My Journey to Praha

The past 72 hours have been a whirlwind of emotions and activity, but I have successfully arrived in Prague! It’s insane to think that I already feel changed, but my journey getting here definitely taught me flexibility and patience.

I started my travel with a three o’clock flight from North Carolina to Chicago, Illinois. It was a quick two hour flight and I read peacefully on my Kindle until we landed. Since my next flight was an international one to Dublin, I had to find a transfer bus that would take me to the correct terminal without having to go out of the airport and all the way back through security. Thankfully I found myself near an information desk and got there swiftly. Once I got to the international terminal I realized I had a nice four hour wait until my plane took off. When I settled down in a quiet spot, my nerves and emotions got the best of me. I was feeling quite lonely watching most of the people around me travel with family or friends, and was wishing I had someone to share the nervousness with. I tried to remind myself that there will be times on this ten month trip that I feel lonely, but it won’t stay that way forever!

My four hour wait turned into about five and a half before we made it into the air. The flight to Dublin would take about six and a half hours and by my calculations it would leave me with a very small window of time to make it to my final connecting flight. Again, I tried to remind myself that whatever happened, I would deal with it and to not stress. Landing in Dublin was a rush of getting off the plane, getting transferred to the correct terminal and ultimately sprinting through the airport with an Irish worker to try and not miss my flight. I successfully made it on the plane (the last person to board) and in two hours I had touched down in Vaclav Havel Airport! I discovered that unfortunately my luggage did not make it on the flight since I landed from Dublin so late, but I was in such a travel induced jet lag haze that I simply gave the airport woman my information about where to have everything sent and tried to find someone from CIEE to pick me up.

The first familiar face I saw was Tereza, our supervisor/right hand lady/program mom and although I felt like I could have burst into tears from the stress of the day, her smile and warm attitude put me right at ease. She chatted with me while she called me a taxi and the feeling of panic and frustration washed (somewhat) away. She assured me she would call and call and call the airports to get my things here as fast as possible, and even told me I was a few minutes from a huge mall where I could buy clothes for the time being. It was comforting to know that from the moment I landed in Prague I had someone I could count on to help me through the tough experiences! I took a thirty minute cab ride through tons of winding streets, drinking in everything I could in this new, unfamiliar place. When I pulled up to where I would be staying for the first two weeks of being in Prague, I immediately saw the girl that I would be teaching with surrounded by a big group of people. I felt more comfortable as I got out of the car and she took me up to my room. Within ten minutes of arriving I was stepping out the front door with a group of fellow teachers and being shown around the area we were staying. After a long day of travel, my journey had begun!