Two days ago, I returned from Prague, and it feels like it was only a fantastic dream.  The only stressful memory I have about the trip is the knowledge that I didn’t geoblog as often as I should have.  But it is hard to reflect on experiences that only reveal their true worth until after we have lived them fully.  Confused by what I mean?  Let me try to explain.

There is a reason why paintings evoke certain emotions, and there is a reason why that painting exists as a painting and not as an essay or journal article.  Some things cannot be expressed by words.  Some things are simply too overwhelming.  That is how I felt during my adventure in Prague – overwhelmed, but in a good way. 

Now, I am home and have had a sufficient amount of rest to reflect on many of my experiences.  Here, I have the time to express what I want to express and hopefully, it will capture everything I experienced in the Czech Republic.  Each day, I will talk about some of the lessons I learned about the people of Czech Republic and about life.

1.)    Keep an open mind – about everything. A person cannot predict the future – I think everyone knows that, but people still try to anticipate it.  I didn’t know what to expect from Prague.  I’m not the kind of person who likes to build things up in my mind because life has a way of changing things up unexpectedly.  Yet, I didn’t expect an experience as amazing as the one I got.

Spending an entire week with the same people can either drive a person crazy or bring them closer together.  I’m happy to say that it brought our group closer together.  Never in my life have I felt home in a group of people so widely different from myself.  Never in my life have I sat down for 4 hours at a restaurant every day talking with those same people about our impressions of the different culture, what we were learning not only about the things we saw, but about life and its complexities. 

2.)    You can never really learn something until you experience it for yourself.  In my Comm 410 class (International Communications), I learned about some of the inequalities of globalization, and the more economically successful a corporation or country is, the greater influence it has on global culture.  Yet, it wasn’t something I completely understood until I got off the plane in Prague and saw a McDonald’s enticing me to order a BigMac.  That’s not the only American company to exist in Prague – I also saw a KFC, Subway, T.G.I. Friday’s, and Starbucks.  It made me sad because no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t think of one Czech company that I knew of in America.  Seeing these businesses reminded me that as Americans, we have a large influence on the world, and I don’t believe it’s a positive one.

3.)    I believe that to be a good person means having compassion for things and people that are different.  But seeing the buildings of Prague and the way people lived there illustrated this knowledge in a way that truly touched my heart.  Reality didn’t hit me in one profound moment, rather it came from my confrontations with the little differences – like eating tartar sauce with French fries instead of ketchup (it’s not bad, by the way).  When you go to a foreign country, you realize that things CAN be different, and these differences aren’t matters of what is BETTER or WORSE, only that it is all relative.  Prague was a beautiful city, and it was beautiful because it was different.  I think the same truth can be applied to people.

Dobryden! (Good Day!) Today was my first full day in Prague, and it was wonderful! It’s amazing the transformations that can happen in just a couple days – from the train ride across Penn State to get to Newark Airport to the plane rides and 30+ hours of no sleep – it has been a learning experience from the very beginning. I guess the biggest thing to comment on (for me) is that I am seeing a European culture for the very first time in my life. The first thing I noticed about Prague was how old the city is. In America, cities bring to mind images of skyscrapers, hundreds of rectangle blocks, and a lot of traffic. Occasionally, there is a historic building that gets celebrated for its age. In Prague, everything is old. When we walked into the train station to catch the metro, I noticed that the tall, dome ceiling had paint chipping, and I immediately thought, “Why don’t they preserve this better?” Then, I realized that every building here is historic. I’m not in Kansas anymore. We’re staying at a Bed & Breakfast called U Akatu. The rooms are small, but comfortable. It is very different from the American mentality that “bigger is better.” Here, they do with what they have and it’s beautiful. The breakfast here is different than in America. First of all, the coffee is AWESOME! None of the watered-down crap that we Americans drink. They offer a lot of fresh bread, cheese, fruit and nut breads, vegetables, and meat. Perfect. Today, we did several things around Prague. First, we went to the Czech 24-hour news channel called Cseka televize and got a personal tour from a very nice English man named Martin. He was incredibly insightful about the differences in the media systems internationally as well as the changes happening in the Czech media system with the movement towards globalization in the post-communism world. Afterward, we took a tour of Charles University, one of the oldest universities in Europe (founded in 1300s). We also got to see the old Town Square. I will try to post some pics later. Right now, it’s bedtime! Goodnight from Prague (what!?)

Location: Prague