finally in prague!

yesterday morning i woke up in my apartment and, from my beautiful bed in my beautiful room, looked out the window and it was snowing. big soft snowflakes. it is surprising how easy it is to manage the cold when you're wearing the appropriate clothing. famous last words, right?

so, yes, the apartment is beautiful. it is in the center of a very nice area of town and a six and a half minute walk from the university. i'm starting to get my bearings. i know how to get to my apartment, to the dorm, and to the study abroad office, where i am right now. i've rented a guitar from the office and am very pleased about this. it is a crappy guitar, but it plays and that's what's important. oh! and how do i know this apartment was meant for me? there is a pillow with pictures of penguins on it! i'm so happy with the place.

unfortunately, it turns out that they're giving me $1000 less than i thought they were going to return for finding my own housing. this puts me in the hole. i'm distressed about this. the apartment is moderate for american standards, well priced for it's location, but way way way more expensive than the dorm (which, it turns out, costs about $700 for the entire semester!). the dorm, while it is cheap and full of awesome people and free breakfast, is a shit hole. i just found out that, had i lived in the dorm, i would have lived with three of my best friends here. so i'm still up in the air about whether i made the right decision or not.

i'm thinking i did though. i'm thinking it's worth the money. my friends have been spending tons of time with me anyway. they love my place. they're all gonna put a pair of pajamas in my apartment because we have like 7 beds (not joking) so they can crash there when they feel like it. they're all really looking forward to meeting rhys. it sucks because it turns out that i'll be going on a lot of trips with the program, so i'll be leaving rhys a lot. but it also turns out that, if he pays for everything else, rhys will sometimes be able to get a bus spot on some of the trips. also, he might be able to get some free theater tickets. the ways zdenek (i don't know if that's how you spell his name, but he's great) put it, if they have extra tickets, better it go to friends than to the waste bin.

i think living in an apartment will also give me a better feel for prague. for instance, we don't have a shower, we only have a bath, and i've been struggling with that for a day or two. are you supposed to fill it up and use the spray thing? just use the spray thing? just fill it up? i don't know!

i haven't edited or planned this entry out or anything, so i don't know if i already mentioned this, but this is the most beautiful city on earth, i'm almost certain. when i'm on the tram looking out towards the river and the castle i honestly can't believe that i actually live in this place. my friends hannah and anna from indiana and i were talking about how we feel like we should be more beautiful just to live here. like we're disgracing the city with our sneakers and greasy hair. and i love the snow. and my parents freaked me out way too much about the cold. i've been wearing sneakers and not always even wearing gloves (if hands are in pockets) and i'm fiiiine. it might get worse though, so i guess i shouldn't count my chickens.

the staff at the abroad program are awesome. they're very friendly and organized. we have jana, who reminds me a lot of monz (our unit leader at camp), who is very laid back and cool. we have zdenek, who is about, maybe, 60 years old. he's like our czech tour guide. he says things like, 'i'll lend you my eyes if you lend me your hearts' and it makes all of us want to run up and hug him all together. he's the sweetest man. we also have petr, who is the wild and crazy guy. his job is literally to plan group excursions to clubs at night and go and drink with us. he brought us to this crazy gigantic (really huge) 80's club on saturday night. it was totally full, and they had a gigantic (movie-theater sized!) screen playing the 80's videos that corresponded to the songs. it was nuts. czech people are nuts. there is also marketa. she is the program director. she's super sweet and was raised in prague and atlanta, so she's about as bi-lingual as they come.

the other kids in the program are also really awesome. i've found a terrific group of girlfriends, who consist of hannah and anna from indiana, kelli, kristen darling (no joke, what a name!), stacey, another nicole, molly, and a girl named emily who we just met, but like very much. i feel like i've known these people forever and i think rhys will love them too (don't worry, rachel, not in that special way, i'm sure!). they already all like him because i keep telling them new things about him every day so that they will be prepared for how awesome he is. i hope rhys doesn't run into any trouble being left out because he's not in the program and might not be able to go on the trips with us. i hope he makes friends apart from us stupid americans too. oh i've also made two guy friends too. one is my friend ryan, who i mentioned earlier. he's now my food and dance buddy. he's a great dancer! and also eric, who is also jewish like me, who plays guitar (and lets me play his) and lets me borrow his cell phone and hangs out with us a lot, but also acts annoyed and ditches us sometimes. i like having so many girl friends! it is so nice! this is the first time i've had such a high ratio of female friends! i love it! more exclamation points!!!!!

i'm starting to learn some of the language and pronunciation. we had our first intensive language class today. it was actually really fun. i hope i get to learn the language better. it looks like i'm not going to be able to take the language class because it conflicts with the czech history class. i can't decide whether i'd retain more of the language or more of the history, or which would be more useful. i really wish i could do both! i'll be taking about 50 hours of czech language over the next few weeks, though, and so i'll probably be able to figure out how proficient i am and how much i enjoy it by the time we really need to be signed up for classes. hopefully.

have i mentioned that i love it here? okay more later