Touchdown

After many hours of traveling, I have finally landed in the beautiful city of Prague.  My flight on British Airways to London was very pleasant.  Takeoff was smooth and the flight service was much better than anything US Airlines has to provide.  With a very delicious menu, I got my tray a little bit after takeoff, accompanying the meal with some Coke and rum.  It was just the perfect thing to send me to sleep, that is, after an episode or two of Modern Family that the flight also provided.  With the spacious leg room, the small pillow, blanket, and socks BA gave, I dozed off for a bit, not getting the best sleep, but just enough. We landed in London around 3:00am EST (8:00am in London).  I had to take a bus to a different terminal, but let me tell you, I have always been impressed by London's cleanliness for their public transportation. Anyways, I got to the terminal, and I felt like I was at Walt Whitman Mall on Long Island.  Gorgeous hardwood floors, decadent accent lighting, comfy lounge areas, a beautiful Starbucks, Harrods, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Ferragamo, Burberry, etc. I said to myself "I should fly to London more often." So, I get to the next gate, and hopped on a flight from London to Prague.  This flight wasn't as comfortable as the first flight. My seat didn't recline, I was stuck next to a big man, and I couldn't fall asleep.  Not to mention, there was barely any leg room on this flight.  The guy in front of me was practically sitting in my lap.  Well, the main result was that I landed safely in Prague around 1:45pm CET.  I walked through customs like I was a Czech citizen already, and went to baggage claim.  I was lucky enough that, my tangerine colored bag was the first bag to come out of the claim.  Once I had my luggage, I met two other students on the program, Deanna and Dan.  Deanna is very charming and actually lives 30 minutes away from me on Long Island. Dan however, is from Illinois, and goes to school in Washington.  So we are greeted by Lenka, our head homestay coordinator for the program.  And off we go, in a taxi, into the city of Prague.

Driving through the city is very relaxing.  A lot of pastel colored buildings, and cobblestone everywhere.  It was quite a maze to drive through all the streets to get to our hotel that we are staying at for our orientation week.  The hotel is nice, located right on the corner of a small intersection in District 2 of Prague.  It's called the City Bell Hotel.  I walked in, got my care package and materials for orientation, and checked into my room with Dan.  There are only three guys (including myself) on the program, so we are all in a room together (spacious, and with a nice view).  I walked around with Dan and Deanna, just roaming some of the streets near the hotel before we had to meet up with everyone for dinner.

The streets are quite empty, but the buildings are beautiful.  Once we all met up for dinner, we met the head administrator of the program, Sarah.  She talked to us about some of our care package materials and answered some lingering questions.  What I found out was this:

• We are given a metro pass, a student identification card, some Czech currency already, and a phone.
• MY NUMBER IS: 420 775 545 194
• I answered some more questions with Lenka about my homestay preferences.
• We have a tight schedule for this orientation week. (Tomorrow, we are going to visit the school where we are studying, some of the city sights, and attending a big carnival/festival in the evening).

So my first official Czech meal was something I ordered off the menu, called traditional czech pan.  It consisted of little gnocchi, shredded bacon and beef, with potatoes, in a light vinegar cream sauce.  I also ordered my first Czech beer: Staropramen, a drought beer that tasted like very classy keg beer. It wasn't very strong to drink, and I enjoyed it very much with my meal. Below is a picture I took of my meal:

So we all finished our dinner, drinks, and dessert, and the 10 of us (total in the group) went on a nice walk as the night came upon us.  We made one more stop at a bar/pub across the street from the hotel to tip off our day. I know that there are going to be many memories with this group that I won't forget. 

So off on a busy schedule tomorrow I go, and I will keep you all posted about the days to come. Below is a picture of the group on my camera:

(From left to right: Allie, Dan, Deanna, Me, Alex, Emily, Taylor, Tom, Audrey, and Dora)