The next day
we went to the Kozel brewery, which was probably what we drank the most of
whilst being in Prague, including every family dinner. I’m pretty sure we were
most excited for the gift shop, since all we could say was “beer socks”, and
the Kozel mascot Olda – the most disgusting goat I have ever interacted with.
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| Left: Erica doing her last touristy thing on her last day: the only cubist lampost in the world! Right: At the beginning of the 2.5 hour long bus stop wait from the Kozel Brewery |
After taking a tour of the brewery in Czech, since English was not an option,
we got some lunch and thought our timing was perfect to make the earlier bus.
Well, 2.5 hours later we thought wrong after finding out one bus was cancelled,
taxis “were not possible” and our last resort was going to be Jan personally
picking us up. We were too paranoid to go back to the restaurant in case the
bus finally did show up so all we could do was huddle together for warmth and
hope Rachel’s feet wouldn’t fall off. After being in the cold for 2.5 hours
while Sunny, Jesse, and I were having flashbacks to the “World’s Loneliest Bus
Stop” from the Hell Hike (May the odds be EVER in your favor.) the bus finally showed up.
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| Me, Erica, and Marisa with program directors Richard and Jan who make USAC the best program choice! |
The next couple
days would involve multiple farewell parties and too many goodbyes. On Sunday,
after the Secret Santa Party, Marisa’s parents (two of the coolest people you
will ever meet) generously treated us all to a couple beers at the Beer Museum
on their last night visiting. Then, with a craving for a final fried cheese
sandwich the family and I decided to detour to Winceslaus Square one last time.
Monday, being
our last day, dragged on as it was filled with packing, last minute Christmas
shopping, and getting it all done so we’d have enough time to have a last
dinner at our pub that we went to at least once a week, and say our real final
goodbyes at 3:30 am when group transportation was arriving to take a handful of
us away. It’s amazing to think four months ago we all didn’t know each other
and now saying goodbye felt like the hardest thing to do. I don’t really know
what else to say, but thanks to everyone who followed my travels abroad and
most of all the people that made Prague a home.
Things I’ll
miss:
- Sitting around the kitchen table in apartment 5b
- Nights at our pub
- Impromptu snowball fights
- Jan’s adorable fatherly ways
- The beer opener hanging by a string on the door at the Potroviny down from R30
- Midnight adventures to random memorials or Charles Bridge
- Half a liter of beer for 10kc (50 cents)
- “Pristi Stanice I.P. Pavlova”
- Being 20 years old in Europe…6 more months
- Prague puns
- Family dinners
- The Family <3
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Things I could
live without:
- The anxiety I feel at the checkout counter of Billa
- Hang-drying clothes
- Never fully aware of what I’m buying at the grocery store
- Waking up to the sound of jackhammers every morning
- The freezing air from the metro escalators
However, if I
had to continue living with all those little annoyances and it meant I could be
back in Prague with the same people that made this semester the best time of my
life I would be there in a heartbeat…even if that means going through Frankfurt
airport again.
I miss everyone already and I now get to look forward to reunions, facebook stalking to keep in touch, my friends back at Cal Poly, and this little cutie that surprised me when I got home! Meet Česnečka!
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| English Translation: Garlic Soup |
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