Study Abroad 2017: Week 16: Dec. 18th-24th (Prague, Czech Republic)

(Pictures below!!)

Well mates, it is Christmas Eve and I want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas!! I am in London right now--or technically Greenwich--and I am exhausted. However, it has been a great week and I am so thankful for the time with my parents.

Monday... well I had a final at 9am in the morning yet I stayed up FaceTiming my parents until 1am and then studying until 3:30am. Then, I went to take it the next morning and finished it in less than half an hour and then had a plan to meet my parents at one of the stations in downtown Sevilla. Well, I got there super fast and tracked my parents on Find Friends and decided to surprise them and meet them halfway down the Avenue. I was walking on the sidewalk right by the cathedral when I spotted them... I knew they didn't expect to see me there and they were on the other side, too, so they were far enough away...I doubted they would see me. When I was almost directly across from them, I sprinted across the road and ran into their arms. It was a glorious moment. #moviemoment and I never wanted to let go. After some tears were shed and love was spread all around, we went to the neighborhood where I lived and had some classic Spanish breakfast--a toastada thing with a drink. I'd never eaten out for breakfast and I didn't get anything, but I guess this cafe was pretty good. but not the best Spain had to offer. However, it was a very local place and the camarero (waiter) came up to us and, when I asked for menus, he said he was the menu so I had to do the translating for my parents. Then, he did the bill all in Spanish without any paper or anything, as well, so it was a great chance for me to show my parents how much Spanish I had learned. We then went to my apartment where I showed them around and then told them I hadn't packed yet. So we proceeded to spend the next few hours packing all my stuff and trying to make sure my bags weren't going to be too big or too heavy. Why are bags so restricting? There's just too many rules... well we finally were getting close to finish around 4:30pm and we were all starving. We were going to go to a cafe and get some food but, of course, it was right during siesta time and everything was closed. I had never experienced that firsthand, so it was strange, but I told them we would do what Spanish Kellie did all the time and go to the supermercado and get meat and cheese and olives and lentils and go back to the apartment and eat there. It worked out because I got to say bye to my friend, Miguel, at the Jamon supermercado, and I even took a photo with him. And then he gave me a gift of chocolates as we said goodbye. That night, I was going to go back to the Airbnb with my parents but decided I wanted to have one last dinner with my host family so I could give them their gifts and say a proper goodbye. I sent my parents in a taxi back to their place with my luggage and then Carly and I had one more night together of sitting in our comfy beds and then going to dinner. It was really hard to say goodbye to my host parents, but they loved their Christmas gifts and we had a great dinner...my host mom is such a good cook. Then, I hopped on the bus and met my parents at the mushroom, which is a famous attraction in Sevilla so they could see it and we could walk around for a bit. They got to experience the culture of the Spaniards being out even late at night and even on a Monday night. We stayed in a really cool neighborhood that was lit up with Christmas lights. I loved our Airbnb--it was chilly like all Spanish houses, but it was modern and had nice accommodations.

Tuesday...we did so much walking. We only had one more day in Sevilla so I had to show my parents everything and we had to do it the Spanish way, which is walking. Also, because the metro doesn't really take you many places as far as touristy places go. So first, we walked to a breakfast place and had 'tortilla de patata' which is a Spanish egg/potato omelet and some coffee. The sun was out and we just soaked in the sun and it was glorious. We then found this maze of colored mirrors and played like little kids in it and took some photos. After, we meandered our way downtown where we were on a mission to buy a duffel bag or small suitcase as an overflow for extra things that didn't fit in our luggage. Mom found a very Spaniard, very cute duffel bag. After, we got some ice cream--which was yummy despite the somewhat chilly weather. After downtown, we walked through some Christmas markets in Plaza Nueva/Plaza San Francisco and then wandered down to the Santa Cruz neighborhood. There are a bunch of cool shops and streets behind the cathedral and it's away from the main tourist Avenue. We thought about going into Alcazar but I gave my parents a choice between exploring Alcazar, which is based on Game of Thrones and none of us are into, or going to a rooftop bar, which is a hidden gem I had stumbled across. I had wanted them to try 'Tinto de Verano' so they decided to go to the rooftop bar and this was actually my mom's favorite part of Sevilla. The sun was beautiful and shining right on us and we sat up there with our Tinto de Verano (Summer Wine is the direct translation for that... it's a mix of wine and Fanta soda) and cheese and bread and just enjoyed the view of the cathedral and chatted. It wasn't busy--it really had never been in the three times I'd been there. It was just perfect. After, we made our way to Plaza de España, which is a must-go for anyone visiting Spain. It is a beautiful park with a beautiful building that you couldn't capture in a photo even if you wanted to. It's too long of a building and a panoramic photo doesn't do it justice. Fun fact, a glimpse of it is seen in one of the Star Wars movies. The third one, I believe. So, as we were there walking around and taking pictures of the fountain, I remembered that I had forgotten to stop by the ISA office to pick up a certificate. Luckily it was only a ten minute walk so my parents got to see that part of my life as well since I did tutoring at the ISA office every week. I ran into quite a few friends downtown and really all over the city, which was fun. After the park, my parents and I walked all the way back to Triana on the complete other side of the city, which is the neighborhood most of my friends lived in. We met my friend Mary Jo there so she could meet my parents and then we walked along the river so we could look at the houses in Triana. After we walked down the main street in Triana, we decided to sit at a bench and rest and people-watch. We had done about 21,000 steps at this point. I was going to meet up with a group of friends to say goodbye to them and then head to a farewell dinner at a hotel and so my parents went on their own and I met up with my friends at a tapa bar. We got drinks and a couple tapas and said our highs and lows of the semester. I was so thankful for the group of girlfriends I had made... they mean so much to me and it broke my heart to leave them. But "hasta luego" (see you later) is how I said "goodbye" because I know I'll see them again someday. We ended up paying our bill with all our coins that we wanted to get rid of. Our waiter was not super pleased but he was understanding, which was nice. Carly and I walked to the farewell dinner together since no one else wanted to go that far. It was about a 40 minute walk... just more steps for the day. The best part of the farewell dinner was the walk and chatting with Carly and spending one more evening with her. The actual dinner seemed awkward and I only went to say goodbye to Rubén and Lola, my tutor from UPO, and say bye to two friends. Well, my two friends never showed up and my goodbye with Rubén was super awkward... like all of our encounters. But it was an unfortunate goodbye in my opinion, but I at least got a picture with Lola and got to say bye to Tamara who was one of our main program directors from ISA. Carly and I were also late to the party and so we only stayed for about a half an hour because it ended quite soon after we arrived. It just was kinda pointless overall, but oh well. After, I said my final goodbye to Carly in Spain and then was going to take a taxi home because I was just too exhausted to walk another 50 minutes home. But then I remembered I still had to use up the money on my metro card and I could take a bus to a stop that was five minutes away from our Airbnb. I wasn't sure if I had enough money because I had used it with my parents the day before. Well the bus showed up within the next five minutes and I swiped my card and it beeped--.05 cents left on it. How much more perfect could that have been?! It's the little things in life that make me happy.

Wednesday... today was a travel day. We left for the airport in the morning and took a taxi. The taxi driver and I had a good conversation in Spanish and he was super nice. Then, we got to the airport and checked in our bags and Vueling (the airline) said we had three free bags we could check-in on top of our two already paid-for checked bags. We decided the less luggage, the better... because we had a layover in Barcelona for 45 minutes and didn't want to be running through the airport with it. We checked everything except my backpack and my mom's duffel bag. We were going to have a nice Spanish meal in the airport, except Sevilla has nothing to offer in that area. The airport is kind of a joke. Security was a breeze--as always--but then we had to settle for seven euro salads that weren't even super great. We finally made it on the plane and headed on our way to Barcelona. The flight was easy enough but then, when we landed, we realized that we only had 15 minutes before our next gate closed and it was quite a ways away from the one we flew into. So we were running through the airport, with everyone else that was on the same connecting flight as well. We were thankful we didn't have much luggage. We made it no problem, but they were already boarding once we got there. We got on the flight and headed to Prague. It was about 9pm when we landed in Prague and we were ready to crash. We landed and waited for our luggage except it never came... Oh no...we had a feeling it didn't make the quick layover. We filed a report where they told us we should get it the next day. We then had the choice to take a bus, metro, then tram to our place or just a taxi. However it was a 30 minute or so taxi drive but that's what we ended up doing because we were much later than we originally planned to be. We made it though and the lady who checked us in was so nice and her place was so adorable. It looked very newly remodeled and was super nice. The heat came through the floor--a feature very much needed in Spain. We were bummed we didn't have any of our stuff but we figured we would make due for one night. We were starving since all we had eaten that day was our overpriced salads at the airport, but it was almost 11pm and we didn't know the city so we just decided to go to bed.

Thursday... my dad and I had found a cafe that we wanted to go that had some yummy breakfast options. It was not a far walk from our place either. We started out around noon. We had a slow start...what can I say? I didn't realized Prague was hilly but we climbed a pretty big hill and trekked through a park and then, voila, we were at the cafe. It was sorta underground and it was warm and quiet. Mom and I had chai tea and dad had hot chocolate. The drinks were delicious! We then ordered an egg and meat breakfast and it was the first "real" breakfast I had had in almost five months. It tasted real good, although the sausage tasted a little strange. We sat there for quite some time and then went exploring. We ended up walking downtown which was a 40 minute walk or so but came across this market place in the middle of the streets with food and drinks. It was a Christmas market. There was hot wine and Trdelniks all over the place. My parents got a Trdelnik, which if you are wondering what the heck I'm saying (writing), it's a famous pastry in Prague that is like a cinnamon roll in a round shape. I'll post pictures below. I got hot wine since I couldn't eat the pastry... my mom thought the man who was selling them was cute and I admit he wasn't bad looking. It was pretty chilly but we continued to walk around because we were determined to find Old Town Square. We came across a couple more Christmas markets but then walked into this Plaza with this beautiful cathedral and then--BAM--a gigantic Christmas tree with a ton of markets and Christmas music and more Christmas-y stuff. We took our pictures and enjoyed walking around. After, we made our way to the Prague castle. It is up on a hill so it was more climbing but it was like a little town with the church and castle in it. It was great to go at night because there weren't that many people that were there. We enjoyed the lit up church and the cute little town that was endless. It would take hours to explore the whole thing. We figured out the tram on our way home (even though it took us awhile) and took it back to a place near where we lived. We stopped at this Oysteria restaurant and, although it wasn't quite what we expected, it ended up being pretty delicious. We had chosen it because TripAdvisor said it had a lot of gluten-free options, but the waiter ended up saying they didn't have many gluten free things and the menu was also on the board and written in Czech so it was hard for us to understand or decipher what was happening or what to get. Our waiter was really kind though and wrote down some things that I could have. I ended up getting this turkey meat with potatoes and vegetables, my mom got a Mediterranean salad and my dad got some kind of pasta. My meal was so good... the sauce that was on it was heavenly. I was a very happy camper and was pleasantly surprised. After that, we went back home in hopes of getting our luggage, but to no avail. The website said "Finding Luggage" or something like that--which did not sound good. It had already been 24 hours.

Friday... we had found this gluten free cafe place where they said they could fix gluten-free pancakes and crepes which sounded amazing to me so we headed straight there in the morning. We had a slow start again and it was about 1pm before we got there. My dad was trying to get our luggage found and was trying to make phone calls. He was supposed to have service because he had paid for a plan in London, but he was not having any luck. We finally said to send them an email since we knew that would go through and we had to continue about our day. Day 3 without luggage--that was not a good thing. Especially since we literally had nothing. My mom and I switched sweaters this day since we had worn the same outfit two days in a row. We were starting to get real creative. Well, the food at the cafe was INCREDIBLE. I can't even begin to explain to you--my mom and I got coffee to start and my dad got hot chocolate. We all agreed we liked the drinks at the first cafe better, but the food..... oh my good.ness. (That's pronounced: good-ness with a pause between the two words.) We split a breakfast plate with bread, eggs, bacon, sausage, and a salad and then split a plate of gluten free cinnamon pancakes, maple syrup pancakes, and crepes with strawberry marmalade inside. MMMMMM. If you weren't hungry before, I bet you're drooling now. We gobbled every bit of that up. We decided to go back to our Airbnb after that to wait for our luggage. We ended up just lounging around and watching a movie. We had a great set-up at our place. In my parents' room was a flat screen tv and I had my computer and HDMI cord so we watched Christmas movies or some kind of movie every single night. It was a big bed that we all snuggled together on, too. We finally got our luggage at about 6pm that night and then went out to dinner after to celebrate...and just to eat dinner. My dad called to make a reservation and it didn't go through again so my mom and I finally decided to help him because we figured he was doing something wrong. He was typing in the international codes and area codes wrong. He thought the airline numbers he had been given were faulty or even just "busy" lines and he had tried calling them for hours that morning... we won't speak of all the wasted time. At least I got to sleep in... but we finally helped him figure it out! Even though it's near the end of the trip now... Anyway, we went close by to this pub/Italian type of restaurant. It had really yummy food, as well! We stuffed ourselves... we got hot wine (by accident). I ordered regular wine I thought, but we ended up with hot wine, which was good, expect my parents never drink so my mama was pretty goofy. We all had some kind of pork but I had grilled pork stuffed with mozzarella and dried red peppers. It was sooooo good. Again, the sauce made it so heavenly... We had a good time just sitting there and talking and enjoying everyone and everything around us. My mom noticed they play English music no matter where we are. We were right by a heater and then, after drinking some hot wine, I was roasting. But then, you go outside and cool right off... it was quite cold in Prague.

Saturday, we made it downtown again but this time we figured out how to get 24-hour passes and used the tram to take us downtown. We went to go see the dancing house (an attraction) which was pretty cool, but nothing super exciting. Then, we walked across a bridge that we thought was the famous Charles bridge so we were taking photos of it and everything when we finally realized that it was not the Charles bridge. Whoops. So we walked through the park towards the real Charles bridge and then came to the Lennon wall, which is famous in Prague as well. We took our one photo of it and then came across this incredible very Christmas-y decorated restaurant and decided to eat there. I'll post pictures... there is no way I could describe it well enough. The waiters were wearing Santa hats and there was Christmas music playing. It was cozy and there were lights and ornaments hanging all around with a snowman lantern, a sleigh, and poinsettias too. There were Christmas cups around and it was just wonderful... it was my kind of restaurant. Our waiter was a little on the grumpy side or appeared so and I wanted to call him the Grinch but I didn't know if that'd be appropriate in a different country... Mom ordered the best apple cider of her life that tasted like an apple strudel dessert. I had a winter wine drink that was hot wine with cranberries and raisins in it and dad had hot chocolate with homemade whipped cream. Then for food, dad and mom both had goulash (beef) with dumplings and potato pancakes. I had mushroom risotto that was quite tasty. After, we walked across the actual Charles bridge and took some pictures and just enjoyed all that was around us. I love exploring the city and walking around downtown and coming across all these fun places by accident. I like not having google maps out with a specific place to go all the time. We were walking towards Old Square...or at least that was the goal, but the streets are so all over the place and they don't make sense so it is easy to get lost. Well, I was craving a gluten-free pastry and I was looking all over for a good place to go and we were standing outside this cafe. I finally looked up and inside the door in the glass cabinet was a pastry labeled "Gluten-free." It was literally right in front of my face! It was a chocolate cherry brownie so I got that to-go or as they say here in Europe "as take-away." Mom wanted another Trdelnik and dad wanted some yummy hot chocolate or something. We finally made our way to old town square again which was cool to see in the daylight. Dad got a chocolate crepe and mom was going to get her Trdelnik but decided she liked the ones from two days ago better. I personally think she was hoping the same guy would be there to serve them, but she said they made theirs different there--more round or something like that. ;) So we made our way to that square and as we came across it, there was a group of carolers in front of the Christmas markets. But these were not any ordinary carolers. They were a group from a church called International Church of Prague and they had a screen for words all put up and were singing Christmas and worship songs. It was a #Godmoment and a #moviemoment. We all got emotional standing there singing Christmas worship songs in a different country half-way across the world from our home. It was nice to be surrounded by others that love Jesus like we do. That was just icing on top... mom got her Trdelnik and then we were going to go back to the original cafe, Cafe Jen, from the first morning for some drinks, but it was closed. At this point, we were glad we were close to our Airbnb so we just went home and snuggled on that bed and watched a movie with some hot chocolate that we had gotten at the store a couple of days before. We started with this movie called Hot Fuzz, which is a United Kingdom movie...but it was just too much for us. We couldn't take it... sorry, my wonderful English friends that like it so much... but then we watched V for Vendetta which I thought was pretty good. Then, we packed up and got ready for another travel day...on to London.

Christmas Eve!!! Merry Christmas Eve... we figured since it was a holiday (or practically, not officially) that there wouldn't be many travelers. But there were quite a few. We made it to the Prague airport using the tram, metro, then bus. We did good with all the luggage, but there were quite a few stairs and such, so I got my "Crossfit workout" in as my parents like to say. I was relieved to make it to the airport and then we made it through checking our bags with no problems which is always good because we are always afraid they will be too heavy. But then it was strange because we had to go through customs, which we weren't expecting. We made it through that but then, there was no security. We were confused. We made it to our gate "section" and then realized that security was at each gate or a group of gates. It doesn't make sense to me... and European airports also don't tell you your gate until 45 minutes before departure so it's like they are setting us up for failure... ugh. Well, we decided we had enough time to eat and then get on the plane. Well, we found this Mexican restaurant that was similar to Qdoba or Chipotle and ate there. We weren't there a super long time but then we realized we should probably head to our gate. The security line for the "B gates" was taking forever and we were afraid the gate to our flight would close. We were waiting in line when a couple comes up and asked if they could jump the line because the PA just announced that it was "Last Call" for their flight. The whole group goes, "We are in the same situation." And we all realized we were in line for the same flight that had said last call. We decided later that they do that just to scare you... We had to take a bus to our airplane because Ryanair is too cheap to pay the airport for their walkway connector thing. We made it on the flight and, luckily, we were priority boarding so we got some advantages there with our luggage and such. Oh and a quick funny story... I was getting on the plane and my seat was in the emergency exit row. One of the Ryanair workers came up to me and goes, "How old are you?" I go, "21" and he said "Okay, I just had to make sure because you look young." I asked him how old he thought I was and he said he had to make sure I was above 18. I was offended and said, "18?! That's three years off." He said it is a good thing to look young and that if it weren't for his facial hair, he would look young too. He then asked how old I thought he was and I guessed super young since he had told me that about his facial hair... I said 22 even though I figured he was older than that. He said "I'm 25. Aha, you were three years off. Now we are even." Boy, I was (fake) fuming. It was funny though. I slept most of the plane ride with my headphones in and my music loud since Ryanair never stops talking to you and trying to sell you things. We made it to London but then realized where we were staying was about an hour and a half away. We were trying to figure out the best way to do it and decided to take the train and then the DTL train or something like that. Well two hours later, we made it, but let me tell you... those underground stations are not meant for luggage. I got about 10 Crossfit workouts in today by carrying my luggage up and down stairs. Whew. We finally made it... stopped by a grocery story to get snacks and then planned to order pizza. We ended up going to this restaurant called Pizza Express and it was probably the best pizza I have ever had gluten free. That's hard to say because I am finding more and more yummy Italian gluten-free places (believe it or not) but this was amazing food. We got these dough balls that were gluten-free with garlic butter and I enjoyed them so much. I also got a gluten free beer and then an amazing gluten free Margherita pizza with pesto. I had my pizza and beer... I felt like one of the boys. We finished our Christmas Eve out with a brownie dessert--also gluten-free and also delicious with some vanilla gelato and a strawberry slice. The walk was even fun because it was through a cute neighborhood where kids and families were coming out of Christmas Eve services with a "candle" made with a glow stick stuck in an orange. Real creative London... I think I'm going to like you. I'm already in love with this city and I have hardly been here or seen the city. It's the accents that get me. They are wonderful...except it's weird knowing they are speaking English because I don't understand them very well... we shall see how I do over the next couple days...

Well, Merry Christmas once again mates (a very common word here in the UK). I hope it is wonderful and full of good cheer and celebrating the real meaning of the holiday. I apologize for the long post... so much has happened this week. Only one more post to go since we come home on Thursday. I'll write my next and final blog on the plane ride home on the 28th of December. I can't believe this chapter is really coming to a close... But then, a new chapter shall begin!