dear bronzage,

do you know e above title means 'hello' in czech? sadly, tts e only czech word i can rem. i just came back from prague earlier this evening and im so shagged, but ive decided to come update you on e latest happenings in my tragic life. you ought to feel honoured that i have a passing whim to blog now at an ungodly 3am in e morning, if not you would most probably stagnate for a gd month or so once school reopens next mon.

let me start in reverse chronological order.

prague. magic, golden, mystical prague. city of a thousand spires. lonely planet went into overload when describing e czech capital, but luckily e city lives up to e hype. e city's architecture is mostly gothic, renaissance and baroque ( or so ive read, seeing that i cld only identify e gothic one most easily); and with a maze of medieval lanes nestled on both banks of e Vlatva river, all set against an imposing Prague Castle as a backdrop overlooking e city centre, id say prague is definitely a must-see. and see we did. we walked, or rather, trudged our way in the city throughout the trip without taking any tram or metro. why no sprightly gait, u may ask, seeing that yours truely has such immense power built into those slim yet powerful legs. the answer lies in the hotel's breakfast, which was so satisfying each morn, so much so that i felt sleepy after eating. its a feeling of pure unadulterated bliss, when my tummy goes into high-gear to digest all e food ive eaten, and i feel at total ease with e world. at the risk of sounding like a greedy gourmand/discerning gourmet (i think im a hybrid of e 2, despite wat many of u may think), i have to say that the traditional czech cuisine is disappointing. it is strong on meat, dumplings and gravy, and weak on fresh vegetables. e first dinner i had was so hardcoredly-piggity-porkity that i ate white meat for the rest of e trip. both ls and i were terribly amused by the fact that we were constantly eating every 2/3 hours. well, it couldnt be helped. the weak crown only made food and everything else seem cheaper, and tell me, who can resist gd cheap food (non-czech of coz)? as a result, my pants button kept bursting each time i breathe out heavily, (which was all too often); but i'd like to think that the workmanship of e sewing wasnt fantastic. =P

attraction-wise, Prague packs quite a bit in an area 10% of Paris. id say we covered more than just the essentials, tho many of them were cursorily done. and im ashamed to say that im no good at appreciating all the museums and castles bit, which i shall elaborate on further in my account of e loire valley trip. i was glad to be able to let my hair down during the trip and be my crazy cranky self (aided by some lubrication of Pilsner czech beer), but im afraid that, upon hindsight, unbridled candour and cheeky impudence might not go down as well as i had assumed.

nonetheless, this was a fun trip (which ls attested to as well, thankfully), though im always glad to return back to paris, where i can understand whats being said and whats on the signboards etc. i would upload the pics once i have the time. meanwhile, im afraid u shall just be a wordy blog. its astonishing how easy i find it to connect my hard-disk and earphones to my lappie whenever i wanna watch a movie/series, and yet find it truely difficult to connect a USB cable to my camera to transfer pics. and ive realised on overseas hols in non-english speaking countries that it really is quite hard to be in a country where u dun speak e language, and where communication becomes a problem. i think ive come a long way thus far, from worrying about not being able to understand anything in class to being able to listen and understand what clsmates are saying in the background, process whatever shit im copying down, all while listening to whatever e prof is saying. its akin to absorbing in info when ure talking on e phone and e tv's on, all while ur parents are talking in the background. it was hard, but slowly it became easier. and so it is, that i found myself feeling more at ease in france. sadly however, it takes more than just comprehension to feel at home in, and beat the education system. what comes into play here, is a mindset and approach that is so different it makes the learning curve infinitely steeper. i yearn for e days of applied mathematics, instead of dealing with it as a true discipline with those yucky abstract concepts that require seemingly redundant proofs. in a nutshell, i was once buoyed with confidence and hope, only to wake up to the harsh reality that the world of prépa is, indeed, as bad as people have made it out to be. and so i become contemptuous whenever i read/hear of people dramatising their lives overseas as battles fraught with e difficulties of interaction and academics. socially-speaking, only my wkends are decent, and im studying everything in french, from quantum mechanics and philo to computer programming, so shove it.

ok, i think i shall stop here. too much negative emotions wouldnt result in upbeat entries. need to hit the sack too. i guess i shall see you again when i feel like it.

novej