classes and getting lost

hellllooo! apologies for not having updated in a while--the 15 page paper for the class i took in london this summer was due on tuesday and, naturally, i didn't start it until about a week ago, so i was miserable and up to my ears in romantic literature. the good news however, is now it is DONE and i can relax and continue to enjoy the beautiful czech republic. our intensive czech class is now over (i passed with an A-!) and our real classes have started. I am taking History of the Jewish Communities in the Czech Republic, History of the Czech Lands and Contemporary Europe, Totalitarianism in the 20th Century and Art and Architecture of Prague. They all seem like they'll be very exciting and engaging. Also, on tuesdays, i signed up to take more czech classes--only an hour and a half a week and we won't be graded or anything, but i figured it'd probably be good to know a little more, considering i don't feel as though i know any...
it's currently raining outside which makes me want to relax and eat soup all day. elle and i are going to go to the train station momentarily to buy tickets to Brno, another city in the czech republic famous for Mendell's discovery of genetics. We will spend Saturday and Sunday there with a few friends from our program.

here are pictures:

 

our class went to see "Swan Lake" at the state opera house. it was gorgeous! 

 

inside the opera 

 

out for kristin's (left)20th birthday! 

 

last saturday we went to see one of prague's professional soccer (futbol) teams, Sparta, play. This was my attempt to wear red and support them. 

i gave up with the bandana though and bought a legit jersey. hopefully i'll go to another game and will be able to wear it again! we arrived 3 hours before the game to ensure that we all (20 of us!) could get seats together. It was waaay too easy to do, so we had lots of time to kill. naturally we went to a pub and indulged in copious amounts of czech beer, making the time pass very quickly! 

 

and these were our seats! for the equivalent of $6 we sat pretty much at midfield, and 6 rows from the pitch. it was AWESOME. and, to top it all off, Sparta won 2-0. we were all a little disappointed that we didn't see any crazy european football riots though... maybe next time!

my art and architecture class took a visit to the oldest monastery in prague, built in the 1300s. it wasn't as boring as all my classmates suggest in this picture... 

yesterday me, lauren and elle made a conscious decision to get lost. we hopped on the first tram that arrived, and then got off when things looked interesting. we ended up in a really neat part of town with beautiful architecture and a stunning church. i wish i knew the name... but it was really gorgeous. 

a pretty row of colorful houses

from there we walked around and eventually found the river and a path alongside it. here i am with the charles river and prague castle in the distance. 

charles bridge

we stumbled upon a quaint little park on "the other side" of the river. gorgeous flowerbeds. 

wandering the small cobblestone streets in mala strana. we found an awesome english bookstore here and browsed for quite a long time. 

pretty

we then stumbled upon hte john lennon wall--a wall of grafititi all associated with the beatles, and primarily lennon. it was reallly awesome!