Back to civilization!

I am back at home now...what a change!  My last week or so in Prague was great and I haven't blogged about that yet, so I decided to join that with my last entry!  After this, I will be printing this out and making a book for the memories!  

So, last week, we basically just tried to take advantage of our few remaining days in this fairy tale life that we were living.  Other than having to write papers, study for finals, and take finals...we made sure to have a good time.  We got to know the coffee shops, especially Globe (and the Colonel Sandwich there) very well!  We had dinner at Universal, Fresco Vento (pizza!!), Cantina, Le Bodeguito del medio, and my very last dinner was at Pivovar Brewery.  We also walked around a ton

On what I thought was my second to last Thursday in Prague, we pre-gamed at Krista and Victoria's apartment, with high hopes to party the night away at Radost!  Well, at around 12 or so, I fell asleep on their floor covered in a towel for warmth (lets just say i may have been more than tired..woops).  To make a long story short, when I woe up the next morning, I was on their blow up mattress, with various items next to me (my purse phew, my leather jacket, a prague guide book that I apparently read that night, and an empty bottle of Jim Bean - that not only I drank, again phew!).  I later learned that shortly after I fell asleep, so did everyone else...no one made it to Radost that night!  I felt a little better about myself, and it was quite funny since no one made it out to one of our most anticipated nights all week.

We continued to have some great nights in Prague. We had a night filled of Bekorovka (a night to "remember") after fajitas at Cantina, a strobe light dance party in Dan's apartment, a sing along with Kelsey and Jake (who knew they were so musical!), and oh so much more! One of my favorite nights was Krista's 21st birthday!  Before dinner, we went to the wine bar down the street (not sure why we hadn't done this before), but it was amazing!  We met a group of Czech people who were celebrating a birthday also!  It was hilarious!  Jan Kiss was taking professional pictures all night (later to be emailed via his daughter's facebook) to us!  They were taking pictures of us, with us, of nothing, etc.  At one point, Jan fell (one tow many glasses of wine?!).  They were hilarious, and we wish we had met more Czech people earlier in this trip...woops.  

On my last night, like I said, we went to Pivovar Brewery.  and by we, I mean the group of girls! We ordered Goulash and dumplings for the last time (and hope to never eat it again in my life!), and ordered these 8 beer samplers!  There were coffee flavored beer, banana flavored, wheat, cherry, etc.  It was interesting, and tasty!  I even went off my no beer diet for this special night haha!  After dinner, we went to Dan's apartment to pre-game and for me to say bye to some people, so sad!  After that, we went to Mecca for one last time, what a typical/weird way to end my four months in Prague.  We were there extremely late, dancing away on the bottom floor..and then I had to wake up only a few hours later to fly home!  Needless to say, I slept the ENTIRE way home, which made it go by extremely fast and painlessly.

So, originally I was supposed to come home on Saturday night, but then my plans changed!  I thought that I was not going to be able to make it back for Daylin's graduation at the start of the trip because CIEE claimed that I couldn't.  But then, on Tuesday I was sitting in class and realized that I could potentially be home on Thursday night, and be at graduation on Friday morning...and that is when the scheme began!  

So, mom immediately changed my flight (this was Tuesday night my time) to be on Thursday morning.  this meant, little time to pack and little time to say my goodbyes.  But, so worth it, for the biggest surprise will probably ever pull off!  So, on Wednesday night when I got home from going out, I emailed Daylin to tell him that I lost my phone and that if he needed anything, that he should bbm Ashley.  The next morning, I woke up to an email from him saying that he would be on skype at 1:15 his time 910:15 pm my time), and little did he know that I would be over the ocean at that time.  So, I had Ashley bbm right then and pretend to be me, and say that I was out and I would email him when I got in for the night...he bought it!  Then, as soon as I landed, I had mom send him an email from my account (with some typos) saying that I was going to bed and sleeping in the next day, so good luck at graduation and to email me as soon as he was done, so that we could go on skype!  Meanwhile, I was already back in LA, with my phone, and about to surprise him in just a few hours!  On Friday morning, I went to graduation with Daylin's parents, and when they were supposed to be calling him to say they were getting off the freeway, I knocked on (my) apartment door.  He opened the door, and I have no idea who he was expecting, and the best look on his face that I have ever seen!  It was a mixture of shock, confusion, happiness, and who knows what else...priceless! So, now that the surprise was done, I could go to graduation, get settled back into life in LA, and finally realize that I was no longer in Prague anymore.  

I'm definitely not used to being in the US, because for example, I forgot to tip my manicure lady the other day, I forgot that toilet seat covers existed, I didn't expect English to come out of the waitresses mouth, I thanked someone in Czech, and my body is sweating profusely because it is so damn hot outside!

So for now, I am getting settled back in, and not regretting the last four months for anything!  It was actually the best four months of my life (so far), and I had better experiences than  I think I would ever have had here! I made lifelong friends, learned a new language, realized that I like efficiency, learned to cook, raised my tolerance, learned to take long naps, realized that studying is overrated and so is starting things ahead of time, learned to pack lightly, realized I don't need to get my eyebrows and nails done constantly, learned how to dress in the snow, learned that communism was/is actually bizarre, learned I like quiche, more vegetables, goulash sometimes,and nutella all the time, learned to shub and still feel clean, learned that hostels do actually exist and people  (me) actually do stay in them, learned never to get a massage in Europe, realized that Cafeterapie will never have enough food and the woman is bipolar, learned how to sanitize my hands often, learned to never wear heels on cobble stone,   and most importantly had more fun than I could ever imagine!

So, that is all for this blog, forever...it will become a coffee table book for me...and a long lost memory to you.

xoxo

I COME HOME IN A WEEK!

I am currently sitting at the Globe, a cafe that is run by Americans and that functions as a cafe, internet spot, and book store.  I have been here for several hours now trying to actually get some work done, edit my blog so that I can print it once I am home, and make my final plans for this week.  Before yesterday came around I was not so sure I was ready to go home.  I do love this place, I have made wonderful friends, and this lifestyle is beyond compare.  But, then last night, I realized I AM VERY READY!  The people here are very slow, inefficient, and smelly!  I am ready to get back to normalcy.  Normalcy to me at this point includes being able to order a salad at dinner, not drink at lunch (shed the pounds), get from door to door in my car, get fast and efficient service, and be abel to actually pet a dog!  I can not wait to be back, to see everyone, and to sleep for a few days! 

I have gotten to the point here that I just need some Taylor time, which is not very possible. Although I absolutely love my friends here and love spending all this time with them; but those of you who know me, I need time to myself, to relax, to escape girl drama, and to just think.  We have a Group chat on Skype, which is so helpful with plan making, but at the same time I am slightly overwhelmed by the constant contact.  So, today I have given myself that time, and I can't wait to just sit in my room, with my dogs, and relax...and think in English!  

This coming week, I still have 3 more finals and 2 more papers due, so it never ends until I leave.  We are trying to go to the restaurants we love, and the ones we haven't made it to, go to our favorite clubs one last time, and  do everything that Prague has to offer in the Spring.  So, to say the least, I have a busy week ahead of me!

Love you all, xox

VIENNA AND PRAGUE- DAD'S VISIT!

This past weekend I took my very last trip abroad :(  Trip number 10!  Anyway, I went to Vienna with my dad!  I got there on Friday morning even though he was getting there Saturday, so that I could be with my USC friends who were there for the weekend.  Let me tell you, staying in a nice hotel, that was clean, had good food, and good service, was like a dream for me.  I am feeling particularly dirty these days..Prague is just not treating me well in terms of smell (I don't know if they know what deodorant is here) and air.  Basically, I have been sick for over 3 weeks now, and I have a feeling I won't be perfectly fine until I am home.

This is our hotel, Hotel Sacher.  They are famous for their Tortes, chocolate cakes, which were to die for...they kept putting them in my room which was deadly for me!

When I got there on Friday, I met up with my friends, and we went to the Museum Quarter and saw two very bizarre museums.  We could have seen anything, and we chose the death and murder-ish picture one, to say the least, I did not like it!

That night, I went over to their hostel (and then said "phew" that I didn't have to stay in one of those ever again), and we went to dinner at this cute little Italian place with a mean waiter.  But then I was feeling sick from gas inhalation the night before (stove got left on...but everyone and everything is fine), so I went back to my grand room to get a great night of sleep!!
The next day I met up with the girls for breakfast and then wandered around the city waiting for dad to get there.  I walked through some really pretty gardens.  Vienna is an absolutely beautiful city, it is very imperial as our tour guide put it.

As soon as dad got there, we went for lunch at Palmenhaus, a cafe that looked over the gardens.  And then, we were off to shopping!  It was a very successful day, I guess when you have someone buying it for you, you have luck!  Make sense.    
Vienna is known for its cakes and afternoon pastries.  Around 2 or 3 everyday, the people head to one of the bakeshop type places (this one is called Emel) and has a coffee and piece of cake...and somehow they are not fat...we didn't understand.  
Then, we walked around the city some more, took a million pictures because you know how dad is...must have a picture of everything with me in it.

That night we went to dinner, and for the first time ever, the surrounding tables were trying to figure out if I was his daughter or a gold digger.  It was weird and really funny to watch people stare and talk about it.  But, at some point dad said very loudly something about me being his daughter, and I think they got the clue.  By the way, this continued every night thereafter...again, werid!  


This is the Vienna Opera House which was right next to our hotel.
On Sunday morning we went to see the Vienna Boys Choir at this church.  Little did we know we were actually going to church services that they were a part of.  It was amazing though, the boys sound like girls, I could not believe it.  As soon as the church part started though, we headed out, to the shock of the people sitting around us.

Then, on Sunday, we had a tour guide, Chris.  Christ was a genius who showed us everything and taught us the history of Europe basically.  But, every time he said MAria Teresa (I hope everyone knows who that is), dad thought he meant Mother Teresa.  Too bad Mother Teresa wasn't alive hundreds of years ago.  I had to explain to him that it was two different people.  

Our first stop was the Spanigh riding school.  i have never seen a more beautiful barn in my life.  Each horse had its own groomer and care taker and basically lived in a mansion.  Interestingly, the horses all had to be a shade of white.  No other colors are allowed...strict!
Afterward, we headed to eh Hapsburg Castle and went into their Library.  Again, dad had never heard of the Hapsburg Dynasty.  No surprise here, he must not have gone to history classes haha!  Sorry to oust you dad, but it's just too funny!  But, this was a five floor library with books covering every square inch of every wall, all the way up.  
This is the Parliament building.
Here is the holocaust memorial, that seemed to just be in a random courtyard.  You can't tell in this picture, but it is a box-shaped structure, and the walls that are facing out are books.  It is what the other side of a library would look like.  So if you were to go inside, which you can't, the regular spines of the books would be showing.  
Then, after the obligatory sites, we went up to this town called, Grizing, about 25 minutes outside of Vienna.  It is the wine country, and all the little store owners have their own vineyards, and it was so cute.  On the drive up, there were people having picnics and barbecuing in the forest areas.  And once at the top, we saw the most amazing view ever of all of Vienna and the Danube, and it just never ended! 

Afterward, we went to see the famous ferris wheel, and the fair that surrounded it.  It was basically an exact replica of Coney Island in NY.  I felt like I was in America again...until I realized how many Europeans were surrounding me.  

Then, we went to see the Schonbrunn Palace and Belvedere Palace.  Basically, within a 4 hour tour, I felt like I had seen more in Vienna than I would have ever seen on my own in one weekend.  

On Monday, we decided to wake up and shop!  Surprisingly, Vienna has some great shopping!  After a morning of shopping and site seeing along the way (below: church), we went back up to Grinzing to have lunch at one of the millions of little places we had passed the day before.  

Monday night we headed back to Prague!  Once we got there we decided to grab a quick dinner since it was getting late.  We went to this place that I have been before, but I didn't want to order what I knew I liked, so I decided to try sea bass for the first time.  That was a huge mistake!  I got very sick that night, and poor sea bass that I loved in the moment, will never be on a plate in front of me again!

The next day, once I was done with class, I took dad around town a little bit.  We went to lunch at a famous cafe, Cafe Savoy, and then headed over to Petrin Hill.  Petrin Hill is where the big Eiffel Tower building is.  We went all the way to the top to see the view of Prague.

Along the way, we went into the mirror maze.  It lasted about 5 minutes, I was expected bigger and better things there.
After taking the tram up the hill (highest point in Prague), we walked down, through the nice surrounding castle neighborhoods.  
On Tuesday night, dad took my friends and I to a delicious dinner, and became best friends with the boys.  After dinner, we took him to Chapeau Rouge, our favorite bar, to show him what life is like in Prague.  I think he was a little disgusted by the place to say the least.
On Wednesday, I had class until pretty late, so dad had a tour guide that took him everywhere, took him to eat goulash, and taught everything that I was too lazy to teach him about the city.  But, once I was done with class I brought him up to Vysehrad, which is where I go to school, and below which I live.  Here is the view from school, and then my "school house," as dad called it.

I mean, it is a school house, it is a joke.
For our last dinner, we went to Kampa Park, a restaurant right below the Charles Bridge that is so pretty!  I had two finals on Thursday, so we called it an early night.  
I sent dad home with two bags, which means I am coming home soon!  8 days until you all get to see my pretty face again, aren't you excited?!  See you all so soon.  I am taking advantage of my last days in Prague, so I have lots of things to go do now....bye! xox