Saying Goodbye

After Halloween I had about a week and a half left in Prague. During my time in Prague I had been working at the ECES office in Charles University, which has been a great experience. It has been so rewarding to work on the Czech side of the program that made me who I am today. It was also very inspiring to work so closely with Jitka, the director of international programs at Charles University. She has done so many great things for the international education department at such an impressive university, she is an amazing woman to get to know and learn from.

My original plan was to stay in Prague until mid December to finish out the semester working with ECES, unfortunately I was unable to get a short term visa extension and was forced to leave earlier. I decided to go to Ireland and take a TEFL course in Ireland, but was very upset that this would shorten my time in Prague. In addition, my boyfriend was leaving, so needless to say my last week in Prague was a bit of a difficult one. I not only had to say goodbye to my boyfriend, but the wonderful women I worked with, the amazing friends I had been living with, and the city I call my “home away from home.” It is always bittersweet when leaving a place, but starting a new adventure. I also know in my heart that I will be back in Prague and it will be brilliant, just like 3 years ago and just like the past 2 months. It is a magical city and I know that won’t disappear.

I was in Ireland 3 years ago, right before I moved to Prague to study abroad. I LOVED it the last time I was here and it remained on of my top 3 favorite countries. The scenery, the people, the beer, it is all wonderful on this emerald island. And it’s an island! Back to the coast, back to the beach, the sea breeze always makes me happy. Being back in Ireland has been great. And I should add, I was very nervous to travel alone. I love people around me and having someone to share experiences with, but traveling alone since my boyfriend went back to NY has been an incredible experience, I actually love it. I have met more people and shared so many different experiences with people form all over Europe than, I think, ever before and it has been wonderful. It is such a great feeling knowing I am able to travel on my own, enjoy it, smile, learn new things, and make new friends. I honestly never thought I was the type of person that could travel alone. I always figured it would be the same conversations over and over, where do you come from? where have you been? where are you going? why did you choose to travel europe? These conversations can get repetitive and irritating, but you don’t have to have these conversations. The people I have met haven’t just been interested in me as a traveller, but me as a person and it has been incredibly refreshing to witness this.

 

Saying Goodbye, for now

Saying Goodbye, for now

Going to miss this office view in Praha

Going to miss this office view in Praha

Dinner with the wonderful women of the ECES office

Dinner with the wonderful women of the ECES office

Ireland

Ireland

Feeling Wonderful on the Galway Bay

Feeling Wonderful on the Galway Bay

My name is Kelly and I am a recent graduate of SUNY New Paltz. I have my bachelors in Secondary Education and English and during my time as an undergrad I spent a semester studying abroad in Prague, Czech Republic. I enjoyed living in Prague so I have decided to come back for a little while. I will be living in Prague for the next 3 and half months during which I will be taking a TEFL course (teaching english as a foreign language) to prepare myself for my next adventure. Upon graduating New Paltz I received a Fulbright scholarship to teach in Malaysia for 2015. When I leave Prague in December I will be headed to Malaysia and will be a teaching assistant in an English class. I have been traveling to other countries since I was 15 years old and I guess you could say I've been bit hard by the travel bug. =)

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