favorite things/amusements

• cobblestones: until i'm too drunk...then it's like some kind of sick obstacle course
• hot chocolate from cafe louvre: think melted dove chocolate bar in a cup
• miniature dress forms
• buying a bottle of vodka for three dollars
• gypsies: no really
• sergers
• croquette: looks like a hush puppy but is really a deep fried, breaded potato ball
• late night tram rides while people yell about their sex lives
• using the space between the windows in our room as a refrigerator: it seriously worked
• the ridiculous ironing board/steamer in studio
• karaoke: went solo on the "you and me song" by the wannadies...oooooh!
• the uncertainity of whether the strip club on the corner is really just a strip club and not a brothel
• bohemia bagel: restaurant that serves american-style breakfast all day, sandwiches, etc...they have the best caesar dressing i've ever tasted (this place is crawling with americans)
• the people in our group: so nice, so funny...it feels like we've known each other way longer than a couple weeks

random life

bits and pieces

i was told i needed to share some random points of interest about culture and goings-ons of Prague. so, here's a few...

-you push doors from the outside not pull
you can spot americans because they always pull first
-dogs are rarely seen on leashes
-stepping in dog shit is considered lucky
-there's sweet and sour sauce on a mcdonald's chicken burger
-it's rude to tip more than 10%
-if you can speak czech, you'll understand about 95% of any other slavik language
-the metro will blare it's horn at you if you step over the white line
-apparently british tourists are the most hated
-graffiti is everywhere
-the US dollar isn't worth much anymore
the Canadian dollar is doing better than us...and that's depressing

best of all
-beer is the same price (or cheaper) than water.
we're talking good beer too...pilsner, stella artois...

PRAHA!

after 20 straight hours of flying, airports, and instructions on how to survive a crash, i have successfully made it to Prague.

highlights so far:

1) BRITISH AIRWAYS #$@%ing ROCKS
for our flight we received the most awesome care package that included socks, a sleeping mask, and a toothbrush and toothpaste.

Exhibit A.

Exhibit B.

brushing my teeth makes me happy too

2) SHUTTLE RIDE
our shuttle driver from the airport was a flippin' mad man. i'm pretty sure we hit a few dogs and small children on the way to our hotel. "one way street" means nothing to him.

3) THE PEACH PIT
a group of us went bar hopping and happened upon this gem. the Peach Pit is a Beverly Hills 90210 themed pub. just imagine a peach colored bar with hundreds of pictures of tori spelling, shannon doherty, and jason priestley...magic.

4) ZIZKOV TV TOWER
this thing has statues of babies crawling on it:

ooooh, baby butts!

5)CHARLES BRIDGE/PRAGUE CASTLE
insane architecture/tourist traps

the torture museum was very tempting

view from summit /entrance/gigantic church

very long day. very long post.

it's dangerous business going out your door

in preparing for my trip...2 DAYS AWAY!!! i've had a few revelations:

1) airports are confusing. terminals? gates? kiosks? anyone...?
i'll be that person just wandering around, roller suitcases in tow, looking dazed and confused. or the one who rides the terminal shuttle for an hour straight because they don't know when/how to get off.

2) airlines are dumb because they have limitations on how many, size, and weight of luggage.
i can't fit all my shirts, shoes, pants, coats, scarves, etc. in two bags! DON'T THESE PEOPLE KNOW IT'S COLD WHERE I'M HEADED?!

3) dogs find giant suitcases great places to sleep.
i wish i had taken a picture of phil in the giant suitcase! so cute...until he wouldn't get out and left hair all over it.

it has also been brought to my attention that british airways was involved in an "incident" (as their website so calmly put it) yesterday morning. no one was badly hurt, but that doesn't exactly make me lighthearted.

despite these somewhat distressing revelations, i'm more excited now than ever.

killer cars

i'm a little upset with my car right now. she and i exchanged some choice words on my way back from raleigh yesterday.

i turn onto wade ave making my merry way toward I-40, singing and bopping along like a dumbass. i hit about 55mph when suddenly my car jerks and i see my odometer shoot from 30,000rpm to 60,000rpm. just as quickly the whole damn thing jerks again and down the needle goes.

then up.

then down.

then up.

all the while i'm yelling obscenities and begging for the stupid thing to not burst into a giant ball of flames with me in the middle.

it's amazing the noises your engine can make when you drive 60 miles on the freeway in your car's lowest gear. new transmission please?



luckily, i made it home in one piece. my car and i have yet to reconcile, but maybe at this moment in time a three month hiatus is just what we need.

in preparing for said hiatus i have continued to be totally lazy. i dread the chore of packing. i'm actually a little scared of the ginormous suitcase my parents bought me. any second i could somehow fall into it and it close the lid, zip up, and lock me in with one of those tiny travel locks.

wish me luck.

who took the bomp from the bompalompalomp?

song you should be listening to right now:
"deceptacon" by le tigre
if this song doesn't make you want to dance, sadly, there's no hope for you.


i drove to raleigh yesterday with lauren to visit friends before i leave next weekend. yesterday was great because i finally got to see toni, margie, and jensen again after being away for so long. needless to say, there were hugs, and tears, and balloons, and loud exclamations of "OH KATLYN YOU'RE HERE!" gah, i love them!

okay so there really weren't balloons. but they would have been awesome.

toni gave me a tarot card reading with the deck i got her for christmas. "total bullshit" you say? perhaps. but, my reading was actually surprisingly relevant and accurate in regards to the question/concern we were trying to evaluate. pretty weird.

today i woke up at 3 to the sound of laptop keys tip tapping away. toni and margie were busy working on schoolwork and stuff. i guess i forgot that everyone else is already starting to get into their new semester and new projects. that will be me sooooooon!

i have to go gather up my psychedelia and felt posters because tonight is nick, ryan, toni, and jensen's black light birthday bash.

begin at the beginning

::disclaimer::
i tend to use only lower case letters and i don't really spend time worrying about grammatical issues because those things aren't worth me wasting five minutes of my short life stressing over. if that sort of thing really bothers you...be prepared.


i haven't kept a blog since high school, but friends have talked me into keeping one while i'm away in prague. i'm certainly not one to think my life is interesting enough to read about, but this will be way easier to do instead of writing emails to everyone. read at your own risk. hopefully my posts from prague will have more color than this one.

prague. my sister says it sounds like a disease. i think she's right.

in preparing for this trip i've been busy sleeping in, watching episodes of "china beach," and dealing with my dog phil.

for those of you who haven't had the pleasure...this is phil:

sweet right?

wrong.

behind that adorable face is an evil killing machine just waiting to gnaw on my hands, feet, or any other visible extremity.

anyway. i plan to break up the monotony of my last few days here by taking a little trip to raleigh this weekend. if you'd like some quality katlyn time before i disappear for the next three months just let me know. if not, so long asshole i'm going to prague.