The Czechs are Hilarious

Before I begin with this post, I want to add a disclaimer: Last summer, in New York, I kept a word document blog chronicling my harrowing mishaps in a city that rejected me like a bad organ transplant. The purpose was so that I had something to look back upon to remember these experiences if ever the rose colored glasses ascended and I thought it might be a grand idea to give NYC another shot. These stories, compiled in a document a la creedthoughts.com (see The Office clip), were the back story behind many of the lighter things that went into this public blog at the time.

In Prague, however, I feel like I’m living in a fairy tale. I’m afraid this writing will come off sugary and effusive, but I literally cannot say one thing indicating that this life is anything but a dream. Of course we have class every day from 9am to 5pm and sometimes as late as 9pm, but even though that's a substantial amount of time, it's all very interesting material. Fair warning? Ok.

Monday was one of the most extraordinary days of my life thus far. We had our first day of classes, and once we finished, the group was reassembled for a tour of the city. Night was falling and so was a slight rain—everything was shiny and freezing. We walked through the Old Town and had a history lesson about the architecture of the main buildings and the famous clock. Many of these structures are thousands of years old…mind boggling to my American brain.

Charles the 4^th is the most popular king in Czech history, and much of the beautiful architecture in Prague is attributed to his genius. One thing I find fascinating is that Charles and the architects at the time shared the common belief that God is the only being who can create something perfect and symmetrical. All around the city, this is evidenced in cathedrals, monuments, and even the castle—they have two towers that are of slightly different sizes and are said to represent masculinity and femininity, Adam and Eve.

After a stroll through the Old Town, we walked across the bridge and had a glass of mulled wine underneath it on the opposite side. We took the tram up to the castle gates and walked in. As soon as we passed through, a sudden hush fell on the group. We were the only ones in the massive castle courtyard, but even so, you could hear a pin drop. In front of us was the most unbelievable building I’ve ever seen. So ornate and massive, it’s hard to believe it was built by human hands. Construction on this cathedral was begun under Charles the 4th, but took 600 years and many different architects to complete. The last four architects left their lasting mark by etching images of themselves in the stone of the façade just above the doors. The Czechs are so funny to me. This stone image, on the largest and arguably most beautiful building in the world and hundreds and hundreds of years old, depicts the four architects in SUITS!

This I promise is my last “haha Czechs” moment of the day. Also in the castle is the office of the Czech president. A few months ago, he was caught on camera intentionally purloining a pen at a diplomatic event. The video went viral and the Czech people—becoming a bit of an international joke—responded by sending thousands and thousands of pens to the president at this office just to say “have a pen, bro, we’ve got your back.”

What a sense of humor, right? Amazing.

After perusing the castle grounds, we descended the long road back to the city. We went out for dinner as a group, tried the Czech national shot (a very potent cinnamon libation) and got wonderfully lost on the way back to our apartments. I think that’s a long enough post for today! I love hearing from you guys and keeping in touch, and I can’t thank you guys enough for continuing to keep me in your lives even though I’m not there. It’s one of the things that makes being here so happy. So thank you for that, and thanks for reading!