A Month in Review: Expectations vs. Reality at NYU Prague

I was pretty anxious before coming to Prague. Was it because I didn’t start packing until the night before? Because I’ve never left the US for more than a week at a time? Because I didn’t know a word of Czech? Probably all three, but nevertheless, I was also excited. For the next three months, my peers and I would be living in one of the prettiest cities in the world.

Somehow, one of those months is already over, so I thought now would be a good idea to reflect on our experience so far to see just how “The City of a Hundred Spires” has lived up to our expectations.

“I really like Prague,” Leon Sleator (Junior) said. “It’s cheap and you can’t walk a block without finding a nice coffee shop or beer garden with a nice riverside view. It’s just a beautiful place to hang out. I’m glad that this is my home station. It’s not quite as crazy as some of the other European cities I’ve been to, but it’s starting to feel like home.”

Many students have found it very easy to settle into their study abroad experience in Prague. Between the city’s far more peaceful atmosphere as opposed to NYC and its huge selection of  cafes, parks, and buildings to explore, it’s hard to not find something to love. However, there definitely have been some things we’ve all had to get used to coming from a city like New York.

“It’s almost eerie how quiet things are here,” Ashley Hou (Senior) said. “I’m from Long Island, so I’ve grown up hearing loud city noises. It’s crazy that even at 9pm things are slowing down here, but I don’t necessarily think that’s a bad thing. It’s just a different way of life.”

Prague has a city-wide policy delegating “quiet hours” from 10pm – 6am. During these times, it’s requested that no loud noises such as music, construction, or gatherings occur so as to not disturb people who want their rest. In the times I’ve been outside closer to these hours, I’ve always been impressed at Prague’s ability to wind down (despite having such nightlife simultaneously). After living in NYC, I didn’t think it was possible for an urban space to get this quiet.

“Booking hostels and trains is just really easy and you can do it very spontaneously. You can go to Warsaw, Berlin, Munich, Vienna, and there’s just so many places nearby that are really accessible,” Leon said.

Travel to and from Prague has also made quite an impact on students so far. Situated in what some would call “the heart of Europe,” Prague acts as an excellent hub for travel. For some though, the big question is why would you want to leave Prague to begin?

“Every city I go to, I compare it to Prague and I think ‘it’s not as beautiful, it’s not as safe, it’s not as cheap.’ I’ve found a lot of qualms with a lot of other Central European cities, but Prague just feels so natural to be in, especially as a student living here,” Ashley explained.

So far, Ashley has used her weekends to travel to Geneva and Lucerne in Switzerland, Vienna, Budapest, and Berlin utilizing both train and air transit. So, while it’s very easy to travel from Prague, the city’s rich history and beautiful architecture create an environment that’s very easy to come back to. Make sure you don’t spend every weekend traveling though, because there are plenty of great places here you don’t want to miss out on.

“I was definitely looking forward to the tight-knit community here. I’ve gotten way closer to people than I expected and made friends along the way. I was surprised by how small the classes were, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing,” James Chen (Junior) said.

This semester, there are only around 70 students studying at NYU Prague. This is an abnormally small group as during a typical semester, there are around 150. Personally, my largest class this semester is Expressive Cultures: Music in Prague with 15 students (if you’re ever studying here and this course is offered, you have to take it. Trust me.). However, my smallest has only five. So that’s definitely been quite a difference from NYU New York for me too.

“There’s far fewer people than I was expecting, especially in the music program,” Leon explained. “There’s only six music students and I was expecting to be around a lot of musicians in the Osadni dorm, but there’s almost none. It’s all right, I heard that in the Spring there’s much more students and music students here, so that’s something I wish I knew before coming.”

Due to the lower enrollment this semester, everyone at NYU Prague has become quite familiar with one another. While this is a great thing for socializing and collaborating on projects, it also poses quite a challenge for those like Leon who expected to see more diversity in his field here. However, NYU Prague isn’t the only place where this lack of diversity has posed some challenges for students this semester.

“The staring gets to me a little bit. I’m Chinese and Korean and there’s not a huge East Asian population here, but it feels very non-threatening. In New York, being a person of color or a minority, you always feel a threat of violence, but here it’s more of a question than it is hateful,” Ashley said.

The Czech Republic is known for having quite a homogenous population ethnically, resulting in this “curiosity” that Ashley describes towards some who appear as non-Czechs. While the threat of violence in Prague is significantly lower than in NYC (in fact, Prague was ranked the safest city in Europe for travelers by travelandtourworld.com), the staring still makes many uncomfortable. Prisha Jain (Senior) described to me a more intense encounter she had with someone based on this:

“A couple days into being here, I was walking while trying to find a notebook for class and I got stopped by this Slovak man on the street who wanted to take a picture of me and of the two of us. It was really uncomfortable because he got really close to me, and when I kept trying to leave, he kept holding and kissing my hand. I felt a little unsafe in that moment, but other than that it’s just been a lot of stares and side-eyes,” Prisha told me.

Overall though, whether students walked into their time here with or without expectations, everyone has seemed to find something that they love about Prague. Friends, food, places, events, everything. Prague has it all (James recommends eating at Pho Duong Anh and Bageterie Boulevard). Personally, Prague has exceeded all of my expectations so far. I love being here. It’s so inspiring.

“I miss my friends, my family, and the craziness of New York sometimes, but I also wanted to get away from that because living there is insane. So I don’t really miss much about the US. The beer here is infinitely better here though, so I think when I go back to the US, I’ll be pretty disappointed for a while,” Leon said.

The comment of missing friends and family back in NYC was a common response shared by many of my peers, but so was that of not missing much else from the US. Personally, I think the biggest thing I’m dreading when I go back to the US is not having European Fanta anymore (if you know, you know). Now, when I think about returning home in December, all I can think about is how much I’m going to miss Prague.

When asking for any final remarks on their experience, Ashley left me with this: “Come to Prague! I think everyone should come here. It’s an underrated city and it’s awesome to be in your 20s here.”

Featured image courtesy of Ed Pena, edited by Jae Jin.