Prague, how I love you...

So this weekend, I traveled to Prague with Peter, Chase, and Chris, and met up with Hallie and her friends a couple times, and Justin even graced us with his presence! And can I just say, that city is absolutely amazing! Its probably one of the most beautiful places I have ever been, and I am sure that when I return to the United States, I will look at the industrial-look of Chicago, and be like "ew, gross" no matter how much I love the city. It just isn't the same. It was wonderful, yet cold, AND NO RAIN FOLLOWED ME!

I am putting pictures up as we speak, if you don't believe me. :)

The first night we were there, we went to the hostel that Justin suggested, and lo and behold, there were no rooms available for us, and Peter had not made any sort of reservation, and I thought to myself, "Oh God...not a repeat of Germany, please!!" But the man at the desk called another hostel for us, and we ended up staying at a pretty cheap place, that was actually really, really nice. We met up with Hallie and her friends Stephanie (who goes to Bradley too) on Charles Bridge, and then just went to a bar and hung out for awhile.

The next day, the boys and I attempted to go to the Jewish cemetery (not realizing that DUH it would be closed on Saturday) and then proceeded to walk around Old Town, and then hiked up to Praha Hrad (or Prague Castle). We were highly disappointed in the fact that the castle itself was closed for 3 days (and we were only going to be there for 3 days!!) and the Powder Tower was closed too somehow, so our little visit was not only short, but also highly unsatisfying for the amount of money we had to pay to get in.

After that, we walked around a bit more, headed back to the hostel, siesta'd, and then went bar hopping again, where I stole yet another beer stein (huzzah!!) and then we called it a night.

Sunday we hopped on the train and headed to Karlstejn castle, which was about 45 minutes outside of the city. Oh my goodness, this castle was amazing, as well as the countryside surrounding it. We weren't allowed to take photos inside the castle, but the grounds were beautiful! When we got back, we went to try to go to the Jewish Cemetery again, but alas! They were closing in 20 minutes. Just our luck. So we went back to the hostel, napped, and then proceeded to eat Chinese Food for the second night in a row. It was delicious, if you must know.

We were on our way to meet Hallie in Old Town Square, when we heard some whistling at us. My reaction, thanks to Spanish men, is to avoid at all costs, but when Peter looked over, Justin was sitting on the curb, waiting for us! I guess he got bumped from his plane so he couldn't meet us the day before like he had originally planned, and yet we somehow found him! It was incredible.

Then we all met up with Hallie and the people from her program, and went to this jazz club. After that, we smuggled Justin and his ENORMOUS backpack into our hostel, and then conked out. In the morning, we tried ONE LAST TIME to get into the Jewish Cemetery (thinking it would only cost 40 crowns)...but it cost over 200 crowns, so we called it a day, and wandered and shopped instead.

Then came the next 13 hours of traveling on metro, bus, and plane for, uh...13 hours. It was gross, and we got home at 12:30 in the morning, but it was definitely worth it.

I finally voted and I am so excited for the election oh my goodness! And I got two letter from my padres, and a package of goodies! Hooray! So all you people who said you would write...hop to it!! :)

I need to go read and go to my Tutorial. I love you all!

Hasta pronto,

M.

More photos added (surprise surprise) and how about a monsoon to help your day along?

Hello hello!!

I am currently taking refuge inside the school, thank goodness. Mother Nature totally just decided to overturn her bathtub all over Granada. And I would've been caught right in the middle of it had I not decided to walk to the school 2 hours before my next class starts.

I just added more photos from this weekend. There are quite a few, as always. I just need to add captions as then I will be all set.

This weekend I am going to Prague with Peter, Chase and Chris. Sara didn't get her ticket in time, so now its $400 instead of $290...I am kind of disappointed, but hey, that's life I guess.

Wow, its taking me too long to post this, and I am sorry there is not much substance, but I will try again later!

Oh Life...

Ay dios mio! Now that I am back in Granada, the craziness that was our trip to Germany has finally started to settle in. The pictures are up, so have a look-see, but beware, chaos ensues.

I was so so SO glad to return to Granada, even if the weather has cooled considerably since I left. At least it is still sunny and NOT rainy and cold (and here’s to hoping it stays that way!!) The only way I can possibly describe our adventures in Germany would be to tell them to imagine the craziest movie they’ve ever seen of a group of people traveling, and all of the ridiculous, crazy things that happen to them, unfortunate occurrences, etc. that all seem like they’re blowing things out of proportion, and don’t actually happen in real life: and then believe that Sara, Joanie, Susanne, and I lived it during this past week. I don’t think I will ever be the same again. Nor do I think that I need to be working on my FO at all anymore. I definitely got my flexibility on, and couldn’t turn it off, otherwise I would have snapped.

And trust me, I almost did. Though I think that mostly had to do with my being sick. Speaking of my tonsils…they magically are better, and I feel back to normal. How odd. Maybe it really was just the climate change, and the cold that was throwing me off. Who knows. Anything is possible.

We had our first “week” (meaning two days) of classes…and I absolutely love both my POE (writing and speaking), and Literatura de Siglo XX classes, but I am not so happy with my Civilizacion y Cultura Hispanoamericana class at all. I literally zoned out for the entire 2 hours, and really didn’t miss anything. Ah well.

My grammar class wasn't so bad today either. The professor reminds me a lot of a spanish version of Adam Sandler. And Joanie is in my class, so its nice to know someone for once. And I am not sure how my Islam class will be, but we shall see I guess, huh?

We finally booked tickets to go to Prague today. To be honest, I wasn’t so happy because instead of going Thursday-Sunday like I wanted, we have to go Friday-Monday so the tickets aren’t so expensive. They were 290 USD round-trip, which isn’t so bad I suppose, but I am kind of upset I need to miss classes. I am excited, though, because now our group has expanded to Sara and Chase too, along with me and Peter.

We are still on the lookout for tickets to Paris in November to meet Hallie and Brettsky, and maybe Annie will come if she wants to come too (YES PLEASE!!), and I know Sara wanted to come just to go to Paris and meet my friends, and Ana may just be flying with us because she just wants to go to France, and Chase wants to go to France too, and wants to go to London during the same trip. Madre mia! So much travel.

I am leaving to go on my Morocco trip tonight! Huzzah! We are taking the bus to Algeciras, and spending the night there since we have to meet up with the program at eight in the morning to take the boat across the Straight of Gibraltar to Tangier. I really cannot wait! It is going to be yet another experience of a lifetime. I will be sure to document accordingly (remember! Look at my photos from Germany—I split up the albums for easier perusing!) and post when I return. Never fear, I will not be gone long!

Oh life. What a hoot.

Much love,

M.