It’s only noon, but I’m already done for the day. Don’t
worry; I still had a full schedule. This morning we had to go to the
foreigner’s police to register as visiting aliens for the duration of our stay
(apparently, if you don’t, you can be deported). My class had an 8 AM
appointment on the other side of town, so I had to wake up at 6:15 (that was my
first alarm, my final one was at 6:45, which is when I actually got out of
bed). Still, I can’t remember the last time I woke up before 7. Not
intentionally at least. The early appointment proved to be a blessing in
disguise because it meant that we got out of there and on with our day first.
To help wake me up on the tram this morning I put in my iPod
and started listening to some really quality music like Justin Bieber’s “Baby” &
Keri Hilson’s "Knock
You Down" Feat. Ne-Yo & Kanye West. Judge all you want, but tell
me how those songs DON’T get you going and shoulder shaking? After playing that
on repeat for a little while, I diversified a bit and added Justin Timberlake
and a few others to the mix.
I think the most apt description of the Foreigner’s police
is a DMV for people who don’t speak the same language – just imagine how
excited the employees were to see a party of 80 Americans (and some Russians)
show up at 8 in the morning. Fortunately for us, Ivana, one of the CIEE
employees, had filled out pretty much all of our forms for us before we arrived
and all we needed to do was add our signature; if we had been asked to do more,
I’m confident many of us would not have been granted permission to remain in
the country.
After we’d all gotten our passports stamped, our class for
the day was to explore the mall. I know, I know, it’s a rough life I lead. The
teachers prepared a handout for us and asked us to fill it in. The handout had
questions about prices in the minimarket, the supermarket, the hours of the
mall, and the like. It asked us about ten items we found and their prices and
what certain stores sold. The exercise wasn’t particularly difficult, though
I’m sure that if my partner had been motivated (she wasn’t) it could have been
tedious and long. Instead, we tried to reason out what most of the stores were
before trying to find them. I didn’t really want to argue with her or make her
do the activity to the fullest, but I did want to do it properly, so in the
end, I told her I’d find the last one while she went to the food court with
another group to get food. I took the opportunity to find a few of the stores
and double check our answers. It was a good thing too, because I found numerous
mistakes. I should probably note that my partner was genuinely grateful for me
going out and doing the work and would have helped if I had asked; I just
didn’t want to make her do that when she was clearly tired and hungry.
Because we had the foreigner’s police this morning, when we finished
the exercise at the mall, we were free to go. I plan on spending the afternoon
relaxing around the flat, trying to edit some photos and listening to music and
maybe going out around sunset to explore a little if the weather cooperates.
Either way though, it’s going to be an early night because I haven’t had the
best sleep this week and I have to wake up again for an early morning tomorrow
for a field trip to Kutná Hora. I don’t really know what’s there, but hopefully I will
after tomorrow!
Hope all is well back home! I miss you guys. Feel free to
send comments on the blog (especially if you catch any typos) or if you have
topics you’re interested in that I’m not addressing also let me know. For
anyone who doesn’t know, you can reach me at sweiss3@wisc.edu.
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