Friday, 5th June

Oh what a morning! The hangover wasn’t that terrible but the stomach was still full of beer. Everyone tried to guess how many liters he or she had but most of them struggled to remember. The good thing was that the breakfast at the hostel was included so it was possible to have some food before changing the accommodation. I would really recommend that place but I can’t remember the name. Anyway we packed our stuff together and went to the hostel where we couldn’t sleep the day before. Our program that day wasn’t strict what I always appreciate because it’s just stress to rush around without having a break or short moment to rest a little bit. Our first meeting was at the faculty for social-science of the Charles University. We walked along the river and enjoyed the best whether of the year so far. The building of social-science is located next to the riverside. We arrived after a 20 minute walk and entered the building at the front where the compulsory doorman opened for us. The presentation started in time and the presenter was the coordinator of the international office of social-science. First of all I was quite impressed of his English because he talked fluently and just sometimes I could hear an accent. He had a diploma in American literature and was originally from Prague. After his part we could ask questions and I was curious of what he is going to say about the Metropolitan University. He said that a lot of profs from the MUP made their diploma at the Charles University and when they applied for a job and didn’t get accepted, they applied for the MUP. So in his opinion the MUP is place for people who are not good enough for the Charles University. He didn’t said that but for me it sounded a little bit like that. Anyway he was really nice and told us a lot about the programs but as well about being student in Prague in general. After everyone got a brochure we walked through the historic city center “Old Town” searching the way to the next station for that day. That station was the “UMPRUM”, the “Academy of Art, Architecture & Design in Prague”. To visit this kind of Uni seemed to me a little bit strange but retrospectively was it a great experience. The two women who showed us the academy said that it’s a shame that we didn’t come a week later because the students prepared their final exhibition. But it was still nice to see how the students are working in their different arts. The whole building was a kind of work of art. Everywhere was paint, old sculptures, leftovers of former exhibitions and art in any possible form. When I walked through the ateliers I realized that no chair in that building looks like the other. We left the “UMPRUM” after almost two hours and I think that everyone was inspired in some way. Now was time for a break in a park at the riverside before we started our city-walk-program. This walk was organized by Pelin and me. Pelin started with the “Old Town” where she told us something about the Tyn Church, the Old Town Hall, the Kinsky Palace etc. At that time it was very hot already and the city was crowded by tourist. I can’t imagine how it is to live in a beautiful city like Prague which you can’t enjoy because of a million tourists. We left old town after and crossed the Charles Bridge to enter “Mala Strana” or “Lesser Town”. I held short presentations in different place there to give a little overview over the history of that quarter. Everyone needed a rest and after visiting the John Lennon memorial wall we got back to the hostel to take a shower and a nap.  

For that evening we planned to go to the riverside and go partying all together. It was a kind of fair with tents and outdoor bars. So it was definitely a cool place to hang around, drink a cold beer or cocktail and having a good time. The night was mild and in the breeze we could cool our burned skin. I really liked it there but at midnight they closed the bars and we needed another place. Michael showed us a bar where they played music while producing the music-video on the wall. We danced the whole night to rock and pop of the 8o’s and 90’s, it was great !