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.

Ready for the children to board the plane! 

Hike day with the kids

Ready for Carnaval! 

Conga line shenanigans

 Hanging out with Dominiku at the sausage-roasting fire 

 Bonfire on the last night of camp

- Amy D.

Amy's Czech Republic Adventures!

I can’t believe I have already been in the Czech Republic for a month! My internship has flown by so fast. When I first arrived in Ostrava, I had no idea what to expect. Luckily I was greeted at the bus stop by an AIESECer, who helped me navigate the confusing public transportation system. The people I met throughout the day were no exception to that first friendly face, and I finally began to feel at ease in this new place after all my traveling. Following all the welcoming, I prepared a presentation about the United States, which was actually much harder to do than I anticipated. How do you explain American culture to someone who has never been there? When I finished, about ten of us walked to the location where I would present and it turned out to be a lot more legit than I thought! My presentation was part of a series of different cultures, and there were pamphlets on the chairs with my name on them and everything. So crazy! Afterward, we all went to a pub and had an interesting talk about our different cultures.

I headed back to Brno for a few days before my internship officially started, glad to have the opportunity to see even more of the Czech Republic. There, I had the chance to hang out with some more AIESECers, and some were from more familiar places like Madison and Colorado, while others were Brno locals or from China. We watched the Euro Cup in pubs and explored the sights of Brno. The next weekend, I even had the opportunity to go to Berlin, which was absolutely incredible. I’m glad I took advantage of the opportunity to travel while in Eastern Europe.

Eventually, it was time to head to our first summer camp, where we would be for the next 3 weeks. After a long, hot day of traveling and many mishaps along the way, we finally made it to our camp and settled in! I quickly became friends with the other AIESEC intern, Ellie, who is originally from Canada and currently living in Bulgaria. It was definitely nice to be living with someone else who spoke English as a first language, since polished English was rare to find at camp. The first few days were a little difficult, as I felt very much outside my comfort zone. It seemed that almost no one spoke any English, and the kids were extremely shy to even try. At that point I had no idea what to expect of the next 3 weeks, but I was definitely nervous.

Luckily, those circumstances quickly changed as both the children and other staff members quickly warmed up to us. Within a couple days, we would come back from dinner to find 10 eager children on our cabin porch, waiting to try and talk to us. The kids were shy but curious, and the language barrier became less of an issue as we played games, danced, and learned to speak Czech. Once we realized that English was not going to be very prominent at camp, Ellie and I set out to learn Czech ourselves, asking the kids as many questions as possible. The girls would pop into our cabin just to point to different objects and quiz us on their names! I’m proud to say within the first 10 days, we had learned all the body parts, numbers, animals, colors, clothing, objects in our room, greetings, and phrases like “what time is it?” “how old are you?” and “do you like..?” Our basic Czech always broke the ice with the kids, who were either impressed or collapsed into fits of giggles at our accents.

The camp itself has been a ton of fun, and we have been involved in all sorts of activities. Some of these games and adventures have involved painting our faces like zombies, sprinting through neck-deep water of an obstacle course, riding horses in the meadow, playing human bowling, and taking day trips to a nearby swimming pool. It’s been a blast! We even showed them a little American dancing by expertly shuffling to Party Rock, and I even surprised the boys by proving that girls can play soccer, too. Dancing and soccer have definitely been two of the best activities to bond with the kids, as it doesn’t really matter what language you speak for either of them! Overall, this camp has been great for learning about the Czech culture, language, and food as well. Today is our last day at this camp, and then we will be moving to another one very soon for one more week. I am eager to see what the next chapter has in store.

The beautiful view of our camp that I get to wake up to every morning

Some of my favorite 10 year old girls at camp! (and now 4 new facebook friends)

The main square in Ostrava
-Amy D.