If you were to ask any college or grad student where a majority of work is done, a coffeehouse or cafe would be the clear cut answer. Back in Selinsgrove, the best place to study is the Kind Cafe. I am such a regular that one Tuesday morning, I walked in with a friend and the owner already popped a bagel in the toaster for me.

Fast forward to Prague, where the streets are littered with coffeehouses. I’ve visited a few and they are quite good, but I’ve learned I’m not a European coffee fan. I had to find something to fill my coffee craving. My father recommended a cafe called Cafe Cosmai, which upon entering gave me a “grandparent’s house” feel. After sipping on a chai latte, which might I add is absolutely fabulous there, I was sold. This place has became my new favorite place, the Prague version of Kind cafe.

If you as “viewers” are questioning my taste in cafes, just take a look at some of the desserts as well as my regular chai.

Shown above (in order) there is pear cake, apple pie, chocolate coconut cake, and berry pie.

While this place may just seem like a place where my sweet-tooth craving is satisfied, I have watched and learned about Czech culture. A great way of multi-tasking in my opinion. I have listened in on some conversations to try to test my knowledge of Czech. I have been starting to pick up some pieces and understanding some key words. The woman who runs this place has been helping me practice by assisting me in ordering, asking questions, and paying, all in Czech. I have been able to watch and learn common social cues and ways of interaction without seeming like a “loud & proud tourist”.

While in Prague, I do encourage people to come try out this cafe! Even if you do not, just try sitting in a real Czech cafe. Sip on coffee while watching the locals come and go. I promise that an experience like this will give you a better feel of what Prague is actually like rather than how tourists change and portray it.

As the school year approaches at Susquehanna, students are bombarded with emails from our president, as well as by SGA, clubs that we are involved in, employers, etc. Usually this is seen as a nuisance, but surprisingly while abroad it, these emails make me miss my second home more than ever. I thought that most likely the school would realize that the go-abroad students don’t need updates, but nevertheless the emails flood in each week. As a student I am involved in way more than I can really handle. Each semester my agenda is full from sports practice, religious club meetings, and job duties/deadlines. I did not think I would miss this busyness of literally running from class to a meeting, then straight to practice. To no avail, I miss it incredibly.

I’m used to learning about things relevant to my major of Religious Studies. I was studying super late at night into the early morning with whiteboards chalk-full of what needed to be known for the next day of class, and I absolutely loved it.

Fast forward to Prague. Yes, the intensive language course was quite hard. The classes I was introduced to this week though were nothing of the sort. They seem to be oriented to ECES students so that we can study and learn, but mostly travel and take advantage of being in Europe. This is a wonderful opportunity yet for a person like me, this “break” of studies makes me anxious. What do I do with all of this extra time? How do I still have fun while I’m here if I’m counting down days until I see friends and family? I need a routine to get through this! (PS-this is a view from my classroom window!)

After being sick of tearful nights, I decided I might as well take advantage of Europe, slowly easing into all Prague has to offer. I decided I needed a routine. I have classes Monday and Wednesday from around nine am to four pm. After classes, I have been making an earlier dinner and settling in to do some work or light reading. Tuesday, Thursday, and the rest of the weekend I make sure to do some physical exercise like walking around the city (which will never disappoint me). Just the sun warming me up, or going to a gym I recently joined to “sweat it out” does miracles to improve my mood. I’ll go out to some meals with friends or make my own meals, which I am learning to enjoy more and more. I have been going to the grocery store on Saturday, and if I’m being honest, I thoroughly enjoy it. I’m starting to adult more than ever! Sundays have been a bit of a challenge for me as I try to figure out a church that I enjoy. So far I have only been to St Thomas’ Church of Prague. While this service was quite nice, I haven’t found something that is more home-y and runs off of ideas and beliefs similar to mine.

While the start of my study abroad experience has seemed beautiful and exciting in photographs shared, I have to admit that the experience is not all “sunshine and rainbows”. It is going to be hard, but that doesn’t mean it’s not worth it. Traveling and visiting another country is quite enjoyable; living in another country takes more effort than you’d think, I am no longer a tourist. This experience has been rewarding and I hope it will continue to be. Even though I still count down the weeks until family and friends visit, I think I am starting to make better use of the time I have been blessed with here in Europe.

When you travel to Europe, the biggest piece of advice that is given by all family members is to try all the food that you possibly can. When I was given this advice, my first thought was ‘let’s hope I don’t go into a food coma’, but my second thought was more of a concern. I’m a vegetarian, entering a country in which lunch meat and sandwiches are served for breakfast.

The first two weeks, I only found a scattering of food that could constitute as a meal. To be completely honest, the first day when I was extremely jet-lagged, all I could find appetizing was a side order of potatoes and water. Slowly and surely though, I found some places in Prague that have become staples which I’m sure I’ll return to. It took time to adjust mentally, and my appetite was no different.

With good food comes good mood, as many say, so I was ordered to find myself a nice big meal by my family. Let’s just say that I found out that Vegan’s Restaurant has vegan Svíčková to die for. Svíčková is a traditional Czech dish, containing dumplings and steak, soaked in a veggie/meat sauce. So this restaurant took the traditional, and made it with dumplings, tempeh, and sweet potato/veggie sauce.

If you aren’t into the local food (no idea why one wouldn’t be) there is another option for you. There is a “fast food”, vegan restaurant called Forky’s. It has cheez-burgers, not-dogs, red thai curry, and even ‘fish’-and-chips. I highly suggest getting their fries, as it is a rare combination of sweet potato and golden fries.

After our final exam in the Czech language course, we were taken to Café Neustadt. In this cafe, I hit a milestone: I tried eggplant. Even as a vegetarian, I squirm at the mention of eggplant. I decided to give it a try on a whim of courage even with my backbone thought that eggplant was disgusting. To my surprise, it was one of the best things I’ve had since I got here. The eggplant was paired with cheesy vegetables and a side-salad.

I also wandered across many, many cafes. Some good and some bad, but altogether I am confident to say that Prague nails dessert. I have obviously eaten more than just these two desserts since my time here, but it is quite easy to devour a slice of pie before one thinks of snapping a picture. I feel as though these desserts are something that you has to taste to believe…

Obviously, you cannot eat out every meal of the day. Studying abroad is already expensive enough! While Tesco is quite a popular grocery store here, I highly suggest going to Kaufland instead. It’s just a twenty-five minute tram ride from the dorms and it has an amazing bakery selection.

Today I made a sandwich, grabbed a banana, filled my water-bottle and went to a nearby park. Sitting under a tree and eating a sandwich with the Charles Bridge as my view is the definition of a great meal in Prague.

In Prague, almost every meal is fantastic and if it isn’t, well…you’re doing something wrong. You just have to let your appetite adjust.

The Dancing House got it’s name from the unique architecture; it looks like someone’s dancing! Don’t just stare at the building though! Go to the top floor for a beautiful view of the city, with the entrance fee of one drink!

Our class explored The City of Prague Museum on Wednesday! This beautiful painting was even larger and more stunning in real life! This museum even had one of the oldest church bells in Prague, dating back to 1323. Right up my alley!

We went to Havlicek Park on Thursday, and were surprised by all of the hidden beauty in the little, hipster suburb of Prague 7. This park even had a vineyard, open to the public for drinks on some nights.

After our “midterm”, we were taken to the DOX gallery! Believe it or not, this place has a wooden blimp that is used as a sort of auditorium for the gallery. It is extremely breathtaking once you climb inside, but also frightening being able to hear the cars underneath you. Within this gallery, I stumbled across a very unique room full of stars. It felt like I was staring up at the most beautiful night sky I’ve ever seen. It was constructed with mirrors on every wall, and lights hanging on the ceiling… but I’d rather think it was just another beautiful creation by “the man upstairs”.

To be brutally honest, even with the Czech language course and field trips on a daily basis, I struggled through the week. I am not so much homesick as I am “people-sick”. I have gone to college for two years in a different state, so homesickness is not as strong a feeling anymore. Rather, I miss all the people I have left back home or who are spread across Europe.

Czech is a hard language; it only just started to click Thursday. It is quite a feeling though to be able to understand fragments of what people say on the trams. I have also been mistaken as a Czech local in the grocery store, so there is some progress. Progress requires some hard work trying to improve myself as I simultaneously try to learn about the language and history of Prague.

Well, I’m glad to say that I’ve made it almost a full week. I arrived early Monday morning after a red-eye flight; driving into the city felt like the way all horror stories start: “it was a dark foggy morning”. I kept my hopes up though and couldn’t help but smile from the second the plane touched down.  

Culture shock hit as soon as I entered my room. It is small compared to what Susquehanna is like, but after a while it started to feel like a normal dorm. Instead of mulling about in my room on arrival day, I decided to go explore the city with a friend. We saw the famous Prague castle and got a great view of the city while we were at it.  

It’s quite interesting how one wrong turn in this city can bring you somewhere beautiful. Later on in the week, we found the John Lennon wall while on a hunt for dinner. From almost any location, the view of the city is astounding. Side note: gelato is around every corner in the city.

During orientation, Charles University kept us busy with a scavenger hunt of the city, a river cruise, and two day trips. One of the day trips was to Česky Krumlov, a fairytale town full of tourists like myself. On our way there, our tour guide stopped in the middle of the Czech forest to go on a hike. It was near old ruins of a small village; it definitely was worth speed walking through a field of wildflowers and going off path more times than I could count. Our tour guide was a kind, older man who would casually pluck mushrooms out of the ground and eat them as a snack. He was quite a character, one helped me paint a better image of what people from the Czech Republic are like.

On our second day trip, my group went to the Lidice memorial. We first watched a movie to help understand the history behind a small little village that was destroyed and disappeared off the map by the Nazis. It was quite chilling to be on the same land as the things that we read in history books or watch in movies. Even though the landscape was completely changed as a result of the Nazis, I just couldn’t help but imagine what the chaos was like. Out of this village, only 12 children survived along with a few women from concentration camps. I recommend looking the story up. Even though it is quite chilling, it definitely needs to be heard.  

During orientation, we also had a guest speaker who was none other than Janek Rubeš from Honest Guide on Youtube. If you are a student, or even a traveler looking for the local’s view of Prague, check him out! He talked to our class about how to avoid scams, where the best Czech food is, etc. Since I am a fan, I had to capture a picture, and you could say he was not expecting it by the look on his face.

After a few long days full of never-ending jet lag, I was able to sleep in and am currently sitting in Cosmai cafe writing (picture below). One bonus for a girl like me is that Prague is full of little cafes in which you can sit down, have breakfast, and write. One tip that I already have for students on their first week abroad is to go to all of the social events prepared! I was super jet-lagged, but I met some of my closest friends here on the first night at a meet & greet dinner. Just keep pushing past it, you’ll thank yourself later.  

As I am writing this first post, I have hopes that by the end of my journey I will have become a more well-rounded and experienced person. Am I extremely nervous? Yes, without a doubt. I have faith, though, that this experience will better me. With that being said, I am wishing farewell to the stresses of packing, blogging, and checking every document.

This is the first post on my new blog, so bear with me!