i wasn't lost, i swear

I left Sheldon and Dan at about 12:30 and caught a cab back to the house (he overcharged me, but I was happy to get home safe and not have to use the night trams...which, while on the same lines, have different numbers than the day trams). Tossed and turned a bit (time change, alcohol, who knows), and ended up getting about 4 hours of sleep. So I was in great shape for the morning, when I had to find my way to a new place - not the study center, but a place we had visited on our afternoon tour. No prob, he says, I love public trans, and once I get there I'll just find familiar sights. I'm a smart guy.

I am not a smart guy. We were scheduled to meet at 9:45. I stepped off the metro (at the correct station) at 9:30, plenty of time to wander around and find our meeting place. I went up and down every street. How hard can it be to hide a group of 100 loud American 20somethings? Up and down the streets again. I try new routes, places that looks kinda sketchy but might be right, you never know, didn't we pass that hostel yesterday? I'm not going to call our resident director, that's giving up (men never ask for directions! never!), oh the McDonald's, I know we passed that! OK, so it's around here somewhere right?

At 9:50, I called the resident director and she didn't pick up. Then I called other numbers on our contact list. No one. Alright Ev. Way to go. Now you're 'that guy.' Remember? The guy in the homestay who couldn't get here. Oh that guy, the short one, I remember him. At almost 10am, I walked far up one street, farther than they could have been, and was resigned to make my way back to the study center. I turned the corner back to the metro. And I've never been happier to see a large group of people. I rule!

So, a morning of more touring (saw a sweet synagogue and Dvorak's grave). Our Czech buddy was much better today, full of energy and knowledge. When we'd seen everything we were supposed to, it was about noon and we had an hour to kill before lunch. So what did we do? Guess. Seriously this tolerance has GOT to improve (and I have to eat bread all the time too, to make sure I can drink more. It's a curse...a wonderful, tasty curse).

Anyhow, after our afternoon orientation sessions (more patronizing rules. But I won't complain here), I met Taryn's friend Steph Beren, who I had spoken to on the phone. She seems really nice. We spoke for a minute, then went our separate ways home.

Which made me realize something important, and I'm happy I realized it now. I love this homestay (if you can't tell), but there is one single downside. I'm going to have to make an extra effort to make sure I meet people, by introducing myself and making sure I give out my phone number (which I didn't have today, otherwise I'd be bar hopping with the apartment kids). Definitely not a big deal. But something I have to keep in mind.

Away I go. I have to start planning out my weekend trips!