Desperate Distractions: Prague's Second Chance

It's been ten months since I last visited Prague, and my first experience was hard to enjoy; it was a cold blur. It was meant to be two enjoyable days in Prague during January, but we quickly found out that Prague in January is bitterly cold -- We left after an afternoon.

I finally had a chance to return during my fall break and make some warm memories. I spent three and a half days in Prague staying with several other ESI teachers (Ben Nielson, Ryan Troglin, and Dave). The weather was wonderful.

On Wednesday, I was given a mini tour of Prague and then I sat outside, finishing The Book Thief, until the guys were done at school.

I took full advantage of being off on Thursday and lounged around the flat, taking my day of rest. I also took a walk in an awesome park by the guys' place. (That is where the first picture is from). In the evening, I joined Ben and David Reynolds (another ESI teacher) at their pub talk; it is a chance for students from their classes to come and talk about anything in English with each other.

I walked all around Prague on Friday. I sat on a hill overlooking the city for lunch and I was able to feel my hands and feet the whole time -- a rare occurance during January's visit. In the evening, I went out to dinner with all of the ESI folks in Prague and played darts after that.

Staying in Prague made me realize how much I have learned about Hungary so far. I don't understand the meaning of what people are saying, but I can understand the words of Hungarian; where as, Czech sounded like mumbling. The public transit makes perfect sense in Hungary, but the public transit in Prague seems like a maze of trams and metro trains. I also found that Prague is a lot more touristy than Budapest is -- I heard tons of english.

In the end, I thoroughly enjoyed traveling, eating, reading, writing, and spending time with friends, but all these things made going home a comforting thought.