"Strangers sharing the beginnings of a journey" (Ragtime)

I have two things to say before I continue documenting my venture to and semester in Prague:

1) I tried to sign in to blogspot and it took me a while because everything was in Czech...I couldn't figure out how! You know you're really in another country when Google is in a different language.

2) My challenge to myself with this blog is to title each entry with a showtune lyric. Apologies to those of you for whom musical theater is not your thing. I just think it will be fun.

So, I kinda have no idea what day or time it is right now. The computer clock says 11:30am, but its dark outside, since we're 6 hours ahead. I was on a plane flight for hours yesterday...or was it today? (Ironically enough, I watched Julie and Julia on an Air France flight). I was on a group flight, so met a number of people on my program, which was really nice both because many of them live in the same dorm as me, and also none of us really knew what we were doing, so at least we got to feel lost collectively. We finally got to Prague around 9am (my luggage was remarkably practically the first to come out on the baggage carousel!) and were put on a bus to the dorm. There are 11 students on my floor itself, 7 girls (3 doubles and a single), and 4 boys (2 doubles, on the opposite side of the floor, which also contains a communal, fully-stocked kitchen), plus an RA (one on each floor). Thankfully there are four toilets on the floor, but crazily enough there is only one shower for all the girls. Guess we'll see how that goes...

When I got to the dorm I unpacked, which was weird because there aren't really drawers, but there is a lot of shelf space. Took some maneuvering to figure out where to put everything. My roommate hasn't arrived yet, and as of this afternoon, only 2 of the girls and 3 of the guys from my floor had arrived. Most of them I had met on the flight, and everyone is really great so far!! There was supposed to be a walking tour of the area with an RA, but only my floor showed up, which turned out to be great because we got to ask the RA all our questions, and, don't read this parents, went with her to a local pub/cafe thing, where we had our first Czech beer!! Its is pretty good, and costs roughly $1.50-$2.50 depending on what brand you get. Yep, Prague is awesome.

Tonight we're supposed to have dinner with the people from our program, and they really don't give us time to adjust because we have a full day tomorrow starting at 10am, and intensive Czech for 2.5 hours next Monday-Friday starting at 10am at the campus center, which is about 20 minutes away. Not that anyone knows how to get there yet.

Its very cool to be here, and awesome to see snowy Prague when we landed. I'm not too stressed about learning everything yet, although transportation is tricky because there are both a Tram and a Metro, and they go to similar places, plus, unlike New York, Prague is totally not a grid and the streets are really windy and kind of tricky to navigate (not to mention the cobblestones!) It is a very beautiful and unique city, and I am excited to see more of it, and to be spending so much time here. It doesnt yet feel like we'll be here for four months, or that we're actually going to have an academic semester with classes and stuff. I'm sure that will change, though.