So far my time in Prague has been great. I learn more and more about the history and the country each week. Recently I went on a tour of the city and they mentioned how just 30 years ago this country was communist. It is really hard for me to fathom how recent that was with how open and accepting of a country they have now become. Of course with it being that recent it it is still visible in some parts of their culture, but overall the city feels very distant from its darker past. Another crazy piece of knowledge I received is that around 75% of the country is not religious. This sparked me as a crazy low number due to the number of religious structures and residences there are in the city. Some of the most famous places for tourists to visit in Prague are in fact religious buildings. The reason for this was in protest of the forced religiousness by their communist leaders. This week for me was full of learning more about the Czech republic and exploring the great city of Prague.

Coming into this program I researched what the working life was like in Prague. Site after site told me they are very strict, on time, and blunt. This of course worried me thinking I would not receive any positive feedback and it would be a strict environment. Even at the orientation while here in Prague they reinforced the same things I read online. So going into the first week you could say I was pretty nervous. I was researching as much as I could on my company to try to prevent disappointing my supervisors. As the days pass though, I couldn’t say anything other then this is far from the truth. my office space, and many of my peers is very laid back. People roll in and out whenever they please and often times my coworkers work remotely. Although I am unable to do many of those things through EUSA, I still feel as if the work mentality is far more relaxed then it is in the states. I feel as if I have a lot less pressure to complete a task, instead of rushing it and doing it poorly I have the comfort of time to do things correctly. Therefore, I have really made sure what I have turned in was polished to the best of my ability.  I believe the reasoning for this new culture is because it is a growing city, a metropolis for startups and they’re trying to remove themselves from their strict past. Although that may have been the case 10, maybe even 5 years ago I do not believe that stereotype holds true today.

With this being the case in my work space, it makes it difficult for me to organize and prioritize my time. People are in and out and I need to make sure I know all my tasks and projects at the start of each day. So at the beginning of each day and each week I make sure to email or talk to my supervisor about what needs done. Therefore if they do leave or go to a meeting, I will still be able to progress through my daily work and even my weekly work. Once I receive the task I also rank them upon priority. For example, I was given two tasks today. One was to create media pages for the incoming incubator my company is creating and the other was to increase the followers and impact of the already existing accounts for my company. I put establishing the new accounts before increasing the others impact. The reason I chose that order was because I felt as if the new Incubator being created needed as much traction and attention it could get to have a good opening. The current social media pages already had an impact and felt increasing and broadening that impact could wait until the new program is established. In the coming weeks I am moving to managing the new startup incubator, and for that reason I have also used my free time to learn as much as I can on what it will be used for and how I can make sure it runs as smoothly as possible.

Although i have really enjoyed my experience so far with my company, I can not wait to start my new tasks with the Incubator. This being because of the new business ideas and technologies I will be exposed to. I am learning a great deal of information and know it will only be increased from here.