November 2010
11 posts
Buda Buda Buda Buda 'round me everywhere -...
Budapest: Thursday November 4th - Sunday November 7th
The Budapest saga began when on the Monday before I was to travel to Budapest I found out that all the possible bus lines I could take from Prague to Budapest on Friday were sold out in addition to the fact that on my return voyage, the only available bus was on Sunday night at 10:30 p.m. which would make my arrival back in Prague be around...
Almost forgot...
The highlight of the Halloween weekend had to be walking behind Sam and Luke on Saturday afternoon on the busy Charles Bridge and just watching Sam lower his shoulder into this little asian girl as they walked by each other. She was literally knocked about 5 feet to the side after Plumer TRUCK STICKED her. It was hilarious. Right after I went up to Plumer and asked him what the hell that was all...
Prahalloween
This post will be brief because I want to catch up on the blog and post about other trips. So Halloween weekend (Fri. Oct. 29 - Sun. Oct. 31) was the first weekend I was in Prague since the weekend before Oktoberfest which was Sept. 24-26th. Needless to say, it was nice not to have to travel, keep track of a passport, deal with exchange rates, and sleep in the comforts of my own bed.
The weekend...
Auschwitz
My visit to Auschwitz has probably been the most profound and poignant moments of my time here in Europe so far. Here are the details of my visit…
On Saturday morning, we all piled into our UPCES chartered bus and embarked on the hour-long ride to Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau. After catching a snooze, I awoke to the myriad of brick barracks of Auschwitz I on my right. We got off the bus...
Krakow
I can’t believe I went to Poland. Here’s the trip in a nutshell.
So I’ll preface with the fact that this trip, unlike others, was organized and funded completely by my program here in Prague, UPCES (Undergraduate Program of Central European Studies) so I was very excited to travel on the program’s dime and save some money during the weekend. However, part of travelling...
October 2010
17 posts
Paris
Been busy lately so this post is coming probably 10 days after my Paris trip so I’ve forgotten some of the details.
Anyways, the whole Paris saga started the night before my departure hanging out with the Tulane/St. Larry’s guys at their place. One of the St. Larry’s guys (the Beta) has a family friend is in the US Air Marshals and he told this guy Peter to probably not go to...
Whale jokes
Sorry I haven’t blogged in a while - updates on my trips to Paris and Karkow will come soon. I’m sure wheresmarkman and whereswaskom.com can quench your dire thirsts to read blogs from abroad people.
Anywayysss - to all my PQ readers out there I thought I’d update you real quick on one part of my life. So I did the whale joke for an audience of SDT girls/Tulane kids and it just...
Hypebeast's Post on Sneakerness Vienna 2010 →
A good omen for the Paris trip..
Just dug out my “Mensonge” cologne bottle by Fragonard from the last time I was in France an wouldn’t ya know it it is exactly 100 ml meaning that this guy can bring it on the plane.
Let’s hope the rest of this Paris trip goes well…
Sunday Vienna (Oct. 10th)
We woke up Sunday and ventured to a breakfast joint called The Breakfast Club that was recommended in wouldn’t you know it…Mandel’s guide book. And wouldn’t you know it, the meal was delicious. We ate outside and watched as a guy sliced our bacon fresh in a cold-cut slicer.
My Breakfast Sandwich Deluxe with bacon…so good. The bacon was cooked into the egg.
After...
Vienna Saturday (Oct. 9th)
We awoke on Saturday and ventured downstairs to have breakfast at the hostel. Pretty good breakfast but not what I was expecting after all the raving reviews of Wombats on Hostelworld.com - oh well, no biggie.
We hopped on the U6 metro and popped out into daylight at the first stop of a more-extended tour that was outlined in Mandel’s guide book. The first stop was the Vienna State Opera...
Vienna Friday Night
The Schnitzel Experience
Well Friday night we set out to experience an authentic Viennanese Schnitzel which are famous in Vienna. Never failing, Mandel’s book had just the place for “the best schnitzel in Vienna” and so we set out to find the hole-in-the-wall restaurant that served some mean schnitzel. Upon arriving, the place which was smaller than a small Italian BYO in...
Vienna Friday (Oct. 8th)
This past weekend I trekked to Vienna with four friends I met from my program that go to Tulane and Ithaca. The three guys that go to Tulane are Andrew Mandelbaum, Andrew Gilboard, and Eddie Katz and the guy who goes to Ithaca is Paul Upham. Mandel, Gil, and Eddie are all in AEPi at Tulane and Paul knows these guys very well cause his best friend from home is also in their frat and he’s...
Cesky Krumlov (Oct. 1-2)
Last weekend the program I’m studying with here in Prague - UPCES - organized a trip for its students to Cesky Krumlov, a small town in Southern Bohemia best known for having the Czech Republic’s second largest castle (second only to the one in Prague). Here’s a map:
(I don’t know what Artist Milkwood Residence is - got this one online)
Anywho, we traveled by bus and we...
HC Slavia Hockey Game
On Tuesday last week (Sept 28th), there was the National Czech Statehood Holiday so we didn’t have class. UPCES organized a trip to go see HC Slavia, a hockey team, play another Czech team in the big O2 arena which is apparently the biggest stadium in Central and Eastern Europe (the arena in which the Bruins will play in October). When we got to the arena I immediately bought one of the team...
September 2010
17 posts
Oktoberfest Saturday Sept. 25th
Saturday was by far my most epic day in Munich and it didn’t really have to do with drinking beer. Saturday began much as Friday began with Martin, Lukas, Kerstin, and I waking up in her small flat, pounding water (2nd best water in Germany according to Lukas, 2nd only to Hanover of course) and eating breakfast. I actually took the tram back into the center of Munich to check out of my hotel...
Oktoberfest Friday Sept. 24th
We awoke Friday and headed over to the action at around 10 after eating a good breakfast. On the day’s docket I was planning on meeting up with the Betas Evan Meyer and Merrick at some point and Martin, Lukas, and I were also to meet up with good ole Sam Plumer who was arriving that day from France (studying abroad) by train. It was Sam’s 21st birthday that day so we were looking...
Oktoberfest Thursday Sept. 23rd
My weekend in Munich for Oktoberfest started off without a hitch with Ariela and I catching a train we had booked to Munich. By chance, 4 Penn girls studying in Tel Aviv (including Keira Ginsburg) and traveling Europe also booked this same train (they had been visiting Prague and hanging out with us for the past 3 days). So we all found each other and sat together and thus began the phenomenon...
Czech Class
Czech is an impossible language to learn but Czech class here is really fun. Today we broke into two teams and had to race against a person from the other team to slap a number written on the white board with a fly swatter after given a math equation in Czech—stuff like that makes class just bizarre. The Czech professor is awesome too.
So the number four in Czech is written ctyri with a...
WatchThis is a short video I took of the orchestra/band that was playing at the end of our street yesterday. The acoustics of the street made it sound like they were playing right under our window. They weren’t - but it was still nice to kind of have a Czech “opera” as Ariela described it playing as the soundtrack to our afternoon. This band was playing for a little fair they set up...
Grocery Shopping
Grocery shopping here in Prague is really difficult at this point because we have taken literally no language classes at all (they start Monday). Living here a week on just English has been difficult but definitely manageable, especially also because we live in Prague 1 and Prague 2 which see tons of tourists. Most waiters, bartenders, and Czech people speak at least a little bit of English....
Exploring Prague
I have so much more to explore in this city (I’m taking a walking tour/class on it so I should be good) but I did explore a little more of “Nove Mestro” meaning New Town when I went to a clinic today with Dani-pants to get my finger czeched out. The finger is all good btw. But at the bottom of Wesceslas Square (say that 5 times past) there are these authentic food stands and a...
Man Purse
Dani danced with a Czech guy wearing a man purse last night at Club Mecca - enough said. Wait I lied - they had female dancers reminiscent of those in Palladium in Acapulco. Czech girls dance kind of weird, I’ll elaborate on this in the future I’m sure.
Prague is Saving the Planet
One push-light at a time. In our building in our staircase the lights run on a timer of about 10 seconds so when you are descending or ascending the stairs at night you have to push the light switch on every floor. If you forget a floor, you’re in the dark. Makes for an interesting entrance and exit every time at night especially while going down/up the stairs with girls in heels..
Estonian Waitors and Arab Chefs
Today after we went to our first orientation-type meet and greet for our program over here (UPCES), the girls (Ariela, Dani, Rebecca, MADDY) and I went out to eat for a little early dinner. The place we chose was a typical Czech restaurant but when Dani tried to order a Margharita pizza from the menu and then requested to add mushrooms (she loves the mushrooms) the waiter became all flustered and...
Squeaky McSquiggles
That’s the name I’ve dubbed for this girl we met at Freddy’s bar (Freddy is an American guy who owns a bar called the Drunken Monkey which is close to us). She’s so annoying. But she is from Boston so we started talking. I should have known she was gunna suck when she said “O-M-G someone from Boston! It’s so great to meet someone who actually gets me.” But...
Prague Subway Escalators
They are so steep it’s like a roller coaster ride. Seriously its a little terrifying/nauseating. Imagine yourself at the top of the big climb of a roller coaster right before it takes an 85 degree decline. That’s what it felt like. Also the railings move ever-so-slightly faster than the actual stairs of the escalator, so if you keep you hand in the same place on the railing the whole...
British Airways
Ok so first things first - British Airways (the airline which we used to fly over) offers free wine to its customers. I unfortunately realized this after I ordered a ginger ale and the girls (Dani, Lomazow, and Ariela) all ordered wine for free. After I diligently finished my ginger ale and was sufficiently made fun of by the ladies, we all proceeded to chug Spanish white wine shooters which ended...
