Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Hollah, šovice

Yesterday I arrived in Prague at around 10:15 in the am, which my East Coast/USA brain interpreted as 4:15 in the am. For those of you who are just clocking in, I'm in Prague at one of NYU's many global campuses continuing my studies in music education. My flight out of JFK had about fifteen other NYU students on it, one of whom I was sitting next to on the plane (completely but not at all unpleasantly by accident). We were met at the airport and taken back to our (extremely dope) apartment building, which is called Osadni (creatively named after the street it's located on). Osadni is located in Praha (Praha=Prague in Czech) 7, an area called Holešovice (as far as I can tell this is pronounced something like "whole-a-sho-veet-suh"). My roommate, Bernadette, and I live on the top floor of our building, the fourth floor, although it's actually the fifth floor because in Prague as well as in many other places in Europe the ground floor and the first floor are not created equal. The top/fourth/fifth floor is the one with the (extremely dope) tv lounge, conference/communal living room, balcony, laundry facilities, and practice rooms...and our apartment. Bernadette and I share our kitchen and bathroom with four other girls who live on this floor, but otherwise we're the only ones. Today was our first day of orientation, which mainly consisted of learning about safety and cultural differences in Prague. On a side note, I'm happy to find out that most things are extremely cheap here in Prague. My first shopping trip to stock my kitchen cost me 736 czech crowns, which is equivalent to just over thirty five dollars. Today I bought two small loaves of bread for the equivalent of thirty cents each. Last night the enormous Pilsner Urquells that Bernadette and I got cost 36 czech crowns each, or just shy of two US dollars. In most cases, beer is literally cheaper than water. A much smaller sized brew would have cost probably seven US dollars in any New York City bar. Please enjoy the pictures I've posted below of my experience so far and continue to follow my blog for random tidbits about my travels.  


The top left picture here is of the old town square as we can see it from our NYU classroom building. The top right picture is of the NYU main building, male namesti, which is where you can send me mail if you so desire (not to my building). The bottom left picture is a picture of another one of NYU's buildings, from inside the building although this one looks out on the courtyard. The bottom right picture is of that same building's exterior. This building literally used to be a palace. 





 The left picture is of the "New Town Center," which by new they just mean it's only about six hundred years old. The rightmost picture is of my bedroom. The slanty windows are extremely awesome but can also let in rain in some cases (like last night).


The top two pictures are of my previously mentioned extremely dope kitchen. The botton two pictures are more from Bernadette's and my bedroom. You'll notice in the left picture that there is a functional (we hope) loft. 


The left picture is another shot from inside NYU's palace/classroom building's courtyard. The right picture is the ceiling of the room we had our orientation lecture in.


2 comments:

  1. Noele:

    This is so awesome! I'm certainly not the most traveled person, but I can tell you that Prague might be my most favorite city of all I have visited. Since Prague was not a strategic target during WWII, the variety of very well preserved architecture from Medieval to Modern times is astounding! I see that you have already visited the Old Town (Staré Město). Have a look in St. Nicolas Church in the square. I conducted a concert there. As you wrote, the white marble Baroque structure was a totally "dope" venue for a concert. You will also note over the course of the summer that there are more than a dozen musical events happening all around the city on most any evening. And the venues are filled with people! The city is so rich with musical culture--it's pretty awesome. I am happy to hear that stuff in the city is still relatively cheap. I was there in 1999 and the feeling was that with the rise of tourism in the area, prices would skyrocket. The first meal I ate there was at this fantastic creperie just off the Old Town Square. I had these amazing from scratch crepes for like a dollar! On a related food note, I have to admit that I ate a dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe Prague while I was there--yup, ultra touristy of me! But it was a cool, albeit surreal, feeling to walk out of the bar and down the street to pass the Estates Theater where Don Giovanni received its premiere! Looking forward to stalking you in Prague. Stay well!

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