"Advice #3: Try not to be so American"

Just a quick post before I head off for a day trip…

Yesterday was a veryyyy long, very adventurous day. We had “orientation” early in the morning at the university which consisted not of actually orientating us to anything, but rather, we got some advice from the professors and administrators of this program about experiencing Czech culture in general. One of them confirmed our suspicions that everyone here over age 50 hates not only Americans, but they also hate happiness. He justified it with some kind of “communism” excuse. We also learned that Czechs have a disturbing sense of humor, and that most Czech men will order their priorities this way: beer, women, God.” So really, nothing that different from America. Just fewer vowels.

After orientation I set off with a few other girls and used our map to walk all over the Old Town Square section of the city. Btw, this is not a city with grids like New York or Miami. There are streets that turn back on themselves and streets that only appear on Tuesdays and some streets where Americans are especially not welcome. We found them all! We walked for approx. 18 km and eventually found the department store and even managed to get the right tram back going in the right direction. Not that I can pronounce my stop, but I think I cam recognize it by now.

For my birthday, we went to a bar described on a guide site as being populated by “dreamy young Czechs”. I’m not sure where said Czechs were, but the drinks were good and it was an excellent birthday.

Today everyone is headed on different day trips. I’m going to Cesky Krumlov, which is a small country town with massive historical significance that I will learn about in great detail I’m sure.

Love and goulash,
Jo