MAR-GOES

It is my first week of actual school here. It has been so nice being off from school for 3 months now, but I needed to get back on a structured scheduled. As much as I love napping and laying around, duty calls (aka life). On Mondays and Wednesdays I start with a 9 a.m class, my Czech Language class. I don’t take classes before 11 a.m at Penn State so it’s been challenging waking up at 8 a.m for this, but I might as well get used to it since I’m creeping closer and closer to ~the real world~. My teacher is very nice and doesn’t seem to have some ridiculous expectation of us already knowing the Czech language. If you ask Greg about his class and teacher, he wouldn’t say the same thing that I am. At 10:30, when that class is done (YES the classes are all 90 minutes long, and YES it is brutal), I have a three hour break to do whatever I want. I’ve thought about how I want to spend this time and have come up with a good amount of options. I can: stay at the study center and study/work on any work I have, go home and lay and eat, go shopping, or find a nearby cafe. As lovely as all but one of those sound, I know me and I will always choose the going home and laying option. No, but seriously, it is good to have that time to get work done when I need to so I can explore and travel with no school stress. But it’s the first week and I am currently laying in bed writing this during my three hour break. The worst part about the three hour break? Walking up those steps TWICE in a day. Anyways, this break is much needed and I need to make it worthwhile because I then have class from 1:30-6:30 p.m. I didn’t realize how long that would actually be when making my schedule, until I sat through it for the first time on Monday. My biggest concern was getting out early enough on Thursdays to have Thursday afternoons to travel to my weekend destinations. I still stand by this decision and will definitely thank myself for it, but man, Mondays and Wednesdays are rough. For those interested, my classes from 1:30-6:30 are Media Impact in Central Europe, Tribal Myths and Traditions of the Czechs, and Czech and Central European History. I have one teacher for the Media Impact class and then another teacher for the last two classes back to back. Both of those teachers are very nice and, from what I can tell, very intelligent. If you aren’t a history buff, these classes might sound horrible. I’m no “buff” per se, but I am interested to learn about this country’s past. I say that now though, you will all get updates on the semester and the classes as they go on. Tuesdays and Thursdays, however, are my saving grace. I only have one class on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10:35-12:05, and so far I really love the one class I have. The class is Contemporary Czech Culture: Alternative Literature, Music, and Lifestyles. My teacher is quirky in a good way, passionate about the topic, and has been in an all girls rock band with her high school friends since the 80’s. Pretty cool if you ask me. Classes are good so far, but, if something changes about that you will no doubt be hearing about it.

Three words. THE CANDY STORE. Ok, a store called “The Candy Store” is enough for me to be interested in what that’s all about. However, this place is more than I ever could have asked for in a store. The other day I was helplessly googling “American grocery stores in Prague” after a day of Czech food and Czech menus. The first thing that came up was “The Candy Store”. My first thought was, “okay that’s great, but I can’t eat candy the whole time I’m here” (I wouldn’t put it past me though). I chose to click on the website regardless, and immediately grinned from cheek to cheek. I’m just going to tell you what the options were on the site: Reese’s/Hershey’s, Sweet, Salty, Drinks, Gluten Free, Tea/Hot Drinks, Breakfast, Cooking, Baking Products, Instant Goods, and Frozen Products. I could quickly tell that this wasn’t just candy. Definitely not healthy food, but not just candy. Under the About tab on the website, it states, “Our mission is to provide you with the widest possible selection of packaged and fresh American and British grocery goods not readily available anywhere else in the Czech Republic – all in one place and for a local price!” WAHOO. Except the “local price” part isn’t true, but whatever. They have a store 3 blocks away from my apartment so I went the day after finding out about it. I was determined to find this store and was following the GPS on my phone. I couldn’t quite figure it out until I looked up and saw the glorious American flag and a UK flag flying from the store front. BINGO. I walked in and it was pretty small, but it was stocked well. Of course I have pictures for you lovely people. I hope you can picture my American food loving, sweet tooth, desperate self walking into this junk food paradise.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Obviously I had a large selection of good foods to choose from. Everything at this store is 3x the amount it would be at home, so I couldn’t get it all, and can’t go all the time, but it is nice to have for when I need it. You may be wondering, wow I wonder what Margo ended up buying? Well..

I don’t do grocery shopping at home but I am positive all of this doesn’t cost the $40 USD I spent on it here. That gorgeous box of Lucky Charms right there.. $10 USD. IT’S FINE. IT’S WORTH IT I SWEAR.

February 14th. Valentine’s Day. I love this holiday just because it’s a day for Greg and I to celebrate our relationship. We had classes in the morning but Greg made dinner plans for us. He said he made reservations and I was thinking of all of the possible fancy and romantic restaurants in this city. As I was imagining these places, Greg says “At Bad Jeff’s Barbecue”. HECK YEAH. There are some out there who, I’m sure, would expect one of those fancy places, but some good old American style barbecue is all I need. Shout out to Greg for being good at knowing exactly what I want. (This was the same place I mentioned in a previous blog about us getting turned away from). It was worth the wait. I had a pulled pork sandwich, curly fries, and truffled mac and cheese.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After a delicious dinner, we got in an Uber and were on our way to a creperie. Surprise right?! The Uber driver was playing some throwback Britney and Eminem. I was living it up. The crepe was obviously amazing, I’m not sure if I’ll ever eat a bad crepe nor do I want to. It was a great Valentine’s Day topped off with an incredibly thoughtful gift from Greg of a rose, a bottle of Rosè, and a Shutterfly book of our past year (Volume 2).

I’m thankful for Greg everyday but especially on Valentine’s day. I hope everyone spent the day with people they love, regardless of relationship status.

I’m off to Madrid, Spain this weekend. I think I’m most excited about the fact that I’ll be in a country that speaks a language I at least recognize. You will 100% be getting a good post from this weekend because I have some good plans for Madrid.

If I don’t write again before that, when/if you think about me , know I’ll be in Spain soaking in 60 degree weather.

Adios amigos. Thanks for reading and I hope you have a most wonderful few days.

Until next time,

xx.