Prague

I have been witnessing all my program-mates going on these weekend trips and I never thought that I’d be worth it to go to a city for just a few days. After going to Prague this weekend, I confirmed my hypothesis. For the price of the plane ticket, it was not worth only spending two days there. However, I had a great time and it was wonderful to see Seva for the third time this semester. Usually we only see each other once a semester; hence it has been great to hangout every few weeks around Europe. The down side of it was by was the way the flights worked out we really only got spend one day together.

I arrived to Prague on Friday at 11 after leaving my dorm at 4:15. To avoid paying 20 euros for a taxi, I took at night bus to the airport. This was worth it, but however made a very tired Ben. After arriving in Prague, I figured out very quickly that everyone in Eastern Europe speaks English. I also quickly remembered what it is was like to live in a cold climate again considering Prague is a good 25 degrees colder than Barcelona. I eventually made it to the hostel after following the crazy directions they gave me. After I settled in I went out on the town and took in the city. This place was amazing and so different than anything I had seen before. In Europe, I so far have had a Mediterranean (Barcelona and Marseilles), Western (Paris), and Eastern. Obviously this is generalization, but it’s insane how unique different areas in Europe are. After a couple hours of roaming, including seeing Wenceslas Square, I returned to the hostel because I was freezing and needed to warm up. Prague has really sweet trolleys, by the way. As usual, I asked the receptionist at the hostel where to go to eat. She suggested a bar where they also serve cheap Czech food. I ate there, and it reminded me of the food Seva’s family usually serves me. Later, I wondered more and then returned to the hotel to sleep/warm up until Seva arrived. After Seva got here we hit up a bar and went to bed soon after seeing it was already 2 AM.

The next day we got up decently early and walk around. The first place we visited was the Jewish Quarter (Josefov). There were gorgeous synagogues everywhere, but everything was closed because it was Saturday. Next, we worked our way back to Old Square looked at all the major tourist stuff on the way including St. Charles bridge, the astronomical clock and the Stone Bell House. Seva had made plans to have lunch at a girl’s (Kami) apartment who studied at Minnetonka High School. He was smart enough to realize that we probably should bring a gift. Long story short, we were half an hour late after we finally found a place that had flowers. Afterwards, Kami showed us around the old city. The Petrin Tower and Prague Castle were amazing. We also went to a house of mirrors. Afterward we went to a bagel place and tried hot wine … I was not that impressed. Then we took Kami out to eat, but we couldn’t find the place. We ended up going somewhere else and had to drag Kami in, because she didn’t want us to pay for her. After dinner, we made our way back to hostel and talked for awhile before getting to bed. Then it was up early on Sunday to get my flight back to Barcelona. In sum, Prague was amazing, but spend more than two days there.

Back in Barcelona, I returned to find that my room was a mess and my some of clothes were missing. There was a crazy party and the dorm went nuts. Someone had borrowed my suit coat and silk shirt from India without asking. My roommates are driving me insane at this point. I actually talked to my RA and he is going to talk to the program about my options, but it is very unlikely that I could move at this point. Moreover, I’m really not feeling m,y classes. I’m pretty much trying to pull through the last five weeks of classes and dorm life while attempting to enjoy being in Spain as much as I can. I am also getting really excited for my j-term trip. So far Mike, Andru, Nick and I plan on traveling to Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Dublin and London, after spending Christmas in Spain with my mom and sister. I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving before we get to crunch time.

Fall Break in France

It’s been a busy past few weeks. Since I last wrote Mandy came to visit me in Barcelona. That was a good time, but we really only got to spend a few hours together, because she was only in the city for a few hours each day. After that, came midterms that really weren’t that bad. One exam, two take homes and a paper. The rest is in the coming weeks when I have two exams and two presentations. But after that it’s Prague and then not much until finals.

I spent the last week in France visiting Seva and Mandy. This was lots of fun, but also super expensive. After taking Ryan Air and two busses, I arrived Paris only to realize that I know no French, making life rather difficult. After figuring out how to take the metro walked up the stairs to street level to see landmarks in every direction. One side was the Eiffel Tower, while on the other side was the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs Elysees. The Seine was gorgeous with statues by every bridge. I spent the afternoon wandering around until Seva got off work. We met under the Arc de Triomphe … it was very romantic. After dropping stuff off at his dorm we didn’t waste any time seeing it was the free night at the Louvre. After the Louvre we went out to eat and I ate snails. Afterwards, we went to a bar and hung out with his friends. Being the good Jew that he is, Seva went to Synagogue the following morning and where he was invited to eat lunch with a family. We spent all afternoon eating lunch the French way. That evening we wandered around looking at historic sites including Notre Dame and had dinner at an Indian restaurant that was unimpressive, but I did eat with my hands. Sunday we went to the Musée d’Orsay, Sacre Coeur, and a bunch of other places. Monday Seva had work so I traversed the city in the rain. Paris is beautiful in the rain, but also very wet. That night we were super tourists and went up in the Eiffel Tower. On Tuesday I made it to Versailles and like everyone says the gardens were much more impressive than the inside, especially with the fall foliage. I even go to see a rainbow.

Wednesday morning it was off to Marseille. Mandy met me at the station, meaning I didn’t need to speak any French. We dropped our stuff off at the hostel and climbed a mountain to see Marseille’s version of Notre Dame. The next day we also went on a boat to see the Château d'If, the prison where the Count of Monte Cristo is based. In Marseille, I took it much easier, but still walked a lot. We didn’t realize until our last day that South Marseille is where all the beaches and the ritzy part of town. We also didn’t realize how far away we were but managed to make it back before Mandy’s train. Unfortunately I didn’t have my camera that day, but I have plenty of pictures of everything else. There are way too many pictures of this trip to put on the blog, so if you are interested check facebook.