Things I No Longer Notice Because I Live Here

I finally have reason to write another entry, yes! I can feel your excitement at the notion of my writing something uplifting. I'm excited too, I hate being weighed down by negative energy.

To start, a brief list of things I no longer notice because I live here. While riding the escalator into the metro this week, I began thinking about Prague when I got here and Praha now. I thought of this because I was remembering pieces of Mom's visit. The escalators into certain metro stops are not only fast, but insanely tall. For the first two weeks I was here, I couldn't handle the height of the escalators. Mom said it had a vertigo effect, I just simply felt like I was at an awkward slant and couldn't stand up straight. I'm also not the most graceful at getting on and off an escalator, so the fact the metro ones move quickly took a while to get used to as well. I've already seen a few people fall off at the top or bottom, not very pretty.

Another thing that has begun to slip under the radar is my feeling as if the currency were monopoly money. I've been here long enough to get used to thinking about it's value and not just see it as foreign currency. I don't really know how to explain it better than that, but if you've traveled recently enough to remember what it's like to use a different currency than your own, you get what I mean.

Along the lines of currency feeling more like currency, I've gotten used to the lack of English. I also barely notice it when I do hear it. While I hate being seen as the American who doesn't know very much Czech and is trying to get around in English because she can, I've grown used to the feeling of being awkward and out of the loop with the language. Oddly enough, I've started to notice the similarities between French and Czech languages, go figure. Maybe I'm just crazy on that one.

Lastly, I've become oblivous to the overt PDA that has become extremely customary in the Czech Republic. At first, I found it odd how many people would make-out in public, at home, the only people who really do that are in high school or middle school. The only time I really notice it now is when the girl is straddling the guy on a seat on the tram...awkward...

Anyway, other than the numbness to the foreign environment, this weekend has been solid. Thursday night wasn't terribly interesting. Some of the guys in my program had a party and invited a lot of people from FAMU and from the other universities where their friends go. I didn't particularly want to go, but didn't see anything else to do, so I went with Alli. We ended up getting there after midnight and watched people play beer pong for a while. Drew had his computer hooked up, so we had a decent playlist going all night. Luckily, I got to get my dance on. As the early hours of the morning wore on, more and more FAMU students showed up. I didn't really talk to too many people and left around 2am. My que to leave was when a trio of French students started to get sloppy, you would think of all the people there, they would be the ones to hold their liquor properly. So that was the end of that.

Unfortunately, I cannot seem to pull myself out of bed or my apartment when nothing important is happening. Self-motivation is my stumbling block when it comes to the morning. I didn't leave my apartment until it was time for our group meeting with Amy around 3pm. The meeting was short, I caught up with Amy and then I got to hang around on the NYU set for the interior filming. Channing was finishing up her shoot day. David showed me the rough cut of his film, it was excellent. Ultimately, a fun afternoon/evening at Studio FAMU.

Afterwards, I had to get ready to go out again to another FAMU party. This time, it was a housewarming party because a few of the international students had just found their apartment. It was an excellent top floor space, lots of room and character. Alli and I arrived around 11pm and the party was in full swing. We spent the first part of the evening talking with the notorious Estonian, Antwon. He's quite fabulous, though most don't see this given his forceful personality. He says he knows a lot of people think he's arrogant, but he doesn't see what he's projecting as arrogance. One of the more noteable things he told me was why he liked my personality. His English isn't very good and I'm probably not communicating what he said well either, but I got what he was saying. He was basically telling me how he liked that "You don't give a fuck, but not really, because you're still interested." He said he also liked my attitude. When Antwon left, I spent the better part of the night talking to Cesar. Cesar is from Texas but goes to USC. We talked a lot about film and editing and now he's going to be helping with my film (Antwon offered his help as well). Definitely an awesome night. The best part was getting the most detailed feedback from Cesar about my script, I've got more work to do for sure.

Today was insane! I'm actually quite exhausted as I write this, but that's okay. I got a lot accomplished and I feel like I should be right on schedule for filming. I had to meet my production manager, Filip, at 10am. Not too early, but when you get back from a party at 4am, it's pretty early. Filip and I scouted two locations and met one of the actors. I'm totally remembering how awful I am at the directing the actors part now...After all that, I went home to rest before going back out to meet two more actors. So far, I like the second guy I've met and the girl. Hopefully I'll figure everything else out soon, but things are going well! I'm surprised how little stress I feel over this project, it's freaking me out.