DOBRY DEN!

PRAGUE!

jenna and i at pilsner brewery

hi!! so it's official, i am IN praha! We arrived yesterday after a pit-stop at the pilsner brewery right near the Czech Republic border. it was soooo delicious, got an order of goulash... i'm telling you, I don't understand how these europeans stay so skinny. beats me. anyway, regardless, i enjoyed that dish, along with some amazing, and might i add strong, pilsner beer (a czech classic). After lunch, we continued to prague and arrived at like 7pm. I was so happy to finally unpack and get all of my stuff put away. Our dorm is a lot less crammed than i thought, so that was a relief. The actual dormitory is kind of on the outskirts of prague but it actually works out this way because we get the best of both worlds.. we're not in a touristy location and it's only a quick tram ride from our dorm to downtown and our school. Today was our first full day and we woke up at 10 and had a walking tour of our area and then walked into town. IT IS ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL... looks like a fairytale, i describe it as the fantasyland section of disneyland. After we walked around we had an orientation for AIFS and they told us everything we need to know about the program, activities, places to go, and weekend trips available to us. At 4pm, we were finally free to wander about. Since we were all exhausted, we did a quick trip to TESCO (aka target) and got some groceries and towels, etc and then came back to the dorm. Tonight we'll probably go out to downtown to a club or bar since we didn't go out last night but it's only 6:30 so we haven't really discussed plans for tonight.

steph and i in prague

The money is still very new and it takes me about 15 seconds to do the math from czech caronas to U.S dollars in my head, but I am working on it. We learned a few words in czech-- wow, not easy. makes NO sense actually. oh well, I've been doing my best to use please and thank you's every time I order or see anyone. Overall, I love prague so far and I know this is just the beginning!

so far, so good!

of course I had to take a phone booth pic.

me, steph, kirsten, jenna, and phil by the fountain in front of the national art museum.

Hi everyone! So yesterday was the most AMAZING day in London. We took an incredible tour of the entire city and stopped at a bunch of great locations: Buckingham palace, the london bridge, Westminster Abbey, and we went to a museum, and Big Ben. We toured all day and then we had some free time so a few of us went to this amazing national art museum. We chose to look at the artwork from the 1700's to present day. It was really cool, and it made me look forward to my art history class in prague. After we went to the museum, the same small group of us stopped at this cute little 

we stopped at the london bridge, beautiful view of the city.

jenna and I at buckingham palace

canadian pub and picked up a classic order of chips (french fries) and a sandwich... and of course beer. I am starting to ENJOY beer, although I am still one of the last to finish my mugs. After lunch, we went back to the hotel and took a long nap because we knew we had to leave at 4am for the airport for Munich AND we wanted to go out again in London. So, as we predicted, we had an amazing night at the clubs and made it back to the hotel at around 230am, leaving us just enough time to chill in the room, order some pizza, and then make it to the bus by 4am. Needless to say, this morning was not my best. I was SOOOO tired, not feeling amazing, and schlepping 4 bags around the airport. wow, seriously packed enough for a year... not okay when you're traveling every other day. we got to the airport with plenty of time, sat around the terminal (we boarded the plane at around 630am) and then we arrived in Munich at about 10am. Seeing as though we were beyond dead, Jenna and I immediately napped when we got to the hotel, and set our alarm for just enough time to grab some lunch before our tour of Munich. However, at about 6pm Munich time, we heard our friends calling our names from the hallway and Jenna and I shot up out of bed. We completely slept in through our tour of Munich, oh well. From the looks of it, it is very pretty, but I needed my sleep :-). Anyway, at 6:30 a huge group of us from the program went to this place called Beirgarden and got HUGE mugs of beer and of course had a sample of Germany's famous sausages. Very good. After dinner, we went to this awesome place called "hofbrauhaus" for more gigantic mugs of beer and pretzels. It was a lot of fun, although the Germans are pretty aggressive and rude. Now it's almost 1am in Germany and I am still pretty wide awake considering the 5 hour nap we took. Tomorrow we GO TO PRAGUE!!!!! I am soooo stoked and cannot wait to finally get my bags unpacked and get settled. We leave Munich at 10am, stop for lunch at a brewery (of course!) and then get to Prague around 5 or 6pm. I can't wait to explore tomorrow as soon as we get there and I will update you as soon as I get a chance. LOVE YAAA.

elllllo mate!

If you couldn't tell from the post title, I am officially in LONDON! After the very easy 9 hour 50 minute flight, I landed in London at about 10am local time. I slept for about 5 hours of the flight which wasn't too bad... and of course they had complimentary wine and spirits on the plane which didn't hurt either! You would've paid to see me schlep all my bags around the London terminal. The AIFS representative almost passed out when he saw Jenna, Kirsten, and I rolling around 2 huge duffels each, plus our 2 carry ons. Oh well... you may take a girl away from Los Angeles, but you can never take the Los Angeles away from the girl!! Anyway, when we got to the cute little hotel, a small group of us went to a couple local pubs while we waited for check in (I wasn't complaining). I can officially say I've had my first European beer! Hopefully by the end of my trip, I will enjoy it a little more. By the second pub I had to switch to a glass of wine...  some things never change. So I can already tell the four of us will be SUPER close: me, steph (boulder), kirsten (boulder), and jenna. We already get along really well which is fun. Tonight AIFS is throwing us a "welcome drink" in the lobby, and then some of us are heading out to a fun dinner and the clubs. I am VERY excited to explore London. Tomorrow we have a tour of the entire city, Buckingham palace and all. In addition, we are going to see WICKED in a beautiful London theater tomorrow night. I am still pretty confused with the money situation here. They don't take euros like I thought, so I had to get some pounds, which are apparently very pricey... annoying. Lets just say everyone knows I'm American. From my bags, to lack of an attractive English accent. But I am having an amazing time so far and can't wait to meet the rest of the people on my program. good day chap!

Here Goes Nothing.

bring it on snow.

WOW. I cannot believe the day has come. I am actually leaving for Prague tomorrow! My emotions are endless: excited, anxious, nervous, happy, fortunate, STOKED. However, I am quite worried considering I do not know one word of czech, and supposedly it's not too easy to learn. oops. Basically, these next four months will be the most incredible months of my life. I cannot wait to learn, travel, and really use this time to become more independent and realize that there is a whole world outside of my little bubble. For once in my life, I am excited to be uncomfortable and out of my element. I've got myself used to Calabasas, to Berkeley, my core group of friends, and now I am entering an entirely new stage, one that I have no idea of what's to come.

don't worry, these all fit into my 2 duffels =]

So,I've never had a blog, but I figured it would be the best way to let everyone I care about know about everything I am doing, seeing, eating, learning, etc. I will try my best to update it often, but knowing me I will start out strong, every day or so, and then end up doing other things... apparently prague has a huge party scene. I had absolutely NO idea ;-)


I'm on a non-stop flight to London tomorrow, staying there for 2 nights, flying to Munich, and then finally heading to Prague. I am going to be living in the dorms with Jenna and 2 other girls, Steph and Kirsten (they go to Boulder). Anyway, I hope you enjoy this blog and I will be sure to take LOTS of pictures and post them. Thanks to Molly, Ragan, and Alex for the AMAZING LISTS of places to go in Prague. Seriously, you are lifesavers.


get ready prague, here I come.