SPRING HAS SPRUNG!

So...

These past two weeks have been some of the most incredible set of days I have ever experienced. The spring has arrived in Prague! Finally the sun is showing its face, and the temperatures have risen accordingly. We've all been wearing shorts and t-shirts and getting sunburned! Quite the drastic change from the first 2.5 months, where thoughts of the sun were just dreams of faraway places. The city itself has been reborn, with the arrival of the spring flowers, budding trees, leaves, sunlight, tourists (ugh). I have never noticed so many flowers in a city before. Finally the city is beautiful, it's impossible to not be in love! It does really suck that the weather will only be nice for our last 3 weeks, but I'm glad that it is here, no doubt.

Since the weather has been so nice, we have all been trying to go outside for every possible second of the day that we aren't in class. And we are all really far behind now because of it. You can definantly tell that its the last week of a design school semester, with everyone running out crazed. I've tried to keep an even keel, but even I have to admit that we might have "played in the sun" a little too much these past few weeks.

Some quick highlights:

Prague Zoo, which was insane. It was the first true day of weather bliss, and the flowers were blooming in full force. What a wonderful way to spend the morning. It only cost 5 bucks too! So many animals and interactive exhibits. Amazing views all over the place, too!

Blakeley and I followed this morning up with a trip to the incredible Petrin Hill, the large hill west of the city that overlooks everything. Again, the trees were exceptionally beautiful, the sun was shining bright, and we had a spectacular picnic on the slope overlooking the city. So that Saturday was 9am-9pm of walking/exploring/enjoying the outdoors. To say it was amazing would be understating it greatly.

I went rollerblading with Andrew and Blakeley on a ridgetop that overlooked the rolling hills to the west of Prague, also incredible. So many people were outside rollerblading and just enjoying the weather. We felt like a little kids again.

I went and ate dinner with Eleanor, Jessica, Lauren, Laura-Nelle, Gennie, and Bryan at a restraunt on the river with the Charles Bridge as a backdrop. With the sunset, it was incredible. I don't think we could have appreciated it as much if we had gone there, say, on the first week. We could've sat in silence for the whole dinner and been content, it was beautiful.

On Easter Sunday, I joined the philosophy students on an all day field trip to the President's Private Retreat. It was a huge property that the first president of Czeckoslovakia, Tomas Masryk, went to for 5 out of the 7 days of the week during his presidency. I felt like a VIP walking around there, it was immensely beautiful. And, we walked along a highway for about 30 minutes to get to it after taking an hour long train ride to get to the general area. It was definantly a unique Easter.

Our literature teacher took us to a rooftop that had a really cool, new view of the city that we hadn't seen before. It was cool to be high up in the air in the city, as opposed to a distance away from it. In this picture, you can see Petrin Hill in the background (the location of my amazing picnic mentioned earlier).

I've been throwing the frisbee like its my job, lately. If I have 30 minutes to kill before class, I'm grabbing somebody (most likely Blakeley) and headed to the park. We have also been kicking around the soccer ball, as well as throwing around a tennis ball we found. The weather has brought out the sportsmen (or woman) in us all. There is no better feeling than running around in the park with no shoes and no shirt, especially after the brutal winter I just went through.

I ran with Blakeley today (we finally took our cameras running!) and ended up at a really cool overlook that looks to the south of Prague. Very beautiful, a stunning panaromic picture. The sun came out just for us to take pictures! I've been running daily, sometimes both in the morning and in the evening. I can't wait to get back and run around the lake that is walking distance from my house.

We went to a benefit concert the other night, saw about 8 Czech bands play, from a variety of musical styles. My literature teacher is in one of the bands that played, they have been together for 30 years, since during the time of secret bands when the Soviets occupied and controlled Prague. This isn't my teacher, but this clearly demonstrates the intensity of some of the bands.

And lastly, here is a little taste of the flowers that I have been seeing. I have probably taken at least a hundred pictures of just flowers, the "micro" setting on my camera is AWESOME for this.

The only reason that I am typing this blog is because it is raining today, the first time in two weeks that it hasn't been sunny. I can't stress enough how much outside time I have been spending lately. No class? I'm outside. Break between classes? I'm outside. I have taken countless naps in the grass at the various parks around the city. And I have gotten sunburned at least four times. Quite different from January, Feburary, and March.

I LOVE IT!

-Terry

Oh, and Amsterdam was AWESOME. Maybe I'll write about that the next time it rains...

Also, I thought that beer tasted good when it was cold and we were inside at a bar. I am happy to report that it tastes even better outside in the sun in a beer garden.

berlin and good days

greetings! i went to Berlin this past weekend friday through monday. what an incredible city. so much history, art, people, and good times. i really can't put into words the things that we saw and did. it was a scheduled/included trip for the Landscape Architecture students, and the fashion students had the opportunity to join us as well, which almost all of them did. my professor, Fernando, has done the trip to Berlin for the past x number of years, so he definantly was a fantastic guide for us. we saw sooooo many things and had soooo much fun, it can't be put into words. ill try and work on putting pictures on the picture website, but cant promise when they will be up (time and effort).

but in other news... my tuesday was superb, here's how it went:

i just saw thehighlights of tiger's putt on 18 on sunday, and that got me super pumped. i mean, really pumped. really really really pumped. then i checked my email, and what do you know, i find out my dad got a hole in one! holy cow, what a good feeling!!!!! add to that that the temperature was finally warmish! i went running with blakeley and we both wore shorts and a t-shirt and it was amazing! i actually wore shorts for the first time the whole trip (a little overzealous, its cold in our building, but i had to do it, couldnt help myself, it was pushing 60 degrees outside!) we had a language class that was really amazing, we just spoke sentences the whole time and talked about holiday practices in prague etc and just had a really good class in general. what a great day! tomorrow is supposed to be even warmer!!!!!!

so maybe some more about Berlin: it was the most incredible city. we had such a good time, saw so many things, and took in a LOT of history. my brain is fried, really, from taking so much in. standing in checkpoint charlie was very powerful. i dont think ive ever been in a place that contributed to the happenings of the world quite like that before. seeing the wall - well, you can imagine how that drove home everything. it was just - incredible - too see all the history and learn about the oppression that the people experienced, but still see that it is a really thriving 21st century city that respects its history but pushes for the future. the art in the city was unlike anything ive ever seen, it was just so cool. there was graffitti alllll over the place, large murals on almost every building, and sculpture etc everywhere. definantly had a something that ive never seen in a city before. so cool. i am very happy. very happy.

i am going to amsterdam on thursday with 6 other fashion students!!! i am flying in on thursday at 5pm and leaving on monday at 12noon. we are very very pumped, and are really looking foreward to walking the beautiful city. they are really awesome girls, and i think - no, know - that it will be amazing. i think these two weeks may be the best two week stretch ive had - ever? berlin for 4 days, prague for 3 days, amsterdam for 5 days, then back to prague. i dont think it gets better than that. but time will tell (i hope it gets better, i think it will!)

sports update: we were able to locate a bar in berlin on sunday night that was showing the basketball games, so we got to watch both of them (ugh, unc dominating). also, we were able to go to a bar in prague recently to watch the acc tournament (and see UNC lose the game that jorge and kristilyn went to!) so we have not been totally deprived. also, cbssports online offers a live HD feed of the games, so we can watch the games via internet (good for the early round games, but bad for now, because they are in prime time and thus at a time when we wont be able to watch) also good for the masters final round! we do have internet at the hotel, technically, but it only works for maybe 2 days out of 5. so hopefully on master's sunday it will be working and i can watch the final round (it won't be on at 4 in the morning,yay! finally a sports event that has to happen in the daylight (but thenagain, tiger made his putt in the dark!)). if its not working, franky, i will 'cut a bitch'. watching the ncaa games this weekend will be very difficult, they will be on LATE, but we will hopefully have internet and watch (one of the grad students got his degreeat unc, so its been everyone rooting against him watching the games, ha). any other events i should be aware of? they arent advertised very much here, so im kind of out of the loop until they are happening.

also, i found out that my favorite band, Widespread Panic, announced their end of summer/fall tour and they are playing two nights in Charlotte October 3 and 4, and then in Raleigh for October 11! annnnd, it just so happens that october 3 is one of my best friends (steven) 21st birthday! so that's how we'll be celebrating, definantly.

life is good.

terry