Sleepless in Prague

That is not just some catchy title, there really was no sleep involved in my trip to Prague, not even a couple hours, or a couple minutes. absolutely no sleep at all. And honestly I wouldn't have had it any other way.

Thurday morning I awoke at 4:30 a.m to get ready, as I needed to be at the train station by 6:30 a.m.

The 2 1/2 hour train ride went by rather quickly as we sat and filled the time with random conversation.

Upon arrival in Prague, we located our hostel, left our bags so we didn't have to carry them around and set out on our adventure.

We eventually located the metro line, which let me tell you is quite possibly the easiest thing to figure out. It has three lines, each of which is a different color. It is so much simpler than the New York subway system, but that's not New Yorks fault I suppose, since at one point there were three different companies operating it, and now it just operates as one. Anyways we were on the escalator going down to the metro and this lady says excuse me( in czech) so we move aside so she can get by.



Then we are waiting for our metro to come and we are speaking English and the lady is standing next to us and she goes, "Oh you speak English, I'm sorry, I spoke Czech to you." and we were like no, it's okay, we understood you. And she went on to ask us where we were from and then come to find out guess where she is from? Just guess.
Portland, Oregon. She has only lived in Prague for a year, and she is from Portland, Oregon and her sister lives in Camas. Now if that doesn't show you how small of a world it is, I don't know what does. There are a million people living in Prague, what were the chances of me running into someone from Portland? I found it awfully strange.

We set off shopping, which didn't go as smoothly as I'd hoped. I only managed to pick up a few things, a sweater, a shirt, and a pair of these boots that you would never believe that I wear. But I really like what I bought, so I guess that's good at least.




Those would be my new boots that I am in love with, don't worry they're coming back to America with me, and that colorful thing I'm wearing thats this new dress/shirt I bought.


We then went around Prague, met our friend that lives there on the Charles Bridge and then went off to dinner.

After dinner we walked around taking pictures ( feeling rather touristy which I didn't like at all)


and then we met up with other friends and went to Carlovy Lazne which is this amazing dance club...


the biggest in Centeral Europe as it claims. Okay so this is how it works: The dance club is flour floors. Each floor has a different atmosphere and a different type of music. There is a rap floor, an oldies floor, a techno floor, and so if you don't like what music is playing, you simply walk up or downstairs and find an alternate location. Then if at some point you need a break from dancing, there are also lounges on each floor that carry the same atmosphere as the dance floor on that level. We must have been there for about five hours, climbing up and down stairs to find the music we were in the mood for, it was so much fun.

It was rather funny because when we first got there, there were these two really attractive guys that my friend and I, kept eyeing...but then we stopped when we saw them dancing together....because, well,ummm guys don't just dance like that with eachother, I promise you. Yeah, and we kept seeing them throughout the night, and I'm pretty sure the more alcohol they consumed, the more into eachother they became.
And then at one point, we went up into one of the lounges, and the one guy was all over this girl- and we were like too bad we can't speak the language well enough, to be like, "Sweetheart he's already taken, and although in some cases that would seem like a small minor issue to deal with, he is taken by another man." But we couldn't say that, so we just sat back and watched the scene unfold.


Then for some reason all the guys we kept meeting spoke German, which was okay since Eleanor speaks German and got us through conversation, although it was frusturating not to be able to use my Czech language skills.

We left about 2 a.m. and made our way back to the hostel, and naturally we were going to go to bed- but the choice to go to the bathroom and brush our teeth brought about a new path to tread down.

So I'm in the bathroom ( a single stalled bathroom is all that was in the hostel) and my friend is waiting outside, and when I emerge she is talking to these two British boys, the one is drunk and hysterical and his friend who obviously had taken the roll of babysitter for the evening. So we stand there talking to them, and then more of their friends come out of their rooms and so we are standing in this hallway outside the bathrooms of this hostel in Prague talking to this school group of British boys about all sorts of different things, and before we know it the time is now 5 a.m., and I was awfully hungry as dinner had been hours ago, and breakfast was at 7 a.m so Julie, I and two of the British boys decided just to stay up, that at this point we really couldn't sleep. And so we stayed up and talked and talked and found out about the private school they attend and how it costs $20,000 a year. And now when anyone asks me what time it is, I will reply with "It's pims o'clock ( sp? sorry I'm not British). And since rotary allows you to travel when you have friends that live where you are going- well we now have friends in London, and so we have decided that at some point in our stay here in Czech Republic we are going to make our way to London, and the boys, well they've agreed to be our tour guides. So you meet people in a hostel, and then you travel to where they live and they show you around- I really do love the way life works out.

So we had breakfast, got dressed, checked out, went and enjoyed the morning in Prague, had an espresso, and then went off to catch our 1:15 p.m. train.

I dozed in and out on the train, but got no good restfull sleep, which was much needed. I got to my house at about 4:20 and needed to leave the house at 6:30 to go meet my friends to go to a concert. So I ate, I showered, I got ready, and I was off.

The concert was fun, I spoke a lot in Czech which was good, I think that it is progressing, that I'm starting to actually get somewhat decent- to a point where you can actually tell that I'm learing.

But it was about 11:15 that I just couldn't hack it anyomore, I was suddenly absoultely exhausted, and so I hopped the bus and came home- and went straight to bed. It was one of those nights where you don't remember anything after you laid your head on the fillow....I was out that fast.

And to think that it's only Saturday. Although I think I'm just hanging out at home today, perhaps studying some Czech, and just recovering from lack of sleep.

and so that was my sleepless experience in Prague, and I can see myself fitting in there. As much as I feel like I fit in New York, this place brought about that same sort of feeling, the same desire to be a part of what the place is about. Charles University....New York University.....right now I have absolutely no idea. But for right now, I am okay with that, I still have some time to figure it out.

I highly recommend that when you visit a new place
you should be sleepless your first night there.
see what the place can offer for all 24 hours of a day
experience. live. dance.
Because you can, and because the only thing you have to give up in order to do so, is sleep, which is a very small sacrifice when comparing all will gain.
And even when you are exhausted the next day, you won't regret your choice.
Instead you will constantly find random smiles speading across your face at the thoughts of all that you'd done the previous day.
And still two days later I keep having those random smile moments.
These are the things in my life that I will remember,
my sleepless night in Prague at 17- because that right now, just happens to be my life.

reporting to you live
from my bed
in my room
in my little house
on revolucni street
in an area called Roznov
that just happens to be in Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic