Week By Week summary

All my friends have left early this morning and I sit here in my apartment alone. I guess that leaves me with a lot of time to reflect on the past semester. Prague has seriously been amazing, and if you ever decide to go abroad and don’t know where, please go to Prague! I wish I could go through a time warp and wake up back at the Park Inn Hotel (where we stayed the first night) and have orientation all over again. In order to make sense of the past four months, here is my week-by-week playback. Of course I don’t remember all I did each week, but I’ll do my best.

September
Week #1
Getting to know Prague and all these beautiful people from across the United States, complete with a boat ride party and a lot of scavenger hunting across the city. Lots of naps due to staying out all night and waking up early for orientation business. Getting rid of jet lag.

Week #2
Still trying to learn what Prague is all about. Commence intensive Czech. Paddle boating on the Vltava. Visits to Prague Castle gardens, various pubs, cafes and restaurants. Bloody Beetroots concert. Austra concert. Bowling and pool night.

Week #3
Falling in love with Prague more and more every day.
Opening weekend of Oktoberfest!

Week #4
Classes begin. Hanging around Prague. Visits to many museums and more tourist hotspots. I think I may also have seen Melancholia this week. First European futbol game. Paddle boating one last time. Went to an outdoor student music festival. Met Hanz the German.

Week #5
Visit to my first Czech village of Kvacice in Moravia.
Day trip from Kvacice to Vienna.

October
Week #1
Fall is on the prowl. Getting used to having school. Transportation in Prague is incredibly easier than I thought. Cesky krumlov weekend trip courtesy of CIEE.

Week #2
Excellent last minute decision to travel to Budapest over the weekend.
Day trip to the mining town of Jachimov with CIEE on Sunday. Met an amazing labor camp survivor.

Week #3
Celebrating my 21st! Hanging out in Prague over the weekend. Went bouldering and slept in (for once).

Week #4
Realizing my program is half why through and how amazing it’s been so far. Excited to still have 2 months left in Prague (though I didn’t realize how quickly they’d vanish). Auschwitz and Krakow trip over the weekend. Halloween.

November
Week #1
Saw film Alois Nebel. Day trips to Brno and Terezin/Lidice over the weekend.

Week #2
Cinema Dance!

Week #3
Wolves in the Throne Room concert. Pig Slaughter. Paris.

Week #4
FAMILY V PRAZE! Thanksgiving. CIEE open mic night.

December
Week #1
Saying goodbye to my family and leaving to Berlin for the weekend.

Week # 2
Amazing last minute decision to go to Amsterdam. Attempt at trying to change my return flight so I can travel Europe after the program. Attempt failed.

Week #3
CIEE Christmas party. Last weekend noooooo! Much fun with people who I realized I will miss A LOT!

Week #4
In progress. By the time tomorrow rolls around I’ll be back at home in Park Ridge, Illinois enjoying my culture shock and being nostalgic for Prague. It’s been a crazy rollercoaster of a semester (to say the least) and I wouldn’t have traded it for anything.

I’ll still have a few more posts before I end this blog, but for now I’m going to go out and enjoy my last night with the few people who remain in Prague.

Na Shled,
Lesia