The weekend that I returned from Paris, my friend Luke visited me. He is currently teaching English in a school in Dortmund (he's a Fulbright Scholar!) Him being in town reminded me of all the things that I fell in love with about Prague in the first place. All the streets are cobble-stoned! The beer is so cheap! Everything is really old and pretty!
Many of the Americans in my group were out of town for the weekend so we were able to freely enjoy the common room. Since then, it has been a disgusting mess--the garbage can overflowing with beer bottles, the sink overflowing with dishes. The excuse that I've heard for people not cleaning up after themselves: "there's no soap." Nevermind the fact that pretty much everyone has soap in their own kitchenette in their suite.
Here are photos of the very nice room that the program constructed for us:
Here are photos of the very nice room that the program constructed for us:
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| (note the flat-screen) |
Or the photos on the dorm's website (in which I am featured).
As you can see this room has a lot of potential, but it is rendered almost unusable by those few who destroy it for everyone else. Sorry, I'm a bit bitter.
Back to Luke--I took him to all the old haunts. The Hanging Cup (the cafe that we went to on our first night in Praha) provided us with sustenance for our walk around the city. We went to the castle and saw the main attractions while of course drinking lots of beer. I was able to introduce Luke to burčák also, which is a young wine that is only available in September and October, although wiki says it can be sold from 1 August to 30 November.
Some more photos of St. Vitus:
The next day we went to the Design Expo in Prague 7, an area where there are lots of galleries (like DOX).
They chose a venue that is used for concerts. It's called the Kulturní Centrum Vltavská.
It's enormous, with many floors--a former enormous administration building. Each company had a room to themselves, most of which were former offices. Of course the nature of the expo lends itself to inventive use of the space:
There were definitely varying levels of effort put into the presentation. But I think the space made up for it. It flowed very conveniently but also in a way that at every awkward turn or dead end served as a reminder of how effectively bureaucracy can dictate the atmosphere .
Later that night we went out, again, for more beer and some dinner. We found pretty cheap food fairly easily... we are in Prague.
Got some pictures of Saint Wenceslas (Václav) at the top of his square, and compared them with David Černý's Wenceslas Riding a Dead Horse (I'm not sure if that's the correct title).
I was so glad to have Luke here and look forward to my visits from Vicki and Danielle!
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| burčák |
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| site of the defenestration of prague |
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| sgraffito on the Ball Game Hall |
The next day we went to the Design Expo in Prague 7, an area where there are lots of galleries (like DOX).
They chose a venue that is used for concerts. It's called the Kulturní Centrum Vltavská.
It's enormous, with many floors--a former enormous administration building. Each company had a room to themselves, most of which were former offices. Of course the nature of the expo lends itself to inventive use of the space:
There were definitely varying levels of effort put into the presentation. But I think the space made up for it. It flowed very conveniently but also in a way that at every awkward turn or dead end served as a reminder of how effectively bureaucracy can dictate the atmosphere .
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| a stool--solid rock on the bottom, wood on the top |
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| all made out of pulp |
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| plate |
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| definitely the best room |
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| "bloody mary" |
Got some pictures of Saint Wenceslas (Václav) at the top of his square, and compared them with David Černý's Wenceslas Riding a Dead Horse (I'm not sure if that's the correct title).
I was so glad to have Luke here and look forward to my visits from Vicki and Danielle!
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