My Unintentionally Hilarious Arrival in Prague

Church by where I live at Namesti MiruSo there I was, stepping off the plane after leaving London for Prague. I was finally here! All of the guidebooks I had read, along with the many warnings I had constantly heard about pickpockets and the like, were now almost a blur. Its always a funny feeling for me whenever I do travel anywhere. Its almost as if where I was previously was nothing but a distant dream, and I always have this sort of weird readjustment period where I have to get back into the swing of things. Anyway, the day I arrived, my desire to explore my surroundings continually pulsated in my mind while running towards the promenade in Ruzyne Airport, where I frantically searched for the member of the NYU staff waiting to take us to our new four month home. After someone almost stole my luggage at baggage claim (not even kidding), I felt that this was going to be an interesting trip. So for all of you out there, the key is to keep an eye on your luggage. Your pocket? Not so much. Almost as if to immediately adjust me to life in the Czech Republic, when I exchanged money at the airport, the woman didn’t understand me when I said to give me 500 korunas, or crowns (that’s the Czech form of currency, in case you wanted to know, which of course, you did) but instead gave me more along the lines of about 5000 crowns, which then led to the incurring of a lovely overdraft fee in my bank account because I had forgotten to transfer money from my savings into my checking account.

That aside, I still kept an open mind when I arrived to my humble abode in Prague’s Vinohrady district, the NYU Machova Residence Hall. Our staff was incredibly welcoming and nice, helped us get settled in, and then took us on a tour of our new surroundings. Upon first glance, I found some things to be quite apparent. For one, the Czechs looked at us strangely when we smiled to them as they walked past, which I can’t blame them for based on their oppressive communist past, as I wouldn’t be smiling all the time after going through that either. Secondly, I found the Czech dogs are never on a leash, which is great in one way because it shows just how obedient they are. However, one major problem that I learned during this time was that they Czechs DEFINITELY NEED TO CURB THEIR DOGS!!! I’ve managed to step in about 4 piles of dog poo since arriving, despite my best attempts to walk around staring at the ground all day. And it’s not just the normal kind of dog poo either. It’s the really gross, warm and mushy kind (yes, even in the winter) that is impossible to get out of the bottom of your shoes! Okay, I’ll stop ranting so far, but I will say that the last couple of weeks have been full of surprises and I’m fairly sure that I’m in for quite an interesting semester.

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