Introductions

1-29-09
Yesterday we met our studio space - a very small cute apartment-esque building just outside of old town square. It has kitchens, a sunny work space, and is very cozy in general. We went to a pizzeria for lunch where I had some excellent minestrone soup. For dinner the whole group of us (about 20-25 people as a whole) went to dinner in a monastery with Dana and Art (program directors) we took two tram lines to get there, half of us got off a stop late (due to the psycho tram doors) and had to walk back, but the restaurant was very cool and lodge-like and the beer- Klaster - was excellent! (both light and dark varieties) I had a goat cheese salad with grapes and almonds and it came with this little grape-sized orange colored fruits that Dana thought were called “Kum Kwats” (definitely not sure on that spelling) they tasted like oranges and apricots with the texture of a plum. Very tasty. After dinner Art took us to a local bar called “Scheisse Katze” which evidently translates to “shitting Cat” or something along those lines. Anyways it was small and had a funky artsy atmosphere , so I really liked it. I tried a baileys latte -very good. And a few of us stayed late after the big group left and drank different varieties of cheap wine. It ended up being a very entertaining night that came to a close with me breaking a flower pot in the hotel breakfast lounge. Who thought it was a good idea to hand it to me- I’m not sure. But fortunately the damage was not severe and I was able repair it puzzle piece style. (no one appears to suspect anything, but I did get a little nervous when I had to return to the scene of the crime to search for my lost hat. The pot was intact and said hat was later found under bed.)
Today we met our Professors Nina and Lada (lahd-ya) at least I think that was his name. they were both very nice and up beat and have a lot of experience in the fashion industry, so I’m getting really excited to hear what they have to share with us. They talked a little about the projects for this semester, and I think I will really enjoy them. Next we visited the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague, with our new professors and saw some of the work of the students there. It was amazing. The garments and everything down to the sketches were amazing and so exciting and new. The other departments around the school had awesome work out too-a very creative and inspiring place. Lunch at a café after that then back to the studios for some cultural history of Prague. I was a little sleepy at this point but the information was actually very interesting and I jotted down fun facts* in stead of dozing. (*stay tuned) Anna and I also started planning our many weekend excursions across Europe. After all that our group did a long, cold walking tour with Dana - I’ve got a lot of places to go before I leave!- and headed back to the hotel to prepare for our 5:00am departure for Paris tomorrow. It’s couture fashion week! Tomorrow we get to see an fashion exhibition that only shows one weekend a year! We also get to pay almost three times as much for meals. . . maybe it only being a four day trip isn’t such a bad thing.

Lauren