Prague With A Blog

The first weekend of my spring break, about a month ago now, was spent in London, England. The entire week was a poorly planned series of missions across five countries in eight days, rife with a number of obstacles, but all in all a memorable experience that I am grateful to have had. Being honest, I am not a fan of traveling and being away from wherever I am resided usually affects my mood, but London was different. Crowded at the Columbia Flower Market I chose to go to London because a friend I knew from high school is currently studying there and I wanted to pay them a visit, but it turned out that several other people from high school to be there on that particular weekend. The adventures I had there were made more fun being accompanied by these familiar faces from home. There were even three CMCers there that weekend, and I am still kicking myself for not snagging a photo with them when I had the chance to. Interesting architecture and color palett

Making connections with people can have a positive impact on our experiences. Talk about a person or a group of people you have made a strong connection with in your program and share some of your fondest memories you have created with that person or group.       This may come across as pretentious but I consider myself a unique social being. I started noticing this around the start of college, partially feeling like I did not need any friends because the best ones I could ever have were at home/I felt satiated within my social relationships. I understand the arrogance and brashness of these statements, but I had had the same friend group since about middle school, my best friend is my cousin and we are like brothers, and all the friendships I made throughout high school seemed to augment what I already had. I felt like I had enough. This leads to hours spent alone, on the phone communicating with old friends via social media, and not pursuing  new opportunities. Though I do not near

Share your morning routine and daily commute. What do you see? What do you eat? How long do you commute? Are there any places you stop on  your way? Describe what your world looks like from the moment you wake up and guide future CMCers along your daily commute to class or internship.      The commute. What sounds like a fable to most Claremont College students has become oh so real during my time in Prague. Essentially, my day begins at 7:45am – 8:00am, times unfathomable to me back at CMC. My commute is roughly 25 minutes, and it involves me walking to a metro station (which I still instinctively call the subway), riding it for four stops, then walking to my morning classes at Studio FAMU (Filmová a televizní fakulta Akademie múzických umění v Praze//The Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague). The one and only      I know, it is terrible, but I usually do not eat breakfast in the morning, as I only leave myself just enough time in the mornings to g

Homesickness is a natural part of any off-campus experience. Have you started to feel a little homesick? What do you miss about home? What have you done or currently do to help alleviate feelings of homesickness or FOMO? Describe your experience with dealing with homesickness and ways to manage while participating in an off-campus program.      I do not think I have had any explicit fits of homesickness, but rather reactionary moments that made me realize what I was fortunate enough to have had at home and do not have here. More than anything, I miss the familiarity of being at home: knowing where everything I could want and need are, knowing my way home from nearly wherever I am at, having a place that I consider to be my home. This desire for familiarity was what made me welcome Prague with open arms after Spring Break, since it was the first time in a week that I would be surrounded by a place that I felt I had at least some bearing in. Figured it wouldn't be the smartest t

List some interesting historical facts about your host destination that you have learned since your arrival. How does the history of your destination impact daily life today? Do you have the opportunity to witness any historical monuments or sites associated with these facts? Why might it be beneficial to learn about your destination’s past before arriving? What may be the part of Czech history that is most relevant to my experience here is its communist past. Czechoslovakia was communist for 40 years, beginning with a coup d'état by the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia in 1948 and ending in the bloodless Velvet Revolution in 1989. This period of time is marked notably by the Prague Spring on August 20, 1968, when Soviet powers invaded Czechoslovakia after one of their major political party leaders, Alexander Dubček, made a number of liberal reforms (i.e. lifting a censorship on media) ( Wikipedia ). Refusing to accept the presence of these invaders as a new normal, Charles

Find out what local people do for entertainment, relaxation, or fun and take part in it. What does the choice of activity say about the people? What do you appreciate about it? Do you have any concerns? Could you foresee yourself engaging in this part of your host country’s culture on a regular basis? It appears as though... Board games (along with other indoor games such as foosball and pool) are a part of the culture here. This was unknown to me when I signed up to go to a program-organized trip the board game club the very first day that I got here, but I am glad that I signed up, nonetheless. Apart from it being a good opportunity to meet other people in the program, I played new, fun social games and saw a bit of what Czech people like to do for enjoyment. The preference for indoor games, especially this time of year, is now obvious to me given the weather conditions. Though this one aspect is not representative of the whole culture, I think it does relate to the quieted