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From Abroad

Praha, Ceska Republika aka Prague, Czech Republic. Wow. My pictures don’t do this city justice!! It looks like pages out of a fairytale.
My boyfriend Joey went to Prague last year with his econ case study class- and all he ever talks about is… PRAGUE. So it was awesome to see in person everything that he always talks about. And he was so right- Prague is an amazing city. The architecture is just something I’ve never seen before. Everything is so old and gothic – it really is something to see. I know that out of all the places I have been so far you can’t compare it to something I’ve seen before. All of our pictures do not do the city justice. It definitely is something you need to see in person. I can’t wait to go back at some point in my life.

The St. Charles Bridge (above in both pics) was definitely my favorite part of Prague. You walk under a tower to get onto the bridge (which when you go up inside of it you can see an awesome view of the city) and all along the bridge there are statues and little booths of people who live in Prague selling jewlery and paintings. It really is an awesome place. Then if you cross the bridge and walk up the very steep streets you can make your way to Prage Castle. Which, again, since you’re on a hill gives way to a breathtaking view of the city. Of course the day we went up to the castle it was closed and we couldn’t get inside… I hear it’s awesome though!

Every place I go I think- THIS IS MY FAVORITE PLACE!!! It’s so hard to pick just one! Every place has new and interesting things to see. Czech uses the currency Czech Krown so that was definitely something new to see. The only other country that we have gone to that is not on the Euro was England. Czech’s money is reallllllly confusing. $100 = 2000 ck. So if you took out $100 you were given a 2000 ck bill. The 100ck bill is equal to $5. What was really strange was the 50. 50ck is equal to $2.50, but they have a bill that is 50ck and then two completely different looking coins that are 50ck too. It was frustrating at some points- but it was really cool to use different currency. I can’t wait to get home and just get back on the american dollar! haha.

Prague has some awesome night life!! There were so many young people out and it was a great time. All 5 of us girls really had a great time!! Again- it was really cool to see the places that Joey said they hung out at. We even went to a club where Mick Jagger threw his birthday party a few years ago!

Prague was a great trip, but we did have a run in with a rude Czech man. This was the first incident that we’ve come across like this in Europe. A man approached me and the 4 other girls I was with and asked us to go on a walking tour with him. After we told him no, he persisted that we take his tour. We politely told him no again and walked away. He continued to follow us until we told him that he was really bothering us. At this point he completely flipped out and started telling us that we did not belong in Europe and that no one wanted us there and continued to make rude comments about the US and the whole 9/11 situation… spit at us and then ran away. We all remained calm and just took it in and just kept walking. I could have left this out of my blog, just because it really isn’t a heart warming story, but it taught me something. Everyone in the world may not agree with what we are doing at home (and some of our country may not agree either), but you know what- The USA is my home… and it really made me mad to hear someone yelling really rude comments about it. This study abroad experience is really opening my eyes to a lot of things. Not only has it made me more self-aware and culturally aware, but it has really made me look at where I come from and apprecaite everything that I have. I think that before I took a lot of things for granted – my family, my friends, the fact that I can study anything I want and go to any school I want, and be able to make a lot of choices on my own. Coming over to a different country you cant be ethnocentristic. In the last month and half I have been in 6 completely different cultures and have seen things done in many different ways. Some we may look at as being weird- but they’re not weird… they’re just different. Who really can say what is right and what is wrong. That man in Czech really did not have a right to flip out on us the way he did- and for a little while after it happened we were shaken up. This trip is putting me in so many different situations that I would never have encountered if I had not come here. I’m not saying that I’m glad I was in this situation, but I think reflecting on it really is an eye opening experience.

Now back to school for the week! It’s a crazy life I lead. I’m so busy all week with school work and then I up and leave for the weekend!

So… if you ever have the chance to visit Prague- GO!!! It’s a city you MUST see!

Ciao! <3 Julie!