation

My time here is winding down!  I can’t believe I am less than two days away from being back in the states again after all this time.  Of all the traveling I have done this summer, I am glad that Prague is where we’ve spent the most time.  Earlier this week I visited the Prague Castle.  More like the Prague Village.  The castle was huge and surrounded by cathedrals, small living spaces, and a lot of pretty buildings in which I have no clue what purpose they served… but they were pretty.  The castle was on top of a hill that allowed you to overlook the entire city, and since all of Prague is beautiful, the view was incredible.

On a separate journey, I also went to the observation tower that was built to model the Eifel Tower.  The tower was built on a hill even higher than the one the castle was built on… so we of course took a tram up it.  We climbed all 300 steps to the top and I took about million pictures of the view.  From the top you could see for miles- it was awesome.  After trekking back down the tower (not as exciting as going up it, though easier on your calves) we went to the “maze of mirrors” and the Rose Garden.  We also saw the “Hunger Wall” which was built to keep Mongol invaders from pouring in over the hill and attacking.

Apart from sightseeing, I have been keeping myself busy :-).  On Tuesday night we went to a bar with taps at the table.  We drafted teams, set up tables side by side and competed against each other as to who could consume the most beer in 25 minutes.  My team lost.  Still bitter about it seeing as I was the one who wrote the poem in the facebook invitation and reserved the tables.  On Thursday we got together and played against the Czech U-19 National Team.  We won the game and were thanked afterwards with a box of Czech cookies... which one of our players assuredly dropped all over the turf during high fives.  We still ate them... our Global Peasantry has turned the 5-minute rule into a 3-day rule.  

We did another pub crawl on Friday night—this one started with us befriending a group of Brits out for a bachelorette party and ended at the 5-story club, which we have been frequenting lately.  We went to the 5-story again on Saturday…. 5-Story of my life. 

On Sunday morning we all boarded a bus… a short bus again, obviously, and headed to Cesky Krumlov.  Cesky Krumlov is a small village about 3 hours from Prague and is the cutest place I’ve ever been to.  We had to split into 5 different hotels because there isn’t one that was big enough to accommodate all of  us.  My hotel was from the 14^th century and filled with old antiques.  Everything from the bed to the room key was legit old school.  On Monday, before we left, 5 of us rented a raft and went rafting down the river that circles the town.  We weren’t good at it, but every now and then there is a drop that you have to go down…. So basically we were at a water park.  I sat at the front of the raft and was El Capitan, naturally.

Well, now it’s Tuesday morning and I am packing for the States.  It’s weird to leave my new home away from home.

Wien

The Czechs like to do things differently than we do.  I can normally adjust to this and am willing to try new things because I am in a foreign country and am trying to become more “cultured,” but this “thing” has got to go.  Once a summer the city of Prague turns off its hot water to “clean the water.”  Does this mean that all this time I was using dirty water?  I choose not to go there.  But, nevertheless, starting last Tuesday I had to shower in freezing cold water and it was miserable.  I would say the only positive thing that came out of it, other than I apparently have “clean” water now, is that when we went out and asked the waitress for tap water they couldn’t get mad and give it to us warm.  Suckers. 

With the cold water situation as it was, I was more than thrilled to leave on Thursday morning for Vienna, Austria with Laura and the rest of the Beck clan.  Laura’s parents and brother were visiting for a week and generously took me in as a Beck on their family vacation to Vienna (Wien).  We stayed in a hotel.  A hotel: a trivial thing for most people but when you’ve been in hostels, old dorms, and sleeping on Judo mats for the past 6 weeks, a hotel is literal heaven.  I believe I equated the bed to a cloud… no exaggeration.  We did venture outside the hotel walls, of course.  On Thursday evening we walked around the “ring”, as they call the street and walkway that surrounds the city center, and checked out some of the old buildings and gardens.  We ate at an authentic Austrian restaurant for dinner and once we were able to interpret the menu, it was pretty delicious.  That night Laura and I met up with the rest of the girls on our trip that were also in Vienna for the weekend.  We got off the subway to meet them at Club Couture and quickly noticed we were on Rapenstrassen* Boulevard.  After navigating our way off the boulevard we had a really fun night!

The next day we headed back to the city center for some sightseeing.  The torrential downpours, though, slightly hindered our “seeing” experience.  It was tricky, but through the rain we were still able to find St. Stephen’s Cathedral (Stephansdom) and climb the 345 stairs to the top of the tower.  At the top, once I stopped hyperventilating and seeing black spots, I was able to enjoy the amazing view of the city.  Props to all the old people that climbed their way to the top- wasn’t easy.  We also went inside the St. Stephen’s church, which was really beautiful.  These were, unfortunately, the only indoor activities for the day.  Most of the day we spent checking things out while we trekked through the rain, huddled underneath umbrellas and hoods, and still enjoyed the city!

That night we decided one Austrian meal was enough, and we went Italian.  All over the menu I kept seeing “rocket” and “rocketsalad” so I decided to ask the waitress was a “rocket” was.  She looked at me and said in her best German/Italian accent, “you American so you don’t know.”  On another occasion, Laura asked what kind of dressings there were for her salad and the waitress said “uhh… Italian.”  I think they were making fun of us?  I can’t really be sure.  That night we met up with the other girls again, but this time the night ended with Laura and I at a bar befriending a group of Germans.  One had worked a year in Philly, another wanted to practice his English, and the others were just fascinated by our accents.

All in all, I loved being a Beck for the weekend!  Vienna was a really cool city to visit, but I was happy to come home… to Prague.

*Rapenstrassen:  The street name assigned to any street that appears to be sketchy, somewhat abandoned, and crawling with creepy people and dark alleyways.  This street usually screams out “rape.”

Praha(hahahaha)

Ahoj!  It’s been a while!  I have been doing a lot of exploring Prague and visiting tourist sites, sprinkled in with the occasional good time.  Ever since we received our GP clothing packets we have been waiting for a time to wear our super unflattering GP polos out on the town.  Check.  Wore them to our GP goodbye dinner when we said bye to the group leaders since the lacrosse portion of our trip is now over.  Looked stunning, of course.

Like I said, I have been doing a lot of exploring… alone.  I don’t have specific hours for my internship- they vary and I do a lot of the work from home on my own time.  Consequently, I have a lot of days to myself while everyone else is in class or at work.  I have mastered the trams, metros, and city maps and have officially eaten alone for probably the first tim ever.  With the free time I have seen the John Lennon Peace Wall, the St. Charles Bridge, the Old Jewish Cemetery and Synagogue, and about every souvenir shop in Prague.

On Wednesday everyone in the program was invited to a free wine tasting.  I now have the knowledge to be snooty and picky about my wines… I don’t have the money to be, but the knowledge is all there.  After the wine tasting we went to one of the famous Prague Beer Gardens to watch USA kick France’s butt in the World Cup Semi’s.  "USA" has become a far too common chant on this trip.

On Thursday night all of the GP’s trecked it down to Old Town Prague for a classic Bar Crawl.  It started with 2 hours of open bar in an old Prague church.  There was a large Stalin head that became the focal point of many pictures by the end of the night.  A few of us also decided it was necessary to take over the DJ stand.  News: ipods and computers are not customary for Czech DJ’s… he had mixed CD’s.  I haven’t seen a mixed CD since Nam but we were workin’ them at the stand.  Sometimes you would get lucky and pop in a good one, but when it’s bad the packed bar/church/club quickly turns against you.  Tough crowd.  Needless to say we left our mark at the bar/church/club.  Literally.  There was an employee finishing a mural on the wall while we were there so naturally we snagged the paintbrush and wrote “GP” and “OSU” on the 500 year old wall.  Nice.  The rest of the crawl was a lot of fun—we rocked the “free” T-shirts that we stole from boxes in a corner and enjoyed ourselves until sunrise.

Our plans for Budapest fell through after multiple buses and trains all turned out to be booked… so we decided to kick it in Prague instead.  On Friday night I worked at the bar I am interning at for the 1^st Anniversary Party—bouncing at the door and passing out food inside.  On Saturday we spent the day the “beach”, washed off the fake sand, and began our night where I again met another bachelor party with even cooler costumes.  But, the real fun came on Sunday.  We went to the ZOO.  The Prague Zoo is the 10^th best Zoo in the world but I would argue it to be #1.  While we were there we took a single person chair lift ride up a mountain to get to the top.  I, of course, went first.  They throw you on this chair, ski lift style, say something to you in Czech about safety, and trust that you won't fall off and die.  Thankfully, I didn't.  Going up, though, was really cool.  I got an aerial view of the Zoo and could see for miles.  So, loved the Zoo trip.  Later that night we watched the World Cup Finals at Hooters. Duh.  Bad ending but it was a good game and a lot of fun.

That wraps up week 2!  See ya…

Praguelem Solved

I have now been here 4 days… so I am basically a native.  We have covered a lot of ground here in Prague already, starting with the complete takeover of floor 1 of the dorms.  When I’m not reliving my freshman year dorm experience—shout out to Steeb—I am exploring the city.  The buildings are all beautiful and very old because Prague is one of only a few cities not destroyed during WWII.  I’ve become quite the “traveler” and am actually pretty decent at navigating myself through the city via trams and metros.  I’ve gone off by myself and not gotten lost!  Points!  Of course, when I am alone it takes me 2x longer than it should to get places because I stop every 10 meters to take a picture of something… whether it is a building or a strange looking European so I can build my team (a few of us are in competition to see who can build the weirdest looking team of Czechs… I am well on my way to a victory).

My ever improving sense of direction falls short when it comes to large wooded parks.  Twice now, once with a group and once by myself, I have gotten lost on a run inside the park that is right by our dorms.  It turns out, though, that getting lost in the park is not the worst thing.  The park is huge and filled with beer gardens, bad mitten courts, people grilling out, and Czechs on rollerblades.  I do, though, have to watch my step.  It apparently is not customary for Czechs to clean up after their dogs.  The park is really pretty though and very close by.  We are really in a great location!

The night life is not too shabby either.  Last night, we ate and hung out at the bar that I will be marketing for my internship.  What began as a chilled out setting quickly turned into one of the Global Players finding herself  spot behind the bar and taking it upon herself to start making drinks and tending the bar.  She was a welcomed honorary employee for a solid 15 minutes until she was chased away by getting sprayed with water.  Whoops.  Afterward, a group of about 20 of us walked, under my directional leadership, to a 5 story club.  Each floor had different music and a different theme.  We met Scottish guys dressed in all sorts of costumes for their friend’s bachelor party and since there was a Spiderman, a Waldo, and a few other choice characters, we obviously became best friends instantaneously.  The place was PACKED.  It was so hot and everyone was dancing so much that we literally looked like we had been rained on by the end of the night with the amount of sweat we produced.  We got home at about 5:30am, in time for the sunrise.  Hands down top 10 list.

Today we went to a beach.  When I say beach, I mean fake sand next to a river… but none the less the “beach” was plentiful with speedos and ta-ta’s.  Europeans have no shame.  The “beach” had volleyball courts, restaurants, tiki bars, and tons of tables and chairs to set up around.  I was digging the aesthetics.

We are now planning a potential excursion to Budapest for next weekend!  More to come…

Bye Dresden, off to Prague-- Czech me out!

The rest of our stay in Dresden, residing in the Judo Room—aka Juditsu Suite—was a lot of fun.  We toured Dresden on Tuesday and saw all the old architecture.  It’s an extremely pretty city!  That night a group of went to the Women’s World Cup game only a 10 minute tram ride from the Juditsu Suite.  Nigeria faced off against Canada and I had one goal for the game… get a scarf.  On the walk from the tram to the game my friend and I spotted a scarf stand.  Our lack of preparation created a debacle.  We did not realize there wouldn’t be access to an ATM and we were almost fresh out of cash.  Not to worry.  The going rate was 2 scarves for 30 Euro but the gracious offer of 8 Euro, the scarf I was wearing at the time, and a lot of pestering was all we needed.  The clerk was either taken in by our charm or just straight up trying to get rid of us but we snagged 2 scarves for 4 Euro a piece… and I took back my scarf offer when I realized that there was no chance he would chase after me for it.  Inside the game was no different.  My friend and I funded 2 beers and a pretzel by a) pretending we didn’t know you couldn’t pay with a card and biting the pretzel before we tried to pay, and b) asking the security guards for money… it worked.  There was soccer too.  Nigeria won 1-0 and all 15 of us who went left the game in fresh Nigeria gear.

On Wednesday we packed it up and left for Prague.  On the way we stopped and took a tour at the Terezen concentration camp.  Many of the objects, furniture, and buildings are the original pieces from the war.  It was hard to believe some of the things the tour guide told us about how many people were forced to share such close quarters.  The camp was built on a fortress and we walked through the 500 meter tunnel system that was used by the guards.  It was very sad but a great learning experience for everyone.

Dobry Den! I am finally in Prague!  It is unbelievably refreshing to unpack my suitcase after 2 and a half weeks.  Prague is BEAUTIFUL, though I don't think I will ever fully understand the Czech Crown... confusing!  The internship will start tomorrow and I will hopefully get the public transportation system down to a science soon enough!  Had to purchase a new camera :( ... so there are not snaps from Germany but I will make sure Prague is well represented!

Na shledanou!

Blah Blog :-)

I made the inappropriate assumption that leaving Cologne, Germany would be completely ordinary so I preemptively posted a blog.  I was wrong.  On the day we were set to embark on our 7 hour bus ride to Dresden my host proposed to my roommate and I the idea of catching some of the gay pride parade before we had to leave.  We went.  At first there was a lot of dodging involved.  Dodging trannies, dodging fishnets, and dodging unique costumes.  Finally, we made it to a space where we were able to peek through a vendor's curtain to see.  I guess we eluded the "I don't belong here but I think it's funny" vibe because the drink vendor invited us into his hut.  We snagged front row seats to the parade and were given delicious drinks.  I tried to work the station but when people talked to me in German I could only reply by counting... the only German I know is 1-10.

We had to pull ourselves away to make the bus.  When I say bus, I mean a half of a bus.  Literally the short bus.  We had to pack “small bags” for Dresden so we wouldn’t’ have to haul around all of our luggage.  Everyone’s “small bags” and lacrosse equipment did not fit so nicely on the short bus.  It was quite an experience.  Add a water gun and about 3 super soaker happy meal toys and you have yourself my 7 hour bus ride.  We were thrilled to arrive in Dresden, although the accommodations were something to be desired.  Currently all 30 members of Global Players are sleeping in Judo room.  Judo is a form of karate.  We were graciously welcomed with a sleeping bag each—pillows were apparently BYOP… no one got the memo.  I can complain all I want but a bedroom that turns into a kickball court (because that is what we eventually made it into) is nothing short of awesome. #ill.

OF COURSE we celebrated the 4^th of July.  After a 4 hour lacrosse session with the Dresden lacrosse players, we brought it back to the Judo Suite and had a BBQ… naturally.  In true American style we ate hot dogs, played drinking games (in the Judo Suite), and sang the National Anthem upwards 16 times.  The Germans may or may not have been too thrilled with us, but our Independence comes only once a year and I am not about to let it pass me by without a classic “Proud to be and American” group sing-song while waiting for the tram.  Coming home that night we were disappointed to learn that the only key we were issued was in the hands of someone who was not back yet.  Solution: hoist fellow GP through the window.  Definite fail. 

Side note: People have noticed my snort.  I don’t know why I tried to hide who I am.