Now I’m in Prague! It’s a beautiful city: Gothic architecture mixed with Parisian style buildings. It’s lovely to just walk around here, and things are decently priced. Most importantly, beer is incredibly cheap.
I’ve been spending most of my time in my hostel and partying. These stories are going to mostly be about my bad decision making (over which I have zero regrets). You have been warned.
When I first arrived here, I definitely used the public transportation wrong and didn’t stamp my ticket right, but nobody caught me so it was fine. It’s really confusing when the instructions for things aren’t in English. After an eventful ride of going the wrong way on the subway, I finally made it to my hostel. I was pretty tired from going so hard in London, and my plan was to relax, maybe watch a couple episodes of The Great British Baking Show (which, ironically, is unavailable on European Netflix. Thank the Flying Spaghetti Monster for VPNs!)
Yet again, my evening did not go as planned. As soon as I walked into my hostel, they welcomed me warmly (this place was amazing), handed me a (half liter) beer, and asked me if I’m coming out. Ugh.
So go out I did.
We went to a couple places but ended up at this weird steampunk bar quite a hike away- we had to use the trolley. I was way too sober to be with all the crazy drunk people, and spent most of the night talking to the only other mostly sober person there, an Aussie from my hostel. We had such a good time together, really connected, and left before most people due to my exhaustion and his needing to catch a flight early in the morning. But as things happen, we ended up kissing and then doing other things. Highlight of the night was getting walked in on by the roommates.
I slept in the next morning- as it would turn out, every single morning in Prague. I eventually got out of bed for a free walking tour of the city, which was three hours and went past sundown and freezing. But it was also great because my tour guide was fun and knowledgeable and gave us so many tips. That was basically all I did that day. Then I went out with my hostel again!!
This time we also went to a couple places, finishing at an 80’s/90’s club. I was getting really close with my two roommates, an American studying in Barcelona, and a German girl, and we all stuck together that night.
Genevieve was much drunker than the previous night, and did some great dancing. She also learned that she knows all the words to the full version of the Friends theme song.
Then Genevieve tried absinthe.
For those of you who haven’t had absinthe before, it’s like 70% alcohol and bright green (although I think that’s the crappier stuff, I think the “better” ones are darker, but don’t quote me on that.) You’re apparently supposed to sip it and not take it as a shot, but I had yet to learn this vital info; my mouth immediately went numb. Not knowing if it would *actually* make me hallucinate (it didn’t) or what the hell it was going to do to me, I asked my friends to please make sure I got home. And then from what they tell me, a minute later they turned around and I had vanished.
I found myself at the other side of the club at a different bar, sandwiched between a (different) Aussie from my hostel and a really tall stranger lady that was definitely hitting on me. It didn’t take long for me and the Australian to decide to leave, and I had my third very slutty night in a row.
The next day was castle day! I made the not terrible hike up to the Prague Castle, which is like, super huge and there are creepy-ass gargoyles all over it. There’s a monastery close by with a brewery there, so I went in there for a beer and planned the rest of November (bus to Vienna, then to Budapest, then flying to the Netherlands at the end of the month!). I also went to this beautiful chamber string concert at St. George’s Basilica inside the castle – it was cold AF, but it was nice to listen to familiar classical music (like the Four Seasons).
Then it was time for the pub crawl. But not just any pub crawl, no. This one happens only once a year and it is a thousand people. Definitely more than that, actually, but they said it was a thousand. It’s called the Drunken Monkey and we were at the first bar for an hour and a half and for the entire time had unlimited booze. Un. Limited. Booze. It was so bad. I was with my roommates again, and we stuck to vodka and drank all the vodka. The bartenders were not supposed to do shots, they were supposed to mix it with juice to slow us down. This lasted for about six minutes. Halfway in, they were pouring us cups literally half full of vodka and filled the rest with juice. We most definitely got our money’s worth.
The worst part of all of this was the bottleneck out the door when this ended. It took us at least half an hour, probably more like 45 minutes, just to LEAVE. And I have absolutely no idea what happened the rest of the night, except that apparently I got home at 11:30 (this whole thing started at like 8) and somehow made it up to bed. At one point I also projectile vomited onto the wall, ran into the bathroom and projectile vomited (mostly) into the toilet because I’m classy. The great news is that I woke up feeling fine. Tired, naturally, but fine. My family is notorious for not getting hangovers, and it’s my favorite part of my genes.
SO yeah. That was Prague. Today I did basically nothing, because I’m tired and it’s cold outside, plus I had to save energy for going out tonight…again. Obviously way less hard, if for no other reason than I’m sick. My tonsils are about three times the size they are supposed to be. So I should probably rest a bit.