| just so you guys know, all of this is a lie. |
[Jan. 25th, 2010|03:58 am] |
Armed with only my camera and a backpack, I lock my apartment doors for the last time, and drop my keys in the mailbox as I set off on my last stroll to city centrum before I leave Prague for good. I had walked this route almost every day for the past 3 months. There was a metro stop closer to my house than where I was heading, but the scenery and memories were just too much to pass up for the sake of laziness.
I pass Cafe Faux Pas, a cozy little place where I spent many mornings sitting on the deck in the warm sunshine, drinking Coffee and Baileys with my roommates, getting to know each other, and planning our next big adventures for taking over the city. Just past it is an overpass that looks out onto Hlavni Nadrazi, Prague’s main train hub. At night, it’s almost magical. The castle is visible from here, and at night it’s lit up and seems almost surreal, like something out of a fantasy novel. I pause to have a cigarette as I think about the days spent in the park kicking around a soccer ball, playing chess, and relaxing in the sun. The mornings I spent having hot tea on the balcony of my apartment, watching locals shuffle to work. The nights relaxing at the beer garden sharing dollar brews with the friends I had made while I was there, or the countless hours I spent wandering through the city, exploring like a child, marvelling at the sights and sounds. I linger here a little longer than I should, but I can’t help it. The memories are too much. I can’t believe I’m about to leave the only place I’ve ever felt free, the only place that I have ever felt like I could really call home, somewhere I truly believed I could build a life in. Alas, residency visas! The nemesis of most of the people I knew trying to stay there. Sure, I could have stayed illegally, but then I ran the risk of never being able to return, something I could never live with.
I continue my involuntary exodus. I only have about thirty minutes left to get to the other side of town to catch my train to Germany, the first train of the day, and the last for six whole hours. I go through an underground tunnel I have dubbed ‘Satan’s Hallway’. Nomenclature I have derived from the smell of urine, the creepy homeless guy who is always sitting in there at night playing guitar, with his hat for change, and bad renditions of Rush songs. Just to add to the ominous feeling the tunnel gives off, it’s about ten degrees cooler in there than it is in the open air. I drop 20 Koruns, the equivalent of one dollar, into his hat, as the homeless man plays a particularly flat version of ‘Tom Sawyer’, and exit the tunnel into the busy Wenceslas Square.
It’s only about three am, so there are still folks milling about everywhere. Everything is so brightly lit here. The first thing that’s visible once you come out of the tunnel, go figure, is a twenty four hour McDonalds. Six thousand miles away, in a country where I’ve learned minimal language, and enjoy the fact that I can’t read an advertisement to save my life, and staring me in the face, are the big golden arches. I chuckle to myself at how silly it really is and continue walking down the square.
At the end of the road, I pause. So many times I have stood in this exact spot contemplating the evening. Do I go left and enjoy a quiet czech meal, or a hot cup of fruit tea in a cellar bar? I could go straight, and hang out in one of the live jazz music clubs I’ve been loving so much lately. I’m heading right. Towards the the muddy brown, mercury filled Vltava river, and the bus stop that will take me to the train station.
It’s only a five minute walk to the bus stop, and I get there about forty minutes early, so I have a seat, pop in my earbuds, and proceed to people watch. It’s my favorite activity in this city. It’s pretty quiet tonight, until a group of British kids walk up and have a seat at the bench across from me.
They’re raving about Chapeau Rouge, a club in Old Town section, that is the biggest bar and club. It’s then that it really sinks in that I’m leaving. They’re talking about a place that I went to all the time, somewhere that became a staple of my memories in the city. I met most of the people that I had come to know and love at that crazy place. I’m completely lost in nostalgia when the bus pulls up. It feels like time has escaped me, it felt like I had just sat down.
I grab my backpack, pull out my bus ticket, and let out a sigh. I’m not ready to leave, this city has been so wonderful to me. I learned so many things while I was there. Baking from my first roommate, the master pastry chef from Belgium, Chess from Michael, my second roommate, who crazy enough, was from a town only 3 hours from where I live in the United States. I even learned about Buddhism from Sebastiaan, my last roommate who was from Tibet. I learned so much about people, and the interactions I was able to have outside my culture is something I would never trade. Most importantly though, I learned a lot about myself. Before I went to Prague, I feel like I wasn’t truly my own person. In many ways I was, but in many ways, I was just a product of my parents telling me what to do, and I just listened.
I walked up those silly red steps, stamped my bus ticket, and headed for the back. As I sat down, I thought to myself, that it really wasn’t so bad I was leaving. No matter what, where I come from will always be home, and I was going back a brand new person. I knew things would be better than they were when I left them. The bus pulled off and as I looked out the window, I said goodbye to Prague, the city I fell deeply in love with. I couldn’t help but smile through the few tears that had escaped me, because I knew, it wouldn’t be goodbye forever, just goodbye for now. |
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