The Five-Floor Mega Club Prague, Czech Republic
Posted 10-11-2008 11:01 am by
The next night I did it all over again, but this time with a pack of Brazilians in a five-story club.

The Five-Floor Mega Club Prague, Czech Republic

The next night I did it all over again, but this time with a pack of Brazilians in a five-story club. The Chileans had to catch a flight to somewhere else early that morning. When you’re traveling, that’s how it is--you meet awesome people that have the potential to be lifelong friends, but then say goodbye to them the next day and start over that next night with the same stories and different faces. That’s what is both great and terrible about travel. Of course you’ll never meet all the people of the world, but you’ll meet a bigger chunk and learn that most of them are cool people.
Anyways, this club had techno on the first floor packed with Europeans, the second had more techno, and the third was blasting ‘80s music. Here I met a group of Americans teaching English in Prague who were really digging the Grease soundtrack. The fourth floor had hip-hop with non-Europeans, and there was a load of couches on the fifth. I liked the fourth floor but not too many people were dancing yet so I went up with the Brazilians to take a few rounds of absinth. It’s not hallucinogenic anymore but each shot feels like a smack in the mouth, then a kick in the throat, and then a punch in the chest and finally it just burns in your stomach. Good stuff.
As the night progressed I slowly lost track of the Brazilians until I was ready to take off. So I went back down to the coat check, then out to the bus stop where I had to wait a good 40 minutes before a night bus came. During that time, one of the Brazilians caught up with me and we got on. Our hostel was a little bit outside of downtown and this bus’ route got there in a roundabout way. At one stop in the absolute middle of nowhere, another Brazilian hopped on. In an inebriated state, random reunions with friends on the way home is a great thing. Stories are shared and experiences recounted. Apparently he left with a girl, but I forget if there was a happy ending or not.
I spent my last couple nights in Prague back at Hansa’s where I hung out and detoxed. I never really got over jet lag because I kept staying out until 4 or 5 each night. I left Prague with a new, at least partial, understanding of another culture. The Czech people have a violent history, they’ve had a communist economy, the actually reminisce about the communist times as a time where everyone had what they need. Now life is more rushed, more hectic and people are caught up in the rat race because they now see what they can have. My Czech friends tell me that they didn’t used to be jealous of the West but instead just watched capitalism with a passive eye. Now, they can have the Lamborghinis and nice suits and high-tech cell phones. They just have to work for it. The city itself still seems a bit grey but the people bring color to it. People give their seats on the tram to old women but do so without a smile. I would love to have a good understanding of every culture in the world but I know it’s impossible and I need to pick and choose and the Czech one goes deep. I’ll be back I’m sure.