If you have decided to read this newsletter because you are on the fence about studying abroad, let me say: Do it. I am writing this text now at an airport in Prague; my look at overseas applications has ended, and I am already reminiscing about it. From the new meals to the pals made, I can say that studying abroad changed the satisfactory semester I spent in college. To avoid becoming that one-friend-who-won’t-close-up-approximately-her-semester-overseas, I will speak approximately it as soon as in this newsletter, after which by no means deliver it again. In that manner, if one among your real pals also continues occurring about their take look at overseas revel, you could show them this and say: “I recognize. I get it!” So, without further ado, here are my largest takeaways from dwelling in Prague this past semester.
You’re going to be worried.
Going to Prague, I flew out of my consolation region to an area wherein I knew nobody, could not speak the language, and changed into — in contrast to Berkeley — going to be one of the few Asians in the program, let alone the complete us of a. My mind at the plane spanned from “It’ll be satisfied if I don’t make pals” to “Oh my God, what if people yell racial slurs at me? However, I didn’t even realize it as it was in. Czech?” It didn’t help that on my connecting flight from Frankfurt to Prague, it appeared like all and sundry on the plane was going to study overseas, and all by some means knew every other. I thought I had already neglected out at the window to make buddies even though this system hadn’t started.
It’s like first year all yet again; simplest this time, you could legally drink.
It became useless and traumatic about all those things because the first weeks of orientation unexpectedly confirmed to me that everyone was looking to make buddies. It felt like a national version of freshman 12 months — people had been discussing their majors, hometowns, and the faculties they attended. Coming from Berkeley, where it seems like everybody is from NorCal or SoCal, it turned into thrilling to interact with software full of people from the Midwest, East Coast, or even the South. I learned what a Chicago accessory appeared like, what Frank’s RedHot sauce is, and that the word “slaps” is seemingly slanged in Florida. I additionally realized that I assumed every person knew the entirety of approximately California. When I informed people I changed into from the Bay Area, I was given reactions starting from “Cool. Which bay?” to “Oh, so Maryland?” to “Is that Los Angeles?”
Culture shock is real. Very actual.
People don’t smile inside the Czech Republic! There is a component called “Metro face” in Prague, a look of stone-cold indifference that everybody places on. It may also seem unfriendly or rude, but that is how it works here. It doesn’t mean that staring is socially ideal, so you may also turn your head at the Metro. It’s simplest to come head to head with a Czech citizen who is churlishly making extreme eye contact with you. By the quit of the semester, I had perfected my Metro face and changed into staring right back at everyone.
Food, wonderful meals
Czech meals start offevolved and end with various forms of meat — from pork goulash to pork sausages. Being vegetarian, the most effective Czech meals I could certainly devour changed into fried cheese with tartar sauce, which is delicious but very dangerous nutrition-clever. At the same time, it’s your most effective meal alternative. I needed to look outside the nearby cuisine; however, the city has many worldwide options. Ironically, pho and burritos have been the food I most often ate, which is my precise weight-reduction plan in Berkeley.
It was like I had in no way left. I wasn’t enough to journey to different international locations on the weekends, so I had my first time sampling neighborhood cuisines. Waffles in Belgium! Fondue in Switzerland! Pasta in Italy! More pasta in Italy! The quality factor I ate was pierogies in Poland, which — and this isn’t an exaggeration — tasted like a little wallet filled with happiness. I fell in love with pierogies so difficult that I went to a 24-hour pierogi area at two a.m. on our closing night. To eat them one remaining time.
Right earlier than I get off my excessive tour horse, let me say studying abroad forced me to step out of my consolation area satisfactorily. Everyone’s loot abrasion is distinct, but I can not recommend it enough. I was allowed to take a smash from the Berkeley bubble and meet people I could never have met in any other case. I had once-in-a-lifetime studies that I will cherish (and subtly brag about to my buddies) for an extended, long term. My stomach is a bit heavier, and my wallet is a bit lighter, but if I could go back and do all of it again, I could.