Thursday, December 31, 2009
First off I would like to explain what Sylvester is. In Germany, Austria, and apparently Czech Republic, New Years is referred to as Sylvester. Not sure what the significance of that is but I do know that on New Years instead of kissing loved ones or strangers, well actually they do that too, you’re supposed to give people a pig. A pig represents good luck in the coming year. Everywhere we walked we would see pig stuff: clocks, cookies, candies, hats, figurines, toys, you name it they had it in the shape of a pig. So yeah, in this part of Europe that is the tradition on New Years just in case you were interested.
THE LAST DAY OF 2009! Wow, this year flew. For me it had a lot of ups and a few downs. 2009 marked the end of organized soccer for me, the end of my undergraduate career, the start of my adventures abroad, the beginning of uncertainty that is still my future, the extinguish of some friendships and the rekindling of others, the expansion of family, and lastly the uncovering of who i am . That’s a lot to take in. When you’re on vacation with other people it’s hard to get a minute to reflect, so I’m taking that time now, even though it’s January 10th.
I woke up at 9am when our last roommate came in. Finally someone claimed the couch-bed. I didn’t get out of bed until 10 and we didn’t end up leaving the hostel until 11am. We decided to explore the castle with the Barcelona boys. They were both different from the stereotypes of Spanish men. There were genuinely friendly , quite funny, and good spirited. Before we headed to the castle we joined up with two Chilean friends of Saul. Jorge and Francesca were cousins from Santiago who have been traveling around Europe and came into Prague just for New Years. They didn’t have a hostel to stay at so they were going to get ready at our hostel and just stay out the whole night until there train at 8am. Ha Ha, good luck with that!
We ended up speaking English the whole day, mainly because I don’t think anybody realized that we knew Spanish. Francesca was talking to the boys about going to the Bridge in Spanish and Julia answered her question in English and she was shocked that she understood her. Yeah, at that moment we told them that we understood Spanish better than we could speak it, so the English continued. As we crossed Charles Bridge we got stuck in a traffic jam of people. We literally couldn’t move. I think the funneling of people due to the construction caused the jam. It took us half and hour to cross the Bridge. To help pas the time I started the Cliff game and introduced it to our new friends. Jorge got a real kick out of it. Sure enough as soon as we started the game we finally started moving. Before we left the Bridge we had to touch the Golden statue for good luck. I was also told to touch the other golden part of the statue to ensure a safe voyage home and it wasn’t until the next day to I realize how luck y it was that I touched that statue. Out of the three of us, I was the only one who touched both statues. Just remember that for later......
We spent the whole day touring the Prague Castle, which included the golden lane , numerous Cathedral’s, and St. Mikulous’ Church. Julia mentioned to Jorge that I was a soccer person so we talked soccer the rest of the day. he told me how he works for the best soccer team in Chile, I forget the name now, but he was really impressed that I knew all about the Argentine and Brazilian leagues as well as La Liga and Premiere League. I never get tired of the look of shock/amusement i get from guys when I start talking soccer. Well by the end of the day I was starved and Churched out for the day. We headed back toward the Christmas market for round two of lunch/dinner there. We parted ways with our friends but told the Barcelona boys that we would see them back at the hostel and told the Chileans to meet us in front of the Astrological Clock in Staromestske Namesti Square at 10pm tonight. As much as we hoped we would see them again, the three of us all kind of figured that the odds of finding them tonight were going to be slim. At the market Megan and I got white sausage and the Trdlo pastry thing as our lunch/dinner. It was incredibly filling but oh so good. Julia got the latkas. After a fulfilling meal we figured we should head home and either nap or just hang out until it was time to get ready, aka beautify. Plus it started to rain and we wanted to stay as dry as possible.
On the way home we found a market with mini champagne bottles so we each bought one to open and cheers with at midnight. We also decided, in order to save money tonight, that we would pre-game at the hostel so that we wouldn’t really need to buy any drinks at the bars. This seemed like a good idea at the time, so we bought a bottle of cheap vodka and sprite and were good for the night. At least that’s what i thought... We returned home and mingled, relaxed with our roommates until 8p. At 8pm the party started.
The newest addition to our room was James, another New Zealander who currently works in Glasgow with Stephen. Very international room if you ask me. The NZ boys were heading out early to hit up a bar but we told them that we were going to meet at the Astrological clock at 10pm and then head to the bridge to see the fireworks and they should meet us there. Once again we told all of these people to meet us there but we never thought we’d actually find everyone. We were happy if it was just the three of us.
[Forgive me parents and family]---I normally don’t like to share the details of what little drinking I do but for this night it serves a purpose. In the room getting ready the three of us each helped ourselves to the equivalent of 2 vodka and sprite’s. However, Julia had 2 beers before these drinks and we all know the saying, “beer before liquor, makes you sicker.” Anyways, that was enough for me. I was feeling good and didn’t want to go overboard before midnight. Once J-M were ready we asked someone from another room to take a picture of us. We wanted a picture before we went outside in the cold, probably still rainy night. I asked the girl who took the picture when she was heading out and she said that she was having a hard to motivating her group to get up. Me with my new found confidence, aka alcohol, I marched into their room and told them to get up and come with us to the clock because we were leaving now. Surprisingly they listened and got ready. With nothing but my tank top, leather jacket, scarf, mini purse with my camera, my umbrella, and my mini bottle of champagne I was ready for NYE in Prague. WAhoooooo! It was getting close to 9:45p when we realized we had to leave in order to meet everyone at 10p. We left the hostel with our new German friends but then someone from there group forgot something but we couldn’t afford to wait because we were already running late so once again we told them to meet us at the clock. When we got off at our stop I spotted P-S and shouted at them. The five of us ended up walking together to the clock. Well, at least we found 2 people, 2 more than I anticipated.
We made our way to the clock and miraculously found not only the NZ boys but also the Chileans. To add to the mix, Julia texted her friend Maria to join us at the clock as well. A few minutes after arriving at the clock we found Maria (from Scotland) and her boyfriend. With some kind of luck we managed to find EVERYONE we told to meet up with us. In total we were 3 Spaniards, 2 Chileans, 2 Kiwi’s, 1 Scott, and 3 Americans. This was by far the most international New Years I have EVER had and probably will ever have. Where we were in front of the clock were thousands of other people. Only a few feet from us people were shooting off fireworks. I mean they literally flew over our heads and would occasionally hit people. Here we were in front of this 100’s of years old cultural landmark and people were shooting off crazy fireworks right next to it. What made it better was there were four policemen standing next to the clock with their hands folded just watching. What were they going to do if the clock caught on fire? Blow it out??? Ridiculous. At the clock I had a swig of Jager (disgusting btw) because that’s all Jorge was drinking for the night. Yuck. J-M each had a few sips of that and then they also got Gluihwein because they were cold. I would like to think that my leather jacket alone was what kept me quite warm all night, but I guess you could say the alcohol might of helped a bit in that department.
So far Julia had mixed beer, vodka, Jager, and wine while Megan had only mixed vodka, Jager, and wine. Not a good idea. We still had our champagne to drink at midnight. Midnight? Crap, it was almost midnight and we had to make our way to the river. We frantically, with everyone in tow, jogged to the river in order to see the spectacular fireworks. This was the one night I refused to wear my watch so I had no idea when midnight occurred but at some point the fireworks started, someone else checked their cell phone and announced it was 2010. Cheers to all!!!! I had James open my bottle for me and I toasted with the girls. To be honest I don’t recall drinking that much of my champagne. I think I offered it to everyone from the group and someone eventually finished it for me. Eh, I didn’t really care. I attempted to take pictures of the fireworks but that was a complete bust so I gave up and focused on people pictures. We got this random girl to take a group picture of all of us but of course mine came out blurry. And that was also the moment when my batteries decided to die. Never fear, I came prepared with an extra set. However they were not working. I got mildly upset but then said f-it its New Years, just enjoy it.
It was at this point, a little after midnight, that I noticed Julia and Megan getting into a cab. I asked where they were going and I only remember Megan telling me that they were heading home. I was confused at this point as to why they were leaving and not taking me with them. I needed to use the bathroom so Maria and I found one in a bar. When we returned the NZ boys had taken off and I didn’t know where they went. I found out later that they told Megan to tell me but she never gave me the message. They were actually just down the street from us. My one regret of the night was not finding them. Well Maria, her bf, P-S, and I headed off to find a bar. I have no idea where we went or what the name of the bar was, but it was packed. Somehow we managed to find a table and we spent the rest of the night there. The bar had neon lights and a screen playing music videos. It was a pretty cool place. I’m not sure how I ordered my drink, i think i just pointed to my hand like I had planned, but somehow I got that Korse*%#&#Y$) drink. It was delicious. I remember paying for the drink and I think that was the only thing i paid for the entire night. The rest of the night we just talked and laughed the night away. I had a really good time. We ended up being the last people in the bar and the bar people had to kick us out because they were closing. It was at this moment that Maria and her bf decided to head home. I had no map and no idea where we were so Maria gave me her map, circled our bar, and pointed us in the right direction. I was intoxicated in an unfamiliar city, with no bearing of where I was, which is unusual for me because I normally have a very good sense of direction. even though I had P-S with me I didn’t trust myself to find my way home. Finally Pau hailed a taxi and said we would pay for it because he just wanted to get out of the cold. I wasn’t about to protest. We made it safe and sound to the hostel at 5:30am. Unbelievably I didn’t lose my purse, camera, or umbrella like I figured I would. I did remember my umbrella was on the ground for awhile and I randomly saw it on the ground and thought, “that was a close one”, and snatched it back up.
I spent my entire New Years with practically strangers, but that didn’t stop me from having an incredible time. Thank you Prague.
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