UEFA Champions League Trophy

This photo was taking by UniCredit Bank who was a main sponsor of the trophy's journey through Europe.  It was great because it was free to access online and download 3 days after it was taken instead of paying an exuberant amount like in America.

Free Week

After Prague, I have not done too much.  A lot of relaxing and sleeping in.  The sleeping in has kind of messed up my sleep schedule.  Last night my friend and I made a HUGE omelet consisting of 12 eggs, 2 onions, 1 pepper, cheese, 0.5 kg of ham, 2 tomatoes, and 5 small potatoes.  It was delicious, even at 4am.  We then watched Gran Tourino and eventually fell asleep.  Today we got tickets to Beardyman for only $13.33!  He is arguably the best beat boxer (one who makes music with his or her own mouth) in the world.  He has won titles yearly for a while now.  During his concerts, he records one sound and loops it so it plays back and he makes another.  Doing this repeatedly he creates an entire band full of sounds.  The concert is in Warsaw so we will take a 3 hour train ride for $30 (round trip).  I think Fil's cousin is going to join too so that will be fun.  I will update you with photos from Warsaw and the show.  Today's low is 32.  The coldest it has been since being here.  Boy did we feel it though.  Earlier in the day we agreed it was the coldest day yet and upon looking at the weather, we were correct.

Until next time

Praha

After precourse, students have a week and a half break from class, if you passed the physics exam.  Fil and I decided to head to Prague for a few days of this break.  We got a train ticket for 215am on Thursday.  Fil needed to do laundry before the trip so he washed his clothes but, like most places in Europe, was not able to machine dry them.  He called our friend Ania, lovely Polish girl, and she said she had a dryer.  Sadly she thought he meant a hair dryer.  She ended up coming to Fils house with her hair dryer and alcohol and proceeded to dry his clothes by hand.  She then ironed, folded, and packed them.  What a great woman! 

She doesn't like being photographed so she blocked her face. 

The train ticket was not very expensive.  It's interesting because the cheapest way to travel via train around here is to purchase a ticket to the last stop in Poland, then buy a ticket to continue on the Czech side, instead of an international ticket.  They let us purchase the whole ticket but you pay the Czech portion on the train when you enter their country.  You save quite a bit of money that way.  Following this, we needed to get currency to buy the second leg of the trip but the money exchange place was out of Koruna.  It was 845pm and the mall closes at 9, which is full of these exchange places.  Luckily we were able to find one that had the correct currency, phew.  Fil and I hopped on the train and were able to catch a few Z's until we had to switch trains.  We got woken up by a Czech lady who was asking for 200 Koruna for the last leg of the trip.  We gave handed her the 2000 Koruna bill we were given at the money exchange place and she said it was too much.  She, angrily told us to ask people if they can break it or else we will get kicked off the train.  Kicked off for having too much money!? Fil asked the Polish people if they had any money and they said no, unfortunately the train was very empty too.  I then asked the last two people on the train, who spoke English, if they had money and they did!  They were our last chance of staying on the train.  During this whole debacle, we met a Sudan medical student who we ended up hanging out with in Prague when we arrived there.   

Our humble abode

The lush countryside 

Our friends from the Train

The hostel was amazing.  I have never stayed in a hostel and this one makes me want to never stay in anything other than that.  It was $75 for a 2 bed suite for 2 nights.  

After getting situated we walked around the city.  The old town square was a 10-15 minute walk down the street from our hostel, not bad.  What a beautiful city!  Breathtaking.  

Great scenery, including a nice passerby

Entering the old town square you go through this square and through this amazing structure

On the walk towards the square.  The entire city looks like this with its beautiful buildings.  Surreal.

A quick video of their Stary Rynek

Beautiful!

We ate at a the Prince Restaurant and got some delicious food and beverages right in the town center for $20.  Earlier in the day we got some subway thinking it was going to be quick and cheap, but it was more expensive than this wonderful dinner we just had!  

Sunset 

View across the river

At night the city somehow gets even more beautiful.

The clock tower.  A man leans out of the top and plays his horn at the top of each hour.  

A photo from the Prince Restaurant.  Sadly blurry as it was taking with my iPhone.  

That night we went out to a Hip Hop bar/club for a while then decided to leave and go to this other club that is the largest club in central Europe.  The hip hop club was south of town and we got lost walking back to the town square.  It was about 1am and we walked about 5 miles in the wrong direction.  With some help from the locals we were able to find out way back.  Garmin was acting up a little and wasn't too much help.  I found that it takes a little to accurately show what direction you are pointing.  After making it back into town with sore feet we went to the other HUGE club.  It is a very popular spot for tourists, unfortunately because we wanted more of a local place.  The club was 5 full stories, multiple bars on each, different DJs playing different music genres, crazy fog, light up floors, etc.  We stayed there for a while and had a great time.  On the walk home we actually saw the sun rise, which was a nice treat.  

On Friday we met  an Englishmen and a guy from Atlanta who lived in Germany.  They had the room next to ours that night.  We took them around the city and took a bunch of pictures.  Prague is so elegant throughout the entire city.  There is the Old Praha on the south side of the river then the new side on the north side of the river and the architecture is stunning.  

When night came we went out to a different club that was on top of this building on the main street of Prague.  It was a great place with tons of people dancing and having a good time.  We had bottle service and met this group of girls, one of which was from San Diego and went to San Diego State.  Small world.  We went with them on their last top of a pub crawl.  It was a crazy bar, 8 stories underground in rock.  It reminded me of an ant farm with its many levels.  After staying up again until about 8, we had to get a couple hours of sleep then check out as we only had the hostel for those 2 nights.  

We weren't ready to go back.  

Today the Champions League Futbol trophy was in Prague and we go to take a picture with it!  

Fil and I eating sausages and having a beer.

We also stumbled upon a Prague Futbol Secondary League field.  The grass was perfect. 

There was a concert by this world renowned DJ we wanted to check out.  Our plan was to get a train ticket in the early morning so we can go see the show then leave there and go straight to the station.  The Czech lady in the train station told us the trip back was going to be $150 each!  The trip there cost $20!  We went to an internet cafe and did some research ourselves and found proper tickets, again purchasing only domestic tickets instead of international.  Fil thinks the computers at places like this has a magic button that says, "Screw the foreigners" and a simple push of that will increase the price tenfold.  The other lady was nice and very helpful and we got the ticket to the border for around $10.  

Now time to get a ticket to the show!  Sadly they stop selling tickets online or something at a certain time so we were a little late and weren't able to get them.  We decided to walk towards the venue and see if there were any tickets available.  The venue, Tesla, is located above old Praha, across the river, not a close walk but we wanted to explore the city more.  Then the rain came.  It wasn't a driving rain, yet it was persistent the entire time and we were soaked to the bone. 

I actually liked the city the best during the rain because the city glowed even more!

My feet still hurt as they were in my waterlogged shoes all night.  We could have cabbed it but they are notorious for pushing the magic foreigner button on their meters.  We explored the other part of the city on the way to Tesla.  Unfortunately we weren't able to find it after an hour of walking and ended up walking in almost a circle.  By now we have seen every inch of the city and know it well!  We went back into the city and asked locals where the best place was to go at night.  Using their help, we went to another amazing club.  Prague supposedly has the best nightclubs in all of Europe.  During all of this, both our phones died along with our cameras and not having a room to stay, there was no chance of charging them.  At about 5am we had to leave and head towards the train station as our train was scheduled to leave at 615am.  Gathering our belongings from the locker, we headed to catch the train.  Unfortunately, we weren't able to sleep because we had to make 4 transfers and we had to phones to set alarms to wake us up when the arrival time approached.  We successfully made all the connections and arrived back in Poznan after the 10 hour journey.  Prague was the top place on my list of unseen places so now I can mark that one off!  What a great place and I am sure I will be there in the future.  

Fil getting on the single car train.  

After my return, I sat and watched football for a few hours before dozing off.  There is this great website that gives you access to every game with sound and in good quality.

I slept for 14 hours and somehow could have slept more.  Today I went to get my index and student ID card.

I have a week off from class so a lot of relaxing will be taking place!

Tuesday

A lovely Tuesday.  Although I am still feeling slightly under the weather, I took the infamous physics test and passed.  It was a proper test sitting with a seat in between with various versions of the test.  The whole point of precourse was to pass this physics test and get 5 extra points for biophysics which we will take later in the year.  This was the first time students had the chance to pass the test for those extra points.  If you don't pass, you are recommended a week course of about 3 hours of physics a day then another chance to pass the test for those points.  Only a third of the students passed so it felt really good to do so.

After this test, and also getting another 88% on my Polish test, my friend and I met with this lovely Polish girl who he met the other day at the club chokolate.  Her friend came not long after and we had a couple drinks at a place called Sharks that is in the Rynek.  It's a 4 story bar/desert place and has great views of the Stary Rynek.  Following some socializing, although their English was slightly better than my Polish so not too much socializing for me but more learning to say things, we went back to their house to watch some movies.  We ended up watching 2 movies and were served tea and a common but delicious traditional Polish dish.  It was some kind of meat with rice wrapped in cabbage, VERY good!  They were wonderful hosts and we had a great time with them.  We ended up not sleeping that night and decided to go home when they fell asleep so today will consist of a lot of rest and relaxation.  Since precourse is done for me I have nothing to do finally!  My friend and I are planning on taking a train to Prague tomorrow evening.  I think the fare is roughly 100zl so $30 which is a great deal and the ride is only about 6 hours.  We should do some final planning on that later today but that's the idea.  I'm really excited to go there as that is the one place I want to go the most in the world with Maccu Piccu a close second.

I have noticed I have learned quite a bit of Polish since I am with a lot of Polish speakers.  I've been here exactly one month and I have made some good progress.  I can understand much more than before and speak basic things.  Bedtime for me!

Piatec

Piatec (Friday) It's pronounced Piantec because typically there is a squiggle under the 'a' which adds an 'n' sound to the word.  

Class all yesterday, tests on monday and tuesday so studying a lot this weekend.  Last night went to a different Italian restaurant, not the typical one close by and it was very good.  After a workout I went to a friends and studied a bit then we went to a Swiss friend of ours birthday party.  She had some absenth for us to drink, which was a nice treat so we had a few shots of that.   Went then went to Chokolate one of the favorite clubs for medical students at Poznan and had a great time as usual.  I wore my Lakers jersey last night and there were a few Celtics fans at the club.  

I am not sure if you guys caught top plays on Sportscenter but Lech Poznan had the ESPN top play of the week.  The Lech team is the local Futbol Club, who won the league title last year.   The play was was an amazing goal against the Juventus team in the 92nd minute.  It was shot from far outside the box and went off the cross bar and in to tie the game.  Juventus has always been a great team and little Poznan tied them 3-3!!  Pretty cool Sportscenter recognized the goal.  My roommate went back to Virginia for a couple weeks so he won't have to go back in Christmas when flights would be more expensive.  It will be kind of nice having the place to myself.  More studying today.

American Shirt

 Forgot to upload the shirt I my amazing grandpa gave me, thanks Grandpa Bill!

Tuesday and Wednesday

Tuesday

I slept in a little today and missed my first class to get some extra rest in hopes I feel better when I woke up.  It worked!  I feel a little better today, stomach feeling better and throat not so sore.  I had inorganic chemistry and physics today.  Following class I located a nearby copy center.  I have to copy my visa and health insurance and present them to the Dean's office.  I only had 100zl so the guy let me have the 2 copies for free as it was only 20gr (synonymous to 20 cents).  After that mission in the heavy rain, I made it home and got a little food and looked over some physics.  My buddy came over and we went to the gym.  We went the previous day for a trial run and returned today to get a monthly pass equivalent to $40.  It will be nice to get the blood flowing and relieve some stress there.  I was going to wear my "Freedom is not Free" shirt that I got from my wonderful grandpa but I decided the humongous Polish men tossing tons of weight around might not take to kindly to that.  I will wear it here one day gramps!  Following this, feeling energized, I got a little more studying done and talking to one of my great friends on skype who I haven't seen in over a year.  A great end to a good day.  

Wednesday

Had typical class today, went to a friend's place who gave me a ton of books from their previous year followed by a workout at the gym.  Came home and was able to find the Chelsea FC game on so I'm stoked!!  Had to refill my phone as sometimes when I am hooked to wi-fi it switches to the EDGE network and decides to charge me 10zl to download emails or something.  I have began to switch to my airplane mode so incase the wi-fi doesn't work and the signal is lost, it won't switch to EDGE, it will simply not work.  

Physics time, lovely!