By Hannah Gordon
Czech Correspondent
As the classic “young American goes to Europe” movies suggest, I had to do something crazy during my time abroad. This week definitely fits the bill.
I made a tattoo appointment to get another tattoo. I’ve decided I want “Na Zdraví!” which translates literally to “to your health,” but is basically the Czech “Cheers!” That’s getting tattooed on May 13 beneath my ankle with a peacock feather, inspired by my favorite park here that has peacocks just roaming around. My friend Rachel is getting a similar tattoo to commemorate her time here, so I’m not alone in my ink adventures.
On Monday, I cut 8.5 inches of hair from my head. Well, I didn’t do it. I told a very sweet Czech hairstylist that I wanted to chop all of my hair off, and she picked a style and just did it. I had been debating on this decision since November, but I finally had the guts to do it. It might be because Rachel went to this salon and her haircut, which is similar to what I wanted, came out just fine, or it might be because Europe has given me an adventurous self-confidence. Either way, most of my hair is gone now.
My third and final act of craziness from this week was probably simultaneously the most amusing and risky of them all. I modeled for a nude art photographer. Before everyone gets judgmental—no, I did not model naked for him.
I’m taking a photography class here, and we were instructed to pick a Czech photographer and do a presentation on his or her work for the class. By the time I went to pick, all of the classic photographers were taken, so I began my search into contemporary photographers. I found Jiří Růžek, a 47-year-old internationally published artist. I decided to present on him and researched his work.
During my research, I found a call for models, or “characters” as he put it, so I applied. To my surprise, he emailed me within a few days, and we set a time to meet. I went to his apartment because he prefers to shoot there rather than his studio because of the diversity in backgrounds the apartment offers. We drank wine and chatted for a few hours and then began the photo shoot. Although I walked in extremely nervous having never modeled before, I was completely comfortable and had a lot of fun with Jiří.
I’ve managed to turn a bit of this semester-long excursion into an experience that might as well be deleted scenes from Eurotrip—and I’m pretty proud of that. Now, off to Budapest.
