Ciao Italy, Gibberish Prague?

This past week flew by, and there's a lot of things I could type about.  I'll try and keep it short-ish.  On Tuesday, a group of us dragged our luggage down the hill to the train station, ran down stairs and up stairs to get to the right platform, got all our luggage on the train, and then went through the same process when we got to Arezzo where we mailed our extra luggage home.  I, unfortunately, still have 65 pounds of luggage in my rolling suitcase and a packed-to-the-brim backpack to carry around. 

On Wednesday, we went to Lucca, where there are tons of open and clean piazzas, adorable little shops and more bikes than I've ever seen.  That evening the Texas A&M and UTSA students packed up and headed back to the states, so the rest of the week was quiet and peaceful.

After school was all wrapped up, we had a couple nights in Castiglion Fiorentino to celebrate and have one last hoorah.  Instead of a going away party, we had a going away carnival.  I can't begin to describe how dangerous the rides were and how illegal they should be.  The bumper cars are the most fun when they turn on the smoke machines, disco balls and strobe lights.  You can't see but a couple feet in front of you and are completely disoriented.  Most of the times we did bumper cars there were Italians getting out of the cars running around and jumping from car to car.  I always aimed my car towards them.  As for the other people on the bumper cars, Americans are playful when they hit you, but the Italians are out for your blood.  The last time I played I think I chipped a bone in my knee from it hitting the steering wheel so hard.  Two huge Italians, pretty sure they were in their 40s, were packed into one little car, and they kept picking on Marissa and I, the only girls on the track.  They would come straight at us as we were passing the edge, and t-bone us into the barrier.  This caused our car, time after time, to fly into the air and Marissa was almost ejected from the vehicle on several accounts.

The ride I went on the last night I was in Castig. F.no is called the Super Dance.  It is basically a giant disc that has bench seating around the outside (no seatbelts or straps, with minimal railing to hold onto) and is a dance floor in the middle.  You're supposed to dance the whole time, standing up, on this spinning disc.  There is a man in a booth controlling in, and he has the power to make it go up and down and tilt different ways and at different speeds.  This was probably the most ridiculous ride I have ever and will ever see in my life.  We had about 15 of us riding on it at one time, but only a few were brave enough to get out of their seats and attempt to dance.  I had a blast holding on for my life, especially when the guy would tilt it at a really high angle, then shake it so people would literally be hanging from the top and start sliding across the "dance floor."  So unsafe, but so much fun.  This is one of the reasons I love Italy.  Completely ridiculous.

I packed my suitcases up, took about 50 pictures on my way out of town, and teared up a little when the train to Orvieto crossed from beautiful Tuscany to not-as-beautiful Umbria.  We spent the night in Orvieto and then rushed to the train station in the morning to catch our ride to Rome.  From Rome we flew to Prague, met up with Dan Rice who is studying here, and have had a personal tour guide all evening.  He took us to a brewery outside the tourist part of Prague and we all just pointed at something on the menu because the Czech language is a joke.  It's all gibberish and they throw accents on every other letter.  I think the creators of The Sims used the Czech language.  I'm really excited to start ordering things from just pointing at them and being surprised when I get my plate.  I was a little disappointed when I got chicken, potatoes and a salad.  I was expecting something as ridiculous as their language.  It's Slavic so I have absolutely no understanding of any of it, but Dan tried to explain to me it's like the phoenetic spelling of everything. 

Also, their money is Monopoly money.  One U.S. dollar is equivalent to SEVENTEEN Czech crowns.  This means that $100 is the same as around 1700 Czech crowns.  So, everything looks expensive and is really hard to put into perspective.  I'm walking around with a 2000 crown bill, and I keep thinking nobody will be able to break it, when really it's only a little over $100.  Fake money.

After dinner we saw a couple really cool pubs in town, and I'm excited to see Prague during the day tomorrow.

Happy Mother's Day to the best mom in the whole world!!!  And to my wonderful Grandma! And all the mommas reading this!

Love you all!

Cara Marie