Move in Day!

The day had finally come to move in to my new apartment in the heart of Prague and really immerse myself in Czech life and culture. By 8:45, I was standing on the stoop of my new place in Praha 2 (the city is divided into over 20 sections, so to be in Prague 2 is really great), Zahrebska 37. The apartment is a two-bedroom suite style apartment. One room has three beds and the other one has two. We have a full bath, a half bath, and fully furnished kitchen and bedrooms.

After going over the necessities with my coordinator, Iva, a student intern at AAU, I began unpacking some things into my new room (the one with two beds). Before long, Karen and Hillary came to get me so we could run into the city and do some last minute necessity shopping, like buying thermal underwear and gloves. The place we shopped, called the Palladium, was a massive six floor structure with two floors of parking beneath, and a grocery store attached. So, before leaving, we did a little grocery shopping. I got all the necessities like bread, salami, eidam cheese, milk, and eggs. But I also bought some comfort foods, like twix and oreos.

I dropped off my groceries at the apartment, running into two of my new roommates, who were severely jet lagged. Matt (we call him Kissler) and Eric, are from New Jersey and go to school at Syracuse. They both moved in to the room with three beds.

After meeting them briefly, Karen drove us back to Hillary’s to drop off the groceries and say goodbye (she was heading back to Wattenheim after leaving her cell phone on her nightstand at home). 

Hillary and I met her new roommate Zoie from Boston and planned out a walking tour of the city. It wasn’t an hour before we were out and about. We trekked the twenty minutes from her apartment to Winceslas Square. Once there, we took a few photos and walked the entire length of the square. We meandered through the surrounding area, heading northwest toward Old Town and the river. After deciding we had been out in the cold long enough, we headed into Starbucks to grab something to warm us up as we rested for a bit. The walk back took even longer than the walk there because we were so tired, and in all, our exploration had us outside for over two and a half hours in weather below twenty degrees Fahrenheit still.

Determined to explore more, Hillary and I headed back out in search of dinner. We walked nearly one mile before deciding that the first restaurant that we had passed looked the best. It was a Mexican restaurant. A little suspicious of having Latin food in the Czech Republic, we headed inside Casa Latina. As we entered, a man was getting set up to play some live Latin music. We chose a seat near the wall (it was apparently reserved, but we still got the table) and scoured the menu. I chose a chicken quesadilla and ordered a cuba libre (my first legal alcoholic drink that I have ever purchased). Hillary got a chicken skewer with bell peppers and a raspberry mojito. As we sat and enjoyed our drinks, we listened to the amazing guitar player sing us typical tunes in Spanish. The food was REALLY good, and this decision was based on the fact that we both got meals, drinks, and a side of some awesome rice and beans for around $15 USD, not to mention the live music we had too!

Being able to explore so much and have so much fun without a definitive plan made me so excited for the next day, and to see what else Prague had to offer.