Campin in Rome

We got this sweet deal on housing at a campground just outside of Rome, very nice, very cheap, have no idea how this place runs because it is so nice and so cheap, seriously. Saw all the sights in Rome that I can think of, it was great, except you have to pay to get into the Forum, then they dont give you a map, and the tour guides themselves are walking on the site and ruining it, worst archeological sight ever, dammit Rome.

Tomorrow we leave for Florence, then after two days to Venice. We found out about a train for 12 Euro each, sweet deal considering the euro is making its way up to the friggen pound.

Also, the spell check on this computer is in Italian, so if I made a mistake its not my fault.

Post semester trip

Currently in Paris in front of the Hotel De Ville using their wireless internet.  We will be travelling to Italy and Greece next.  

Paris is amazing and internet access is fleeting.  I will update this blog, and travel period of my trip, as often as possible.  

If anyone wants me to buy them things from anywhere I'm going please deposit 10,000 in my account and ill get you anything up to a value of 1,000.  

Love Max

Vienna

This past weekend AIFS took us to Vienna for a weekend trip.  As with all the trips thus far it was far too short, but we got to see a whole lot of places.  I only have classes Monday and Tuesday but the program obviously has to accommodate everyone's class schedule, so it is a bit obnoxious to have to wait for the weekend to come when I have the entire week off after Tuesday.   Anyway, Vienna by far exceeded all of my possible expectations.  I thought it would be a rather boring city.  Very much the other way round.  The city was extremely clean and had some of the most amazing architecture I have ever seen.  I was a bit disappointed however with the drab colors of the buildings which are all some shade of stone.  I really like that Prague and Munich have brightly colored buildings.  

Vienna is home to possibly my favorite cathedral, St. Stephen's.  It has a huge tower (448.5 ft tall) that makes you very dizzy to even look at.  And additionally the cathedral is very clean, they are in the process of finishing up the cleaning job.  We also saw all the great sites of the town:  New town hall, The Habsburg winter palace, The Habsburg summer palace, the national museum, and all the concert halls and city squares and whatnot.  

My favorite part of town however is the open air market.  We got let out of our three hour walking tour (which was very cool but we became very hungry) and headed to the market.  It was crazy.  The market consists of a section of very good and very cheap restaurants with cuisine from all over the world.  We had the best Indian food I have ever eaten as well as a huge tub of hummus from this Mediterranean restaurant.  The market then turns into a huge food market with delicious looking fresh fruits and veggies and cheeses and meats and everything tasty.  Then it turns into a bunch of booths selling exactly the same crappy products.  But then it turns into a really interesting flea market where people sell everything from old clothes to old nazi coins and everything you can imagine.  Very interesting.  

On our last day there we went to the Habsburg summer palace, which is much like Versailles, but just a bit less classy.  These people were probably the envy of all rich people everywhere back then...except for the French.  

The Vienna trip kind of made me want to study abroad in Venice and I recommend to everyone that you visit the city.  It is one of the most beautiful cities I have ever visited.  It has museums, palaces, good food, great architecture, you can go ice skating in front of the neo-Gothic town hall (which is lit up with colored lights) until midnight 8 months out of the year.  And on top of all that, it is a fairly inexpensive city.  Definitely more expensive that Prague, but still pretty good.   

Classes at Charles University

We finally started the academic year here in Prague. Our first day was on February 18th, which is about three weeks later than UPS.  It looks as though classes will be obnoxiously easy.  On the first day one of our teachers literally said "if you are going to fall asleep, please sit more on the chair so you don't break the desk."  Our desks are a bit rickety, so this is good advise, but it seems a bit unusual for a teacher to warn us about the dangers of falling asleep instead of encouraging us to stay awake.  Some classes look good though, the teachers are very interesting and it seems that most of them will provide interesting insight into Czech culture and history.  The best part of classes though is my schedule, I only have class on monday and tuesday.  So this leaves plenty of time for doing whatever else I want to do.  I really like the idea that I went from going to class five days a week and having two off to having class two days a week and having five off, sweet.  

The Casino Royale in Montenegro: Code Name Karlovy Vary

This week we got sent on a secret mission to the Casino Royale in Montenegro.  We gambled with the fate of the world, then saved some people from death, and then had a car chase and then everyone said something witty.  

By this I mean that we took a day trip to Karlovy Vary, where the last James Bond movie was filmed.  We saw the "Casino Royale," which is actually called the Grand Hotel Pupp.  Our gambling consisted of tasting the gross mineral water, and our saving people from death was getting the awful taste of that water out of our mouths.  The car chase was just a very hot bus ride.  But believe me, everyone was very witty. 

But anyway, the town of Karlovy Vary is the coolest place I have ever been.  I say that on a daily basis now, but it is really beautiful.  It is the biggest spa town in the Czech Republic, and definitely the nicest.  It used to be a german town, so the buildings look a bit like those in Munich, but the place looks very happy.  Except for the angry yet expensively dressed Russian people walking around the town.  The town is a vacation destination for wealthy Russians, but apparently you do not want to know how they got so wealthy since the type of Russian businesses that these people work for or own are not all that legal.   

Moravian Nights

AIFS had included a lovely weekend outing for us all to the provence of Moravia.  We stayed in this sweet 70's hunting lodge that was pretty swanky but also had a hall of mounted animals, most of which were of the rodent variety.

We visited the town of Brno, the second largest town in the Czech Republic.  Nice town, kind of like Prague but less of a tourist destination, so it had less lame crystal shops and more of an Eastern European feel.  I really liked the feel of the town, but we didn't get to stay in the town itself for very long.  On the second night of the trip we had a "wine tasting."  First of all, Moravian wine is not something you want to taste, and second, I think that AIFS knew that.  They just gave us bottles and bottles of this crappy wine, which of course just led to 15o or so drunk college students running amuck in the mod version of the Bates Hotel.  On the last day in Moravia, after that whole scene of utter madness we got to visit these amazing caves.  They were humongous.  The first section was huge with lots of formations, then in the middle it opened up into this huge open air natural amphitheatre that is simply something you have to see to understand.  After that huge opening the caves kept going in amazing form, but the best part is that we got to end the cave trip with an underground boat ride through these winding tunnels.  Overall this was one of the coolest experiences of my life.  

After leaving the caves we went to see a massive Baroque church known as "the Pearl of Moravia."  This church was huge and the interior was covered wall to wall to wall with beautiful murals.  Oh right, we also went to the battlefield at Austerlitz, where the battle of the three emperors took place.  This is where Napoleon achieved his greatest military victory and essentially crushed the Austrian Empire.  This was neat, but we spent a lot of time there and the museum there had this weird mechanized reenactment of the battle that creeped everyone out.

You guys wanna go break the trade embargo on Cuba?

Last night Katie and I met a friend of her friend who is a lawyer here in Prague and a professor at NYU.  We met him on the street corner near the school and after we all introduced ourselves the first thing he said was; "you guys wanna go break the trade embargo on Cuba?"  Of course we said yes, I mean, who really doesn't want to rebel against outdated laws that just feel so good to break.  We then crossed the street and had mojitos made with Cuban rum.  Not only did we get to meet a very interesting Czech local, but also we got to break the tastiest trade embargo ever.  

Prague Castle and why you should always walk to school

I have been trying to walk to and from school every day, but it hasn't yet become part of my daily routine.  This is mostly because I wake up too late.  These shenanigans stop today.  I finally walked through the Prague Castle area a couple of times in the last few days and was completely blown away.  Tonight, on the way home we walked up a new route that goes right past the cathedral, which is an amazing Gothic cathedral that is lit up very nicely at night.

Lé Dorm

The dorm is an interesting combination of ugly design and necessity.  The outside is ugly, the rooms are ugly, the water pressure is terrible and I will have to make a special post just to describe the toilet.  That being said, I could not be happier with the dorms.  I came to Prague expecting and greatly anticipating living in a gross post communist hell hole.  The dorm however is really spacious and perfect for student living.  It is a nice place to come back to after a long day of trekking around and it reminds you that you need to leave again and go experience the more beautiful parts of the city.  It is also interesting to struggle with the occasional cold trickle of a shower, the dorm breakfast (woah) and the always-on hotplate that comes in every room.  

The dorm is especially nice, however, because it is luxurious in comparison to how many other people live in Prague.  The city is still not all that affluent and it is not uncommon for whole families to live in apartments about the size of our suites.  Moreover, most students at Charles University cannot afford to live in the Kolej Komenského.  It is regarded as the nicest of all the dorm accommodations.  

My First Impressions of Prague

So, I have been in Prague for about two weeks now.  Overall my experience has been awesome. It seems to me that after the fall of communism there were four or five touristie shops that took over all available retail space and hold a monopoly on cheap crap.  Other than those stores the city is unbelievable.  Every building and every little alleyway is more beautiful than I could have hoped.  The buildings make me think of what Paris and Munich would look like mashed together.  They have the Architectural style of Paris, which I think is very grand and ornate, combined withe the bright colors of Bavarian buildings in the center of Munich, which just look really happy to me.  Additionally it is hard to go anywhere without finding a huge sculpture or extravagant work of some kind on every side of the buildings in the center of the city.  Top notch there Czech Republic.  The outskirts of the city are not as beautiful but hey, what are you gonna do.  Even then though, the rundown parts of the city still have amazing sculptures in them, or have ancient churches or graveyards.  Basically the whole city, even the "bad" parts are way cooler than anything in the US.  

Munchen

We only spent the greater part of 24 hours in Munich and barely got to see any of the city.  We did however see what I like to think are the highlights of the city.  We started off the visit with a drowsy visit to a deserted coffee shop operated by one worker in her mid to late 40's who was blasting techno.  She was very nice though and gave us free croissants when we left.  After that we waited around for a while at the hostel for the bus tour of the city.  Apparently this hostel was far below AIFS standards.  I didn't care, but its nice to know that well be staying in super nice places as we travel with the program.  The bus tour of Munich turned out to be...zzz...woah, did you fall asleep too?  A combination of the 4:30 AM departure from London and the tone of the old bavarian woman giving the tour lulled the entire bus to sleep.  The tour then went on foot through the center of Munich and dropped us off at the Haufbrau Munchen.  We all ordered the classic giant beer and some starnge sausage and sauerkraut combo.  A while later we walked back to the hostel but stopped at another beer hall on the way.  This place was ridiculous; we entered the main building (typical Bavarian building) and were then directed to the drinking hall, which is at least three stories underground.  The hall was a warm looking brick cavern with lots of tunnels and such.  I couldn't help but wonder what the hall had been used for during WWII.  It must have played some role as it is an underground bunker with lots of storage room.  Anyway, that was just a bit creepy.  After spending a while drinking in the storage room of the third reich we headed back to the hostel to rest up for our morning departure to Prague.  

Chewable Toothbrush? Brilliant!

My friend bought this disposable toothbrush that you chew in the London airport.  It is just this little minty piece of plastic that looks like a venus fly trap but you can brush your teeth on the go with it.  I think that is a brilliant idea, especially since I hate brushing my teeth.  Way to go British.  Although, after seeing everyone's teeth in England I wonder how well they work.

London

On the way to Prague the AIFS program has a two day stopover in London.  I was always looking forward to this wee detour, but never thought it would turn out as well as it did.  We arrived, extremely jet lagged, and were taken to our hotel.  The hotel was at the base of Tower Bridge with an amazing view.  So after getting our room assignments (my roommate brought a Jesus costume and wore it already, he is a really nice kid but that was a bit off) we went to get food in the financial district, which was a bit spendy for what we got but hey, its London.  We also learned that in the financial district last year people were paid 60 billion pounds in Christmas bonuses alone, yikes.  Then we saw that egg shaped building and walked back to the Tower of London, which was also right next to the hotel.  Entrance was extremely pricey but the crown jewels were unbelievable, to repeat unbelievable.  The second day in London consisted of a bus

tour of all the major attractions of London: St. Peter's Cathedral, The Eye, Big Ben and Parliament, Westminster Abby, Buckingham Palace and all those lovely places.  But then we got dropped off near the British Museum and walked through London a bit.  The Museum was far more amazing than I had hoped, not only did we see so many relics and priceless pieces of history but we saw several monumental world treasures.  Fist off, the reason that I wanted to go to that Museum in particular was the Elgin Marbles, as I have always had an intense fascination with the Parthenon.  I still cant believe that these sculptures are not in Athens.  

The Museum however did make the prefect display for these sculptures and gave them just respect in their care.  In my excitement to see them though, I walked right past the Rosetta Stone without even giving it a glance.  So then I camped out in front of it for a while, wondering how I could have missed something so monumental and only finally glimpsed it out of the corner of my eye.  I felt OK about that after I realized the stone had been passed up for thousands of years by more dedicated people than myself until its chance discovery.  Another amazing thing about the Museum was the exhibit of the terracotta warriors!  Some of them were on loan and out of China for the first time ever.  In a round about way we got to see them for free (Museum entrance is free but the price for the terracotta warriors exhibit was 16 pounds).  The exhibit was a bit overdone, but the seven or eight warriors they had were amazing.  After the Museum we walked back though the neighborhoods, and along the Thames.  We stopped for Greek food along the water and it was delicious.  Overall London was very cool but very expensive.  It was great to be there but I'm glad to be studying in Prague.  I was more afraid of running out of money in London in two days that I am in Prague for the whole semester.  

Prague!

So, I just started this blog (evidently).  I tried to sign up earlier but when I got onto the website it was all in Czech.  No bueno for me knowing what the website says in the least.  I chose the name "americkygangster" not because I have recently joined a gang or acquired a new and unflattering nickname, but there are posters up all over Prague for the film American Gangster that say Americky Gangster for the Czech reader.  I think its way funnier than anyone else does.  And really because I couldn't think of anything that I liked.