As a 20-year old college student, I’ve shared in many time-honored traditions of university life, including dining hall food, finals week freak-outs, and the clichéd but beloved frat party. But one way I have veered off the beaten path is when, early in my junior year, I made the decision to uproot my life in Rochester and spend a semester in… Prague!
Prague is the capital of the Czech Republic, a country in the middle of the European continent that was for 40 years under the iron grip of communism. For International Relations majors like myself, studying abroad is required, and so for my freshman and sophomore year I was continually changing my mind about my destination. After months of visa applications, paperwork, and pre-registration for classes, here it is February 2011 and for the past three weeks I have woken up with the cold winter sun streaming in through the lace curtains of my tiny, shared bedroom. My roommate is Petra, a 26-year old Ph.D. candidate at Univerzita V Karlova (Charles University), the local public university of about 40,000 students which also has associated programs with CIEE Study Abroad. In the Czech Republic, students can attend public universities with no charge if they pass the rigorous entrance exams. Petra is our apartment’s “Czech Buddy”, a term given to Czech students assigned to help us adjust and integrate to life in Prague. The other two girls in my apartment are Caroline from Georgetown and Camille from Amherst.
The first few days here I can remember only as a whirlwind, with first the anxiety of airport travel, then finding out my baggage didn’t make the puddle jump with me from New York, then settling into our new place at 12 Pod Karlovem, Praha 2. The apartment is small and sparsely decorated but bright. Our only TV has a broken cable box or some other equally unclear yet debilitating damage that makes it impossible to work. So with the absence of TV and shortages to English-language papers, I am slightly behind the times on events at home. I did hear about the revolution in Egypt though! I am pretty sure the night that it happened, I made several enthusiastic toasts “to Egypt!” while my friends watched bemusedly from the other end of the bar.
Prague has about 10 districts, with Stare Mesto (Old Town) being the geographical center with the majority of sightseeing. I nearly lost some toes from spending hours touring around the freezing, gray city during the first week. Thankfully the weather has cleared up a bit and I’m astounded how different and beautiful the city looks in the sunlight. Once the vernal equinox hits I swear we’ll be golden. The flat leather boots that I wear every day have served me well so far, and I’m hoping it will be fashionably acceptable to wear them into the spring, as I saved suitcase room by minimizing the number of shoes I packed. Forget about wearing your heels here, even for a night out, as without a doubt the cobblestone streets will make you miserable (a girl I know rolled her ankle even in flats)!
The last two weeks have consisted of Intensive Czech class (a riot) with interspersions of pub outings and jaunts to Tesco, a European chain that is both a grocery and general merchandise store. Trying to buy food is an issue, as I can only buy as much as I can carry and sometimes can barely even identify what I’m buying because of the language barrier. Day trips have included Kutná Hora, a UNESCO World Heritage site famous for its silver mines and bone ossuary, and the town of Plze?, the location of the main Pilsner Urquell brewery. Both Saturdays were hour-long bus rides out from Prague followed by exhaustion-inducing walking tours. Within Prague, by now I have seen the main sights (Charles Bridge, Prague Castle, the Jewish Quarter) and hit up a few clubs. Let’s just say Wednesday night ragers at Mecca will be hard to maintain once real classes start tomorrow.
Before I arrived, I only had a vague idea of what Prague was really like. I imagined it as the vivid guidebooks described, a “magical, fairy-tale city” that was the seat of Bohemian culture and opera. This may all be true for the tourists who descend on the city in a tumultuous 3-day weekend, squeezing in the Lennon wall between the colossal St. Vitus Cathedral and the equestrian statue of valiant St. Wenceslas, the city’s patron saint (yes, the same one from the Christmas carol). But living here has been different in so many ways that I could have never prepared for.
Sometimes it strikes me, usually when I’m walking home from my Intensive Czech class around 4 pm, and the sun is lower in the sky, casting long shadows through the park at Vyšehrad. I glance at the passersby walking their dogs, the children playing on the swings, and the teenagers lounging on benches, rapidly uttering the harsh, consonant-laden words of their language. Maybe tonight Petra will take my roommates and me to a new pub where the ubiquitous Pilsner Urqell pivo (beer) will be served for 26 K?, or the equivalent of $1.50. Maybe we’ll plan a trip to Budapest, try the Indian restaurant next door for dinner, or maybe I’ll just Skype with my mom and go to bed early.
The semester is rollicking along. Sometimes I get homesick, and other days I’m on top of the world. Stay with me and I’ll keep you posted.
Na shledanou (Goodbye)!
Marina