It’s been about a month since I arrived in Prague! I have enjoyed my time here so far; the weather, the atmosphere, and everything in between have been great. I can’t believe it’s already July; my time here has been flying by. As I touched on in my previous blog post, I have become familiar with daily life in Prague, which has made me a lot more comfortable. Though, I realize I have to find a balance between being American and respecting the culture here. While I want to fit in, I don’t necessarily want to lose myself. Czech culture is rich and carries so much history, and from my experience, it feels like a coin toss to guess if a local is going to be nice to you. Most of the time, when I am riding the tram or metro, people just kind of stare at me blatantly, which is normal here. But in private passing in residential areas or buildings, most people greet each other with a quick “Dobry den.” Restaurants can even deny you service if you are not a local. For the most part, people come off as stoic and neutral when walking around the city.
As an American, this has been an adjustment. Throughout Europe, many people view people from the US as “fake” because we might initially come off as overly nice, which can be seen as ingenuine. I think the general mood of people I see throughout the day, in contrast to this stereotype, has made me overly aware of how I interact with my coworkers. Even on my first day, there were some negative comments in the workplace about tourists. I think that initial knowledge and then a slight confirmation of that view at work set me back, as I immediately began to hold back my personality so I don’t come off as “fake.” This might have set me back a bit, though, because after three weeks with my coworkers, I see their personalities coming out more. As the days go on, I try to speak my mind and communicate more in a casual setting. This has been slightly difficult to do with fear of judgment or disapproval from my supervisors. On a more personal level, it’s also been frustrating seeing myself question who I am. If you’ve been keeping up with my blogs, you’d know that I just participated in the Leadership in the Himalayas program, and I had such a confident feeling about myself and my mindset. Yet, a new culture definitely put that up to the test as I am trying to adapt to Prague’s daily lifestyle and still be myself. I can continue to improve on this by immersing myself in the culture more to get more comfortable with being an American in a foreign lifestyle and to recognize better the similarities and differences between the US and the Czech Republic. I am staying in Prague this weekend, and this will be my first solo time without work to really have a day in the city, so I am hoping this will give me a chance to slow down and really engage with Prague.
Anyway, this past week has been as busy as the past weeks have been. With working my 9-5, I am becoming better about creating a weekly routine for myself. I have incorporated the gym more, started cooking more at the apartment instead of eating out as much as I did, and taken some much-needed downtime when I have the chance. This weekend, I had the opportunity to travel to Split, Croatia, with some friends from the program. It was very… eventful, as we had some issues with where we were staying that could have left us homeless one of the nights. But besides that, Croatia was a great experience. We went on a two-hour hike in the heat, where we were able to see a full 360-degree view of Split at the top of the hill and then headed down to spend the rest of the day at the beach. We also went on an eight-hour boat cruise where we stopped at a village on an island, a shipwreck, and a private beach. We also spent some time exploring the central city itself, which is called Old Town and is encapsulated by Diocletian’s Palace. It was beautiful, and I am so glad I was able to experience another country. While our adventure wasn’t smooth sailing with housing difficulties and flight delays, we were still able to enjoy our time.
