Prague/Dresden

While reflecting on my experiences in Prague and Dresden, I could easily give you a history lesson with dates and names. Rather than doing that, I want to talk about experiences and things I will take back with me and learn from.

The three words that come to mind when looking back on my experiences are:

•         Vulnerability

•         Blinded

•         Blessed

Vulnerability: On Thursday March 22, my professors, classmates and I headed to the train station to hop on a train to Prague where we would be visiting many things we had previously discussed in class. I thought I was a seasoned traveler considering I had taken a few trains already to both Prague and Budapest. We were all separated on the train cars since we were such a big group and we were told to get off at the Prague train station, no big deal right? So we pull up to a Prague train station where the people in my train car got off. We look around and didn’t see anyone from our group getting off so we quickly panicked and started piling back into the train. The train started moving and I was the only one left. As I was watching the train pull away in slow motion I started practically screaming “Mulvis Anglisky?” to the five people on the train platform. All of them looked at me like I was a crazy person. I decided to run down towards the main office where I tracked down a guy about my age who spoke English. He was helpful and showed me where to buy a ticket to the right train station. After buying a ticket and turning on my phone service to call my group (sorry mom and dad) I finally started to relax. As it turned out, my amazing professors Jan and Doug got a taxi and hurried to rescue me.

I mention this because I can sit in classroom all day long and memorize words and concepts, but in this moment I was alone, had no WiFi or phone service, and spoke one Czech phrase. I had to channel my inner survival skills to figure out who I could trust to talk to and tell them my situation as well as how I would get back with my group. Looking back, it’s just a little hiccup in the trip, but it taught me how much I can handle. If you would have told me three months ago that I would be in this situation I would have started crying. Now, I am able to process and problem solve in tough situations. All I remember wanting to do was run to the bathroom and have a freak out and cry and call my mom, but something inside of me kept telling me to “keep it together for the next five minutes… stay calm and collected for the next five minutes.” Now thinking about it, I’m so very proud of myself. I was a vulnerable foreigner who was lost. I could have been a target for anyone looking to take advantage. I thank God for keeping me safe and providing me these helpful people around me.

If anyone was wondering, I am so scared of trains now and I probably always will be.

Blinded: Out of all of our field trips, going to see Ss. Cyril and Methodius Cathedral was definitely the most memorable. If you haven’t seen the movie Anthropoid, I strongly encourage you to bare through the gruesome film. We watched it before arriving to Prague and I am so glad we did. Here is a cliff note version of the movie:

It’s a movie about paratroopers during WWll. This group of seven men killed the #3 Nazi under Hitler in a car bombing. As you can probably guess, Hitler was upset and ordered for 10,000 Czechs to be killed. These men had to go into hiding in the Ss. Cyril and Methodius Cathedral where they lived down in the crypts. Nazis were on the hunt for these men. After torturing connections with these men, the Nazi’s found the paratroopers in the church. These men held the church down for six hours. Ultimately, the soldiers who were left took their own life when they were being flooded out of the crypts and ran out of bullets.

When walking by this church, from the outside you can see where the bullets had been shot from the outside by the Nazi’s. As we went down into the crypts, we saw memorials of the soldiers who had died and it was surreal knowing the terror, the helplessness, the worry that had once happened there. My professor, Jan, had shared that his great-aunt had housed one of the men before he moved into hiding in the church. This brought this foreign story to life knowing people around me were affected by this. When we walked outside to the actual entrance of the church there was a long list of names on stone. Jan told me that these were the names of people killed because of their affiliation with the men. He mentioned that if his great-uncle wouldn’t have taken his own life, they would have most-likely killed him along with the other family members which means he would have never been born. This was such a surreal experience and really showed me just how many people were and still are affected by what happened.

Blessed: Through a lost wallet, a lost person (me), and Jess almost getting mugged in a McDonalds (this story will be told at a later time), I could easily have negative feelings here and about Prague. I will admit, at the time, I was upset and mad at what was going on but what an opportunity we have here in Europe. Through all of this we all have grown, matured, made relationships that will never go away. We have already gone through a lot in less than a month of being here. I can’t help but feel so lucky and blessed to be able to come here and experience all of this crazy stuff with an amazing group of people.

When walking through the city square in Prague we saw an Easter festival going on and it made everything better. There were little buildings that were decorated with flowers that had decorated eggs, jewelry, and local goods that made the trip turn around quickly. Things like this remind me that I need to be in the moment. I need to take everything in and always remember that even though one thing may go wrong, there are 100 things that go right. 

As Jess and I do everyday, I will say five things that I am thankful for. We call it Fab Five:

1. WiFi

2. People who are willing to help

3. Desserts

4. A place to call home

5. My parents for being okay with me being here after I tell them that I was alone at a foreign train station