Is it weird that I really haven’t been homesick for America
yet? They say home is where the heart is, but my heart is freer even than my
soul, so considering one place home is a bit of an impossibility for me.
Since we’ve arrived in Europe, I’ve been more homesick for
Olomouc when we leave for our weekend trips than for America itself. That is,
until our last few weeks of travel. As was elaborated in my last blog, I had
quite the time in Italy over spring break, and this past weekend was spent
exploring London. These two places out of everywhere I’ve been so far felt the
most like home in America, so it was a turbulent situation trying to decide
whether I missed Olomouc more while I was travelling elsewhere, or Italy and
the UK more when I returned.
Now that I’ve been here long enough to consider Olomouc (and
Europe as a whole) my home, it seems like a good opportunity to delve into what
my daily life looks like here and on personal excursions. The “study” in my
study abroad may be lacking a bit, but that doesn’t mean I’m not learning experientially.
Let’s take a glimpse at a day in the life of Marrissa abroad! Honestly, my days
often begin moderately late because I’ve been out dancing at the clubs until
the wee hours of the morning, so breakfast and lunch usually get merged into
one delightful meal of crepes, croissants, and whatever other glucose loaded café
delights I choose to poison myself with. I’ve gotten good enough with crowns
(25 to 1 USD) that I almost feel confident ordering immediately without having
to calculate whether or not I’m flushing my savings down the drain. Thank
goodness everything in the Czech Republic is so phenomenally cheap, even when I
splurge it’s still pretty reasonable, which is good because most of my
afternoons are spent either eating again at a café to mooch off their internet
or buying things at the mall.
Huge point of adjustment from life in the states: other than
the occasion movie in class, I have not watched television since crossing into
Europe, an activity that usually occupies several hours of my day, even if it’s
just playing in the background while I do something else. It’s odd having so
many new experiences every day that I don’t even miss it. Really, really odd,
in fact. I often feel like the typical media addicted American, but pulling
back has been much easier than I thought it would be, which gives me hope for
my generation.
Anyway, daily life can’t be all fun and games, as proven by
the trainwreck that is Czech language class. All I will say on that topic to
avoid a vindictive rant is this: do not under any circumstances learn Czech.
NO. While our regular and guest professors provide us with new and interesting topics
of thought each lesson, our Czech professor makes me want to never learn
another language again. Enough on that though- it’s time for the fun stuff!
After classes is when the real party starts (and I mean that literally, not metaphorically).
Whether it’s heading to the bars for drinks with friends or
a barbeque with the university students or an opera at the local theatre,
evenings are the best part of my day. The peak of the week though, is Wednesday
night, because that means Erasmus party at Belmundo, our favorite club! The
scene doesn’t start popping until midnight or so, but the larger majority of
our Nebraska group tries to make it out for a night of drinking and dancing,
and it’s a new adventure every time. Even when the temps are subarctic out, we
still make the jaunt home on foot, stopping for kebobs at the best street food
joint in town. With that, we’ve come full circle back to sleeping in to recover
from a night of memories made.
That’s weekday life though. Weekend travel life is a bit
different. Oblivion. That is the word I would use to most adequately describe what
our side adventures have been like so. Our days our characterized by blinding
meandering from place to place, hoping to find where we’re looking for or at
least something unexpected worth stopping for. Between the language barriers,
our limited knowledge of the landscapes, and our general incapacity to seek
assistance due to spotty wifi, our escapades are not well suited to those who
don’t enjoy surprises. Our weekend adventures are by far my favorite parts of
the trip, but those outside of our group don’t get an authentic view of how
truly exhausting they are.
As posed travel pics with artsy captions are posted, our
friends and families miss out on the fact that in order to get to those amazing
destinations, we’re usually up before the sun and travelling until late into
the night, switching back and forth between trains, planes, and automobiles.
More often than not, I attempt to pay in the wrong currency out of the six
different types I carry in my wallet, or thank our waiter in the wrong language
of several we’ve picked up along the way. I’ve gotten pretty good at mixing and
matching, but the fact remains that we’re two months in and my entire life
still fits into a backpack. Fashion in not the word of the day. My shoes and
sunglasses are being held together with superglue, and almost half of my
minimalistic wardrobe has some sort of stain or tear at this point.
Nonetheless, I have no complaints. I will gladly sacrifice my clothing for the
chance to seek new experiences! The people I’ve met abroad are some of the most
magnificent individuals I’ll ever have the privilege of associating with: from
the Canadians we convinced to go cliff diving with us to the Brits we biked the
Tuscan countryside with, I am nothing short of amazed by the quality of people
Europe is churning out.
No comments:
Post a Comment