Just had the most amazing weekend with one of my bestest pals Cailin taking in the food, the sights and the general good vibes of Prague
Quick hits:
- I really missed flip-flops
- Paddle boats are sick
- Prague is filled with these cone doughnuts and then they stuff them with ice cream and WOW
- 28 hours of travel time for 36 hours of exploring with a best friend is worth it
- pub crawls are a dangerous force to be reckoned with
- saw a guy get physically thrown out of a club and I was really convinced he died for a minute
- ive meet a lot of amazing women traveling on their own through Europe and everyone of them has taught me some great lessons
- I’ve never been on an overbooked train until right now and its awkward as hell
Details:
Thursday night I set off on an overnight bus from Copenhagen to berlin. 8 hours later I got on a train to Leipzig, 2 hours later I got on a bus to Prague, 4 hours later I was in PRAGUE and in the company of the one and only Cailin Mcgrath
We walked (a lot) and talked (a lot) and made the most of our time in every way.
All the food was very cheap, very dope (Cailin is trying to bring the term dope back) These things called trudelinks are all over the city and they’re so delicious. Imagine a doughnut in cone form with sugar coating on the outside and then filling the center with soft serve ice cream. I’d call that a delicious nutritious lunch!!
The city itself was beautiful, seemingly fake sometimes because of the condition of th buildings and how they were illuminated against the night sky. Sometimes it felt like a strange dream, but in a good way. I can’t explain it well, I just know I need to go back again.
We were blessed with some fantastic weather. A small aside, I did something to my foot a couple weeks ago, maybe a month now. It’s really painful on the top of my foot, especially on runs and long days of walking around the city. I didn’t really know what to do so I’ve been dealing with it, trying to stretch it out, hoping luck will fix it. This weekend, however it never hurt. Cailin made the keen observation that I have never been a person that wears shoes but I’ve been wearing shoes all day every day for two months now, and this weekend was the first time I have been able to wear sandals. Neither of us are doctors, but were convinced my feet just hate shoes and flip-flops will cure-all my ills.
Prague is plagued with big boy groups and pub crawls. Don’t get me wrong, I love boys, but the ratio of men to women is pretty telling. Cailin and I for some strange reason could not escape groups of pub crawls or find bars not participating in a pub crawl.
All the traveling clichés are hitting me. The cycle is vicious. I need to go more and more places. The list grows. I have cried a couple times now because its just been so beautiful and I don’t think I’m worthy (thankfully I am not alone in this) Saturday night we met up with some girls (or should I saw women) Cailin met on the train. One was from Australia, one from Brazil, and both had a lot of amazing advice about traveling, relationships, and life. Both of them were also traveling on their own and just loving it, which I think is the coolest. I hope to continue seeing more whenever I can, no matter how old I am. As we were walking back from the bar and talking about our plans for traveling in the future, Carla, the Brazilian woman, looked at me and said, “I think America just lost a baby”
I don’t know how the time flew, but all of a sudden I am staring the half way mark of my internship in the face, five weeks remaining. I am hungry for more of Europe and traveling and discoveries. Not now, but by the end of this, I do think I’ll be ready to bring what I’ve learned back to school and live my days with a little more zest, perspective, whatever it is that’s happening to me out here. I’m not necessarily homesick, but I do REALLY miss Mexican food. I am preparing a presentation on my senior thesis for my team at work, and as I was flipping though my pictures looking for things to put on slides, I got my first real wave of missing Santa Barbara, and my friends, and all of our shenanigans. But I know I’ll be back soon enough. Right now is some much needed me time.
Paige Hoel 