A few busy days

Phew! I just got back from nearly eight hours of rehearsal, and they were some of the slowest hours of my life. When Dan and I are on stage together, all's well and everything goes quickly, but our very particular director stops often and makes sure every line (EVERY line) is said exactly as he wants it. Not too enthralling a rehearsal process.

In other news, as of yesterday, I have been living in Prague for one month. My first month here was filled with lots of fun, occasional anxiety, and several trips around the city with absolutely no clue where I was or where I was going. I've seen almost all the sites here that I wanted to see (minus the museums, which I've really got to get to), and many sites I haven't meant to see but feel privileged to have seen them (was that English?). I also don't think I've gained any (or very much) weight, which impresses the hell out of me. My next stop on the Prague tour will probably be restaurants...but it's tough to convince myself to try to get people together for a meal, when I get free homecooked awesome meals right here, every day...

The past few days have pretty much been defined by the visit of a good friend from home and two of her good friends, all of whom are studying in Barcelona right now. Carrie, Sarah Z, and Sarah S spent Thursday and Friday touring Prague, with me and Dan as their tour guides. That meant another visit to a lot of the sites I had already seen (which I don't mind. Stuff's pretty damn nice around here), and a LOT of walking (seriously legs hurt again). They are three wonderful girls and we had a lot of fun together. Also, I've been getting over my sickness (after the sinus infection, the cold kicked in...ew stuffy nose. Apparently it's rude in Czech culture if you sniffle...but I doubt they started that custom knowing how loudly I blow my nose). I truly hate being sick, if for no other reason than because it's taking a toll on my (newly legal!!) tolerance-building.

For the past few days, Dan has been acting a bit strangely, and last night he opened up a bit as to why. Turns out he's feeling like he's in the same kind of "funk" that I felt when I had been here for about the same amount of time he's been here for. Good to know I'm not alone in these things! It's also kinda annoying for us to be here while everyone on our programs is off traveling (I had to sell my ticket to our program-sponsored trip to Vienna this weekend). We're kind of assuming that these rehearsals will pay off when there's a crowd laughing in front of us. It's his 21st birthday tomorrow, so that should perk him up.

Yesterday, I booked my trip to Amsterdam, for Easter weekend. I'll be going with Dan, Josh Kaplan, Mike Breen, and their UM Pike-mate Marty. I don't think I've ever been more excited for anything than I am for that weekend...ohhh the stories that will unfold.

In a related story, I don't think I'll be getting to Greece after all (at least for now). The guys I went to Krakow with are all going to Italy/Croatia for spring break and, while I've been to Italy, my late spring break departure (I have to be here for the play) should mean minimal time seeing things I already have and maximal Croatia-ness (a place I probably wouldn't go otherwise, and Phil Eastman has honestly been telling me to go there for a year). So that should be fun as well (though nothing's booked quite yet). Maybe I'll witness some more hanky-panky. Or another roundhouse kick to the face.

Tomorrow, I have the whole day to myself and I am determined to get pictures on the Flickr if it's the last thing I do!

get me OUT of these Czech classes!

UGH when will they end? (this Friday!!!)

I'll admit it, I've been kinda down and out of late (ever since Friday's cell phone debacle), and I really haven't known why. It's that annoying tired feeling, where you don't feel like anything is particularly exciting, and that fact really frustrates you because hey, you're in Prague, things should be exciting! This Czech course, while I'm definitely learning something new, moves at a snail's pace because the language is so complicated. So I only have so many more things I can allow my mind to focus on while our teacher describes all 14 cases of a certain group of adjectives.

Today, though, I think I figured out the source of my problem. During a short break, our Czech language teacher told us she was studying for her PhD at Charles University, and she was studying Fairy Tales. SO COOL! I immediately went into "Evan-is-a-major-nerd" mode and asked her if she had looked into fairy tale motifs in film (something I talked about a bunch in a class). While the whole class laughed at me, I got really excited about something for the first time in a long time, and we talked briefly about what she studies (interpretations of fairy tales across cultures. neat!) and how those motifs go into so many media forms.

An intellectual conversation! An exchange of words that didn't have to do with finding out what school someone goes to, what their major is, what sorority they're in, and whether they like Lost or Grey's. It was really refreshing, and it made me realize how much I miss going to school. Wow, I can't believe I said that, and it's true. I'm incredibly excited for our classes to start on Monday (the syllabus for one of my classes looks SWEET!).

My awkward mood was only exacerbated by my on-again-off-again relationship with other people in this program. It has been very comforting to hear from both JC (my Prague expert) and Lisa (my all-things-travel expert) that they too had issues with people on their programs. Everyone here is really nice, don't get me wrong...but it just doesn't seem worth the huge effort to try to become "in" with the crowd. So I'm attempting to become comfortable with the fact that I'll probably do a lot of my traveling alone (some of it with Dan, hopefully).

But it got better today. I wanted to go to Munich for my birthday weekend (in two weeks) and couldn't find anyone to go with me. So I was going to go alone (JC promises I wouldn't be celebrating alone if I went. But it still wasn't ideal). I was really happy today when I lamented about it, only to find a friend was going to Krakow that weekend with a group, and would I like to come along? Of course. So I may be doing that, which would be great.

I've also decided to take some other advice to heart. JC told me not to spend more than an hour at a time at home, and since he said it, I've been feeling guilty every time I find myself looking for something to do around the house. So starting tomorrow, I'm going to find somewhere new in Prague every day I have some time. Tomorrow, it's the old Jewish ghetto. Sunday, some museum. From there, I haven't made plans.