Prague, Czech Republic!

So I know it's been awhile since I posted and I've noted that I need to step up my game. It will get better!
So last weekend my roommates and I went to Prague, Czech Republic because we did not have class on Friday. I didn't really know what to expect because we didn't have much time to plan the trip and, out of the 5 places that we thought we possibly wanted to go, Prague had the cheapest flight/hostel combined price. So Praha it was! The hostel we stayed at had gotten rave reviews in all the books we looked at and was #1 on hostelworld.com (a great website, I recommend it) and ending up costing $65 each for all 3 nights! We had bunk beds and the room wasn't huge but the beds were extremely comfortable. To my cousin Matt – I thoroughly checked that place for bed bugs and I think my roommates thought I was a bit insane but it was all clear. Here is a pic of the hostel bathroom - gorgeous!

We arrived on Thursday night and decided to go out to a place near our hostel that was recommended by one of my roommates’ friends who had studied abroad there last semester. It was a fun night and an extremely international crowd. In addition to Czechs there were also people from the UK, Australia, various countries in Africa and the US. We met some study abroad kids from NYU and I talked to a guy who works for the NBA as a sort of link to the European basketball league. We had a good convo about the Pitt basketball program in the Krauser era!
The next two days (Friday and Saturday) were filled with walking and seeing the sights. And by walking, I mean serious walking. When we came home on Sunday I put our route that we took on Saturday into Google maps and I think we did about 10 miles that day, a lot of which was hilly!

Prague Castle in the background up on a big hill!

That's one difference I noticed about Prague and Milan: Prague isn't flat! Also, the cobblestone in Prague is much more intense than Milan's cobblestone. Smaller stones, more patterns, and just prettier in general. During these two days we hit basically every major site to see - the Old Town, the New Town, the main square, the astronomical clock, the King Charles Bridge, and castle and the cathedral inside the castle. When we walked into the main town square I couldn't even believe how beautiful the place was. It was completely overwhelming! Here's a picture of me jumping in the square... such a typical "jumping" pic but oh well, it's fun.


Sunday was our catch-up day. We took it easy in the morning and got brunch at an adorable place with a very Americanized menu. It was delicious!
I forget what this was called but it was very strong coffee with some type of liquor... perfect for a cold, overcast day with lots of walking ahead!

Dealing with the exchange rate while we were there was not so fun. The Czech Republic is not on the Euro and instead uses the Czech Crown and is at about 18 to the dollar. When we first got the airport my friend Kasia and I went to the ATMs (called “bankomats” here) and decided to get out 2000 Crowns… a number that seemed huge but we estimated was around $110. Then, after processing the transaction and taking my card back I’m sincerely expecting to get back all these bills… and then two 1000 notes come out. It’s just odd to have a bill that says “1000” in your hand and this was something we definitely didn’t get used to. It's easier to do a 20 to 1 calculation, but then you're over-valuing the dollar. Needless to say, there was a lot of blackberry calculator usage.
As we left Prague on Sunday we talked about some of the main differences we noticed between this city and Milan, the most obvious of which being the internationalism of the city. There we McDonalds restaurants everywhere and American stores on every block. We saw stores and labels like Nike, Foot Locker, TGIF, Starbucks, Rebok, KFC, and more that were completely not expected. We never see American stores in Milan! Also, so many of the people spoke English it was extremely easy to communicate. Here in Milan I am constantly trying to improve my Italian because, even though Milan is said to be the “New York” of Italy, this place is definitely not New York. A surprising amount of people in Milan speak no English whatsoever – even younger people my age and young professionals. If you attempt to talk to someone over the age of 40 or so who doesn’t have a specifically internationally-oriented job, you can safely assume they know no English at all. This is a constant challenge but that can be saved for a later post. Anywho… So yes, very easy to communicate in Prague. Also, the people there we EXTREMELY nice and helpful. So, so nice! The Milanese are a little stuck on themselves and, frankly, I don’t blame them because Milan is amazing, but the Czech people we encountered were extremely welcoming and open… what a nice change for a few days!
All-in-all, a wonderful trip where we saw a lot and met many interesting people. We were definitely happy to go “home” to Milan though and get back into our routine but not so excited for class the next day!
Here are some more pics...
View from the castle (it's just above my head in the first picture)

I spy: Subway, Coca-Cola, Ford

Traditional Czech cuisine

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