Happy Halloween from Prague!

It sure didn’t feel much like Halloween here in the Czech Republic… But we’ll get to that later.

Wednesday morning, Stu woke up feeling less-than-great :( so we took it easy. We skyped with Doug (and met her cute Aussie boyfriend), caught up on news coverage of Hurricane Sandy, and I registered for classes at DU (when I get back in January).

By the time lunch rolled around, we were finally ready to take on the day. We strolled through the Kampa Island park again and saw the love lock bridge in search of somewhere to eat. We ended up at a small Frenchy café.

 lovers lock their love onto the bridge

glasses are only filled halfway here - always! humph!

After lunch, we took our time walking back home, stopping at the supermarket (teeny!) to get some food for dinner and breakfast. The rest of the afternoon was spent making plans for the evening. Some people wanted to dress up and just hang out at an apartment; others wanted to go to a bar; and still others wanted to find a costume party at a club – so many options! I didn’t have any costume, but Stu’s roommate lent me a cute black dress and we found an orange feather boa and, boom!, I was Miss Halloween!

Since Stu was still feeling under the weather, she rested at home; but I went out with her housemates to the apartment of other kids in the program. It ended up being a very large gathering! There, I ran into some other DU students (we’re just everywhere, takin’ over the world!) and met some new people too.

new people...

 

...du people...

...new people and du people!

we made our own hot wine, which is a really big cold-weather drink in prague... or so the vendors on the street will lead you to believe! not bad, actually!

navigating the metro

Somehow, it was decided that we were going to go somewhere called Cross Club, which was supposed to be having a Halloween party. After much deliberation and confusion taking the trams/metro to the proper stop, we arrived! There weren’t many people there, it was really smoky, and the people who were dressed up only had scary face paint on – strange! Needless to say, we didn’t say long… just long enough to dance a little and enjoy the funky décor, which was something between an Eastern European relics bar and a futuristic/ industrial alien club.

Me and Stu’s housemates climbed in a cab and went home nice and early (no really, it was!). So the friends were a treat! – but the location was a trick :P

When the whole American crew and I were taking public transit at night, all dressed up in our costumes, we got some pretty weird looks. Not a single Czech person was truly dressed up for Halloween, and they didn’t care! There was just this one Irish guy who gave a girl a hard time for dressing up. Something about him being Catholic and viewing Halloween as a holiday of the Devil and Witchcraft and he didn’t want to raise his children that way, so we should celebrate either… oh wait, I guess it’s okay since you’re American… continue on, then… Like, what?!

And that was my Halloween experience this year. Very, very different from every other year in my life. Actually, it was a nice break to be away from all the craziness of American festivities. But I still don’t understand how Europeans can go all the way from summer to Christmas without a single holiday in between! In the U.S., we are all about the holiday season… or are we all about consumerism..?

Thoughts and good vibes to all those who have been horribly affected by Hurricane Sandy. It hit my home turf really hard, but I also know that there are so many good people who are helping others out, too. Stay strong, New York!

xxo, S