Praha 55, or A Simple Way to Say Goodbye

Last night, I went to the park near my house, trudged up the giant hill in my clogs, and was rewarded at the top with the most beautiful view of Prague at Night. The lights were on at the castle, the Muzeum, up on Petrin at the Eiffel Tower of Prague, Starometska, and St. Nicholas's Cathedral, and the city looked bright with color and light. I took long, deep breaths. I had gone up there to say goodbye.

I admit that Prague is not a home for me; it does not enchant me, and doesn't love me. However, Kafka said that Prague is "a dear little mother with claws" and that is exactly what has happened. Prague's claws are firmly digging into my shoulder, if not my heart, and I will wear the scars proudly when I leave.

On the evaluation I had to fill out for CET, it asked what my personal goals were and if I had fulfilled them. At this point, I've forgotten my original goals completely, but I think I will emerge from here with the beginnings of an understanding - a better, more complex understanding of where I come from and how I fit into the landscape of my family history.

And here is my final list.

Things I Will Miss When I Return (the Prague Version)
in no particular order

- Apricot juice
- Klobasa on the street
- Beer - Gambrinus and Budvar especially
- The way the Muzeum catches me every time I walk home from class
- The small pleasures of finding what I need in a grocery store
- Trudi's weekly phone calls
- Cheap food
- The 15 minute walk to and from school that lets me clear my head and gets me moving
- Useful, effective and efficient public transportation
- Store employees who leave me alone and don't try to sell me things
- Kristine's econ class and her constant assertions that the legal and public health systems are crap in this country
- The reassuring sight of 600 year old church spires
- The cheap wine picnics in Letna

I'll post as soon as I get my computer set up at home to say I got in okay and all that.