Hello!

I'm in Prague! And Prague is great! And my hostel also has free internet, except sometimes stupid boys sit next to each other and hog the computer typing messages to each other. But I finally got one, so it is alright now.

Yesterday was my last official day in Paris. And the night before was my last official night in Paris, and this is how it went:

Friday I had my philosophy final, which went pretty well. And then I shipped my books home (40 euro for 7kg...it was actually 7.25kg, but he said that was okay. And I am glad to have another 15-20 pounds out of my suitcase). Then I packed up my stuff so I would have free time the next day. And then I got confused.

You would think by the last day of the program the cultural/language misunderstandings would be over. But you would be wrong.

Ingrid came in and was rushing all around (at around 8 pm) and then she was heading out the door and she said "A tout a l'heure! A demain!" which means "See you later! See you tomorrow!" Except, which one was it? So I was confused. Because every single other night we have either had family dinner, or if she is going out she will leave us food and the table will be set and everything. But this time she didn't. So for a while we thought she was still going to come home for dinner, but then we decided she wasn't.

I think she thought there was a end-of-program finale dinner that we were going to, because that is what they did last year and she had asked if we were doing something with the group and we had said we weren't sure. But it was confusing and a bit stressful.

But then we went out (Kathy and I, that is) and met up with 4 other girls from the program (Mira, Christine, Jessica, and Annie) at a Sangria bar and had fun and reminisced and laughed, and it was fun. And then we got home at like 1:30. And Jean Claude and Ingrid had gone to a friend's for dinner, it turns out. And Jean Claude stayed there until 5 am because everyone was so chatty. And I don't think my parents will ever stay up until 5am, no matter how chatty everybody is. But either did Ingrid, she came home at like 1:45. Which is after us. Which is a bit sad.

Yesterday I hung out at home in the morning since everyone was there. And then I went to Parc Monceau one last time and sent some e-mails. And then I wandered the Pigalle area and bought a crepe, and then I went to the Eiffel Tower!

I got off the metro at the Trocadero lookout, and when I walked up to the edge, the girl next to me turned around and said "I"ve seen you before." and it turned out to be one of my roommates from the hostel in Berlin who I had eaten dinner with! So that was ridiculous! We ended up walking over to the Eiffel Tower together and going up and it was fun to have someone to go with, and she was very nice (her name is Emily). And going up the Eiffel Tower was great because we had excellent before, during, and after sunset views and I was able to identify all the important landmarks, which was good news. And it was lovely to see Paris spread out before me one more time, and also a bit sad, because I knew I was leaving that night.

After we came down from the tower, we walked back to Trocadero to watch it sparkle at 6pm, and it was beautiful once more. Then I took the metro back home, stuck a few last things in my suitcase, talked to Jean Claude and Ingrid about Afirican art, and headed to the train station.

The train from Paris to Berlin was long (12 hours) and my compartment was like 85 degrees. And while I had been cold for the past three weeks, that was very stiflingly hot. So I slept a little bit, but not as much as I would have ideally. Then I transfered trains to go to Dresden, where I transferred seats on the same train to get to Prague!

Then I successfully bought my remaining European train tickets, freaked out for a second when the first ticket popped up with a price of 589, remembered I was in Czech Republic, divided by 20, and felt very relieved. Then I got some Czech crowns out of the ATM, bought a metro ticket, and went to my hostel.

My hostel is nice because even though I have an 8 person room, there is a sliding door to divide it into two 4-person rooms. And there is a bathroom ensuite.

This afternoon (it was about 3 by the time I left the hostel) I wandered down to the Old Town Square, which was super cool. There is a big Christmas market and there were live Christmas carols and a big decorated tree, and stands selling food and drinks and souvenirs and things. So I hung out there awhile, and watched the astronomical clock have a "show" on the hour (the blog picture is the clock face).

Then I walked down to Charles Bridge just as it was almost dark and walked across and took some pictures. And then as I walked back to the Old town Square, I stopped and bought a ticket for the Black Light Theatre.

I spent the next two hours at the Christmas markets and wandering the little streets and shops and things. And I ate a sausage for dinner, because all of a sudden I eat sausage all the time.

And then I went to the Black Light Theatre! It is a show that is a combination of mime and special effects and illusions and such, which is good because that means there is no language barrier. And my show was sort of an aftermath spin-off of Alice in Wonderland, and it was strange and entertaining. There were black lights, lots of floating objects and people, and a bunch of cool lighting effects. So overall it was quite enjoyable.

The show got out at 9ish, and I wandered back to the hostel, wrote in my paper journal, had my two roommates want to go to sleep already, and then went on the computer!

Overall, Prague is really cool so far. The architecture is all really interesting and the Christmas market was great, and I successfully bought train tickets, and I am impressed. And it is not nearly as cold as I was afraid it would be!

And now I am tired! So to all a good night!