dam si beton.

Beton. Sweet sweet Beton. Beton, if you are ordering a beverage in Prague anytime soon, is a drink that consists of Bekerohvka (a liqueur made of cinnamon, anise seed, and other things, perhaps a dash of prague magic) and tonic and 3 rounds of lemons. So very good. It makes me want to sit in a cafe and write and think about philosophy and listen to Charlotte Gainsbourg all day. Anyways, thats not why I'm writing this. My dive into academia has begun here in the Czech Republic and I'm quite excited. I'm taking a class called "Contemporary Jewish Religious Thought" and in it we're examining the why Judaism has become what it is today. My teacher, Professor Blaha is quite a character though. If you could imagine every stereotype of what you think a professor would be, he is all of them. He calls me Ms. Shelley and praises my scarves. Therefore, I love him most. Also, he wear suspenders. What could be better than suspenders, I ask you. And my answer is nothing. Nothing in this world is better than suspenders.

Moving along, more travels into the crazy Czech Republic have warranted more hilarious stories. Like Kutna Hora. Let that name bounce around in your brain for a while. There is a church in Kutna Hora made solely of bones. HUMAN bones. Whose bones you may ask? Well of course they were the bones of plague victims.

...

Needless to say, I held my breath for a while.


Next up: New friends! A girl from Australia just moved in to my suite where once there lived a girl who we will always and forever refer to as Prom Queen Barbie, or PQB. PQB moved out because she decided the room was too small for here and therefore her hair would not be able to fit in the room. Oh well. New suite mate Mikela is awesome and with her come accessories! Like a rocking awesome accent and crazy sayings and fun new friends... There is Claire (don't worry Claire George, your worth far surpasses hers, you will not be replaced). and Nick (he replaces all Nicks in my life, sorry). They are loud and crazy and Kiwi's. Whilst in the Kolej, time seems to slip away and I've developed a habit of sitting up and talking to Mikela and her two friends into the wee hours of the morning. And by talking, I mean they ask me to verify every stereotype about the South and America. Its cool though because Nick asks the greatest questions like "So...do you live on a plantation?" Yes......


To whet your appetite for more blog postings, here's a picture of your favorite world traveller actin' a fool...



and another one...of my feet.

prague is a greasy stewpot of culture

I couldn't just leave with that previous post. I have got to catch everyone up! Because boy howdy have I seen a lot. So, a-here we go.

I finished my czech intensive class with an A. Heck yes. My teacher has purple hair and is a better dresser than me and is older than my parents. She was always willing to explain everything about real life Prague to us. Not "Travels In Europe" on PBS Prague, but the real scandalous and gritty Prague. One thing of interest was the notion of skinheads. To me, I think skinheads and I think fascist white supremacist neo-nazi jerks (actually I think of stronger words but my Nana and Mommee will be reading this so... ) but anyway, the skin heads here are actually the young intellectuals who are here to, in the words of Public Enemy, "Fight the Power". Apparently in Prague, the neo-nazis were a dominant force in music and fashion in Prague and therefore directly affected the way young people lived. So the skinheads appeared and started a wave of ska and punk rock in Prague that fights against the grating, hateful music of the neo-nazis (ref. Slipknot on crack). Its so amazing in this city how much affect the skinheads have on society here using things that can be completely unobtrusive and subversive if you don't keep an eye out. Score one for skinheads.

Next my loves, Brno. Yes, those are 3 consonants all together. Awesome? Yes. Brno is the second largest city in CZ and it was a magical place. It was also 15 degrees. A lot of amazing churches and cathedrals, each deliciously more baroque than the last. I went to Austerlitz as well and that my friends, was amazing. Probably a good thing that I'm a history major because I got so insanely excited to be there, I cannot explain to you in any other way other than that a guy named Josh who looks like Richard Dreyfuss in AMERICAN GRAFFITI has video footage of me jumping up and down and squealing like a girl who just met n*Sync (please note the correct spelling of said boy band here).

But the big story thus far: Sean Lennon.

Yes my children, I saw Sean Lennon. And let me just say, the guy can put on a good show. It was an intimate concert so I managed to put myself very far up. Add in good lighting and the fact that I actually put on makeup and I've got the following story: So Sean Lennon looks exactly like his father. I mean EXACTLY. I was so amazed by this that I kept looking at him. The aforementioned good lighting allowed him to be able to see into the crowd, a treat that so few artists are given. So at one point in the middle of this amazing song called "On Again, Off Again" ....Sean Lennon, the golden child of rock royalty, looks me straight in the eye and winks! Any other time I would have probably just collapsed, but Kate Baynham brought her A game that night and smugly side smiled back at him, ala, Katie Holmes before the whole scientology brainwashing that made her stop smiling. And how do I know he was winking at me? There were roughly 5 guys around me and the only girl near me was on her cellphone. So booyah. Heres a picture of the dreamboat, and by dreamboat, I mean he looks like he stepped out of a Wes Anderson film, but I'm down.

dr. hunter s. thompson

I've been reading THE RUM DIARY by Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, and although he may not be the most respectable hero, he definitely is one of the most formidable characters in modern journalism and literature. That being said, I need to start this "prague blog" off well. So just like old Gonzo himself began his famous book, here we go:

"My rider of the bright eyes,
What happened you yesterday?
I thought you in my heart,
When I bought you your fine clothes,
A [girl] the world could not slay"
-Dark Eileen O'Connell, 1773


I love you all.