I'm in Prague!!

Hello Everyone!!
Starting now, I am going to try and keep this blog updated (for real this time) so everyone can know about all of my adventures during my study abroad! Here is a summary of my trip so far, starting on Sunday, August 28th:

11:00 AM: I get on the smallest plane I've ever been on (I was in row 12 of 13), and flew to Toronto.
5:45 PM: I get on the biggest plane I've ever been on. It was a Boeing 777. 9 people in each row. It was absolutely huge!! The flight went well; I slept some, and watched Bringing Up Baby, which I highly recommend to anyone who has not seen it. I needed something familiar do keep me grounded while flying 33,000 feet above the Atlantic ocean.
6:55AM I arrived in Frankfurt. I met a few kids from my program, but they left on an earlier flight than me, so I waited in the terminal for a few hours alone, until I met another boy from the program. Ironically, our seats were next to each other on the plane, so we talked for the hour plane ride as we made our way to Prague.
11:45 AM I arrive in Prague, get my luggage, and find the program staff who are waiting for me. We take a bus to a hotel where we are given orientation packets and told to meet in the conference room for dinner. I didn't have a roommate, so it was kind of lonely for the afternoon, I was exhausted from the flights.
For dinner our "Czech buddies" took us to a Czech restaurant, where I had my first taste of Czech beer. It definitely lives up to it's reputation! The food was pretty good too. After that they took us to a bar where each table has it's own beer tap. However, I was so full and exhausted from dinner that I did not partake in further consumption.

Tuesday, August 30th: My first full day in Prague
I woke up, packed my luggage, got some breakfast and we had a brief orientation on apartment life. Then I meet my roommate and we go to our apartment. It's very cute, but wait! There's a problem! They gave me a single room. Apparently, I accidentally checked the box saying I would like a single for an extra 500 dollar fee. I definitely wasn't going to pay for that, so I go to bed worried.

Wednesday: I move apartments, my new apartment is much bigger and in a cooler location. There's a little square in front of it with a fountain. It's quintessential European apartment (at least in my mind), complete with Ikea furniture. I have two roommates from the program, Julie and Alyssa, and we also have a roommate from Slovakia named Maia. She is really fun, and we all get along very well.

Thursday and Friday we had orientation during the day. They took us on a few walks around the city, and we learned more about getting around town on the metro (subway) and the trams. I can't fully remember what we did during the evening, but I think it involved going out to dinner with my roommates! We have a bunch of restaurants really close to us, so it will be easy to find food when one doesn't want to cook...

Saturday: Maia took us to see the gardens around Prague castle. They were absolutely amazing! Everything was in bloom, and there was lots to see. There was even a little robot lawn mower, which was way cool. We got to see part of the outside of the castle, and we went into the church. I can't believe how beautiful it was. The light was coming through the stained glass windows, so it felt like the whole building was glowing. Pure beauty. I can't wait to go back!

Sunday: We travel to the edge of Prague to see a free opera in the park. My roommate Alyssa and I take the wrong way and end up going on a 3 or 4 mile hike through the wilderness in said park. We made it in time for the second and third act though, and it was way cool to see! It was a Czech opera by the name of Dalibar. There were tons of people there just sitting on the grass, listening. The opera was beautiful, I think I'm going to try to look up what the plot is though, because I was pretty lost!

Yesterday we began our intensive Czech language class, and so we continue that all day. It's pretty difficult to learn, but my teacher is really nice, and I think it will get easier once I can master the pronunciation.

Today I went to the farmers market after class. I purchased some pears (not as good as Grandpa Roly's), raspberries, and some sweet corn! I'm really excited for the corn, because I hope it will be a little taste of home from the other side of the world...

I'll try to update this blog once or twice a week! And I will definitely post some pictures too!

Bottom Line: So far, so good in the beautiful city of Prague!