By jfbarszcz
It's been a busy week and weekend for me, as I suddenly find myself with lots of work to do. Midterms, presentations, general homework, plus scheduling classes for next semester (Yay FOFAC priority registration! Boo transferring into Columbian from Elliott and having to figure out all the new GCRs!) Heck, even writing this blog, while I don't want to call it a chore, still takes some time. And while my classes here are generally less intense than GW classes, it's still hard to get work done for them for a couple different reasons:
1) After a summer of doing nothing and almost a month in Prague with little to no schoolwork, my work ethic has gone down the tubes;
2a) My room is tiny and messy and chaotic and it's really hard to get work done in there;
2b) Charles University apparently doesn't understand what the purpose of a college library is (i.e. the libraries I have access to all have relatively limited hours); and most importantly
3) I have a whole city/country/continent to explore; why should I have to sit in a chair and do work all day when I'm abroad, for God's sake???
But what must be done must be done. What I've taken to doing is heading to a café, as of course is the European style. Luckily, I've found one that has a nice atmosphere and delicious, delicious coffee. In fact, it's by far the best coffee I've found in Prague as of my writing this. If you're a coffee aficionado like me and you one day find yourself v Praze, definitely go check out Mamacoffee. They have a few different locations but the one I go to is in Nove Město (New Town); it's pretty simple to get to on the 22 tram (that is IF THE DAMN 22 WERE RUNNING THIS WEEK) but still a bit inconvenient as it takes somewhere in the neighborhood of half an hour each way to get there from the kolej. Also the coffee itself is a little expensive; a single espresso is only $2 but I prefer to get a full cup of regular coffee, which can cost anywhere from $2.75 to $3.25 depending on the brew method you order (yeah, they give you a choice. How awesome is that?) But for a chill study spot and some of the best coffee I've ever had anywhere, much less in Prague? Worth it, though I would certainly love to find a café twice as close to me with coffee half as good.
Some things, however, have not changed. Such as the fact that I'm awful at time management. Of course, this is now compounded by all the extra distractions study abroad brings. In general, though, I haven't really had to adjust my study habits or techniques much. There's nothing fundamentally different about my classes that makes me need to change anything. I can still bang out quick assignments in the comfort of my room at the kolej, and when I have large amounts of work to do I can go elsewhere to isolate myself (I've always found it difficult to get significant amounts of work done in spaces I also associate with free time). Doing so is definitely less convenient than at GW, where Dearly Beloved Gelman is never more than a five-minute walk, but considering that as a rule I have less work here than at GW, I think it's a wash.
Of course, none of this changes the fact that I'm panicking just the tiniest bit about my Economic Development midterm tomorrow...