back up and running

It looks like, long last, I will be able to abandon my exclusive rice and water diet now that I've received my credit card and debit card in the mail. I ran out of Krouns about a week ago -- had no more cell phone minutes, no skype minutes, no food, no beer, nothing. Bumming off friends got me by for a few days but quickly became demoralizing and pathetic, so I resigned to just "living life on the other side of the tracks." Real people are forced to live with nothing on a daily basis. I knew a few days wouldn't hurt me. Now that I finally have a plethora of cash, I can appreciate it all the more. I went to the grocery store today to load up on food (so as to avoid expensive restaurant outings) and bought a shit ton of cheap beer for about 4 krouns each... all in all, you can manage 20 beers for about $4. The second you step outside the Czech Republic, though, the Euro kicks your ass. I'm hoping to stick to this responsible fiscal outlook. I have a number of trips planned over the next couple months. If everything goes as planned, I'll check out: Dresden and Berlin, Germany; Sofia, Buglaria; Bucharest, Romania; Istanbul, Turkey; Budapest, Hungary; Vienna, Austria; Bratislava, Slovakia; Dublin, Ireland; and Amsterdam, the Netherlands; and some other places around the Czech Republic.

Since I've been in Europe, I've felt invincible. Classes are a joke. I've yet to crack a book or face a single homework assignment. The only "work" required is showing up to class and maybe offering a few anecdotes to a class discussion. On the typically low-key days of Monday-Wednesday, I take black and white shots of Prague (later get to develop them in the school's dark room), cook up good foods, go out to see movies, and hit up pubs. Now that the "long weekend" of Thursday - Sunday has arrived, the sky is the limit. Last weekend, I went to this club called Duplex overlooking Wenceslas Square. Typically, the cover is at least $15 but I met this cool American couple who knew a DJ and got in for free. That didn't save me from the ridiculous $6 12 oz. Pilsner Urquells (the highest priced I've seen in Prague). This couple I met was really inspiring -- they told me about their travels to The Middle East and explained that they basically work 6 months, travel 6 months. They started their own "pub crawl" business in Prague and said they were looking for 1 guy and 1 girl to lead some tours and were interested in hiring me. Might be a way for me to stay in Europe for the summer.

It's been pretty low key these past few weeks given my dire financial circumstances... but now that I'm rolling in cash, it should be a damn fun weekend.