Favorite Word in Czech- Okurka

[[okurka: translation: cucumber]]

At Hamilton I always have such strong ambitions to attend guest speaker lectures and other cultural events that the school offers. I plan on going, get excited but then at the last minute I tend to get caught up, or usually too lazy to lazy to walk from the dark side to the Chapel. So, I have to say that I am pretty surprised, yet proud at how we have been forcing ourselves to go to any event that sparks interest. It's easy to just hang out, but I've felt so good after going someplace important every day here. The latest cultural event I've attended was last night's showing of the documentary "Fighter"- a movie about life in Central Europe for Jan Weiner, a Jewish man who successfully escaped Czechoslovakia during WWII. Jan Weiner actually came to the NYU center to present the film and later answer questions. The movie was so moving and had an even greater impact on the audience because he was there in person. The movie is about him retracing the steps of his escape-- and you literally see the places where his friends and family were killed and where he himself almost died. After watching this movie, things started to hit me. I am truly starting to understand the lost sense of identity that these people have incurred as a result of living under the communist regime.

Anyways, so after receiving an email about internship opportunities in Prague, I couldn't resist applying for the Prague Writer's Festival. I really didn't want an internship but this one just seemed so cool. After meeting with the head of the festival yesterday, it seems like it is going to be a really great experience, but a little more intense than anticipated. I am basically the editor of the website... I think. We'll see next week when the internship actually starts. But here is the website if you want to check it out: www.pwf.cz

Crazy update: I've been feeling a little lack of protein in my diet. So while out to a lovely romantic dinner tonight with Johanna, I made the bold move and ordered a chicken kebab. Not too bad... but of course I thought some of it was undercooked.

Tomorrow is our first day trip excursion compliments of NYU. We are heading to Kutna Hora at 8:30 in the morning. I cannot wait to go to the bone museum...