Sorry. Once again it took me a really long time to update this. I said in my last blog I would soon be writing about Prague since I was going there with my class. But once we got back from Prague, the end of the semester was approaching and therefore got extremely hectic with papers, tests, and getting prepared to head back home.
So I was in Prague June 26-28 with my class called Prag and Wien (Prague and Vienna.) The class itself was alright,we learned basically only about artists and writers from Prague and Vienna, which I don't particularly care for. I think most of us signed up for the class because we knew that cheap trip to Prague was included. I think it cost 75 euros for us, great deal. The class was mostly new JYMers, which is what we old JYMers call the students who arrived only for the second semester. JYM is Junior Year in Munich, the name of the program. I am not sure if I ever clearly stated that. It is the title of my blog though. I digress. Most of the class was new JYMers with a few old sprinkled throughout. I think there only 4 of us old JYMers on the trip, so I would come to befriend and get to know a lot of new JYMers on the coming trip.
Anyways, I was really excited to get back to eastern Europe because as you might recall I had a great time in Krakow. I still maintain that Poland is the most underrated country in Europe. It was a ton of fun. So I was excited to visit Prague in hopes that it would be pretty similar to Poland. It sorta was, sorta wasn't but regardless, I still had a good time. The main reason we went to Prague was to learn about the art and architecture in the city. The main event was learning all about Franz Kafka, who we had studied in the class, and visiting his various homes all around the city.
The interesting thing about going on trips to cities with a class is that you end up doing a bunch of stuff that you never would have done on your own. For example, we went to the Kafka museum, which was all about Kafka and his works and stuff like that. There is a 0% chance that I ever would have gone to that museum had I been on my own. The flip side of that is that since we were there as a class, we had access to things that we never would have had as a class. For example, we had dinner one night with the BBC Correspondent for the Czech Republic and something else. Again, there is no chance that I ever would have done that if I had traveled alone.
Dinner (not pictured) with the BBC Correspondent
So to sort of start over now and talk about the day to day of the trip. Getting there was chaos. There is no other word for it. I do not remember what time our bus was supposed to leave, but it was sometime in the morning. So all of us met at the bus station to get the bus to Prague, including our Professor Peter Becher and Patricia, who is one of the head office people at JYM who helps us get our lives in order and gives JYM a good face. I also realized during this time that I had forgotten my passport. I was sort of nervous about this because they told us to bring it, but I also knew that the Czech Republic was in the Schengen Zone, which means that I would not need my passport to cross into the country or come back to Germany. For those who do not know, the Schengen Zone is basically a group of countries who have agreed to not have checks between theirs countries borders, so it is basically like going to state to state here in the US. The countries that make up the EU essentially make up the Schengen Zone, except for Great Britain and a few others. "But Jake" you'll say "GB is no longer in the EU." But remember people, this was actually* written in 2015 and the vote hadn't happened yet. But yes, Britain will soon not be in the EU, but this isn't that type of blog. Anyway, there was no time for my passport to be brought to me by Libby, who had this point had my spare key, so I just said whatever I'll see what happens.
Anyway something was wrong with the AC on our bus, so it was not working. So we had two options- we could either ride the bus to Prague without AC, which was about 4 hours, or we could change buses, which was going to take a few hours, or we could wait for someone to come fix the bus, which was also going to take a few hours. Well as you probably heard, the summer of 2015 was one of the hottest on record for Europe. It was just scorching hot all the time for some reason. So no one was jumping to ride this bus without AC. Thankfully it got sorted out somehow and we only left an hour or two late.
There was also a gratifying moment during this. There were a couple of really nice American Tourists sitting next to us. They were about 60 I think, but didn't look it. The man was retired from the Navy, I forget what the woman did, but they were super nice. As the announcements on the bus. occurred it was only in German, and the guy, who heard us JYMers speaking English (tisk tisk) jokingly asked if we had understood it. When I fired back with all the info about why we are sitting there and the different options and stuff he was sort of surprised, which made me laugh. Finally an English announcement came on an confirmed everything I told him boosting my credibility and also giving me a moment of like wow. I am actually getting good at this whole German thing (more on that later). It was a gratifying moment.
So we finally arrive in Prague and my god is it a beautiful city. We came over the bridge into the city and saw the city and the castle and everything and it was just stunning. We arrive at our hostel and we have to check in. This is where it would have been helpful to have my passport. The lady was really giving me a hard time about not having it. She was saying you came form America you must have your passport. No, I came from Munich and don't need my passport. But she was having a hard time comprehending that we were Americans who had been living in Munich a while and therefore would no necessarily have our passports. She thought I was lying to her about not having it. She asked for my drivers license then, which I no longer carried because it was no good in Germany obviously and carrying it only meant I risked losing it. I had been getting into bars and clubs and stuff when they asked to see my ID by showing them my German Health Insurance Card since it was the only Germany thing I had on it with my picture. I am sort of surprised that worked at most places now that I think about it, but I don't think I had to use it often. Ultimately there is no way you're under 18 with this hairline anyway.
So this woman was asking for ID and I said look I have my LMU ID or International Student Identification Card pick one. After a lot of hassle she finally chose the LMU ID I think? I don't remember. Note to self, bring passport even though you don't need it.
We started off by doing a scavenger hunt of sorts around Prague. We got maps and had to go to places and say what they are and why they were important and the addresses of the place. I think that's what we did. I do not remember. Basically it was a fun way for us to get acquainted with the city.
I genuinely don't know what this building is but it's cool. Also as you see it says Prague Proms. If that's where the prom is for the local Prague high school, that's awesome. SITREP I googled famous buildings in Prague and it is telling me that this is a Municipal House. It has concerts and things
Yes, this is an ad for a spa in which you are bathed in beer
This is a cool tower/gate
The main square of Prague with Ashley, Melina, and Sarah. We did the scavenger hunt together. Ashley and I are old JYMers while Sarah and Melina are new
This is a shot of the Prague Castle from the famous bridge in Prague. If you look really close you will see Kafka written in white, which is where the Kafka Museum that we visited is
Apparently if you touch the gold part of this statue it's good luck or something. No idea of the story behind that
Bill Clinton cameo. Played Jazz at this club once
In this club
This is the main drag in Prague. This is Wencesles Square and in the back is the National Museum of Prague. The square is where the Jan Palach set himself on fire in protest of the USSR invasion of the Czech Republic during the Cold War
This is a coke truck I want. Nothing more, nothing less
The oldest still operating astronomical clock in the world
Overlooking Prague from the castle that dominates the skyline
Me at the Castle
Church up by the castle
Inside the church
Square by the castle
Gate by the castle
Another shot of Prague from the castle
This is a really cool wall that has a bunch of murals
Sarah, me, Ashley, and Graham in front of the wall
All of us+Patricia overlooking Prague
Franz Kafka's grave
The food during this trip was also good. Our hostel provided us with the usual European breakfast of breads and jams and hard boiled eggs and cereals and stuff like that. That sentence had great grammar. JYM was also generous during the trip, giving us dinner each night. We were allowed to order anything we wanted, including drinks. It was a good time. They also took us to really fancy restaurants. I got a steak at once place and lamb at another. It was also really cheap due to conversation. The steak and lamb were each like 10 dollars.
This is the lamb. It was delicious.
This was some part of a duck. I hesitate to say liver but I think that's what it was. It was gross
The beer was much better.
Overall it was a great trip. It is hard to say what exactly we did day by day because it was a year ago. I know we did the tour and visited the Kafka museum. We had those two dinners and visited the castle but for the most part it was whatever we wanted to do. I remember one night a bunch of us went out and were sitting in the basement of this bar when all of a sudden a guy comes down and says you guys will want to get your drinks because I am leading a bar crawl of like a 100 people. So in about 30 seconds we went from being the only ones in the basement of the bar to it being packed. That was pretty cool. We ended up meeting some people and joining the bar crawl. We just pretended to be with some people from Sweden who were actually on the crawl and since the people were doing a terrible job at checking for bracelets we got into 4 more places with free drinks until we got caught.
Another night we all ended up in hookah bar. This time it was just us JYM kids. It was a chill atmosphere and a great time.
Overall it was a great trip with great people. Not much else you can ask for.
No comments:
Post a Comment