Walkin’ Around

I feel like a major theme for my trip abroad will be, “thank goodness for Kimberly!” So, I need to first start off my saying, THANK GOODNESS FOR KIMBERLY!! She has been my travel buddy ever since we began this study abroad journey. She is such a joy to be around, and is always up for having fun! Today, we walked. We walked and walked and walked, exploring this romantic and historic city we now live in!

We wandered through Old Town Square…

and EVENTUALLY found St. Charles Bridge…

and then finally Wenceslas Square!

Now, have I mentioned how COLD it has been here??? Even the Czechs are in awe of the low temperatures. That is just my luck! As we were doing all of our walking today, Kimberly and I could not stop laughing at how cold we were. Our faces were so numb that we physically could not smile normally. Trying to form our lips to talk was an even more hilarious problem, so we just laughed. We laughed our way to Wenceslas Square in order to go shopping for warmer clothes. Apparently, I previously did not own a warm enough scarf, and Kimberly did not have cold proof gloves, so we quickly rendered that predicament we were in. Us North Carolina folks don’t know how to properly function in 10 degree weather. Speaking of NC, we did a weather comparison between Prague and Raleigh and while Prague was suffering at 10 degrees, Raleigh was celebrating in 72 degree weather. Again, we laughed.

Though I joke about it being so cold, it is actually a serious problem here. We found out that just last night, 5 homeless people passed away due to the cold temperatures. For such a big city I have been surprised at how few homeless people I have actually seen, but yesterday I passed a man near the Institute that really made me stop and think. He was homeless and was crouched on the ground hugging his knees to his chest. Beside him laid his companion, a loyal dog, which the man had wrapped in several layers of blankets for warmth. Blankets that the man could have been using for himself. As I was going through my pictures at the end of the today, I ran across the picture I have posted below. Hidden amongst the beautiful surroundings, is the very many I have just described to you.

Apparently, I have now seen him twice. Again, I am forced to stop and really think about what I have just seen. My heart and prayers go out to all of those who have to go to sleep shivering, with little ways to keep warm. Unfortunately, it is scenes like this that remind me to be so thankful for my many many blessings. 

FUN FACT: Henry Ford never had a drivers license.