First 24 Hours In Prague

Wow, it is hard to believe I am writing this blog post and we have completed our first 24 hours in Prague. I feel extremely lucky to have the 14 students on this trip, as well as my fellow Program Leader, Nikki, because everyone has been so positive, supportive, and eager to learn. Traveling can be stressful and unpredictable, but our group is very much "go with the flow" attitudes. Everything went smoothly with our flights and everyone had their bags. Our first stop was at our accommodations in Prague, Aparthotel Susa, which has amazing staff and the rooms are great. We will also greeted with refreshments and snacks. Kamila gave us a mini tour of our surrounding area so we could find things on own during free time. Soon enough, we were all In bed and It was Monday, which meant the first day of classes. We walked 13 minutes to the art institute and we're greeted by our printmaking professor who went over the techniques of linocut, collagraph and drypoint. We started first with our linocut carvings! I decided to carve a y2k theme lava lamp, and our students had a wide range of creative ideas. Ava R did a linocut of one of the first buildings we saw in Prague! After art class, we had a delicious lunch. I had chicken and rice. Shortly after, we walked to the CIEE building and we practiced taking the tram and learning how to ride the bus times and such. We did get stuck in the middle of a rain storm, but like I said earlier, our group is very positive and tough and we made it to our CIEE orientation and our first Czech language class. There was also refreshments of brownies and cakes! With all of this learning, we worked up an appetite so we headed to dinner. I got the schnitzel and wow it was so good. When dinner was complete, we talked about our rose, bud and thorn and previewed the activities for the next day. Students were then given the opportunity to go back to the accommodation or enjoy some free time. Tomorrow, we will have a 3 hour walking tour of Prague and we will also be celebrating Francisco's birthday! I am so excited.