To the People of Europe,

Since I've been in Europe for a little over a month now, I have already met so many people that will impact my life forever. Along with these people, there are even some who I've only spent a couple minutes with that have taught me something about myself or about life.

To start off, when I first arrived in Prague, I encountered a lot of people who were so nice to me and the group that I arrived with. The woman who rented out her apartment to us left us a list of all the places near us to eat, to shop, and the places we should visit for the weekend. She even had a driver pick us up from the airport and take us back. This made my first weekend in Prague feel so welcoming and homey. As I have already mentioned in my first blog, we had to take an Uber almost everywhere since our Air bnb apartment was very far away from the city square. I encountered so many different Uber drivers. Most of them didn't speak English so there were a lot of silent rides, but there were some drivers that went on and on about their lives in the short 15 minutes I spent with them. Most of them talked about their reason for moving to the Czech Republic and how happy they were to be there. A few talked about their education and how they had the privilege go to college and get their degree. This really stood out to me because not a lot of people here have the opportunity to have a higher education. They work so hard to get where they are and I really appreciate that. It makes me want to work harder towards my goals in life, and it also made me cherish the privileges that I have in my life.. especially the opportunity for me to be in Europe for three months.

Having dinner after our beer tour. Tereza is on the bottom left!

Next, I want to talk about Tereza. Tereza is one of or directors here in Olomouc. She has been helping me, and the rest of the group ever since we got accepted into this program. We met her back in the States last semester when we got together at Old Chicago, and ever since then I knew she would be our "Mother Tereza." She's done so much for us since we've been here like copying our passports for safer travels, booking local weekend trips when we have nowhere to travel for the weekend, teaching us how to use the tram system, showing us around our new college home, and being there for us when we need someone to talk to or to take us to the doctor when we are sick. She really does it all and I think I speak for everyone else in our group when I say I am so thankful for her. Last weekend she organized a beer tasting and a wine tasting for the weekend. I only went on the beer tour (because it was cheaper) and was almost late for the bus-but what's new. I quickly messaged her on Facebook and told her I was behind schedule, but she was so understanding and helpful on telling me how to get to the bus on my own. Thankfully, I made it on time and didn't have to miss out on the beer tour!

When we arrived at our dorms (Nederin) in the beginning of March, it was late and we were all so tired from our day of traveling from Prague. We were given our bedding and WiFi router (which didn't work by the way) and sent off to building 2D floor 4. Emily and I each had huge suitcases and tired arms... and then we had to carry our belongings all. the. way. up. to. 4th. floor. Luckily, there was a nice girl that lived across the hall who asked us where we were going. She took our key and led us to the right room and unlocked all of the doors for us on the way. Just today actually she offered to let me try her authentic Chinese food that she cooks for her and her roommate almost every night. I've run into so many nice and helpful people within our dorm. The guy that lives next to Emily and I helped us with our WiFi situation and he also warned us when the University was doing electrical checks. Since our WiFi router from the University didn't work, we were forced to buy one at the store, which we apparently weren't supposed to have. He saved our butts from getting fined.
Jess also has an amazing flatmate, Hash, who is from the UK. He has helped her and Hannah so much in their dorm as well. Whenever Jess and I are trying to book a train or a flight for a weekend trip, he helps us and sometimes knows how to get us discounts. He's even helped us order TelePizza when Jess and I had no food in our rooms. I'm so glad I met Hash because he's so understanding, helpful and patient with us in all situations. He really is a blessing!

Adela, me, Jess, and Tereza

Speaking of new friends, Jess met two girls while she was lost and trying to get back to the dorms one night, and they helped her find her way back. To thank them Jess and I met up with them for drinks last week. Tereza and Adela are sooo nice and they were very interested in the differences of the US and the Czech Republic and what we had to say about it. Tereza grew up here in Olomouc and Adela is from a small town in Slovakia and they are both studying here at the University to become Dentists. We spent the whole night talking about all of our different views on the world and quickly became friends. When we get back from our trip to Vienna, Venice, and Croatia in the next couple of weeks, we have already planned to meet up again.

On this trip, I have already learned more about myself than I ever thought I would. I've learned to be more patient- especially when I'm always late for things and getting on the wrong trams and getting off at the wrong stops. A long time ago, I realized that I was very relaxed and carefree when it came to stressful situations. Usually when the slightest thing goes wrong, there is always someone who becomes stressed about the situation.. which isn't a bad thing. Sometimes its good to have someone in the group who worries about missing flights and accidentally getting off at the wrong train station, because if no one worried then we would never get things done.

Laughing after we got off at yet
another wrong stop

I've learned to sort through what is worth stressing out about, and what isn't. For me, being late and missing a tram is NOTHING compared to other problems going on in this world. There could always be something worse that could happen to me. On this trip I have definitely realized that I have it pretty good here.. so the little things that go wrong don't quite matter.

Because I'm a little bit more relaxed, I find myself not booking flights, trains, bus rides, and places to stay when we travel until about a week in advance, because I kind of worry about things as they come along. Thankfully there are people who are more organized than I am in our group. But I am learning from the more responsible people in our group to be more organized and on top of things. This is definitely something I have struggled with all my life.. I guess you could call it procrastination (as I'm writing this blog an hour before it's due haha.) But by the time I am ready to travel back to the states, I'm hoping I can be way more on top of deadlines than I was before I arrived. Maybe I will start being on time to things too ;)

That's all for this blog, but I'll be back soon with all of my adventures in Vienna, Venice and my Spring Break travels.