Today is my sixth day in the Czech Republic, and it is so weird to not be going home. We are not just here for a short visit– we are here to stay. We are not just cramming all of Prague into a weekend; we are actually learning how to adjust to an entirely new lifestyle.

 

From the language to the extremely cheap yet delicious beer, everything about this place is exciting, new, and different from what my friends and I have all grown up with. As we all venture out on our tourist sight seeing adventures, all the pictures we saw of Prague are suddenly right in front of us, of all the well preserved buildings, beautiful statues, and delicious goulash. And after climbing up one of the many giant hills that are all over this city, all there is to see are the colorful rooftops and cathedrals for miles and we remember why we chose to come here.

 

But it is not all butterflies and rainbows; we are definitely not in New York anymore and that is going to take some getting used to. Upon first arriving here after traveling for 13 hours, the water conveniently stopped working. And as more and more students checked in, the groans grew just as prominent as the smell of body odor. Good thing was, everyone smelt just as bad as everyone else. And after about an hour of getting to know my new roommates, all the fuses in our room blew. No water, no electricity. But no big deal, we were in a new place for the first time and so much exploring to be done.

 

So we went to an amazing restaurant with authentic Czech cuisine, food I’ve never tasted before, and enjoyed it immensely. We walked around through old cobblestone streets in what felt like a story world, and promptly got entirely lost and spent an hour trying to get back.

 

And we still get lost, and probably will until the day we leave here. But even still, it is always an adventure, I never feel like I am wasting any time with anything I am doing here. Every time I find my way home and every time I am able to communicate with Czech people (basically using charades) I feel so accomplished, like I conquered the world almost. And I know, slowly but surely, I am learning all there is to learn in this city, and using it to grow in a way I would never have been able to grow back at home.