Engaging the World with AIESEC Yale: Czech Republic Recap!

I am sitting here writing this entry on a luxurious train on my way to Prague! I am so excited that my AIESEC internship has allowed me to travel all over Eastern Europe while I have been here. Starting today, I will be embarking on a road trip with 4 other Yalies as we traverse through Prague, Budapest, and Vienna. I can’t wait! However, I still cannot believe that my TN has ended and I am beginning a journey that will soon take me back to America and the hallowed halls of Yale I call home. It was an incredible experience! Although I suspected the last week of my internship would be quite similar to my experiences at the other camp, I was proved quite wrong. Even though it has only been a short time since I last wrote, I feel like I have learned so much and had some crazy experiences in the last two weeks.

Before we traveled to our next camp, the other intern and I decided to have some fun on our few days off. We got in contact with some of the people from the AIESEC chapter in Ostrava and learned that there would be a lot of interns in the area as well! One of the friends we made while in Ostrava, Marek, picked us up at the bus station and took us to the main square in Ostrava. There happened to be two different festivals going on, so there were people and street art everywhere. It was really a cool time to be there. That night, we went out to Stodoní Street (the most famous street in the Czech Republic) with the other interns and had a great night. I had an awesome time meeting these people from all around the world – the people we went out with were from Canada, USA, Bulgaria, Turkey, India, Egypt, China, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic. It was so cool! And since we were all AIESECers, everyone wanted to have a good time and loved to dance.

After staying at Marek’s house for the night and learning more about Czech culture from his family, Ellie and I headed to our new camp. After a long bus ride through rural areas and climbing the longest, most never-ending hill I have ever walked up in flip flops, we arrived at a camp that turned out to be very different from the last. Instead of 225 kids, there were 25, and instead of cabins with electricity and mirrors and nice beds, we were staying in tent flap cottages with wooden slabs and sleeping bags for beds. Not to mention that there was no electricity or running water at camp. Welcome to group showers and wood burning stoves! Although it was different from what I expected, I actually love. it! Being cut off from the world is so nice for a change, and I am truly a wilderness girl at heart. The camp itself was gorgeous, with hills and trees everywhere the eye could see. It was stunning!

We quickly got used to the way of life there, and became good friends with the counselors. Although we did have a “translator” who spoke both English and Czech, it was nice to know some Czech at this point and be able to communicate. The counselors were so open and friendly to us. I think one of the funniest experiences was playing charades with the Czech counselors, with us yelling things like Cinderella and someone else having to figure out if it’s the same princess in Czech! So cool that things are the same, and also that we learned so much about other Czech fairy tales.

The theme of the camp was “Around the world in Seven Days,” and we went ALL out with the kids – from dressing up as airline stewardesses to checking their passports to sneaking them across the border from the US to Mexico in the middle of the night. It was so fun! One of my favorite nights was our Carnaval in Brazil, where we all dressed up with masks and colorful skirts, doing conga lines through the camp and blasting music from camp speakers made of large pots. We also took a hike to a pool in the next city and played games in the forest. No matter how much I see of the Czech countryside, it continues to amaze me.

The last night at camp, we had a giant bonfire on the hillside that served as a great ending to my experiences. Sitting around that fire with a full moon and singing the few Czech songs I know while listening to others was so picturesque, and I truly felt as if I would be leaving a family behind the next day. Campfires bring people together, but also allowed me to reflect on the past few weeks and realize how much I had changed and learned throughout this experience. After the campfire, we had a huge party with all the counselors and ended up sleeping outside on a hilltop as the sun was rising, trying not to get trampled by the sheep that roam the hills at night. It was a perfect end to a great summer! Czech was definitely an adventure, and one that I will cherish for a long time.