#emilywalker

Greetings from my bedroom Americká, in Vinohrady Prague 2. Today is my last day in Prague, and I’ve spent the entire week packing up and getting ready to head back to LA. 

This past weekend, I was on the Amalfi Coast with my friends from school. We had the most fantastic weekend; it was the perfect end to our time abroad. We spent the weekend enjoying the Italian beaches and reminiscing about our first-weekend trip, all the way to our last. It was a really bittersweet moment - I don’t know when the next time I will be able to travel the world with my best friends with the sole responsibility of school. Maybe never! Scary, scary thought.

When I got home on Sunday, I immediately began moving my clothes from my carry-on to my big suitcase. No need to unpack now! It took me about 2 hours to get all of my clothes, jackets, and shoes squared away into 2 suitcases. It was no easy feat, as I have most definitely taken part in the European thrift shopping scene. 

Throughout the week, I finished up all of my classes. I gave 2 final presentations, wrote my last final papers, and had time to reflect on my academic experiences over this semester. I am officially a senior!! 

My roommate, Caroline, and I have been trying to take advantage of all that Prague has to offer in our last week. We have been roommates since we were freshmen, so the fact that we have just completed our junior year together is really crazy.

Next time you hear from me, I will have just been back in the US for a week. I’m experiencing both sides of my emotions with this - on one hand, I am really excited to have dryers, ice, and my car. On the other hand, I am so grateful for this opportunity, and really don’t want it to end!!

All good things must come to an end, no matter how much you don’t want them to!

Special thanks to my roommates, friends, and Prague for the most AMAZING experience. 

Emily Walker

On The Floor by Jennifer Lopez is really encapsulating my recent week. 

Monday - Wednesday I was in Nice, France Over the trip, we explored a few other towns along the coast, Eze & Menton, and of course, Nice. The ocean was so warm and bright blue, which definitely made me miss living by the beach! The highlights included chocolate croissants, lots of grilled prawns, and perusing shops along the colorful streets. 

On Wednesday night, I flew home to Prague to attend class on Thursday. Thursday afternoon, I flew to Ibiza, Spain, to see 11 of my friends from school. It is the first time this semester that all of my roommates are all together! We spent the days at the beach and the nights enjoying Ibiza’s nightlife. We enjoyed tacos while we watched the sunset and got to catch up about all of our adventures abroad. 

This week, I will be in Prague for 3 days! A bit more than 17 hours, but not much more. Most of my days will be spent in class, but I hope to use my free time to continue exploring Prague!

Emily Walker

Greetings from Nice, France! 

This weekend & week are a bit busy for me. I spent the weekend in Freiburg, Germany, and flew to Nice, France today! I decided to take a trip during the week, as one of my classes got canceled and I don’t have class on Mondays. Prague is still really cold, so I take any opportunity to escape the cold!

Freiburg is a small city in southwest Germany’s Black Forest. My best friend from home (we met in Kindergarten!) is studying there, so I visited her for the weekend. Visiting such a small city was very different from my other trips, so I really enjoyed the break from the busy days that were overwhelmed with sightseeing. We spent the weekend walking through the small streets and hiking in the Black Forest. We ended up having to hike through it again to get to a restaurant for dinner, but it was definitely worth the extra journey.

While I was with my friend Audrey, we really couldn't believe that we were spending the weekend together in Germany. We have been friends since we were 5 years old, and getting to travel the world together had always been a dream of ours.

Today, I flew to Nice to spend a few days in France’s Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. I spent the day lounging around on the beach in Nice before heading to Monte Carlo to try my hand at gambling in the Grand Casino (and let’s just say it was worth the trip). Even though it was a bit cloudy today, it’s hard to get better than enjoying amazing Italian food right on the water. I will definitely be missing this part of being abroad!! 

This week, I’ll only spend 17 hours in Prague. Although I am so excited to be traveling for a lot of the next 2 weeks, the realization that I’m going home soon is setting in. 

Emily Walker

Wow! We finally hit the 1 month left mark of my study abroad semester. I went the entire 11 weeks with no bad travel days, until this week. Looking back, I was definitely being a bitttttt dramatic. I think the exhaustion of traveling every weekend came over me, and my good luck just ran out for a bit. It was time - everything was going tooooo smooth. Until now.

Studying abroad is amazing. You get to travel the world and make new friends, all while getting credits towards your major. What some people don’t tell you is that it gets tiring and stressful! Like every experience, there are both amazing highs and lows. My last 11 blog posts have been showing you the highs of my weekend adventures and everyday life in Prauge, but this week will show you a more realistic day in my life while traveling!

My Friday morning started with a notification that my flight was delayed. I already had a tight (3 minute) connection at the train station to get from the Milan Airport to Florence. After an hour of constantly refreshing the Italo train website to see if a spot had opened up on a later train, I finally found a spot on a train 2 hours later. Stressful and annoying, but figured out.

I got to the airport and my flight was actually pushed up to its original time. I was still nervous about the 3 minute connection, so I spent the entire flight debating if I should reschedule the train back to its original time or just keep the later one. When I landed, the choice was made for me - the original train had no spots left. 

But then! I saw that the original train was delayed and that I could make the connection. I once again spent hours refreshing to wait for a spot to open up. One would appear, and then someone else would buy it first. It was so frustrating. I made the connecting train from the Milan airport to the Milan central train station LITERALLY AS the original train was also pulling in. I raced over to the train and begged a conductor to put me on the train, and he said I was just a few seconds too late - he had just given all of the empty seats to a group of people on the same connecting train who managed to get there first.

Although I still had a seat on the train 2 hours later, the stress of rebooking with the last straw being I was a few seconds too late sent me into tears. I tried to make the best of it and took a cab into Milan to see the Duomo. As you can see, I was not a happy camper. I got some gelato to make up for it, called my mom, and went back to the train station for my later train.

But just wait - it gets worse. I get to the train station (cutting it a little close), and I see that my train is delayed 45 minutes. Just my luck!! 

After 45 minutes, a bag of chips, and a phone charge, I finally made it on my 2 hour train to Florence. I finally got to sit and watch some TV before arriving to my friend’s apartment, with 4 minutes to spare until our dinner reservation. I accidentally lost 8 eyelashes in the process. 

Luckily, I then got to spend an amazing 3 days in Italy with my best friend since I was 3 months old. We ate so much pasta, walked 20,000 steps a day, and saw the Tuscan countryside. Overall, the 9-hour travel day was totally worth it to spend a few amazing days with amazing people and food!

Emily Walker

Greetings from Paris!!

This weekend, I spent time in Barcelona and then headed to Paris for the first part of the week. With the weather finally warming up in seemingly everywhere but Prague, I decided to use a few of my allowed class absences on traveling! 

After my mom left Prague on Thursday, I spent the next 2 days recovering and getting myself ready for a busy last month abroad. I spent a lot of time running around the city doing errands, like developing my film photos from my camera, paying my abroad cell phone bill, and getting in some much-needed sleep. Since Prague is pretty small, it makes for a very busy but efficient one-day recovery!

On Friday, I made my way over to Barcelona with a few of my friends from school. We ate so many tapas and enjoyed some sangria for every meal, and spent time laying on the beach. It is my second time in Barcelona, so I didn’t feel the need to do a lot of the touristy sightseeing. I did, however, make my way to Park Guell & the Bunkers to get a great view of the city!

After an amazing 2 days in Barcelona, I flew to Paris to visit my friends studying abroad there. I have been to Paris many times in the past with my family, but this trip was so different because of the way I was seeing Paris. My friends, who have been here since January, took me with them through a day in their lives. I explored their neighborhood, filled with cafes and stores, and only went to 1 museum this trip. I really enjoyed being able to see a familiar city from a new perspective. Of course, I had to get (maybe too many) croissants & crepes too!

When I get home from Paris, I’ve squeezed in a bunch more activities to do in Prague. I counted that I am only in Prague for 14 more days abroad, which has its pros and cons. I will be traveling every weekend & part of the week, but I am sad that this experience is starting to come to an end. So, I’m making the most of it! Stay tuned to hear all about a 5-course Medieval Dining Experience, Prague Ghost Tour, & exploring the parks & beer gardens with the warm weather!

Emily Walker

Greetings from a happy & sunkissed Emily! 

This past weekend, I spent my easter break in Portugal, specifically Lisbon and Comporta. It was a much-needed break from the cold weather in Prague. Despite spring finally starting to kick into high gear here in Prague, the 80 degrees and sunny weather in Lisbon were pretty unbeatable. 

Before I left, I spent some time exploring Prague’s Easter markets! This is a way for locals and tourists to come together to celebrate Easter by setting up markets in practically every square in the city. These markets have lots of food, like traditional mulled wine, Trdelník, and sausages. They also have a bunch of knick-knacks, cute boutique jewelry, and Prague souvenirs! They’re a bit smaller than Prague’s Christmas markets, but I found them really charming. 

For our long weekend, my mom made the long journey over from LA to Lisbon, where we spent the weekend before we both headed back to Prague. Lisbon was one of my favorite cities I’ve traveled to so far. Although it was not very walkable, every small street was filled with winds and hills and most memorably colorful tiles. The top of every grueling hill was the most amazing view of either the city or the shoreline. 

After 2 days in Lisbon, we headed over to Comporta. All we did here was sit in the sun, read, and eat LOTS of seafood. It was perfect <3 Although I am very independent and haven’t really felt homesick while being abroad, having my mom here really just let me relax. Studying abroad is full of stressful planning and time management, but when my mom was here, everything was taken care of! I am very VERY grateful that she could make the trip to visit!!

After a long and amazing weekend, my mom and I headed back to Prague. I got to show her my apartment and a day-to-day insight into my life here! Having her here was great, but it also made me realize how little time we have left abroad. The fact that I see her again in 6 weeks is great - but also scary! 

I’m really hoping to live every day for the next 6 weeks to its fullest, so stay tuned for my next adventure in Barcelona, Paris, and of course, Prague!! 

Emily Walker

Dobrý den! 

This past weekend, I stayed in Prague and had my friend Morgan come and visit me! As I have been in Prague for 8 weeks and have had many visitors over that time, seeing Prague Castle, although beautiful, has become quite repetitive. I have mastered the art of the 2-day Prague itinerary, but I was itching to show my friend something that was also new for me! 

This is where my love for trying new food comes into play. Over the past few years, I have been running an instagram account @sheeeeats (shameless plug - check it out). This is where I document all of my food experiences and it has helped me figure out that one way I love to explore a new city is through its restaurant scene. Luckily, Morgan was on board with my plan of going on a food-tour of Prague. 

When she first arrived, we headed over to New Town. This part of Prague is the historic center of modern Prague and is filled with cafes and stores, and most importantly, Kantýna. Kantýna is home to one of the best burgers I’ve ever had. On top of that, they had the softest puffy bread in a delectable vanilla cream custard.

After walking up to the top of Prague Castle, walking past Lennon Wall and over the Charles Bridge, it was already time for our next meal! I took Morgan to Lokal, a chain of Czech restaurants that always has the longest line out of the restaurant. Luckily, with a reservation, we got to try the amazing food for an even more amazing price. Beef tartare, Talián sausage, fried cheese, and 2 Pilsners (Czech beers) later, and we were stuffed for a whopping $32 total. 

Traditional Czech food is often bland and boring, but these items were absolutely delicious, and definitely kept us warm on the cold walk home!

The next morning, we started our morning off with brunch in Old Town. The Prague half-marathon was happening that morning, so a lot of the streets were closed to cars which made walking through the streets much more enjoyable. At breakfast, we decided to share pancakes, which is one of the smaller things in life that gies me lots of joy, and get our own egg dishes. The highlight of this meal was my iced dirty chai latte. One thing I’ve learned from being abroad is that iced coffee and drinks often don’t exist. So, whenever I find one, I immediately know that it will be a great day!

After brunch, we walked through the Jewish Quarter and did a tour of the many synagogues that Prague has. There is so much Jewish history in Prague and it's incredibly well preserved, which makes the experience incredibly moving. My favorite part of the tour was the Spanish Synagogue. Not only is it beautiful, but it’s right next to a Cathedral, which highlights the diversity of religion that Prague had before WW2. 

After our tour, we headed to the Prague Beer Fest. Although I’m not a huge fan of beer, the Czechs drink an average of 150 liters of beer per capita annually. This means that they are the biggest beer consumers in the world. Because of that crazy fact, I’ve been trying to dive into the beer culture while being here. This event was so fun as it had different beers from all over the Czech Republic, but also a bunch of countries around the world. 

We were pretty tired and beer-ed out after this day that we went home to hang out before our next meal. Obviously, we still made our way to our sushi dinner in Old Town. This was by far one of the best meals I’ve had since being abroad. We got udon noodles with chicken and a bunch of different sushi rolls, sashimi, and nigiri. 

At the end of this trip, it’s needless to say that I was full and happy. We managed to see a bunch of the highlights in Prague, while also exploring a bunch of new restaurants. All of these restaurants were on streets I had never seen before, so this was a really fun way to explore Prague and try a bunch of different restaurants! 

Emily Walker

The birds are chirping, the sun is shining, and the flowers are blooming. This week, Prague’s trees and bushes are filled with flowers and the grass is greener. The already colorful city has brightened even more, which I didn’t think was possible. 

This week, I spent as much time outside as possible. Even though I have been feeling a bit under the weather, I decided to savor this new sunshine by soaking in every single ray of sun I could get. My walk to class at Grobe Villa was suddenly plush and I even got away with not wearing a jacket! I even stopped to pick up a bouquet of flowers for 50 CZK (~$2 USD) on my walk home from lunch in Old Town one day.

In other Springy news, Prague is getting ready for its big Easter markets! All of the main squares throughout the city are filling up with small wooden stalls that sell a bunch of different easter items. The image below is the metro and tram stop closest to my apartment, Náměstí Míru. They are also in Old Town Square and Prague Castle!

Spring is also in full swing in Vienna, where I went this past weekend. Similar to Prague, the entire city was on the brink of blooming and it was so amazing to see. The outdoor market, Naschmarkt, was filled with easter gifts and fresh fruits and flowers. The Schönbrunn Palace even had a huge easter market in the gardens, and I obviously had to stop and buy some fresh lavender! We spent the weekend outside, laying in different parks throughout the city and strolling through the many royal gardens. 

All of this was such a lovely start to Spring! However, that’s just what this week was - the start. Our last day in Vienna was filled with rain and snow, and we had to spend the rest of our trip wandering through museums and Viennese boutiques. Luckily, we managed to get in our Wieners at Bitzinger’s Würstelstand and stop in at Figlmüller - Home of the Original Wiener Schnitzel. Unfortunately, this spring rain isn't over yet... the forecast for Prague this week is entirely rain :( 

Talk to you next week, hopefully with some fun indoor activities to do in Prague! 

Emily Walker