Train to Prague

Submitted by Victoria Kaminski on the 2014 winter session program in Budapest, Hungary sponsored by the School of Education…

I know it’s almost always the most hated part of traveling, but I can honestly say that my favorite thing about this study abroad program has been the long train and bus rides through the countryside as we travel from city to city. I, of course, love staying in the city where restaurants and shops are our backyards, where the metro and bus stations are not even a minute anyway, and where stunning and historic architecture adorn every building. It’s thrilling to be in the middle of a big city where everyone and everything is in constant motion around you. However, there is such a quiet and serene beauty in the countryside where there is nothing, but long stretches of open land and tiny villages popping out of the hills.Village Victoria Kaminiski 14W Budapest EDUC sm

On this third weekend, I spent a total of 14 hours traveling by train to and from Prague, Czech Republic. While I meant to spend the ride completing work for my two classes, I ended up staring out the window most of the time as I was captured by the stillness of the towns we traveled through. I was filled with wonder as I looked out over these villages where people lived so differently from anything I had seen. As the train sped past a wooded area, we came upon a small river snaking through the trees with a handmade rickety wooden bridge arching over it. Just past the bridge, there was a stony staircase built into the side of a hill which gave way to a worn dirt path that weaved between small, dark houses. Walking along this dirt path was a little girl, probably 6 or 7, and a young man, probably 17 or 18. The little girl was dressed head to toe in pink with a small bag strapped to her back. She swung a paper bag from her hand as she ran up the path ahead of the  man towards a larger building with a makeshift soccer field stretched behind it. I assumed this building operated as a school or meeting hall. The man, however, was what caught my attention. He was pushing a rusty wheelbarrow overflowing with wooden logs before him and an axe was casually hooked on his right shoulder. Though I only saw him for a fleeting second, he stayed in my mind for the remainder of the trip. He looked so close in age to me yet his life’s story seemed so far from my own. I wondered what it would be like to live in a village like that, where fires were the only source of heat, where all the families knew each other, and where all the children attended the same school. I wondered what it would be like to wake up every morning and see a babbling brook run beneath the window.

House Victoria Kaminiski 14W Budapest EDUC smThis simple train ride made me grateful for everything in my life and curious about other ways of life.