My thoughts are with VA Tech

After I finished my last post, I went to Dan's and walked into an apartment of guys crouched over a computer screen, using the SlingBox to watch coverage of the VA Tech massacre. It didn't really hit me at first how far reaching this is. Along with all those people gone, something else came to a screeching halt on Monday - going to college in the US will most likely never be as free, just like how going to high school changed after Columbine. I won't say much more here, since I'm sure you're tired of reading about it and I don't want to talk politics on this blog (if you're not tired of it, check out my sister's thoughts from Australia and I've found Xeni Jardin's ongoing analysis on boingboing.net really interesting. And the wikipedia article on this thing is really astounding). I think it'd be accurate to say it's the end of the age of innocence for the American college experience.

On to sunnier topics...

Yesterday, as predicted, was spent roaming around town with Mom and Dad, making some last purchases, and then finally taking a nap. I got a phone call at around 5pm from someone involved with the Prague Playhouse (the group that produced my play). They want me to play a role in a staged reading they're putting on in a few weeks. The part seems really fun, full of improv; I hope I'll be in town to do it! Had a great dinner last night with Mom, Dad, and Dan, then said goodbye till May, and went out on the town with Dan and some other folks.

Which made today, my classically busiest day of the week, quite the experience to get through. It certainly had its highlights, though - my Cinematographer's Influence class, while being a large waste of time for all students involved, has established a kind of irresistible charm to it. There's something so cute about how drunk our professor always seems, the way he'll ask a question, and then in the process of explaining the question will suddenly ask another question (completely unrelated), and then expect the class to know which one we're supposed to answer. And when we do answer, as I did a few times today, if we get it wrong, we get one of a few classic responses (today, I said something was the index of reflection and he responded by looking me straight in the eye and saying "I go to kill myself now." I'm still not sure if I was wrong or right). And then my last class was canceled.

At home for the evening, I read some more news articles and took a nap before dinner. With Zuzana gone, I'm being introduced to a whole new side of Czech cooking, what Tomas says are all the dishes college students all make for themselves. So we began the week with that Slovak dish, and tonight we had another new delicacy: fried bread. Bread, soaked in garlic oil and fried like French toast, served with beer of course. The great thing about Czech food is it's all comfort food!

Tomorrow I'll relax some more, and probably Friday too. This weekend, Dan and I are thinking of spending a day at the spa town of Karlovy Vary. Assuming we go, it will be our last weekend trip together...I know I'm upset, and I'm sure the thought of no more stories of Dan seriously injuring himself is upsetting to you too.

It's snowing again

Just like in Chicago, I guess Prague gets one or two days of snow toward the beginning of spring. At least I'm not having my Bar Mitzvah this weekend.

It's been a fun filled last 24 hours! The show went very well again last night, with a sizable crowd in attendance. They announced the contest winners after the show (an audience award and the main writing contest)...and we didn't win anything. Oh well.

The real fun came after the show, when The Prague Post hosted a gala in the bar area of the theater, complete with open bar(!), fresh boar with horseradish and mustard, and a massive set-up of ridiculous desserts. Dan and I were having a field day, and not just with the food - I've spoken before about how awesome it's been to get to know the English-speaking expat community here, and that's only gotten better. Last night became one massive exercise in networking. We began with an introduction to Mirka, one of the three top casting agents in Prague, who hadn't seen our play but was incredibly enthusiastic about having us come to her office so she could take our photos. She was sure we could "work together." Then, there was the lovely woman we struck up a conversation with who, it turns out, is the director of operations for the Prague Post. Everyone we meet tells me and Dan two things - we have a fantastic on-stage chemistry, and we should definitely use that somehow. We've been told the first part before, but this is the first time people have told us that we could find success exploiting our relationship.

All this is a long way of saying that Dan is almost definitely going to be staying here through the summer. To be honest, if I didn't have anything to come home to, I'd stay here too. Hell, the two of us might still come back here after college and just write and act. Who knows?

For a while last night it didn't look like I was going to be able to get up this morning for my scheduled tour with Tomas of Czech Television. (Sidenote: I had a dream that I got a hair cut, and in the dream I was SO happy. A sign?) But I managed it, and I'm incredibly happy I did. Czech media was developed under communism, of course, and so there are now only three networks here: Nova, Prima, and the state-owned Czech TV (it works like the BBC, with two public access channels and a few cable/satellite channels). The complex that houses all of its production is not very far from our house, and it is HUGE (apparently they employ 3000 people). Tomas took me through all the most interesting sites of the place, including their big studios (looks just like the US), multiple cafeterias (seriously I was struck by how many there were), and lines of offices.

What was new to me was the area they call "dubbing street," which is an entire building wing dedicated to all the different processes for dubbing media into Czech. Lots of ADR studios, of course. One friend of Tomas's, upon hearing that I study in Los Angeles, quipped "so this is like a museum to you!" Not quite. But admittedly, it was really impressive to see Tomas sit down to start work on a dub for a BBC documentary in front of a Tesla mixer from probably the late 70s, and with no ProTools set up in sight. Tomas's job during production is a really cool one - as producer, he coaches the actors and makes sure the timing for their announcing complements the images. Neat.

Rest of the day has been relaxing and prepping to leave tomorrow. It's gonna be one helluva week, I'm sure. There will be lots of photos to peruse, and I'm gonna try to do some blogging from there as well to avoid one huge post when I get back. Who wants chocolate???

Prague Spring Fever

Show went well again last night, save for a hilarious moment when Dan and I almost cracked up on stage. Jonas was in attendance, as were another few people from my program, and they all enjoyed themselves thoroughly. I'm having a lot of fun performing again! Maybe I should be an actor...

Anyhow, today has been a fine day, punctuated by a dinner courtesy of the University of Southern California. The adviser from the USC abroad office is here until Wednesday, and he took all the USC kids out for dinner. He's a great guy - getting a masters in PoliSci, and in the meantime gets to take all-expenses-paid trips to Prague (and Poland). I knew I liked him the minute I met him. While advisers from other schools were all in their suits, ties, and dark colors, this guy is wearing khakis and a powder blue button down, looking like LA incarnate (plus he's Filipino...and everyone in Prague is white). He could have gone to dinner with his colleagues but, in his words, "I was like, I'm....gonna go out with my kids!" Drinking on USC's tab is always fine with me! (and we got a FIVE seed??? Fight on!)

It made me realize something (oh, here he goes again. yeah, eat me.) that I've learned by being abroad, and by turning 21. I suddenly feel much more experienced. Where I've always felt a sort of gap between myself and anyone I spoke with who was older than me (like I should be almost reverent), I now feel a bit more qualified to identify with them. I don't feel so young. It's nice. And scary.

Today I should finish the book I've been reading since I got here, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. It's a new favorite of mine, and as with all books I like, I find myself wishing it was longer because I feel like it's come to sort of define this moment. My voice in this blog has certainly been influenced by it (if you can't tell, click the link above and read the first page. You'll get what I mean). So I almost feel like there's going to be a change in my general feeling soon.

And I'm not the only one feeling that way. I think it's the weather - in the 60s for the rest of the week. It's springtime in Prague, and it's almost the halfway point of our little journey here. I see those couples who've been together since the beginning (in secret, of course, never officially together because that would close off options and being in your 20s is all about keeping options open. Which is why no one can ever decide what club to go to), they suddenly start to look all too familiar with each other, like it might turn into a "real" relationship. And friends are beginning to settle even more, people moving into a new phase of confidence in their Prague identities. I certainly am.

Change is always good.

Time to study for my midterm.

One of the best nights yet

So the show went up last night, and was a rousing success. I discovered some pictures of us on the Prague Post website - just in case you didn't believe me, here's the proof that Dan and I are honestly appearing on stage together in the Czech Republic. Dan's comment: "if you'd have told me three years ago that you and I were going to be in a play in the Czech Republic, I probably would have said...'don't you mean Czechoslovakia?'"

The theatre was about half-full (maybe 100 people), and they were all laughing at us (even the little kid in the back row. Our director's comment: "if we can make a kid laugh, you know that shit is honest"). My personal highlight was when, at the end of the show as my shirt comes unbuttoned and my gloriously toned abs, luscious pecs, and hair-free chest are out there for all to see, that little kid yelled "EEEEWWW!"

Afterwards, I went to the lobby with little in the way of hope or expectation at seeing anyone I knew. But I was wrong. About seven people from my program showed up and stayed through the whole thing to give me a hug and tell me they enjoyed it. Definitely made my night, day, week, month, you name it.

So, a successful opening night under our belts, Dan and I set out to a) put some more money on my phone, and b) get Dan some food. Our director, Tyler, had a table reserved at a super-trendy club called M1, so we decided to meet him there for a few drinks.

The best part of being in this play was something I did not expect when I was first cast. There is a very, very closely-knit American expat community here in Prague, and this show has essentially been my pass into that elite club. I've met tons of people, all of whom are business owners or performers here in Prague, and all of whom know each other (there's seriously only about 1 degree of separation between anyone who speaks English and lives here). It's really enriched things.

And its also starting to give me the hook-up. Tyler introduced me to his friend Jonathan, a magician who's headlined in Vegas and has used Prague as a base for the past few years as he's toured Europe doing stage magic (I've never had more of a desire to be with Magic Mike than when I found that out. I definitely would have set up a magic-off, right there, in the middle of the club). He showed us some cool tricks. Oh, and by the way, he owns the club we were at.

Three bottles of complimentary champagne later (Jonathan wanted to make sure we celebrated our successful show), my inner Hollywood boy suddenly turned on and I realized that I had connections to exploit in this situation. My host brother, Vaclav, is a concierge at one of the nicest hotels in Prague, and the owner of this club would surely want to meet him and make sure Vaclav talks up his club to all the rich tourists. I mentioned it to Jonathan and was told that'd be a "huge favor, thanks man." So I called up Vaclav and Jonathan hooked him up with a VIP pass, and in the meantime I assured myself free entry into this club whenever I want it.

On the way back, on the tram, Dan and I were minding our own business when a Czech man reminded us that we weren't supposed to eat on the tram. I knew that. Dan knew that. We weren't planning on eating the food till we got off. But I guess Dan was a little sassy in his response to the guy, so the American behind him got involved and things kinda escalated. Dan wants to get in a fight ("honestly, I'm a six foot five frat star"). To be honest, I'd have had his back. But we just turned around and complained about it instead.

Ahhh, what a successful evening! The only thing that could make this better would be...waking up to svičkova. Oh wow, is there really anything else in life that matters? Honestly.

Tonight, we do it all again (minus the club probably. Well actually who knows). And there are supposed to be some more folks from my program in attendance.

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!

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.