Day 22

"Where we had thought to travel outward, we shall come to the center of our own existence. And where we had thought to be alone, we shall be with all the world." ~Joseph Campbell

March 3, 2011
Today was a significant day for me. I’d been waiting for today from the time I’d left home. I knew from the time my plane took off that getting through today was a significant hurdle and if I made it, I’d be well on my way to conquering any culture shock or homesickness I might feel.

I started college on August 22, 2011. Since then, the longest I have ever stayed at school was a period of three weeks between September 25, 2011 and October 16, 2011. Commitments with Boy Scouts gave me an excuse to get home on a weekly—sometimes daily—basis. The longest I had ever stayed at school was three weeks (21 days.) This was the longest I’d ever been away from home.

Today, day 22, was a new milestone.

I slept off the rush of racing around Dresden and got up a little after 11:00. Kevin was on Facebook and I invited him to join Zuzana and me for lunch. We met in the lobby and headed out on the tram.

After getting lost only briefly—took a left instead of a right, but caught myself right away—we found the restaurant. Walking in and pulling back the curtain, we bumped right into Ivana who’d been standing in the doorway.

“Hello!” she smiled.

“Hey!” I said. “How are you?”

“Fine, thank you,” she said, still smiling. “How was Dresden.”

“It was very fun,” I said.

“Good,” she said. “Zuzana and Samuel are over there.” She pointed to a table in the corner.

We went over and greeted them. Ivana followed us and, as we took off our jackets and sat down, she told us about the specialty drinks they had for the day.

“We have homemade lemonade today. Ginger flavor, raspberry flavor, and plain lemon,” she explained. “Or just beer.”

“I’ll have raspberry lemonade,” Kevin said.

“Are you kidding me?” Samuel said. “That is like the girliest drink I’ve ever heard.”

“Oh yeah?” Kevin said. “What are you having?”

“Beer of course,” Samuel said. “I am a man.”

“And for you?” Ivana asked.

I smiled. “I’m going to do the girly drink too,” I said. “I’ll have raspberry lemonade.”

“Oh jeez,” Samuel said and rolled his eyes.

“So you got lost?” Zuzana asked us.

“Only a little,” I said. “Were you waiting long?”

“No,” she said, and then giggled. “I got lost too. I’ve never been here before?”

“Never?” I said.

She shook her head.

“Bad roommate,” Kevin scolded sarcastically.

“I am good roommate,” she said.

“I used to visit my roommate at work every week,” I said. “And he worked a midnight to two shift.” I didn’t mention that it was in my dorm building and just an elevator ride away.

When the drinks came, the lemonade was very good. It didn’t taste at all like I expected. It wasn’t sour like lemonade back home, but it wasn’t watered down either. It had a very pure and natural taste to it.

“So do you like Prague?” Zuzana asked.

“I do,” I said. “I really, really do. When we got back from Dresden last night, I realized how at home I feel here.”

“Really?” she said, getting all excited. “Do you think you will go back to America or move to Europe?”

I laughed a little. “I’m going to go back to America,” I said. “But I definitely want to come back again to see more.”

“You like America better?” she asked.

“I…I…”I hesitated. “It’s different,” I started. “I wouldn’t say I like it better, but it’s my home. It’s where I grew up. It’s what I know.”

“I understand,” she said. “Slovakia is my home.”

“Exactly,” I said.

“Are you homesick?” she asked.

That was the question I’d been debating in my head for several days now. “I don’t know,” I said. “I don’t want to go home, but I would like to see my family and a few friends.”

“I understand,” she said.

“I mean if they were all here right now, I would be perfect. I love it here, but I do miss them.”

She nodded. “Is same with my friends from Slovakia. We grew up together. We have history together. No one will ever be as close to me as they are. And my family, I love my family. But moving to Prague, I’ve made new friends. We can do stuff together too. I still love my family, and will always be closest to my friends from home, but the new people I’ve met, make this part of my life like another home. ”

It was so poet, poignant, and perfect….I didn’t know what else to say.

For lunch, Ivana suggested I try a dish with chicken, pasta, and curry. I’d never had curry before, and whatever type this was, wasn’t as spicy as I was expecting. The entire thing tasted great and I paid extra attention not to eat too fast.

The conversation over lunch turned a little more heated than others had. As we tore into the topic of taxes, it was clear that we came from different ends of a political spectrum. Surprisingly, I found that my views were more aligned with Samuel. He complained that in France, they are approaching a 70% income tax with 100% on income over 1,000,000 euros.  As a result, he explained that the country is seeing mass exodus of some of their brightest leaders and thinkers and a large brain drain has formed in the society.

Even though I’d vowed to save money and not get dessert, I am—in Zuzana’s words—a “weak willed American” and Ivana easily sold me on the idea. I ordered an ice cream dish that came topped with hot raspberry syrup. I’m pretty sure there was more topping than ice cream, but it tasted amazing!

After we paid, we headed out. We’d been there for almost two hours—something that I still can’t get used to. I love how seriously the Europeans take sitting down to enjoy conversation with meals. It is nice to have time to talk and get to know people without shoveling in food.

“We’ll see you guys later?” I said.

“Don’t you want to pay your cell phone bill?” Zuzana said. I had totally forgotten that that was why we met. I had the phone and all of the forms (in Czech) that explained how to pay it.

I checked my watch. I still needed to write that paper that I’d effectively put off since Thursday.

“Sure,” I said.

“Ok,” she said. “We’ll go to the store in Wenceslas to pay it.”

She led us down a street we hadn’t been to before and said it was shorter. “This is definitely the longer way,” Samuel said. “And there was an O₂ store right back there.”

O₂ was the carrier that provided the student package for my phone. “They are sponsor for Manchester’s football team, aren’t they?” Kevin asked.

“I think they used to be,” Samuel said.

Walking along the road, it seemed to twist and turn in all different ways. I was getting very disoriented and wasn’t sure which way we were actually headed.

“You are trying to kidnap us and rape us, aren’t you?” Samuel asked Zuzana.

She giggled. “Yes, I am evil woman.”

When we got to Wenceslas, the shop was on the opposite end of the square from where we were. “We can go to different store,” Zuzana said.

“Make up your mind woman,” Samuel joked.

We walked down another street and found an O₂ shop. It was closed for Sunday.

“Do you want to go back to the other one?” she asked.

“The walking is good for us,” Kevin said.

I checked my watch. “I need to get back and work on a paper,” I said. “We can try some other time.”

“You can try some other time,” Zuzana said with a smile.

Samuel headed off to his apartment, and Kevin and I started down the street to catch the 9. “I come with you guys,” Zuzana said. “I’m going to visit my cousin today.” On the tram we talked about cousins. I had some of the oldest, while Kevin certainly had the most. Regardless of the culture, all three of us agreed that the extended family was important and fun and that we all enjoyed staying in touch with ours.

When we got to Zuzana’s stop, she gave Kevin two quick kisses. She then turned and gave me two kisses as well. Now I felt European!

“See you both soon,” she said as she got off the tram. “Maybe at party on Tuesday?”

When I got back to the dorm, I started working on my paper. Karin and Eli (my other group members) had already finished their parts. After making such a fuss over “being the best group” in order to “get the A” I felt like I needed to step it up and make sure I nailed my portion.

But I didn’t get very far. I decided after just a few minutes of working to stop and Skype with my friend Bryan. I was jealous to see that he was wearing a t-shirt and shorts while I was still staring at grey skies and cold temperatures. We had a great talk, and he got my mind off of whatever homesickness I did have.

After hanging up with Bryan so he could get breakfast (this time change is driving me crazy) I went back to writing my paper. After pulling together my research, I cranked out a solid intro and the first few paragraphs before making some dinner. After dinner, I wrote for about 15 minutes, before deciding to take a 5 minute break. That break lasted well over two hours as I talked on Facebook first with my uncle and then with my brother.

By the time I went to bed, I had a rough draft pieced together. More importantly…I’d made it through Day 22!