Week 2!

As you all can tell, I have been very busy, and am finally finding the time to sit down and write something. As I update this blog, I must admit that, yet again, I am stealing a page out of Hillary's book- and doing a Top and Not Top 5 for the week instead of doing details and boring you all out of your minds. I have to note, however, that the credit for the idea, really belongs to Hillary's dad, Rob.

TOP 5 (in no particular order)

1. Cooking for myself (with Hillary doing most of the work)
 This week has reached an all time high for adventurous cooking escapades. While we fell back on our default meal of nachos once, we also experimented with Spaghetti Carbonara complete with garlic and pepper chicken. We tried asian food on Valentine's Day- making a form of Pad Thai Chicken on jasmine rice. Today, we even made cheesy eggs and bacon for brunch. If I do not come home 15 pounds huskier (for you, Glo), I will be very surprised.

2. Goulash
 I finally splurged and got some traditional Czech goulash with bread dumplings. While the meat reminded me of my mom's pork barbecue from home, mixed with a completely different sauce and paired with some thick dumplings, goulash may be my favorite Czech meal- with the exception of fried cheese- but I guess that is not a huge surprise to those who know my eating habits.

3. Exploring
 Every day, Hillary and I find an excuse to walk in the city. Whether we are exploring a part of the city that we did not know about or a part we have already seen, the ability to just walk the streets is amazing. I am loving being able to explore with no strings attached. Luckily, our school schedule is not very tenuous, and we have found plenty of time to walk around the city and our local neighborhoods seeing all sorts of really fun and exciting things. Our adventurous spirit coupled with number four on my top ten is sure to make this trip an amazing one.

4. Eurail Passes!
 Tired of trying to find the cheapest rates to get to tourist destinations, we finally decided to go all out and buy our Eurail passes. Covering 23 countries and lasting 3 months, Hillary and I are all geared up to go out and travel with almost no strings attached. The passes even came in the mail super quickly, and we are looking forward to testing them out tomorrow on our way to Brno (the second largest city in the Czech Republic). On our list of destinations for the semester are Budapest, Ljubljana, Paris, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Munich, Berlin, Bratislava, Geneva (all of Austria and Switzerland with my sister for Spring Break), London, and Dubrovnik/Split. Armed with our passes, we are ready to conquer Europe and really see as much of the continent as we can. Because our classes end at 5:30 on Wednesday, we have most of the week to go out and explore! Even train trips of 24 hours will not hold us back because we still have two days of exploration even taking out time for travel home!

5. Warming weather
 If you have seen any of the pictures, or apparently followed any of the news, you probably know how incredibly cold it has been in Prague the last few weeks. While I knew the temperature would be cold,  I was not expecting the bitter chills of negative temperatures Fahrenheit. We have dealt with a few days of snow and ice, and obviously bitter cold. This week, however, the temperature has promised to climb back to more tolerable numbers (like the 30s). Today, as we trammed to my house to make brunch, we both remarked on how nice it felt today- thinking it may be shorts weather- only to find it was only 33 degrees out... It was also raining a bit. Tomorrow may even hit 40, and the shorts are seriously threatening to make an appearance.

NOT TOP 5 (in no particular order)

1. Getting kicked off the tram for eating ice cream
 Like the typical tourist, I didnt know the rules of the tram and hopped on eating an ice cream bar that I had just bought at the grocery store. Within two minutes, the conductor asked me to get off. I followed his orders, and threw my ice cream away before trying to get back on the tram. As I turned back to board, the conductor shut the doors. I had to wait a few minutes for the next tram, and Hillary had to wait on the other end for me to finally arrive.

2. Always just missing the tram
 Like the story above, Hillary and I like to joke that every time we walk to the tram stop, we watch it pull away. What started as a joke is now a reality. No matter what time of day, or what stop we try to board, it always happens.

3. Laundry
 Not only do I not like doing laundry because I am a lazy boy, but the machines here are all in another language, and are incredibly small. This means that I have to do laundry more often, and with smaller loads than usual. Which really is not that bad, it just takes some adjusting to.

4. Breaking strings
 I know this title sounds weird- but listen. Within two days I have had two different strings on articles of clothing break. One was my shoelace. Which was incredibly frustrating, because I had to go for a few days with no shoelaces before I thought to improvise and use my dress shoe shoelaces, because I have not found an opportunity to wear my dress shoes yet. The day before, the elastic band on my fleece (the inner lining of my winter jacket) broke. This one really shocked me. I had never even tightened the string, though I probably should have to prevent gusts of wind from getting through. Anyway, one day, on the tram, I reached down, and felt the string dangling from my jacket. Really not a big deal, but odd nonetheless.

5. My inability to hold things in the kitchen
 While this last week has presented many opportunities to cook and try new things, I am also finding that I have a lot of trouble holding on to things. The night of the asian food, I dropped half a bowl of rice into the sink- which was okay- I had made 6 servings of rice on accident. The next day when we were making carbonara, I dropped the bowl of sauce on the ground just before we needed to add it to the pasta. The pasta ended up being good even without a lot of the sauce- but I am learning to let Hillary do the things that require transportation within the kitchen.

Honorable Mention:
Prague Castle and St. Vitus Cathedral
The remnants of Carneval in Old Town Square
Finally seeing the astronomical clock go off
Church of St. Nicholas in Old Town
Museum of the City of Prague
Shopping centers (Palladiums)
Shopping at the grocery store (Tesco)

What to look for next week:
Our day trip to Brno
Trip to the end of the line (to be explained later)
Hockey game at O2 Arena
Day Trip to Pilsen
Hopeful trip to Budapest
More cooking adventures (comment if you have easy ideas)