After 26 hours of car rides, layovers, delays, and flights (one of which was missed), I am finally back in Rio Rico, Arizona where 100 degree weather plus humidity was waiting to welcome me back. My first decision was to take this first weekend home and officially sit on my butt as much as humanly possible. Home, sweet home.

Czechin' out Prague and South Bohemia

I couldn't help the lame pun...
But talk about a great trip. I didn't really have any expectations because I had no prior impressions about the Czech Republic. Everyone kept telling me I would love Prague, but that didn't really tell me any more about what to expect. So when we finally arrived in the city after a night-long ride in a bus and started passing pretty average - slightly on the poor side - I wasn't really impressed. I wasn't disappointed either - it reminded me of Greek cities which weren't that pretty but were still very interesting. Then we continued out of the outskirts of town and into real Prague - gorgeous, impressively so, filled with interesting architecture and fascinating history.
After an extremely enjoyable stay and then a 180 km detour (we got lost going to South Bohemia), we visited a couple charming towns and I enjoyed myself just as much. This was honestly one of my favorite trips.

Exams. Are. Done.
Is there anything else to say? Don't know if I passed, don't know if my friends passed, but all 12 (including those from my activities outside of school) are done!!!

And the countdown begins.

I'm officially leaving in less than 3 weeks.
Nah, just kidding!
...Right?

No, I'm not kidding, of course, but even having seen the plane tickets myself, I just can't believe it. First of all, I can't believe it's almost been 10 months. (That would be why I haven't written in so long.. everything just flys by.)
And also because I have so much stuff to do before I go!! I'm going to the sea with my friends, then with my family. I'm going to Prague. I'm taking all my exams, having a dinner with my host families, getting my grades.
When am I even going to pack? I can just picture myself at 2 A.M. the night before my flight leaves stuffing chocolate into one of my three suitcases (plus carry-on)...

April Fish!

Poisson d'avril, or 'april fish' is, quite right, the Belgian way of saying April Fools. There's a long story about how it dates back to ancient times but long story short, for those who play jokes they say "april fish" and the typical little kids play joke is to stick a fish on people's back. However I did notice that there weren't many fishes swimming around april 1st. April fools, as with Hallowwen (and Thanksgiving, shockingly), seems to be much more popular in the US than over here.