Up until this point, I had internalized my inclinations to describe in detail my thoughts and experiences about living in Prague. Particularly because I prefer the pen on paper documentation, I had refused to create a "travel blog" for fear that it fall to cliches about cafes and locals, or merely just pictures and rightfully so. These days, one must use discretion, I feel, in creating a blog on a whim. Hell, anyone can have a blog (or two or three) with absolutely nothing of importance to discuss. Perhaps I will fall to the same humdrum blogger activity though I promise to persevere. Onward!
I wasn't certain that I liked Prague. I didn't arrive with the same starry-eyes I had in New York. Instead, I hoped very little and expected a fraction less. Prague, a mix of baroque, rococo, and post-communist architecture adorned with accompanying graffiti, unleashed yet mindful canines, abundance of birds (particularly swans), its common silences amidst metropolitan bustle, and its straight-faced inhabitants, I wasn't sure it was a good fit.
Yet after sampling pickled cheese (it's true), getting hooked on Bikram yoga, hearing from a lifelong political dissident firsthand about the Velvet Revolution, wandering the ample cobblestone streets, being mistaken for a Czech, repeating "I don't understand" to every word spoken to me in Czech, enjoying (or making a sincere effort anyway) inexpensive, yet quality beer, and witnessing a high speed car chase all the while waiting for the tram (read: standing on a narrow median) and feeling the whip of the fleeing getaway car on my blood-stricken cheeks. I think I'm learning a little more and trying to let go. I am in the Czech Republic after all, and if its people can pull themselves together, well then so can I.
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