You da best, Budapest

This past weekend (March 22-24), I left Czech Republic for the first time since being here!  I traveled to Budapest, Hungary with BIG agency group with 37 fellow exchange students.  We traveled by bus and the trip was around 5 hours I believe.  We drove through Slovakia a little ways and then to Hungary.  We arrived in a sunshiney Budapest!  It was SO nice to soak up some Vitamin D even if it was cold and windy! 

There are 2 parts of the city which are appropriately named, Buda and Pest.  They are separated by the Danube river, which is Europe's 2nd longest river running through 10 countries.  When we arrived, we walked through Buda.  We started our journey on top of 

Gellért Hill, where we could look out and see all of beautiful Budapest!  Gellért Hill is named after the bishop Gellért who came Hungary from Italy to spread Christianity.  Sadly, the bishop encountered resisting pagans who put him in a barrel and rolled him down this very steep hill where he met his death.  Later, he was honored as a martyr and the hill was named after him and a statue of him was built.

Budapest from Gellért Hill

The statue of bishop Gellért 

After this our walk in Buda, we crossed one of the bridges (the Chain bridge, I think) and entered Pest.  We headed toward the Central Market!  The Central Market is a huge indoor market with fresh fruits, vegetables, salamis, and sausages on the first floor.  There was also paprika, which is the famous Hungarian spice, I learned!  They use it in many of their traditional dishes, including their most famous- goulash! On the second floor was where you could enjoy some traditional Hungarian food as well as shop for beautiful gifts and souvenirs.  We headed for the food first and I enjoyed a stuffed cabbage roll with extra cabbage on the side.  It was very tasty!  We ate standing up at a table with people bumping into us every few seconds because it was jam packed.  It was quite the experience! :) 

The Central Market

A quick, crazy meal in Central Market!

The market was really amazing!  We did not have very long there, but I did my best to see it all in a short amount of time.  They also had one of my favorite things: free samples!  I made sure to hit up all of the free sample stands.  I bought some of the famous paprika along with some sort of paprika sauce that I tried!  Another fun thing was trying to get used to the currency they use in Hungary: the Hungarian Forint.  I have gotten very used to Czech Korun and its conversion, so for the weekend I had to learn to use another one!  The HUF has a pretty crazy exchange rate with $1 equaling around 237 HUF.  I felt really rich with having 5,000 and 10,000 bills. ;) 

Paprika!

I am so glad that we came the weekend that we did because we got to be there for opening day of the Easter market!  The Easter market was set up in one of the city squares.  This was one of my favorite parts of the trip.  There were so many amazing and unique handcrafted items as well as lots of delicious food being cooked there.  Hungary, along with much of Central Europe, is famous for the Easter tradition of painted eggs.  There are also many painted egg shaped cookies!  There was one booth that was entirely cookies (plus some candies)!  Many of the cookies were decorated with great detail.  The lady who owned the booth explained to us that the cookies are all natural and their main ingredient is honey which also makes them stay good for quite some time!  I did not have faith in the taste of the cookie though, because they were very lightweight.  I like doughy cookies which are typically heavier.  Thankfully, my sweet friend, Michelle, had more faith in the cookies than I did and let me try one that she bought.  It was amazing!  It was a different texture, but so good.  The lady at the booth (as well as all the Hungarians I met on the trip) was so friendly and helpful.  We talked to her for quite some time and made a new Hungarian friend!  I also lucked out and got several samples at the Easter market.  There was a cheese booth with all kinds of wonderful looking cheeses.  I stood there long enough so the guy eventually let me try a piece.  He then asked where I was from.  When I told him I was from the U.S., he asked if marrying me was a way that he could go live in the United States!  I told him that I guess that was one way ha. 

Michelle and I loved the Easter market so much that we went back the next evening.  We visited our new friend and bought more cookies!  I bought some that are supposed to last until July so that I can take them home for my family.  Here is to hoping I don't eat all of them before then.  I also could not pass up the opportunity to eat dinner here.  There were so many delicious looking and smelling options that I had no idea what to get.  I went to ask the cookie lady what she suggested.  Her suggestion was the rooster testicle soup.  That one scared even this adventurous eater so I went with a pork sausage and grilled VEGETABLES.  Yes, vegetables.  I do not pass up the opportunity to eat vegetables because these opportunities do not come by often here.  It was an amazing dinner even if I had to sit in the freezing cold to eat it.  For dessert, Michelle and I split what is called "trdelník" in Czech.  It is a hollow bread dessert that is typically rolled in cinnamon and sugar.  Not only is the smell divine, but the taste is equally as wonderful.  

We got photo bombed by one of the booth workers! Haha!

Saturday morning, we had the opportunity to tour the Parliament building.  It is the 3rd largest Parliament building in Europe.  It was incredibly beautiful and so awesome to be able to tour such an important building.  

Okay, this was taken on the bus and makes Parliament looks small, but it is actually very big! 

Inside of the Parliament building

The Crown Jewels!  The cross is crooked on top because of it being transferred to different places so many times.  The crooked top is even accurately depicted in the stain glass and paintings of the Crown Jewels!

Next, we headed to the Castle District.  I'm getting really tired and cannot remember specific details, but it was wonderful and here are a few pictures: 

Yes, that's me hanging out of the window.  That's what princesses do, right?

We were freezing by this point, so when it was time for lunch, we headed to the nearest warm place we could find.  I got one of their daily menus which included Hungarian soup, goulash with paprika chicken, and a dessert!  Before our meal, the waiter brought us bread and a red sauce.  It looked like the sauce I had sampled earlier, which was sweet.  Well, this one wasn't sweet.  It was super hot and salty!  It would have had a good flavor, but there was too much salt.   My meal was so delicious once I could start tasting again after the spicy mystery red sauce.

Goulash!

After this, we got to tour St. Stephen's Basilica!  Just like everything else in Budapest, the basilica was incredibly beautiful!  One fun fact about the basilica is that St. Stephen's hand is preserved here in a fancy box.  At the end of the tour we got to climb many spiral stairs to get to the roof and saw some AMAZING views of Budapest as the sun was setting. :) 

St. Stephen's hand inside of a fancy box!

 On Sunday, we headed to the Szěchenyi Thermal Baths for a much needed relaxation and warmth!  The thermal baths are a tradition in Hungary and the Szěchenyi spas are one of the biggest and most famous.  It was a cold walk in a swimsuit from the building to the pools, but it was worth it once we stepped into the steaming hot water!  We were there for 5 hours and did not get bored like I thought we might.  There were different types of pools you could go into plus a sauna which I wasn't a fan of.  It was such a wonderful way to end our time in Budapest!

This pool was called the "Chess Pool", for obvious reasons.  

Our trip was not quite over though, because as we were walking back to the bus we got to witness some cute kids dancing in Heroes' Square! I took a video, but it won't upload here for some reason.  I'll try to upload it to facebook maybe!

I had such a great weekend.  You know a city is awesome, when you can still truly enjoy it while being frozen the whole time! ;) 

European Skiing Adventures

Dobry Den! 

I can now say that I have been skiing in Europe and I didn't break anything!  This past weekend (March 15-17), I joined the International Student Club to go skiing in the Jeseníky mountains right here in Czech Republic!  

At 6:45 in the morning we met at Hlavní Nádraží (the main train station).  There was a much smaller group of us than on the Prague trip which was really nice!  There were 16 of us exchange students and 4 Czech student leaders.  Our train left at 7:20 a.m. and we were on our way to the picturesque village of Branná where we would spend the next couple of days!  

The train station

When we arrived to Branná, we did not waste any time!  After dropping our suitcases off at the lodge, eating a quick lunch, and throwing our ski clothes on, we headed to the slopes!  Our first day was the teaching day because most of us were beginners.  I have been skiing several times, but that was 10 years ago, so I didn't think I would remember how to ski!  So, our instruction took place on this slope on the side that had no ski lift.  We had to walk up the hill each time...talk about exhausting! Our first lesson was how to put on the skis   This turned out to be pretty humorous because people kept sliding down the hill, sliding into each other, and falling over.  They had not taught us how to stop at this point, so once someone started sliding down, they just kept on sliding!  Between walking up the hill numerous times and laughing so hard, I got a pretty good workout in!  Thankfully, what people told me was true: skiing is like learning how to ride a bike, once you learn, you never forget! 

Later that night, Scarlett and I decided to head to one of the only restaurants in town.  This restaurant became our hang out spot and helped provided many laughs and sweet memories.  We ate there 3 times during our 2 night stay and had the same waiter every time, bless his heart.  He was such a good sport for putting up with our ignorance and loudness.  The menu was all in Czech and German.  Luckily, they had wifi and after 15 minutes of trying to log on, we finally connected and started translating the entire menu!  Well apparently the sight of two American girls translating the menu on their phone is a pretty funny one.  Our waiter was laughing at us and then I turned around and another guy was looking over my shoulder just cracking up!  We finally decided on something only to find out they didn't have it.  We picked something else really quick and successfully ordered.  

Shortly after ordering, Joris (from the Netherlands) and Valentine (from Croatia) came to join us!  Joris was really excited when he saw the "special" menu that they had which looked like this: 

Notice the meal on the right.  25 korun = a little over $1

Scarlett and I had seen this earlier and it translated to something like "pork knee".  The phrase in parentheses translated to "only cell", which clearly did not translate correctly.  One guy from our trip who was leaving when we got there, warned us that it was just bone and fat.  That explained why it was so cheap!  We informed Joris of this, but he went ahead and ordered it thinking that since it was so cheap, if it was no good then he could just order something else.  After quite a while, the food finally came.  The waiter kind of snickered when he handed Joris the pork knee.  That was kind of strange, but he had been laughing at us all night so we didn't think much of it.  The pork knee was huge!  Joris was really excited about it and even more excited to find out when he cut into it, that it was mostly all meat!  To make it even better, the meat was super good!  Joris was just thrilled that it was so delicious, such a huge portion, and so cheap!  He kept going on and on about it and even took a picture with it.  

Probably half way through the meal, we start thinking that there is no way that this pork knee can be only 25 korun.  Earlier when we were translating the part in parentheses "pouze celé", my first thought was "oh, maybe that means per pound!"  This was a silly quick assumption though, because 1) they do not use pounds here and 2) Czech words rarely resemble English words.  Then, Valentina, who can understand much more Czech than we can, looked at it and figured out that it said "only whole".  Joris' demeanor did a 180 as he started realizing that it might not be only 25 korun.  His meal started to not taste as it did when he thought it was 25 korun.  The rest of us are hysterically laughing at this point.  We still weren't for sure that it was going to be more than 25 korun, but it was starting to make much more sense that it had to be more than that.  Joris asked for the bill and the waiter brought it.  He thought it was an okay price until he realized that it was only his check.  Turns out, the pork knee was 25 korun per kilogram and the thing weighed 1.3 kilograms (a little less than 3 pounds) and, therefore, cost him somewhere around 320 korun (about $16).  Us girls felt bad for him, of course, but we could not stop laughing at the whole situation.  Our waiter spoke a little bit of English so we attempted to explain our mistake and why we were laughing so hard.  Needless to say, he thought it was pretty funny also, especially since he profited from it.  :) Luckily, Joris was able to take some of the meat home to eat as leftovers.  I think we laughed the entire 5 minute walk back to the cottage and then for a good 15 minutes later as we told everyone else the story.  Later that night, we learned how to play a few different Czech games which was really fun!  

I think the above story was just the beginning of our silly mistakes for this weekend.  There were two parts of the cottage.  One side held 14 people and the other held 6.  There were 4 Czech leaders of the trip and Scarlett and I volunteered to stay with them.  This was a really good choice because our side of the cottage was nicer and more cozy!  At the end of the first day they asked us, "Did you shower and use hot water?"  "Yes."  "Oh, well you can't do that because it takes 3 hours for the water to heat up again."  Next, they asked us, "Did you turn on the heater?"  "Yes, our room was freezing."  "Oh, well we aren't allowed to turn on the heaters because it is too expensive."  

We weren't doing so well in winning the approval of the Czech students.  

The next morning, Scarlett and I thought we were the last ones to leave so we took the key with us.  We made the hike (probably 10-15 minute walk) to the ski slopes in our too small ski boots that are super awkward to walk in all the while carrying our skis and poles.  We get to the ski shack and are waiting to get our helmets/be the annoying people who ask for different sized boots.  About as soon as we get there, Eva, one of the Czech leaders, asks us if we took the key with us.  Thinking that yes was going  to be the right answer, we told her that we had taken it!  "Well, Martin was still in there and he needs the key."  Ahhh another Scarlett and Megan American mistake.  

The 2nd day of real skiing went really well!  It was so nice to use the ski lift instead of walking up the hill!  I felt really comfortable on the slopes and had so much fun reliving my skiing days.  There were beautiful views from the lift and on top of the mountain.  

We could see the entire little village from the lift!

Scarlett and I! 

We could ski from 9-4 and we pretty much skied for that whole time with a couple breaks thrown in there!  Afterward, we celebrated by going back to the restaurant and enjoying 2 cups each of the best hot chocolate ever.  The hot chocolate in Europe is usually what we call REAL hot chocolate.  I am so spoiled and will never be able to go back to our powder hot chocolate that we have in the States.  We ate dinner and then headed back and hung out with our roommates, the Czech leaders.  

This is what Czech people look like ;) 

We then received the best Czech lesson since being here:  watching The Big Bang Theory with Czech subtitles!  We paused every 5 minutes or so for a Czech lesson.  We learned really important phrases such as, "Jo" (Ya), "ťuk ťuk" (Knock, knock), and "sklapni" (shut up).  We also had a lesson on Czech animal noises.  Apparently their animals speak Czech because they do not make the same noises as American animals! ;) 

Sunday was another full day of skiing!  Some of the boys the night before were saying they were going to wear suits while skiing/snowboarding today.  We thought they were joking.  They weren't.  They really snowboarded/skied in suits, as shown below.  

We were pretty tired at this point and the snow was melting so the slopes were pretty icy.  We took several long breaks this day.  Then, to make our trip complete, Scarlett could not find her ski pass after one of our breaks.  We looked around and could not find it.  Thankfully, they let her borrow another one, but she had to give it back when she was finished.  Later, I saw a lady pick up a ski pass and turn it in.  The nice Scottish guy who was working there earlier was not there, so I didn't know how to go ask about the ticket.  Luckily, I walked over there and was looking around and another worker held up the ski ticket and I smiled and shook my head yes!  The lost ticket was found!  

Even with all the silly mistakes and mishaps during this trip, it was probably my most fun weekend here yet!  Plus, I only fell twice.  The first time was because I was about to hit a child and was forced to go the far right where there were many mogules and did not quite stick the landing.  It was quite exciting though!  The second time was when we were on the tram ride back to the dorm and I was being stubborn and refused to hold on to the rails.  I was determined to ride the whole way home without falling, but a short ways from our stop, I fell over.   I had to give us one more thing to laugh about on our lovely trip. ;) 

I will probably add more to this post later.  These were just the highlights of the trip!  I wanted to write something at least about this trip before I leave for my next one tomorrow morning!  These weeks seriously FLY by.  I am loving every minute though!  

Čau for now! 

Happy International Women's Day!

March 8th: International Women's Day

When I woke up yesterday morning, I did not know that it was International Women's Day.  I saw something about it on facebook, but I just assumed it was another one of those "holidays" that is technically a holiday, but no one really celebrates it. 

When my roommate, Taira, who is from Lithuania, woke up she told me, "Happy Women's Day!"  She explained that it is a holiday that they celebrate in her country.  She told me that they usually celebrate by the men getting the women gifts!  Taira added that she was going to celebrate by treating herself to some shopping. :) 

Later, I went to hang out with my friend from Finland, Leena.  She also said to me, "Happy Women's Day!"  (Okay, so maybe this is a real holiday.)  Leena and I enjoyed a lovely afternoon of coffee, tea, chocolate, and good conversation.  I found out more about her and her beautiful country of Finland!  It was the perfect day for hot drinks and relaxing because the weather outside was gray, cloudy, and a little bit rainy.  I so enjoyed this wonderful afternoon!

Next, I met with  my American friends, Alex, Shelby, and Maggie, to go out for dinner.  They are regulars at the restaurant down the hill and love it.  I, on the other hand, have been there twice, but only for wifi and dessert.  I have been really wanting to actually eat there, but it keeps not working out.  This restaurant is not in the main part of town and is kind of a hidden gem, so I have never seen it crowded.  Well, last night we walked in and the waiter asked if we had a reservation.  We told him we did not, and he plainly said, "That's a problem." (I also just realized that he spoke to us in English, which is kind of rare to find here.)  So, confused as to why it was so crowded, we headed to the city center to find a restaurant that wasn't as crowded.  

We ended up going to the Sherlock Holmes Pub, where we also ate on Tuesday.  They also asked if we had a reservation, which we didn't, but we think our waitress from Tuesday recognized us and was nice and found us a table.  At least that is what we are telling ourselves. ;)  I loved what I had on Tuesday (homemade dumplings stuffed with smoked meat in a cabbage sauce), but I wanted to try something new.  So, I proceeded to order my most expensive meal since being here.  It was bacon wrapped pork with a mushroom sauce and basmati rice.  It was výborne (excellent)! 

There was a big hockey game in town so we thought that might be why everywhere was so crowded.  After our meal, we asked our waitress if she knew the reason for the crowds.  She immediately said, "It's Women's Day!" (Okay, this holiday must really be a big deal here!)  I then justified my expensive meal as a present to myself for Women's Day.  Then, for the rest of the night, everything we did was excused because "Hey, it's Women's Day."  This is how we also justified going to the grocery store and getting chocolate, ice cream, and other junk food.  "We can do this because it's Women's Day", we justified to make ourselves feel better.  

Waiting at the tram stop, carrying all our junk food with no bags!

We went back to the dorms and decided to watch The Lizzie McGuire Movie- a blast from the past!  We ate our ice cream (I was good and saved the chocolate for another day)  and watched this movie from our childhood.  Oh the memories old movies bring back!  It was also really fun watching a movie that takes place in Europe while I am in Europe.  Sometimes I still feel that I am living a dream!  

All in the name of Women's Day!

Celebrating new holidays is really fun even if you don't know you are doing so for most of the day!  I'm extremely thankful for the wonderful women in my life back home that have taught me and showed me what it means to be a woman of God.  I am also very thankful for all the awesome ladies here that I am so privileged to experience this adventure with!  So, Happy Women's Day, ladies!  Even though Women's Day was yesterday, all of you in the U.S. probably did not know about it, so I encourage you to do something nice for yourself today!  Enjoy!  :) 

Praha ha ha ha! {A Weekend in Prague}

This past weekend (February 22-24) I was privileged to go on the ISC (International Student Club) organized trip to the beautiful city of Prague!  Here is the run down on my weekend: 

We were supposed to meet at 8:00 a.m. at the main station in Brno.  A big group of us met in the lobby of our dorm and headed to the train station together.  You can imagine the looks on the locals' faces when a giant group of foreigners with suitcases take over the bus.  

We met the student leaders of the trip and headed to the train!  Once inside the train, the challenge was finding a seat.  We walked through the first train car...no seats.  We walked through the second...no seats.  We walked through a third...no seats.  The next train car we came to was first class.  There were plenty of free seats there!  We didn't see anyone taking tickets, so we went ahead and sat down.  We were lucky enough to enjoy the luxurious first class  of the train for a good 3 or 4 minutes before getting kicked out.  It was nice while it lasted and was at least worth a try.  We ended up finding random seats here and there, but weren't able to sit together.  That was fine though, because most of us wanted to sleep anyways.  

I wanted to stay awake for a little bit at least so that I could gaze out the window.  At first, we went through a beautiful snow-covered forest with very steep hills.  We also went through quaint little villages.  It was a wonderful first European train ride!  

We arrived in Prague around three hours later.  We groggily stepped out of the train and into the Prague train station and walked about 15 minutes to our hostel.  Our hostel was called "Hostel Elf" and it was pretty nice.  We dropped our bags off and headed to lunch.  I can't get over how cute the restaurants are here.  They are just like something out of a movie.  I had the traditional Czech meal of beef and dumplings.  I have to admit that I did not like it near as well as in Brno!  Score 1 for Brno.  

After lunch, we went to meet our tour guide in the Old Town Square for a 3 hour tour of Prague.  This day was part 1 of 2 of the coldest days of my life.  I don't think it had started snowing yet at this point, but oh boy was it about to!

On the way to meet our tour guide...first views of Prague!

Our tour guide was actually from America and has been living in Prague for a while!  He had so much cool information for us and presented it in a fun way.  I wish I could remember all of the history about this town, but I am really bad at remembering details and it was too cold to concentrate.  

Jan Hus memorial.

The Astronomical Clock!

Prague is truly an amazing city due largely in part that it was virtually untouched by the war!  Hitler actually really loved this city and wanted to preserve it...what a kind man! Ha.  Prague was definitely not entirely free of the effects of the war though.  The picture below is of the astronomical clock tower along with a piece of a red wall.  The piece of the red wall used to extend towards the right, but was destroyed during the war.  

All of the above mentioned, is in the Old Town Square which is so amazing!  Here is a video of a band playing in the square and a panoramic view of the square to help give you a better idea of it:  

(also this is on Sunday when the sun finally came out!) 

Next, we headed over to Josefov, the Jewish Quarter.  Many Jews living in this ghetto were deported to Terezín, north of Prague, and then later to Polish death camps.  The strange thing is that many of the artifacts in the Jewish Museum in Prague were brought here from all over Central Europe on Hitler's orders.  He wanted to create a museum dedicated to the soon-to-be extinct Jewish race.

I think this is the Jewish Museum...If not, then it is one of the Jewish synagogues.

The next thing we saw was The Old Jewish Cemetery that is above ground, which goes against Jewish law.  It was the only spot they were given to bury their dead though, so they were forced to use it.  It is a very small cemetery and I don't remember the exact number of how many are buried there, but it is a shocking amount.

The Old Jewish Cemetery 

We saw several other things, but were pretty frozen at this point.  We convinced our tour guide to let us stop inside a coffee shop and warm up for a bit!  This was a fantastic idea because we got to warm up, I had some delicious hot chocolate (they only have real hot chocolate here, not the powdery stuff like at home!), and the best part: they had PEANUT BUTTER cookies.  I, of course, had to get one because anything peanut butter is hard to come by here.  I experienced peanut butter food insecurity, for my fellow health science majors. ;) 

After warming up a bit, we braved the cold and continued with the tour.  I don't think I have pictures from the remainder of the tour due to the fact that I could not risk my fingers falling off from getting out my camera any longer.

The tour was very informative and everything we saw was beautiful, but I think we were all very happy for it to be over.  It is also hard to concentrate when it is so cold and hard to see the beauty of the city when you have to look down at the ground to try to block your face from the snow and wind.  We went back to the hostel and relaxed for a little while and then ordered pizzas.  So many pizzas!  I think there were like 30 pizzas for 40 people or something crazy like that!  It was my first experience with pizza here in Czech and it was very good!  I had what I thought was pepperoni pizza, but it turned out to be salami and jalapeno pizza which was amazing!

Later, we headed out to a pub where I enjoyed a nice vanilla milkshake!  :)  It was $7 and I think only got 2 sips haha, but it was still good.

The other Megan and I with our $7 milkshake. 

Saturday was Prague Castle and Charles Bridge day!  It snowed SO much this day, but made me feel even more like I was in a fairy tale!  It was so beautiful!  

A snowy Prague castle up on the hill!

In the castle courtyard.

One of the cathedrals in the castle.

Part of the Prague Castle.

One of the entrances to Prague castle.

I have a lot more pictures of the castle and of Charles Bridge that I will add on facebook, but they are not cooperating with going on here for the moment! :)

In between the castle and the bridge, we took a lunch break which was much appreciated!  I had some delicious hot chocolate again.  I'm not sure what the total hot chocolate count was for the weekend, but it was quite a few!  I ordered beef goulash with potato pancakes and it was so good and warm. :) After we finished eating, we had to put all of our snow-soaked scarves, hats, coats, and gloves back on!  I think wet winter attire probably defeats the purpose, but oh well, we survived!  

Later, we went back to the hostel and rested.  Some of us decided to go to a gyro place down the street.  I went with a soaking wet head from my shower and no make up, but it was definitely worth it.  So good!

Much later that night, we left for the biggest club in central Europe (5 stories).  It was not very impressive, but I can at least say that I went.  There was also an ice bar inside which was kind of cool, literally.  Everything in the room was made of ice, including the chairs and the cups.  We stayed out much later than I am used to, but it is not exactly safe to leave by yourself at the time that you want!  A few of us ended up taking a cab back to the hostel at around 4:00 a.m. Yawn. So late (or so early, I guess).  

We had to wake up a few short hours later to pack our things up and be out of the hostel by 11.  We had some free time for a few hours before our train left.  I went with a group of people and we walked around like zombies for a little while and stopped and sat down several times.  We were supposed to meet back at the hostel at 3, I think, so we started to head that way.  Well, after several cups of coffee and water that morning, I really had to go to the bathroom.  

Bathrooms are hard to come by in Czech Republic.  You can not find them just anywhere and you cannot just walk into a random restaurant or store and expect to use their restrooms.  The group I was with was waiting at the bus stop for our bus.  Up until this moment, my motto had been "stay with the group no matter what".  Well, having to go to the bathroom very badly makes one not make the best judgment calls.  So I made the impulsive decision to walk off and go find a bathroom by myself.  I knew what bus I needed to take to get back to the hostel so I figured it wouldn't be that big of a deal.  There was a giant mall across the street that seemed like an obvious and easy choice for a bathroom.  This mall was 5 stories I think.  I was running around desperately looking for the wonderful letters, "WC" (the sign for bathroom).  Several different floors later, I thankfully finally found the WC. 

 After I left though, I had no idea where in the mall I was.  I couldn't even remember how many stories I had gone up or down and it all seemed like a huge maze.  I knew I wasn't anywhere near the entrance I came in, so I decided that I should just try to find any exit.  I finally found one and when I stepped outside I thought I knew where I was.  Well, I didn't.  I walked down a street where I thought the bus stop was, but it wasn't it.  I tried not to panic too much because I knew that wouldn't help anything.  I did know though that I needed to find the stop fairly soon because our group was leaving from the hostel to go to the train station in 30 minutes.  I love Prague, but I really didn't care to be left in the city by myself that day.  I eventually found the bus stop much to my relief.  Thankfully, the bus I needed came after only a couple minutes of me waiting.  I didn't know the exact stop to get off at, so I needed to be on top of my game of keeping my eyes peeled for the little hostel sign.  I, of course, was praying the whole time asking God to guide me back to the hostel.  A few stops later, two of the student leaders of our trip got on the bus!  I was so happy to see them because they knew the stop we needed to get off at and it meant that they hadn't left for the train station yet!

We were one stop away from the hostel, when the bus ticket checker (not sure of their official title)  came on the bus.  Let me preface this by saying, that this is a very rare occurrence that they come and actually check bus tickets.  In Brno, I have a transportation pass so that is all I have to show the checker if he comes on the bus or tram.  In Prague, we had 24 hour bus tickets that we are supposed to put in the machine and it stamps a date and time on it.  Well, after all the craziness of being lost, I completely forgot to stamp my ticket.  I didn't figure it was that big of a deal because I obviously had a ticket with me.  Apparently it is a big deal.  The checker was very rude to me and asked me for my passport and ordered me to get off the bus with him.  The leaders said not to worry, because they would explain that I was a student and it was an accident and that I had a ticket and if he had a heart, then he should just let it go.  I was frustrated, but not too worried because I remember my tutor saying that in Brno, if you get caught without a ticket (or without a stamped ticket, in my case), then you might have to pay something equivalent to $2.  

After getting off the bus along with some other tourists who got caught as well, the checker examined all of our passports.  He then said, "1000 korun from each of you!"  1000 korun is equal to about $50.  I finally broke down and started crying at this point.  My leaders tried arguing with him to convince him to change his mind.  The other people who got caught, flat out didn't have a ticket so it sort of made sense that they had to pay (the price was completely unreasonable though).  It did not make sense though, that I would have to pay the same price as them since I had a ticket.  

Unfortunately the (real) tears and explanations did no good.  The guy was a complete jerk and was threatening to call the police.  My leaders told me to go ahead and just pay him.  As much as I didn't want to pay $50 for an innocent mistake, I really didn't care to be arrested either.  With tears running down my face, I handed him the money.  I was upset, but at that point, I was really ready to go back to the hostel and then get on the train back to Brno. 

We walked the 30 seconds to the hostel (that is how close we were) and then headed to the train station.  I walked the 15 minute walk to the train station without a coat and was still hot from the stressful events of the last hour.  I was so happy to get on the train.  It was pretty full and the leaders told us to just find a seat and not try to sit with a group.  I found an empty seat in one of the cabins and there was a very nice older couple sitting next to me.  They didn't speak much English, but they were so nice and the man helped put my bags up for me.

I got up to go to the bathroom as soon as I sat down because I wanted to sleep the rest of the way with no interruptions.  It was very crowded in the hallway and when I came back I could not find the cabin that I was in.  I walked to the end of the train car and did not see my stuff or the people in my cabin.  I turned around to go check again and the sweet man is standing outside of our cabin waving to me!  I told him thank you and apologized and just told him that I had a rough day and left it at that.  I then sat down and ate my chocolate bar that I had in my bag.  My dad laughed when I told him that part and said it sounded like a commercial haha.  It really was good for the soul at that point though!  

Much later, I got up again and walked around and realized that pretty much my entire group was either sitting on the floor or standing in the hallways because they didn't have seats!  They had way overbooked the train.  I felt so bad for them, but selfishly kept my seat because it was the best thing that had happened to me all day.  I listened to music the rest of the way.  My iPod was on shuffle and the most perfect songs kept playing.  Songs about how the Lord is always with us and about praising Him in the midst of trials.  I was feeling so refreshed and just thanking God that nothing worse had happened and that I was on my way home.  Then, "Somewhere Out There" came on, which is my parent's song.  I didn't even know I had it on my playlist.  A few tears slipped down my cheeks as the song sung about being far away from the ones you love.  Next, "Today Was a Fairytale" by Taylor Swift came on and I laughed at the irony haha!  

We finally pulled into Brno and I was so so so happy to be be back at my new home where it is easy to get around, things are cheap, and where there are no tourists!  When others in the group found out that I had a seat, they said things like "you are soooo lucky!".  Oh yes, my day was soooo lucky ha.  If they only knew!  It was also raining when we got back and I did not care one bit that I was getting rained on because rain means that it has to be a little warmer!  

What. a. weekend.  Despite a rough ending, I absolutely loved Prague and had a wonderful weekend!  I am really excited to go back and visit when it is warmer!

 Even though I did not consider myself so lucky on that last day, I am actually beyond blessed and very thankful for all the Lord blessed me on this trip (& every day)!