Laptop Woes...while trying to remove "popcorn.net" from my computer by starting it up in safe mode, my Windows log-in totally got screwed and I'm left without my comp for the 2nd time in less than a month...the biggest obstacle now is that I can't seem to get an English edition of Windows, let alone MSoffice,so I'm freaking out (estimated breakdown point in 2 days)..my only other means of keeping myself from going insane
are were-shopping and traveling but with the cash stash in my drawer rapidly depleting i have no idea what i'm going to do (though one of the first things i'm going to do in SG is to visit CIT!!!)..for my dear friends going on exchange next term..please remember to bring your system recovery Cds with ya & back up your precious files
Anyhows i wrote this "updates on prague" entry like last wednesday(before my lappie died that very night) and had it not been for gerald coming to visit prague on thursday and plans for the weekend with mook,cha and fon -the sweetest and most entertaining- thai girls from gerald's dorm to visit Bratislava, plus a day to hangout at vienna and watch gerald fussing and being smitten over Rob, i would probably have flung myself off charles bridge(see below) days ago..
UPdates on Prague..My Professor just cut the 4 hour lesson short which leaves me a good hour to blog.. been putting off blogging cos' my mind is just brimming with stories,idea and layouts for my long overdued entries about Italy,Vienna and Prague but I lack the discipline to sit down at my laptop to write them, often straying off to steal precious chat time with you guys on msn..
tough stuff about being in Europe: Prague has not been agreeing with my skin, I have tiny red dots on my cheeks that refuse to go away even after 2 weeks..Not a pretty sight..I have big bumpy red bites on my arms which either comes from some weird strain of mosquitoes(but the windows in my room are closed!), allergeries or bedbugs
!(!!!just searched the web for images of bed bug bites n they are suspiciously similar to mine--eek!) and sometimes it all feels too surreal --to realise that you are surrounded by chatter but not hearing anything but noise because conversations are held in myriad of Czech,German, Spanish, Dutch and rarely English.
Un-seen & un-heard:
-The average Czech person has 2 dogs,breathes more ciggiesmoke than fresh air & drinks more beer than water
-16,000 students, 1 canteen, 8 servers = long queue(20mins) just to get into the canteen
-On the streets: 0.5 l of beer for S$1.50 vs 0.3l Coke for S$2
Ketchup for S$0.80
Ciggies for S$4
Pasta for S$12
-One professor wearing socks and slippers to class and teaches in a sing-song voice
Another professor hides ppt.slides n files behind an icon on his webpage fearing that it may be illegal to publish them outright
The craziest professor breaking a chair after putting his 2 feet on it and pulling it towards him(he was sitting on the desk)...swears he did "absolutely nothing" to the chair right after..
Scenes from Prague:
view of the castle from the city(below
)
Prague's communication tower(above).. u'll get a great view from the top but somehow, the exterior of the tower seems to be infested with babies--yes black marble babies- what's up with that? Little Eiffel in Prague(below)
...it takes 299 steps to get to the top and at the ticket booth my american friend reasons:" if we're going to pay 40 korunas($3) to enter there had better be an elevator" and when we asked.. the counter personnel replied "just ahead of you, a 60 year old lady is taking the steps.." clearly embarrassed, we climbed to the halfway mark at whichtime my Dutch friend reasons that the view would be exactly the same here as above and there we stayed...
not quite the happy gelato stained postcard.
--9:20 PM--
