Prague: July 5-8

On Thursday I added number nine to the list of different countries I've visited since I've been in Germany: the Czech Republic. For the grand total of 145 euros, I traveled to Prague with about 100 other exchange and native German students.

I must say it wasn't the best trip I've ever been on (it will take an fairly spectacular trip to beat out Portugal), but not because of the beautiful city. The only thing I could do was laugh at myself and be light hearted about everything else.

Problem 1: The bus picking us up from Bamberg was late. Now this doesn't seem like much of a dilemma, but it made us late picking up more students in the town of Erlangen. This will transform into an even larger one, as I will relate later.

(Almost) Problem 2: Silly little me had gotten so secure about not having to show anyone my passport while traveling, that I left it in my luggage bag. It was safely locked in the lower regions of the double decker bus, but not within my reach. While nothing came of it, I certainly was panicking when we actually had to stop at the Czech Republic border.

Problem 3: We arrived so late in Prague, that we had to completely cut out lunch time from our schedule. No one had any crowns yet, so there was no way of stopping into a fast food place to get anything. Result: Me. Hungry. Not. Good.

Problem 4: After taking the most round-about way into town, we began looking for somewhere to exchange money. First place: rate wasn't good enough. Second place: even worse exchange rate than the first. Third place: Just right. But only for about 15 people. Good thing I was one of them! Fourth place: accomodated a lot more. Fifth place: It was a bank, so people could withdraw money instead of exchanging euros. It was getting a bit ridiculous, so after that everyone had to branch out on their own if they needed money. Keep in mind the sky decided pelt rain on everyone, so we were soaking wet for the rest of the day.

Problem 5: At this point we trekked over to the national museum. This isn't a real problem, per se, but it was a lot of geological items and not all information was in a language I could understand. National Museum may sound interesting, but it was more for children. Plus: Me still hungry.

Problem 6: After eating (finally food!!) at a typical Czech restaurant (with a less than friendly waiter and untimely service, but tasty food!!), John and I decided to leave. We didn't know anyone in our group as we had split up to eat, and I had a pounding headache. Unfortunately for us, our dorm wasn't even on the map! So we were, of course, lost. After walking around for an hour uphill, stopping in 2 hotels and taking a tram without a ticket (only two stops!) we finally made it back.

Problem 7: I shared a room with Amanda, and we had some American suite-mate guys who were studying at an English uni for the semester. They seemed nice enough. Until it was 1 in the morning and they were playing rap music so loud that it woke even me, the dead sleeper! For an entire hour they blasted their beats, even rapping along to some of them. How thoughtful. If that wasn't bad enough, they played it again starting at 7:30 in the morning until they left for the weekend at 9. Lovely. At least they were gone.

Here ends the laundry list of my disappointments with the Prague. Even though our city tour was canceled on Friday, we had one on Saturday (that also started half an hour late). But it was worth the wait. We had the most amusing Czech tour guide who said the funniest things while on our English tour.

What could be so great? "He even had to die in his bed because he couldn't find a mate." "This is a one way street. It is awkward and unpleasant." "This tower has not been built so high anymore." And the best? He continually said things like, "When he was king he did many things e.g. tearing down the tower." It was e.g. hilarious.

The weather was sunny the rest of the weekend, the club was somewhat entertaining (5 stories) , and the old Jewish cemetary was fascinating. I loved spending time with my British and Canadian friends, and making a few on the way. The castle was beautiful, the architecture gorgeous, and despite being unorganized, the people who set up the trip were nice.

Oh and one last problem: on the way home, we were making great time when the bus broke down! I had to pee, and the toilet on the bus was already broken. So what to do?? Well, let's just say you have to do what you have to do. After waiting for an hour for our replacement bus, we climbed aboard and finally made it back home to Bamberg.