Standing out as an American can be a good thing!

The past two days, I have constantly gone about my day thinking "oh yeah, I have to put this in my blog" or "oh man! that sure would be interesting to put in my blog." Fail, because I only remember the main events. I'll do my best though. Just go with my random sidebars. They should be worth it though.

Alright, backing it up to Monday. For class, we went to the Reuters office. For all you non-journalistic folk, Reuters is a business and financial network that reels out the big boy job news, domestic and internationally. This office was awesome, hidden behind an H&M, you'd never guess! Our host, Jan (pronounced 'Yen') cracked jokes the whole time, because, well, lets face it, business can be a bust. But it was actually a very enlightening experience! Each person had 2-3 computers in front of them, constantly watching all the numbers change on the screens while their peripherals were glued to CNN. This is not a job for non-multi-taskers!

Went for my usual run. Always a fun time. I must say though, starring is NOT rude in Prague. Holy heavens, I can't run down the street without feeling glares of death from everyone! It kills me too, because it is nowhere near discrete either. A group of people will be sitting at an outdoor restaurant and one catches my eye.. he says something to the others then the whole crowd turns around to stare. Someone please tell me if I look this stupid while I run. Evidently its a really big problem! Later, I had a skype date with A. Ryals and my mema and papow.. kinda, haha. Its a work in progress though!

Courtney and I headed over to the Muzeum area to find a potential dinner spot. We settled on this restaurant called Sphinx. Very cool atmosphere, awesome lamps, not horrible food. I had some baller grilled chicken slices covered in oriental spices. Look at me trying new things! Woo hoo!.. oh wait.. I had a cup of ketchup next to me. Scratch that.

So no plans to go out tonight. The rest of the CEA folks come tomorrow so, we figured we'd save the party hearty-ness for then. As we're walking home, we're once again pin pointed immediately as Americans. Not that this was necessarily a bad thing, especially in this particular scenario. So we have Amanda from Canada and Chris from Texas (FORT WORTH, WOO HOO!) who holler at us to see if we'd like to go to the so-called Red Room with them. As we're walking around the block, getting to know each other and what not, we can't seem to find the place. Apparently its a hot spot, but still nowhere to be found. We take a nice large loop around while Amanda and Chris bicker at each other for embaressing themselves in front of "The Courtneys" (as we were nicknamed from then on out). Just cracking us up! What a duo. We find the place, turn out its closed on Mondays. Bummer. So we head over to this little bar on the corner of Karlovo Namesti. I don't remember what its called, but I know we did sit on the roof! Awesome little hut with a bunch of tables and chairs over top. The first addition to our party of four is Mr. Garth, a soccer player for the FK Slavoj Vysehrad, 5th division team. We hang out there for a while before I realize a girl is sitting off to the side by herself. Of course I would notice the gorgeous Vineyard Vines Delta Zeta tote in her hand though! So I ask where shes from, what shes doing there.. her name was Rachel from USC, just graduated and travelling Europe on her own visiting old friends. So she pulls up a chair and joins our little crowd! The more, the merrier! So at a certain point, everyone feels the need to take our little shindig elsewhere. We walked down, way down, to a place they like to call the "Nail Bar". I'll have to get another rundown on the reason behind that. [This would be one of those moments I thought of before yet can't remember now for the life of me]. Anyways, fun times at the Nail Bar! Laid back atmosphere, interesting people. Another way too late of a night.. thank you Tram, I love you.

And thank you metro for being so efficient. Headed on the yellow line (mine, thank goodness) to Cerny Most, where a mosque is housed. You would never guess though. This place is in the middle of nowhere surrounded by walls so you can't even tell its there. What a fascinating experience! I didn't know very much about the Islamic culture. Before they walk into the mosque, they have to take off their shoes. Then, if they hadn't cleaned before going, they must wash their hands and feet in a community wash room (ie my picture). The women also have their own side of the mosque for their own prayer purposes (way cooler than the mens side, I must say.. they have a kitchen and couches!) All in all, enticing experience. Nooooooot so much to make me convert or anything though, no worries.

So I started this post about 5 days ago and I'm really disappointed in myself that I haven't been more on top of it. A lot has been going on! And since its so much, and I actually already typed this half of the blog and just refreshed the page and lost EVERYTHING I just wrote, it will not be that in depth, because my patience was just shot and it just sucks really bad.

So here we go! Thursday.. last class of International Reporting. And it took place at a baller Mexican restaurant called Last Adelitas. Amazing food, and actually authentic! My quesadillas were almost deep fried, which was very strange, but it was sooo good. Doesn't beat El Cerro though with my DZ ladies. Heckkk no! But I'm really going to miss that class.. I love my new friends! Afterwards, I met up with Garth and we went to the botanical gardens. Very nice and relaxing atmosphere. Good company, as usual. Hot as heck though! Was I not just complaining about it being freezing here?! Jeez, make up your mind, Prague!

The new CEA kids came later that day. Pretty cool folks! Had a real good time, starting at Red Room, which I'm also becoming a local at.. then went to an old underground bomb shelter type bar. Very neat! Made a late night run to McDonalds and one of the guys ordered a McCountry.. a pork burger.. only in the Czech!

Friday.. I played tourist. Its been a while! I just love this city. No matter if you make a wrong turn or hop on a random tram, you're always likely to run into a park or fountain you've never seen before. Everyones laying on a blanket, reading a book or eating some baller gelato. Its unreal. The other beautiful thing about that day was.. WORLD CUP! Not that I would really care that much if I were back at home, but being in Europe for it.. totally different vibe. Went to the Golden Star to watch the France v Uruguay game.. sadly it wasn't that interesting of a game. Then of course, hit up the nail bar with my first Polish friend, Remmy. Cool chap. But then theres the nail game. Theres a stump with nails in it, and you have to use the flat side of the hammer to hit them in. The one who doesn't get their nail in the stump loses and has to buy a round. I will never play that stupid game again..

Saturday.. this guy Mike, a law student at AAU and works in the computer lab on campus, asked me if I played softball and if I wanted to join the AAU team for a charity tournament. Shoot yeah, I love softball! Its been a while though. So Saturday morning, I woke up bright and early and hopped on a metro then a bus to the middle of NOWHERE. Got slightly lost of course, then missed my stop and had to wait 20 mins for another bus. Story of my life, right? But it was worth it! Although we lost miserably, it was so fun to play with new friends! And who woulda guessed.. our game was against the US Embassy, so my dear friend Chris was there! Good times.

Rushed back to civilization for the CEA reception. Get back to the apartment.. no hot water. AWESOME. Bout an hour late so I missed a lot of people.. but the remainder of us hung out for quite a long time before wandering across town to a beer garden around 4. The USA v England game wasn't until 8:30. So we were there for.. 6 hours. Woo. What a match! Lots of British folks there, which kept things very interesting! Gotta love Europe football! However, you can't love Europe bathrooms that either are nowhere in site, no tp, or you have to pay to use. Never thought I would say this, but I am thankful for the trees.. bushes to be exact. Haha. Yay me!

Sunday. Woke up super early to meet Chris at the end of the green line because him, Tyler and Glen were playing with us on the AAU team for day two of the tourny. It was so weird being in a car for the first time in 3 weeks! Haha. Kinda missed travelling sitting down lol. But anyways, won our first game. Pretty rusty, but good times nonetheless. Our team rocked it though! Our teammates were so cool and chill about everything, which made the game so much more enjoyable.

So that night. Gone to watch a game in the Red Room. I borrowed one of Garth's jackets because I didn't bring one. Bless that poor kid. We're there with Texas Chris and two Scottish guys. I set my purse and his NORTHFACE jacket on the table. So we're all just chit chattin and what not when one of the guys says "HOLY HELL!" in his thick accent. Turn around.. flames. There were little candles on the tables and his jacket was toasted. Oh my gosh. I felt so freakin bad! I would be so pissed if that were mine! SORRY GARTHHHHHHHH!!!!

Yesterday, me and the roomies went to Petrin to see the Prague Eiffel Tower. We rode a funicular to the top of the hill that its on, which was pretty sweet. A bazillion stairs, but what a view from the top. Wow. Absolutely in love. However, my legs and butt are KILLING ME today!! Haha.

Hung out with Chris and Stephanie and co. last night at the Hard Rock. A Czech band played which was really neat. It was 70s night too, which I kind of failed at sadly, but it was still really fun! Always a good time with that crowd.

Today I had my first day of my six-week class, Jewish Experience in Central Europe. I am so syked for this class! We're going to Pilsen on Thursday to see a synagogue, then to a concentration camp on Tuesday. The professor seems really nice and knowledgeable, which could be a good and bad thing haha. Went to lunch with some other chicks from CEA. Woo hoo for new friends!

So now I'm finally concluding this ultimate novel. Heading out to play volleyball at the marine house then hopefully pub crawl with some girls! Fun times in Prague. I'll try to update more often than not. This was intense. The people in this cafe must think I'm writing a book.. or have no life. One of the two. So ok, good stuff..Keep in touch, everyone!

Caio,
Courtney