The beginning of exchange was very scary for me. I was scared I had made the wrong choice by studying in Prague, but I was completely and utterly wrong. Prague was definitely the best decision I have ever made and it quickly became one of my favorite places. Traveling on the weekends was fun, but the feeling of landing in Prague just felt like home. Studying abroad in the Czech Republic was such a great experience. I enjoyed my classes a lot, even though it took some time to get used to the long classes, it soon got easier. Another thing that took some getting used to was the closed off personalities that Czech people tend to have. On our campus in College Station, everyone is so quick to give a small smile or a Howdy here or there. In the Czech Republic, you won?t really see a stranger give a small smile back. Eventually you get used to it, and sort of assimilate.
I truly believe that Prague is such a great place for students to study abroad in. The city is so student friendly and has a lot of student discounts for different types of daily activities and museums. The professors are very understanding and all have great experiences working for FMCG companies such as P&G and Unilever. My marketing professors worked for Loreal and Nivea, so they talked about the experiences they had. In another class, we got to work closely with Czech companies to work on a marketing campaign for a social problem in the Czech Republic. We got to experience first-hand what it is like to work with foreign companies and tailor our interactions and ideas to them and their cultural differences.
Since I was living in the dorms that every exchange student got to live in, I was able to meet a lot of great people. I was able to make friends from France, Italy, and Turkey and other countries. I am truly grateful for pushing myself out of my comfort zone and going to study abroad for an entire semester. I was able to navigate through small everyday challenges with my friends and experience the Czech Republic with them. The end of the semester meant having to say goodbye to really amazing people and it was one of the hardest thing to do since we wouldn’t know when we would see each other again. However, we made promises we would see each other soon and have a reunion trip.
I am so grateful to have had such a great exchange experience in Prague and I look forward to returning to the Czech Republic and the rest of Europe one day.