End of the Semester and Away from Prague

Hello all, I just wanted to write and update. I apologize for not updating my blog very quickly in the recent weeks. End of the semester work kicked in and final preparations to leave Prague fast approached.

The end of the semester went fairly well. Classes gave out much work and I was stuck in the coffee shop for 3 weeks straight trying to finish final work, papers, projects, and studying for approaching finals. My friends and I would all congregate in the same coffee shop for those 3 weeks, completely overwhelming the staff. Apparently doing work in a coffee shop is truly an American thing. In the end, it was and is the most comfortable place for me to get work done, so we apologized to the staff there and went along with our work.

I finished all my finals and work by 16 December and took a nice sigh of relief. That day (Wednesday), my friend Mike was leaving in the morning. He had finished all of his work early and his parents were arranging his travel back instead of the AIFS personnel. His parents got him a flight home for that morning on United. He woke me around 7:00 to say goodbye. He was the first one to leave for the program.

The next day. I went to pick up Jonathan at the airport. It began to snow and the random snow storm Prague had in October, it was the first real snow of the season. I grabbed the bus and met him at the airport. He got off the plane and was........well.........cold, haha. The weather was a bit different for him from the weather he was used to in Kenya. We made it to the dorm and got settled. We wandered around the city for a bit and came back early due to Jon's jet-lag. Jon got to skype with the parents that night and my brother and mother got to see one another for the first time in a year.

We woke a bit early the next morning and wandered around the city with Daisey and Jon got to see all the sights of Prague and all the wonderful Christmas Markets. That night we had a goodbye beer with everyone in the program in the Pub downstairs and then said goodbye to everyone. My brother and I hung around with my suite-mates for a while before making it into bed.

We woke the next morning and said goodbye to my suite-mates before they headed off to the airport. It was said to see everyone leave. Thank goodness for Facebook. Jon and I then went into the city and did some laundry. Jon was quite excited to be able to use a washing machine and dryer. We finished our laundry, then headed to lunch before dropping the laundry at the dorm. He and I then went out to the Christmas Markets again to gets some food and do some last minute Christmas shopping. We made it back to the dorm and hung around for a bit before heading out to catch our bus to Zurich.

Our bus ride to Zurich was very very very long. We finally made it by 11 a.m. Sunday morning and found our way to the hotel. We then settled and wandered around the city for a bit and grabbed our train ticket to Milan for the 22 December (tomorrow). We hung around and got some food and then went out with a few British guys we met at the hostel and got a beer that night.

Today we went up to Uteilberg (the mountain overlooking Zurich) and hiked for a bit. We then wandered around the Christmas Markets here again and did some shopping. In between hiking and shopping we got some lunch. Jon and I found a stand where there was a Kenyan woman selling handmade things from Kenya. He and she got to talking for a while. It was a surprise to say the least. He and I are now hanging out for a bit before we grab some dinner and a beer.

Tomorrow we will travel and make our way to Turin. It is time for Christmas with the relatives.

Final Weekend Trip Away From Praha

Before I start to write about my small adventure into western Europe I want to apologize for my tardiness in writing in my blog. This should be one of the last interesting posts until I leave Prague on 19 December.

On Friday 27 November, Alex and I left the lobby of Masarykova Koleg and made our way to the bus to bring us to the airport. We arrived at the airport, checked the board and found our check-in desk. We waited in line for a while and then finally received our boarding passes. We made it through security and over to our gate. We wait for a few moments and then began to board the plane. I sat on the plane waiting to take off and realized this would be the last time I would be flying out from Prague Airport. As much as I have traveled since coming to Europe, I will still miss Prague Airport.

We arrived in Barcelona, Spain and made out way to the public transportation system where we purchased our tickets and grabbed the metro. We road for a bit and then made it to our stop. We checked into our hostel and then continued to go explore a bit before I called it a night.

I woke the next morning and got ready for a day in the city. Alex and I grabbed the metro and met Val, Courtney and Imran at Catalunya Square. I walked up from the metro and at first glance I was blinded by an unfamiliar source, sunlight. I was so excited to see the sun. We met up and began our adventure. We wandered up to a beautiful park in the city and then to one of the only remaining Roman structures in the city. We then wandered around some more before making it to the beach. It was a positively beautiful day and everyone was at the beach. We wandered along the beach and search for a place to sit and eat. We found a nice little restaurant where we sat and enjoyed an awesome meal of paella. Paella served near the beach in Barcelona is equivalent to one of the best culinary experiences ever, haha. We then wandered the streets for a bit and explored Barcelona at night. We all called it a night so that we could wake for our flight in the morning.

Alex and I woke and got the Metro to the Airport. We arrived and grabbed our boarding passes and then found our flight to bring us to Lisbon, Portugal. The flight only took about and hour and fifteen minutes. We arrived and grabbed a bus to take us into the center of the city. We only got to wander for a few hours before having to grab the bus to go to the stadium. We arrived at the stadium and saw some of the biggest crowds I have ever seen. The concert looked like it was going to be a full house and I was so so excited.

The Concert I am referring to is for a band called MUSE.

We grabbed our tickets and made our way into the stadium. It filled up very quickly and the concert was about to begin. The band came out with crowds cheering. I have never seen so many screaming Portuguese people in my life. As Val and I screamed along with the crowds, we experienced the most amazing concert of my life. I cannot say anything more influential then that. The concert was truly out-of-this-world. The concert ended around 11:30 unfortunately and we cleared out.

We found a bus to bring up to the airport and then continued to hang out in the airport for 6 hours until we could collect our boarding passes at 6 a.m.

We grabbed our boarding passes and made our way through security to the gate. We waited for a bit and then boarded the last flight we would ever take back to Prague. It was a sad occasion, but in the end, we were still going back to Prague.

I finally think most people from my trip are traveled-out. I have enjoyed my travels here and in the end, I am not traveling until 8 January. My final count with Prague as home-base includes...

1. Stockholm, Sweden
2. Milan, Italy
3. Venice, Italy
4. Budapest, Hungary
5. Krakow, Poland
6. Istanbul, Turkey
7. Vienna, Austria
8. Barcelona, Spain
9. Lisbon, Portugal

and I cannot believe you all have been reading the posts related to all these cities, haha. Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed it. As much as this is not the end of my blog posts by any means, it is the end of my weekend adventures away from Prague.

Until next time...

I Wien to Vienna

It was the start of a new day on Friday, 20 November. My roommates and I woke to shower and get ready before filing onto the bus with the rest of the AIFS crew. We all, half-awake, stumbled onto the bus and fell asleep for a bit. By about 2 in the afternoon, we made it to Vienna, Austria for the start of our adventure.

We were dropped off near the center of the city and led to our hotels. We all got situated and met downstairs to be led to the city center and dropped off for the rest of the afternoon and night. We wandered around and by the time we made it to the city center, the group and I realized the organizers just dropped us in the most expensive shopping district in the city. We all looked at each other, then around us at Tiffany, Cartier and Prada, and realized we could not only not afford anything in the general vicinity, but that it was very cruel for them to drop us off hear, haha. We wandered around a bit, grabbed some food and then ended up in the Christmas Markets for a while before going to sleep for the night.

We woke the next morning and grabbed breakfast at the hotel before being led out on our tour by the tour guide.

Side Note: In Vienna, you must be a registered tour guide in order to give tours legally in the city. You can get in much trouble if leading a tour and your are not a registered tour guide.

Anyways, we were led out and saw a lot of the famous buildings. We saw Parliament, downtown, the Christmas markets, the Church where the Vienna Boys Choir sings. We had much fun and enjoyed the tour. We then had a 2 hour break before our next tour began and some of us decided to go to the Natural History Museum. The Museum was huge and a lot of fun. At 2, we met up and took another tour. After the tour, were set free and a few of us decided to go back to the hotel for a bit and rest before setting into the night.

We took an hour or so break and then went out to dinner at a restaurant called Centimeter. We got some traditional Austrian Schnitzel and a beer.

Andy, Jill and I then wandered into the Christmas markets to do some shopping. We ate some more and enjoyed the festivities. Andy and Jill bought a few things and then we headed back to the hotel for the night.

Today (Sunday) we all ate breakfast and then set out of the bus to Maria Theresa's palace, Schobrunn Palace. We got to see one of the most beautiful palaces ever. I loved it there so much. There were more Christmas markets there that we enjoyed. We then explored the grounds and found the gardens and then hiked to the top of the hill overlooking the palace where Maria Theresa's Triumphal Arch was built. everything on the property was so cool.

We then got back in the bus and headed back to Prague. Vienna was awesome.

Until next time...

Turkey, Turkey, Turkey...............yum

It was Friday morning, 13 November, and I woke to my alarm around 8:15. I rolled out of bed and tripped over my backpack lying on the ground. I stood up, cursed a bit, and then prayed to god that this was not how the entire weekend would be. I got into the shower and proceeded to dress and pack my backpack. I tried to pack a bit light for this trap because I was told that I would be bringing a lot of stuff back. I then met up with Alex and Val in the lobby of the dorm and we grabbed the bus to the airport.

We got to the airport and did the whole airport thing (checked in, went through security, found our gate) and then hung around for a bit. Val then walked over to Alex and me and said, "I just mentally woke up and realized that we are going to Istanbul for a couple days and you know what, I am so excited"

I laughed and then realized how ridiculous I had been for not going through the realization myself.

This past weekend I grabbed my flight with my two friends and made our way to Istanbul, Turkey. We arrived at the airport in Istanbul and found the tram system and proceeded to our hostel. We got lost when we got off the tram and could not find the hostel. A very nice young Turkish man came up to us and called the phone number for our hostel and the hostel owner came and found us and brought us to the hostel. After seeing where the hostel was and seeing that it was unmarked in every way, we wondered how anyone in the world could find the damn hostel, haha.

We made it in to the hostel, proceeded to give Val's boyfriend, who was flying in from London to stay in Istanbul with us for the weekend, directions to get to the hostel. We then all settled in and walked across one of the major bridges in the city where we found a place to eat some dinner. The restaurant was awesome. We then walked through the city a bit at night, exploring and taking some awesome night pictures and then called it an early night so that we could wake the next morning early.

We woke the next morning and immediately made our way up to the Ayasofya (Hagia Sophia).

Side Note: The Ayasofya was originally built as a Christian Church and then seized by the Muslims and turned into a Mosque.


We walked in and saw.....................well..........................ABSOLUTE AMAZEMENT. I cannot even describe in words the beauty that I saw inside the building. It was a mix of Christian and Muslim symbolism with the years not tended stone all around. The building was breathlessly beautiful in every way. We wandered around the first floor and then made our way up the the gallery. I think I took pictures for 4 different couples who wanted a shot in the mosque. It was awesome.

We then made our way across the street to the Blue Mosque. The Blue Mosque was absolutely gorgeous in every way imaginable (on the outside). We originally arrived to the mosque right before prayer was about to begin so we did not get to go inside at that point. We then went off and found something to eat and then came back about 45 minutes later. We removed our shoes and walked inside the building. The building was......lets just say I could have spend an entire day just inside that mosque. We wandered around for a bit and then left to wander around the city a bit more.

We then followed all the signed and made our way to the one and only Grand Bazaar and oh boy was it Grand. We found so many different places we wanted to shop and plenty of places we could spend a lot of money. We did some shopping and made our way through the endless halls, finding new things to see around every corner. We did some more shopping and haggling and ended up spending lots of money, ahah. I will not be back for a while, so I figured I could spend a little bit of money. We finally made it out after about 3.5 hours of shopping and then wandered back to the hostel to rest for about an hour.

We then headed back out to the National Museum Theatre where we had purchased tickets to see and hour long show of Traditional Turkish Folk Dancing. The performance was amazing. I could have sat and watched the performance all night. We had a lot of fun.

We then went out to a restaurant and enjoyed some tea and then proceeded to another restaurant where we ate a few kebabs. We then headed back for the night

The next morning, I woke at about 5:45 to the first prayer.

Side Note: In the religion of Islam, followers of the religion pray at 5 distinct times during the day which is usually led by the Imam (usually the leader of the mosque). The prayer is sung through a P.A. system that runs throughout the entire city (in majority Islam communities) so that all the followers may hear.

So the first prayer was sung over the P.A. system at than time and it woke me up. If there is a new way to wake for the day, that was definitely it.....and I loved it. It was such an awesome way to wake for the day.

Woke and gathered to head out for a short morning of exploration of the city. We made our way up to the Valens Aqueduct near the top of a rather large hill in the city. Unfortunately we could not climb on the aqueduct, but it was still cool to see and take pictures of.

We then headed back to the hostel and said good-bye to Val's boyfriend because his flight left before ours.

We then received a phone call about an hour later saying he had been sent to the wrong airport. We looked at the map and saw that there were two airports in Istanbul (whoops). We then got on the tram and made our way to the airport. We made it through security to get into the airport and found out that Perry (Val's boyfriend) was to fly out of the airport on the Asian side of Istanbul, not the European side (the airport we flew into). Long and short, Perry missed his flight. He found a flight that was to leave for London tomorrow morning and bought the ticket and was going to wait in the airport for the night. We made it into the terminal and grabbed out flight back to Prague.

Istanbul is my first favorite city after Prague. It is such a cool city and suggest that anyone who feels like flying half way around the world to visit. You will not be disappointed.

Until next time....

1 City, 2 Bus Rides, 54 Broken Hearts

I am going to start this post and just let everyone know that part of this post is not going to be the most cheery writing ever composed, but that is the way this trip was.

The group from AIFS and I woke Friday morning nice and early to catch our bus at 8 a.m. We all gathered in the lobby of the dorm and then walked up the street to the longest bus ride ever, haha. We spend some time on the road, stopping every few hours or so and then made it into Krakow, Poland around 4:30 in the afternoon. Of course, this was right in the middle of rush hour so our descent into the heart of Krakow took about an hour and a half instead of 10 minutes. We finally made it to the hotel around 6 and got to unpack before being led to Old Town where we would be let go for the night.

We walked around Old Town Square a bit and then all grabbed some money and dispersed to explore. We ended up finding a nice place to eat and then wandered again through Old Town. We found a bar, had a few drinks and then called it a night.

The next morning, we all woke to a nice guided tour of Krakow. Krakow is a beautiful city. It is full of student life and seems pretty young. The Polish Government has done an awesome job keeping up the city over the years. It did not seem run down in the least bit. We saw plenty of Catholic Churches and did a lot of shopping. I put down my camera for this trip because I knew I would not be taking many pictures. We were going in and out of so many places that cannot be photographed that it was not even worth lugging the camera around. I handed the 5D off to a trusted friend who shot it for the day.

We wandered around and then was led to the old Jewish quarter of town. It was very interesting to walk through that part of the city and see all the history.

We then went to the Castle in the city. It was big and awesome like all the castles in Europe, haha. We were then set free from our tour and we all split up and a few of us found some food and headed back to the hotel for a bit. No one wanted to go out for too long so that the bus ride would be more comfortable the next day. We enjoyed the easy night. I ate some ice cream, haha. We called it an early night and headed off to bed.

Waking up the next morning was an experience. We all woke and bombarded the front desk with our keys at the same time and left the hotel. The bus ride was lively and fun for the first hour, but then it hit us.

Our bus pulled into the parking lot of Auschwitz. We all got off and we walked into the facility. I do not quite know how to describe my emotions when I walked through the grounds, and when I do figure it out, I will let you know. To see a place that did do many things beyond mention does one thing, it drains you. I do not know what to say.

We then got on the bus and went 15 minutes down the street to Auschwitz II.

After these two visits, I had no desire to do anything but sit and think. I and the rest of the my 53 companions were all in the same thought for much of the bus ride.

We made it back to Prague around 7.

.......

Halloween Weekend, It Wasn't Too Scary

Well, the best way to start this post would be to wish everyone a belated Happy Halloween.

This past week was not very interesting. I went to class and enjoyed the company of Praha. Most important parts of this week have to be when professors mentioned the up and coming midterms that I will be taking this week and next. I also sat down for a while and tried to figure out a few things that needed attention for next semester back at St. Anselm. It is so very hard to believe that I only have about 6 weeks left in this beautiful city. I have decided that if I could move anything and everything that is a part of my life (people, concrete items, etc.) over to Praha, I would live here for the rest of my life. The truth of the matter is that I miss all of you and, being how moving all of you over here is not an option, I am definitely coming back to the United States (at some point). I can't even think about leaving this city right now, it is too sad to even imagine.

This past weekend was interesting and fun. Friday was a lazy day and we all just kind of hung around. I went out to do a few errands and walk around the city. Friday night we went to a restaurant/pub where they served a bunch of micro-brew beers. We sat and enjoyed beers like Coffee Beer, Banana Beer, etc. A bunch of us shared a few flights and then we called it an early night.

Saturday (Halloween) was a very interesting day. I woke and exercised a bit and then at about 3 in the afternoon the festivities started. My friend Andy and I met up with Jill and Alex and we hung out for a bit. After a couples hours, I was granted to the honor or tattooing everyone with a Sharpie marker if they wants a tattoo. In my opinion, the angel wings and the anchor came out the best, but I'm just saying. We hung around a bit before heading out to a club.

Side Note: Halloween is not a big event over here. The United States has definitely done its part to completely blow the holiday out of proportion.

We found a fun place to enjoy Halloween and then called it a night.

A few friends and I were in total need of something fastfood-like and American to eat the next morning, so we headed out to McDonalds.

Side Note: The three big fast food chains here in Praha are Subway, McDonalds and KFC. I have not eaten at Subway of KFC while here and yesterday was the first day I ate at McDonalds, haha.

It took us 30 minutes to travel across the city by metro to go to McDonalds. We got there, ate, and left for our 30 minute ride back.

I then talked to Jonathan for a while on Instant Messenger and he and I finalized our plans for when he comes to visit and then when I go back to Kenya to stay with him. That is going to be a fun trip. The day ended with some homework.

Now it is Monday, and I totally have a case of the Mondays.

Until next time...

A Weekend Off

I want to apologize for not posting a blog on Sunday or Monday. To be honest, I did not think to write one because I did do much this week, ha. I actually had my first peaceful week in Prague without any traveling. It only took my 2 months to have a peaceful week and weekend, but so goes my life.

So this past week was as basic a week as I could have had in Prague. I went to my first and only course on Monday morning (Czech language), and had the rest of the day to myself. I believe, if I remember correctly, that was the day I posted a Blog about Budapest.

Tuesday came and I enjoyed my day off from classes. I got a lot of school work done and looked into the ever ongoing search for summer internships. Unfortunately, there are some things that followed me here from the states that have to be dealt with, haha. I hung around with some friends, went for a run, and went for a walk through the city to take some pictures for my photography class. All in all a very peaceful day.

Wednesday morning came and I slept in a bit. I went out to exercise.

Side Note: Running in the city gives you so much more stamina and perseverance. The presence of the city makes you feel like...well....like running is actually enjoyable.

I then went to my Financial Crisis Class in the afternoon for 3 hours. The class I can honestly say is less that thrilling, but the subject matter seems to be getting more and more enjoyable. The Economics Professor love talking about the EU (European Union), so any time the subject comes up, the conversation tends to last quite a long time.


The came Thursday. Thursday is the long day of the week. I wake to go to the other half of my Czech Language class for the week. I get out around 10:30, head back to the dorm and go for another run. I then go to my photography class for about 3 hours. The class is always fun and I always enjoy learning new things about photography. After that class, I then have a 15 minute break before returning into the same classroom and same seat within the classroom to sit again for 3 hours through my Recent Economic Development class (aka Communism in Eastern Europe, the ones who got it write, the ones who did it wrong). The class is very interesting and the professor is a lot of fun to talk with. The class ends around 8:15 and I head back to the dorm to relax for the night.

This past Friday was a new experience for me. I did not have to wake up at some ungodly morning hour to grab a bus or plane to a new land. I was actually able to sleep in and do nothing all day. I woke late, and a few friends and I went shopping to grab supplies for Taco night. I do miss one this in the United States quite a lot, and that is Tacos. Amazing, I know. We prepared dinner and then hung out for the night. It was definitely a lazy Friday.

Saturday I woke to a gloomy day outside. The weather was warm, but all in all, not very exciting. I went out for a walk in the city and tried taking some photos. The weather was not liking that idea though. That night, a few friends and I went out to a restaurant/brewery called Uflecku. The Brewery is known for making an infamous black beer. It is a beer that has not be pasteurized and therefore has a very black essence about it. We ate and drank and I officially found my new favorite beer, haha.

All in all, I had a very good weekend in Prague.

until next time...