After lunch, we walked from town to Wenceslas Square. Ivana and I went to get a phone while the others went to buy tram passes. Ivana again had to loan me money for the phone, but we found a cheap one for just $300 koruna (about $15 US.)
The orientation seminar started at 2:00pm. The Czech
Republic (and I assume most of Europe) uses a 24 hour clock, but in my head I
still have to convert it to AM/PM. It was already 1:47pm. We raced up the
square and across town by foot to school. We arrived at 2:08, just as the
others were getting back from the tram. Their search had been unsuccessful.
Katrina (which isn’t pronounced anything like we say it in
the US when said in the native Czech) led the presentation. She is the study
abroad coordinator here at the University. She seems taller than most of the
people I have seen around and has shoulder length curly hair. Her presentation was
nothing too detailed. She basically informed us that we had to go to class to
pass our classes, explained how grades work (the way they transfer back is up
to our home university) and how to contact her if we had issues.
“You must go to class and turn in your work if you want me
to help you,” she explained. “If you do not do your duties, there is nothing I
can do to help you.”
After the lecture, Kevin, Samuel, and I met up with Lad’ka,
Suzanna, and Ivana and we all returned to town to get the tram passes. The
women working the station did not speak any English and Ivana told me they were
quite insulting. Once we had our passes, we took the subway back up town and
then Ivana and Suzanna put us on a tram back to the dorms. Samuel was staying
in his own apartment (or “Flat” I should say) so we parted company with him
while Kevin and I continued on.
I got to my room and immediately was anxious to see if my Wi-Fi
success still worked. I checked my iPod. I couldn’t find a network. I booted up
my laptop. It found it. I entered my password—the correct one—and waited.
It loaded.
And loaded
And loaded
And loaded
And finally…it worked!
I attempted to load the blog posts I’d been keeping as word
documents onto the blog, but the connection would time out before I could save
more than one. It would show “saving” and the icon would spin. Sometimes it saved;
sometimes it froze up and crashed. Surprisingly, I wasn’t frustrated. It just
was what it was.
Kevin and I went back into town to meet Ivana, Suzanna, and
Samuel for dinner. I invited my roommate Aaron to join us and he did. We met
them in Wenceslas Square. They asked what we wanted for dinner and I suggested Goulash.
It was the dish that Marquetta had told us was the most traditional Czech food.
Suzanna and Ivana found a restaurant and we went in. We were
joined by Suzanna’s friend Elise and Ivana’s boyfriend Lubos. The goulash was
great! It was like a thick meat stew served in a bread bowl. The locals laughed
at us as we ate it like soup. Lubos explained that we should pick it up and eat
the whole thing with our hands.
“I won’t look like a gross American?” I asked.
“No, we eat lots of Czech food with hands,” he explained.
The dinner conversation surprisingly revolved around the
friendly topic of American politics. The whole group of Europeans—Ivana,
Suzanna, and Lubos from Czech, along with Samuel from France—did not like
Obama. They openly criticized his monetary and fiscal policies. They weren’t
quite as critical on his social policies, but also pointed out he shouldn’t be
implementing them when the US is in financial crisis. The one they were the
harshest on was immigration. They likened it to immigration problems they had
and it amazed me how similar immigration problems are over the world.
After we left the restaurant, Ivana and Lubos went home.
Suzanna wanted to take us to a pub so we followed her. The pub was an amazing
network of tunnels that ran underground. The ceilings were barely an inch
taller than I was—and some of them were low enough I had to duck.
Unfortunately, just like the restaurants, smoking was allowed inside. This was
by far the most smoke filled room we had been in.
After about 10 minutes, my lungs were burning. I’d puffed my
inhaler before coming, but my asthma was getting the better of me. I explained
what was happening to Suzanna and she understood. Elise walked me out and
pointed me to the nearest tram station. I thanked her and head it off.
It was the first time I was alone since boarding the plane
in Denver. It felt both nice and terrifying at the same time. I didn’t know how
to blend in, and if I had to speak for any reason, my cover was blown. I was a
tourist in the middle of one of the world’s busiest cities and I was walking
around alone at night…how exhilarating.
I took it all in, looking at the sculpted buildings, the
brilliantly colored scenery, and the smells—mostly of cigarettes and alcohol.
When I got to the tram station, I only had to wait a few minutes for a tram to
come. It was the 9—which runs back and forth to the dorms. As it pulled up to
the curb, I realized that I didn’t know which way the tram was supposed to go.
This wasn’t the station we’d gotten off at. I looked at the direction this one
was going and it seemed right. I got on.
The tram rumbled out of the station. The driver announced in
Czech what the next station was while I looked out the window at the beautiful
scenery. But soon I realized my mistake. Within seconds we were rattling across
the Vltava River and into the other side of town.
I frowned to myself. My first excursion on my own and I’d
gotten turned around. I got off at the next station and watched as the train rumbled away. While I still couldn’t read Czech well enough to read the schedule at the station, I was starting to pick up which column referred to pick up time and I could recognize station names. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a 9 going the other way out of that particular station.
So now I was alone, at night, in Prague, and I didn’t know
where the station to go back was.
For some reason, I was oddly calm. As long as I didn’t talk,
I looked basically European. I’d picked up some of the Czech subtleties and
body language—very little eye contact a no smiling. The streets were basically
deserted, but when someone did walk by me, I looked down and went straight
faced.
I decided my best bet was to follow the tram tracks of the
train I’d just gotten off. I only had to walk a few blocks when I saw a 9
coming towards me. I watched to see where it stopped. It didn’t stop at the
exact point I’d gotten off but about a block past it. I turned around and
walked back to the point I’d seen it stop at. By the time I got there, another
9 was arriving. I got on and within seconds I was rattling back across the Vltava
River and towards the neighborhood I lived in (which I now knew was called
Zizkov.)
When I got back to the dorms, I was thrilled with myself. I’d
ventured out, gotten lost, and found my way back home again. Granted, it was a
very small little excursion but it was a baby step. I knew I could do it now
and I knew I wanted to do it again.
I Skyped briefly with my parents but the Wi-Fi would cut out
every few minutes so the call kept getting dropped. After we said good night
and agreed to try again the next day, I went to bed, ready for another day of
adventure.
No comments:
Post a Comment