Culture Shock

Ahoj friends and family!

Welcome to my blog, I will be sharing experiences, struggles, adventures and more. I’m so happy to be able to share with all of you!

When talking about culture shock, I understand that feeling and how it can affect a person. In my case, I think I wasn’t “shocked” by what I came face to face with when I stepped  on my plane in Prague, I would say that I was more overwhelmed and taken back by all the small differences rather than the big differences.

Coming halfway across the world was a big step for me considering I have lived in Nebraska my whole life. Living in my little world has made me used to certain customs, unspoken rules, and a simple way of life. I knew coming to Europe things would be different, but I didn’t know how I would cope with the difficulties that I would come up against.

The first day that I arrived, it seemed like every hour I felt more and more out of place. I realized differences everywhere I went, from the language barrier, to the food, way of transportation. You name it, it was probably different.

When arriving in Prague, I knew there would be a language barrier when it came to communicating with people about where to go to find our ride to our Airbnb. I vividly remember walking up to a security guard in the airport trying to find customs and he looked at me like I was the “stupid American” and walked away. Well then… this is where I realized that this might be harder than I thought. From here on out, I found my new favorite saying, "mluvtis anglicky"  or “Do you speak English?”

After using this saying a few times, I realized Czech’s are much more willing to help you and be a little friendlier if you try to speak to them in their language. This lead me to reflect on myself. In high school I took Spanish because it was a requirement (sorry Mrs. Lallman), nothing in me wanted to learn another language or improve my skills so that I could use them in a conversational aspect. Then I go to the Czech Republic and expect people to help me and understand what I’m trying to say. It’s very closed minded and ignorant as a society to do the bare minimum when it comes to learning other languages and about different cultures, especially when we have so many languages represented within Nebraska! 

Language barrier was definitely a big shock that I experienced, but more importantly, it was about all the small things that I noticed were different. I kept a running list on my phone since they are small things that you could easily skip over or forget if you don't write it down somewhere:

·      Diet pop is “light”

·      Cobblestone roads are everywhere

·      Sides of ketchup are not free (Sorry dad)

·      Portion sizes are smaller than in the US

·      You don’t fill your pop at restaurants (You also don’t ask for refills)

·      People dip their fries in mayo

·      Graffiti is everywhere 

·      There is no ranch (if you know me, you know this is an issue)

·      Fast food is rare

·      Grocery stores make you buy your plastic bags

·      You walk miles upon miles everyday

·      Water is not free

·      There is so much foam on beer and coffee (don’t worry mom, I don’t drink any beer)

All of these things separately don't seem very bad or different. All together they create a different way of life, or a different norm. This overwhelmed me the first week because when I thought something would remind me of home, for example, a cup of coffee, I would receive a cup of foam and be a little disappointed. 

 There are so many small things that have come together to overwhelm me and make me take a step back to evaluate how I live my life both here in Europe and back home in Nebraska.

I hope that by reflecting and writing about my experiences here in the Czech Republic, I can bring to light things I would have never thought about if I had never had this experience and I hope that I can come back with a new outlook and a stronger, more independent person by learning and overcoming these changes whether they are big things like not being able to communicate with anyone in a room, or drinking a "light" soda with absolutely no ice. By having friends by my side on this trip, it has been fun to learn from our "stupid American" mistakes and grow as individuals. 

Nashledanou!