I saw the sun!

Ace of Base style; I almost didn’t recognize what it was. Tuesday I left Boston in a snowstorm and it’s been either cloudy or dark here ever since. In honor of the sun’s rare appearance, we went on a picture-taking adventure around Prague 1 (Prague is sectioned into different numbers; we live in Prague 1) this afternoon. We toured a giant cathedral and castle at the top of the hill overlooking the city. One of the cooler views I’ve ever seen, which reminds me…

While trying to fall asleep last night for about three hours (finally at a reasonable hour, which I’m sure is why it took so long) I realized that I haven’t really given much information about Prague at all. Aside from walking or driving, there are three main ways to navigate Prague: the metro (subway), tram (like the T in Boston) or bus; taxis become too expensive, especially for touring, ignorant, un-Czech-speaking Americans, so I’ve been told.

Our apartment is a couple blocks from Old Town Square, the most touristy area in Prague. The building in the picture at the top of this blog is a stone’s throw or two away from Templova, our street. The only downfall about living in an area with so many shops, bars, photographers and foreigners is that it is more expensive than other residential areas in the city. But I still think that the pros of living here outweigh the cons.

Our school is about a 20-minute walk from home, just over the Charles Bridge, the most famous bridge in Prague. It’s an easy walk, through marionette shops and cobblestone streets over the river. At night and when it’s sunny, it’s quite nice-looking. When it’s gloomy, well nothing is quote as uplifting without the sun or any other form of light.

Most people at shops, bars, pubs and restaurants speak enough English to understand us. We haven’t run into any complete language barriers yet; many Czechs speak very good English, including these two girls Tyler and I met the other night, who made fun of us for being “foreign exchange students.” I guess we never thought about it like that.

The music here is either techno or American pop, like Akon and Britney Spears. At first, I thought they only played that when we went places, but then I realized it was everywhere.

Still no Internet in 4A, meaning no pictures here. Henry, Brady and I went to the KFC a few blocks away because it said it had WiFi. Again we were denied. We’ve decided we’ve got the Czech Internet Curse.