HALLOWEEN IN PRAGUE
As I sit here eating my sad store-bought, salted pumpkin seeds that I got in some corner grocery store tucked away in a side street of Budapest, I reflect on a second Halloween spent abroad.
The first was during my junior year abroad in France, and I almost tried to pretend like the day didn’t exist… that was until I decided to scroll through Instagram. My plan foiled as I scrolled through bundles of cats, witches, and anything else you could think of. It was a sad day for me. FOMO was at an all-time high… like even more than it was for Thanksgiving so that’s saying something.
I just love a good reason to be in costume. Ask anyone I went to high school with! Spirit weeks were my JAM. I love to go all out and just be someone else (to be honest I probably just thrive off of the attention of it all, but who cares), it’s just too fun!! Also the movies? Seriously top notch. Now I’m not talking horror… I’m talking Halloweentown and Hocus Pocus kinds of movies. They are THE BEST. And lastly, the good old family tradition of pumpkin carving. Back in the day we would host all of the neighbors and friends, and the night would end with our front yard decorated with 20 unique jack-o-lanterns. It’s a sight to see.
So when Halloween rolled around this year… I wasn’t quite sure how to handle it… especially being that I would be in Prague wrapping up a long two-week vacation with people I had just met. But the seven assistants and I were getting closer by the day and we are Americans… so the chance to Halloween-it-up was just too good to let slip by. We booked a bar crawl and headed straight to H&M for some last minute reinforcements. I went for a classic (or basic, depending on your terminology) bunny look with velvet black ears, a velvet black long sleeve dress, black boots, and the makeup to match. My three friends bought Central Perk shirts and were Rachel, Monica, & Phoebe from Friends. Another was a mermaid, who I helped spruce up with some last minute sparkly mermaid-makeup. And last but not least a black cat, because you always need one cat in every group— duh.
Spirits were high at the Airbnb pregame (I mean mentally, but alcoholic spirits weren’t sparse either). We did our last minute foof-ing and headed to the first bar— The Drunken Monkey. As we stood in line to get our wristbands, it became abundantly clear to me that 99.9% of the people around me were also American. But they were like study abroad, I’m not even 21 in the states yet, kind of American. I mean who else would be going out on a Wednesday night, right? Because it’s not like the Czechs were celebrating Halloween.
We were escorted to bar after bar, but each space seemed smaller than the next… so the group and I called it quits around 2am. Was it the most amazing-est night of my life? No, definitely not… I guess I just felt old. Ew, just typing it makes me hate me even more.
But you know what? The night ended with us laughing and shoving fried chicken in our faces in a booth at KFC down the street from our hostel. We reminisced on costumes we saw and people we met, and I guess what else can you ask for? Good memories were made with new friends, and I’m grateful for the experience. After all, how many people can say they’ve celebrated Halloween in the Czech Republic?
