Exams, Erasmus, Events and Exhaustion: June in and around Prague

Prague

The timing of the Mediterranean trip, as I mentioned in Part I, had seemed less-than ideal. It was the beginning of my exam period, so I could have stayed behind and taken about 7 exams in a week (I was taking 13 classes at the time...sounds crazier than it was), and been more than halfway done with them. But traveling was much better for my soul; it let me refresh my mind, reconnect my heart, and take a break from the stress in Prague. When I returned I was ready to take on the exams and essays. At the same time, the school I had been working for part-time had a vacancy, so I took on several new classes during the week, all of which involved a commute of 30 minutes or more each way. Two lessons took more than 2 hours of commuting each way...

Prague

In addition to the piles of work it was also a month full of goodbyes, since many Erasmus students were heading back home after the end of the semester. I had just begun to spend more time with a fantastic group of Italian students, thanks to my language tandem partner, MB. It began when I was invited out for pizza...and discovered I was the only non-Italian in a group of 37 people! My Italian began improving immediately! I was thrilled to be communicating more in Italian with such a fun and welcoming group of people, when suddenly it was time to say arrivederci :(

Karlstejn

A few friends who were leaving were taking short trips around the Czech Republic, and sadly I was so busy - and broke - after my trip to the Mediterranean, that I only had time and money for one day trip that month. 

Karlstejn

A group of six of us caught the train and headed to Karlstejn Castle, just a 40 minute ride outside of Prague (shorter than the commute to one of my English lessons!). It was a charming village, with a pleasant walk uphill to the castle.
There was not a student discount price, and it was such a lovely day anyway that I personally had no real desire to pay to join a group tour of the inside of the castle. Instead we had a picnic lunch that we'd brought along, and we enjoyed the pleasure of each others' company in the shade of the castle walls. After lunch we wandered around outside the castle, taking pictures and enjoying the nice day, before heading back to Prague.

Karlstejn Castle

That same evening there was the United Islands Music Festival happening around the city, with performances from around the world playing different genres of music at different stages, plus food tents and other good for sale. 

Old meets new:
10th C. castle, 21st C. music festival

My friend MO and I spent a few hours just trying to find each other in the throngs of people. Luckily during that time I caught a great salsa band's performance. After meeting up we headed to Jazz Dock, a place I'd always wanted to check out.

MO and Me
(before deciding the music was bad)

The music was good, but low key, and was wrapping up, so we headed to a big stage where the last show of the night was happening. We were hopeful, but after a few songs neither of us were impressed, so we headed home early, tired from a long day - one of many in an exhausting, yet fulfilling, month.