Submitted by Vivian Hsu on the 2016 winter session program in Europe sponsored by the Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics…
It’s crazy to think that I’ve only been in Europe for a week, but already we’re halfway through our time in our second country. Our group met up in Prague last weekend, and for four and a half days we learned about the history of the Czech Republic and how that has given rise to many of the current issues the country is facing. We also went on a walking tour that lasted almost the entire day, but we got to see some of the most beautiful parts of the city and get a taste of the Central European culture.
Walking around these homogeneous cities as an Asian American was quite interesting. Several people stared at me as I walked by, and a few would come up to me and ask me “Where are you from?” or even toss out a greeting in some Asian language. Back in America, not many people would question “an Asian living in America” whereas here in central Europe it is hard for some of them to believe or understand that an Asian could be from the United States. This has happened more often here in Budapest than it had in Prague because the area we were in Prague had a lot more tourists. It definitely isn’t a good feeling, but learning about these countries’ history has helped me become more understanding and used to it. Another culture shock I had was the lack of friendliness and the few number of smiles locals showed. In America, we’re used to smiling at people, saying ‘Excuse me’ when trying to get through people, and holding doors for others. However, in Czech and Hungary, again because of their Soviet past, they are much more closed off and don’t show much emotion. It’s very easy to identify who the Americans (or tourists in general) are at a restaurant because most of the local central Europeans have quieter, more serious conversations instead of laughing loudly with each other.
It’s been an amazing experience so far learning about the Central European history and economy, and also having time to explore the cities on our own… even if this means getting a little lost sometimes. We just have a couple more days in Hungary, and soon we’ll be on another train headed towards Vienna, Austria.