Opening Chapter

Its hard to believe that I have now been in Europe for over a week, but even harder to think that I still have over six months left. I am way ahead of schedule, having skipped out on much of Germany and Poland, eager to arrive in Prague. Try as I might I found Germany oppressive, too much like home, but just different enough to keep me on edge. So I went straight to Berlin so that I could leave Germany behind me. Berlin surprised me with its abundance of classical architecture, all of which is heavily Greek influenced, and its museums, one seeming as if it had excavated half of Turkey for its Near Eastern exhibits. And while its been over a decade since the fall of the wall, its easy to sense how divided the city still is. You can see it in the buildings yes, but you can also hear it and taste it, and feel it at the core of you. Its no doubt a city with a wide memory. My favorite site in Berlin was Bebelplatz, the square in which the Nazis burned over 30000 books in 1933. Now in the middle of the square is a small, cloudy window, and when you look inside you see a white room surrounded by bookcases. Just a bit away is the inscription that reads in German, Where they burn books they will burn people too. On my last night in Berlin I went out to look for a fun European club, and at 9 pm, önly one hundred feet in front of me, was a shooting. The sound of it alone was enough to put a terrible feeling in my stomach. After that and the attack on the Greece embassy, it really makes me wonder if the Middle east is the dangerous place to travel.

I am now in Prague and have been for roughly four days, and can easily see myself lazily passing a week or two here. Just the thought of leaving brings back similar pains of leaving home, as I have already grown very attached to this city shaded by its Gothic and Art Noveau structures. The food here is surprisingly fantastic, and the beer cheap. The other night I must have had four or five liters of beer for the equivalent of about nine or ten dollars. This is a city I could definitely picture myself living in, and I envy Ben a bit for the time that he spent here. So I am in no hurry to leave. Its unbelievably refreshing to have no deadlines to meet, no dates to keep up with. One doesnt know how tiresome they can be until one is free of them.