Prague!! After a long and restless journey I am here (and safe - mom) British airways was wonderful. Free socks, eye pillows, toothbrush and toothpaste, headphones, and a pink pillow with blanket! What more could a girl ask for?. . Hmm perhaps an adorable airplane size bottle of red wine? DONE! Served chilled with dinner. Naturally (in the perfection of the situation,) my fumbling body couldn’t resist testing the boundaries of my new found ease and relaxation, so it promptly spilled my cup of red wine on my new suede boots. Apparently clumsiness travels with you overseas. But, as if British Airways had know me all my life, a refreshing towelette was awaiting me on my tray to mend the situation. . .Sigh. Airplane bliss.
After landing in London, I was surprised to be thrust onto a shuttle immediately upon exiting the plane. 15 minutes and several bumpy roads later and I arrived at the real airport?? Anyways pretty smooth flight to Prague. We ran into some more NC Staters there and all shared a rather treacherous shuttle to the hotel. We received our ID’s, metro passes and room keys. A nap came shorty after, followed by more arrivals, a trip on the very speedy metro, (and its very steep escalator) dinner and beer at a restaurant called rustika, and a jaunt to the local grocery store for cheap beer sampling. Beer sampling and card games followed. A very good first day and now I am exhausted. Orientation tomorrow at 9:30 am.

-Lauren

Got some serious packing done today, and in doing so seriously underestimated:
1. the square footage of my hair care products
2. the awkward/inflexible shape of high heels
3. the unsquishability of a wool coat
4. the amount of charger cables i own/need
5. the capacity of my favorite purple suitcase :( (suitcase#2 commences tomorrow)

But on the bright side, I discovered some promising unread books in my closet for the plane ride, and remembered to pack a jar of peanut butter (don't freak out! it's a pre- devastating salmonella outbreak jar, circa august 2008) Why pack a jar of peanut butter you ask? Well besides the fact that it is creamy and delicious, it is also a scarcity in foreign countries, i.e. Peru, and now it seems the Czech Republic as well. Who knows how these people have survived without pb&j sandwiches all this time... but I suppose the wide variety of delicious beers makes it easy to not care :)

czech language progress
nerozumim - i don't understand
jak se mate'? - how are you?
tento - this one
tam ten - that one
banka - bank
voda - water

I'm starting to get very excited! and also managed to get my dentist very excited for me during my crown yesterday!

-Lauren

11 Days till I Leave for Prague!
10 Days till i technically, really, officially have to start packing
11 Days till i embarrass myself trying to speak Czech (see progress below)

Czech words i have mastered (in practice, not pronunciation*) :
Dikuji vam (thank you)
Dobry den (hello/good day)
Proseem (please/pardon)
chlad pivo (cold beer)

just the essentials for now - fluency to follow shortly

*If anyone speaks fluent czech/can imitate a czech accent please contact me immediately

-Lauren