Exciting things:
1. FOOD & BEER! - Food is always a top interest for me, and I hear that Czech beer is like drinking the golden liquid of the gods. I will have to get back to you on that one...2. Architecture - I hope to never be able to look at a building back in the States the same way after this adventure.
3. Nazi History - Living in Prague puts me in the perfect position to feed my (probably unhealthy) obsession with Nazi history and the Holocaust. The Czech Republic is nestled right between Germany and Poland. What better location could there be to allow me to explore all of the interesting and horrifying sites that I have read so much about?
4. People! - I cannot wait to make new friends abroad! Also on the nervous list, though...
5. Internship - Real work experience! Woo! I know I will learn a lot, but also on the nervous list...
Things that make me nervous:
1. People! - Okay, I will be spending five months here. If I don't make friends, I am going to be miserable. Since I won't be taking classes at a university, but completing a full-time internship instead, it might be difficult for me to meet people my age. Time will tell.2. Internship - HOLY CRAP! This is real-world stuff! I just had my 20th birthday, and that number makes me feel slightly more competent than 19 did, but I still feel like I should be back scooping ice cream at my high school job. I hope that I can be useful!
3. Language - No, I do not know any Czech, and yes, it is extremely difficult to learn. Prague is notoriously English friendly, but I hope to learn a bit of the language. Nobody wants to be the ignorant American, although I surely will be just that. Hmm...maybe by the end of my five months in Prague I will be on my way to being a less-obnoxious American. One can hope.
4. Family & Friends - I am going to miss them!! Skype will be helpful, but there is no replacement to being around your family and friends. Boo.
5. Getting lost/mugged/Taken - Basically, safety issues. I like to think of myself as aptly able to defend myself and/or invincible, but let's be honest, my self-defense skills are not battle-tested, and nobody is invincible.
I was talking to a classmate about my semester abroad, and he asked, "Aren't you terrified?" Yes. Yes, I am. The way I see it, though, life is pretty boring if you aren't terrified once in a while. What spurs growth better than a little fear?
P.S. Yeah, I didn't really know where the heck Prague was before I decided to go there. Lucky for you, I found this map to help you find it, too! The Czech Republic is the lovely teal country near the middle of the map, and Prague is the star.
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| http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/world_maps/txu-oclc-264266980-world_pol_2008-2.jpg |
Fears??? Reservations??? My Tempe??? Oh pleaszzzz!!!
ReplyDeleteThis is the high school sophomore (who was, in actuality, a year younger than her peers b/c she had skippped a previous grade!)who phones me in the wee hours of the morning and tells me she's at Grand Central Station in NYC, (YES, THAT'S NEW YORK CITY!!!), when in my naivete I had believed her to be staying overnight at a friends house less than a mile way from our Maryland home!!! This child of mine, my tempest in a teapot, was apparently feeling some teenage angst when,all by herself,on a whim,decided to grab a cab to the closest train station, buy a ticket Big Apple bound, and winds up galavanting around Time Square in the middle of the dark night, no doubt bumpkin gawking at big (BIG!!!) city life ( oh, just a few hookers, druggies, & winos milling around is all!). Must have finally hit her just how BIG, b/c she smartened up and called her mommy at 1:30 am to confess her escapade!I'll spare you the plethora of emotions that I experianced upon excepting the charges of a long distance collect call from a daughter I had believed to be safely snug in a bed right down the road (no teenage cell phones back then), as well as my ensuing drive to Penn Station in Washington, DC at three in the morning to pick my little tempest up (all this while her unaware father was comatose & snoring at home all snug in his bed!)! Needless to say she grayed some of her mother's hair that witching hour(s)!
SoOoOo, fear??? Me thinks NOT!!! Interestingly confusing from a parental point of view to want to shake a child silly and yet want to simultaneously shake her hand. That's my kid!
She's off!! This is a test of faith for me perhaps moreso than her. It is the farthest in distance the cord has yet to stretch. We will both be forever changed. Tho leery, but hopeful, I know that this is how it should be, has always been, and will continue to be. The circle of life. Godspeed, my sweet littlest chickadee; soar, and good flying!I love you with all that a mother's heart could and does.
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