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My last four months have in Prague have been nothing short of amazing. I’m not sure if I can describe it in words, but my time in this city is everything I hoped for, and more. The traveling, the dorm experience, the freedom, Prague was something that I simply needed to do, and thankfully I did it.

In the last four months, I’ve done more traveling then I have done in my entire life. Budapest, Amsterdam, Vienna, Malmo, Copenhaggen, Istanbul, Bradislava, all different experiences, but all great ones. While in Budapest I met a lot of cool people that were actually studying in Prague, so because of Budapest I met them, who I’ve hung out with on a bunch of different occasions (1 person in particular). The hostel we stayed at, Carpe Noctem, was also one of the best times I’ve ever had at a hostel, they took us on a pub crawl that really let us experience the city’s nightlife. Amsterdam showed me how liberal a city can truly be, with its pot stores on every corner, and red light district, it was definitely not your typical city. We also biked across the countryside, which was a great experience as well, its not often you get to see so many old windmills. Vienna had a great charm to it as well, my highlights being the palace, and the donairs with massive blocks of cheese. Malmo was alright, it wasn’t that exciting when we found out the only place we could get alcohol was at designated stores (just like Vancouver), but we still managed to have a great time. Copenhaggen was great, living at a Danish girls house, followed by a night of sleeping on the street, it definitely gave me a new found respect for the homeless. Istanbul was by far the most different place I’ve every been, with its dense population and merchants around every corner, and quite possibly the best meals of all my journeys, it was amazing. Bradislava was a great experience as well, thankfully to Luke, who knew exactly where to go and what to do.

Heineken tour in Amsterdam

Henrich, the Danish man we met on the streets of Copenhaggen (and also his girlfriend)

Istanbul

Traveling was amazing, but out of all those cities, I can truthfully say that Prague was my favorite, and for more then one reason. Never in my life have I experience living on my own with complete strangers; for me, the dorm experience was everything I had hoped for. See, at Simon Fraser University, its more of a commuter university, meaning most people generally live at home while going to school, which is fine and all, but I always felt as though I got cheated out of that core University experience, and luckily Prague satisfied that craving. The ECES (Eastern and Central European Studies) program is the program I enrolled in for my exchange, and thankfully, the program recognizes the importance of traveling and experiencing Europe, rather then high forms of academics. That meant that while it was for school, I spent most of my time going out and having a good time, traveling and experiencing the city at its fullest.

People from the dorm Kolej Komenskeho

In my suite, Hora and I lived with eight others, all of whom were all American. We were basically known as the 220 crew (since our suit was called 220, and was famous for having the most people sharing one kitchen). There was four from Long Island, and four from Syracuse. Oh, and the rest of the dorm was full of Americans, mostly either from Washington, New York, or Boston. At least all the people I hung out with anyways. Of course, being in a new town, meeting new people, you’re excited and you’re very much wanting to go out almost every night, and that’s exactly what I did. By the end of the first week after the Americans arrived, I seriously did not understand how any of them got work done, as I figured this is what it was going to be like for the rest of the semester, but in some ways I was right, and some ways I was wrong. Some of the people toned it down after the semester started getting underway, which some (such as a couple roommates of mine), had no intention of slowing down. Some of my favorite places in Prague were U Sudu, the bar you go before a club, it has cheap wine; Mecca night club, a club that we went to most Wednesday nights since it was free, one floor of oldies and one floor of techno(walked here once for two hours from a random bar when no one else wanted to come, because I knew the girl I was interested in was going to be there, it was worth the walk); Karlove Lazne, the classic five story club with all types of music, half the people I know loved it, and half hated it;  PoPo café, the place we went to every Monday night for live Mexican music. But, place that was the most fun in Prague in my opinion was Chapeau Rouge, which was a bar above, a bar/dancefloor below, and a rarely entered strange dance floor at the bottom. The bar was a lot of fun because no matter what night of the week it was, it was always filled with both Czechs and tourists alike, it was filled with interesting students to talk to from all over the world. It was just always full of character, and always lively, which is why it is above all the rest. I’d say that the biggest enemy I’ve made on this trip has been my liver. But that’s not to say that all I’ve done in this city is gone out and partied, that was generally reserved for the night.

Getting ready to head out for a night in Prague

Us from the Kolej chilling in Popo Cafe

During the day, there was a lot to see and do in Prague. I think one of the best things I’ve gained in the last four months is my independence, do to the fact that the only one I could rely on to wash my clothes and fill my stomach with food was myself, and that’s exactly what I learned how to do. I came into the Czech republic knowing how to make myself a bowl of cereal, mac & cheese, and perogies. Well, cereal was never ate because people in the suite always stole milk, they definitely didn’t have mac & cheese, and surprisingly no perogies either. So, I had to cook, and in doing so, I learned that not only is it not hard, but its also awesome, and now one of my favorite pastimes. I’ve learned how to make a great meat sauce, highly raved alfredo sauce, juicy chicken, and a mean steak.  But I started this paragraph talking about what I saw and did in Prague, so enough about how I kept myself fed.

Delicious food I’ve learned how to make

During the day, when we weren’t attending classes (class attendance was mandatory, each class you missed cost you a letter grade), we were generally finding places to eat, going to some of the national monuments, or shopping at the famous Tesco supermarket. Actually, one of my favorite activities in Prague was watching hockey games, one international game versus Finland, and one local game, but very exciting, both at which my team lost. But the Czech fans were amazingly spirited and into it, I’d say even more wild then GM place.  The 220 restaurant favorite was Piccolo Mondo, which was a small Italian place that served Pizza, Pasta, and of course, Pivo (Slavic for Beer). Beer was a commonplace at dinner time; with it only costing 1.50 CAD for a 0.5L, it was cheaper to get a beer then water, and you couldn’t get free tap water, so its going to be disappointing not to have a Pilsner Urquell or Gambrinus alongside dinner.  Czech food was also very good, generally the meals were either cuts of chicken or pork (beef too, but its much more expensive, and not very Czech), and you also picked your side of potatoes, and it’s always served with cabbage.  I liked to go to Namesti Miru for my Czech food, it’s the area with the most residents of Prague near the center, and it isn’t very touristy. Now, in terms of national monuments, the places to check out are the Prague Castle, with its amazing cathedral and great history; the Charles bridge which was made in the 13th century and is still impressive to this date; Petrin Hill is a great hike which at the top, contains a scaled down replica of the Eifel Tower with a great view of the city; Wenceslas Square, which is situated right by the National Museum, and a great place for shopping during the day, and for bar hopping during the night; Old town square, which was great for us students when it was cold and freezing when we arrived, but I found that it was definitely packed with too many tourists later on closer to the summer, although its definitely still worth checking out. There are a ton of other places to check out, but those are my favorites.

View from Vysherad

First hockey game in the O2 arena

Second hockey game

View with me and the Charles Bridge

So, that’s all I can think of to talk about from my experiences in Prague. I hope you’ve enjoyed following my blog of my experiences as much as I have actually experiencing them, but the four month exchange is now over. Traveling was amazing, I’ve met friends that I know I won’t forget, I have a lot of great memories in this place in the four short months I’ve been here. But that’s exactly what they felt like, very short months, and I’m disappointed to part from all the great friends I’ve made, and from the city I’ve come so accustom to, but life goes on, and next up is my backpacking adventure in the Balkans. Till then, Na schledanou!

220 crew, miss you guys, as well as the rest of the Kolej

For more pictures of my trip, go to the photo link at the top of the page