2008 Woodie Awards
Just Czechin' In
Shannon Obey '08
Issue date: 9/15/06 Section: Commentary
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Ahoj PC! After half a year of planning and running around campus getting signatures from department heads and the thumbs up from the study abroad department, I am finally here. I am writing from Prague, Czech Republic where I will be living and studying for the next four months. I had naively imagined that I would arrive and a switch would be flipped in my brain. I would instantly know my way around, and the language barrier would not be a big issue as I was told that most young people in Prague know English. . . or I would miraculously understand the Czech language. Of course, I couldn't have been more wrong.
For the first week, I constantly got on the tram heading in the wrong direction, and was extremely disoriented, not because I am bad with directions, but because I could not understand the directions people would tell me. Another issue that added to my disorientation was that I could not read the street signs that may or may not have potentially led me in the right direction. I thought I was never going to adapt.
So far, the knowledge I have acquired over the years from Providence College has not seemed to help me either. Where are the Czech courses? Where are the palaces and mini Eiffel Towers to tour? Where is the 20-minute tram ride to class? Despite these shortcomings, there is one way that Providence College and growing up in the United States has perhaps over-prepared me for these new experiences in an unfamiliar country.
When we were young, we were told never to talk to strangers, look twice before crossing, and to run and yell "No!" when approached. Combined with the daily news "if it bleeds it leads" theory, this makes Americans the most prepared and paranoid people probably on earth. Going to school in Providence, R.I., probably makes me the worst paranoid of them all.
At PC, as a girl at least, we are told to never walk anywhere alone-especially at night, to avoid dark alleys or bad neighborhoods, and to be aware of our surroundings. This message is reinforced- actually, rammed into our heads-with the many signs posted on dorms almost every night of the weekend saying things like: "Last night at 1:00a.m. a student was mugged at knifepoint in the Guzman parking lot." I do not know about you but these signs and warnings never seem to give me a warm snuggly feeling inside.
For the first week, I constantly got on the tram heading in the wrong direction, and was extremely disoriented, not because I am bad with directions, but because I could not understand the directions people would tell me. Another issue that added to my disorientation was that I could not read the street signs that may or may not have potentially led me in the right direction. I thought I was never going to adapt.
So far, the knowledge I have acquired over the years from Providence College has not seemed to help me either. Where are the Czech courses? Where are the palaces and mini Eiffel Towers to tour? Where is the 20-minute tram ride to class? Despite these shortcomings, there is one way that Providence College and growing up in the United States has perhaps over-prepared me for these new experiences in an unfamiliar country.
When we were young, we were told never to talk to strangers, look twice before crossing, and to run and yell "No!" when approached. Combined with the daily news "if it bleeds it leads" theory, this makes Americans the most prepared and paranoid people probably on earth. Going to school in Providence, R.I., probably makes me the worst paranoid of them all.
At PC, as a girl at least, we are told to never walk anywhere alone-especially at night, to avoid dark alleys or bad neighborhoods, and to be aware of our surroundings. This message is reinforced- actually, rammed into our heads-with the many signs posted on dorms almost every night of the weekend saying things like: "Last night at 1:00a.m. a student was mugged at knifepoint in the Guzman parking lot." I do not know about you but these signs and warnings never seem to give me a warm snuggly feeling inside.