Feeling even more at home

I find it amazing how quickly I can switch "modes" back into the way I am and always have been back in LA. I mentioned how in the next two weeks, I have a moderately large amount of work to get done, and the pile just keeps getting bigger. With that comes me feeling myself beginning to time-manage my days again, planning out exactly what I need to get done and how I'm going to do it.

To that extent, I knew I had a lot of class today (I always do, but my last class was a double today, so we weren't going to finish until 10pm), so after waking up at 9am for my Art and Architecture tour, I decided that twelve hours of class just didn't seem right and I went back to sleep until Czech class.

I think I should take a moment to write a bit of an ode to my Czech class, probably my most enjoyable class here. There's just such a fantastically colorful combination of people in the class that every day is nothing but a fantastic time. If someone's not saying something hilarious ("statistics don't exist") or doing something ridiculous (like falling out of a chair...and taking the table with), then at least I always have Stephanie right next to me to make delightfully malicious fun of other people ("ohhhhh, MO!" but seriously she's going to get a shoe thrown at her one day).

Take today, for example. We're all putting together these presentations to help the class review for our final next week, so each of us is in pairs and we're leading the class in a game to review our grammar and vocab. Today, my friend Steve, a quiet but goofy guy from Colorado with a soft side I discovered one day as we sat by a lake and talked about fishing, and Katherine, an incredibly friendly and cultured art major who's a chain smoker and always looks well dressed even in pajamas, led the class in Czech Fear Factor. Get a question wrong, and eat some funky Czech spreadable meat. We laughed so much, I really don't even remember what part of the language we were supposed to be reviewing.

Rest of the day was relatively uneventful. Watched a Hungarian film in my last class called The Red and the White, and I actually stayed awake...because I had taken a half hour nap while he was talking about something else.

I'm hoping that when I go home I can retain at least some of the carefree spirit I've had here. My life needs more trips to the park with a book (and MacArthur park is right up the road from us, too). That said, tomorrow I have class, followed by FedEx drama, then project finishing, perhaps paper beginning, and then certainly Brave New World finishing, and packing. I'm going to Berlin this weekend!

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh sigh of relaxation.

You know those times when it seems like you just do everything right? Case in point: the last few days.

I haven't really talked much about what's going on back at home, but I have to mention that me and Andrew made the Indiana Daily Student for the event we're (he's) promoting at IU next week. Very cool, I'm really excited to see what happens!

My shopping excursion yesterday was surprisingly successful. I forgot that European people like their clothes smaller, so every store had stuff that fit me!

Last night was also a great time. I went with Dan and some people from his program to a Mardi Gras party on a boat that had been advertised by cheaply-made fliers written in English. Sketchy? You bet. But we had an amazing time. (see my late night Facebook wall posting for evidence)

Which made getting up this morning a bit of an issue. I managed it, though the incredibly foggy weather was strangely mirroring my internal state. The weather got a lot better as the day went on, however, and for some reason all my classes had a really nice, careless vibe to them. had a nice tour this morning for my architecture class, and managed to get a good lunch afterwards. We laughed our way through Czech class, then my boring film class was actually interesting (we played with color temperature meters). The prof then didn't show up for my Cinematography class, so I grabbed a coffee with Evan, Sari, and Alana.

The highlight, of course, was my European Film Analysis class which, as boring as it sounds, it amazing. Last week we watched a Godard film, 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her. Today, we spent an hour and a half just...talking about it. Awesome.

Awesome-er: after class, I struck up a conversation with another American student, who subsequently invited me to dinner with some other FAMU International ladies. Recognizing the wonder in the impulsiveness of the whole situation, and relishing in the fact that I had found some people who really loved to talk about the paradox in Godard's distancing his audiences while preaching to them, I quickly accepted the invitation. What followed was a mass of fantastic conversation, great food and drink, and general excellence. One girl was from Sweden, one from San Fran by way of Taiwan, one from Oregon, a guy from Germany, and the original girl I had talked to was from NYC. New friends all over the globe!

And I now have some plans for the weekend. Apparently Friday, at 6:06pm, there will be an official pillow fight in Old Town Square, the "Prague Pillow Fight." I will be there. There's also a big music/cinema festival going on in Prague right now called Spermfest, the main show of which is this Saturday. Prolly be there too. All night. Better get to sleep now so I can save up for it...

Happy Valentine's Day!

Kiss 'em if ya got 'em!

I should start with Monday night, when we had our first rehearsal for this play. As expected, it was a completely surreal experience being in a rehearsal with Dan and not being at GBN or in his basement or in my living room. The director is a nice guy; he's originally from North Carolina (and still has that fantastic accent, one of my favorites in the US), and he's been living in Prague for the past year working on assorted films (some major, in the SFX dept), but he'd like to get out of here soon. He's taking this whole thing more seriously than I (or Dan) had expected, which might get annoying since I certainly am not.

The script is pretty good (I might have mentioned that before), and it was fun getting it on its feet. Dan and I both have to make out with women significantly older than us, though my nearly-forty-year-old British woman definitely takes the cake. Dan's "wife" reminds us a lot of Natalie Boccumini.

I started running a fever during rehearsal, came home and slept, and you know all about yesterday (except that I watched Lost last night! A great episode!).

Which brings us to today. This holiday is very different in Prague, and not just for the expected reasons. Of course, everything people say about this holiday in the US is true: it's not even a big deal holiday, but gift/greeting card/candy companies have managed to make us believe it is (but is it so bad to have a holiday about love?). But there's more to it.

My study center (where my non-film classes are held) sits on the site of the magnificent Vyšehrad castle, site of several former Prague Kings and of course, home to a magnificent cathedral (which they light up at night like the Empire State Building). Apparently, every cathedral in CR (or maybe the world? not sure...) holds the remains of a particular saint (not necessarily the saint to whom the place is consecrated), and those remains are taken out and put on display one day every year.

So today, about 20 feet east of my classes, the remains of St. Valentine himself were on display all day. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to check it out, but it's definitely put a new spin on this holiday!

Today was the usual busy, lunch-less Wednesday, including my least favorite class, but ending with a great surprise. The one class that was canceled last week seems like it's going to be awesome. The prof told us all we were going to do was watch and talk about "non-Hollywood" European films. We started today with a Godard film, which I really loved and would never have watched otherwise, so I was very happy.

All of my classes were canceled tomorrow (love it), so I'll probably spend the whole day sleeping or walking around while it's still nice out (the weather here has been really strange lately...sunny and amazing until about 6pm, then rain all night). Or maybe I'll do homework. Meh, maybe not.