Adventures From Across the World: Prague, Czech Republic/Basel, Switzerland: A Dancing Building

Today was my first day visiting Charles University! Even though I did not have class, (tomorrow is my first day) I went with Julia to make sure I knew how to get there. It is a bus stop, a few metro stops, and a 10 minute walk away. Once you walk in the door, you need to know the pass code to get in and once you go up the stairs, both of the classrooms used by the summer students are on the right and the USAC room is just down the hall. It is quite nice! Since I did not have class, I waited for Mark to get out of his class and we then explored around the university together- it is a really great area! My favorite part was right near the end when we found a fantastic cafe that I already have plans to go to after school tomorrow (to get some hot chocolate!!) Jan (our program director) then took us on a tour of New Town. We ended in the top of a really tall tower (New Town Tower) that looked out over all of Prague- it was breathtaking. When I was up there I realized how surprisingly small the city really is, especially compared to other large cities in Europe. My friends and I then walked to see Frank Gehry's "Dancing House," an amazing building that is quite famous. I learned about him and his architecture last year in my Basque class so I was very excited to apply my knowledge! This building looks like an elegant, curved dancer balancing in the middle of the city. So lovely. I also managed to write an entire paper today to get credit for the 5 day tour we went on last week so I'm pretty proud of myself for that one, and am so glad it is out of the way. That is all for today! For all of you at home, enjoy Art Town an extra amount for me! I'm missing it a bit. Love to all.