I've been living in this town for about 3 weeks now and I think I'm finally starting to get the hang of it! Between using the tram, finding the good places to eat, ordering coffee, shopping, going to class, walking everywhere, and living in the dorms, this place is finally starting to feel like a home away from home.
I finally got to take a little time to go shopping this week! H&M is pretty much the only familiar store here that I know. But good thing everything there is pretty cute! What amazes me still is how cheap everything is! I ended up purchasing a nice jean jacket that, I would say, normally would cost me somewhere around $50.00 in the states. But here it only ended up costing me about $25 US dollars!! That makes shopping here so much more convenient hahaha but it also makes it inconvenient when trying to not spend money.
I loveeeeee the coffee here :). Cross Café is one of my favorite and convenient places to go, along with the Library Café. Cross Café is just so nice because it is close to where our classes are and that makes it easy to grab something on the go, or it’s a nice hang out spot for everyone as a group before class. They also have these amazing panini sandwiches that I have ended up eating a lot of! But again, the food and coffee is so cheap! At the Library Café, they have this amazing coffee that some of my friends discovered. Hazelnut latté with brown sugar on top :). When there is not a long line here, the people sometimes like to make cute designs with the foam on the top of the coffee! This place is a little further away from where our classes are so we like to come here to plan our trips for the weekends because we will be there for hours. (We also like to go there if we're really just caving the amazing coffee though also).
Using the tram has shown to be quite a challenge surprisingly enough! But I think we've all pretty much got the hang of it at this point now. Or at least I hope...
Most of the time, we only really need to take two different trams. Number 2 or 7. Simple right? It took us awhile to learn that the 7 is the one that will take us straight to our classroom, but it won't take us to the other end of town. The 2 is what takes you all the way from the dorms to the other end. (With stops in between of course haha). This weekend, Hannah and I got to stay in town for Easter and this was the first time I have been asked to show my tram pass. The security people did not speak hardly any English, so at first we had no clue what this lady was asking of us. Finally she got out the word "ticket" which we then understood meant to show her our ticket, or pass in our case. Honestly, the trams have become a piece of cake compared to other things such as ordering food when the server actually does not speak any English at all...
Ordering food has probably been the biggest challenge in everyday life here. But I've learned certain things to make it go smoother when eating out or simply ordering a coffee. If we go to a restaurant, we also first ask for English menus, which pretty much every place has had at this point. Once that is taken care of, the server then expects us to order or drinks. Ordering beer is probably the easiest hahaha. Simply saying "beer" or "pivo" (the Czech word for beer) will get you a big glass of their generic beer :). Water is rare and strange to ask for, and asking for ice will give you even more strange looks from the servers. When ordering water, we have to make sure that it is still and not sparkling. (As much as I wish I could drive into the culture of sparkling water...I don't think I can ever get behind it hahaha). We learned which places sell diet pop or as they say here "light", and then which places will have no clue what you're talking about. After the drinks are taken care of and your server wants to know what you want to eat, I've found it easiest to state the dish I want first, and if they don't understand I point to it on the menu. This usually makes sense. Although trying to modify your order is a harder thing to do. Overall, it's getting easier and I'm starting to feel like a pro :).
I love life here :). I love the culture and the people and having the opportunity to learn something new everyday! It's hard to think about my time here coming to end soon, so I'm trying not to think about it hahaha. Two more months and still so much more to do!
