Intensive Czech, what a class

Dobry Den Everyone! or Good Day Everyone.

This week started the the introduction of the required Intensive Czech Class into my life. Intensive Czech is definitely intensive and definitely not the easiest language in the world to learn. It has not been too much of a struggle though. After 8 years of Latin, it has been easy to pick up on the structure of Czech, but pronunciation is another universe in itself. Of course I am going from a Language that is not like any other language in the word (English) and a romance language that is not spoken anymore (Latin) to a spoken Slavic language that can drive anyone crazy. The class is fun though. My professor is a really nice guy and is the one who wrote the book we are using. I have one more week of Intensive Czech and then semester classes finally begin. I cannot wait for the semester to officially begin.

This week I went to a few spectacular places throughout the city. Tuesday night some of the group and I went to see the opera Figaro. The opera house was absolutely gorgeous. I took my seat and took 15 minutes just to analyze the magnificent building I have entered. It also took me a while to realize that the building I was sitting in is probably older than the United States.

On Thursday night some of the group and I went to the Czech Philharmonic Concert at the Concert Hall. The orchestra was performing both Beethoven and Dvorak. I cannot even describe the subtle bliss that is live Romantic music hitting my ears. The performance was tear worthy and by the end of the night, my hands hurt from clapping so much at the end of the concert. If there is but a piece of heaven on earth, it is the sound of a live Oboe player soloing over the soft accompaniment of the strings in the back round. I am so happy I got to experience the Czech Philharmonic.

Yesterday I went to the Zoo. The Prague Zoo is enormous. My group and I walked around for about 4 hours and only saw about half of the property. The animals they had there were excellent (even the little children running around screaming). We also went across the street from the Zoo into a large garden with two large Villas on either side. I took a lot of pictures there because it was so very picturesque.

Last night I went to a wine Festival a few stops down on the Metro. I went with two friends, Val and Amanda. Over here they sell a product called young wine in the fall right after they have picked the grapes. Young wine is exactly what it sounds like, it is wine that has just been pressed and does not have a large alcohol content yet, so it tastes like grape juice. We had a good time and then retired for the night.

I believe that is it for now, so until next time Dobrou Noc (Good night)