Post Birthday!

My birthday turned out to be pretty amazing because I was taken care of by my friends.  I got to skip one of the presentations in the morning because I went to get my passport which was so easy it literally took five minutes to get done.  And then I ate lunch with my friends who paid for it.  And then we had a shorter presentation afterwards because we had to go meet the mayor of Prague, Pavel Bem.  He is a handsome man for only being 44.  And he has climbed Mt. Everest!  Anywho, we got to his office and there was a huge table full of candy, fruit, water, and soda.  It was amazing and they also gave us these really nice books about Prague and a free pen.  It was good I got the pen since someone stole mine along with my backpack!  Anyway, we chatted with him for about an hour and then he decided he would buy us tickets to the Gypsy Music Festival that was tonight and I already went to it- AMAZING!  Everyone should try to listen to that music.  It makes you want to move!  Anyway, after we went to the mayor's office, my roomie Lindsay took me shopping for a birthday outfit... just turned out to be a top but it is really cute!  When we were almost ready my pals knocked on the door and when I opened it they had a birthday cake with 23 candles!!!  It was so awesome!  These people are so gracious and friendly and we've only know each other for 3 1/2 weeks.  I guess being away from the rest of your friends and families allows for forming close knits quickly.   Then we went out to dinner at this place that turned out to be good once we got the right food.  The waiter told us to tell him the numbers so we did.  Most of us either got the wienerschnitzel or the beef goulash.   The guy wrote down the wrong thing so when the food comes out, us wienerschnitzel folks got a pork knee on a spit.  I'm not even kidding.  So I had to tell them what was up and it was all taken care of.  Afterwards we came back and had cake, walked all over the damn place, to Charles bridge which is kinda far, and then decided to just go to the bar literally at the end of the street our hotel is on.  It turned out to be a great idea and we all had lots to drink.  Some idiot boys tried Absinth- SICK!  Needless to say, once was enough for those boys.  

Today, besides going to the music festival tonight, I basically did nothing.  I got up and got breakfast by myself, came back and slept a little more, and then my roomie was bored so we went and got lunch and some delish ice cream.  Afterwards we were going to go to do the paddle boating in the river but we thought it would be too expensive and none of us have money.  So then we were going to go to the movies and see Indiana Jones but again we just decided not to go.  We ate dinner with one of our professors instead and then took the metro to the concert hall for the Gypsy festival.  We thought it would be outdoorsy tent stuff but it was definitely a concert with a bunch of different gypsy bands.  We had such a great time though.  And my friend Ryan was pretty tipsy and decided that I was going to be the one that he danced with.  So we did an array of dances like the tango, ballroom type, etc. to the music of gypsies.  I tell you that Ryan was really enjoying it and he seemed to like dipping me.  Good times.  He's an awesome kid.  And speaking of awesome kids, the little gypsy kids who were dancing on stage... those kids can move!  It was so cool to see them doing that!  Apparently this concert is once a year and everyone always tries to get tickets to go so we were really lucky that my professor is pals with the mayor.  I found yesterday that the drug laws for Prague were written in my professors living room- SWEET!  Anyway, my roomie, another girl, and I decided to leave early because it was freakin hot!  We got on the metro and got to the part where we had to change lines and then we got on the one going the wrong way.  Luckily we only went one stop before I realized it.  We got home safely, albeit in a thunderstorm, and now I am finishing packing my stuff so we can go to Dresden tomorrow.  Hooray! Until next time...