Dobry Den!

I'm about 4 weeks in to my Prague stay and the Czech Republic gets better every day!  While I haven't had a chance to get out of the city to travel in other countries yet, I have explored a lot of Prague and the surrounding areas.

Two weekends ago while everyone from my program went to Budapest, my old friend Sarah came to visit me from Sevilla.  We had a blast wandering around the city, getting lost, cooking delicious food, sleeping in, going to a Czech hockey game, and visiting a little castle town about 40 minutes out of the city!
We had beautiful weather all weekend!  We tried hot mulled wine (which is delicious) and went to the castle one day.  We went to a hockey game that night which is great fun!  We got lost on the way there and ended up at the Sparta Soccer stadium rather than the Sparta hockey arena... I had to use the little Czech language that I knew to figure out how to get to the stadium which was quite a scene, but we made it and had a ton!

Cool graffiti we found while lost in Prague 7

Hockey Game.  SPARTA!

Vasclav Namesty at night

Sarah and I at the castle

Cathedral in the castle

Karlstejn!

The next day we went to a small town outside of the city that was a 45 minute train ride.  Karlstejn was a very strange town to say the least... While it was pretty cute, it was also really touristy and the castle tour felt something out of the late 70's.  However, it was a beautiful day, and the castle was nestled in some pretty mountains so it was great!  

Just this past weekend, we hunkered in here in Prague and enjoyed some cool new bar scenes!  So far, all the bars we've been to have been really neat.  Usudu is a favorite because it's in a cavern underground and has a bunch of different tunnels leading to different cavern rooms.  A place I hope to check out soon is a bar that was a nuclear bunker converted into a bunker bar.  It's supposed to be really cool and actually is supposed to be converted back to its original state as a nuclear bunker if there is a need for it in the future.  We also checked out a bar that was pretty cool called the Beer Factory.  They had a tap coming up through the table and 4 taps available to refill whenever need be!  It was fantasticky!!  

As for beer (James I know you've been curious), its THE BEST!  Their "crappy" beer equates to our good beer, much of the time.  Also, as I said earlier, it's cheaper to get a huge beer than water at a restaurant so we're pretty much forced to get beer instead of water.  Not too big of a problem though I guess!  So far my favorite beers are Pilsner (found everywhere in the Czech Republic), Staropramen (cheaper, but still great), and Hoegarden (which is Belgian and also phenomenal). 

Usudu bar

More Usudu

Beer Factory

As for school, I've been learning some Czech history, mostly on Communism, and Czech Language that will help us to get around the city.  We've been learning Czech basics like how to order in a restaurant and how to ask for directions, which have definitely come in handy.  

Hello = Dobry den

Goodbye = Na schledanou

I would like 4 beers, please = Dam si ctyri pivo, prosim!

I'm planning spring break this week and have a bus booked for Berlin this weekend!  Shout out to all my peeps who trekked it to NOLA for some Mardi Gras shenanigans this past weekend.. hope you had a ball and I'm jealous I missed out!  Love and miss you all!