Missed the Boat and Off the Reservation 4.9.10 – 12:12

It always impresses me with how much can happen in one day. Yesterday was Friday, and our last day of orientation week. After getting off on an uneven footing and showing up late by a few minutes each morning, I made a conscious effort to remedy my course before developing a habit. That is why I went home following the dinner at Kri Kri and not out to a club where many of the kids on the program were. Dinner ended at 11:30 and I was exhausted from the night before, so I tried to read a little of my handbook. I didn’t get very far but I skimmed over the schedule and was able to set my alarm before slipping into a deep sleep.

I woke up just past 8 and was out the door by a quarter to nine to be there for the beginning of orientation at a quarter past. Mira had told me that it would take 30 minutes to get to campus all told and he seems to be spot on. I think it took me 28 minutes all told so things were going according to plan. Something seemed wrong though. I should have run into other kids on the program on the way to campus, or on the grounds, I expected to at least see someone else walking into the Study Center, but there was no one! Turns out I can’t read and orientation actually started at 9:45, so I had thirty minutes to burn. Fortunately for me, there were people in the building and another girl and her Czech buddy made the same mistake, so I got to meet a new friend. Her name is Lauren and she goes to Emory.

Following the same pattern as orientation all week, we were split into different groups and sent to sessions to learn about information that will help us through the semester. Friday’s topics were about the academics for the semester and what to expect (Dad, you should be happy to know they tried hard to tell us this was a real semester and we could not get by with doing no work), the best ways to immerse ourselves and use the available opportunities (i.e. interest groups, volunteering, Czech family and friend programs, and the photo contests), and how to adjust to and cope with cultural differences.

Milan’s session about adjusting to a new culture and how to cope with it stands out in my mind for reasons both good and bad. Unfortunately, Milan’s ability to lead a conversation has not improved as the week proceeded; however, he was assigned the most interesting topics (in my opinion). Though I didn’t mention it, Milan also led a conversation on stereotypes and generalizations yesterday. It was an interesting subject that I think Milan is simply ill equipped to lead with a group of students from America. I say that because at least in my case, it is a topic that I have discussed at length at the superficial level. This being the case, when I talk about it again, I hope it will be a more in depth conversation, delving deeper into the subject and maybe trying to understand why we have stereotypes and how they develop from generalizations. That’s probably just me though and most everyone else is fine listening to Milan try and evoke some conversation in vain. Friday’s conversation could have been interesting, but a language barrier prevented a connection between Milan and the students. His English is actually pretty good, but I think since he still has a strong accent, it is hard for many of us to look past it. Trying to make the most out of the situation, I listened to what was being said and when something interesting popped into my head, I wrote it on my notepad for further rumination, so I now have a list of potential questions to explore when I have time. We’ll see if I ever actually get around to it.

After the orientation sessions, CIEE had an activities fair during which the Study Center was converted into a convention center with each group getting a room to talk about their group and what activities they had planned for the semester. I signed up for a few different ones like the cooking club, sports, and art and theater.

When the activities fair ended, I stayed behind for a bit to try and rework my schedule and familiarize myself with the classes I’d be taking by looking at the syllabi provided by CIEE. Assuming the drop/add session goes according to plan I have a pretty awesome semester lined up! I’ll be taking Czech, Czech & Central European History, Comparative European Economics Systems, Europe and US: A Transatlantic History, and the course I’m most excited about (sorry Dad), Cinema Dance! I know what you’re thinking, well, actually I don’t, because you could be thinking a bunch of different things, but I’ll try to address a few of them. One, yes, UW does acknowledge the value of this course and offers academic credit in exchange for it in Comm Arts (UW Course Guide - Comm Arts 513), but maybe that’s saying something about the Communication Arts department? No, the class does not require that I dance on film (I don’t think), but even if I do, I am taking it! So, now you’re wondering if I’m not dancing, what exactly is Cinema Dance, right? It’s a three credit course condensed into 96 hours during which time a small group of students (I think around 20) go into the woods, shoot a movie, edit it on-site, and drink with the teachers when that is all said and done. You tell me how I’m supposed to pass up a chance like that? Sure, I could do something more useful and take another economics course to maybe graduate with some extra credits in my major, but it’s not like I’m leaving Madison before I have to, so why not take a class that offers a unique experience I’m unable to find anywhere else? Barring any drastic changes in UW’s class equivalency policy, I should have a pretty good semester ahead of me with two classes a day, Monday through Thursday, leaving me ample time to see the city, and explore the region, which is really why I’m here. Right Mom and Dad? It’s education beyond the classroom.

--- Skip Ahead Three Hours ---

CIEE organized a boat cruise and welcome dinner as an opportunity for all the students to get acquainted with one another. Since we live so close to one another, a few of the CIEE apartments on Sleska street arranged to meet and go to the dock together. Mira, Red and I were surprisingly on time and out the door when we needed to be. The same could not be said for the girls, where two of them went shopping for groceries and hadn’t returned yet by the time we got to their apartment (this will have repercussions larger than a simple inconvenience which I’ll get to in a bit). They showed up after a few minutes and continued to lollygag around the apartment putting away groceries and get ready while Mira and I waited (Red was on the phone with his Dad outside trying to work out a lost debit card – a consequence of the prior night’s mayhem). Eventually the girls were ready to go and we went on our way.

The boats docked up in Praha 1, in the Old Jewish Quarter. Our Czech buddies led us to the dock taking us on the metro. At this point the metro is pretty familiar to all of us but at the transfer stop, one of the Czech buddy gets off without telling all of us. Fortunately we saw her and the rest of us got off (one group stayed on with their Czech buddy who decided not to transfer). Following the transfer, the docks were only a stop or two away. I don’t think any of the Czechs looked at their watches by this point though, or they didn’t realize that we were late, because when we arrived at the appropriate docking spot, the boat was no where to be found. Apparently they left without us!

Our Czech buddies were shocked; they said that the boat had always waited a few minutes in the past and thought that it would be the same this year. We didn’t give up though and our Czech buddies called the resident director who told us to meet the boat at the lock and dam up river and jump onto the boat there. Running to catch a tram to overtake the boat, we eventually caught up and did as we were told: jumped onto the boat while the water level rose to allow the boat to continue on its tour. At this point I think it’s only fair to acknowledge that we were not the only group to have missed the boat and another group of five or six students did as well, though that group that we were riding the metro with and who didn’t take our transfer had made it onboard.

Once onboard, the night proceeded as planned. Dining and socializing for a few hours was a nice break from our normal scheduled activities in the Study Center. The boat offered a nice spread of food and free (non-alcoholic) drinks and I definitely took advantage. I had three of those side salad plates and filled them to the brim with food.

Overall, the boat ride was nice and the weather cooperated which was essential, because we could not all have fit inside if it had started to rain.

When we disembarked back at the dock, groups were formed and we went our separate ways. Mira and I were invited over to Hannah’s flat to see it and judge for ourselves whether she had the nicest flat in the program. While I will agree she certainly has a nice flat, the only advantages I think hers has over my own is the master bathroom, which has a bath and a bidet, and their small balcony on the second floor with a view of Prague castle. Other than that, it seems like a typical apartment, though they certainly are not hurting for space.

Mira couldn’t stay for that long as he wanted to come back and study for his exams, but I was invited to stay and hang out with them, them being the four girls who share the apartment – Hannah, Keira, Marly and Dasha – and Becca. As the girls had heard about people going back to the Drunken Monkey later, we went to the Tesco, a grocery store around the corner, to pick up some drinks. We bought two bottles of champagne and a small bottle of vodka for the five of us. A bigger fan of grapes than potatoes, I stuck with the champagne. In fact, while we sat around and talked for an hour or so in the girls apartment, I’m pretty confident I single-handedly consumed at least one of the bottles of champagne if not more and when the champagne was gone, I helped the girls polish off a bottle of white wine they had left over from the night before, so by the time I stood up, I was pleasantly drunk.

Three guys from the dorms (Zach from St. Louis, Sam from Emory and Graham) came over to the apartment and hung out with us a for a few minutes before we all headed up to Old Town square to go to the Drunken Monkey. Luckily for us, the girls’ Czech buddy, Dasha, was heading up that direction as well and could take us almost all the way so that we wouldn’t get lost.

The bar was offering another bar crawl but the girls didn’t want to pay for the wrist bands since not having one wouldn’t prevent them from actually attending any of the venues anyway. So, when they entered the bar, they just walked past the young lady selling the bands; having been there only two nights prior, I decided that I would at least say hi to her though and when I saw the bracelets just sitting in the open, I picked up two. I’m pretty sure she noticed, but I don’t think she minded too much since she didn’t say anything, though she did cover up the rest of them to prevent me from picking up any more.

At this point, the night proceeded much like Wednesday night when I went on the bar crawl except this time, I met Rachel Tipermas, Rebecca’s twin, at one of the clubs and danced with her for a bit. It’s so cool when you meet mutual friends and they automatically warm to you because you share that person. Sometimes that isn’t the case, for example, when you both know somebody and that person is one of your best friends, but is just a high school classmate of the person you’re just meeting, then that person is probably left wondering if you’re actually cool or something. That has definitely not been the case with the Tipermas twins though and it’s really refreshing! Rachel only lives a few blocks from me and so we talked about meeting up for dinner at some point, which is something I’m definitely looking forward to.

At some point in the night, a group of us went to a different club where a bunch of CIEE kids were called Lucerna. Lucerna also happened to be a lot closer to our apartments which was just an added benefit. I had a ton of fun at Lucerna which had a stage/platform in the back of the dance floor. I found most of my CIEE friends on the stage so I promptly hopped up and started dancing. Looking back on that, I think the reason I had such a good time is because I didn’t think so much and just danced whereas if I had been sober, I would have wondered whether or not these girls actually wanted to dance with me and also not had enough courage to ask anyone to dance. At least on this evening, my thoughts didn’t prevent me from having a good time and for that I am grateful.

Side Note: Remember Jack from the breakfast at the hotel? Well, at one point he came up to me at the club and asked quote, “Are you sure you’re not part gay?” I didn’t take it offensively and Jack definitely didn’t mean it as an insult, I’m only mentioning it because Jack is not the first person to ask me about my sexuality. I don’t know what it is exactly since I’m not confused at all. Either way, not only is Jack not the first person to ask me in my life, he’s also not the first person on this trip to do so. Food for thought to be sure.

Around three in the morning, I decided I should leave the club we were at soon and go home. I fortunately ran into Adam, one of the Czech buddies who lives on Slezska Street just a few blocks from me, and asked if I could accompany him when he went home. He said of course and so we left the club.

We were in a big group as we left the club and I’m not really sure whom all I was with, but I know that I quickly lost Adam. Without him, I really had no idea where to go or which tram to take which is kind of a problem, because even though Lucerna is closer to my flat than the club I had been at previously, it’s not right down the block. Deciding to try my luck with a tram down the street, I hop on and am on my way. I get to a stop that I think I recognize named Karlovo Náměsti only to realize too late that what I recognized was Náměsti, the Czech word for square. Prague has a lot of squares. So there I was, 3:30 in the morning, in a square I’d never been to before, waiting for a tram. The problem is that trams only come every thirty minutes after midnight and I was already dozing off that I worried that if I stayed at the tram stop, I would fall asleep – a sure fire way to get robbed. Not wanting to be mugged in my first week in Prague, I decide to do the only logical thing given the situation. No, not call a cab, walk. There was a map at the tram stop which gave me a general sense of where I was in the city and I knew (generally) where my flat was located. After thinking I recognized a street down the block from me (kind of like I recognized Karlovo Náměsti) and that my flat wasn’t too far away, I decided I could walk it.

This actually worked out! It turned out that I misgauged the distance by a bit initially, but I actually read the map correctly and, with the help of a few friendly Czechs, made it home safely. With that my night concluded, safe and sound in my flat and comfortably in my own bed.

(P.S. I'm sorry I've been slacking on the photos, hopefully, I'll get some up soon!)