It’s
my lunch break right now, so I thought I would get a little blogging
in. I’m in the midst of my first week of Czech intensive right now,
and, well, it’s intense. We’re going through a bunch of basics -
questions we’ll need to use, phrases that will be helpful (like slow
down, or once more please), though to be honest, the hardest part is
just pronouncing the words. With only one way to pronounce a word,
you’d think it would be simple, but when the alphabet is changed on
you, it takes some time to adjust.
I’ve
never been very good at language, so the fact that I’m struggling isn’t
really surprising to me. While there are a few people who are
definitely picking it up more quickly than I am, I’m not doing
terribly, so at least I can feel good about that. My teacher’s name is
Petra and she’s very friendly. I’ve heard some of the other teachers
are really relaxed in their styles, and while Petra doesn’t seem to fit
that description, she doesn’t seem like the type that is in the
business to teach in order to cause her students pain, but rather is
one who wants her students to learn; this trait is definitely something
I always admire in teachers, even if it means the class is more
difficult.
Okay,
but today is my birthday, and I’m sure I’ll get back to the Czech class
in a future blog post, but I only have one day to revel in turning 21!
Last night wasn’t a huge celebration, but I’m looking to make up for
that tonight.
Last
night, on the eve of my birthday, I met up with Hannah and Rebecca to
go to dinner where we were joined by Rachel (Rebecca’s twin), and two
kids named Jason who are both on the NYU trip and both go to Duke. We
wandered near and around Old Town looking through some back alleys for
quality restaurants. We ended up settling on a nice Czech place. We
were seated in the basement and it definitely felt like they wanted to
hide the loud American party, because after the one other table with
people at it left, no one else was brought downstairs. Oh well, it was
a good time, and this way we couldn’t bother anyone.
I
already mentioned that Rachel and I live only a few blocks from one
another, so we share the same Metro stop. It was really funny because
as we were ascending the escalator toward the surface, we got to
talking about how it is so easy to talk to one another because we have
a really good friend in common - which is what I said in a previous
post. Just the fact that we came to the same conclusion independently
made me smile; it made me smile because it meant that she felt the same
way and that we are on our way to being really good friends and who
doesn’t like having really good friends?!
When
I got back from dinner, Mira was cooking his dinner (at 11:30? crazy).
Since the chicken was in the oven, he had some time and wanted to show
me something. Apparently, he’d taken most of the night off from
studying and had been trying to plan my birthday! He brought over his
computer and showed me this enormous thought map (I don’t know how
better to describe it, but it’s this program where he has different
bubbles to organize his thoughts) dedicated solely to my birthday. He
had looked into a few different restaurants, tried to see if they could
accomodate a party, then started planning a pre-game at the flat and
researched different games we could play. I think we decided on some
classic drinking games like Kings but then also some more adventurous
ones that I’m really excited about like Angel - where you are assigned
someone and you act as their guardian angel for the night and are
tasked with making sure that they have a good night; if you discover
your own angel you win a prize. Hopefully everyone is willing to
partake, because I think it would be pretty fun if everyone got into
it. Then after the pre-game, Mira looked into three different clubs
that we could attend - a smaller one that plays oldies and rock, a nice
intimate one but with expensive beers, or the five floor mega club. I
decided on the mega club for now because I wanted the most options and
we thought it would have the most people, so hopefully that will live
up to the hype!
I’ll of course keep you all posted on how it goes!
In
the meantime - it’s days like birthdays when you really start to miss
home. I’m not good at inviting people over to celebrate my birthday, so
going around CIEE today and talking to people and telling them to come
over was less that natural, whereas at home, I don’t know what I would
do, but I wouldn’t care because I know I’d have a blast just being
around people with whom I felt comfortable. It’s not that I feel
uncomfortable here, just that I’m still new here and we’re all getting
to know one another. I don’t know. I’m trying to type this stream of
conscious so that I can get the most out before having to run back to
Czech class in a few minutes.
Anyway,
for everyone back home, know that I’m thinking of you and miss you all.
For anyone here who is helping me celebrate my birthday, I’m really
really grateful. I could totally see myself spending my birthday on my
own just reading a book, so the fact that you’re going to go out with
me means more than you know.
Na Shelandou!
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