Obama, Hannah, Easter Eggs, and Pastries!

It is week two and I'm feeling much better about Prague. =)

Hannah visited this weekend! We did all sorts of touristy things and travelled more around Prague. It was fun!

I got six of the hand-painted eggs they sell here for the Easter celebration. Some of them have incredible cutouts... it's a real eggshell with the egg contents drained. They are pretty. =) I should take pictures of them.

Saw Obama speak on Sunday! Waking up at 4:50am was not fun... but it was worth it (though we probably could have woken up a bit later). He is quite an eloquent speaker. It was funny hearing all these references to events we are learning about in my classes right now in his speech. Prague Spring, the legacy of the Cold War, the Velvet Revolution, and the idea of Czechoslovakia (as it was still one country at the time) having its fate decided for it without the voice of the Czech/Slovak people heard. It definitely added credibility and piqued my interest in his speech even more than it might have. It was also strange seeing snipers placed in several of the windows of buildings surrounding Prague castle and all of the other security guards.

I have already done so much reading ahead of time that it is ridiculous. I finish my readings and I feel like I should be doing more. I suppose such is the result of a hyper-intensive quarter where avoiding readings for a day or two is simply not an option. Now I feel like I need to be doing a lot more than I am doing... I feel like I must have more work to do because I have forgotten what it's like to only be taking 15 credits (3 classes) in one quarter.

Perhaps that is a contributing factor to my decision to pay for and attend Czech language classes. I realize that it will be impossible to learn the language- not even to the point where I will be able to speak conversational Czech. Still, I want to be able to pronounce things here. I want to be able to say just a few words, to make some effort. It is part of the experience I want to have here. How can you ever hope to understand a culture without even making an attempt at understanding the language? They are so integrally tied. So... I am learning a little bit of Czech. It is not really about usefulness to me... it is about really committing- making a real attempt to understand Prague. I am learning its social history and present, its political history and present. I may as well make a more complete effort.

I feel much more comfortable with the city now, in part thanks to my wanderings around the city with Hannah! I may have no idea where I am, but point the way to a 4 or 22 tram or any metro stop and I can find my way home! The transportation system here is excellent, as I mentioned before.

I love the content of Vera's class (history). I also enjoy Mike's class (political science), but I think I am more interested in discussions of history, generally, than discussions of political science. So far, the art history/architecture class is reminiscent of Rome since we are simply discussing basics of architecture styles, etc. It is nice to be walking around the city though. Anyhow, I am devouring the readings because they are incredible.

I suppose it is somewhat ironic that it is only in my senior year of college that I discover how much I enjoy some classes. I love learning about English and history. I wonder if I will miss that when I graduate... what a strange concept. I have never thought I would miss school, being resentful of the majority of my schooling. I finally feel like I'm appreciating some of it. I absolutely loved my English classes last quarter. English and history are my true passions, though I am much better at English than history since I have trouble remembering dates and names and other facts. I like to look at forces which shape events and see how different groups interact with one another. History is about studying people- a large part of it is looking at psychology of people and sociology - their interactions.

As a class, we went to the Institute for Totalitarian Regime today, which is essentially a way for the government to educate people about Totalitarian Regime. It also holds the archives for the documents kept in the Czech Republic under the Nazi and Communist regimes. They have chosen to open it up to the public (for the most part), despite much debate. It may close in September with the new elections, depending on the outcome of the elections. I like that they opened it to the public. It is a way to show that they are no longer covering up events in the past the way both of the regimes did both during and after events occurred.

Today, after class, Ty-Huynh and I (who live in the same apartment complex but not the same apartment unit) got stuck trying to exit our apartment building. The door is pretty worn out (understatement), but at least it usually opens after several tries. This time, it decided to be really stuck. We actually asked someone on the street outside to help open it (it opens a little bit but not all the way) and that was amusing. Perhaps it helped though, because even though he gave up and left, it was soon after that I thought it would be helpful to try slipping through the doorway. Of course, then it decided to open... Anyway. I've never been stuck inside a building for 30 minutes before.

Anyway, after we finally escaped, we went in search of an internet cafe (I love the people at the laundromat we usually go to for internet, but we were hungry and the laundromat closes at 8pm). After many failed attempts (too loud, no internet, too smoky, closes too early, or several of the above), we found this one! It has couches, quiet (not obnoxious) music, and it is clean and pretty. I like the internet cafes here. I talked to Zoe online and she told me that she misses internet cafes. We have quite a few in Seattle but she tells me there is a dearth of internet cafes in California (somewhere between San Diego and LA), where she lives now. If I do end up moving elsewhere in a year or two, I wonder what I will miss about Seattle or the Northwest in general. Much more than I can imagine, I am sure.

So I am at the cafe and Ty-Huynh and I just received the desserts we ordered. Pastries in general are delicious here. =) I may not be the biggest fan of meat, bread, and potatoes, but pastries I can get on board with!

I think now that I will miss Prague when I leave. I know that is in nine weeks, but I can tell I will already.

I am happy today. =)