Prague, etc.

So so so fucking much, it’s slightly ridiculous. What a semester. I can only hope in vain that spring 2011 can kiss as much ass. Nothing would please me more than to be proven wrong.

(Source: fuckingthings)

I think it’s hilarious how much of a straight brofest the Prague program was. No, not every guy at NYU is gay, and yes, some of the bros I know are, but sometimes (ok, ok, often) it feels like neither of these things are true. That didn’t apply to this semester. Sure, we had a lot of students from other schools like Colgate, Duke, and Wake Forest and they certainly contributed to the numbers, but a sizable chunk of those bros were actual NYU students. One of the suites in Máchova is even reserved for frat boys. Of course, they were complemented by a huge sorority contingent.

I don’t know, I guess the cheap beer is a huge draw?

Somehow I found myself with both a job and an internship (technically two) while I was in Praha, long after I’d stopped looking for either.

The internship was with Forum 2000, an organization founded by former President Havel that holds an annual conference (in English). They get some pretty cool people to speak there every year - the conference is usually opened by Havel himself, and this year, lots of NYU students got excited about seeing Fareed Zarakia give a keynote speech. My job was to be a reporter, to write down everything I could catch during the panels, and immediately write up a report that could be used in a press release. A few weeks later, the interns had to edit the full transcripts, make them publishable. I had partners in crime, but it was still kind of stressful, though fun. If you care, the write-ups were posted on The Prague Wanderer site - I thought the panels were pretty interesting.

For some expert views on Religion, Globalization, and Secularization in Europe today: http://www.thepraguewanderer.com/2010/10/25/religion-globalization-and-secularization/, and to learn a bit about the World We Live In: http://www.thepraguewanderer.com/2010/10/21/the-world-we-live-in.

On that note, I also had an internship with The Prague Wanderer - apparently we’re the only NYU abroad site with a webzine. It was very laid back, barely felt like an internship, and there were very few of us, but I did get some good advice and a few clips out of the deal.

The job was a total accident. I was thinking about putting up some posters near Charles University offering “English conversations” with Czech students, and I asked my RA to help me with the Czech. Next day, a friend of hers mentioned that her boyfriend was looking for someone to help his nine year old practice English. The girl had spent the summer in Texas, but was reluctant to speak English at home much and he didn’t want her to lose what she’d learned.

Basically, I got paid 200 Kč an hour to talk to the definition of adorable once a week. So I guess calling it a job is a stretch. Whatever, I loved it. I’d never teach a classroom of little kids, but a couple of well-behaved ones wouldn’t be out of the question.

Now I need a job in New York. Anyone with flexible hours hiring?

So I’m not in Prague anymore, but since this tumblr is more for my recollection than anything else, I’m going to keep updating it with my adventures from abroad.

With my knee as shitty as ever, I’m stuck laying around all day (truly awful, I know),  which doesn’t inspire me to write much. But if you care, they’ll be plenty of posts in the the near future.

But here’s a random picture to tide you over:

Taken from Prague Castle during my first week there.

I’m nearing the end of my academic obligations this semester and am once again using tumblr to procrastinate.

I have to fix Afghanistan in 2,000 words. Thinking especially about the idea of partition. Afghanistan went to hell 30 years ago, and as far as I can see, nothing we can do in the immediate future is going to do much to change that. It’s a tragic shit-hole right now, and the more I look into it, the sadder the whole situation seems.

Then there’s my econ final. Not exactly looking forward to that.

I seem to have gotten off easy. I had a some stuff due last week, so maybe I’ll be done in time to have a couple full days left in Prague. Decadence Now, Vyšehrad, and Christmas markets still await.