Dobryden, all!

dorm view

Dobryden! My name is Andrew and I am a junior in Gallatin studying business and entertainment. I grew up in the north suburbs of Chicago (first Evanston, now Winnetka) and have been in Prague for about a month now. Prague is quite a unique city. It was under a communist regime until 1989 and the people seem to still have this gloom about them (though they are more often than not, friendly). During my welcome week orientation, I went on a tour of old town square. Some of the buildings are over 500 years old and in one church, the arm of a 15th century thief hangs from the ceiling. Apparently, the thief was taking some valuable from the church when a guard caught him early in the morning and so his punishment was having the arm that held the valuable chopped off. Looks like I won't be stealing from that church anytime soon. 

The architecture is really unlike anything I have ever seen. The closest comparison I can come up with is the opening to any recent Disney movie where the shooting star flies over this beautiful castle. Each building is incredibly unique and noticeably distinct from the next. The layout of Prague (in addition to most interiors of the buildings) is quite a labyrinth. New York is simple because it's a grid system. Here, every road twists and turns into another. I made the mistake of taking a night run two weeks ago and it took me two hours to find my way home. The TV tower (the highest tower in Prague which supplies broadcasting to the city of Prague) was my landmark for home. I refer to it as "the black baby tower" because the architect decided to put large black babies climbing up this giant TV tower. While I’m abroad, I really hope to get to know Prague and to travel as much as possible. I’m also keeping a travel journal to document my adventures as well as taking tons of pictures.