Ahoj z Česka! Today marks two months since I stepped off the plane and started my adventure here. It is crazy to think that it has really been that long since I last saw all of you. As cheesy as it sounds, I feel that in these last two months I have grown so much. It hasn't been easy, but man has it been rewarding. I'm pretty proud of myself for all that I've learned and accomplished in these first two months, and I can't wait to see what the rest of my exchange year has to offer.
So, it's been awhile since I've had a chance to post. My schedule has completely filled up now that I have adjusted to this new life, so I have very little free time. This is a good thing though, because it makes me feel like I am really making the most out of my days here. And, of course, the days are full of almost exclusively things that I have chosen to do because they are fun for me. The busyness I'm feeling in no way resembles the stressful work-school balance I am so familiar with. It feels great to have such little stress and I'm so happy with the way that everything is working out.
Okay so I'll stop rambling and get into what I've been up to since I last wrote. The biggest change to my schedule has been the Czech lessons in Prague. Every Monday and Thursday I travel about 2 hours each way using a combination of trains, busses, trams, and the metro. The public transportation here is so convenient and definitely something I'll miss back in the states. Czech lessons are one of my favorite parts of the week because I get to see the 11 other exchange students who live in and around Prague. It's a really fun group and we have become quite close. We always manage to have some cool adventure in the city before/after class. I'll share a couple pics below😊
I'm so lucky to not only have this opportunity to see more of Prague and spend time with my exchange friends, but most importantly to have a great place to learn Czech. Each lesson lasts about two hours and it's just the 12 of us with our (very patient) teacher. We have a couple textbooks to study from, as well as worksheets that she prints out for us to do as homework. These classes have really helped to guide me in my studying of the language. I have come such a long way since I got here, but of course I also have a long way to go. Czech is an extremely difficult language; I have read a couple different articles now that say it's actually one of the hardest languages in the world for English speakers to learn because of its ridiculously complex grammar and difficult pronunciation.
There are 7 declensions in Czech and they don't only include verbs but also nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and adverbs. That basically means that any word can have 14 possible forms in the singular and plural. Yikes. I thought people were calling me "Elso" instead of Elsa and "Eliško" instead of Eliška as some sort of nickname for a couple weeks until I realized it's actually a grammatical thing. You need to know what to change each person's name to (called their vocative) and in which circumstances you must use their vocative. Crazy. Czech is also the only language to have the letter Ř (which I still can't say correctly).
I'm just focusing on speaking to be understood instead of speaking to be grammatically correct though, so I am letting a lot of these rules go for now. I have found that Czech people really appreciate that I speak their language with them, even if it's completely incorrect grammatically. I am at the stage where I understand quite a bit of what people are saying, but when it comes time for me to think up a response, it's still pretty difficult for me. Thankfully, I have lots of great resources to learn from and I'm really motivated to improve my Czech each day. As long as I keep trying to speak and practice, I think it will get easier for me soon.
I realized I haven't said much about my host Rotary Club here in Beroun. They have been absolutely fantastic. We're a really small group of less than 10 people - a surprise to me at first because Northfield has a quite large Rotary Club in comparison. We meet at a hotel in the city every Tuesday night for dinner. All of the rotarians seem genuinely interested in me and they take time out of their busy schedules to invite me into their homes or to local events. I've had a great time getting to know all of them and I'm so thankful for the things they do for me.
My Rotary Counselor invited me to spend the entire weekend with her last week and we had a lot of fun. On Saturday we helped work at a wine festival that one of her friends was hosting in a cave! We had to arrive very early in the morning to haul all the wine, food, tables, and supplies down into the cave. Preparing for the guests took many hours, but when the event began we had such a blast! It was a late night and we were pretty tired Sunday, but my counselor had some friends from Ostrava staying over so we wanted to do something fun with them. We ended up taking a day trip to Plzeň (or Pilsen) known for the Pilsner Urquell Brewery. We had dinner in the famous brewery and also went to the zoo.
I've also continued to spend lots of time with Czech friends from school and my host family. I don't have time to go into detail about everything we've done, but here's some of my favorite pictures!
So as you can see, I've gotten to experience quite a lot in these last two months. I'm really loving my life here, but I know I couldn't do it without all of your love and support from back home. As we begin to approach the holidays and my birthday, I have been told things will get harder. I'll miss my friends, family, and home a little more than usual. I plan to focus on taking things one day at a time, and holding on to each special moment I've had here. Being an exchange student can be so incredibly hard sometimes, but I have no doubt in my mind that it is so worth it.
We are now heading into fall break so I will have the next few days off of school. I'm looking forward to the chance to catch up on some sleep and I also have some fun plans with friends and my host family, so stay tuned! Sending my love to everyone ❤️
Čau!
Elsa (Eliška)