School, Toilet Paper, Gummy Frogs, Ballet, and More

Ahoy!

It has been just about three months since I have entered a classroom for some serious learning. That all changed this week when I began my regular classes. This semester I am taking Jewish History in Central and Eastern Europe, Czech Short Stories, Contemporary Central European Politics, and Pursuit of Democracy and Freedom in the Communist Czechoslovakia. The first week of classes was great and just flew by. Walt and Ben are in my Jewish History class which is an added bonus. Our teacher also thinks that Walt and I have some sort of knowledge based competition going on. I have no idea where she got that idea but she did award me one point when I knew the Hebrew word for the process of assigning numerical values to letters (gematria). Walt did know the names of the five books of Moses. (Don't worry I did too, he was just faster). But that doesn't really matter because there is not a competition happening!

My Pursuit of Democracy and Freedom class is really small which is nice. It is 50% American and 50% European which is also interesting. My professor is only 10 years older than me.

My Czech short stories teacher is an American lady who went to Dartmouth, Princeton, and Oxford. The class seems awesome and is also a mini Czech culture course which provides a lot of interesting insight into the country that I am living in.

Central European Politics promises to be sweet. My professor is a 65 year old Czech man who at one point in his life was the Czechoslovakian ambassador to Italy. His lecture was 3 hours long and I wasn't ready for it to end. We went around the room introducing ourselves and it took some work on my part to explain that I wasn't Greek just because my name was Alexander (named after Alexander the Great) and that I wasn't German because my name is Horn. It was very entertaining. Another added bonus to that class is Sara, Sarah, Ben, Adrian, and my friend Bryan are all in my class.

School here is very different. The professors here all demand interaction from the students which I enjoy. Getting school supplies also was not nearly as easy as back home. I don't know if Czech people just don't use notebooks a lot (which I doubt) or if I am just looking in the wrong place (probably the truth). Anyway I finally notebooks that were suitable at Tesco. Also I have no textbooks here. Now you are probably saying, but Alex how will you do all of the reading that you have been assigned? The answer is readers. I had to buy these readers which are bound packets of articles, book excerpts and other materials. They cost between 10 and 20 bucks and are ultra portable. Much better than the expensive and heavy textbooks at home. This semester I have a ton of reading to do! Remember when I told you that my teachers require interaction, the only way to do that is by reading the readings they have assigned.

This week also engaged in some cultural activities. Last night (Wednesday) I ventured to the National Theater (pictures below) to catch a ballet. AIFS buys tickets to different events every week and this weeks event was Romeo and Juliet. The ballet was weird in that they modernized Romeo and Juliet. The ballet took place in the what I am assuming was the 1920's or 30's. After the ballet all of my friends set out to celebrate Jenny's 21st birthday which was a cultural event in itself.




Some more random thoughts...
1. I am pretty sure the person who introduces the Czech people to multi-ply toilet paper will be canonized.
2. The weather here is finally not freezing! The ice has melted on the sidewalks which is great for me because I am not longer slipping all over the place.
3. It was warmer in Prague today than Plano!
4. I started running here which has been nice. Gotta make sure that the pivo doesn't go right to the belly.
5. Becca bet me that I couldn't go a week without beer. Tomorrow is the day that I will win the bet and Becca will owe me one liter of beer. In this country that is much harder than it sounds. Beer is everywhere. Food stands, both bars in the dorm, every restaurant, every corner store, just about everywhere.
6. Tonight is another "family dinner" which is a nice way to wrap up the school week.
7. I have a Mexican flag now. That is all I have to say about that.
8. There are these cookies in the Czech Republic called Disko. These need to make their way back to the States.
9. Oreos need to make their way to the Czech Republic.
10. Grace- I had Gummy Frogs yesterday. I know you are jealous.
11. I can't stress enough how awesome my friends here are.
12. I am really learning my way around the city which is nice and makes everything much less intimidating.
13. Tomorrow I am waking up at 4:45 to go to Budapest. I am super excited to go to Budapest.

Until next time

Alex