The Final Stretch

My plane leaves to come back to the Promise Land aka the Land of the Free aka the Home of the Brave aka the United States of America in about 6 hours. I have to check out of my room in about 2 hours. I'm not packed. Rather than packing, I am blogging. I got sick yesterday evening - really sick. I think it was either a 12 hour flu bug or some sort of food poisoning. Had a rough night of sleep but life goes on.

Alrighty - last week. The past week in Prague has been truly amazing. Last week we had a paper due Monday, a presentation on Tuesday, a Final on Wednesday, a paper due Thursday and a paper due Friday. If you know me, you know that I'm a perfectionist when it comes to writing. Regardless, I gave those assignments whatfer and tried my best...we'll see what the outcome is.

Either last Tuesday or Wednesday, my buddy, Jake Appelbaum, and I decided to rent a paddle-boat and cruise around the Vltava River in downtown Prague. Come to find out, paddle-boating is typically a couples activity. Oh, well. We did get a few beers before we got on the boat which was pretty sweet. To the right is a picture of me standing on the boat in the middle of the river. It rained for about 20 minutes so we parked the boat under one of the bridges - so romantic, huh?

Last Friday, a few of us decided to go up to the Prague Castle since we had never been. 10 USD and about 3 hours later, we were done with the adventure. The Prague Castle is definitely a beautiful sight that every tourist must see, but it didn't have that old castley feeling. Some parts of the Prague Castle are still being used by the Czech government which I believe contributes to the non-castley feeling. The Chapel was much more interesting in my opinion. Didn't get a tour so my knowledge on this one is limited, but it was neat to see. Here's a picture of the castle for your viewing pleasure.
The following day, Saturday, July 31st, a few of us went to the Prague Zoo. The Zoo was actually very cool. I was a bit harsh in judgment because I have been to the San Diego Zoo and the San Diego Wild Animal Park nonetheless it was a great zoo. Two things that surprised me about the Praha Zoo - trash cans are not emptied throughout the day by the staff (disgusting), dogs are allowed into the zoo for 1USD. I have a million pictures from the zoo but I'll just give you a few.







God Bless America!

















The Most Noble Beast





The next day we headed out to do a so-called 'Amazing Race.' We were able to pick our teams which resulted in me handpicking the most competitive team in all of Europe because I can not stand losing. The morning started out with a bus ride to Cesky Krumlov at 8:15 a.m. The first team got to leave at 8:00 a.m. - lucky ducks! Once we got to Cesky Krumlov we had to find a hotel, a museum, a statue and a brewery. I forced my team to jog it in because I knew that would separate the boys from the men. I stopped in to a travel agency once we got there and I asked them to print out a map for me and circle everything that we needed to go see. They did. We won. No big deal. Our prize was a key chain, a bottle of champagne and the most important prize of them all - bragging rights. Bingo.

Our hotel ended up being unbelievable. There is no way 4 college kids deserve to stay in a place that nice. Here's a picture of our crib. Front porch? Yabsolutely.
We stayed in Cesky Krumlov until Monday early afternoon. It was a short stay, but the town was beautiful! Cesky Krumlov is located in the southwest part of the Czech Republic about 50 miles or so from Austria. It is up in the mountains a bit but is still a large tourist destination. Monday morning we went rafting on the Vltava (yes, it is the same river that goes through Prague). None of the locals were getting in the water yet I managed to do at LEAST 4 different types of dives off of our raft. It felt great. Here are a few pictures of the town.

My final thoughts on the trip:

I love America and wouldn't want to live anywhere else (long-term). Ever. I have a new found respect for Central European culture. I think that the European Union is the biggest load of crap and I can't stand that they try to immulate the U.S. I thoroughly enjoy reading every sign in a good museum (it has to be a good museum though). I would rather travel alone. I am truly blessed to have had this experience - It was absolutely the experience of a lifetime. Prague is the most underrated city by Americans' standards. I like Cesky Krumlov the most out of all of the places I have been. I like Prague the second most. I think it's weird the Czechs aren't very nice. Berlin is way overrated (the history there is realllly cool though). I can't live in a city for too long. I really enjoyed my marketing class - I still think that marketing is the same as high school SGA: you pick out colors and plan different events. I have a more developed love for country music. Europeans are skinny but they smoke a lot more than Americans. I shouldn't get mad at people who are in the United States and can't speak English. I love the weather in the Czech Republic. The ACC project that I'm working on gave me the opportunity to meet and talk with people who normally wouldn't give me the time of day - I spoke with the former Head of Defense Intelligence of the Czech Republic, the former Lieutenant General and Director General of the Hungarian Military Intelligence Office, a former German Federal Foreign Affairs Officer and the former Chief of General Staff of the Czech Armed Forces who was scrutinized for not giving in to the Soviet military pre-1989 (the list goes on).

Alright, I have an hour to pack my bags and get out of this place. I need to get going. Thank you all for following my blog. It was an experience of a life time. I'll be back in the U.S. in 18 hours.

Can't wait to show everyone my beard/faux hawk,

Luke Wells

Old Friends

A few of my friends in the program traveled to Vienna, Austria a few nights back and ran into a Virginia Tech student. They came back and anxiously told me how they met another Virginia Tech student named Andrew and asked if I happened to know an Andrew. I couldn't recall an Andrew at Virginia Tech that I knew until they showed me this picture:


Yeah, it's a small world. He was in G.E.R.M.A.N. Club down at Tech and just happened to run into some people in my program (to include my roommate) while he was in Vienna for his friends wedding. Weird.

Also, another buddy of mine is starting his own clothing line from the company Commonwealth Birding. You should check it out at www.commonwealthbirding.com

Berlin(er)

Well, I am currently sitting in Starbucks in Berlin to get a free internet connection. Hotel charges 4 Euro an hour - not cool. Starbucks even limits your internet access to 2 hours. The saying 'there's no free lunch' applies to absolutely everything in Europe. They charge if you use a plastic grocery bag at the supermarket, if you want ketchup at McDonalds, if you use a public restroom, if you eat the bread that they put down on the table before your meal, if you order tap water at a restaurant - they literally charge you for everything.

When we got to Berlin on Thursday, we went to a Beer Garden and had a nice traditional German meal. The sausage is delicious and the sauerkraut is surprisingly tasty as well. I had a pilsner with my meal and followed it up with a Hefe-Weissbier. The pilsner didn't live up to the stereotypical German standards in my opinion. The Hefe-Weissbier, however, was great.

The first full day in Berlin we met at the German Federal Foreign Office with an ex-German Foreign Official. It was very interesting to hear his somewhat politically correct answers to our groups questions. I'll go ahead and post the questions that I asked even if you don't care.

Q: 'It was said that the German's are pursuing a 'peace-policy.' What does the 'peace-policy' entail and what are your thoughts on the U.S. War on Terrorism?

A: Peace-policy entails arms control. Disarmament as opposed to armament. Making friendships with other countries - not just the western powers. Disperse any fears about German ill-behavior. Example: His father owned a farm in present day-Poland. His father died in 1940 so they sold the farm. When he visits the farm from time to time, the now Polish owners get nervous when he pulls up in a car that has German license plates. He said the Poles claim not to understand English/Russian/German and they do not interact with him while he is at the farm.

As for the War on Terrorism: He says that the Germans understand the shock of September 11, 2001. They supported the United States and 'followed us into Iraq.' He continued saying that the German newspapers say that the U.S. allegedly can not control our 'secret service' anymore - this statement made no sense to me, I think it is propaganda and his way of saying we are disorganized. He also said that the U.S. overreacted and thinks that we need to create a sound plan of action as soon as possible.

Q: 'What do you feel is Germany's role within NATO and how does Germany's role affect the other NATO members?'

A: Germany profited the most from NATO thus far because they were more frequently threatened. Germany has a gratitude towards the United States who is the biggest, most important partner in NATO (obviously). He also stated that there is a growing German responsibility within NATO, however, Germans are sick of their involvement within NATO and especially within Afghanistan. He said that 'Germany is in a position where they must pay off their thanks to the United States' - what the heck does this mean? What do you say you fight in Afghanistan because it's the right thing to do? - He said that he is unsure of Germany's role in NATO. He also noted that NATO was not prepared prepared for Afghanistan - who was?

Q: 'I understand that NATO requires each member to delegate a certain percentage of their GDP to defense. Does Germany meet their GDP requirement and how do you overcome the inability to have a standing army?'

A: He was quick to say 'Oh we have an army. We have an army that stands 350,000 strong.' He said that they do not have a 'professional army' like the United States has, Germany only has a drafted army. He also noted that he has no expertise in Germany's financial requirements.

Note: after discussing this with a few other people, their seems to have been a disconnect in our definitions (the foreign affairs officer and my own) of 'standing army.' Germany can not have an offensive military due to their historical actions; it is written in their constitution. This is what is meant by a 'standing army.' It is my understanding that they did send troops into Afghanistan but they do not shoot weapons. Help is help, but it sure is nice to be able to send 'non-offensive' troops. Could be wrong on this one - this is just my understanding.

After the meeting we cruised around Berlin and went to the Checkpoint Charlie Museum. Checkpoint Charlie was one of the checkpoints during the Cold War that lead from West Berlin to East Berlin. Check Point Alpha lead from the north western part of Germany (controlled by the British I believe) into eastern Germany (under Soviet control). Checkpoint Bravo lead from eastern Germany into West Berlin. Anyway, Checkpoint Charlie became famous due to the number of diplomats, politicians and journalists who crossed the border at this location. Fast fact: 108 people were killed trying to illegally cross from east Berlin to west Berlin but 1,000-2,000 people still managed to escape successfully. The museum was great; I could have easily spent 4-5 hours reading all of the information. One of the most interesting aspects about the museum was the 'Ronald Reagan Room.' Okay, it wasn't called the Ronald Reagan Room, but it was essentially a room telling everyone that President Reagan was awesome (which he was).

Later that afternoon I got on the subway and saw that I was on the line that could take me to the Olympiastadion. I asked the others if they wanted to go, they said 'no,' so I went by myself. What great friends they are :)

The stadium was supposed to be built for the 1916 Summer Olympics but construction was aborted due to a small event known as World War I. The stadium construction was resumed in 1934 and was completed just in time for the Summer Olympics in 1936. The stadium is absolutely beautiful. I wanted to buy a fussball ('fussball' = 'soccer' in German, lame) jersey but they were ridiculously expensive. I settled on a 1 Euro postcard instead.
The next morning a buddy of mine and I went on a bike tour of Berlin. The tour was decently priced (more than half the price of the Rome tour) and was much more informative than the one in Rome. Alex, our tour guide, was very helpful. We went by the Brandenberg Gate, the TV Tower (built in East Berlin under Soviet control), Reichstag (the Parliament building), Tiergarten Park, the Memorial of the Murdered Jews of Europe, part of the Berlin Wall, the site of Hitler's bunker where he committed suicide (now a parking lot for an apartment complex) and a Beer Garden for lunch. Quick note on the Memorial of Murdered Jews of Europe (pictured to the right) - the memorial itself was fairly unique. There were a lot of people standing on the memorials which I presumed to be very disrespectful. A lot of kids were running through the memorial playing games as well - I don't know how people could be that naive/ignorant.

Back to the 'important' stuff - later that night we went back to the Reichstag. The Germans built a huge dome on top of their parliament building for tourism. The dome itself weighs 1,200 tons and it sits 24 meters above the roof of the Reichstag. There are walkways all around the dome from the top to the bottom which serve as a useful tool if you want to see the city. We ended up waiting an hour in line just to get in the dome but it was well worth it. The dome has an opening at the top which guides all precipitation in through the roof and into a large cone within the dome. There are also tons of mirrors (see the picture to the left) to minimize the number of lights needed to operate the building during the day. Very 'green.' Sounds similar to something AEL Construction does. Overall, the trip to the Reichstag was well worth it. The view was absolutely beautiful.

My final thoughts about Berlin - The city has an 18% unemployment rate. It is very sad how many beggers there are. It's not uncommon to see a family (with children) digging through a trashcan or asking for some change. Housing is cheap in Berlin. Alex said you can get a very nice apartment for 600 Euro or a really cheap apartment for 200 Euro. Try finding that in northern Virginia - Ha! The city itself reminds me of an American city. Most everything was wiped out in World War II, so there really isn't much to look at. The buildings that look old were restored sometimes as early as 25 years ago. Nothing but the statues are real - Hitler took all of the statues and hid them in lakes or rivers during the war. I guess he had planned on getting bombed. Good plan, Hitler. Eating out is unbelievably expensive. Groceries are unbelievably cheap. Mercedes Benzs are everywhere. There is a very limited middle class in Berlin - from what I can tell. The people are nice... about as nice as the city-slicker Americans. Not as nice as Small Town USA, Americans - but who is? The transportation system is great. A bit confusing, but really good. All of the museums/tours love the United States of America. A couple of my friends got rejected from night clubs for having dark hair - not kidding. The food is great. Beer was actually quite disappointing. I would recommend Prague over Berlin - unless you're looking for wheat beer (Dad).

My beard looks good and my faux hawk looks even better. I miss America.

Busy week of school work ahead,

Luke

Roma, Roma, ma

I got the chance to jump on a flight early Friday afternoon and head to Rome, Italy for the weekend. How often do you get a chance to visit Rome for a weekend? Not very often. The experience was absolutely amazing. I booked a bed in the Peter Pan Hostel (which I don't recommend) for 15 Euro a night. To the right is a view of the room from my top bunk. I ended up with mosquito bites all over my body after one nights sleep. Gross. It was 97 degrees Fahrenheit both days that we were there. The hostel was not air conditioned. Needless to say, the hostel was an experience in and of itself.

Friday night we cruised around town and ended up eating some Italian gelato before we found a restaurant. The gelato was $$$. We finally settled on a place to eat that wasn't too expensive. Expensive, however, is somewhat of a relative term when I exchanged 100 USD for 75 Euro. I ended up ordering Rigatoni which was absolutely delicious. Beers were at least 6 Euro so I decided the tap water would have to suffice for the first night. Here's a picture of the Rigatoni. It doesn't look like much but it sure was delicious.

After dinner we decided to explore a bit and stumbled upon the Colosseum which was absolutely beautiful at night.

The next day we woke up early and had corn flakes with warm milk for breakfast (it was 'free' with the hostel) and headed out to catch a bike tour. We ended up with a company that was decently priced but the guides made the trip well worth it. To the left is a picture of me with my 'whip' aka the bike I rode on all day in the apocalyptic heat. The bike tour was great. We saw everything that I thought only existed in Hollywood - from the Pantheon to the Colosseum to the Vatican. Here comes the hard part - We saw so many things that I can't decide which pictures to post. I'll just put one up of the Pantheon and the Colosseum. Side note: I accidentally deleted my favorite picture of the Pantheon. Wish I still had it. Anyway, here they are:


After we got done with seeing all of the sights Rome has to offer, we sat down for a good 'ol Italian lunch. I ordered a Pizza pie and a liter of house wine. Can't get better than that. We eventually headed back to the hostel and got some rest. Later in the night I decided that I still hadn't received the full Italian experience so I headed out to the bar - by myself. Call me antisocial if you want. I ended up ordering an ice cream bar, a panini sandwich, an espresso shot and a Peroni beer. Quite the combo, eh? I just had to try everything. It was quite the experience sitting in the bar. I sat there for about an hour and a half just talking with the bartender. I was the only one in there. I would say 90% of the other customers came in, ordered a shot of espresso, took it in less than 30 seconds and left. I wanted to savor the experience though. The bar was really more like a gas station - it's hard to explain. Regardless, Rome was an amazing experience. I have over 300 pictures to prove it. I can not wait to show everyone. Lastly, here's a picture of everyone who went on the trip in front of the Vatican. It was a pretty motley crew to say the least.Can not wait for Berlin on Thursday,

Luke

Catlett, VA

Small detail that I forgot to mention: All of the VT students and faculty met a few members from the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors Tuesday night for a beer. I got to talking with John Dooley, the Vice President for Outreach and International Affairs, and found out that the Executive Producer of the TV Series the "Deadliest Catch" is from none other than Catlett, VA. Where am I from you may ask?Catlett, VA. Where is Catlett, VA? Fauquier County, VA. What is Fauquier County, VA? The greatest entity within the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Who ever said Catlett, VA isn't the next town to be starstruck?

Josh Griffin - you'd be happy to know that John Dooley's daughter is an area director for YoungLife in Abingdon, VA and his son-in-law is the area director in Harrisonburg, VA. I'm sure you probably know both of them. He was wearing a YoungLife shirt when we met.

Week 2? Already?

Week one ended on Monday with a visit from the former Head of Defense Intelligence from the Czech Republic, Andy Sandor. Unbelievable experience. Andy served in the Czechoslovakia/Czech Republic Army for 30 years where he worked his way up to eventually becoming the General of the Army. He focused his talk on describing the two largest threats to the Czech Republic which included:

1. Merge between politics and buisness

• Threatens Democracy
• EU changes nothing
• NATO influences nothing
• Politicians have not reached a consensus on the future of foreign relations

2. Privatization of Assets

• Russia, France and the U.S. are interested in buying their Nuclear Power program
• Russia is Interested in buying the Prague Airport (and the Czechs are probably going to sell it to them)

Imagine if Russia owned the Nuclear program AND the Prague Airport - could be their gate into Eastern Europe (or as they call it 'Central Europe' - Eastern Europe has a negative connotation).

Andy says that the Czechs give the U.S. all the credit in the world for liberating Czechoslovakia in the World War but he did mention that Czechs show hostility toward the Russians. Germany apologized for invading the country but Russia blamed their participation on the 'U.S.S.R.' when the largest entity within the Soviet Union happened to be a country that went by the name of 'Russia.' Funny how that works.

I asked Andy two questions:

Q:You [Andy Sandor] talked about a couple of economic issues that serve as threats to the Czech Republic such as privatization and the merge between business and politics. With the current economic crisis within the European Union, do you believe that the Czech Republic might be on the brink of an economic crisis of their own?

A: The Czech Republic owned their banks for 15 years. After those 15 years (and the 'Velvet Revolution') they privatized the banking industry and suffered an overflowing amount of debt. However, the Czech Republic had a 5% deficit last year and has a planned 4.5% deficit this year. If the trends continue, they will be fine.

Q: You [Andy Sandor] mentioned that the War on Terrorism is not a proper name for a war and I understand that the EU members are somewhat united in thought. That being said, what are the Czech Republics thoughts on our War on Terrorism?

A: All countries have different opinions based on their own demographics (furthering my initial opinion that the EU is a load of crap). There are no friendly intelligence organizations only intelligence organizations that are within friendly nations. Nothing is written about terrorism in Europe. No propaganda, no slandering of the Muslim community (granted there are only 10,000 Muslims in the Czech Republic). The Czech Republic could care less about our War on Terrorism.
Andy went on to say that the Czech Republic has 14 aircraft, 30 tanks and 16,000 military personnel. They are selling all 14 aircraft and trying to hire Germany to be the sole means of air defense/patrol. Impressive, huh? Nope.

I wish I had a picture to show you this guy. He was quite the character. It sounds like all of the VT students who are participating in the ACC Research project will get to meet him again. I'll be sure to take a picture that time.

Anyway. Tuesday we went and visited Jama Bar which is an American owned restaurant in a beautiful area of Prague. The owner has a very interesting past. Quick note on this one - Typically restaurants only serve one type of beer (either Pilsner Urquell/Gambrinus or Budweiser Budvar). The beer companies have always monopolized the restaurants and made them promise not to serve their competitors beer. It's weird. So when you go into a typical restaurant, you just order a 'pivo, ' (pivo = beer in Czech) you never have to specify which type. Well, the greedy American didn't like that, so he brought the American culture over to the Czech Republic and opened this bar, Jama, which serves 7 beers on draught alone. Sweet atmosphere. We also went back there tonight (Wednesday) for a free wine tasting class - I'm a seasoned vet now. Here's a picture from tonight.

The other cool thing we saw was Petrin Hill. Petrin Hill is a huuuge park on the top of a hill (go figure) that is right outside of Prague. It has a beautiful view. Here a couple of picture from that visit.




















I'm So Euro,

Luke

First day of Classes and More!

Third and fourth days in Prague are complete. The third day started off with breakfast at the University of Economics which consisted of meat, cheese, bagels, yogurt, granola and fruit. Pretty good stuff. Went to the Czech cultural class and quickly realized that the Czech language is nothing you can casually learn. Spanish - maybe. Czech - no way. After that wrapped up I went to the Global Marketing class. The professor asked us to write about marketing strategies for a new golf apparel company. I wrote down a few thoughts as if I knew what I was talking about. Then I proceeded to write, "My True Marketing Experience: I'm a Senior Electrical Engineering Student at Virginia Tech. The closest that I've come to taking a Marketing class is an Economics class that I took last semester. I'll let you judge my knowledge." We'll see how that goes.

We get to eat lunch at the on-campus dining hall. It's pretty good food. I had goulash soup, some sort of beef and rice. Not too bad.

We discussed potential research opportunities to present at the ACC conference. It looks like we are going to be researching a few pretty cool topics. We have a meeting tomorrow and I will be sure to keep you all posted in regards to our progress.

After class we went to DHL which is a worldwide
company that handles the delivery of packages. This particular building was strictly IT Services. It was interesting to compare TANDBERG (now a part of Cisco) with DHL. There is surely a difference in the level of service that the larger companies are expected to provide. To the right is a picture of the complex where DHL is located.

Later that night we went to a place called the Beer Factory. Coincidentally there were a lot of European tourists there as well. I met a few people from Germany, Switzerland and Norway. It was interesting to hear their opinions of America. Most of them were polite and talkative, however, a few of them were quick to say rude things about our nation (the greatest nation in the world) or the other students that I was with. Regardless, the Beer Factory was a good time. The bar has kegs under each table and multiple taps that stem from the center of the table. Whenever you are 'thirsty' you just pour yourself another beer. I had a couple pints that came out to be about $10 USD. Pretty good. Here's a picture of the atmosphere of the Beer Factory. Oh, did I mention that they played English oldies all night? Did Haddaway, 'What is Love' come on? Yup. Did I dance to it and sing as loud as possible? Yup.

The second day of classes went well. The marketing professor divided us up into teams and told us to derive a strategy to increase the number of EU land telephone lines. Failed miserably on that one. After class we went to the Museum of Communism. It's really wild to think that this country was communist just 21 years ago. There was a video that showed the Czechoslovakians protesting the Nazi party. The riots got so bad in 1969 that a 21 year old man by the name of Jan Palach set himself on fire in Wenceslas Square, shown to the right. Later, there was a statue built in his honor (you may be able to see it in the picture - it's right in front of the big building).

There's also a huge chunk of the Berlin Wall in the musem. The Berlin Wall is all painted up which supports my previous claims about the graffiti in Prague. One of the most beautiful exhibits is the Socialist Realism paintings. Czechs are given a large portion of the credit for developing 'Socialst Realism' as a style of art. Vaclav Cerny, (pronouced va-klahv chair-knee) a former professor of Romance Literature at Charles University, was quoted later on in the Socialist Realism era saying, 'I am ready to bow down to anyone who can explain to me in detail what any socialist realism painting means.'

Later that night we went to see a movie in the Czech theaters. I went with Adam, the Czech Student Advisor, and a few other students here. All of the girls wanted to see 'Twilight.' I told them that my girlfriend already suckered me into seeing that movie - I'd have to be hog tied and dragged into the theater if I were to see it again. Needless to say, we split into two groups and I saw 'Killers' which is 'Vrahouni' in Czech. The movies are all in English so the Czech's can enjoy the quality of the actors/actresses but they have Czech subtitles for clarification. Seeing the Czech subtitles helped me to associate words or phrases with the Czech translation. I think that would be an outstanding way to learn a different language. All of the trailers and advertisements were in Czech.

I forget when I went running because I've been a terrible blogger, but I actually brought my camera with me for once. Here's a picture of the view from the top of the park. It's a really big park with tons of benches. I don't think they would ever put a park that big in any of the urban cities back in The States. Nor do I think that us lazy Americans would utilize it nearly as much. The park gets to be quite the attraction for all of the locals and their dogs in the afternoons. Everyone here seems to have a dog. They are never on a leash and they are always very obedient. Amazing how the Czech's can get their dogs to listen but us American's can't even teach our dogs how to sit.

Saturday we all got a chance to go to Karlstejn Castle which is about a 30-40 minute train ride outside of Prague. Karlstejn was built back in 1380 by King Charles IV so he could keep his holy relics (bones of Saints) hidden and safe. Because King Charles IV wanted his castle to blend in, he had it built in a valley between four mountaintops. I couldn't really understand our guide, but I believe the Protestant Hussites built four camps on each of the surrounding mountains. The Hussites made an attempt to siege the castle from the four mountaintops but were unsuccessful. Here are a couple of pictures for you all.

This next picture is in the 'Heaven' room. The pictures on the wall are of the Church hierarchy. I believe King Charles IV is in the middle on the bottom row. Quick note on this picture: we weren't allowed to take pictures inside, but I thought that was a stupid rule so I did it anyway.
Now for a quick note on how I'm doing - The food is mediocre, see the picture to the right. The beer is great. We have no hot water in our dorm. The city is gorgeous. The people are generally not nice. The toilets are not conducive for people of my stature. The trams are great. The metro is even better. The architecture is unbelievable. The juices are great. The bottled water is sparkling. The classes are thought-provoking. Prague is the second most visited city in Europe by Europeans (second to Paris). Yesterday was the hottest day in Prague in 82 years. Today is 91 and it deters me from walking. I love blogging but I'm terrible at it. Fanta tastes like heaven over here. Aloe water is unbelievably tasty. My camera is my best friend. I've met 300% more Germans than I have Czechs. I went to the 5 story Club last night, literally 5 stories tall, and I met people from Russia, Norway, England, Australia, Germany and many other countries. No Czechs - oh well. I love running and I'll have a better blog post later. World Cup Finals tonight in Old Town Square yet again - Hup Hup Holland!

THE United States of America,

Luke