Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic (Part 2)

Ceske Budejovice, also known as Budweis, is a charming small town located in the South Bohemia in Czech Republic. I was there for two weeks participating in the EGG Summer School, which was a very rewarding experience for several reasons. As I mentioned in the last post, I will not discuss the academic aspect of it here, but I’ll be happy to share the fun moments I had with my favorite linguists.


  
The first organized party took place on the first Monday night. We gathered everyone around 7pm and took a nice walk to the City Center, for what would be my first mingling event. Two hours and a few half-liter glasses of Pilsner Urquell later, I had talked to almost everyone in the venue. I don’t recall what the bar was called, but I do know for sure that we had a good time there. I made friends with a group of undergraduates from Turkey, who confirmed the hypothesis originated at the Wombats in Vienna: Turkish people know how to party. My boy Nihat seemed determined; if it was up to him, the parties would never end.

 
I also had the pleasure of meeting Adina, Sandra and Elena, from Romania. Much to my surprise, Elena and I hit it off right away, and what started out as an innocent conversation about linguistics was simply the beginning of what would eventually become much stronger (more on that later). Let’s just say I didn’t really know why, but I went home smiling that night.

The organizers had planned four official parties, but we wanted more. We organized our unofficial events to ensure that no linguist would be left behind. We went bowling; we drank beers; we played soccer; we drank beers; we made “sandwiches” and sandwiches; we also drank beers. The hungover faces in the earlier classes reflected how everyone was enjoying themselves. One of these unofficial spontaneous events was the bowling night, which took place at Campus Bowling, a small but well-kept bowling alley located at the nearby Čtyři Dvory shopping mall (Miroslava Chlajna 1510/45, 370 05 České Budějovice 2, Czech Republic). Like most places we went to, no English speakers worked there. Luckily,we always had someone in our group who spoke a Slavic language, generally Serbian or Polish, so we managed to get our lanes and paid a fair price for them.



The restaurants in Ceske Budejovice were much cheaper than anywhere I had been so far. We tried a few places somewhat close to the university, and the average price for a meal and a beer was 100 CZK (roughly $6 American). By meal, I mean a typical Czech meal with all the right fixings. By beer, I mean ice cold refreshing Czech brews on draft (for less than one euro). I had no reason to complain. The food did take a while everywhere we went, but that was because we’d go out to lunch in groups of at least ten. Some of the restaurants barely had room for us. Generally, we found no English speaking waiters, and rarely did we find menus in English. Christen had purchased a survival guide before going there (wise move). I learned that pork in Czech was ‘vepřový’. I was good with that.



There were also soccer matches. Gokhan, Nihat, Irek, Fabrizio and McFadden were just some of the “football” stars that showed their talent to the audience on the 6th and 8th floors. Most of us were there to have fun. After all, they were just friendly soccer matches among linguists, how bad can it be? Calf injury during game two…. won’t point fingers at anyone. Moving on.

Friday night we went to the famous Železná panna (Zátkovo nábřeží, 370 01 České Budějovice), also known as Iron Maiden Tower, for the second official party. This place is a really cool bar located right outside the City Center. The building itself dates back to the 14th century. There’s plenty of outside seating, but there were too many of us, so the place felt small. We hung out there for a little bit, had a few beers, and decided that it was too early to go to bed. What else was there to do on a Friday night? Paradox!

 We walked around Old Town Budweis trying to find a nightclub. I honestly didn’t think we were going to find anything there, since the whole town just felt quiet and silent. Sure enough, after about twenty minutes, our group (of like twenty) stumbled upon this underground dance club called Paradox (Krajinská 33/5, 370 01 Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic). Entry fee: 50CZK ($3), well worth the price. I’m not really into nightclubs, but I actually had a good time there. The drinks were cheap, and the local girls were stunning. I believe we were the only foreigners there, as I don’t believe Ceske Budejovice is much of a tourist destination, so the place had a bit of a  ‘local’ vibe. That’s where we saw some of the first EGG couples being formed (no names will be mentioned here). It was definitely great fun!

After a few hours of dancing and drinking some fine absinth and good Czech beer, it was time to walk off the alcohol. The walk back to the dorms took a little over half an hour, and it was generally what we did whenever we went to Old Town. It helps you stay in shape, it helps you sober up (not really), and it helps you socialize. Most of us had decided to go to nearby Cesky Krumlov for the weekend. Some chose to travel a little further and took the Saturday morning train to Prague. I was on that train too, but I was going a little further north, to Berlin, where I was meeting up with my friend Angela. Next post: Berlin, Germany!