Budapeshhtin'

This weekend I went on a trip to Budapest in Hungary. It was an amazing weekend & I really enjoyed the city! Not only that, but I had my first official hostel experience, which was an all-around positive one. My friend & I stayed at Carpe Noctem Vitae, not too shabby for only $7 a night!

At first I was a little skeptical sharing a room with 4 other strangers. But it turned out fine, we had different roommates each night, Canadian, Korean, Spanish & even some Texans.

The first day we wandered around the city. Budapest has a similar layout to Prague, it is divided by a river (the Danube) which separates the castle/old district side (Buda) from the cosmopolitan/city side (Pest). I would consider Budapest Prague's larger, grittier cousin.

Synagogue

The National Museum

Outside the Grand Market Hall

We stopped by the Grand Market. It had a bunch of veggie & fruit produce, meats & pastries, clothing & street food vendors. I got some fried bread, or langos and it was DELICIOUS. It looks kind of like a pizza, but it tastes way better. 

Langos

More delicious food, this one's even called a "Strawberry charlotte"

We went on a free walking tour, which was the best & most interesting tour that I think I've ever been on. Our tour guide was really cool & had more unconventional things to say. However, it was absolutely freezing outside and started blizzarding midway.

St. Stephen's Cathedral

Hanging out with a fat Hungarian man (too much Langos)

Ugly communist-era building

Buda castle

Parliament building

Yes, this is a DOG, its a Hungarian breed called Puli

One of the things everyone must do in Budapest is go to the baths. There are naturally heated hot bathhouses throughout Budapest. We went to the Szechenyi Baths which were located in the city park. It was amazingly relaxing & there were people of all ages and from so many different countries.

The entrance to the park

The bath house

The main outdoor bath!

Now I'm back in Prague & ready to start my 2nd week of classes. I love traveling, but I am so glad to be living in Prague & it feels good to be back at my apartment.

<3 Charlotte

Just Czechin' In

It's been awhile since I last posted, and a lot has happened! Most importantly, I was pseudo--evicted from my apartment and had to find another one. It was stressful and I felt bad for my roommates and also for the real estate agency that was helping us. However, all has worked out for the best and right now I am living in the most amazing apartment I have ever lived in/ever will live in! 

My cobblestone street

View from my bedroom: You can see the Prague Castle, Lenin Hill, & parts of old town. Not only that, but we are a 2 minute walk from the river & Charles Bridge.

Here is our beautiful living room! And you wouldn't have guessed it, but I"m actually paying 1000 crowns less a month than the other apartment.

& the kitchen!

Although we are very near the center, which tends to be a very touristy area, we live on a little picturesque cobbled street that is more residential. There are little cafes & restaurants around and we live only a 5 minute walk from the huge Tesco (grocery store).

We had to find a fifth roommate because the apartment is so big. We met a girl from New Zealand who is really cool & also studying at Charles University & she has decided to move in with us. It is awesome to have an international student to live with.

Intensive Czech started this week. It is very challenging to say the least, but we are learning helpful things like ordering at restaurants and common phrases to get around living in Prague. Strch prst skrz krk is a Czech tongue twister. Yes, that is a sentence with NO VOWELS, they really are not a big fan of vowels here.

Last weekend, we went clubbing both nights. The first night we went to a place called Lucerna, it was 80s/90s night so I heard a lot of songs from Grease, 80's pop & the friend's theme song. The second night we went to Karlovy Lazne, notoriously known as the "Five-Story Club"  It is actually only 2 minutes from our new apartment, but I'm not sure if I will be going back there all the time. It was a good experience, each floor has different themes, like "House/Trance, Top 40, Electronic, Lounge", and even one floor called "Black Music" Hmm....

  Lucerna stage dancing

Friends @ Lucerna

 Karlovy Lazne

 "5-Story Club"

Also went to take a tour of the Prague Castle. It really is beautiful & located across the river from Old Town in Mala Strana which translates to the "Lesser Town." It is on top of a small hill that has the most amazing view of the city.

Alphonse Mucha stained glass

Castle guard who was obviously really enjoying me snapping pictures of him

View from the top

Cau!

-Charlotte

P.S. I just found out from my aunt in England that I have a ticket to Glastonbury Festival which I will get for free by working at the Silent Disco handing out headphones. I cannot wait to hear about the lineup, I know it will be great! I'm crossing my fingers for Arcade Fire & Daft Punk.

*Czech words I learned today: Numbers 1-1000, Basic words for food & drink, & some simple verb conjugations, I think I'l slightly getting the hang of it.

Hlavní překlady

I have finally found an apartment (hlvaní prêklady)!! It was a long process to find a place to live here & has been quite stressful. I've looked at over 10 apartments in various neighborhoods around Prague. I am so relieved to finally have a place to call home and unpack all my things. I live in Nove Mêsto, or New Town. We were going to get this apartment right in the center (known as Old Town), but I'm so glad we didn't. I love downtown but its so touristy & expensive & real Czech people don't live there. Nove Mêsto is beautiful, there are so many cool old churches, parks, & gardens. It's more residential and you can tell that a lot of families live here. 

The apartment building

My kitchen where I will most likely not be cooking Czech food.

My bedroom with its hilarious African comforter 

The view out of my bedroom window! This is my ideal picture of living in Prague.

The culture shelf...

...and the culture shock shelf.

& the living room

Because I've been getting settled, doing orientation, and finding apartments, I've yet to take many photos of the city. Yesterday I did a quick visit across the Charles Bridge to see Prague Castle (from a distance, I'll have a tour there next week). I have barely even looked at the other side of the river, and I have so much more of the city to explore 

Observations made so far:

-I can't open doors here. We have four keys each for our apartment and I cannot figure out how to turn the keys for the life of me! It sounds embarrassing, but nobody in our apartment can get it. Last night we spent about 30 minutes fiddling with keys and guessing until we got in.

-Eating out here is a long process. It is similar to the rest of Europe in that a meal will always last over two hours and everyone will take their time. Service is slow and not in your face. I will have to work on my patience when eating here, but I am excited to become more laid back.

A couple of nights ago we went to two bars in Zizkov called the Black Widow and Bukowskis. We were guided by an Austrian guy who has lived here for a long time & he gave us tips on where to live & what to do & where not to live & what not to do. He recommended going skiing or snowboarding in the Czech Republic because its cheap, good slopes, and close to Prague. I got a drink called "Baton" or Becherovka (a liquer made in the Czech Republic) with tonic, it was delicious & I highly recommend it. I also tasted some croquettes & fried cheese last night at dinner at a cafe right across from our apartment.

The restaurant by our apartment...with a Chuck Norris coaster

Na shlenadou,

Charlotte

*Czech words I learned today: Na zdraví (Cheers!)

Dobry Den

This is my third day in Prague and the first time I have actually sat down and relaxed. It is go, go, go here, which is great. I have been constantly doing things, wandering around, exploring, getting lost. I've realized that because of this, my blog probs won't be updated as much as I like, but I will try to keep it current.

No, this is not a museum or church or famous monument, this is our school! It has previously been a palace and an orphanage, and now its the location of CERGE-EI and my classes this semester. 

Not the best picture, but this is one of our classrooms where we were having our orientation session. The  walls & ceilings are very decorative with amazing art, chandeliers & baroque patterns everywhere.

If there's one thing to describe what I've been doing the past couple days, it's getting lost. It was inevitable that this would occur, and actually a good learning experience. With that said, my friend Leigh & I got terribly lost on our first day:

These things are my lifeline in Prague right now. But even with these tools, we still managed to get so turned around that we had to eventually call my program director because we were late to orientation. Note to self: Definitely invest in a compass.

Ways to get around Prague: 

 By metro,

By tram (yes, this a Czech advertisement endorsed by Chuck Norris)

And by foot.

Basically, it's so easy to get around, the public transportation here is amazing, super reliable & cheap aka the opposite of St. Louis & New Orleans (very sad excuses for transportation in both the cities I've lived in) I feel like I've gotten the hang of it the past couple days.

Observations made so far:

-The Czech language is hard, unlike anything remotely familiar. I cannot wait til our Intensive Czech class start so I can feel more competent while attempting to speak it.

-Czech pivo (beer) is super cheap, the rumors are true. It is also very delicious, way better than the canned stuff I'm used to drinking. But I also need to realize that the koruna is not monopoly money, and still have not conquered the exchange rate

-Czech food is hella heavy & of course not very vegetarian friendly. With that said, I've enjoyed every meal I've had here so far and I am very anxious to try some Czech fried brie.

We went to a bar called Chappeau Rouge last night. It was definitely more of an American crowd, but there were a lot of Erasmus students there too (European study abroad), and they seriously like to dance like this. It's called "Tecktonik", and what can I say, I'm a huge fan. I'm hoping to go to more local, Czech bars. We've heard about this Soviet bunker bar built by Communists in the 1950's. It is a block away from our hotel, but is only open certain nights so I will def be czeching that out soon. It's crazy to think that a lot of the older people here have lived through communism and how much Prague has changed in the past decades. We met up with some Americans that have been living here for over five years, and they said Prague has made a huge transformation from a typical Eastern European city to a more Central European place.

I'm off to go apartment hunting, I cannot wait until I have a place of my own and can stop living out of my suitcase!

Na shledanou,

Charlotte

*Czech words I learned today: 5 or so basic phrases that I feel semi-confident in saying, it's gonna be way tougher than I thought