The past month has been a whirlwind for me. Because I contracted a serious strep infection the week before finals week of fall semester and my professors were generous with extending deadlines, I was finishing final essays on Christmas Day and break actually started feeling like break on New Years Day. Except I never got to fully relax.
Instead of leaving on January 20th to arrive in Prague on the program start date of the 21st, I decided I should take advantage of the free time I had and arrive in Europe a week early. That left my mom and I just under two weeks to accomplish a long to-do list that spanned an entire page, including but not limited to: getting a new debit card, selling my motorcycle, buying a suitcase bigger than I ever thought I would need, and buying warm enough clothes for Prague (two years in sunny LA had made me all but forget the many harsh Colorado winters I once scoffed at).
Maybe it was because I was too busy running around taking care of these errands or maybe I just hadn’t had time to think about the upcoming semester, but the realization that I was about to leave the country for 5 months or more didn’t hit me until the morning of my flight. The concept of starting a temporary but new life in a new place was nothing new to me. I haven’t maintained a permanent address since I turned 18 almost two years ago, bouncing around between Colorado, Washington and California. Studying abroad in Prague was geographically farther away, but fit with the general trend. This was and continues to be my mindset, except for the morning of my flight when I worried that my time abroad might somehow be substantially different.
After frantically slimming down my suitcase to the appropriate weight limit, I was off to the airport. My anxieties from earlier in the day quickly faded as I went through the same monotonous inconveniences of traveling as I have numerous times before on domestic flights. Aside from the sheer size of the plane, the attitude and pep of the British Airways crew was the most memorable part of the trip; perhaps it was just their accents, but Southwest should take notes.
The Prague airport is surprisingly small, so in just 15 minutes I was in a taxi on the way to my first hostel. Upon lugging my extremely bulky luggage inside and receiving a look of pure disgust from the front desk employee as a result, I got a crash course in hostel etiquette and lifestyle before buying ramen, the only meal I was 100% confident that I could recognize. I spent the following day dropping off my luggage at the office of my study abroad program and walking around the city. Any apprehension I had about living in a city quickly evaporated. Instead of the cramped and dirty streets of downtown Los Angeles or Denver that I am used to, Prague’s sidewalks are wide and made of cobblestone, the buildings are all beautiful with many styles of architecture, and the winding streets are actually fun to get lost in. According to my phone, I walked 12.1 miles my first day and I don’t think I will get tired of walking around this city any time soon.
With six days until my program officially starts, I decided to explore Germany by taking the train to Munich, then planned to travel to Nuremberg and eventually back to Prague. Thanks to Hostelworld.com and Goeuro.com, booking travel has been surprisingly pleasant and I have been able to plan my trip on the fly without needing extensive planning.
Because I have not started my program and am traveling on my own, I am still a little uneasy, but my pre-departure worrying has completely evaporated and been taken over by anticipation of how much I will be able see and experience.