Well, my time in Prague is officially over. I'm soaring high above Germany right now, on my way to London.
Last night on the overnight train wasn't entirely horrible. The bed was unbearably uncomfortable-- I've slept on more comfortable floors-- but if that's the worst of it, I have little to complain about. Getting back into Prague this morning was honestly so exciting and comforting to me. Even just hearing all of the familiar tones and beeps on the metro put a smile on my face. Walking out of the Florenc stop and over to PB9 for the last time, I tried to take in as much as possible. I rang PB9's doorbell and while waiting for Aly to let me in I scanned the familiar street, knowing it would be one of my last opportunities-- at least until next time in Prague!
The two short hours I had with Aly whizzed by even faster than I'd imagined they would. I took what was possibly my last opportunity for a good, hot shower for the next five and a half weeks. Then, moving items over from the bag I'd packed for the field study and Poland into my big suitcase and sorting out what to carry on and what to check was way more of a hassle than I had anticipated. I have a lucky charm of sorts that I fly with and that was missing for a solid 15 minutes. It's a "lucky" nut from Aruba that has been set into a necklace, which my mom also has and hasn't traveled without for probably fifteen years-- I think that the mentality around it has rubbed off onto me a bit . . . After tearing apart all of my luggage and fighting very hard to stay composed, it eventually turned up.
By the time my bags were fully put together, we had a small 20 minutes to spare. We had planned on going to Paul, a French style bakery right by our school that had become a favorite before/after class hang out and study spot. It's a few metro stops away and probably could have been doable, as well as both of our place of choice, but I didn't want to get stressed if we ended up running low on time. We ended up on just going to this coffee shop around the corner. It was still good, but not Paul. Having that extra time to hang out with Aly, instead of running around the city, was the important thing though!
I eventually had to go, we stretched out our sad goodbyes, and I was off to the airport. I had planned on three hours in advance, like in the US, but the earliest I could have checked in was two hours and twenty minutes before departure. I wish I had known that . . .
After sitting around in the airport longer than necessary, we boarding and made our way up into the air. I had the left side window seat. The plane took off and made a loop around the city. I caught as many last glimpses as I could-- first the castle and Charles Bridge, and eventually I looked for K17 and PB9 over by Florenc. I didn't take my eyes away until Prague was so miniature that there was nothing left to make out.
Even now, with Prague only an hour behind me, everything from this morning,and especially the days before with everyone else from USAC, feel like memories from the distant past.
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