One week back in Prague

Monday-Friday of this past week I was in Prague for meetings with the Czech Fulbright staff and all of the other Czech Fulbright grant recipients. It was great to finally meet everyone and to hear about their own crazy and unique experiences these first few weeks. Despite our different situations, there have been some commonalities. It seems that everyone has both loved and been challenged by their new lives here in the Czech Republic. It was also nice to take a break and spend some time in Prague with some other Americans for a change.
So, to recap the week: On Monday, my flatmate Pavel took me to Ostrava where we had a "man breakfast" that consisted of some delicious, and fatty, pork knee, rolls, and beer. What can I say, it's the most important meal of the day. After being driven to Ostrava, I took one of the Pendolinos, the nicest trains in the country, (thank you taxpayers) from Ostrava to Prague. Once in Prague, I bummed around in town with another Fulbrighter, had some Thai food, and then went to my place of residence. The place where we were all staying was incredible (see picture). The name of the hotel was Villa Lanna and it was surrounded by various embassies and important places, the most notable being the Chinese Embassy, the UAE Embassy, a major police station, and the U.S. ambassador's residence. That first night we had a nice dinner in the dining hall and then went out for drinks. Tuesday was chock full of meetings about Czech History, education system, etc. which was informative but a little too brief for my taste (they covered the entire Czech History in under forty-five minutes).That night we went to the opera 'Don Giovanni' in the Estate Theater where it originally was premiered by Mozart (see picture). I had never been to an Opera before, so that was an awesome experience. On Wednesday we had meetings in the morning on Czech culture which mostly consisted of a dancer showing movies of her performances where she laid in a pile of dirt, nude, and had what appeared to be a seizure. It left me with more questions then answers. Afterward, we had more meetings in the U.S. embassy about safety, health, etc. and were then left to our devices that evening. I spent most of my time having drinks with some of the other Fulbrighters and the embassy staff and then later went out for Indian food. We were all trying to get as much culinary variety as possible while we were in Prague. It got a little bit expensive but it was worthwhile, the Thai and Indian almost cured my cravings for quality Mexican food. On Friday we had more meetings in the morning, a tour of Prague in the afternoon, and then that night we had a reception at the ambassador's residence. The ambassador's residence was incredible. It is one of, if not the, nicest homes I have ever had the pleasure of visiting. I felt extremely fortunate just to spend a couple of hours at the place, let alone at an official state cocktail party. The next morning everyone said their goodbyes, and I hopped back on the Pendolino and two other connecting trains, after much frantic ticket buying, running, and last second boarding, to get back home. That night I was pretty wiped and disgruntled from the trip, but my mood soon changed when I saw that the package that my parents had sent the week earlier had finally arrived (see picture). It was great to get some little snacks, magazines, and other things from home (Cheeze-its and cheap Wal-mart granola bars have never tasted so good).
Sorry I haven't been able to update everything more frequently. Things have been crazy busy. If things ever settle down I'll update the blog more regularly but until then, once, maybe twice, a week is all that I'm able to do. Thanks for reading and keep the comments coming!