June 10, 2009

Today was our first full day in Prague. We had class in the morning, Global Business Strategy. The first sessions wasn't to interesting, but today things really picked up - I am definitely going to like this class. We then had a presentation on Prague and the Czech Republic. It was fascinating to hear a Czech's experiences during Soviet rule. She said one day on the radio they played the national anthem and then the DJ came on and said their country was being invaded by the Soviets. In a few hours their broadcast would stop completely, and anything they heard after that was a bunch of lies. She said that was the last she heard of that DJ and his station. How crazy. She then took us around the city on a walking tour (for 3 hours...). This is one beautiful city. Every building is ornately designed and half the streets are cobblestone. We went inside the Prague castle.. though it was nothing like Heidelberg's.

One interesting thing to note. The moment we got to Germany, I felt so much more relaxed. Moscow was just a stressful place. I am not stressed here. But when we did get to Germany I also noticed that people would say hello and were very welcoming. In Lithuania, Russia, and Latvia, the majority of the people were very cold. They wouldn't acknowledge you, say hello, and just weren't too polite. This seems to be true in Prague as well and the reason is due to Soviet oppression just 20 years ago.

Back to my day. We had the rest of the day to ourselves. Some of us walked to a mall and got some food - Prague is not as cheap as people have told us! All in all, dinner cost me around 130 kronas, or 7 dollars. Afterwards John Murdock and I walked around trying to find a shop that sold soccer jerseys for less than 100 bucks. We then headed back, tired from so much walking today, and took the metro/tram back to the hotel. That is one great thing about this city, you can grab the metro or tram from just about anywhere in the city. It is so nice to know that for less than 2 bucks you get 75 minutes of public transportation.

So here I am tired, writing this blog. We visit Black and Decker tomorrow. Oh, and Dr. LaFrance said that we got into the World Trade Organization, so we will be visiting them soon! I am really excited for that!