Czech Experience by Sude Karpat

Trip to Czech Republic

On 22^nd December It was announced that I will go to Czech Republic in April. As soon as I heard the news, I felt so excited about this trip. First, I contacted  with Teresa who stayed at our home during the first mobility of our Erasmus project in Türkiye. I was impatient to tell the news to Teresa. Then, I informed my parents about it.

I was going to wait for 4 months to go to Czech Republic and time was not passing fast. Finally, the big day  came. I was preparing my stuff and my hands were shaking because of excitement. That day, my friends Gizem,Yasin, Çağan, Süha, Erencan also prepared their bags.

 On 22^nd April night, our trip started at 4am and it ended in Czech Republic at 8pm. Actually, I do not like traveling but I was so happy when I thought that this project will bring me new experiences. Even though it was my first time to get on a plane and I had to stand for 3 hours in the train, I was still energetic. When we arrived in Prerov, I was not feeling the heaviness of my bags. As soon as I saw our friends who were waiting for us, I hugged all of them. In Prerov, I was not feeling like a strange at all.

 On 23^rd April, we distributed the informative cards which give brief information about Atatürk and pictures of Atatürk to our friends. Our teachers also distributed some traditional tastes such as Turkish delight and mesir macunu that represent Turkish culture. Then, we had our lunch in a nice restaurant and people gave us gifts in the places we visited.  When our morning and lunch schedules were done, we learned that our host families had different plans for us. We went to 2 different cafes with our host families. Suddenly, it started raining. Although we got wet under the rain, we did not become sick. I thought that even getting wet under the rain was healing for me since I was so happy in Prerov.

 We had great plans for 24^th April as well. First, we went to Meopta and after lunch, we visited Olomouc. We saw historical places in Olomouc and they were fascinating. It was so blessed and naïve of people to respect each other in church. After the trip, we went to play bowling with our host families. While playing bowling, I thought if you are happy, it is not important whether you won or lost.

 On 25^th April, we visited schools and listened to some courses. Also, we played different games together. Then, we took a bus to Svaty Hostyn. Here, we visited basilica of Virgin Mary and had lunch. When we returned to Prerov, we went Daniela’s home because she wanted to cook meat for us. That night, we left Daniela’s home early and went to our host families’ home to rest.

 On 26^th April, we went to see Comenius Museum and our teachers gave us free time before dinner. That day, it was going to be last dinner together in Prerov. In this free time, our host families took us to stores where we can buy souvenirs and we did a city tour all together. Actually, I did not want to participate in dinner because I did not want to end this trip so I cried a little bit during our last dinner. We watched the last sunset in Prerov with Gizem. When I arrived in Teresa’s home, I patted her dogs and cat even though I am a bit afraid of her cat. I slept early that day because I was afraid I will cry more.

 On 27^th April, I left Teresa’s home with my bags and I took a bus to go to Prague. I felt that I belonged to Prague. After we did sightseeing in historical places, we started to buy souvenirs again. We did shopping in bazaar of Prague and we ate tredelnik. In the place where we agreed to meet to go to hotel, it was the last time I saw our team all together. Then, as you guess, we cried again and last night, we did not get much sleep.

 It was 28^th April and we turned back to Turkey. I had many experiences in Czech Republic but I could not mention all of them. Until now, Prerov was the most nature friendly environment I have ever seen. I did not see any garbage on the streets. Also, despite famousness of drinks, I did not run across drunk people. I was surprised by the schools which place emphasis on hands-on learning and cleaning issues as well. I felt as if I stayed at my Turkish friend’s home and I did not feel lonely at all. I will always remember my project team and my host family who prepares Turkish breakfasts for me in the mornings . I really miss my friends who are from Salihli but I am glad that I can meet them again. Elders say ‘People know each other better while they are traveling.’ I understood the meaning of this sentence thanks to my friends from Salihli. We already knew each other as people who live in Alaşehir but I spent just 1 week with people from Salihli. I want to thank  my friends from Salihli since they comforted me and communicated with me well during this trip. I am glad that I went to Czech Republic with this team.

 Also, I want to say thank you to our teachers and our families who trusted us and allowed us to participate in this trip.

Thank you for this great experience.

SUDE KARPAT