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.