Beer, Charles Bridge, A Cemetary

My days here in Prague are kind of blurring together, and not because of the beer. I feel like I have been here for such a long time and it has only been a few days. Prague is such an easy place to get used to. Even though I don't know the langauge, except for a few words, I feel like that dosen't really matter. Most of the Czech people I meet are happy to help me and seem very nice. There are the occasional rude Czechs but, no more than in the states. As long as you make an effort to try their langauge they respond to your wanting to learn about their langauge and culture. Yesterday, we had our orientation at CET, which is the center that we are taking classes at. Jarka and Marta, our program directors, both English speaking Czech women, are very helpful and make out trip much easier. I lost my tram/bus/subway pass yesterday and Marta went with me on the subway to get a new pass. I would have been very lost without her. For dinner we went to a traditional Czech brewery and restaurant.


Yes I drank a beer. It is customary in Prague to have beer with every meal, and I mean every meal. Some Czechs even have it for breakfast. In Czech beer literally means "bread". They treat it as a side dish and even toddlers drink it. For dinner I had roasted chicken, two types of dumplings, and cabbage. It was very tasty and I think I am going to like Czech food, except for the lack of salt. The food is good but, very bland. Last night, we walked across the famous Charles Bridge at sunset and it was amazing. Charles the fourth was a very well liked king of the Czech Republic and this pedestrian bridge is a sight to see. With artists and musicians performing, they really give this bridge character. Since, I didn't blog yesterday this one will cover two days in Prague.

Today was our first day of class at CET. We woke up and took the tram to the center which is five stops away. The speaker was very entertaining and we learned alot about early Czech history and he also kept it interesting with his own personal stories in the Czech Republic. After that a a few of the other students and me went searching for a place to eat lunch on our break between classes. We found a restaurant that served fairly cheap food for lunch. I got a beef broth soup which was absolutley delicious! Except again, not enough salt. I guess that is what they make salt shakers for. After this, we got lost. We had gone through a back garden entrance and couldn't find it to get back. Luckily, we were only a few minutes late and we met the group to set off on our cemetary photoshoot.

The cemetary was gorgeous. I know it's hard to imagine a cemetary as gorgeous but, this one was. There were giant statues of angels and crosses, all dating back to the 1600's. We spent about two or more hours there shooting and I am starting to like photography more and more each day. I love capturing moments in my camera that would be gone otherwise. I think I shot over 250 photos. For dinner a few of us went to a little cafe near our apartments and I got an eclair with whipped cream and chocolate. It was so relaxing to sit outside in this cafe and just soke up the surroundings. We even met other students studying abroad from Virgnia.

Needless to say, this trip had been memorable already and this is only the third day. There is no telling what is to come. All I can do is just sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride.