Yes it is sad but true. Somehow the month long Christmas holiday is over. I have not entirely come to terms with the fact that I have class at 10am tomorrow morning. And to be honest, I haven’t exactly completed the necessary readings for the class. In addition to neglecting my schoolwork over the break, I somehow managed to avoid posting on this blog- sorry about that. My neglect was not due to the lack of material with which I had to write, but instead is due to the fact that I was so busy. In total I experienced four time zones…
The break began as expected. By 5pm on December 10th, I could hardly contain my excitement for vacation. I left class and soon found myself in W.H. Smith, a London bookstore. I purchased guidebooks for Prague, Amsterdam, and Belgium (I already had a book for Paris courtesy of Helaine Fox ie My Mom). I sat with the books trying to plan out my vacation. After a few hours, my books were sufficiently highlighted and post-ited and I was ready to go; unfortunately, I had to wait until Tuesday. The following morning I was able to wake up without an alarm for the first time in 10 weeks. I almost didn’t know what to do with all of my free time. Sunday was much of the same.
By Monday I needed something to do. Luckily, I had previously planned a meeting with my supervisor from Kaplan. Unlike in New York, the European Kaplan Centers cover a much larger area. As a result, my supervisor actually lives and works in Paris and only comes to London for a few days at a time. All of our previous communication has occurred through Skype. From the meeting I learned that I would begin teaching an SAT class in early February. Because SAT classes are only 10 sessions, the class fits perfectly with my Spring Break.
Prague, Czech Republic (GMT +1)
Finally Tuesday arrived. Because the friends I travelled with were in Paris, I had to fly to Prague alone. No problem, right? Except for the fact that by the time I arrived in Prague it was about ten at night (too late for the airport shuttle) and I had no idea where I was staying. Eventually I was able to meet up with my friends.
My experience in Prague was great for a few reasons:
(1) Our hostel was amazing. Instead of being crammed into bunk beds with strangers, the six of us shared a two room apartment complete with a kitchen, bathroom, and washing machine.
(2) The food. The Czech republic is a strange place where beer and beef are cheaper than water and chicken and potatoes are considered a suitable vegetables. The multiple beef goulashes were probably the highlight.
(3) Prague is beautiful. The first full day we were there, we went on a walking tour of the city. It is amazing. Even more interesting for my purposes is the fact that the Jewish areas makes up about 1/3 of the old city. The tour guide told us that in WWII, Hitler intentionally preserved the synagogues and Jewish cemeteries in Prague. Hitler intended to make this area a museum after the Final Solution so that people could see how the extinct nation lived. The joke is on him now because it is a large part of the tourism industry in the city. I also enjoyed the area because I had learned about Prague Jews back in Solomon Schechter. I was able to see the Old New Synagogue where it is rumored that the Golem’s body remains in the attic. For some reason, I have always loved the Golem story not because I necessarily believe it to me true but because it says a lot about the Jewish community at the time. The castle in Prague was also quite amazing.
Synagogue
Kafka Museum
From the picture, you may notice how much snow was on the ground. While this may be normal in Prague, London, Paris, and Amsterdam also received equal amounts of snow- a problem for the second leg of our trip- to Amsterdam. Because of Western Europe’s inability to deal with even the smallest amounts of snow, we found ourselves virtually stuck in Prague. As a self proclaimed control freak, I knew that this would not work for me. There is no way I could sit in the airport aimlessly waiting for good news. Instead, I decided to take control of the situation and probably did the most spontaneous thing of my life- at 12 am I booked a flight to New York that was leaving at 8:30 am.
Kiev, Ukraine (GMT +3)
Ok so it is a little fake to say that I went to Kiev but I was technically there. I even have a picture to prove it. For some reason my journey to New York on beautiful Ukrainian Airlines brought me to Kiev. I spent a total of 2 hours there which was more than enough.
Proof
Waiting in the Airport
New York (GMT-5)
Finally after way too many hours of traveling, I arrived in New York. Because my trip was a surprise to my mother, I had my brother pick me up at the airport. It was actually quite strange coming back. I almost hugged the border patrol officer when he said in a thick Staten Island accent “Welcome Home.”
Bryant Park Skating Rink
Rockefeller Center Tree
Ok its getting late and as I said before, I haven’t finished my work. I will continue tomorrow.
[umap id=”87030″ tp=”6″ size=”m” alignment=”center”]
