The Flights:

I landed and am now officially living in Prague! My flights to Prague were by far the most interesting plane rides I have ever been on, but they make getting here so much more memorable! The first flight to Washington DC was delayed by 40 minutes, leaving Kate and me exactly 10 minutes to get through the next airport and into our next plane! The 7-hour flight from DC to Brussels was nothing but interesting. A kind, funny man next to me moved up a seat, so Kate was able to move up and sit next to me for the flight, which was comforting and nice. The three people behind us, however, were not. They would grab and pull on the back of our seats every time they got up to use the restroom, which was quite a bit too often. They also managed to tug a couple of hairs on our heads and scratch mine while moving around, too. DID I MENTION THEY WERE LOUD ALSO? Needless to say, they made sleeping impossible. One of the people behind us also ended up unfortunately needing medical attention during the flight, and we overheard the word “seizure” at one point (don’t worry, she was okay). We definitely were not bored while flying, that is for sure! On my last flight, from Brussels to Prague, I somehow landed a ticket in first class (thanks for that, Mom and Dad) and got a yogurt, cheese, and some European chocolate. That ended up being the only food I ate until 7:30 pm here Saturday, so it was fortunate that I was able to get food!

My first day in Praha:

We landed 15 minutes early in Prague, and it is such a beautiful day here! It was around 50 degrees Fahrenheit and nothing but sunshine, so I am very happy. We got onto a shuttle with kids from our ISA Program who either live with us or around us! I live in a dorm with three other girls, and we share a bathroom with two sinks, a separate room for the toilet, a kitchen, and a split closet space, which is actually a good size. I was assigned a room with a student from France who is studying abroad as well. She speaks some English and is very nice, from what I can tell! I am really excited about all of my roommates because the other two are great! We had an orientation today for an hour, and afterwards, Taylor, Margaret (my other two roommates), and I all explored the city. We did this unintentionally due to the fact that we got onto the wrong tram, taking us into an entirely different part of town across from the river. We ended up trying to get back and then getting lost after that!

We got on so many different trams, it was ridiculous! Not being able to read or speak a language is so challenging, but we had fun trying to get back. The only tough part about getting lost was the fact that none of us had cell phones or knew how to tell anyone where we were. Street signs were nowhere to be found, and it was dark out. We wandered around touristy areas, side streets, on random trams, and even in our own neighborhood! We FINALLY (after about two hours) got into our neighborhood, but even then, could not find our flat! We spent another hour walking around guessing where we lived, and this was when we were all getting really jet lagged and hit our limit. We finally found that the station we should have gotten off at was the next one down the street! We hopped on tram 9 and ended up finding our dorm. Exploring was interesting; we ended up in some areas none of us wanted to be in, but that is part of being in a foreign country and learning how to get around. My roommates and I bonded a lot tonight, that is for sure!

Czech…IS SUCH A HARD LANGUAGE. It sounds like gibberish – just a side note, but I thought you all should know that I do not think I will ever understand one word people are saying. The people here have been very friendly to me so far, though!

Conclusion: PRAGUE IS BEAUTIFUL. I am so grateful for this opportunity, and being able to accomplish one of my goals and dreams in life is such an amazing feeling. I started crying tonight in my room because I am so happy and blessed. What a great thing to be able to understand and live fully! I owe a lot of this to my parents, so thanks, Mom and Dad! You are the best, and I promise I will try to go to class. 🙂 Well, it is around 10 pm, and I think I have been running on 6 hours of sleep since Thursday, so I am going to catch some z’s. I have orientation tomorrow and will get my schedule for school soon!