Has it been 2 weeks already?

Class. Class. Prague. Dresden. Prague. Olomouc. Since my last blog entry on March 20th we started our official class schedule that will fill up time between our group trips. As many of us have coined it, "it's not so much classes, it's something that we have to be at in the mornings." Our day normally begins around 7:30 in the morning when the roommate and myself attempt to wake up through alarms and pressing the snooze button several times to avoid the inevitable fact that we will have to pull our ass out of bed and get ready for class.

After our zombie routine, we haul out to catch the tram that takes us to the center of Olomouc by 8:15, for our Czech language class that begins at precisely at 8:45-ish, or whenever the last person walks through the door. In our Czech language class, we are going over the basics of the language without really learning the basics. It's like learning to drive with a blindfold..yeah, you might hit some shit and cause some damage, but eventually you'll get it. Our professor, Tomas, pronounced Toe-mosh, essentially smiles the whole class period, but we all know he is cursing us on the inside for our inept ability to pronounce the words. At the end of the class, he always announces that "time is coming," and everyone snickers like pre-teen school children.

I can only hope that time is wearing protection.

After our language class ends at roughly 9:45 am, we sit through an hour and a half of a painstaking lecture by different professors that are from either here in Olomouc, or from surrounding areas such as Prague. I would love to describe to you what we have learned thus far but I was too busy thinking how much I would rather drink antifreeze than listen to how the Czech Republic ousted communism and it's inception in the European Union. Needless to say, I spend the entire time taking a few notes here, zoning out once or twice, but mostly drawing inanimate crap on my paper. These lectures are long and monotonous, but thank God they are in English. However, some of these professors still have a very thick accent, so understanding of the words is hard to come by when you're half asleep dreaming of life outside of the University. Our professor today pronounced the word "focused" and it sounded as if he said "fuck you" and it got a tiny laugh from the peanut gallery. These are the things we looks forward during lectures to provide any sense of entertainment.

After the lecture is over, the group is free to roam the city. Four to five times during the semester, we have an afternoon lecture that begins at 3 pm, but other than that, we are free to spend the rest of the day sleeping, shopping, eating, or drinking. And many of the people in the group prefer the latter in mass quantities. Anything from beer to vodka to absinth has been consumed immediately after class, setting up the group for a myriad of fun later that night.

Class was on hiatus this week as the group took it's first trip, a three day rendezvous to Prague, with one day in Dresden, Germany squeezed into the Prague sandwich. On Thursday morning we loaded onto the train at roughly 9 am to make our way to Prague, which is located about three hours to the west of Olomouc. This was my first train ride, at least that I can remember, and I must say that I enjoyed it. It was relatively smooth and allowed you to see parts of the country that you wouldn't see otherwise. The train arrived in Prague, or Praha, at about noon and we were led to the hostel that we would call home from the next three nights. The hostel was tucked away in the bowels of Prague, a hop, skip, and a jump away from marijuana and cocaine dealers. We had to enter some passageway and the hostel could be found a few meters inside.

My first impression of Prague was that it was one giant shopping mall. The part of Prague we stayed in could be confused for shopping centers all over the world, Nike store over here, clothing stores over there, and everything inbetween. A person could easily blow hundreds of dollars in this location, as long as you avoid the cocaine dealers. I keep mentioning these drug dealers because there seems to be an abundance of them swarming the tourists in Prague. It's the most subtle move ever.

Drugie: "Do you speak English?"
Unsuspecting Tourist: "Yeah, why?"
Drugie: "You want some weed, maybe coke?"

Unsuspecting Tourist: "What, are you serious?"

And they vanish into the alley like a crackhead Batman. Anyways, we were only bothered a couple times to purchase drugs. The first day in Prague we walked across the city, over the Charles Bridge, a bridge only open to foot traffic and street vendors. We made our way up a massive hill to a castle...that we wouldn't be visiting until the next day. Smart. I know, right? Regardless, at the top of this hill, just short of the castle we were able to take some breathtaking shots of the Prague skyline, which extended as far as the eye could see. The rest of the day was free for us to shop and look around. My night ended early after walking around for hours searching for shit I wasn't going to buy.

The next day was our trek back to the castle. We woke up that morning (I say we and I mean my roommates for the trip, Kane, Caleb, and Cody) and went to go get an American breakfast at McDonald's. You can never have too much American. Anyways, after our climb to the castle, we got to wait in a very large line to enter. At 125 Czech crowns (their currency), this place has got to be pulling in some serious coin. The castle was enormous and provided for many picture opportunities, which will be available once I get a computer to download them onto. The rest of the day was free to rummage through the city and blow money on. I ended up getting a postcard for Laine to send to her and made my way back to the hostel. Another early night for Garrett.

The next morning we got on the 9:05 am train to Dresden, Germany. Apparently, Dresden is a city in Germany that the Allied Forces made their bitch in World War II. Tired of Germans bombing English cities, these Allied Forces decided to exact some revenge by attacking this military hub during the early 40's. Essentially the forces came in waves. The first wave was small explosives, to break windows and move foundations, to create instability. The next wave was giant fire bombs, which engulfed the city in flames. The next wave dropped more explosives and then the damage was too much to control. Temperatures were so hot, that people caught on the street or in buildings combusted into dust. It was estimated that these flames reached 1000 degrees Celsius. Anyways, the city that we saw on Saturday was a town that had to be completely rebuilt after the second World War, but it still had the look of an old European city, using the architectural styles of the early 1900's. We arrived in the city at around noon, possibly, and made our way directly to the town center, which happened to be a church with a status of Martin Luther in front of it. A quick tour of the church left us with two hours before we were to meet again to take our final tour. A few of us had lunch at a local restaurant and it was pretty good. I shopped around for a little bit, buying another postcard for Laine and a mini-beer stein shot glass for my sister. I spent the rest of the time taking photos, trying to capture the lore of the city.

Our final tour in Dresden was of an art museum, not my cup of tea. We had two and a half hours to look at these pieces of work and I was done after 20 minutes and outside taking pictures of the surrounding area, attempting to bring out my artistic side. I took a couple of pictures that I really like and will eventually get those on here. During my excursion outside, I saw a married couple getting wedding/engagement photos in the courtyard, some other girl with her own photographer, and people from all walks of life enjoying a beautiful day. As the group met up again, it was time to get back on the train and head back to Prague for the night. Another early night for me with no partying involved.

The next morning we met at 10 am, well, we met at 10:15 after a very frustrating experience at McDonald's where I watched eight people order their food after me and walk out the door with food in hand and me ready to break something. Anyways, we made our way to a Jewish cemetery/memorial part of town where we looked at Jewish remnants left from the second World War, as well as a Jewish cemetery with tombstones piled on top of tombstones. It was quite the scene. After the cemetery, we were free to roam the city until 2:40 pm, the time we were supposed to meet up and head to the train station. After a walk in the rain, we made our way to a pizza shop to eat before we left. We boarded the train at 3 and it was goodbye Prague and hello what we call home. Our train pulled into Olomouc around 6 pm. The end of a very fun trip and my first excursion into another country besides the Czech Republic.

That night I decided to do laundry for the first time and, let me tell you, it was so emotionally frustrating. First of all, the basements of these buildings we live in have one washing machine. One. Not a bank of them, nor are there any dryers. One load of laundry, correctly done, takes three hours to get done, if you don't want clothes that feel like you just swam in the Atlantic. Anyways, after three miserable hours and two loads of laundry done, you have to hang them up on your balcony and hope they dry. Ugh, I will never take a washer and dryer in the States for granted again.

Anyways, a late night on the computer talking to Laine ended my weekend and we had class this morning, which I could care less about. One funny moment was when our advisor asked us how our weekend went. A few sheepish answers were faded out when I said "bonerrific" a little louder than I wanted to say it. The advisor repeated the word back and it made me laugh for a good five minutes. I don't think she knows what it is.

I am still without a computer and it is growing more frustrating each day. I am thankful that my roommate lets me use his to get stuff done, but I am dying for the day I get a working computer again. My dad sent me a new hard drive to replace the shit one in my laptop now, along with my external hard drive with all of my photos, documents, music on it, and it is nowhere to be found. Needless to say I am beyond freaked out. It has been sitting in customs in Prague since March 21st and I don't know what to do about it. I got a letter from the Prague post office today, as it had been sitting in the office since last week. The entire letter is in Czech and no one can tell me what it says. I got the gray copy of the receipt that my dad filled out to send the package, so I don't know what's going on. I was told to go back in tomorrow to check on what they could find out for me. I'll travel to Prague and demand the god damn package myself if they aren't going to send it.

Anyways, I feel this has been long enough and that you are probably getting tired of reading. Pictures will be coming soon. I miss all of you back in States and I hope you're staying safe and STD-free. Until next time, stay classy, United States.