The next day, was a Friday, but for me it was like a weekend everyday for a week. Demarcus and I met my buddy here in the dorm. Vojtech was going to take us to some of his favorite places. For lunch, since we had no idea how to eat, we went to a gyro place and got some yummy meaty sandwiches. I have posted the picture of this event in the previous entry. People here call them kebabs, not gyros. At least my buddy does.
Then we went and played some more pool. It was really nice, kind of early in the day, and no responsibilities. I had been warned before about the toilets in the Czech Republic. Sometimes they do not have toilet paper, and sometimes they do not work. In the basement there were many toilets and many of them didn't work. I was a little scared of being in this place, because of the front door. To leave the building, the door had to be unlocked by the receptionist. If there was some kind of emergency, this would be a problem. This system was used so that people don't leave without paying, but it made me feel unsafe.
The next week was a learning experience. Firstly, there is a kind of collective information system that was used by us, called word of mouth. This works like this, one person learns something that all the Americans should do, and then tells someone, who then tells someone, until everyone knows. At the time, we were like children, having no idea how to do anything. How do we do laundry? How do we eat? When are the menzas (cafeterias) open? The problem with this method of information transfer is its unreliability; people provide incorrect times, dates and other things. Learning how to use the menza was funny. We were given student cards that could be used to buy food. Somebody said that we needed to put money on the card to use it, but nobody knew where we had to do that. For some time, we didn't know where the menza in our building was; there are two or three eating establishments in or near the lobby of our building. The one that we could see from the entrance was not the menza, the one in the basement wasn't either, but there was a sign on the door of the first that indicated where breakfast could be found. However, the arrow on the sign was not very descriptive, until I realized that there is a sort of hidden hallway next to the staircase, and the menza is down that hall.
The lobby of the building has five stairs in it. There is a staircase straight from the entrance, the main stairs for this part of the building; then there are four stairs kind of like an H without the middle line. I have many choices for stairs, and if I see someone I don't want to talk to, I can simply can another set of stairs.
The first night I went out to a club, the Americans decided to go to the "five story club," which has a real name, but no one can remember it. This was the first night that I hung out with the Americans, since most of them I've never met. Demarcus is the only one in my grade, the rest are Juniors. I think this was a Tuesday, but I'm not sure. I think there were 12 of us. It was around midnight when we got to the tram stop. We were supposed to take one tram into the city and then walk, we let one tram go past, and were waiting for the next. We waited for about an hour, and decided to take the tram that came. All the Americans were drinking beer and using the bushes across the street.
Where was the freaking tram? Why hadn't the right number come yet? Because, the last tram, with the number we wanted, had already left. Now, only the night trams were running. Luckily, we had someone with us who could find directions. He was one of the American's flat-mates, from Russia.
There are many Russians going here, who are from Siberia, and they all live in our dorm. They're very nice, and are really fun to hang out with. For a long time I thought that this guy was named Alex, but I was mistaken, his name is Oleg. I trusted that he would find out where we had to go, since he was text messaging someone who lives here. However, we got the second set of directions wrong.
We would take the next night tram and get off at some stop; it really didn't matter where we got out. About 40 minutes before we got on the tram, two of the Americans, Dearon, and I think Sam, decided to go on an adventure. They would walk there. I thought that this was a really silly idea. After my time in Tokyo, I would never walk anywhere for fear of getting completely lost. This was the night I realized how much smaller Prague is. We said bon voyage to them, and continued waiting, knowing full well that we would never see them again. I actually thought that we would get there at the same time as them, because things usually end up like that. For example, when I was in NYC, two groups of people were going to a bar. One group went by train, and the other by car. We went from Brooklyn to Queens, and we both got there around the same time. We took the tram to a stop right next to the river. We were supposed to transfer to another tram, but it was across the street, and we didn't get on it. Again, the group split up. Some people decided to walk to the club, and some were going to wait. I was going to wait for the next tram, but then we found out that we had missed it.
We started to cross the bridge, when the two missing Americans appeared. I was completely bewildered, there was a river to one side, and a giant hill to the other. Dearon explained how they were walking around, ran into some people, who gave them a beer, and pointed them in the right direction. Then they walked through this big park and down a giant set of stairs to the bridge. I thought we were going to see them at the club, but was happy to see them a little earlier.
We walked along the river to the famous Charles bridge, and through a kind of underpass, filled with little stores selling junk. The club was just outside this tunnel. It was a hundred crowns to enter. I was surprised that the bars inside served beer in glass cups. I also found out that bartenders change the price of beer randomly. At this place they charge you and then ask if they can keep the change. In the Czech Republic tipping is usually just the change, not the usual 15%-20% in the USA. Each floor of the club is a different kind of music. People ended up dancing on different floors, but I think the group I was with was dancing in the hottest one. I don't remember what I was wearing, but I was sweating up a storm the whole time I was there. I would take breathers and beers after about 15 minutes of dancing.
I had lots of fun dancing in a circle, dancing as pairs, dancing by myself, etc. Now that I think back on it, I'm not sure if I'm remembering the first time or some other time I was there. Anyway, I had fun the times that I was there. However, like most clubs, there is some time when all the girls leave, resulting in many guys.
What I learned from this experience, find out the tram to get there and back, and find out the times of the trams, before walking out the door. It can be a hassle to find the right tram. If you do know the last tram that you need, you still need to know what tram connects with that one, and where. It really stinks when you have to wander around looking for the tram, or when you have no idea what tram to take. Luckily there is a nice website that can figure out how to get from one place to another, for the whole country. It includes information on connections, and times. Another nice feature of the Czech transportation system is the timing. Trams, buses, and the metro are usually on time, or arrive within a minute of the scheduled time, and all this information is online.
