Daily Life

Hey everyone. This blog that I am doing is the first of a series of blogs that are required for one of my classes. My topic for my first blog is about my daily life so far. However, I would like to start with a funny story about my first days here.

In the days leading up to the Czech Republic Study Abroad experience, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. It felt like I was going to come over for only a few days. I thought maybe I would look at a few tourist traps, and then I would try a couple different drinks obviously. I just wasn’t grasping that it was for three months, and I thought everything would go so smoothly. Boy was I was wrong.

On Wednesday March 7^th, 2018, I arrived at Eppley Airfield for my flight to take me away. The three-month trip started with me being told, at the gate to leave Omaha, that I could only take my personal item on the plane because they ran out of room for anymore carry-on bags. The kind worker told me that I would see my luggage in Prague. It was at this moment that I realized, this trip to Europe was going to be exciting. I would now like to fast forward to me landing in Dublin for a connecting flight and sprinting through the airport and making it to my flight to Prague with literally less than a minute to spare. Fast forward now again to me waiting in Prague for my luggage on Thursday morning. After 20 minutes of an empty belt at baggage reclaim had passed, I decided to ask a woman at a desk if I was at the right place. The very impatient Czech woman, who didn’t seem too thrilled that I only knew English, was then telling me she doesn’t know what happened to all of my luggage. I gave them the address to the hostel I would be staying at and hoped for the best. It was not until Saturday night, the night before we all got together to leave Prague, that I finally saw my luggage. The first thing I did was hug my bags while being laughed at by the desk worker that gave them to me.

While that story might make it seem like I am struggling, I am not. Every day that I have been here has been an adventure. Simple things, like trying to order food, have become some of the biggest challenges. First off, beer is cheaper than water. Whether this is a good thing or not, I am not sure of yet. While the beer here is great, it’s nice to drink something to keep me hydrated rather than make me intoxicated. But as the locals say, na zdraví. While the drinks are great, the food is even better. Much like Nebraska, almost every dish has meat and a lot of it. It is also very cheap. A large meal and a generous glass of beer only costs about ten dollars at the nicer places. It can be even cheaper at a lot of other restaurants. The Czech Republic is awesome!

The great food and drinks at low prices make me sad that I am going to leave. I just wish I could say the same about the weather. So far it has been pretty cold, and it has precipitated on most days. I have yet to go a day without needing a jacket or coat, but I have been told that will end soon. I really hope so because I had enough snow back in Nebraska. It makes it a little tough to get around Olomouc because I have to walk everywhere that the tram won’t take me. Luckily for us, the tram has a stop right by our dorms and another right next to where we have our classes. I wish I could say that I missed living in a dorm but I would rather have a house. I am staying in a dorm style room with my roommate, Nick. Lucky for me, my roommate and I get along great and share a lot of common interests so I think we’ll grow pretty close during this semester abroad. The other UNK students are also staying in dorms, and all of our rooms are pretty close to each other.

However, we don’t like to spend our nights in the dorms when we can be out exploring the town. The night life has been a lot of fun and it’s been a great way to meet other students from around the world that are also studying at Palacky University here in Olomouc. There have been organized parties where we were given the chance to meet some other students. There are also a few clubs in town. One of which had a theme night for all the students from Turkey. It was a lot of fun and I hope we get to do an American night. It would be a great way to show everyone a little bit about America.

While being here has made it tough to socialize with my friends from Nebraska, it forces me to talk to new people and really not dwell on life back home. It helps me really focus on life in Europe, which is why I came over in the first place. I can really say that I have enjoyed almost every minute of my study abroad experience thus far. Sure I have had my fair share of struggles (like losing my luggage), but they have been so much fun to laugh at the next day. I’ve been trying new foods and seeing new things every day and, I can’t get enough. I am excited to see more of the world and learn more about other cultures. Na Shledanou! (That’s “Goodbye” in Czech)