the one with all the travel.: My "Prague Blogue"

Excuse the little rhyme there-I just had to. This weekend was exactly what I needed...a visit to a cool, new city is always in vogue but spending time just hanging out with familiar faces was absolute perfection. We didn’t have school on Thursday because it was Día de Andalucía, a holiday in the region of Andalucía where Granada is located. Paige and I skipped class on Wednesday so we could come to Prague, Czech Republic to visit our friend Sarah! Sarah has been studying here since this past fall and is one of our sorority sisters. We were so thrilled to be able to stay with her during our 4 days in Prague and it was even better because 2 of our other sorority sisters came to stay as well!

After a little (or not-so-little) blip with a stupid travel booking company that caused us to have to cancel and re-book our flight less than a week before we were supposed to leave, we made it safely to Prague Wednesday afternoon. Sarah was kind enough to meet us at the airport and take us back to her amazing flat, where we met her roommates Thomas (from Belfast) and Juan Carlos (from Mexico), cooked some dinner together, and fell fast asleep...until noon the next day. Needless to say, Thursday was a “lazy” day. Paige, Sarah and I just lounged around and headed into the city center to do some shopping. It was a gloriously girly day and it felt amazing to paint our nails, listen to some country music and primp ourselves to go out together. In a crazy semester where nothing ever feels quite normal, I must admit it was wonderful to have a weekend to breathe and reunite with old friends from home.

We headed over to Sarah’s friends’ dorm on Thursday night and met some cool students from Britain and Spain and spent the night partying like the Czech do at a club called M1. I even had the chance to practice my Spanish a bit with the girls from Spain! It seems to follow me everywhere...

On Friday, we went for a walk in the park near Sarah’s apartment, got some coffee at a cute little restaurant in the park, and then headed to the airport to pick up our friends Nyssa and Dana from Rome!!! It was a crazy reunion at the airport and we spent that night hanging out and talking about our experiences abroad so far (and of course catching up on all the gossip). We also went out for a traditional Czech dinner-I ordered a Czech beer (Pilsner Urquell), potato dumplings, and apple strudel. They’re not kidding when they say that Czech food is hearty! I was completely stuffed.

Saturday was tourist-y day! With our personal tour guide Sarah at our sides, we spent the day exploring all there is to see in Prague in terms of tourist things. We saw ‘old town’ and ‘new town,’ Charles Bridge, the Prague Castle, Old Town Square, the ‘Mini Eiffel Tower’, Petrin Hill and much more. We got to do our touristy shopping and I ate an amazing Czech bratwurst! I LOVE trying all the new food from the places I visit. The climb up to the mini Eiffel Tower was a great end to our sightseeing day and afterwards we headed back to Sarah’s apartment to spend another night with her Prague friends. It was a blast once again and after a couple hours at the apartment we ventured out into the Czech cold to visit the 5-story club we had heard rave reviews about. It was crazy and once again, I was reminded of how much harder Europeans party in comparison to Americans. We made it home around 4 am, just in time for a quick shower before we had to get our stuff together, say goodbye to our friends (wahhh!) and catch our 5 am taxi to the airport. It was worth a night without sleep for the amount of fun we had! I absolutely loved Prague; I can’t tell you whether it was the amazing architecture, the culture of the Czech Republic or just spending time with friends that made it so awesome (probably a combination of all three!) but regardless it was another unforgettable experience to add to my quickly growing list!

Ciao, friends!