Pre-Departure 2, or Can You Guide Me to a Book?

I was in Barnes and Noble today, probing the massive shelves with only a modicum of my usual guilt for supporting giant corporate book chains. In fact, I had the one guilt-free excuse for going to the commercial colossus in my back pocket - a gift card, from the family Christmas party haul. (For an explanation as to why I have a family Christmas party, ask in the comments.) Feeling pragmatic, I headed for the travel guide section, looking for a good Prague guidebook.

What I found was six different books which all promised to lead me to the same dozen "hidden gems" or "overlooked spots" in Prague. None of them told me where to get good Czech food, only where I could avoid the pitfalls of the local cuisine. They all had large sections devoted exclusively to shopping.

Now I'm not one to argue that Central Europe should be hailed for its great food, but I'm sure somewhere, someone has managed to make a chicken paprika like my grandma Mammy's. And I would travel for such food, let me tell you. And I'm also not one to argue that shopping isn't a fun part of traveling, but, come on! Half a book devoted to clothing bargains?

Help me, experienced travelers. I implore you - where can I find a guidebook that will help me find good local food, give me some simple useful phrases, show me a map of the metro and streets, and maybe point me towards a farmer's market or two? Oh, and maybe some etiquette as well...

In other news, my Paps' streitz is like eating cakey challah with a liberal dose of dried fruit. It is Bread of the Gods. Delicious.

Pre-Departure 1, or The Czech Consulate Still Has My Passport

Ever since I started thinking about going abroad for a semester in my junior year of college, I have received lots of encouragement, wisdom, assurances, and even carefully printed packets of information about Pague, the capital of the Czech Republic. And that was even before I applied. Since I've been accepted, I've been trying not to tell too many people that I'm leaving. They always seem to get so excited, exclaiming, "Oh! Prague! That's so wonderful; you're going to have such a wonderful time! Are you really excited?"

And this is when I start to wish I hadn't told them, because now I have to disappoint them. I have to hem and haw around the question, with answers like "Mmm..." and "well...," eventually leading to something with a little promise to it. Right now, I'm partial to the line, "Well, I'm not quite excited yet!"

I mean, of course I'm excited. No wait, I'm not. Somewhere deep down, I know I'm going to enjoy this trip, but the feeling has yet to surface. Sometimes, I think the only reason I'm going at all is because of my European-born family, who would probably excommunicate me if I didn't take this wonderful opportunity to travel. They love travel, my family, especially travel involving Europe. What better way to see the world, become a cultured person, diminish some of the ignorance I inherited from being born in the US? Oh yes, traveling is a good idea. Studying in a foreign country with a Slavic language, even better. But no one said I had to anticipate fun.

Well, it's late December. My forms have all been turned in, my plane tickets - departure and return - booked, and I'm sitting here anxiously awaiting an email that will hopefully give me some information to help stimulate some exitement on my part. Because thus far, I haven't been told what classes I'll be taking in Prague, where I'll be living, or if I got the exciting-sounding internship I applied for. Oh, and the Czech consulate, which greedily snatched my passport sometime in October, has made no move to return it, or send me a visa.

So maybe there's something to this. Maybe January 17th will roll around, and I will attempt to board a plane to Prague (via London) and will be stopped because the Czech consulate will still have my passport.

And I'll say, damn, I was so excited.