Proof That I Go To Class

Besides eating a ton of food, sight seeing, and having stupid amounts of fun with my friends, I have surprisingly also been going to class. We kind of got thrown into this project, but we’re slowly being taught how to do it? We kind of just try to paint something and then the teachers walk around and tell us what else to do.

The first assignment is a series of three paintings due on Tuesday — The first painting is of a piece of paper we shaped however we felt like (using only one color), the second is meant to be zoomed in on that form, revealing some kind of threshold there (inspired by the city, using 2 pigments), and the third is whatever we want to be behind that threshold (using all 3 pigments, yikes). I’ve done the first two, and just decided what my third will be. I sat in the tea shop downstairs today for a while sketching and soaking in the atmosphere. It was actually eerily quiet; the only thing making noise was my pencil. But oh well, I drank my plum tea and figured out the composition for my last painting.

 

Pinky Up

Yesterday was so classy I can’t even stand it.

In the morning our watercolor class went on a walking tour led by our Czech teacher, Andrea. Of course, we all got separated on the St. Charles’ Bridge and my friends Gillian, Meredith, Laura and I were left to give ourselves our own walking tour. The point of the walk was to explore different thresholds and doors around the city, which we did. We also found the palace gardens and decided to walk around there for a bit. There were some of the best views of the city yet. Also, why can’t I be a Czech princess?

 

It was beautiful and not even very crowded. We walked around the gardens and then began to walk back to class, stopping to get crepes along the way of course.

I worked on my watercolor for a while, but mostly just chatted with my roomie in Rals, Stephanie!! I miss you!

In the evening, the opera. We walked there from the Institute and had the best seats. We were right on the edge of the balcony with a view of the orchestra. The show was Rusalka: the more depressing version of The Little Mermaid. Thank goodness they had English subtitles because I would have been so lost otherwise. There was a lot of slow walking and falling onto the ground dramatically, also it was 3 hours long. I think my eyes were closed for most of the third act. Overall, I’m glad I went. It was a really cool experience.

The view from our seats

The ceiling above us; there was a giant chandelier but it was too bright to photograph.

No means Yes

Today was orientation. Bright and early, all 65 of us got led from the Pension from the Institute by one of the directors, Daniel. Wonderfully enough, he resembles Willy Wonka, and during the metro ride I could only think about that one scene where everyone is traveling through the dark tunnel on a ferry.

Upon arrival, we got our first hour-long lesson of the Czech language. Damn. This stuff is crazy. They have a million different endings for words depending on how you use them, and one of the letters I can’t begin to pronounce. Our teacher, Lenka, was wonderful though. She taught us all of the letters and accents, so that even if we didn’t know what something meant, we could still pronounce it. She did go through some important words like “help” and “thank you”, and also that the word “ano” means “yes”, and “ne” means “no”. That’ll get confusing later hah.

After our lesson we went over rules with the head director and found out a little more about the Institute. The building itself was built in 1250, the walls are made of mud and horse hair, and it’s absolutely beautiful. There’s a great courtyard outside with a type of tea shop? and also an art gallery downstairs, along with local residents who live there year-round. For lunch we went to this kind of aggressive Russian restaurant (they DID NOT like it when we tried to split the bill), but I did get an awesome bowl of chicken noodle soup for like $2.

We then went on a small tour of the surrounding area. It’s quite near where Americans accidentally bombed Prague at the end of WWII, and also this cool looking cubist style building. We saw St. Charles’ University and the German opera house (we’re going to the Czech one on Tuesday!), and also the Church of St. James? I think. There’s a legend attached to it that once a man reached to take some flowers from a statue of the Virgin Mary, and his arm fell right off his body. To this day, there is a gross looking part of an arm hanging from the wall. I assume as a reminder not to steal from sacred statues, but ew.

Afterwards, a small group of us walked around a bunch of street vendors and bought small amounts of any and all foods. I’m not sure what the first dish was that I tried, but I know it had potatoes, sower kraut, and cheese (no surprise there). I also had a sausage hotdog and something called a trdelník that was totally delicious (and what we all refer to as a turtleneck).

It was a long afternoon, but I learned so much about the language and my surroundings. Can’t wait for class to start on Monday!