Erasmusblogs

         In the first week we must visit some offices and deal with hundreds of papers. Frustating. These days I have met Czech students capable of speaking three, four or even five languages, but in these offices few are those who speak English. Receptionists are our enemies. No receptionist can speak English in Prague, I assure you. They can´t in my dorm, they can´t in the Rectorate, and what´s more important they can´t in my faculty. So Ana and me stay in front of our faculty reception trying to know where the International Office is. The woman gives me a phone and a number. I dial. Czech language.

         We go eating to a kebah. The waiter speaks Spanish. We DO NOT need waiters speaking Spanish; we can easily say "A pizza please." In bars they are polyglots, and in the offices they can´t speak English! Definitely something is wrong with the employment policies here. I try to cool off and eat the thing. And the man starts singing "Viva España."

         Saturday morning I go downtown alone with no map. I think it´s the best way of getting used to the streets of Prague. I get lost soon. Fortunately I can find my way by following the McDonalds signals. How strange is being lost in this lovely mixture of gothic and art-noveau buildings, and suddenly get happy when seeing one of these ugly red arrows, "Next McDonalds 100m." Cause no matter which city in the universe you are in, there´s a McDonalds downtown. Globalization seems so wonderful today… I choose another place to eat, though. "Gran pizza para vos. Españoles comer mucho mucho."

Published in Prague | Without Comments »

Google Yahoo Technorati Digg Delicious

        The week before the classes started, there were parties every night in this dorm, till someone called the police because of the noise. Next day we had notes by the European Office reminding us our duties as "ambassadors of your countries." Nice way of saying "were you raised in a barn?" Here parties start like a guerrilla raid. You are in the hall, you blink and next thing you see is scores of people holding beers the size of containers. Beers in Czech Republic are pint-sized; less than one euro each. It´s the cheapest thing you can buy in supermarkets or drink in a bar. Beer is cheaper than water. Absinth is also quite common and not very expensive. In many countries it is banned, but here people buy it in supermarkets as easily as Uncle Sam Tomato Sauce or dental floss. As regards booze, the Czechs know how.

         Some days after my arrival I went with Sandra, Vanesa and Yolanda to an Open Air Party run by Czech university students in a little, cosy island in Vltava river. There were a big scenery for concerts, drinking beer contests… Somebody misinformed us, so when we arrived the gigs were over and the Czechs as pissed as a fart. Czech people are so quiet. Even when drunk they keep silent and polite. Of course they kick bottles, puke or fall over, but smoothly, like if trying not to disturb. We drank two quick beers and stumbled toward Cross, a huge arty pub, completely decorated with recycled stuff, disposal materials and found objects. Awesome!! People in harlequin clothes and red wigs about to performance in first floor -a kind of retro-futurist cabaret, like being stuck in someplace between Twin Peaks and a Marilyn Manson video-; a harcore concert upstairs in a bleak, absynth-scented room; and an easy-going atmosphere underground, where we stood dancing reggae.

Read the rest of this article…

Published in Prague | Without Comments »

Google Yahoo Technorati Digg Delicious

        People working in this dorm can´t speak English. The first days you have 1000 questions to do and all you get at Reception are shrugs. "Can you give me more sheets? Why don´t I have a reading lamp while many people do? Is it true I have to pay for the washing machine, the vaccum cleaner and the ironing board?" Just indifference and suspicious looks. So the first week you feel as a burglar tiptoeing at night, till one day you stop worrying, shut your mouth and use the washing machine only when your pants stock is out.

        As regards problems with language, going to the supermarket may be pretty funny. Everybody fails when shopping, no matter how prepared you are or think you are: czech dictionaries, lists of czech food, consumer´s sixth sense… Nothing works. Everybody has his/her particular record of mistakes. For instance, once I was looking for parsley. Provided the vegs department was full of similar herbs, I had to smell every one. Finally I gave up when I noticed everybody was looking at me, so I took one at random. It tasted like petrochemical-plant product and ruined my dinner.

        While such cultural shock it´s funny in shopping, at offices it´s most depressing. When going to ask for something, they usually send us to another office. Then we cross our fingers and wish it was the promised English-speaking desk. "Hello, I´m an Erasmus student," is a sentence that has completely lost its sense and spins in my mouth like a tasteless chewing gum. In addition, the timetables are always in Czech, even if it´s the English or the French department. We asked the secretary to translate them to us, but couldn´t cause they were in abbreviations. "Not even the Czech people can understand this?" Ana, my classmate, and I stood there astonished, staring the letters like if they were Egyptian hieroglyphics: birds, big eyes, or men in underwear frozen in awkward posture.

        Generally these days you feel puzzled, foolish and like teleported to Uranus. The third say Ana and I got lost and couldn´t find our dorm. It was sunset, nobody in these silent, gloomy streets, only big dogs barking at us. When we finally found our way back, the receptionist´s wooden face seemed to us the prettiest image in Prague. "Home again."

Published in Prague | Without Comments »

Google Yahoo Technorati Digg Delicious