Everyone should go to Prague.

Thanksgiving: just okay. SACI (my school) provided a dinner for us at a fancy hotel; pasta, turkey, and potatoes. Definitely not home but I got through the day. That marks my first Thanksgiving away from family and I'm hoping it's my last. Though, I have no complaints, I am thankful for my experience here and what I have.

On Friday all of Italy decided to go on strike, the day Meg and I were headed to Prague. Not just a little strike in one little town...the whole country- trains from 9-1, planes from 12-4, buses from 4-8, and whoever else that wanted to, whenever they wanted to. The result: a delayed plane and 7 extra hours in the Milan airport. Finally we arrived...it was 11pm and thanks to a hotel with an amazing heater, we defrosted and fell asleep. Saturday was spent walking over 23,000 steps to the Prague Castle, Charles Bridge, and Old Town. I found some sweet Christmas gifts for some sweet family members and enjoyed the historic and romantic city that we call Prague. As it started to snow, Meg and I decided to be adventurous and see a black theater show. Originally we wanted to see the marionette show but the sales lady convinced us that the show we went to would be 13 times better than the marionette show...so off we went. It was the weirdest hour and ten minutes that I have ever been entertained by and I'm not sure if entertained is the right word. Between the Tetris and Enya music, the black lights, and the whole show based on mythology (something I know little about), I couldn't help but giggle to myself. It was ridiculous, so ridiculous that I'm not even going to waste your time writing about it.

Sunday was spent at the Jewish Quarter, quite an amazing place. At some point in history, the Pope had declared that Jews and Christians shouldn't live together which resulted in a walled in ghetto of about 11,000 Jews. Later discrimination was decreased as the walls were torn down but soon after, the Jewish Quarter was annihilated by Hitler. The two places that impacted me the most were the Pinkas Synagogue and the Old Jewish Cemetary: The Synagogue's walls are covered with 77,297 names of Czech Jews who were sent to concentration camps. Though Katz is a common Jewish last name, my heart still hurt to see my name on that wall. The cemetery is filled with 12,000 tombstones stacked on and around each other due to limited space and the Jewish belief that the body shouldn't be moved once buried. The Jewish Quarter is worth visiting, so much history belongs in that small area.

Prague was unforgettable and beautiful. Ahh! I almost forgot. The Czech Republic is where beer began, so I had a beer. I hate beer, but I "had" to try it...so for about one Euro, I had a pint and probably drank 5 sips. Here are my three phases to drinking beer...cheers!


Stay tuned for Brussels, I leave on Thursday...