Uh-Oh. What Have I Gotten Myself Into?

(Originally posted on 7/18/06)

I don't think I've mentioned that one of the annual events (arguably, the biggest social event of the two-week program) is the country presentations dinner... At the dinner, the students from each country (21 countries are represented, I believe) will make a 2-3 minute presentation about their country. Anyways, this is a big event: Not only will all 110 students be there, but so will the professors, the TAs, the program administrators, and some random AIPES alumni who are coming in to Prague specifically for the dinner.

So last night Matt, the AIPES Program Director, and the other TAs and I were walking up this long ass hill to dinner. He recalled that I had mentioned that my friends like doing karaoke (I had mentioned that night we all went to that dive bar some time earlier in the week) and so he asked how often I do karaoke. I said, "Not that often and I think I have to be pretty drunk to actually do it... why?" And he just raised his eyebrow and said innocently, "No reason. I'm just making conversation." So then he started asking all these other random questions. Finally, when we made it up the hill he said, "OK, so do you want to know why I was asking about the karaoke thing? It's because I have heard from a secret source that you would be an excellent MC for the country presentations dinner on Saturday. And I can tell from your emails that you're pretty quick and would be a good fit, so what do you think?" I almost shit my pants. I was like, "Um, hello, have you met me?? You cannot be serious?" Unfortunately, he was. (By the way, I'm sure the secret source is my professor, Mike. I will have to ask him what kind of crack he was smoking.) But how could I say no to this request, right???

Now you all know I like to be the center of attention, but it's a lot easier when you've got funny people to play off of. It's a lot different being on the stage where you have to be entertaining on your own. And it doesn't help that Matt is freakin' hilarious and has a great stage presence--he can make anyone laugh just with his vocal inflections and facial expressions. I have a much drier sense of humor and do better playing off of other people... But whatever. I plan on drinking heavily before and after and hopefully I will forget the whole evening. Any moral support from y'all would be appreciated...