Friday, December 4, 2009

15 more days???

Hey everyone sorry for the drought, yet again.

The past few weeks have been a lot of fun. Went to Vienna with the program which was pretty awesome. Walked all around the city, went to Christmas markets, had delicious cheese infused sausage, went to the museum of natural history and much much more.

The next week my parents got here which was very exciting indeed. Since they had already been to Prague when we were here 3 years ago we skipped most of the super touristy stuff. We checked out another castle down on the Red Line of the metro which was sweet. I took them to all of the food stands that we like to frequent while drunk (I'm not sure if I'm going to make it without late night Gyros and Kielbasa next semester).

Then we traveled to Salzburg for the weekend. It was beautiful and the Bavarian Alps had snow at the peaks which was awesome to see. We went on the Sound of Music tour which is a really big thing for some people apparently. The tour guide told us about this one girl who was on the tour and just crying hysterically and when he came back to see what was wrong she told him that it was her live long dream to go on the tour because she had seen the Sound of Music twice a day, everyday since she was 5 and she was 19 at the time. Yikes...

We also did a salt mine and bavarian alps tour. The salt mine was really cool. We got to put on jumpsuits and ride in underground trains and go down slides and taste salt lol. One of the nights we visited an Augustinian monastery beer hall and got a little bit drunk which was fun. Sadly the Hotel Sacher has a dress code this time of year so we weren't allowed to have desert...bastards.

The train ride home was pretty uneventful. I started the trip riding by myself in a 6 person compartment and ended it with the compartment being completely full sitting across from a girl with a pet rat in cat cage. There was a nun, a few old guys, and a couple or two that were in between.

This week has been pretty average. I wrote two of my three papers and gave a presentation in one class so my workload is wrapping up pretty nicely. Went to a hockey game on monday night which was really exciting because we scored to send it into overtime with about one minute left. Sadly we lost in a sudden death shootout.

Can't believe the time has gone by so quickly. I am looking forward to getting back to the states but at the same time really don't want to leave yet.

I will be seeing all of you soon and I can't wait!

Sam

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Pierogi, Tequila, and Hockey

Hey everyone.

So another long time between posts where I need to update you on a lot that has gone on so bear with me.

Last weekend we went to Krakow, Poland with the whole AIFS group which was awesome. The bus ride was really long but I was able to sleep and relax which was nice (didn't do any of the homework that I brought on haha). We got into Krakow in the afternoon, and then went for a walk to the Old Town Square. Z showed us a traditional polish food place to go so we had dinner there. I split the meat and ruskie pierogi with Tom and they were delicious. After that we met up with some more people and went bar hopping. They have Zywiec on tap there which is one of my favorite beers. They also have this delicious apple juice and vodka drink that we need to figure out. We had some amazing gryos on the street and then called it an early night.

We got up early and went on a tour, had lunch at "the best gyros place in town" according to Z, and went on another tour. You can see all of my pictures on facebook. There's a lot of churches and sweet old buildings if you can imagine that. We went back to the hotel for a power nap and then I went with a completely different set of people back to the same restaurant. I got the same thing (only more Pierogi's this time) and then we got ice cream after. Everyone was pretty tired so they headed back but Amanda and I stayed and wandered around talking for a while which was really nice.

The next morning we had to get up early and went to Auschwitz. That was a really intense trip. I had been before so I knew what to expect but it still hit me really hard. It was also interesting because the weather was completely different. When I was there 3 years ago it was 105 degrees out. This time it was foggy and wet and really cold. Gave me a better all around understanding of what life was like year round. The worst part for me was the rows and rows of pictures on the walls in the exhibits. I did buy two books there which are really compelling but difficult.

this week has been pretty good. Classes on tuesday were pretty alright. We went to a center for children with learning disabilities for my educational psych class which was pretty sweet except that we had to take our midterm test but I think I did alright. Art and architecture class was soooo boring but the rest of wed was awesome.

Annie and a few of my friends have a class where they had an open mike midterm. Annie made a movie that I was in for like 5 seconds haha so I went with for moral support. Turns out there were like 3 other classes performing as well. The best thing I saw was a remix version of Kafka's "The Trial" rapped to the beat of the Fresh Prince Theme Song. These guys also remixed SNL's "I'm on a boat!" to be "I'm on a Tram". The final act was this girl who did a really cool and slightly creepy interpretive dance.

After that we went to the Tequila party put on by Erasmus which was a ton of fun. I got really drunk and danced the night away.

Yesterday I did a ton of laundry in my sink and then took my jeans and towels to the laundromat and started to work on my presentation for Social Cognition. I completely forgot that Alex had given me her ticket to the Sparta ice hockey game so I booked it back to the dorm to drop my stuff and met everyone there. It as really fun and kind of weird. Stadium beers only cost 30 koruna (about $2), they had cheerleaders (who were really bad), and girls in super skimpy outfits to sweep up ice in front of the goals during time outs. Sparta won which was awesome too.

Today I've just been hanging out, finished my presentation, and am going to go wander for a bit. I think we're going to the micro brewery and then to a dance club called Lucerna for 80's 90's dance party night.

Hope you have a great weekend!

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Halloween Weekend and Beyond

Hey everyone. Not sure if anyone is actually reading this but I'll just keep updating as if you are.

This weekend was awesome. My friend Melinda came to visit for the weekend. She got in Friday afternoon and we went on a walking tour of the city. It was really cold but super clear and gorgeous. She definitely agreed with me that I live in Disneyland. Sat we got up early and went to the castle, St. Vitus Cathedral, Petron Hill (which is a really cool lookout tower on top of this hill), and the Franz Kafka museum. After that we came back and napped and then got ready for Halloween. We went to this really cool club where the European study abroad program (Erasmus) was throwing the "Bloody, Sexy Halloween Party". I wore my bed sheet as a toga and it was pretty awesome (though really cold afterwards). I kept getting stopped to take pictures with people and they all told me that it was an awesome costume.

Sunday we slept in quite late and then wandered a bit through old town and the lesser quearter. We went to an Organ, Violin, and Soprano concert which was really cool but really expensive. The soprano and violin were amazing but the pieces they chose for the organ to play solo definitely could have been better. After that we went to U Fleku for dinner (that's 3 times in the last two weeks).

This week has been pretty calm which is nice after such a busy weekend. Last night was really cool. We went to this pub where they have taps at the table and a computer screen where they keep track of how much you have had to drink. We discovered that there is also a mug washer that squirts water when you press it down but we were doing it without the mugs so the bartender came over and turned off our water haha. Kind of embarrassing. We made a bunch of friends too. We talked a bunch with the Czech students who were sitting next to us and then met people who live in our dorm while we were on the night tram. It was really cool.

Tomorrow we leave for Krakow but the trip was really poorly planned. We don't get there until 7 PM or so and then have to leave super early on Sun so we don't really get to do anything there. I really wish that we had taken a night bus like the other program but at least I've been there before. We're going to try and go to the salt mines on saturday because apparently there's an entire church carved out of salt underground. Hopefully that works out.

Until next time

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

At the Laundromat Again

Well, here I am again folks. At the laundromat paying way too much to wash way too few clothes. I've learned though, I only brought what couldn't be washed by hand in my sink at the dorm i.e. my jeans, towels, and sweatshirt.

This past week and weekend were pretty uneventful. After getting back from Budapest I stoked up on groceries but they disappeared quite quickly what with the cooking frenzy I've been going through. I need to branch out though because I'm getting tired of the same meals over and over haha. Stupid hotplates. I wish I had more than you.

I finally made it to U Fleku (twice in one week actually) and had the famous black beer which was amazing. Last wednesday we also went to this awesome bar called the cross club where we are going back to tonight.

I spent most of the weekend just relaxing and hanging out. It was kind of lonely and I got a bit homesick but I'm doing much better now.

On sunday we went back to Kutna Hora where the bone church and St. Barbora's Cathedral are. It was a lot of fun but we spent way too much time and money at lunch. We had to powerwalk 30 min back across the whole town because the buses weren't running in order to get back to our train on time.

Last night I left class early to go on a night ghost tour of Prague. It was kind of lame but we made it fun by goofing around and being jerks haha. We want to go out, get drunk, and make a ghost hunters video sometime soon. I'll let you know if that ever happens. After that we went to this mexican food place that Samantha recommended and it was quite good. Not amazing but it quenched my burning desire for mexican a little bit. After that we chilled in the dorm and watched Moulin Rouge which was awesome. We're going to watch Young Frankenstein soon for halloween.

Melinda comes in two days!!! Hooray.

Naschle (shortened form of good bye)

Monday, October 19, 2009

Buda Buda Buda Buda Buda Buda Pest

Hey everyone.

So this weekend I went to Budapest and it was a ton of fun. I was there for 4 days so you'll have to excuse me if I get some of the events jumbled...but then again you weren't there so how would you know haha.

We took the early bus on thursday and it was really cool because it was snowing for most of the trip. Too wet to actually stick but first snow in October is pretty exciting. It has since gotten warmer but not warm here. We got in, found our hostel, watched part of Twilight with the guy working at the hostel and made so much fun of it, wandered a bit and settled on a pizza place for a late lunch early dinner. We were the only ones in the place so when we paid the bartender gave us each a free shot of Grapa which is Italian vodka apparently. We walked around a bit and then went to a bar for drinks. On our way home we went to a Gyros place and had delicious gyros and baklava and then got free cups of turkish tea. Upon getting back to the hostel we made other guests mad by being too loud.

We slept in the next day and went to the market place for lunch. We finished watching Twilight while waiting for people staying in a different hostel and then went for a hike up this hill near the hostel to the citadel at the top. Then more people arrived from the group, we took a nap, went around the city and up to the castle and did a sweet photo shoot, came back and drank a bit in the hostel, and then went to a bath house. It was awesome! There were baths with all different temperatures of water, a steam room, and a hot room that went up to 158 F!

Saturday we got up early to try to go to parliament but it was sold out when we got there so we went for a walk, found a delicious place for brunch and I had an amazing club sandwich. We went to a museum and then wandered a bit more to a park where we played in the leaves. That evening we went to an underground labyrinth. It wasn't a real labyrinth but more a system of tunnels under the castle that was used as a bomb shelter during world war two. We were pretty beat from so much walking and the night before so we headed in early and watched Ice Age 3 with the lady working at the hostel.

Sunday we went to a cafe for breakfast, did some shopping, went to an island in the Danube and walked around for a bit and then headed back to catch our bus home.

Overall it was a really fun but pretty low key weekend. It was my third weekend in a row traveling (stockholm, netherlands, budapest) so I'm really looking forward to being in Prague for a bit. I bought a ton of groceries tonight and made myself a Philly cheese steak sandwich which was amazing and I'm really proud of how my cooking skills have improved since being here.

Hope you could follow my Budapestian adventures through all of the run on sentences and I'll be in touch again soon.

Sam

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Amsterdam Adventures

Hey there everyone. So I got back from my weekend in the Netherlands yesterday. It was pretty awesome but first about last week.

Nothing too exciting happened. I had my classes which were pretty alright. My educational psych class was a lot of fun because we played ice breaker and get to know you games the whole time. Thursday night Alex and I went around the dorm visiting different people, just wandering, and met Maggie who really wanted to go watch the Phillies game. So we went to an Australian bar near Old Town and got them to put the game on. I was surprised at how good that made me feel. I don't think I realized how much I would miss American sports while I was here.

Friday I got up at 330 to catch a tram and then a bus to the airport for my 6 AM flight. My first flight was late and arrived 5 min after my second flight started boarding so I had to book it through the Frankfurt Airport. I got there though and it all worked out.

Melinda met me and we took the train back to Utrecht where she took me on a biking tour of the city. Then we hopped on a train and went to the Hague which is about 40 min away. We wandered around, saw the Peace Palace, and went to the North Sea beach. It was cold and windy and overcast and just like home haha. We took our shoes off and walked in the sand and put them in the water. Then we walked the shoreline for a while and ate at this mexican food place that was a lot like Chevy's so that was great.

Saturday we did Amsterdam. We did the Van Gogh Museum, the Heineken Brewery which would have been cooler if I wasn't on antibiotics, the Anne Frank house which was really cool, a pancake house, and wandered through the red light district which was very weird to say the least. I kept thinking about what their stories were and what kind of mindset you would have to be in to be trying to sell yourself and seduce every man that walks by. Leave it to me to go into psych mode in the red light district.

Sunday we just hung out because Melinda has midterms this week. We did go for a bike ride into the woods to a pancake house there and I got an amazing one with bacon, ham, cheese, bell peppers, onions, mushrooms, and green beens all baked into it. Imagine a pancake so thin it's like a crepe and then they treat it like an omelet and you've got it. We got caught in an epic thunder and lightening storm while biking back which was awesome but we were soaked so we stayed in the rest of the night.

Yesterday was basically spent travelling and I've got class in a few so until next time!

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Stockholm

Hey there everyone.

So quite a bit has happened since my last post. We had our first week of real classes which was definitely a wake up call. You mean I'm not just here to go on awesome trips and explore this great city? I have to read and go to class and do homework and learn? I didn't sign up for that...oh wait.

Thankfully I think that I'm going to like my classes. My Language, Culture, and Social Cognition class is focusing a lot on theory of mind development (when a person realizes that other people have separate brains and therefore different thoughts and beliefs) which is a really interesting topic. My educational psych class seems alright but I've only had one class so far so it's tough to say. Finally I have a Czech Art and Architecture course where we do some learning but mainly go on field trips. I'm pretty jazzed about that. I was in a Czech language course but that gave me 8 hours of class on tuesdays and I wasn't about to do that. So now I just have three classes, each three hours long, two on tuesday and one on wed. Not too shabby if I do say so myself.

This weekend we flew the ever exciting Ryanair to Stockholm. The flight was only $60 but flew us into an airport that was an hour and 10 minutes away from the actual city so we had to bus in. Sweden is beautiful and reminded me a lot of Minnesota oddly, guess that's why the Swedes are so comfortable there. We got to our hostel and then went and wandered around, found a delicious place for dinner and wound up in the Charlie Chaplin Karaoke and Dance Club. We danced a bit and sang Don't Stop Believin which was pretty epic.

We got up early the next day and set out about the city. We went to the Aquarium, and the Nobel Museum, wandered the docks, and wandered in general. It was very odd but we all felt really at home there. The city was very clean and manageable, the people were all beautiful and very friendly, and there was just a very comfortable atmosphere about the place.

It was really cold and rainy though in the afternoon so we chilled in the hostel and then went to dinner at this locals pub nearby and had the best meal ever. A gigantic Swedish meatball and mashed potatoes. I thought I had died and gone to heaven.

We went to bed early because we had to catch the 5 AM bus to the airport. Our trip back was pretty uneventful and we just chilled the rest of the day.

Oh and last night we went to Swan Lake. It was awesome and I really enjoyed it. If I could be half as strong and flexible as some of those dancers I would be so stoked.

Well, I'm off to class so I will try to write again soon. Amsterdam this weekend!!!

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Down Time

Hey there,

So I didn't realize that I hadn't written in so long. Not that much exciting happened today. We still had our Czech Intensive course which went pretty well. That finished this week with a big test on thursday and I did really well so I'm pretty happy about that.

After the test on thursday we went to Radio Free Europe Free Liberty headquarters which was pretty cool to see. It was a program developed during the cold war era to bring fair and unbiased news to people in countries who don't have free media. Right now they're broadcasting in 20 countries in 28 languages. They have headquarters in each of the countries and employ locals so that they're really reporting what the people want to hear about and present both sides. Their purpose is to eventually go out of business when the individual nations' media is mature enough to survive on its own.

Sadly, this week wasn't all aced tests and cool tours. Wed I went for a big hike in this gorgeous national park but fell and hurt my hand and scratched myself up quite a bit. Then after studying for my test all night I found out that my Grandfather had passed away. To top it all off I got sick and possibly food poisoning. So these last few days have been less than wonderful.

I've been taking it easy which I think is probably for the best after three weeks of just going going going. It still sucks though. I'm feeling better minus stomach cramping today.

I'm going to go back to this anglican church that I found tomorrow and might be going to see the pope on monday. Classes start on Tuesday which is pretty exciting.

I'll check back in sometime soon,
Sam

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Prague Zoo!!

Hey everyone,

So yesterday we went to the Prague Zoo. It was pretty darn sweet.

The Czech's are apparently super stoked about birds for some reason lol. Like half the zoo was bird exhibits. There was a crow exhibit and one that had two bald eagles in it. Also there was a guinea pig exhibit and a water bug exhibit which was just a scummy pond with a sign about different types of water bugs lol. We only really saw like half of the zoo which is crazy and we were there for 4 hours.

The craziest exhibit was the bat exhibit. You go through the door and it's all dark and the bats were just flying around everywhere, there was no glass and one flew into my head. When you got to the actual exhibit there were bundles of fruit hanging from the ceiling and the bats were chomping all over it. Very odd.

We got the most delicious kielbasa there though, it was just a paper plate with three pieces of rye bread, the kielbasa, and a puddle of spicy mustard. So delicious.

After that Alex (my roommate) and I went to dinner with his parents. It was at this really fancy and expensive restaurant that we were way under dressed for.

Today I went and found a church that does services in English. It's an Anglican Episcopal Congregation but today was the anniversary of the agreement between them and the catholic congregation that owns the church allowing them to use the space so they did it half in Czech and half in English. It felt good to be there but also made me miss Common Ground and Sunday evening services.

Also, randomly these women came by handing out tickets to go and see the pope next monday. It's at a place about 30 min outside of Prague but the tickets are free so we might just have to go see about it.

Anyway, I have another wonderful week of intensive czech coming up so I need to go study.

Sam

Saturday, September 19, 2009

First Weekend in Prague

Hey everyone,

So the last week has been pretty eventful. I've had the Czech intensive language course every day from 9 to 2 pretty much and it's been pretty...intense haha. But I'm picking it up pretty well and our teacher is pretty cool. We had a test yesterday but she let us use the book so I got 100% and she was all excited about it lol.

We don't actually do czech the whole time. She goes off on tangents and talks about politics, or animals (today we learned a sweet song about not petting the lions at the zoo of you'll get your fingers bitten off). And we also go on field trips just about every day. We went to a photo gallery about the velvet revolution in Old Town square, we went to a museum of modern art that was pretty awesome. We didn't have nearly enough time there though so we really want to go back sometime soon. Yesterday we went to see the church where the Czech under cover agents hid out and eventually died after killing Nazi SS commander Heinrich. It was pretty intense but really cool to see.

Last night we went to see the Czech Philharmonic orchestra. They played Beethoven's 6th Symphony and Dvorák's New World Symphony. It was incredible. I did feel bad though for the low brass because they barely played at all. After that we went wandering and a few people went back to get changed but I wanted to stay all fancy dressed so stayed with the group that was still wandering. We didn't find anywhere for them to eat so Amanda, Chris, and I went wandering through old town square and found this really cool underground restaurant and split a bottle of wine.

We then came back to the pub that's in our dorm (yes we have a pub in our dorm, be jealous) and had a few more glasses and a pizza. It was a lot of fun. Today we're off to the zoo and the wine festival in old town square.

Oh and oct 2nd - 4th I'll be in Stockholm! We did a spur of the moment trip and bought round trip tickets for $60!

Miss you all and na schledanou!

Sam

Monday, September 14, 2009

Way Too Much Info

Dobrou Vecher (good afternoon) everyone,

So much has happened in the last week I barely know how I'm going to tell about all of it.

Last wednesday we has an epic day trip where we went to Kurtna Hora which is a city near Prague. First we went to Sternberk Castle and toured around there, I had to pay a dollar to take pictures but got a sweet photo pass sticker which is now on the back of my phone to tell it apart from all of the other phones that are the same. Then we toured around Kurtna Hora and had a tour of the silver mines which was sweet but a tight squeeze in some places. Finally we got to go to the bone church the highlight of the trip and what we had all been waiting for. It was so awesome. Pictures will be up on facebook as soon as I can manage.

Thursday was our day off. We went and got our student ID's and then I wandered around by myself for a while (I needed some alone time) and explored a mall that was near Wenceslas Square but didn't do much other than that.

This weekend we went to Brno which is the second largest city in the Czech Republic. It was really fun. We stopped at a bunch of Churches I don't remember the names of but they had epic pipe organs and we all decided that we need to try and find some organ concerts while we're here. We had a tour of a winery and had really good young wine which is a specialty of Moravia. Apparently it's still working so if you close up the bottle it explodes...very delicious.

We also did a tour of these epic caves part was a walking tour and part was a boat tour which was awesome.

Today was the first day of czech intensive language course. It was...as the name suggests pretty intense lol. My head was kind of spinning after it but I'm sure I'll get the hang of it.

Right now I'm at the laundromat where I spent like $15 for two loads of laundry plus dryer so I def need to find a better way of doing that.

I'm really looking forward to taking it easy this week and getting into a bit of a rhythm. I'll let you know how that goes haha

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Orientation Week

Ahoy!

I might sound like a sailor but when you add a Czech accent to that you have a traditional form of greeting. The last few days have been quite fun. I’m starting to feel more like a student who is living here instead of a tourist.
I went to Vodafone today and got a super sweet tiny phone that is exactly the same as everyone else’s because it’s the cheapest prepaid one. You put money on it and then calls are something like 7 crowns a minute and texts are about a crown each. (one US dollar is the same as about 17 crowns).

Today we had orientation for ECES at the main building for Charles University. CU is different from most campuses because it’s spread throughout the city without one centralized location. Everything seems pretty straight forward though and I’m looking forward to actually being in classes and getting back on a routine.
Then in the afternoon we had a boat cruise on the Vltava River which was pretty awesome. We got to see beautiful buildings that we don’t know the names of and mingle with people from a different program from the one we’re on.

Last night we went to a classical guitar concert that was put on in a church near Old Town Square. It was really cool but the seats were quite uncomfortable…stupid catholics. It was a husband and wife duet and they were pretty bomb.

Yesterday we went to a former concentration camp in Teresin. It was really cool but quitey sobering. Tomorrow I’m going to the bone church which should be epic.

Dobrou Noc
Sam

Sunday, September 6, 2009

Munich and First Day in Praha

Hey everyone! So this is my second blog that I’m writing and will hopefully upload everything tonight. I am in Prague and moved into my new dorm but the internet doesn’t work in our room and doesn’t like my computer apparently…sad day.
Anyway, we got a corner room and it’s pretty awesome and much bigger than the other rooms. Also our beds are foot to foot instead of right next to each other so there’s no awkward eye contact upon waking up…you know what I’m talking about Cass haha.

Munich was a ton of fun. We had a driving and then walking tour and then headed back to the hotel. Alex, Tom, and I found a great Kabob place and had dinner and Black Cat energy drinks haha. Then we went to the Haufbrau Haus which is a traditional German beer hall and each had a liter of beer. After that we wandered around for a bit and wound up in another pub and finally had a wonderful drunk walk back to our hotel.

Yesterday we bussed from Munich to Prague stopping in Plsen on the way to have lunch. We got to the hotel and unpacked and relaxed a bit. Then we went out to St. Wenceslas Square and had foot and a liter and a half of beer with dinner. We walked from there to the old town square and to the Charles Bridge. The metro closes around 12 so we asked a tram driver how to get back and he told us to get on and then a few stops later told us to get off and gave us a slip with what trams we were supposed to take…none of them came so we walked for a bit more and then I finally broke down and we got a taxi.

Today we went on a tour of Prague and saw some of the University buildings and administrative offices that we need and I got an alarm clock at the AIFS office!! We have a meeting nowish to go over some more stuff and I think we’re just going to be relaxing tonight.

Miss you all and hope to have regular internet access up soon so I can be in regular correspondence
Sam

London Belated

ey everyone! So I’m writing this in my hotel room because the internet cafés around here close quite early and we’re pretty beat from wandering around London all day.
The flight was about 10 hours long but we each had a touch screen in the head rest of the seat in front of us that had a whole bunch of movies we could choose from. I slept a bit and watched Wolverine. We took a bus to the hotel but our rooms weren’t ready yet so we hit the pub (this being a little after noon). He had another beer in the hotel lobby before our rooms were finally ready.
That night we went to Piccadilly Circus to have dinner and it was raining so we got the true London experience.
Thursday we had a driving tour of London stopping for photo shoots at Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey - Parliament, and Saint Paul’s Cathedral. Then we had lunch at a pub called The Wellington. After that we went to the National Museum in Trafalgar Square.
On one corner in Trafalgar Square the artwork rotates on a 100 day period. Right now it’s people who can sign up to stand on the column for one hour. The guy who was there today was dressed all in green nylon and had a tent set up. He brought out a blow up doll and went into the tent with it, then came out and started to fight with it. Finally he threw it into the crowd and took off all of his clothes and sat naked for a while before rolling off onto the safety netting and finally running around Trafalgar Square with a quite revealing bath robe on. He also had friends in the crowd that we got a picture with.

We went back to Saint Paul’s and went in and climbed up to the top where the view was spectacular.

Then we took the tube back to the apartment during rush hour. We were packed like sardines and someone had forgotten to wear deodorant….no bueno.
We leave for Munich tomorrow morning (by which I mean Friday since this will probably be posted late)at 5 AM….mega barf
Missing you all and hope you are well
Samwise

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Leaving On a Jet Plane

Hey everyone,

Just wanted you to know that I'm finally leaving!! My flight leaves at 4:55 this afternoon and I get into London at 11AM tomorrow. My next few days include London, Munich, and a bus to Prague and then orientation trips as well so I'll try to write as soon as I get a chance (which knowing my love of technology will probably be pretty soon but no promises)

Keep me in your prayers and I'll let you know what's going on!

Europe here I come,
Sam

Monday, August 17, 2009

VISA!

Hooray! I got home from Minnesota this morning after quite the adventure of being put up in a hotel on vouchers with my dad to find that my Visa had come. Well it hadn't come exactly, they had brought it and left a slip letting me know that I could pick it up at the post office... so I did that. It's nice to see that the Czech Consulate is so timely: mailed May 1st & returned mid August. Oh well, at least it's still before I leave, which is in two weeks crazily enough.

The only thing I need now is my plane ticket, and of course to pack my life into a suitcase and a roll aboard, and I'm good to go.

The posts will definitely start to be more often once I leave but until then say a little woo-hoo for me and my brand new student visa

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Now I can stay in touch

I just got my new netbook today and figured that I should make my first post. I realize that I still don't leave for over a month but I feel silly having a blog and not putting anything up on here.

I got a skype account and my username is sonel64 and would love for everyone to add me.

I'm still waiting on news about my visa but thankfully so are a lot of people from the program so that's comforting at least.

Other than that life on the study abroad front goes pretty much as usual. I got another book to help me learn more czech phrases. The first word I learned is pivo which means beer. Also I was looking online and found out that there is a beach on the Vlatava river. Sadly the water isn't good to swim in and I'll be there during the winter so I'm not sure if I'll be frequenting it's shores very much.

I'll post again when I get my visa which will hopefully be soon

dobrou noc,
Sam