Homemade production

Wandering aimlessly around Žižkov, Darjan and I found an intriguing "restaurant". Consisting of a railway coach and a few crude benches, it's proudly named Vagon (with a show-off Orient Express sign included). Masterfully hidden between a parking lot for trucks and a gas station, it wasn't the prettiest sight, but it seemed interesting enough for us to have a closer look. Not expecting much (except for perhaps a slightly cheaper beer), our hearts melted at the sight of the menu and it's most important feature, the naturalized Slovenian dish, the one and only, the awesome čevapčiči. Having eaten just before, we concluded that checking out just how Czech Czech čevapčiči really are is in order.

By Saturday we were all pretty excited. Alja and Breda were in Brno, but the rest of us were determined to try the exquisite yugoslavian cusine as soon as possible. Together with Pauline, the French girl from the second floor, we set our way towards the Želivského metro station. Once there, we realised there was a beautiful day outside, so we decided to go for a short walk before the meal - for better appetite.

Alas, the Czech failed us again. At 4 PM, the Vagon was still closed (which is an hour later than the opening hours note in front stated). We, the Slovenians, could hardly hide our dissapointment, and Pauline didn't really know what she was missing anyhow. We later went to another restaurant nearby, but the decision to make our own čevapčiči was made there, on the spot. The following night Pauline was hosting an international dinner, so this was an excellent excuse to try out the electric grill I brought from home. The first step was the shop, where me and Darjan bought everything we needed - grinded meat, garlic, salt and cumin*. Too late I realised the mistake we made, as čevapčiči with cumin is just not done; we had to wait for Breda to bring us some pepper. If anyone in Hostivař needs any cumin, by the way, we still have it.

After we finally got everything we needed, the preparation for what was to become the greatest meal we had in Hostivař so far, begun. It was an evening, filled with hilarious situations and laughing. Luckily, Katja was around with her camera. Thus, a small part of the event was documented. So without further ado, here are some photos and a video.

Here be dragons

Our story begins on a rainy Thursday night. We arrived at Hlavní nádraží late (I think it was around 10 PM). Compared to any Slovenian train station, the main one in Prague is huge, so we were rather lost. And since most of our tutors failed to come to the station to pick us up, we were extremely glad that at least my tutor didn't forget about us. And thus the search for Miša, the girl of many colours (as she described herself in an SMS), the savior of Slovenian Erasmus students, the Pathfinder, began.

At first, there was only three of us. Darjan was already in Prague (he was also kind enough to take one of my suitcases with him, so I was traveling light), waiting for us at Hostivař. On the way to the park, the arranged meeting place, we encountered another Erasmus student who was waving about a Kolej Hostivař leaflet. Not just another exchange student, Katja is also Slovenian - an authentic resident of Ljubljana, the capitol. We decided to search for the promised land together.

The park (also known as the Sherwood) was just outside the station. Save for the occasional by passer it was deserted, so we decided to unload all the luggage and wait for Miša there. After a few phone calls she found us at last, lead the way to the tram station and provided all the directions we needed. So 40 minutes later we finally arrived at Nádraží Hostivař - the place to be.

Darjan was a little late so I still needed to wait for him. The others, however, decided to check in. And that is when we first faced the Czech bureaucracy. The fossil at the reception could only speak Czech language and all we managed to squeeze out of her is "5000 korunas", "No official hours" and "Not possible". Since then, we heard the latter two sentences more times than we can count. After a LONG wait, we finally got our rooms - they were in tower 7. There is no direct link from the reception to that tower, so we had to go out and all the way around the campus (which, for luggage laden, half asleep, exhausted and extremely annoyed travelers translates to about 15 painful minutes of trudging uphill. Not to mention that we got lost half the way there). But at last, at 1:30, we won! We were inside, we had the rooms and we just wanted to sleep. Of course, the old hag the reception managed to mess up even the most elementary category of the room distribution, the gender, and Katja ended up in a room with a Latvian man. The room was empty on arrival and the belongings scattered around the room were not gender distinctive. The mess was sorted out the following morning, during official hours, even though it was a holiday. The friendly English speaking lady at the reception uncovered that the woman from the night before is indeed a little weird, and goes by the (very suitable imo) nickname, the Dragon-lady.

Thusly, the trials of settling in our rooms were mainly behind us. I still expected to move but alas, that is a story that goes beyond the scope of this post ("Not possible.").

Hello World!

Welcome to the H5 blog. For those of you who wandered to our little patch of cyberspace without the faintest idea of what to find here, here is a brief explanation. The H5, or the Hostivař 5, is a group of Slovenian students temporarily residing in the aforementioned area of Prague.

We don't study the same subjects, we don't come from the same city or even area of Slovenia. Some of us never even met before coming to Hlavní nádraží. But being on our own in an unfamiliar realm brought us together in a common refuge of each others' company, forming a haven of sanity and common sense in the melting pot of cultures that is Kolej Hostivař.

Surrounded by hordes of Italians, Spanish and French (not even starting to mention the less numerous nations) we find ourselves in the midst of curious events on a daily basis. This blog will bear witness to some of them, as well as note an occasional bit of philosophical thought.