Grilled cheese sandwich.

My legs hurt at the end of the day and my head is almost bursting from all the information and all the beauty I'm constantly surrounded by. A city without a story is merely a bunch of buildings but this city is truly beautiful and the story behind every single part of it, since there's a story behind every stone, is absolutely crazy  and amazing (More about that later).

Let's start at the beginning. That was only 2 days ago but it feels like I have to go way back in time but I will try.

On the first day I arrived at 2 o'clock and I took a shuttle from the airport. I was planning on taking the shuttle all the way to my hostel but the driver did not know where my hostel was located when I showed him the name of the street. Great driver! I took the shuttle anyway since it could drop me, along with the others in the shuttle, somewhere near the city centre. I thought that would be great. My hostel was located near the city centre. At least that's what I thought.



I met an older guy in the bus. I don't remember his name. I actually don't even recall if I asked for his name. I asked him what had brought him to Prague and he told me he came here a lot on business trips. I had noticed that he wasn't new here by the way that he did not really look out of the window with interest. He simply stared at our surroundings as we made our way to the city centre. I could simply tell Prague was already familier to him before he had answered my question. I can't remember what his profession was exactly but I do remember that he mentioned nuclear energy. It sounded a little bit dangerous and important, mostly dangerous. He then asked me what I do and I told him what I study. We talked a little more. He was really friendly. We wished each other a good stay when our roads parted.

I turned on my GPS system to be able to sort of find my way. I knew it would cost me a shit load of money (but that was something I would deal with when I got back home and it would only be for a few minutes) but what else could I do? Later I realized I had many other options but back then I really did not know what else I could do.

My GPS system told me it would take about 47 minutes to get to my hostel. My first thought was: That's not close to the city centre at all! (but who knows maybe people in Czech think a 47 minute walking distance is close) Then I thought: Well 47 minutes is quite a walk but I can do it. Why not? That way I will get a chance to look around and build on my first impressions. So there I went with my phone in my hand. Destination: The best hostel.
The best Hostel turned out to be located pretty far from the city centre, against my expectation. Later, I was told that it's actually located in one of the most rich neigborhoods in Prague.

I had to cross many mountains and valleys before I got there and I was indeed surrounded by big houses.  I felt warm and sweaty and my legs started to hurt pretty fast. I could only ask myself one question: How do they do it? I asked myself this question many times while struggling with the uphill climb. I realized that the Netherlands might be a little flat and that flat might be a little boring but that the constant differences in height were really exhausting.
I saw an old man walking in front of me. He was old but he didn't seem to struggle at all. I saw a lady pushing a baby wagon uphill. I wanted to scream at her: 'Don't let go!', but it was already too late. She let go and we both watched the wagon roll of the hill. She didn't even run after it. That would have been useless. The wagon was rolling off the hill at the speed of light and the  cry of the baby, who was in a state of panic and panic is a huge understatement in this case, rose up into the sky and came to an abrupt stop when the baby wagon crashed into this old Boroque styled building


Just kidding but it could have happened. The advice I want to give you: If you ever take a stroll with your baby wagon here in Prague don't ever let go off the baby wagon while climbing a hill. Let's put it like this: I was struggling all the way but that's probably because I'm not used to it while the people living here think it's the most normal thing in the world to walk in the vertical direction all the time. I'm exaggerating a little bit, just a little bit.

On my way to the hostel I saw a girl walking in front of me and she was heading in the same direction as I was. At first we were both heading in the wrong direction because I saw her looking around and then she turned 180 degrees and started heading back and when I reached that point I did the same. I looked at the google map and realized I was going the wrong way. I headed back and she was walking in front of me. My exact thoughts were: How the hell am I going to get through the other side of this road without having to walk all the way back? I then saw this girl crossing the road at a random place at the exact right time, in a short period when the cars were not rushing by. I thought she was absolutely crazy but I waited for the exact right time myself and ran for it.



I then tried to catch up with her and I succeeded. I asked her where she was heading because I thought we might be heading in the same direction or might be heading to the exact same place. I thought that would be a great  coincidence because that way I would not have to walk all the way alone.
It turns out that she was from Czech and had just finished an interview to work for the Czech ministry, not a job I would ever apply for but impressive, I thought. I asked her the question you usually ask when someone has had a job interview: 'So how did it go? 'She told me it had not gone bad but it had not gone really well either. I felt bad for her but told her: 'Who knows, maybe it went better than you thought it went.'
She was heading to a spot where she would meet up with some of her friends to have lunch. Unfortunately my belly was full of a vanilla chocolate scone I had just tried, which was delicious by the way. Plus I was longing to reach the hostel and finally put the stuff I was carrying on my back down and to take a warm shower. For those reasons I did not join her but we exchanged numbers and planned on meeting later. Our paths split at the University of Economics.

But you know:  Things don't always go as planned, sometimes they go even better. Turns out she got invited for another interview. Later that night, we did not have a chance to meet up but she texted me that she had been accepted for the job and would start on Friday. We could then meet up on Friday! How cool. How good. How nice for her! I felt genuinely happy for her and feel excited to see her again. We'll see.

I continued my journey feeling very happy with my first acquaintance. I finally arrived at the hostel after what was more than an hour walk. Great exercise! I had a hard time finding the small sign that said 'Best hostel' because it was truly petite placed on one of the many doors across the street that also went uphill, for a change.

I registered myself and got a tour around the hostel. The hostel is really homey but since I was the only guest there it felt like home alone.

The living room area

After the little tour around the hostel and some practical information about the hostel (like the WI-FI code, which is really important), I took a warm shower and changed into some new clothes. I had felt really dirty after the 1,5 hour flight and the "short" walk. After a shower I first consulted the lady that worked on the lobby. She gave me some really good advice.
I stepped back into the Czech streets, with a new set of clothes and with more information about Prague: completely reborn and ready to explore.

You might be wondering...
Why is this post titled 'Grilled cheese sandwich' ?
Well, that's a whole different story. I just ate a grilled cheese sandwich while writing about my very first experiences in Prague. A friend I have met today from New York who misses New York, because New York is supposedly every city in the whole world in one, ever since he set a foot in Prague and constantly wonders why he's here (I wonder why he's here too but I'm happy he's here because he knows so many things about so many things) , came up with the suggestion.

 He's black with dreads so he looks Jamaican because "only Jamaican people have dreads" but he's actually from New York. I would have liked it if he was from Jamaica though. His parents are from Barbados and he makes really great grilled cheese sandwiches. I don't think that's related to each other.
But no wonder he makes great sandwiches: He used to be a cook in a French restaurant that served French food with an Indian twist. Of course the taste of the grilled sandwich is not necessarily related to his great cooking skills  either, it probably isn't. Anyone  can make a grilled cheese sandwich, but I was very happy with the one he offered to share with me.

He showed me a picture of the man who used to be his boss, an Indian guy who seemed very friendly and according to the black guy from New York whose name I will not mention, he really is friendly, eventhough he could really scream when something went wrong. His boss would scream at him and all he could say was 'yes chef' when the screaming finlly stopped.  To me, it sounded a bit like being in the army but that's how it's supposedly goes in restaurants. He worked as a cook for a while but then on a fine day he took some LSD and decided to become an accountant instead.


What does he do now? He's an uber driver. According to him it's the best job in the world if you want to make enough money plus enjoy your freedom.

If you don't know what an uber driver is,  you might be able to tell from the picture I added eventhough the text is ienie-minie, or you could google it because google knows everything OR you could wait for my next story because I will definitely write more about it.
And if you want to know more about Prague, I will occasionally mention Prague too.


If you want to know more about this black guy from New York. He's pretty interesting and says some really wise things so I will probably write more about him too.