Arrival at the dog city

To make it clear from the get go, I might bore myself with this, even someone else. But I believe in the power of humour after a year, seven or 50 when I will open this and see the redicilous cliches and other bizarre thoughts that ever crossed my mind. So, I decided to put everything down here, where written words will always be found.

A year ago I applied to the Erasmus programme, the one that has changed even Jack the plummer's way of thinking. The best time of his life, seeing the world with new eyes. Sure. Why not. Except that I've been mostly hanging out with exchange students since I moved out from home, being 19 years old. I felt it was my complete opening of eyes (moving out from home, Ruokolahti, to Kuopio can do this, wtf). I hate Finland, I want to travel, see my new foreign friends, see places, people, cultures. This desire never died for three years and here I am now, finally sitting in Prague, in the beginning of my travels.

Just to make it clear, Prague was never my first choice, I wanted to see warmth, sea, something that Finland will never see. And I ended up being in Prague. A bit cold, grey, living in an area resembling the movie "Hostel". Nice, isn't it? Oh well, I will embrase this experience, since I am literally in the middle of Europe: both East and West are all unexplored, so let's see how far money can take me.

I have been here now for 4 days. First three I saw nothing but dorms and school, today finally seeing the beautiful side of the city. Old buildings make you feel the history, little streets and pubs make it all worth to visit every single one. The people are funny though: the customer service goes pretty much like this: You nodd as a sign of a greeting, so does the person behind the counter. "Do you speak english?", since I don't speak any czech, and the beautiful smile the lady had just  a quarter of a second ago turns into disgust and depressive face, as if the communism is back in town. "I would need my transportation card for 3 months, here are my documents." The lady grabs your papers, letting me know very clearly I am the little fly she wants to stump. No words are exchanged and I get what I needed. Perfect!

Though somehow tourists are not the most popular people here, I like the people as they are, it makes it more interesting. The absolute favourite I enjoy here are the multiple dogs running around free without the leash: they sit in front of the shop waiting for the owner, come to the pubs and restaurants (a great way to let your dog get fed btw) like we're all one big family. I love it!

So these are the first steps here, eager to see more and getting to know more international and national people and experience my new home country for the next coming 4 months full of cheap drinks!