praha welcomes you... with jet lag.

if you had told me four years ago that i would be living in this strange city where the locals speak a language that i cannot even begin to understand, i probably would have laughed in your face. honestly. but, nonetheless, i'm here, i'm alive, i'm jetlagged, but i'm ready to take on this city (and this contintent) with full force.

we arrived in the czech republic on an airfrance flight, ready to get off the plane, move into our new digs, and, most importantly, take a nap. i've been jetlagged before - on my trips to australia/new zealand and greece - so i knew what i was up against. but, since my version of jet lag usually involves a loss of short-term memory, i had forgotten how miserable it actually is. i emerged from that airfrance plane on two hours of sleep, and knew it was going to be a long, long day.

the bus ride from the airport to our residence at machova 12 (the numbers come after the street names here) was relatively painless, and we got to see bits and pieces of the city. not unremarkably, maybe five minutes after leaving the airport, we see a mcdonald's. seems like we can't get away from american consumerism even in a place like prague. the coach dropped us off down the block from our building, which blends in nicely with the rest of the street. it's impossible to tell from first glance that this building is home to several dozen american students (this is a nice perk - we want to blend in with the locals as much as possible).

machova resident hall is set up in suites of four-to-eight people, with two suites per floor. each suite has several bedrooms, a bathroom, and kitchen. whitney and i are living together again in a double. our suite is on the top floor of the building, with stairs up to the study lounge in the attic. the study lounge has several computers, a printer, and some couches. it also has a balcony that overlooks the city with a fantastic view (especially at night).

i have been surprised at the number of students who are studying here but are not from NYU; we've met kids from tufts, amherst, south carolina, hamilton, and a bunch of other schools. now the requisite first conversation has morphed from "so, what school are you in (meaning which NYU school)?" to "are you with NYU? where are you from? what year are you? what's your major?" it's an interesting twist to the traditional initial conversation. it's a nice change to have students from schools other than NYU; being all NYU all the time can get pretty exhausting, so i'm definitely welcoming meeting kids from other places.

we were taken on a walk around the neighborhood by one of the resident assistants; she showed us all the important local spots - the 24-hour grocery store, the pharmacies, the metro station, the bars. our neighborhood is very cute; the buildings are all really beautiful, and the streets are cobblestone. the only downside, i think, is the dog poop. apparently czechs don't have to clean up after their dogs.

on the agenda tonight is dinner at some pizza place on NYU's tab. like most NYU students, i'm all about the free food.