And so it begins...

It has been one hell of a week, just to say the least. As I hustled around Boca Raton trying to get everything together in time for my departure, it felt as if a week smushed itself into one very short day. Although the packing itself is always the toughest part for me because I try to bring as much as I can from my four closets ( two in New York, two in Florida, and yes I have an illness), I was lucky enough to have the "packing" itself done for me by packing expertise and mom's friend Elyse ( Once again, THANK YOU SO MUCH!). But I was still left with the reality that every single 2.2 pounds would result in 10 euros ( roughly $13.40), so although it broke my heart into a million little pieces, I had to be "realistic" and pack as light as possible for a clothing/accessories/shoes/fashion addict of my caliber. So the day came, and my journey began: 22 hours, 5 airports was the only thing standing in between me and Praha.

Miami: Very sad leaving my mother. Always is. I cried.
JFK: Ate a overpriced cheeseburger thinking it was my only other option besides Wendy's. I was wrong. Turns out I was in the wrong terminal. My RIGHT terminal had Chili's and Sbarro. FML. Bought Sour Skittles to ease my pain. Get on plane, and guess what? No one is sitting next to me for the entire 9 hour plane ride, two seats all to myself! Took full advantage of the unlimited complimentary wine as I watched Life As We Know It ( Incredible, super cuties) and Charlie St. Cloud ( Bawled my eyes out, but the wine probably didn't help).

          ( New York from 15 thousand feet. Window glare.)
Milan: I could easy declare this city as the most effortlessly chic city in the world. Every single person that I observed in Milan was dressed so incredibly well without looking like they are trying to play a part or look as if they have walked out of Vogue. My crush? A 50 year old or so man who was wearing a beautifully tailored suit and gorgeous leather loafers. I was given a break with my luggage, only being charged for 15 overweight kilos instead of 23.13 kilos. Bless my Lufthansa baggage assistant. Milan Airport is where I also started watching my latest obsession: Modern Family. Thanks to my dearest friend Alfredo, I have all of season one downloaded onto my computer, and I cannot stop watching. I was laughing uncontrollably in the airport. Talk about a classy lady. Enjoyed more complimentary white wine at approximately 6:30 am EST.

( Milan.)

Munich: Although it was cool to see signs with a bunch of random letters which were actually German messages throughout the airport, I was disappointed with the lack of food in my terminal. Too much wine, too little of food. More Modern Family. Very short flight, very small plane.

Praha: Finally! Destination met! I joined up with four other NYU students who were looking for the " NYU" sign. We were greeted by two RA's, one who is actually my next door neighbor, and after a little chitchat we were on our way to our new homes!

Driving through the city for the first time was a bit strange for me, as I was being conflicted with nervousness derived from excitement, as well as a bit of a indifferent feeling, which I now believe was stemmed from lack of sleep. Upon first seeing my dorm building located on Machova for the first time,  I giggled to myself as from the outside it looked a bit like a nunnery slash orphanage house. After much help with my bags from my Czech security guard and building manager, I was in my new home, my little wooden room that I like to call the Czech version of Hey Arnold's Room.

Arnold's

Mine.

Okay, so now that I've actually seem a picture of Arnold's room they don't necessarily look too much alike, but it won't stop me from being overjoyed with the fact that I know have an attic- type room with a slanted wall of my very own. Although I don't have a roommate, I have a bunk bed, which is actually quite lovely as I will soon convert it into my own little cozy study/nap/ homework/ chill den, or somewhere where my "pals" can sleep, as my dorm manager said to me. 

Although I have only been here for a day, I'm a little surprising with how comfortable I already feel in my new environment. Everyone I have met thus far seems to be open and excited to this new experience we are all undergoing together, and being able to see 140 odd kids from either NYU or other various universities across the USA bond over this very unique life time experience is quite lovely. 

I spent my first night eating pizza and trying hot wine with 2/3 of the NYU in Prague students as a Welcoming dinner held  by NYU. After this dinner, Kelly, a girl I had met at my Czech Speak Freely classes (before I dropped out) and myself decided to venture on our own to a place where we could have our first Czech beers. Strolling through the quite cobblestone street, we landed upon a cafe/bar type joint that had the one thing I wanted more than beer ( pivo) itself: LOCALS! I am a sucker for locals because they are the true heart of the city, not the bridges, not the buildings, not the roads. This place called Kacárna Medúza was the perfect place to start off our new lives. Here, in a very casual laid back environment, local Czech's kicked back in comfy arm chairs and cozy tables as they discussed god knows what, because of the language barrier, I couldn't exactly ease drop. Our very nice waiter helped us out with understand the beer menu as well as encouraged and supported my very limited Czech vocabulary that as of now consists of more or less 5 words/ phrases. Ironically enough, everytime I say hello to someone in Czech ( " Ahoj!") I get a "hi" back, and I am getting a little upset that it is that obvious I am not a local. Anyways, at this cool place Kelly and I met our first friend, Max, who is a English cello player who is currently working on his masters in Praha as well as teaching english. Very cool guy, we all had great conversations, great laughs, and great beer. It was really nice to talk to someone who was kind of in the same position as us, Max has only been living in Praha for four months and speaks next to nothing czech, so it was cool to get a honest review on Praha from a guy who was as new to this city as we are.

After a mandatory two hour general orientation meeting with the whole student body that I partially slept through ( I blame it on being jet lagged and not the fact that I was up til 4 am unpacking and watching Modern Family) I, along with roughly 12 other students ( mostly NYU film students), walked through the center of the city for the first time. NYU's building is right in the middle of the Old Town area, so as you can only imagine, each building was impressively more beautiful than the one before. I feel really blessed, humbled, and brave by the reality that I was given this opportunity to live abroad for a semester, and I took the opportunity, I took the challenge of completely throwing myself into something so unfamiliar in context, yet so familiar in theory. The older I get, the more I realize that although I often complain about change, I need it, I crave it. Maybe it was my childhood and the reality that I moved from country to country, continent to continent, or maybe it's the simple fact that I know there is an entire world beyond my immediate comfort zone that I know I want to explore. I find it funny that usually when I feel the most comfortable in my surroundings, I immediately put myself in a completely new situation and environment, as exemplified by my independent moves to Australia and now Praha. Why I do it is honestly not completely known, maybe it has a little bit to do with the theory I have that one grows and learns a lot more when they are completely vulnerable, or maybe it's a way to step back from my immediate life and feel a little more alive than usual. Regardless of the answer, I have a sneaky suspicion that I will never stop exploring, traveling, and learning. It is in my blood. Just look at my father. Like father like daughter.  

Here are some pictures taken either out of my cool window or the terrace located at the top of my building. 

I want to say a very dear thank you to all of you who have supported me and my decision to relocate myself for a little while. Thanks to all of your support, love, and encouragement, I truly feel like I have nothing but love supporting me and blessing me every step of the way. I shall drink one pivo for EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU, you can take my word on it. 

Truly yours, 

                   ivd.