The Birds and the Bees

After I admonished Holley for going a week without posting to her blog, I realized that I hadn't posted anything since that fateful trip back from Vienna. Whoops.

The title of this post is not a reference to sex, but to actual birds and bees, of which Prague has plenty. Being from the backwoods of Connecticut (yes, Connecticut isn't all Lacoste shirts and boat shoes), I'm used to nature. Hell, I revel in it. But when I came to Prague, I didn't expect there to be so many bees hanging around. On my five minute walk to the metro every morning, there's a pretty good chance I'm going to get bothered by at least one of those little tyrants. Alexis and Damon are downright terrified of bees and have run down the sidewalk to escape a potential sting at least one time apiece. I try to put on the tough-guy act and pretend like I'm not scared, but I'll bug out if one lands on my face. I mean, can you imagine? Ugh. Here's hoping that the first frost kills them all, but if they can fly all the way up to our terrace on the roof, we're dealing with monsters here.

The pigeons are also a little out of control. Less than 48 hours after arriving here in Praha, I was almost pooped on by one of them. Maybe the fates were with me that day, or maybe God finally decided to pay back that karma I earned by picking up a $20 on the street and giving it back to the guy who dropped it, but the poo missed my head by about an inch, grazed my arm, and landed right next to my shoe. I was told by several people that this was good luck, and I'm gonna have to call bullshit on that. I've lived in New York for two years and on the shore for the other 18, and I've never once had a bird poop on me. I'm more annoyed with them than anything else, but Damon fears them. Apparently he walked out onto the terrace after dark one time and was surprised by a flock of pigeons flying at his face, which must've been terrifying. I fed pigeons once when I was in Puerto Rico, and let me tell you, they are not to be messed with.

This week was mostly uneventful. I'm trying to head to the gym regularly because I don't want to come back to the states looking pregnant, and with the amount of beer I consume, it's a very real possibility. On Monday, NYU threw us a welcoming party, which I thought was strange considering we've been here for two weeks. The food was DELICIOUS... way better than any catered event back in New York. And, of course, they had beer and wine, and I must've started at least 10 conversations with "Isn't it great how they serve us alcohol at an official school function?" Smooth is my middle name.

Alexis just made me Thai peanut noodles and ginger chicken for dinner. Yum. Moving on.

People continue to rage every single night, and I don't understand where they get the energy for that. I'm down for a couple of beers and maybe a glass of wine, but I need at least two days off from getting crazy and partying. I see lots of these people during they day, and 9 out of 10 times they're stumbling around asking people to put them out of their misery. I know how we Americans love things in excess, but there's got to be a point where these people can't sustain that lifestyle anymore. I should really turn this into an anthropological case study... oh wait, I'm not in Gallatin. I need to take classes to get credit for things!

I wish I could tell you that I'm traveling somewhere exotic and crazy this weekend (read: Transylvania? Check back in November for that trip), but it's Damon's birthday and I'm a good friend. But I'm sure that this weekend will be brimming with crazy Praha adventures, so I'm not disappointed at all. In fact, in a couple of hours we're headed to our first European football game. If we can't eke out some good stories from that, then I'm not sure we even deserve to be here.