In my time in Morocco, I’ve been so fortunate to experience many different aspects of life: Living with a different family. Eating different foods. Learning about a different culture. Observing a different religious tradition. Meeting different students from different universities. There are lots of differences here. However, today I’ve realized one important part of Moroccan life that is not different at all. In fact, it’s exactly the same… Sick days.

I won’t say that I have strep throat, because I haven’t been tested by a doctor. Or even seen one. But I do have some strep-like illness of the throat, rendering me mostly speechless and pretty much useless all day. However, I’ve been able to seek comfort in the familiar process of waking up late, practically begging my parents to let me stay home from school, sleeping, going to the pharmacy with my (host) mama, sleeping some more, taking medicine, and eating Nutella out of the jar (oops… slipped that in there, didn’t I?). The more things change, the more they stay the same, and all I want right now is a nice big bowl of soup. But it’s not chicken noodle that I’m craving, not even tomato. I asked my host mom for a nice, big bowl of harira, the traditional Moroccan Ramadan soup. I guess the more things stay the same, the more they seem to change as well.

I am kind of mad at myself, because I have so many amazing stories to tell from the past week including a trip to Fes, a ‘funky’ hostel, Western creature comforts, and some actual ACADEMIC-related stories (because, oh yeah, this is STUDY abroad). Alas, I will have to save those for when I have more energy. Perhaps post-soup…

First blog post of the semester!

I’ve officially been in Prague for almost a month and let’s just say it feels as if I’ve been here at least 2, but in the best possible way. The first days were  jam packed with city tours, pastries, illness, and an intensive course in the Czech language. But as a result, I have fallen in love with this beautiful place that is unlike any city I have heretofore experienced (and remember).

First of all, Prague has plenty of its own twists and quirks. The streets, for example, are set up in an unsystematic jumble. Some cities such as Chicago are built upon a grid with a neatly organized system, which makes finding your way around relatively easy if you have a general idea of where you’re going. Praha, on the other hand, is all, “Grid? Nah, sorry. Good luck with that. We prefer the winding, cobblestone set up of the 16th century”. I have wandered back and forth between my apartment in Praha 8 to Old Town in Praha 1 (which, fun fact, is around 1,100 years old) and still have no idea how I got there. Thankfully, my roommates have a better sense of direction than me.

Another eccentricity of this old city are the random English words spray painted in the most random of places. “Ladder” was plastered on a wall, “time” carved in the snow, but my personal favorite is “crab salad” on the side of a building seen on the way to class. There’s speculation as to whether the artists knew what those words meant or just decided to use random English in order to confuse the general population. But most of the younger generation speak English rather well.

Since I have been terrible with updating this blog so far here’s a quick rundown of the first month:

Since Prague doesn’t use the euro prices here are pretty fantastic. Well, at least when it comes to groceries. Walk through any of the touristy areas and suddenly a 35 Kr cup of coffee skyrockets to 85 Kr. I spent the past weekend in Venice and it nearly broke me. Seriously. I’m so happy I chose to live here.

Although our program directors insist that we aren’t tourist, we’re students, there are touristy attractions that are impossible to resist. The Museum of Communism is a big one for, as most people know, the Czech Republic operated under the Communist Regime from 1948 until the Velvet Revolution in 1989. It’s amazing how this centuries old city managed to retain it’s identity after years of oppression, including Nazis and Communists. The Museum of Communism runs through what it was like to live during the Communist regime and includes a video of demonstrations and the police brutal handling any sort of protest. Another more grotesque tourist museum I’ve visited was that of the Medieval Torture Instruments. Let’s just say I’m glad I live in the 21st century and not the Middle Ages. Some of the inventions were so simple, yet so terrible. The graphic pictures and descriptions are not for the faint of heart.

Prague is not a terribly large city, which means walking most places isn’t totally out of the question if you know where you’re going (I usually don’t). However, a lot of walking isn’t necessarily good on the knees if you aren’t accustomed to it because at one point I was pretty sure I broke my knee. Not literally but it wasn’t happy with me for about a week and a half and I don’t blame it considering I kept walking on it, up and down incredibly long escalators and uneven cobblestones.

One of my favorite parts about Prague though are the pastries. The best, in my personal opinion, is the koláč, which is a round pastry with fruit filling in the middle. I can’t even count how many I’ve had so far but I strongly recommend to anyone who visits this beautiful city to buy one in a bakery or from a street vendor because it will change your life. Well, maybe not but you’ll never be satisfied with a mediocre bread product ever again.

That was the TL;DR version of my first weeks here in Praha. As hard as it may be to live in a country where I have only a weak grasp on the language and in a city whose streets continue to disorient me, I can’t imagine being anywhere else. Every stone and brick contains a secret story of rich history that maybe, with time, will reveal itself to me.