13 Bucket List Items Completed in 2013

One of my Christmas break goals was to make a Bucket List. After a full day of blog reading and wanderlusting, I finally finished. Since I have an obsession of making lists, a Bucket List is kind of like the ultimate list project. It also was partly a way for me to deal with fact that this is the year that I graduate and remind myself that there are fun things to do in the real world too. But being myself, I didn't feel completely satisfied that I couldn't include (and more importantly cross off) some bucket list items I already completed so far. Since this whole blog is essentially a self indulgent journal (and proud of it), I figured I would include the bucket list items that would have been completed if I had made the list one year ago:

13 Bucket List Items completed in 2013:

- Paris with my amazing boyfriend. It's the city of love and staying in an apartment, eating snails, going to the top of the effiel tower, frolicking at Versailles was all made even better by having Scott there.

- Go to Aushwitz in Poland. I never wrote about it on the blog because it felt a little disrespectful, but it was an incredible and depressing experience. It really changes the way you view history and humanity and made for an extremely reflective morning.

- Eat a belgium waffle in Brussels. This was pure deliciousness. Somehow, Scott and I only ended up having one Belgium waffle (and one mini one) during our weekend in Brussels, but the taste did not disappoint.

- Studied abroad in Europe. I don't even know where to start on this one, but Prague is one of the best cities in the world, and it was the best experience of my life.

- Learn some of a new language. I may not be great, but I was pleasantly surprised by how far my Czech came along at the end of the semester. A highlight for me was having a little conversation the young Czech girl at the Prague Zoo. I have never felt so accomplished after exchanging names with an 8 year old.

- Eat pasta in Italy. I love food and I love carbs even more. I think this is a pretty common bucket list item and something that I was looking forward to ever since deciding to go abroad. From pasta carbonara, gnocchi in white sauce, linguini and mussels, to ravioli with truffle sauce, I ate so much that I had to lay down at one point. That is a sign of success if I've ever heard of one.

- Grand Canyon. My Grand Canyon bucket list was made possible by Scott. I always wanted to see the Grand Canyon, but I had this idea that I would see it on a spontaneous trip. Seeing and walking around the Grand Canyon as a surprise road trip was perfect.

- Swim off the Amalfi Coast. You know those experiences that you can't believe are happening even while they are happening? Boating around Capri and jumping into the water felt like a movie (besides the very cold water) and was one of my favorite memories from abroad.

- Swim in the Adriatic Sea. Also cold, but the water was so beautiful. The seafood was amazing, the place was amazing, and the pebble beach was amazing. Also included in this section is river rafting in Croatia and all the adventures there.

- Go clubbing in Berlin. I had heard about Berlin's crazy nightlife, and I feel like our successful Saturday night met my expectations--a club called Matrix under a subway station complete with gogo dancers playing electric violins and dancing in cages.

- Storm a football field. Also known as the time my life felt like a football movie and the time that I did not get trampled. The whole experience ended with purchasing and passing around a bottle of Fireball whiskey.

- Girls trip to Vegas. Oh Vegas, the best place to be dressed up and 21. Bonding moments with the crew and ego boosts all around. A girls trip was definitely the way to take on Vegas because 1) getting ready became half of the party and 2) we only spent money on our dinner together.

- Have a crazy 21st birthday (and hangover) With my 21st birthday on a Tuesday and work the next day, I wasn't sure how my crazy birthday dreams would work out. Luckily I have amazing friends who took me out for a fancy drink at Terranea and then for a crazy night in Hermosa. It was fun that on a less crazy night I was the only birthday in the bar, and had a ridiculous number of drinks bought for me as a result. I wouldn't have changed any part of the night even though it brought the birthday appropriate hangover from hell.

Last Day in Prague

My last day in Prague was a little surreal. Although I left on Friday, the morning before my flight was spent cleaning my apartment before turning in my keys. So, Thursday was my last full day in Prague, and I planned to spend the last few hours saying goodbye to my new home.

After volunteering at the kindergarten for the last time (and being given two bottles of becherovka as a thank you), I met up with my friend Diana to hang out for the day. Her apartment was having a goodbye lunch at Radost--the vegetarian restaurant-by-day and club-by-night spot we had spent many Thursday nights. I had a half of two different types of veggie burgers that were delicious and ordered my last Czech beer. Although not traditional Czech food, I had enjoyed pork knee with dumplings the night before at one of my favorite restaurants U Kroku with my friend Lauren and her family. Some of the best restaurants in Prague aren't traditional Czech food, so I felt like I was covering my bases before leaving.

After lunch, Diana and I headed to the nearest potraviny to pick up some souveniers and Czech goodies to take home. I bought four 50 ml bottles of beer (you're welcome dad), carmel wafers, and bagel chips to share back at home. After we sufficiently stocked up our suitcases, Diana and I headed from our apartments back downtown to do some last Prague adventures. Our first stop was the Waldenstien Gardens by Prague Castle. While we went to Prague Castle again a week ago, we had missed these gardens on our visit. The area was beautiful, but what we really came for was to find the albino peacock. After searching through the gardens, we got extremely lucky. Not only did we find him, but also managed to catch him with his feathers up long enough for us each to get the picture.



We had also hunted down some acrylic paint and paintbrushes, and set out to do one of the last things on our Prague To Do List's: painting the John Lennon Wall. Although I don't think either of us are the most artistic people, painting on the wall was really cathartic. It was fun and relaxing, and not to mention funny when a huge group of tourists spent about 15 minutes taking pictures of us. We took our time, and were both proud of our end products. I couldn't think of any better way of spending our last day in Prague. It was the perfect last "interaction" with the city that I've fallen in love with, and leaving my mark on the wall gave some closure to the end of my time living in Europe.


We stopped by Kampa park to take a photo with the Chrny babies by a man who recognized us as the painting girls before some of our last souvenir shopping. I grabbed some last gifts for my family, and picked up a key chain that has not left my car keys since I've been home. One last kolbasa for dinner in Old Town, and it was time to say goodbye.

After a whirlwind of packing, cleaning, and scrubbing that stupid spot on the floor in our bedroom, I suddenly found myself on the taxi to the airport. Even though I was really excited to see everyone at home, I found myself tearing up in the ride over. There's very few places in the world where you can drive by architecture ranging from Romanesque to Gothic to Rococo with a cab driver who has lived most of his life under communism, and I was going to miss it. Moving into my first apartment in a foreign country was hectic, but I wasn't sure I was ready to leave my cute little apartment with wood floors and big windows despite the loud family of pigeons living outside my room or the impossibly small and lacking kitchen. As I said one last dekuji to my driver, I was sad that it would be my last time practicing a foreign language in an immersive environment for a long time. Leaving felt surreal and I definitely felt like I wasn't done with Prague quite yet.

Although I inevitably have a few regrets--mainly not traveling around more in the Czech Republic--but I know that it is impossible to do everything. I met some great new friends that made the experience so much fun and having Scott in Europe made Prague feel like home since day one (seriously, a life saver--it was like having your best friend going through the exact same thing you were and an instant travel buddy). Studying abroad has been one of the best experiences of my life and has definitely awakened a need to travel more.

So I'll save myself from more corniness (embarrassing post but necessary in a "journal" aspect), and just say that Prague was the best place for me to be this past semester and I can not wait to make it back to the Czech Republic.

The Study Part of Studying Abroad

Contrary to how it seems in the blog, I did actually participate in the study part of studying abroad. My previous semester at USC had been a little rougher than usual since I was getting my final writing requirement out of the way, so the program's already relaxed classes and work load did not take up much time. In addition, all my classes were being taken for credit, so all I had to do was pass. Despite the lack of my usual, grade-driven motivation, I did get some valuable education from the classes I took.

Nation, Power, and Money--Seduction and Propaganda

This class was by far my favorite. Our professor was teaching CIEE students for the first time, and was really eager to keep us all interested. It was a 3 hour class on Monday evenings, but every class had a really interesting topic--from Nazi and Communist propaganda, Czech women in advertising, ostolgia (how Czechs look back on the Communist times with rose colored glasses and miss it), to racism and the Roma population (wrote my final paper on this). Not only was the readings and lectures the most interesting of my classes, but we also had great events. One class we went to a Czech newspaper publication house and interviewed the editor (translated by our teacher). But the best class was our "Communist feast." In honor of our ostolgia topic, our teacher brought all the meats, candy, cookie, cheeses, and drinks (non alcoholic) from his communist childhood. It was a ton of fun trying all the food, including kofola-the Czech version of Coke that they are die hard fans of-and traditional spa cookies which remain one of my biggest obsessions. The coolest part of the whole experience was reminder that everywhere we went, we were walking with people who had lived through communism, experienced revolution, and adjusting to democracy. That in itself is one of the most amazing things about living in Prague and learning about Czech culture and history--it is still really relevant today.

Art and Architecture

My next favorite class was this art history course. It was very simple (except the final took me a little by surprise), but I felt like I learned the basics of architecture (and some art) which was a necessity to truly appreciate my trips around Europe. Not only did it give me base to understand what I was looking at, but our teacher also had a 2 hour tour of places in Prague that had the architecture we were learning at. Because of this class I went to places I may not have gone before, and this class was one of the best decisions I made. Lucky for me, USC suggested this class so I was lucky enough to get in since no one on the waitlist stood a chance. Some places our field trips took us: inside the walls of and around Vysherad, astronomical clock, Church of our Savior in Mala Strana with the wax baby Jesus, Troja Castle, Prague City Museum, and Strahov Monastery. I also went to the mandatory day trip at Sychrov, Dlaskův statek and Valdštějn. It wasn't my favorite trip (Kunta Hora was much more interesting), but it was a pretty area with a nice hike at the end, and our free lunch at a swanky hotel blew us away.

Central European Politics

I was taking this class for my major. It gave a good history about all the Central European countries (Czech R, Hungary, Poland, Austria, and Slovakia), although I really wished there was more of a focus on current events. When we were there, Czechs just elected a controversial new president and their old president Klaus just was charged for high treason because of an amnesty act he pushed through. Hungary changed their constitution for the worse and was being condemned by the entire EU (I actually wrote my final paper on this). While the class was very educational, it was our teacher who was fascinating. Not in the way he lectured, but because you could just tell he was one of the more intelligent people you will meet in your life.

Czech National Identity

This was by far my least favorite class. I did learn a lot of Czech history, heroes, and political figures, but the teacher was fairly condescending and a hard grader. He wasn't interesting, but we did have two out classes. One to the National Gallery to see Mucha's Slavic epic--an actually really cool art exhibit from a really famous Czech artist. Each painting was huge, and probably over 10 feet high. And two, to Bethleham's Chapel--the only church built by Communists and used as a subtle (or not so subtle) propaganda tool. We also went on an awful field trip to Most. The city known for it's ugly landscape and pollution which was cold and not pleasant. There was one great thing I got out of this class however. For our final paper we had to interview two Czechs about our topic. I wrote about Czech women's national identity and the fight for women's rights in the country. I was really lucky that a representative from Forum 50% agreed to speak to me, and it was one of the most interesting conversations I had with a Czech. She explained her ideas on the history of women's rights and where they are today, and why she is passionate about it. She was really nice and helpful, and I was really lucky that I was able to have that experience.

Czech language

I knew I wanted to study abroad in a country that spoke another language other than English before I even knew where I wanted to go. Once I realized how much I liked Russian, I realized I wanted to continue learning a Slavic language and Prague became my obvious choice. A LOT of people in the program hated this class. But, I actually enjoyed it (as much as you can enjoy an early morning class), and felt that I had a pretty decent understanding of Czech by the end of the semester. The program started off with a two week intensive Czech course with 5 hours a day 5 days a week, so we definitely dived head first into learning the language. Luckily I never really needed to study because there were a lot of grammatical similarities between Czech and Russian. It was enjoyable and definitely cemented my random interest in Slavic languages.

Volunteering

By far one of the best decisions I made studying abroad was volunteering at Skolka Pisnika. I taught their kindergarteners English with another girl in my program, and although at times it was overwhelming it was an amazing and adorable experience. They were really cute and excited, and overall I know they made my experience with the Czech culture much richer. Plus I got to pick and hang out with my favorites (little Amalka and Matias!). A nice bonus? Two bottles of Becherovka as a thank you! 

Frolicking in Prague

Living in Prague for a semester means it would be impossible to blog about every little thing I did. I don't have pictures to show the little bakery underneath our apartment that I did my best to not eat at everyday, the view on my walk to school, the random restaurants I ate at and loved, or every fun activity I did. But I want to remember as much as I can, so I thought I would do a quick collection of some fun things I did throughout the semester that haven't fit into any other blog post (PS if you want to see all my Praha activities check out some of my past posts):

• Swan lake at the National Theatre. While I also went to the opera Madam Butterfly, I quickly realized I am not a fan of opera at all, but did love the ballet. You win some, you lose some in the game of having high culture. The Nardoni Divadlo (National Theatre) is one of the most beautiful buildings in Prague, and a source of pride for Czechs. While the outside is under reconstruction, the interior was stunning. You walked through the amazing theatre and sit in your red velvet and gold seat and wish you were in a floor length gown. It was one of my favorite memories in Prague
  
  
  
  
  
• On one of the first sunny days in Prague, my friend Morgan and I started to work on our Prague bucket list by going up to the Petrin look out tower. On a side note, I created a pretty expansive bucket list in April, and while I didn't get everything done (I had to remind myself that wasn't physically possible), I was happy with how much I checked off that list. Beer garden, paddle boating, Prague Zoo, Futbol game, Gardens, etc. The Petrin tower is supposed to be technically as tall as the Eiffel tower, but the Czechs cheated by putting it on top of a huge hill. It has some great views of Prague, and we made sure to bring our cameras.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Speaking of Petrin hill, I made it up there again to visit the mirror maze with my roommate Kerri and friend Diana. I had read about it in one of my travel books and put it on my to do list. It was really small and cheap, but ended up being a ton of fun.
  
  
• Memorial for the Victims of Communism.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• I already mentioned the Easter fair in my post about visitors in Prague, but it was the common hangout place for the three weeks it was here. My roommate and I tried tons of food (chocolate covered fruit, kolbasas, chicken and veggie kebabs, crepes, tredlniks, and beer), and shopped. I bought a sterling silver ring for 300 krowns, and still have not gone one day without wearing it.
  
  
  
  
• And I wish I could sum up all my going out experiences, and put it on paper blogger. But I'll always remember staying out to 5am at Karlovy Lazne, Retro Wednesdays, Radost Thursdays, underground bars, the random art gallery bar 5 stories up with a paper sign, beer, becherovka, and vodka with limes.
  
  
  
  

Plus much, much more.

Visitors in Prague

The best part about studying abroad was that Prague became my home for four months. It remained one of my favorite cities in all of Europe, and I kept falling in love with it as the weeks went on. I couldn't wait for people to come visit me so I could show off that I knew the public transportation system, recommendations for bars and restaurants, and the big sight seeing places.

Mid March
My roommate of two years (and soon to be three), Madison, was the first person to visit me in Prague. She stayed in a hostel with three of her friends from Florence where she was studying, and I met up with them that Friday. After mixing up the meeting place, I tried to redeem myself by taking them to Café Louvre for lunch. Most of us got a arugula salad with cranberry dressing and baked goat cheese for lunch. It was fantastic, and studying abroad has definitely created a love affair between goat cheese and me (see my trips to Paris and Italy). Since Café Louvre is known for it's desserts and drinks, we also had some hot wine and dorts (cake). I had a blueberry dort that tasted like a mix of cake and pie, and came with a little bit of vanilla ice cream.

After warming up with our food, we went to have a quick look at Wenceslas Square and then walked to Old Town. The Easter Fair was going to start that Saturday, so we saw all the decorations and stalls getting put up. I had read in all the travel books that the Easter fair was a big event in Prague, so I was really excited to see it for the first time. We split up with plans to have dinner at U Kroku with some sorority sisters who were also studying abroad in Prague. I ordered my go-to Czech meal of goulash and dumplings and eventually our night ended at the bar U Sudu.

Saturday, I met up with Madison at the Lennon Wall where we grabbed some roomie pictures before looking around in Mala Strana for a place to eat. After lunch, we headed across the Charles Bridge and looked around the Easter Market. It was a ton of fun with window shopping, going to the very small petting zoo, and  grabbing some tredelnik (sadly, this one was average).

Another person in my program recommended we go to the bar at the Dancing House. While I've seen the building and walked by it before, I actually didn't know that you could go to the top if you bought a drink at the bar on the ground floor. We each grabbed a beer (Budvar) and enjoyed the views of the city. It was a great way to end our sightseeing part of the day. We had plans to go to the five story club and ice bar that night, so we parted ways to get ready.

Once we met up again we had some beer (Fenix) at The Pub, and then headed over to Karlovy Lazne to go the ice bar. The Ice Bar is exactly what it sounds-everything from the bar to the walls to the cups to the seats (with some fur thrown over those) was ice. The employees give you jackets and gloves, and put you inside the room for 30 minutes with one free drink. It was my first time going, and I had a lot of fun and was happy to cross it off of my Prague bucket list. Madison and her friends said they were pretty cold inside, but I felt great (it may be because Prague got me used to the weather or it was my first time wearing a puffy jacket). Since the Ice Bar ticket included entry to all the other floors, we spent the rest of our night at the club (mainly on the Retro floor). It was a ton of fun dancing to songs from Greece, and hanging out with Madison.

Everyone left the next morning, and I was so happy that Madison came to visit. It felt surreal that after talking about it for over a year, we actually were meeting up in Europe.

Early April
Allie also came to visit me from Paris. I was a little worried about how the weekend would turn out because I had two mandatory field trips o that Friday and Saturday from 8 in the morning to 5 or 6 at night. Luckily, Allie was really amazing about it and explored Prague on her own. Since she was staying at my apartment, she came over when I got home on Friday, and we went out for a typical Czech meal. We came back and skyped more friends from home, and went to bed on the earlier side around midnight. When I went to my second field trip, she explored the city more and we met up again for dinner with a bunch of USC people near Wenceslas Square. We debated for a second going out, but ultimately decided for McFlurry's and movies back at my apartment. Sunday morning, we had an amazing brunch of pancakes at The Globe, and tried to get some work done at my apartment. It was a super laid back weekend, and it was such a nice break to just relax with friends like we do back at USC and in Gamma Phi.

Last Week of March/April
Scott came to Prague twice--once with his study abroad program and another time for his last spring break. I already wrote about Scott's 5 day stay and all the great parts about it. The first time he came to Prague was for 4 days with his study abroad program. I met him that Tuesday night, and we went to U Sudu for a beer. Since it was my midterms week, and he had program stuff the next day we left around midnight and decided to Facebook when we were both free. Wednesday ended up being crazy for both of us (school with me and he'll have to tell you his story himself), but we met up on Thursday afternoon again. We hung out, and his trip leader was beyond nice and invited me to join the group on their boat cruise and dinner on the Vltava. It was really sweet, and when it was over, Scott and I hung out until it was time to go to Radost (the club where Rihanna shot her Please Don't Stop the Music music video).

Friday, we met at the astronomical clock at noon--an idea which seemed a lot better the night before since all the tourists and people at the fair where crowded around the area. Luckily we found each other, and hung out around the Easter fair. We got some food and looked around before packing up Scott's stuff from the hotel. We had a flight to Paris at 6 so when we got back to my apartment, I quickly packed up my things, and we made our way to the airport.

I wish my family also could have come visited because I know I would have had a ton of fun showing them around. But, having friends, roommates, and Scott come to visit made Prague feel even more like home and was a ton of fun.