May 24-27, 2007

WOW! was Prague a good time. I have to begin by apologizing as my attempt to portray Prague and my adventures there will fall short of the incredible experience of the trip, but I will futilely strive to share all that was Prague.

We had a class day trip to Wien (Vienna) on Thursday after which all of the students and a professor (and his family) traveled on to Prague. We caught the 6ish train from Vienna and watched the picturesque landscape of open fields, running rivers, and old architecture pass by for five-ish hours, arriving in Prague about 23ish(11pm). From the train station we the large group headed our separate ways toward our respective hostels with a game plan to meet up in the morning in the Jewish Quarter to do some site seeing together. The group I was hosteling with consisted of Jackie G., Ashlee G., and Sarah Z. We headed from the train station out to our hostel, Hostel Elf located about 10 minutes by foot . . . well 10 minutes if you go the right direction. We initially headed out the right direction making our way confidently through the warm summer night of Prague, but over quickly realized that we had overshot our street and need to turn around. Back tracking we could not find the street, and so I stepped into a hotel to ask humbly for directions. After grabbing a few free maps, we thanked them for their help and quickly found the correct street. I have to admit the road we headed down was a bit creepy at times, but I never felt unsafe just extra alert. With each step I took the excitement of being in Prague grew. When we all saw the hostel from afar it was like seeing a calm in the horizon, as we were exhausted from a day in Vienna.

The sign for Hostel Elf hangs out perpendicular from the building and can be seen down the street. Once one reaches the sign they turn to a stair way leading to what can be seen as the back side of the building. As we reached the steps we could hear music blasting. We walked up the stairs to an out door lounge where people were hanging out, drinking and thoroughly enjoying their late night at the hostel. Immediately as we walked in the door I noticed a man sitting on the stool next to me smoking a huge joint (that would be marijuana for those who might not be familiar with the term). I have to admit that my initial thought was "oh my God, what did we get ourselves into?" The staff member checking us in explained to us that they were having some sort of staff party for some special occasion. We got through check in, got our keys and headed to bed. Jackie, Sarah and I were all in the same room as we had booked our stay together. The three of us shared a room together with five other people (only one of them currently sleeping when we arrived). We got our stuff settled to catch some shut eye around 1am. About 1:30ish we hear some pounding on the door and jiggling of the door handle. My initial thought was that it was some drunk people who were trying to get into the wrong room. Exhausted my only thought was Jackie don't open the door. After that ruckus, I eventually feel asleep. It seems now would be a good time to tell you the mystery behind the ruckus. Jackie, Sarah and I learned the next day that two of our male classmates, Doug P. & Matt C., had come by to make sure we had arrived safely to our hostel. Yeah, it was sweet of them.

Our hostel provided a free breakfast consisting of hardy corn flakes, tea, coffee and sandwiches, which all of our budgets loved. As an early bird I was out in the lounge that morning before breakfasted started. I chilled writing in my journal, trying to catch on the past days adventures (which I am struggling to keep up with as there is so much I am experiencing) when another traveler entered the room. A simple morning "hey" began a morning chat about our travels & experiences. This traveler's name is Oliver, a fire fighter from Laguna Beach, CA on a four week back packing trip with his buddy who just graduated from a University in San Fransisco. We had a friendly chat about what we had seen, what we were looking forward to seeing, were we were at in our lives and hoping to accomplish with our lives. He was headed out to his next destination that day, as we had just begun our exploring in Prague.

The four of us (Jackie, Ashlee, Sarah and I) headed to the Jewish Quarter to meet up with the rest of the group at 10am. Once the larger group got together we purchased tickets to see the Jewish quarter which encompassed most of Prague's synagogues and historical building revolving around the Jewish faith. The synagogues we visited had been converted into museums which exhibited the history of the Jewish community in Prague. It was interesting and I learned alot (in fact I was ashamed of how much I didn't know about the oppression of people of the Jewish faith dating long back before WWII). Of the six synagogues we visited a few stood in particular stood out. First was a synagogue that had been converted into a memorial for those people who had died in WWII. Etched into the walls of this synagogue was the name and a brief bio of the victims killed in WWII. One room of the synagogue was an exhibit of the children's artwork during the Holocaust. When exiting this synagogue one walks through a grumbled cemetery filled with stacks of tombstones. Whenever I enter cemeteries it always strikes me how each headstone marks a life, a life that has a story and a story worth remembering, but the question arises who will remember the person's story?
It is worth mentioning that after the first museum the big group split up, deciding smaller groups were more advantageous. Jackie G. and I decided to stick together and turned out to make great travel buddies. As we were visiting the synagogues we stubbed across an interesting looking store at which point we wondered in. Almost as soon as I walk I found a pretty glass set and began looking at different pieces. Shortly after walking into the store a man walks up to me and begins telling me about the glasses and that he will give me a discount because I a beautiful. While suspicious of the genuineness of his comment, I thanked him and continued looking around. As I was looking around I heard a mans voice call to me "Jo, you are from Phoenix yeah?" I spun around to see a man who had called my name standing with Jackie, "No, Tucson, why?" "Cause I know you." At this point I am running though names and faces in my head trying to match some identity with the figure before me, but quickly I realize that I did not know this person. After a few split seconds of wondering, the guy states "Jo, you are famous here," at this point I am confused, "you are from the 50 Cent video Candy Shop!" Apparently he thought I was a back up dancer from a music video. I instantly tried to explain that I wasn't but he continually insisted that I was, so I decided to roll with it. After finally admitting to my true identity (a backup dancer for 50 Cent), he asked me if he could get a picture with me and if I would sign his arm and so I agreed. He then began to spread the word to the rest of the store about who I was and that he had gotten my signature. After proudly sharing his discovery, he offered me a discount on anything in the store, "For you Josephine anything." At this point I became very indecisive about the glasses I was looking at and decided to check out a few others. Well, my indecision lasted a while, and during this time kdikdi kept asking me random questions & hitting on me and then proposed marriage (kidding of course. . .well at least I think). He asked me if I had a boyfriend, and at this point I decided to make up one who was back home in the States, however this did not seem to bother him as he felt that if he (that being my boyfriend) cared he would be traveling with me. During this whole scene I was suspicious that I might be getting ripped off, but after all the amusement of the whole scene I decided to go ahead and buy the original glass set. When I went to pay he handed the glass set to the cashier and informed him to give me the discount. The cashier looked shocked and asked if he heard the discount right. Some how in the midst of me deciding which glasses to get, it came up that he should get a kiss (not exactly sure how this got brought up, or for what reason he thought he deserved one, but a kiss on the check never harmed anyone), so when he left me with the cashier he was sure to remind me that, "I will be waiting right outside for the kiss, don't forget about the kiss." And sure enough as I walked out the door there was kdidk with a huge smile on his face. I gave him a kiss on the check and said goodbye, but asked him for his name at which point he decided to give me both his number and email address. He also asked me if I would get a drink with him later but declined as I didn't really want to go out with a guy I knew nothing about, in a foreign country where I didn't speak the language and didn't know the city well enough to be safe; I especially didn't want to go out for alcoholic drinks under these circumstances. Jackie and I said goodbye and headed down the street. At this point we are laughing and I am wondering what just happened (a bit embarrassed to share the story, but it was a memory I will never forget). Oh and after this memorable moment I decided that I would start greeting & parting with Europeans the European way of one kiss on each side of the check. So after our glass fun, Jackie and I decided to explore Prague on the other side of the river. Walking down the street we could see what looked to be a giant metronome, so we decided to check it out. The view from the top was amazing! you could see all of Prague. The city stretches wide similar to Phoniex. We enjoyed the view for a bit and then decided to walk along the top of the hill. In our exploration we came upon a summer palace for a former Emperor (I think it was called the Kramarova Villa). After strolling around the Villa, we continued and found the Prague castle. It was beautiful, and quiet as there were maybe 20 other people around when we arrived (late afternoon/early evening). As we were walking around we turned a corner and there before us was a awe striking cathedral. It was huge! It instantly made me feel so small, insignificant, and humble. Once we were done exploring the castle, we headed down to the river by the Charles Bridge. We came upon a cute cafe/restaurant under the bridge with a dock for customers wanting a romantic motor boat dinner that took one around the city. I admired the scene while Jackie went to find a restroom. As I was gazing into the distance a man walked up to me and started a conversation. His name was Tidiji and he was working and studying in Prague. He is originally from West Africa, but moved to Prague three years ago to learn English. We chatted for a bit until Jackie came back. After saying goodbye to Tidiji (one kiss on each cheek of course) Jackie and I headed across the Charles bridge to our hostel's side of the river.