Walking home

As the sun begins to set and the Prague grey turns to a darker deep grey, and the streets actually brighten with the gold color of street lamps, I place my headphones into my ear buds, and begin the 1-mile trek home. While I could easily take the Prague metro, and join the other evening commuters in the strange silence of Prague transportation, I, instead, choose to take advantage of Prague’s brighter hours (the street lamps actually illuminate the otherwise dim city) and walk back to my dorm in the Upper-East-Side-Esqe neighborhood of Vinohardry.

Making the journey from NYU in Prague’s Male Nameste (Small Square) campus located in the heart of Prague’s Old town, to my dorm, is much like walking from Manhattan’s Times Square to Cornelia Street. Navigating my way past swarms of tourists and weaving between those travelers with their cameras glued to their eyes, I might as well be walking along 42nd street, then half-way around the world and walking up the steady incline of Wenceslaus Square.
Clerks wait outside and greet me as I walk past stores that boast every sort of stereotypical “Czech” trinket one could buy. As I walk further up the broad street, women wearing provocative clothes that match their nonchalant posture wait outside glitzy hotels with neon lights and fake marble rivaling the casinos of Atlantic City and Las Vegas. Men and women walk steadily past me as their ashen faces and hair contrast with the brightly colored manikins propped inside storefronts.
As I finally make it past the National Museum, and put the grime and bustle of Wenceslaus square behind me. I turn a corner, walk through a tunnel under a vibrating highway and appear on a street that might as well be located in a different city. Even with my ipod pulsing music through my eardrums, I can sense the complete silence. No longer do people surround me. I am totally alone on the deserted street. When a tram strolls past, the people within the packed car lock eyes with me one at a time.

The walk between Wenceslaus Square and Sleszka, my residence hall, continues at a slightly lonely but peaceful pace as I make my way to the park in front of my dorm. The atmosphere lightens with the occasional interruption of a dog barking, or baby crying, as families go on their brisk evening walks before the winter air becomes too cold. As I walk along the cobblestone to my dorm’s entrance and I gently pull my ipod out of my ears, the Prague silence clogs my eardrums. I take one more deep breath of fresh air, feel the cool breeze nip my nose and ears, and enter the glowing warmth of my new home.