One week to go..

Second to last week in Prague, ahhhh!

Sunday (4/12) was relaxing day on my own -a big part of our group was away on an all day philosophy field trip. I decided to explore the city area behind our hostel, but found it pretty dead with it being Easter day and all. So I came back to the hostel, gathered up our months worth of beer bottles and went to grocery store down the street to cash them in and get some lunch. The bottles earned me a 45 Koruna credit (3 Kc each!) so I picked up some cereal, milk and fruit (I’m craving the normalcies of home) and came back to eat it. After that I strolled down to a little park I found while exploring and sat in the sun for a while reading. It was very nice and there were actually quite a few people frolicking about the park. More milk and cereal for dinner (my addiction has resumed) and a pretty quiet night.

Monday 4/13
I woke up early to go tot the fabric store before studio, but after making the long trek out there I found it closed for “Easter Monday,” which is apparently a big deal here. Went to studio after that and made the muslin of my cocktail dress. Nina and Ladislav took us to Muzeum after class to see and old dress collection/exhibit. It featured some very old and unique wedding dresses from throughout the decades. Apparently people were extremely tiny before 1920, and also wedding dresses were not so often white.

Tuesday 4/14
I took a solo trip to go see the Prague castle, since I was apparently the only one who hadn’t gone. The walk up to it was a sweaty one, but the day was beautiful and so were the views of the city below. I made it there just in time for a small changing of guards on the back entrance at 11am. Inside the courtyard area I saw St. Vitus’s Cathedral and St. George’s Basilica but opted not to go inside due to the long lines and steep ticket price. I walked around the side of the complex through the Gardens on the Ramparts, which were sooo beautiful. Everything was in full bloom and chirping the morning away, and the view of the red-roofed town below was so pretty and peaceful. I could have stayed there for a while…but I kept moving toward the front of the castle where I witnessed the 12pm big changing of the guards -very formal and kinda boring. I saw the battling Titans on the front gate (sculpted in the 18th century) then made my way back through the inner courtyards once again and back down through the streets of Mala Strana. I made another more hopeful trip to the fabric store, and happily found it open. I picked out materials for my cocktail dress and a side project dress then made my way to the studio for beekeeping class at 2:30. Class was long and kinda dull as we learned about bee diseases and infestations (note: mites are gross and disgusting to watch videos of) I was also extremely hungry, so that made it feel a lot longer. After class I was grumpy, from having not eaten so I made some stove popcorn and headed back to the hostel to eat and de-grumpify. Jeremy and I walked around the dog park down the street later on and witnessed several psychotic dogs wrestling each other and one massive dog rape scene. I was not very pleased with a certain dog named “Humphreyyy!!” after that and so we left soon after.

Wednesday 4/15
I made my entire cocktail dress today (I was very motivated and barely took a break to use the bathroom) but I was very satisfied with the final product and myself afterwards, It feels pretty good to be done with all the work and ahead of everyone else.. Stress free :) We had our last fashion history class as well. I had chicken and rice for dinner and left for the hostel afterwards to fit in a run. Excellent night for a run; perfect weather.

Thursday 4/16
I didn’t have much to do in studio, so I wrote my final fashion history paper, then worked on revising the Prague handbook, since it is seriously lacking in useful information. After that we technically had fashion illustration but most people were in intense costume sewing mode, so it sort of got ignored. Gennie and I went for a stroll around town and bought some souvenirs, then we came back to the institute and I left after dinner again for another run.

Friday 4/17
Today was rainy for the first time in a while and chilly so it was a stay indoors kinda day. I didn’t have much to do so I decided to go into studio to work on my side project dress. I finished after dinner and once again was really happy with the end product. I’m definitely understanding garment construction better than I did before this semester and I’m producing more interesting designs with slightly more complicated constructions. I feel a lot more confident in my sewing abilities and I’m very excited about it :) Leftover chicken and rice for dinner and then early night to prepare for photo shoot on Saturday.

Saturday 4/18
Arrived at studio at 9 am to get our make up done by the make up artist, then final costume checks and we were off to the performance space for the photo shoot. Jeremy and I were the first ones to go (as Lysander and Hermia) and it was a little awkward because you never really know what to do in front of the camera, pose wise that is. But we gave it our best try and I think there were some good ones. Blakeley and Gennie joined us next and I think the pictures got a little better. After our group was done Ladislav whipped out champagne to get everyone feeling loose (a little late Ladie!!) so everyone else’s pictures went pretty smoothly and we all got a little giddy and took silly pictures of our own. We also ran through the play/performance once or twice and determined that it probably just wont look that smooth. Oh well.

We finished up around 4:00 and after a fun but long day we treked back to the studio and immediately started seeking out food. I had a chicken nugget snack then went back to the hostel to await our Thai food plans for 6:30. I went to “Orange Moon” in the flora mall with Brian, Blakeley, Eleanor, and Laura-Nelle. I ordered fried rice with chicken and vegetable and it was delicious. After dinner we got ready to go out early because the place we were going offered a discounted cover price of 50 Koruna for arrivals before 10pm. Worth it! We went to Karlovy Lazne, the “Biggest Dance Club in Central Europe,” which has 5 floors with different dance themes and lounges. The few of us that went early bought beer and played a few drinking games up on the fifth floor while waiting for the group that just couldn’t leave that early. They arrived around 11:30pm and we all spent most of our time on the 80’s themed 3rd floor with the light up floor. As a bonus I found a cute, fun pair of white rimmed sunglasses on the ground of one of the floors which I kept as a souvenir. whoo! Jeremy and I left around 1:30 feeling severely dehydrated and stopped in Wenceslas square for some juice while we waited for the tram. Fun day and night :)

Sunday
Today I went with Terry, Jeremy and Andrew to this crazy big scenic mountain/hill that is on the way to the airport. I had been wanting to go hike around there for a while and they wanted to go too. So we used the path, which ran through a pretty field of dandelions, to climb up the smaller of the mountains then decided to climb down this mountain, in order to climb up the other one (they were not connected) it was a really fun climb down that ended in a little babbling brook. then we were on our way up, through a field of blooming pear trees and verrry steep dirt trail and finally, after a little heaving, at the top of the big mountain in the bright green grass and refreshing breeze. Aaaaah, serenity. The views all around were beautiful and it was nice to just lay there in the grass for a little while enjoying nature. After a few replenishing snacks, we spread out Jeremy’s stolen airplane blanket and played several games of hearts (which I am really beginning to enjoy.) We played 3 rounds or so and I ended up winning , having only accumulated 1 point. Andrew, who was also a beginner, came in second. Haha the novices conquer all. After that we began our climb down and back up and back down over both mountains and back to the real world where studio work awaited (but not for me!) we stopped at the mcDonalds at the bus stop for some more sustenance. I got a strawberry milkshake that didn’t compare to a Cookout milkshake, and thus gave half to Andrew. Wonderful morning and afternoon. I would love to return to that area if time allows me. Plan for tonight is movie at Flora mall (with popcorn!!)
I’ll be home in a week (…where has the semester gone?!)

Lauren