Off We Go!

City ViewI am going to assume that writing about a place is more accurate when you’re actually in the place. It’s difficult to understand a culture when you aren’t immersed in it. That being said, I do not mean to chide the intent of this class because I did learn a lot about Prague and it definitely increased my excitement about going there.
Many of the blog assignments were very educational. I enjoyed reading travel guides and narratives, studying maps and the layout of Prague, learning about the cuisine, and a few others like music and cinema. However, I think it would have been cool had we had more open topics because this would provide us with the opportunity to explore exactly what we want (which is probably what we will end up doing when we go abroad anyways).
Something else that was on my mind during the course of the class is that it felt like an independent study. It was cool to see where other people are going and what they had discovered about their abroad site but it often felt like I could only really connect with the information of my specific location as I was the only one to actually study it (I think there’s only one other person going to Prague from the class aside from me).
I’m not sure my philosophy of Prague has altered during this class as I had no prior knowledge of it to begin with. I am really excited to explore the city and get to know my way around. The city seems to have a simple layout similar to Chicago (my hometown). The language barrier is a concern of mine as I know no Czech, but I’m hoping to pick some up while I’m there.
Overall, I feel pretty confident and about this upcoming experience. I have traveled a lot before and have really enjoyed every place I have been. I can’t imagine Prague having a different effect.