3/24 (accounting for the last month or so)

So,

The other day I went to McDonalds and got a large French fry (or is it fries?).

I then had to use the men’s room, so I followed the indicating signs and reached the door. Upon entering there was a woman sitting at a table with a metal bin next to her. I started to walk to the urinal, and she pointed to the compartment, then pointed to a sign underneath that said “15 crowns” (which is the equivalent of 7 and a half cents U.S.) Apparently I was supposed to pay to use the bathroom. What is this? I asked the woman (who couldn’t speak English) if this service also included wiping. She told me she didn’t speak English. Whatever. I definitely didn’t feel good about it though. And no, the payment only included the receptacle… no added benefits. Needless to say, I was pissed off.

…pun, yerp.

Umm, I don’t believe I’ve posted since I was in Vienna, Austria. Let’s go one at a time.

We took a $20 bus trip to Vienna and it was actually pretty fun. They played departed on the first leg of the trip. Additionally I was joking around with a really cute Czech waitress who worked on the bus (the joke was playing off of her limited English… if I wrote it here it’d be lost and I’d look very corny). It was based on chocolate tea…. Ignore it. Anyway, after the ride I asked her for her number and she gave it to me. We’ve been texting each other. We’ll see what happens… although if something does happen it won’t be on here. Sorry.

In Vienna we went out to a club and Austrian’s were less then friendly to us. Upon walking up to a girl I had a hand shoved in my face as a form of rejection. I simply walked up and said hi. Through her hand I asked if she knew where the bathroom was. Her open hand (still 2 inches from my face) then changed into a pointer finger, showing me where the restroom was). That’ll humble you. I eventually, after a few Austrian rejections realized (much like American girls) I had to be more subtle with my approach. Despite this, I consider Austrian’s (at least the ones I encountered with the exception of the few I hit it off with) to be unfriendly. In their defense though, I will say that while I was talking to a few girls, some Austrian guys kept coming up dancing to the girls with absolutely no regard for their reaction. I suppose this would make any girl well guarded.

The following day we went sight-seeing. We first went to the Parliament, but the tour didn’t start for an hour and a half. As a result, we went ice skating. Videos are up on facebook. I pulled out my back. My athleticism definitely is demonstrated here. Lots of fun though.

We then went to the Parliament and got a tour. The tour given by a bilingual guide who first spoke in German, then English. In one part of the tour as she spoke in German, I wandered into the other room and got a picture sitting in an official looking chair. She later took us into the room and told us that the chair I had sat in (which she clearly didn’t know) was where the president of the provinces sat and was strictly prohibited for anyone else to sit in.

After our tour, we went on a wine tasting with girls we had met during the tour (who also study abroad in Prague). Videos of that are up on Facebook too. The best wine I had tried tasted literally just like Honey. Mad good.

After this we went to “Haus Der Muzik” or House of Music. This was cool because Vienna is an extremely musically rich city and I was able to learn about those famous composers born there (namely Mozart and Strauss). My favorite quote of Mozart’s was (this is me paraphrasing) “It is a great misconception to this that I do not work hard on each of my musical creations. I put in great time and effort into every piece of music I touch.” Gotta love that.

That night for dinner we went out with my roommate Jesse’s family friend. He is a mid 20’s? jew born in Austria. Besides taking us out for a very generous Austrian meal (I ate weiner schnitzel and altweiner erdaepfelsuppe) and drank a beer that was literally black in color (very heavy but very good). Most notably though, he shared with us probably the most interesting and horrific stories I have heard since I have been in Europe. He told us the story of his family (who experienced the Holocaust) and told us some of the most horrible things I have ever heard. He also told us how anti-Semitism still runs rampant in Europe (especially Austria). To be honest, to this point while I know the story of the Holocaust, it was never really real to me (if that makes sense). Hearing his stories that directly affected him hurt me inside and enraged me. One thing he told us though, that I thought I’d share, was that the custom of hitting alcoholic drink cups (or shot glasses) down on the table (or bar) before drinking was initially started by Nazis. They did this to make other Nazi’s aware of their presence in their environment. I’ve been knocking my shots down on the table for the last few years habitually… I’m now done with this.

I also got a Ciggarette burn in Vienna walking through a crowd some random kid’s cigg burnt my forearm. He nonchalantly apologized. I think there should be different degrees of apologies. His apology would’ve been appropriate for accidently stepping on my shoe. Pretty weak.

That same night I met two Austrian girls. They both had a punk rock feel to them, I guess you could call it. One of em points to my dog tags that I always wear and asks if she can try them on. I then pointed to her mouth (where she had a lip ring) and told her she could only wear my dog tags if I could try her lip ring on. This girl didn’t have the best grasp on English, so I think when I was pointing to her mouth she thought I was attempting to leverage my dogtags with a kiss. She then turned to her friend standing next to her and proceeded to make out with her. Like… it wasn’t at all what I was trying to accomplish, but I definitely wasn’t disappointed. When she finished hooking up with her friend she then pointed to my dog tags again. She probably earned them by the aforementioned act, but I held out and still said I wanted to try on her piercing. Her friend, who spoke better English then she did, then came over and explained to her what I was asking to do. She then raised her shirt and took her ring out of her belly button.

The last night in Austria we wandered around the Bermuda Triangle (which is a strip of bars in Vienna). While here we befriended midget (or maybe he was just really short) and two other business types. Somehow a congo line got started in the middle of the bar. Everyone joined in (the midget’s arms could barely reach the dudes shoulders in front of him). After partying with the midget and the two businessmen, I spoke to them and they told me that they were all from Istanbul and if we got a chance we should visit them there. One of the men gave me his business card. Nice guys, but I don’t know about that.

Upon getting home from Austria, I decided I needed some T.G.I.Fridays in my life (more specifically I needed their chicken tenders). Two of my roommates and I went after class one night and I was pumped. We sit down, order, I request ranch dressing on the side, the server says they don’t carry it. This probably isn’t a big deal to other people, but for me the ranch dressing is just as important as the tenders in my meal. They also didn’t do free refills (which I was sure they would because they do at home). Free-refills are definitely taken for granted in the States. Another thing taken for granted in the states is being able to get all of the packets of ketchup that you desire at McDonalds for free. They charge you for that here also.

The following weekend I went to Dublin, Ireland to meet up with Josh, Zack, and Conor. Though they flew in on Friday, it made more sense for me to fly in on Thursday night then meet up with them the following day. Although I was planning on having a nice, peaceful, and quiet night at the sick hotel I got for a night, it ended up not turning out like that because I met a girl in the Prague airport who was also traveling alone. She and I hit it off and went and got Dinner in Dublin together. She and I got lost at one point and were standing on the corner looking at our maps. An irish guy walked up and offered assistance. This may sound trivial, but in Europe, outgoing helpful people are hard to come by. I had many more of these friendly encounters throughout the weekend which made me like Ireland a lot. After walking around the city a little with her, I said goodnight and went back to my hotel (the Royal Marine Hotel). It was unbelievable, not only because of how nice it was, but also just being able to sleep in a room alone was fantastic. They also had a great internet connection, so I was able to get all of the music I’d been wanting to download (the best was definitely Jadakiss’s Kiss My Ass Mixtape… Fiiiiire).

The following day I met up with the boys at our hostel, we dropped off our bags, and did some exploring. We went to the Guinness Factory. I’m not a big Guinness guy, but it was still interesting walking around their factory and stuff. At the very top of the Guinness factory, there is a bar overlooking Dublin where you can receive your complementary beer (which was clearly not complementary because you pay for the tour… just wanted to clarify).

Weird/funny/gross story:

I asked a man standing at the bar if he’d mind taking a picture of all of us. He obliged and took it. He then turned to his friend and pointed my camera at his friend’s crotch region. We all gave him a courtesy laugh because he’d just taken the picture for us. Ha ha, we got it, funny. But what happened next completely surprised us. His friend unzipped his pants and actually removed his penis from his pants. Keep in mind this was in the middle of the bar area so there were plenty of people standing around. The “photographer” then snapped a photo of his friends junk and with a smirk handed me back my camera. Quite shocking. The worst part though was that I then had to go in my camera and delete the picture (which meant I had to look again). Wasn’t a very big fan of this. Pretty funny though.

The following day we went to get lunch. I haven’t really explained this yet, so before my Emergency Room story, I figure I’ll get everyone caught up. I have a life threatening allergy to any kind of peanuts or nuts. As a result of this, I had little cards written up in most of the countries’ languages I thought I’d be traveling to (Czech, Spanish, French, German, Greek, and Italian). Luckily, Irish people speak a lot of English so I didn’t think I needed a card written up in Irish. I was mistaken. At lunch I explained to our server my allergy, she said she understood. After eating my meal, I started to get one of the symptoms (itching in the back of my throat). I immediately approached the manager and wanted to make sure there were no nuts in my food. He replied, “I don’t know why your server didn’t tell you, but everything in our kitchen is surrounded by nuts. You had no business eating here at all.” Awesome. Josh and I then went to the E.R. for two hours. My symptoms stopped altogether and we were eventually able to leave and meet up with Conor and Zack at the Parliament.

After the parliament (which was awesome because we had a very well informed and interesting tour guide), we stopped at a shop and to my surprise they were selling Cadburry eggs. I bought 5 and a jug of milk and was on my way. Fuckin love those things.

We then went to a pub and watched the Dublin vs. Wales game on TV. The irish people were screaming at the top of their lungs in the bar. Men probably 3 times my age were drinking me under the table (we noticed this one old dude run through Guinness beers like they were nothing).

Our last night we went out to a club in Dun Laogerie… unbelievable night. Literally, you wouldn’t believe it.

Coming home was nice… I got all caught up in Lost before I had to catch my plane to go home.

That week was a really fun one in Prague.

Tuesday night went to all you can eat place for my birthday dinner with all of my roommates… it was unbelievable. I don’t remember ever being that full in my entire life.

Wednesday night (my 21st birthday) we pre-gamed at my apartment (and I took a shot with my mom through Skype), then went to beer factory, then mecca… I was done.

Thursday morning I woke up and threw up two times in my apartment… once in the cab… once right outside of the gate in the trashcan. The people sitting in the gate 5 feet from me didn’t really seem to appreciate it. I simply couldn’t help it.

Got into Barcelona safely and took the bus then the metro to Josh Zack and Conors apartment.

Later that night Josh and I went to my Miami friends, Lauren and Dayna, apartment. Hung out with them for a little.

We didn’t go out that night because I was still so hungover from the night before… instead we watched the new lost epp. Sick one.

Friday Conor gave us a tour of Barcelona, saw a lot of Gaudi Architecture (he showed me his first commissioned work and we ended at his last one). We saw crazy street performers and I had fun attempting to communicate with people who didn’t understand anything I was saying. Silly Spaniards.

In Spain, they speak both Spanish and Catalon … no need for English. Not many people speak it there. Little by little my Spanish came back to me though. I know people think that going to school in Miami automatically makes you a pro in Spanish…. Not true, you can get indignant if they don’t speak English and demand their manager (I’ve never done this, but you can).

That night for dinner we got tapas which was really good with a bottle of house wine. Afterwards we then went to a bar to pregame for Razzmatazz. At the bar we met some funny foreigners (Austria, Spain, Portugal, and somewhere else I don’t remember). The Spaniard insisted we speak Spanish to him while he spoke English to us. It was actually pretty cool, my Spanish isn’t as bad as I’d remembered. We then went to Razzmatazz and went crazy. It’s like a huge rave. We walk in and there’s a full band on stage and everyone’s dancing wild. We then explored and there were a ridiculous amount of rooms all completely packed out with people. Some rooms were playing hardcore house while some were playing 80’s hits. We counted 7 rooms while there, but I’m convinced there were more. It was set up like a warehouse. We lost conor early on in the night (losing someone was pretty easy to do considering how crowded it was). We then left and went back. Great night.

The next day Josh and I met up with Lauren and her friend from home to go to Tibadabu, an amusement park in Barcelona. It was great. We rode a roller coaster, went on the swings, did bumper cars, and rode a ferris wheel.

Later we went shopping and I got some sick new Nikes and a hat from Foot Locker (good thing I got something that I wouldn’t be able to get back in the States, haha).

That night we went out again and had a great night again.

When walking home from the club I noticed across the street a cute little puppy standing next to a man and a woman. I started making baby sounds at the dog and the dog started to run across the street. As this happened a car screeched to a stop right in front of the dog. I yelled “Lo Siento” (which means sorry), but the owner was furious. He started rambling in Spanish. Only phrase I made out was “NO LO SIENTO!!” I thought it was really mature of him to hold me responsible for almost killing his dog when his dog wasn’t on a leash. What a douche.

Barcelona was a lot of fun though. Great birthday weekend. Once again, it was nice to be back in Prague, though.

That week the only standout unique thing I did was I went to the Salvador Dali exhibit. It was actually perfect timing, because in the exhibit I read that Dali was inspired by Gaudi’s work (which I’d just seen in Barcelona).

That weekend I was sick, though, which was bound to happen soon enough considering how frequently I’d been going out. It worked out though because we didn’t have a trip planned that weekend, so I was able to take it easy. One cool thing I did, though, was walked through the Jewish Quarter in Prague and then found this pathway which lead up to the tallest point I’d ever been to in Prague. It overlooks the entire city. It’s a little park where there are lots of skateboarders and people with dogs. Very cool spot… I’m gonna go back there at some point to hang out.

Also that weekend my friend from school, Brett, was in town visiting his girlfriend Anna (who lives next door to us). It was nice to see him.

That week I gave a presentation on Bernie Maddoff in my Business Ethics class and I think I did very well.

Thursday morning we had a 6 oclock flight to go to Amsterdam (which meant we had to wake up at 4 o’clock). This was pretty wack, but it was a small sacrifice for the trip.

We got into Amsterdam (which is in the Netherlands) and found our Hostile (shittiest hostile ever).

Our first night we shared our 3 bunk-bed room with a South African guy named “Hank.” He was nice enough, but sharing a room with someone you don’t know is very sketchy. The 2nd night we didn’t share our room with anyone, luckily. The last night one of our friends had already left so it was just us four… or so we thought. We were woken up at 3 AM to four people entering our room. They said they had a reservation. Despite there being 2 open beds, we had paid for one of them and they clearly didn’t reserve the room for four people. I was too tired to protest, and I guess my roommates were also, so our last night there we slept with 4 random people in our room. This will be the last time I ever do anything like that again.

Back to my weekend in chronological order… after putting our stuff down at the hostile, we then found a coffee shop. Below I will list all of the coffee shops we went to throughout the weekend.

Paradise, Kadinsky, Rookies, Bulldog, Green Place, Dampkring (where scenes from Oceans 12 were shot), Abraxas, Doors Café (themed all around the band), and Grey Area.

In Amsterdam, marijuana is decriminalized. Below is the dialogue from Pulp Fiction to clear up any misconceptions you might have.

Vincent: I break it down like this: it's legal to buy it, it's legal to own it, and if you're the proprietor of a hash bar, it's legal to sell it. It's legal to carry it, but that doesn't really matter 'cause get a load of this, all right? If you get stopped by the cops in Amsterdam, it's illegal for them to search you. I mean, that's a right the cops in Amsterdam don't have.

Yup, so you walk into any coffee bar and they have laminated menus with the different kinds of weed they have to sell. They sell hash. They also sell pre-rolled joints. It was like nothing I’d ever seen before. In the doors Café, I started talking to a guy who works there and he spoke to me for about five minutes on the dangers of cigarettes. He was preaching to the choir because I’ve never tried a cigarette in my life, but it was still amusing to hear such a laid back Dutch person speak so viciously about cigarettes. I agree with him though.

After our first coffee bar we walked around and watched a street performers comedy/escape from chains inside of a stray jacket routine for an hour. Afterwards he invited us to get a beer with him at a coffee bar he knew of. We hung out with him for a little bit, but then left to go to the Van Gogh Museum.

It was very impressive. The exhibition is so relevant because Van Gogh was from Amsterdam. The coolest thing we saw was the original “Starry Night” painting. This year was the first time in 20 years that Starry Night had been on display back in Amsterdam. Also on display was Van Gogh’s portrait of Eugene Boch and The Potato Eaters. It was really cool seeing all of that.

That night we went to an improve comedy show which was actually pretty funny. It was interactive so they appreciated suggestions from the audience. I was obnoxious and made at least two suggestions while there.

For dinner I got all you can eat ribs which were amazing. We ate at a restaurant that put the March Madness games on the big screen… on a side tangent this kid on our program organized a huge 10 dollar tournament. There are like 40 guys in it. As of right now I’m tied in second place.

The following day we did a walking tour of Prague which was interesting. Our guide told us not only about the city but also interesting facts about the Red Light District. The Red Light District is a strip where girls stand in glass rooms with beds for people willing to buy sex with them. Our guide told us that the average going rate is 15 minutes for 50 Euro (roughly $65 U.S.). He told us that the girls pay 150 Euro to rent their cube for 8 hours. After having sex for 45 minutes these girls have already made back their initial costs. I guess they also have overhead such as sheets, lubrication, toys, etc… but cmon, they’re probably making bank. Hoes is smart.

We also went to the Roor shop, which was crazy. They have some of the coolest glass I’ve ever seen. I took a picture of some of their bongs.

On Our last day, we went to the Anne Frank House. It was a very sad. That’s all I want to say on that.

After Anne Frank we went to the Heinekin Factory which, comparatively, shits on the Guinness Factory. They gave us 3 free beers and the tour itself was actually interesting.

To describe my Amsterdam trip in one word, I’d have to say, “Gluttony.” I overindulged myself in all possible ways. I ate more than I’ve ever eaten and drank more coffee then I’d ever drunk. All in all it was great, but I doubt I’ll be going back there anytime soon. When I got back to prague I passed out hard.

Following day I had a midterm so I studied all day… I do have a story though that I think represents the difference between Prague and the U.S: While I was studying in Bohemia Bagel (Prague’s premiere bagel spot), I ordered and paid for a bagel and cream cheese on an Onion Bagel and a Turkey Club on a plain Bagel. After waiting for 5 minutes I walk over to where they place the food when it’s ready and saw a bagel and cream cheese on a bagel that appeared to be onion and a turkey-like sandwich on a plain bagel. I took both, sat down, and took a bite out of the turkey-like sandwich. Within a minute or so one of the Czech workers approached me and said “That’s a turkey with swiss, and that’s a spinach bagel with cream cheese.” I first was curious who likes spinach bagels, but that was beside the point. I indicated to her that I’d already taken a bite out of the turkey with swiss. We then walked back up to the counter and I exchanged the spinach bagel with cream cheese for my Onion Bagel. The person working their then spoke in Czech to her worker for a little bit, then said “since you already took a bite from turkey with swiss, you can have that and you can have the turkey club for no charge because otherwise we’ll throw away the turkey club.” I suppose this was the most honorable thing for them to do, but it was still suprising to me. I basically got rewarded for my poor bagel identification skills. Not a great story, but I could totally see people in America taking the Turkey with Swiss back and then throwing it out simply because I didn’t pay for it. While I’d understand the logic there also, I still respect the way the Czech people handled it more.

I think my Advertising Midterm Exam went okay (my professor told me after class that he doesn’t like giving standardized tests but the curriculum makes him so as a result he’ll basically “help” the kids out at the end by modifying the midterm if it’s needed that bad). Really nice guy. He’s from Macedonia (it’s by Greece). Fun Fact about Macedonia… it’s where Mother Teresa’s from.

Sorry it took so long for me to post this, but at least I didn’t give up on it, right?

Much Love and at some point I’ll update all of my blog postings with pictures (probably no time soon).

Stay in touch… PEAAACe.


~FINK

2/16/09

Whatupp,

Being the extremely worldly individual that I am, I decided I’d visit some museums while I’m in Europe. It was Valentine’s day so I thought I’d go somewhere relevant to the Holiday. My first stop? The Sex Museum. A few new friends I’d met the day before and I took a trip there and WOW was I impressed. I saw some contraptions that I swear I’ve seen in Brookstone or Sharper Image before… just maybe for different uses. Remember the full leather body suit in the end of Pulp Fiction? They had a few similar ones… but also had them in the assless variety. The funniest thing though, I thought, was they had a huge sheet with a hole around the crotch region. I couldn’t help but think of the Curb Your Enthusiasm episode where Larry David, upon receiving approval from his wife as an anniversary present, found a foreign woman who would have sex with him (don’t recall her nationality right now). He was informed that he had to cut a hole in a sheet and bring it with him to the room if he wanted to have sex with her because of her unique belief system. This was clearly untrue and lead to an awkward exchange (as it usually does in this show).

I digress.

Anyway, that was funny… I took pictures and might post a few of them here.
On a related topic, another interesting fact I found out is that Jewish humor isn’t thought to be as funny abroad as it is in the U.S. I went to lunch with my family friend (who lives here) and his Czech girlfriend Saturday (the 14th) and the topic of Curb Your Enthusiasm came up. My family friend told me that he watched an episode with a European once and they didn’t laugh at all and after the episode simply said “that show makes me feel uncomfortable.” It’s interesting because I think that uncomfortable situations are probably my favorite source of laughter.

Quick Story.

I’m walking down Charles Bridge with a few of my friends (it’s on my way to class) and I was feeling especially obnoxious that day. On the bridge there are a considerable amount of “free lance workers” earning their living (such as artists selling their paintings, caricature artists, trip informants, and my favorite: an older man standing in a carnival uniform with a stuffed animal monkey resting on top of a huge box that he cranks to make music come out). You must understand, the rest of the categories I mentioned at least involve some degree of skill. Even the trip informants must, at the very least, be knowledgeable about the vacations they are trying to sell. But here’s this guy standing there cranking a wheel making music come out of it. It wasn’t even like he had a real monkey to motivate people; just a fake one. Anyway, I found this to be hilarious because I’d already seen him a few times at the same spot, so clearly this was a career choice. So we’re walking on the bridge towards the end of the day and I see the man leaving his designated spot (apparently this was when his work day came to a close), and I start screaming and pointing at him “OH MY GOD MUSTVE BEEN A HARD DAY AT THE OFFICE!!! WOW, GOOD THING THAT MONKEYS THERE, THAT WAS DEFINITELY THE DEAL BREAKER!!” … then the old man starts screaming at me in Czech and shaking his fist. I couldn’t tell what he was saying, but this unassuming old man totally turned threatening. The conclusion to this story was that I felt guilty about it because even though it was kinda funny… it just didn’t sit well with me. So a few days later I walked up while he was in his “cubicle” and gave him a nice little tip. He definitely earned it. Picture of the guy is below.



Back to my lunch with the family friends… we went to an Afghani restaurant and it was actually really good. Our family friend asked our server where in Afghanistan he was from and the server told us (I don’t remember where). My family friend then replied, “oh, I’d like to visit there sometime… is it nice?” And the server stone faced replies “No... we are at war” and just stares at my family friend. After about a 3 second silence the servers like “so what can I get you to eat?”

Soooooo awkward.

I told our family friend and his girlfriend about my encounter (that I described in my last post) at the night club with the Czech Girl. This couple is young by the way… mid 20’s? Anyway, I was more curious in finding out how Czech and European women in general react to Americans hitting on them in night clubs. She said that there definitely are stereotypes about Americans (like they’re fat, stupid, and materialistic) but if I approach nicely and respectably they’d be receptive.

Tangential funny joke about the American stereotypes and how I fit into them…

My roommates asked me if I wanted to join a gym with them.

That was the punch line.

Back to the lunch.

So I was very relieved to hear that I could start hitting on European women… that night I went out and was 3-0 (nothing notable happened with them, but everyone I walked up to were very nice and we spoke and danced a bit).

This weekend my roommates and I are traveling to Vienna Austria, which should be sick. We also booked our spring break trip, which is just going to be in Italy. I also booked a trip to meet up with Josh, Zack, and Conor in Dublin and I booked a trip for my birthday weekend to go to Barcelona (should be wild). My roommates and I put together a tentative schedule for where we will be every weekend and because I don’t know whose reading this… I’ll list where I’m visiting but not their designated time slots.

Italy (a few different cities), Dublin, Barcelona, Krakau, Berlin (maybe Munich?), London, Amsterdam, Paris, and Greece.

I might be missing one or two because the list is not right in front of me… but I’m pretty excited. There were a few trips I wanted to make that I don’t think I’ll be able to fit in (like Interlocken, South of France, Turkey, and Budapest), but it is what it is.

We now have internet in our room which is awesome (but videos – like lost – keep buffering). I’ll catch up eventually.

Something else that’s cool… the guy I spoke about in my first post from Prague who is from Cape Town and Nigeria listened to my CD (“Days of Reason”). If you don’t have it, go cop it. And by cop It I mean I’ll give you one when I return to the States or I’ll upload it on a mixtape website or something. Anyway, the dude liked my cd a lot and he and his friend who supposedly raps also want to record some tracks over my CD. I don’t know how good they are, but I just think it’d be cool to have some dudes not from America hop on and see what happens.

Since I’ve been here I’ve only stayed in on Sunday nights. Gonna keep pushin.

Oh, and Sunday morning I went with a few friends to the illest brunch ever. I had French toast, a bagel and cream cheese, eggs, coffee, and an orange juice. I know it sounds standard but over here it’s hard to come by.

I think I’m going to Post this now then upload my pictures. Since I can edit my blog posts, I figure I’ll attach relevant photos (and irrelevant ones) to my posts after the fact. Stay in touch.

Much Love to everyone,
Fink

FIRST POST FROM PRAGUE

Yoo,

Today is Friday February 6th, and I have started writing this at 7:11 P.M. (meaning it is 1:11 P.M. on the East Coast). I'm currently hanging out in my apartment with my roommates. I share a 2 bedroom/1 bathroom spot with 5 other guys. It's kinda tight, but hey, so is a (insert inappropriate joke here).

ummmm... roomates are mad chill, I chill with 4 of em mostly. We've been here the last 2 days and went out the last 2 nights (pub crawl tonight). Wednesday night, the day we got in, we went out to this club,"Mecca" and there was a lot of Americans there... everyone was just trying to meet everyone and it was cool. In the club upstairs they played House music; downstairs they played Pop 90's music. For example, I heard "Mambo Number 5" by Lou Bega. Hillarious. Also I almost got in a fight accidently over this Czech girl. Here's what happened...


Me (to girl sitting alone): Hey... you look like your having a lot of fun sitting alone over there.

Her: *random language babblings*

Me: Oh that's cool... I don't speak English either, what are-

::I get shoved from the side::

Random Czech Guy (with 2 kids my size backing him): *angry random language babblings*

Me: Woooah, is that your girl

Random Czech Guy's Boys: We're sorry, we're sorry (broken english accent)

Random Czech Guy: *probably threatening my life in Czech*

::I bitch out and walk away::

End of Story


I mean, she was pretty hot so i guess i respect him being protective.. but come on now. 1 Of the biggest over reactions of 2009, next to Obama being elected. Ouuuuuch.

The flight here was awesome. They give you your own tv with select programming. I read my book for a little bit and sipped on some wine. Thought the wine would knock me out for the flight.. instead i got drunk and was obnoxiously laughing to myself while watching Family Guy and The Office... I didn’t, however, laugh at My Name is Earl or Everybody Hates Chris. That was either because they weren’t funny or because i got self conscious once my drunk died out and I started noticing the dirty looks I was getting. Anyway I didn’t sleep from my flight which technically got into Heathrow England at 7 o’clock in the morning their time (2 o’clock our time). Needless to say I still have had jet lag really bad for the last few days... been taking mad naps.

We're going out now so I'll continue my update tomorrow if i get a chance.


Whatup... it's 9 oclock at night on Saturday February 7th and we just got back from Tesco (Prague's Target equivalent) and got all the necessary bullshit (I made sure I could find ping pong balls and solo cups for ruit... and a panini press... and ipod speakers)

I think i finally now have my bearings about the city at least a little bit... I can find basic shit. We live right next to the ill bar that a lot of people go to, called Chapeau Rouge. Like, location wise we're killing it. Our apartments been really good for pre-games and whatnot thus far and the bar I just mentioned is the spot if nothing's going on, also.

Our internet sucks so i'll probably have to go to an internet cafe to connect, but I'll make it work.

Be back soon

Now it's 1 oclock Monday Feb. 9th, sorry all of these have all been so sporadic, but I've been on the go like crazy. I'm currently in my Criminal Law class so this will be a short post, but I'm gonna go to an internet cafe later today (between classes) to do a full post on everything that's happened up to today. Then i'll start posting chronologically.

Oh... and my Criminal law teacher looks like Sean Penn. That's it. Paaaace.

Now it’s Wednesday February 11, at 9 PM. I just got back from my fifth class (and last class). Yup… I only have classes Monday through Wednesday. They all seem pretty chill though, not too strenuous I don’t think. They’ve been cool for meeting people though.

2/12/09 – 6:56

As far as us going out thus far, these are where we’ve gone: Mecca, Chateau Rouge, a 5 story club, Beer Factory, Kross Club, and this bar where I wanted to kill myself (it was like heavy metal house music, terrible combo). I’ve been out every night since I’ve been here except for Sunday night, and it’s been equally crazy every night.

At Kross Club I learned of a sick international rapper named Bow Wave. I didn’t understand what he was rapping about but it sounded tight… I guess you could compare him to Twista.

My getting lost count is currently at 3, but every time I get lost I learn new parts of the city which is good. I’m like John Locke the way I’m starting to run this shit (bad joke). Speaking of which, I’m mad behind on television and movies and everything. I guess that’s good cuz it means I’m out doin my thing, but still, I might go to an internet café tomorrow to get caught up. I have google maps on my phone but it only helps so much. It’s better that I actually understand the city though, I think.

A few days ago I want to Chapeau Rouge and had a beer with a half Nigerian half Cape town dude. He had a very thick accent but it was still cool hearing what his life is like as compared to where he came from. After our first beer I tried to bounce and he insisted on buying a second round so we could keep talking. He told me he was in the movies “Wanted” and “Jumpers.” In wanted he’s the black dude who works in the factory who gives a high five to Common (or Com-own as he pronounced it). Mad nice guy though. I’ve really been trying to meet different people from different cultures while I’ve been here. I exchanged info with a girl from Portugal a few nights ago.

My roommates and I are currently trying to schedule our trips now. For spring break we’re gonna go to Greece for 4 days then go to Italy for the remaining 7 days. My roommate JP knows Greece in and out, and has family there so it should be a crazy trip.

Today I got McDonalds… the double cheeseburger wasn’t as good as America’s. French Fries were the same (for anyone who cares).

They also give you change in dollars here… I hate change with the passion of Christ. One of the few cultural differences I am not at all open to here.

I try to stay in the American loop as much as I can… I found out about the Grammy winners as they happened, the Chris Brown beat down, and U.S. and World news (I’m also still tracking XM/Sirius to watch my investment slowly but surely dwindle… it’s all good.)

I am allowed to receive text messages to my phone, though so please shoot me a message from time to time if you’d like (if you don’t have BBM). While I’m having the time of my life out here, I still miss everyone.

I met up with Ariel Garber last night at a bar and run into Zach Loss out at clubs and shit frequently.

Interestingly enough, Jewish geography doesn’t work as well out here as it does in other areas (which is great… makes you actually have to feel someone out, not just drop names to see how they respond). Everyone I’ve met though (for the most part) has been really cool and down for whatever.

Much love to everyone whose reading this. I miss you and hit me up on skype if you wanna talk or whatever. My name is “afink34” on there. My following posts will be much smaller than this, because I’ll try to break them up based on time of post, rather than compiling them all together like this. Anyway, I’ll be posting pictures soon and I’m sorry I can’t include any inappropriate stories on here… but you know how that goes.

Everyone stay up and I’ll post soon.

God Is Love,

Rev Run

… sorry, another bad joke.

-Fink

Intro

Whats really really good, I'm Fink. I don't think an introduction is all that necessary because the purpose of me creating this is not only for my pre-existing friends and family, but also for my own records. With that said, if you dont know me... keep reading, you sketchy son of a bitch.

The majority of my blogs on here (at least for the next few months) will be from from Europe, which is because I am studying abroad this semester in Prague. I know very little about European culture and even less about Czech culture. As a result I'm destined to explore like one of Paris Hilton's sex toys: I could wind up anywhere... foreign or local (i plan to entrench myself in every nook and cranny I discover). I've already purchased a language guide so i can try to break down the communication barrier. I don't want to be that kid who mixes up the words hotel with moose or haircut with soup. Or even worse, shower with gas chamber. HOW EMBARASSING!

When I write this, I will try to keep you, the reader, as entertained as I possibly can. As I lead my day I will make notes in my phone of funny/interesting situations so that I don't forget to insert it (once again, like Paris's toy) so that the world can see. I will, however, need to be a bit conservative with what I release because I will be directing everyone that I know to this site... in other words, "Hi Mom and Dad." Despite this, I plan to write here at least once every 2 weeks so I have a solid account of how Prague was when I eventually leave. I also for Chhhhhhannukah received a camera, so I will also try to post media on here too (only the classiest).

Well, i'm pretty tired so I'm out like trying to make money in a ponzi scheme this year (don't be upset, there's always 2010). Holler at me.

Paaaace.