Believe it or not, I bring you this blog from my temporary flat in Prague! It was quite the ordeal to get here, and it's very surreal actually being here now.
I woke up Thursday morning at 8:00 in St. Louis with Daniel, Cait, and Molly camping out at my place there. We had had a rocking New Year's celebration, which only ended up making me sadder about leaving such amazing friends. I love and miss you all! I'm not sure why you keep me around, but I feel very fortunate to have you all in my life.
Cait got an early lead on winning Best Friend of 2014 by dropping my shell-shocked self at the airport. I probably wouldn't have survived my St. Louis stay without her putting up with my sad attempt at becoming "a real city boy." In all seriousness though, she has been there for me when I needed help, and I will always be grateful to have such an amazing friend.
And then I was on my own. I had gotten used to the STL-Lambert airport this summer when I flew to South Dakota every week for five weeks, so that wasn't too unfamiliar. I got there way early, so I had a few hours to just sit and read. That initial flight to Dallas was delayed, but only by 30ish minutes. In fact, all three of my flights were delayed somewhat, so I guess it all worked out. In Dallas, I made some final calls to my parents while I was still Stateside and ate some BBQ because 'Murca.
The plane to London from Dallas was very nice, but I was squeezed in the middle seat for overnight flight. It wouldn't have been so bad had the man on my left not had a twitch in his right arm that elbowed me in my ribs at least once every minute. I ended up just not sleeping and watched three movies instead.
We flew towards the rising sun into London, which was fairly disappointing from the airport, but still interesting nonetheless. I was finally shuttled to my final flight to Prague, which ended up being the least crowded plane I've ever been on. I had a whole row all to myself. My stomach lurched when the flight information was announced in Czech, reminding me that it will be a while before any of that starts making sense to me. Flying over Europe was quite exciting; I got some nice views of European countryside with houses clustered together in villages amongst rolling green hills shrouded in mist. I was approaching 24 hours of no sleep though, so I kept nodding on and off.
Before I knew it, I had landed at my final destination. Views from the plane looked great. The airport felt very modern, and English was widely available. I panicked for a bit trying to find my airport pick-up. I grabbed some Czech crowns and tried/failed to use a payphone, but my pick-up was just running a bit late and was there waiting for me when I came back from the phone. We picked up one more student after me, and he shuttled us to my flat. Our driver was very helpful and pointed out some interesting aspects of the city. I'll get more time to explore it later, so standby for more. I was dropped off at my flat on Vlkova Street where I met my landlady, Stepanka, who is very nice and helpful.
I won't repost pictures of my flat since they're on Facebook now, but I have been really happy with it so far. I got all my stuff unpacked (I'm pretty sure I overpacked already. Oops.), cleaned off in the tub (no overhead shower nozzle), and took a minute to let the view from the back balcony sink in. Two Australian women are staying in this flat for the first night because theirs won't be ready until the next day. They are extremely nice and gave me my first beer in the Czech Republic, although it was technically a Belgium one. Plenty of time to find authentic Czech beer later though.
After chatting with the Aussies for a bit, I excused myself to go pass out from exhaustion. I was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. Up next, exploring the city!
-Anthony
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