Train-to-Prague party

The ending of January and beginning of February was full  of goodbye or see-you-soon parties. A lot of people were leaving, some were staying but also saying goodbye to those they will probably never see again. It was sad and it still is, but everybody was trying not to think about it. I „lost“ my roommate, one of my best friends – Dimitris, and many other people I want to see again as soon as possible.

Igor and Mate, my Croatian friends, left as well. And, I guess it's Croatian style, they wanted to have an unforgettable see-you-soon party. That's why they didn't just put the speakers in the basement, got drunk and went to 2faces. Oh no, they bought a couple of liters of whiskey, a 2-liter bottle of vodka and organized a trip to Prague. The plan was to get together, buy the tickets for the train to Prague, drink on the train, go to a bar and then to some disco; 5:39 am there was a train to go back.

It was Wednesday, I spent the whole day studying because I had my last (and the most difficult) exam on Thursday morning, 10 am, but the tension in the air could be felt; all the 30 people who were planning to go to Prague were checking their facebook all the time because somebody was constantly posting something, mostly Mate with details of the trip and warnings to take our passports or IDs etc. I finished my studying around 6 pm, if I'm allowed to say „finished“ because again I didn't read all the materials I was supposed to. I tossed the books away, washed my hair and got ready. Bojan from Macedonia came to my room to pick me up, I poured skillfully my rakija in a smaller bottle and we went to the lobby. Of course, we were in the lobby for half an hour because people were late, which was normal, a group of 30 people needs time to gather around. There were people from all over the world: Spain, Portugal, Japan, Taiwan, Greece, Albania, Sri Lanka, Germany, Macedonia, Czech Republic, Serbia and of course, Croatia.

So, we took the tram and got to the train station. We were 5 groups of 6 people and in each group one person was to buy the group ticket. God knows why, Mate put me as the person in charge for the ticket; I guess he was deciding this by randomly picking people because if he was relying on sense of responsability and seriousness, then he definitely chose the wrong person. But okay, nothing went wrong (when I think about it, what could have gone so wrong?) We felt like we were going on a school trip, especially when standing at the train station and eating sandwiches.

Jagoš was teasing me all the time because when I went to the ATM to withdraw cash, I heard someone saying nasty words to me in Serbo-Croatian. At first I didn't even realize it was my language, that is, I was confused: was somebody really speaking my language or was I suddenly able to understand Czech that good? I ignored the dirty words that started something like „Uf, I would really like to...“ and was taking out my credit card but the guy continued. So I started to turn around and I was just about to say something really bad to him when I realized it was Jagoš. He found it really funny. Serbian prick.

The last minutes before the arrival of the train were freezing, especially for the Spanish guys Pablo and Fede who are not used to the Czech climate. Okay, I must admitt, I was cold as well, but luckily the train got there pretty fast. We got onto it, sat down into the cupés and waited for the conductor to check the tickets. And the party begun.

I was in the middle of the wagon, sitting with Shani from Sri Lanka, Mate, Bojan, Jack from Taiwan and Yuta from Japan. We started off with whiskey-coke. The more we were drinking, the more happy we were, and more and more often we got visited by people from other cupés. Malaco was the most frequent visitor, walking around either with a glass with drink for Yuta (who usually doesn't, or maybe I should say, didn't drink, but hanging out with the Balkan people made him adjust to new cultures) or with shots. We drank my rakija, which made him do funny faces (like a p..sy), we drank his tequilla, which made me do funny faces (like a you know), and all that together made Yuta turn red in face. He was sitting there like a boss and it was funny to see him like that. He looked more like us in that moment. Go, Yuta!

After an hour or so, everybody was everywhere in the wagon. People who were drinking vodka with Sprite got drunk the fastest because the vodka was really good (coming from me who isn't a fan of vodka at all) and with Sprite it tasted nothing like alcohol, but the cups were huge and the 2 liters were gone by the time you snap your fingers. As well, in one of the wagons some people were smoking and you could guess how „good“ everybody was by the fact that the conductor came to warn us that if we don't calm down, he would kick us off the train. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

The Germans were chilling in their cupé with beer, Christian was telling one of his stories again; in the Portuguese cupé Sotiris was sitting silently because everyone was speaking in Portuguese, in Serbian cupé God knows what happened because Igor's shirt got stained (was it blood or something else, I'm still not sure) so he switched it with Jagoš. Everything got a bit blurred the closer we were to Prague.

When we finally got off the train, we took a photo all together and went to a bar. That was a bit long trip because some had to go to the toilet, some were just slow, some were too fast... Like I said already, it's not easy to take a group of 30 people on a trip. Igor and Mate got a bit mad (or maybe just frustrated) but in the end everyone made it to the bar. Yeah, we were searching it for a while, but we made it. In the bar we were drinking beer, smoking, and Croato-Serbian group (consisting of Igor, Maja, Danijela and me) was singing Croatian songs; Dalmatian and the Zagreb ones. Pretty loud. I don't know why. No reason. Alcohol makes you do silly things. True story.

Yuta was smoking in the club. He said he used to smoke. That was a surprise to me. He looked good with the cigarette in his hand, but oh boy, Yuta and smoking? Seriously? Maybe he isn't that sweet and innocent as he presents himself.

As it usually goes, you cannot keep all that liquid (alcohol or not) in yourself, especially if you're a girl, so Maja and I ran out of the bar in the search for some „appropriate“ place to... Well, you know, to „pi-pi machen“. The lady's toilet was occupied and we had to do it then, at that exact moment, no time to wait, so we were running through the narrow winding streets, without our jackets, and every street was either really lighted or there were some people walking. Finally, after a couple of minutes we just squeezed in between two cars and did the thing. Then we ran back, laughing like crazy.

Soon we went to the club called Retro. Sure, again we needed some time to find it and again some people were faster, some slower, but we got there. The club was big, the music was good, it was much better than in Brno. I mean, clubs in Brno are not bad, but this one in Prague (and I guess all the rest as well) was uncomparably better. More cute guys as well, most of them strangers.

In the club nothing special: drinking, dancing, drinking, drinking, dancing. Somehow, towards the end of the night, everybody got separated, and when I was to go catch the train, I stayed with Pedro. We didn't know anymore how to get to the train station, and we didn't have a lot of time, so we asked some guys on the street. They were nice, took us to the metro, told us on which station we have to get off, and they knew some words in Croatian. Pedrito and me got on the metro, two stops, got off, bought the tickets for the train and then we met Mate, Igor, Sotiris and some other. There was maybe 10 of us going back home with the train at 5:39 am, although everybody was supposed to go together. The next day I found out some (like Sarafina) stayed in Prague in some hostel.

From the way home I don't remember much; I was sleeping in the cupé the whole time, waking up from time to time, afraid I would miss the stop because, after all, I did have an exam that morning and I needed to get to it. It was a bit chilly in the train, at least to me, but Pedrito saved me by borrowing me his sweater; such a nice guy. We didn't miss the stop, I was relieved; we bought some sandwiches and took the tram back. Everybody went to sleep and Valentina refreshed herself, brushed her teeth, changed clothes, picked up the papers and books and went to the exam.

It was my last attempt to pass the test which I failed already two times. I passed. Then I had to wait till 2 pm to have the oral part of the exam. I passed. One part barely, the other one I nailed. To go to Prague was one of the best decisions I made in the last time. I make a lot of bad decisions all the time, but this one was great. I figured: okay, I already tried two times, the first time I didn't study much and I knew I will fail; the second time I studied my ass out and again I failed. This time, if I stay at home and study the whole night again and fail in the morning, it will be terrible; if I go to Prague and fail in the morning, well, at least I would be able to say I had fun. So proud of myself :D

I came home around 4 pm, I announced in the event that I passed my exam and went to sleep. I slept maybe for 3 hours or so, then I had to get up, go to Albert to buy some drinks and to get the zombie-me ready for the last, the hughest goodbye party. How that one ended, I will tell you in the next post. It was definitely unforgettable.