Lost in Translation

As the semester moves on, I've just gotten back from my first trip outside of France. And let me just say it was quite the adventure. Prague is probably one of the most unique cities I've ever been to- just think a mix of Middle Age castles and architecture along with modern features and LOTS of tourists. We kept trying to find the people who actually lived there and don't know if we ever succeeded. Maybe they just hide well behind the shoppers and picture-takers that crowd the streets.

Prague is definitely a smaller city than I was expecting. The first day we were there, my friends and I walked from Prague Castle all the way back to our hostel (if you look on a map, the castle is in the northwest corner of the city and our hostel was in the southeast corner). Tired as it may have made us, this turned out to be a nice little hike that let us see so much of the city. The castle and cathedral at the top are beautiful and have great views of the city below. We even got to see the changing of the guard at the castle gate. After that we were set with finding our way around the tram lines and streets. Friday night consisted of us hitting up the 5-story dance club on the river called Karlovy Lazne, which was an adventure in and of itself- let's just say we owned the bottom dance floor for a good part of the night.

Saturday we tried to go to the Old Jewish Cemetery in Jewishtown but were turned away when the guard told us it was the Sabbath and you were only allowed in to pray. Why he assumed I wasn't Jewish was beyond me... We eventually made it there Sunday and I'm definitely glad we went back. There are names inscribed on all the walls of people who were deported from Prague to Nazi camps with their last known address and date of deportation. Apparently out of 118,000 Jews, only 10,000 made it back after the war to Prague. There was also a really cool exhibit of drawings made by children in the camps about the way they viewed their situation and the future- pretty interesting to see into their minds through art. The cemetery itself was really interesting and had thousands of tombstones of Jewish people from Prague.

Overall, Prague was a great weekend trip. I think it's definitely doable in three days and I felt like we covered a lot of ground. The language barrier was comical at times, seeing as how at one dinner we asked for three waters and received one tonic water, one sparkling water, and four glasses. Not sure how that came about but that along with almost getting 5 bagels instead of a #5 bagel sandwich made for some good laughs.


Hope all is well with everyone wherever you are. I've gotten some emails/message from people and it's great to hear from you all! Keep me posted on your lives in the States and abroad.

A bientôt!

"The world is a great book...they who never stir from home read only a page." -St. Augustine