God, yes. I told one of my classes that if I get my visa, I will personally bring in chocolate and champagne to their class. I just feel like if that works out, everything else on earth will be a little less weighty.

I do still feel awful for the homeless woman. That being said, some of your stories sound frightening and horrible and I'm honestly not sure how I would deal. Beggars in Prague are almost entirely servile, it's common to see them kneeling on the sidewalk with their heads bent to the pavement. In some sense you could see this as a ploy, like cutting yourself, but at the same time I can't imagine it brings in enough extra money to make up for exposing that much of your body to the cold sidewalk. The thing with the woman was a special case, and broke my personal rule of not giving more than you wouldn't notice if it fell out of your pocket, and isn't likely to be something I can even think of doing again soon.

And yet I'm in Prague! Pretty big victory, to me.