Weekend, revisited

Today's been a standard Monday, so I thought I'd take a moment to elaborate on the weekend a bit before I head off to the concert.

So an old friend of Dan's, who I know too, was coming to visit this weekend, and one of her good friends, who we know too (Nicole, her blog is a link on the right), decided to surprise her with a visit (confused yet?). So Friday we all went to dinner and hung out at a bar, and I managed to see some old friends from the play too, which was fun.

Saturday I told you about, with its castles and monasteries, and the evening was a series of good decisions for me. Had dinner with Dan and our friend Nicole and Dan's friend Eric (who I just met, it's a long story), then watched the Bulls game at Dan's and then a bar. Afterwards, we were debating where to go - with Katie (from USC) in town, I wanted to find her at a club across town, but they wanted to go around the corner to Lucerna. I was set on finding Katie, until I realized something. This was the last weekend I'd have in Prague with Dan! In fact, it was the last weekend we'd spend together for an indefinite period. With that nostalgia weighing heavily on me, I went to Lucerna and had an unexpectedly fantastic time chatting with some Austrian girls who I'm going to see again this weekend in Berlin.

The tram ride home that night was quite eventful too. First, I had to sprint about half a Km to catch it (that's the second time this week. I'm hoping not to make it a habit...). Then, once I got on with my smaženy syr (fried cheese sandwich), a drunken Czech man started to speak to me in Czech, and I actually understood enough of what he was saying to realize that he was absolutely hilarious (especially when he started to hit on a girl from my program).

That settled down once he lost interest, and as I finally found room to sit down, a couple stumbled onto the train, and the girl literally fell over. My incredibly charming self couldn't help but ask her if she was ok, and she laughed and said she was fine. Then the guy next to her who she hadn't come on with, a man in his late forties wearing slacks, a sweater, a collared shirt, and...earplugs..., asked (in perfect English) if I was American. I am, are you? No, I'm Czech, but I'd like to practice my English, if that's alright (ok, so he had a Czech accent). Of course it's alright. So what do you think (he took out his earplugs now) of the US radar base in the Czech Republic? Yep, I discussed politics with an entire Czech tram all the way home. (The base is crap, by the way)

So I slept well on Saturday night. Sunday you pretty much know about, and it was so nice to spend some time with Katie, who very kindly told me that seeing me made her trip for her. What an awesome lady, with great friends too.

This weekend was the first time in over a month that I've had the chance to really just be in Prague, without any kind of rehearsals to attend or trips to think about. And it made me realize something (I might start an entire new blog called "Evan's realizations" because I think I already have enough content for it. But that was not the realization). I am in love with this city. It's not like a "I loved studying here" or "I had a great semester here" or "This place is so pretty" or "I want to visit again" (all of those are true, but after a while you kinda become desensitized to how awesome the place is in those senses). It's more of a "this city owns a part of me" kind of thing. I want to live here again, not just in a college-student-studying-abroad-wishes-he-could-just-party-constantly way. And I could live here, really live and work. I don't feel like that about anywhere but Chicago.

Which is why I'm not going to Munich this weekend. I don't need Munich, and I can always go back. In my last few weeks here, I just want to be here as much as I can. So I will!