Letná Park

Top - H&M / Skirt - J. Crew

My favorite place in Prague to watch the sun set was Letna Park. The park is situated on a hill high above the Vltava River - to the right one can see bridge after bridge as the river curves towards Petrin Hill, with the illuminated lookout tower on top. If you stand in front of the giant metronome that sits in the center, you can look down Paris Street and see the lights in Old Town Square.

We happened to be in Prague during an unprecedented heat wave and I realized pretty quickly that I wasn't prepared. I picked up this blouse at H&M within the first few days and ended up wearing it about twice a week. This skirt suffered the same fate and I just recently got around to fixing part of the hem that had come undone. When you're restricted to the confines of two small suitcases for two and a half months, you're bound to suffer some casualties.

The first time I visited the park was after us students were sent on a scavenger hunt that took us all over the city and sent us in search of well-known landmarks and some hidden locations. Our last stop was Letna Park, where a giant statue of Joseph Stalin used to stand until it was destroyed following the fall of the communist regime that had governed Czechoslovakia. The metronome was donated to the city as a public work of art in the early nineties and is meant to symbolize a positive future.The park is always full of activity, with a beer garden in one corner, an art nouveau villa in the other, and this central platform is either occupied by break dancers, skateboarders, or sometimes both.

In the Hostel

One of the assignments for our photography class last month was to shoot our hostel. Our accommodations during our studies were, while adequate, far from glamorous. I don't think it's fair to complain because I really only used my room to edit photos or sleep. There was also a balcony outside our window that linked most of our rooms together. In the evening, while the sun was setting, we would all climb over our desks and onto to the stone terrace that was most likely not meant to support our weight. Breakfast was dismal, the bathroom was tiny, and wifi was only offered in the lobby. That being said, no one was ever opposed to providing me with company when I ran to grab coffee and breakfast down the street, and the lobby became a haven for social gatherings and social media. While I don't miss our dusty hostel, I definitely miss my classmates.

Prague!

It has been over a month since I've relocated to Prague and I'm still unable to find the words - or even pictures - to do this city justice. Since I surpassed the age of 7, I have not had much a of penchant for fairy tales, but traipsing through this city makes me feel like a character in a fantasy novel. For years I've been dreaming of traveling to Europe, blogging other people's photographs of cobblestone streets and admiring the towers of French Gothic cathedrals on the pages of my art history textbook. This experience has been incredibly surreal, in the most positive of ways, and thankfully it is not even halfway over.

 Despite my current state of euphoria, I've been wary of the W-curve and the waves of culture shock that tend to plague students when they go abroad. First I have to overcome the cold that has infiltrated my travel-weary and sleep-deprived body, because in all honesty I have had only a handful full nights' sleep since I have been here. Regardless of how tired I may say I am, I refuse to let myself miss an opportunity to go out. I can sleep when I'm dead, but who knows if I will ever be able to see Prague again?

I've been taking more photos than I know what to do with, so below is only a mere fraction of what I've seen so far this summer.