Submitted by Margaret McNamara on the 2016 fall semester study abroad program in Prague, Czech Republic…
I think one of the biggest ironies of study abroad is that while I’m spending my semester in the Czech Republic, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about America and its culture, its history, its people, its politics, its meaning. Before my semester abroad, I had barely been outside the United States and I had never been to Europe. When you move to a foreign country you inevitably have to make a few adjustments. I had to figure out what the cultural differences and social expectations are because I learned quickly that my American values definitely do not fit in sometimes. Americans are loud and gushy and expressive—Czech people are none of those things. For example, an American stereotype is that there are two Americans on a tram full of people. Everyone on the tram will be involved in their own conversations, but you hear the two Americans above everyone else. Granted, neither culture is right or wrong—they are just a little different. These differences are the reason anyone travels: to see how the other side lives. So naturally, my last few months here have been full of comparisons, which is why America has been such a reoccurring thought even though it is 5,000 miles away.