Delve into my unforgettable study abroad experience in Prague. From navigating the decision-making process to exploring the city's rich history and vibrant nightlife, I share personal anecdotes and practical advice for anyone dreaming of an overseas adventure. Whether you're a student planning your study abroad journey or a travel enthusiast curious about life in Prague, this episode is packed!
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Delve into my unforgettable study abroad experience in Prague. From navigating the decision-making process to exploring the city's rich history and vibrant nightlife, I share personal anecdotes and practical advice for anyone dreaming of an overseas adventure. Whether you're a student planning your study abroad journey or a travel enthusiast curious about life in Prague, this episode is packed!
Instagram @katshortsleeve
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Youtube Shortsleeve Travel with Kat Shortsleeve
Welcome back to the Short Sleeve Travel Podcast. I'm your host, Kat Shortsleeve. Short Sleeve Travel is your compass, pointing you to experiences that are elevated and luxury, all while on a budget. Here, we will redefine luxury travel and help you fill in your life with as much travel as you desire. This week, I am talking all about my study abroad experience in Prague. I went to Georgetown as an undergrad and decided to study abroad in Prague, but the decision was definitely not easy. I Think it's pretty difficult when you're trying to figure out where you want to study abroad because there are so many options and the programs Are pretty intense to get into and so you're trying to balance. Should I go to these locations? Should I go to the program that's going to be easier to get into and what I would say is if you could wave a wand and get into any program make a list from top to bottom of All the places that you'd want to go and for example, I knew I really wanted to study abroad And so I applied to about five or six different programs knowing I would be able to get into at least one of them Whereas my roommate she just wanted to go to Florence Italy and she didn't really want to go Absolutely anywhere and if she didn't get into Florence, she wouldn't go and so make sure you take that approach first also make sure you're looking at which programs fit your major and definitely take that into account. So, for example, I know for Georgetown, if you were in the business school and you were studying either finance or econ, you only had the choice when it comes to Europe of studying abroad in Copenhagen or Barcelona. And you had to choose one of those two. And had you gone outside those programs, you would have a more difficult time graduating on time unless you took summer classes. My brother, did his undergrad at Middlebury College and he was a pre med major and so he had to choose programs that fit within pre med. Pre med, of course, is science, a lot of it, and he needed to do something very science and chemistry focused because he was a molecular bio biochemistry major. And he was also majoring in Spanish, so somehow he was able to find this program in northern Spain where he was studying winemaking because that combined chemistry of the winemaking and also combined the Spanish language because it was a total language immersion as well. Now one of my friends, she studied abroad in Australia, in Sydney, Australia, and she had the best time ever. And now I wish I could go study abroad in Australia, but at the time, I knew that I really wanted to be in Europe. And the reason why is because Europe is so well connected, and I'd be able to go to so many different countries, see lots of different cultures, and that was a lot of my main focus when I was there. I traveled during every single weekend and every single break aside from two weekends. Otherwise, I was on the road going to new places, and it was amazing. I actually was able to go to 13 countries during my time studying abroad, and I did so very, very cheaply first of all, I was on a shoestring budget, which is why I chose Prague. My choices were either between studying abroad in Prague and studying abroad in Copenhagen. And once I did a deeper dive, I realized there was no question. Actually, the choice kind of was made for me when I looked at the different costs between spending four months living in Copenhagen and spending four months living in Prague. But additionally, what I decided to go even deeper and look at rather than just look at the prices for restaurants, the prices at the grocery stores, public transportation, as well as the apartment costs, I looked even further and I saw, okay, if I do want to travel. So many weekends, and I knew that was my goal. I checked the flights and I saw, okay, how much will it cost me if I fly from Copenhagen to Italy, Copenhagen to France, Copenhagen to Spain, versus doing Prague to all those places, and I was blown away. It was about a third of the cost doing all these travels from Prague. Versus doing it from Copenhagen. And additionally, Copenhagen, the cost of living there was just so, so high. I mean, the standard of living is a lot higher too, but I was just young and okay to rough it a little bit more in Prague. While I prefer Copenhagen now for so many reasons, and I want to explain why, At the time, Prague just made so much more sense. So first, let me explain about Copenhagen. So it is, it has this focus on being modern and sustainable. They have very modern design, architecture, and a strong emphasis on green living. It's famous for being one of the most bicycle friendly cities in the world, and I visited for a weekend to Copenhagen. Absolutely broke the bank, and we biked around the entire city. It was the best way to see it because... I will still say it was so expensive to get a bike for the weekend, but it was such a fun way to see the city because everyone seems to get around that way. Actually, in three weeks or two and a half weeks, I am supposed to go back to Copenhagen, which I'm very excited for. And I'm definitely getting a bike, definitely biking around, going to all the cafes for the cafe culture scene. I've just been craving going to Copenhagen and wearing like cute vibey outfits, like baggy clothes. I don't know. I've just been looking up Pinterest, like Copenhagen. Influencer girls. Anyways, that's beside the point. To compare Prague and Copenhagen a bit. When it comes to the architectural style, Prague is very famous for having medieval historical architecture, while Copenhagen, again, like I said, modern, minimalist, sustainable. So I prefer Copenhagen now, but it was cool to go to school in Prague, and it was neat to be exposed to that in Prague because I otherwise wouldn't really do a deep dive there, whereas I could see myself living in Copenhagen now. When it comes to topography, Prague is hilly. And Copenhagen is very flat, which is why it's much easier to bike around Copenhagen than it is in Prague. Also, in Prague, I don't recommend getting a bike because there are cobblestone streets everywhere. And the cultural focus, while it's rich in both places, Prague leans more towards classical and historical arts, which I was less interested in and was happy to be more exposed to that while studying abroad. And Copenhagen is known, again, for progressive lifestyle and welfare. Prague feels like a well preserved historical journey into the past, with strong sense of tradition and history, and Copenhagen is a blend of historic charm, but also, again, the strong focus on sustainability, design, and being kind of modern and hip. Also the people in Copenhagen are absolutely gorgeous, I don't think I've seen so many beautiful men in my life. What was so nice about traveling from Prague on the weekends was that I would go explore Prague during the week, actually, before and after classes. And Prague was so busy on the weekend with tourists that it was nice not to be there on the weekend, but rather go to like, the very touristy spots during the week. So, the most touristy spot and the place where you do have to go because the heart of Prague, it's called Old Town Square. There's this astronomical clock which Is a very gothic structure. It's on a gothic church and it's on this like baroque building beautiful must see spot Like I said, the architecture is so well preserved in Prague, and that's actually because I'm pretty sure, and I learned this when I was there in school, hopefully it's the truth, but Hitler absolutely loved Prague, he thought it was the most romantic, beautiful city, and it is such a romantic city, so he wanted to preserve it, and so he made sure that it didn't get Another must see spot when you are in Prague is if you are in Old Town Square, you head over the bridge towards the other side of the river. You're headed And on the top of that hill, you get to the Prague Castle. It's a central feature on the city skyline. You cannot miss this. You will definitely go there. And my family, this sounds dumb, but we did a Segway tour around the Prague Castle. It was kind of a cool way to see all of it, but then I also, of course, walked it multiple times. There are tons of museums and galleries all over the city. You can just pop in and out, offer a little donation, but they're super, super cheap, even if they do have a fee. What Prague is very famous for and known for is this vibrant nightlife. They have everything from traditional Czech pubs, to beer halls, and then trendy clubs and bars. So, I will tell you two places that you need to go. Cause I don't need to overwhelm you. There is this 90s club called Lucerna in Prague. It is an underground club that's just a few meters away from the Wenceslas Square. That's like a famous square in town. And they have... This big projector where they play all of these old 80s, 90s music. And they put up the music video and people just have the best time there, so we had a lot of fun there. Go there, have some absinthe, go crazy. Also, mind you, it costs a hundred Czech crowns to get in. Sorry, not crowns, I mean koruna. Czech koruna, that's what it was. It costs a hundred Czech koruna, which... Actually is less than five dollars. And it's so funny at the time we thought that was so much money because we're studying abroad and we have no money at all. But it was four dollars and forty cents and we were looking for people to pay it for us. It's so silly. But make sure you bring the cash for that because they will ask the second place you're going to need to go to is any beer hall where you can pour the beer yourself. Beer in Prague is so cheap. It's like I want to say 25 cents for a pint of beer. It's ridiculously cheap. You pour it yourself It's so fun. A lot of times you can race how much you can drink compared to the next table So maybe go to Prague with a whole bunch of friends if you can And prepare your stomach Then again Prague prepares your stomach for you because so much of the food the Czech cuisine are these hearty dishes hearty stews sausages like Very intense, heavy food. So it's kind of hard to get drunk when you're eating all those things. Anyways, Prague was such a beautiful place to study abroad and my family visited twice. They visited over Thanksgiving and we went over to Italy and had such a nice time together and then they visited again at Christmas. So Christmas markets in Prague are a major attraction. It is so beautiful. My favorite parts were the Mold Wine, which is the hot wine. You can just have that, stroll along the streets and go to all sorts of different vendors. Make sure you are dressed really warmly because it doesn't get chilly and it's all outdoors, but there's great food, local crafts, and it's just such a nice thing to stroll around and stroll through. My mom bought a wreath there during this time and it's something that we put out every single Christmas and it's just so nice to have that from Prague. Now, like I said, we went on 13 different trips, actually more than 13 trips because it was 13 countries. I think about 16 trips, which is crazy, like I said, we're taking buses, making it super cheap, staying in a hostel. I think at one point we stayed in a 12 person hostel and split it. More than 12 ways because I shared a bed with my friend Cassidy. I think we had about 15 girls in this one hostel. Crazy, but you do what you gotta do just to save money Before I talk about the best trip that I went on when I was studying abroad, I want to talk about the worst. And while I actually don't have a specific place that I want to say was the worst, Just the worst overall and what you should not do when you're studying abroad is Do not go somewhere without doing your research in advance. Of course that applies just across the board But sometimes it's fun just to be in a new city and not know anything really and just kind of explore it yourself when you're studying abroad, You have such a limited time on the weekends that you need to kind of hit the ground running. You want to see a lot. You want to learn a lot. I think that's kind of the point of traveling when you're studying abroad. Have everyone come with ten different facts of fun things that they've learned about that country. And then you can kind of share it. with each other. You can talk about it over meals. Whereas I understand, you know, now everyone's working and if we go on a trip all together, we kind of want to disconnect, have fun, and not worry about learning things as much. But the point of studying abroad is you're young, you obviously are going to be going out and having such a great time, but you also need to explore the history and go see the major sites. You don't want to go to Florence, for example, and not see the Duomo, or not know what it is. You're young when you're studying abroad, I get it. But, you do need to know what is going on. Prepare yourself, and you'll have a much better time. Before every country that you go to, I recommend learning a couple local phrases. Put them in the notes app on your phone and just be thoughtful. Know how to say hello, how to say excuse me, how to say, you know, can we have the check, or do you speak English, those types of things. Translate it, put it in your notes, you'll be fine. I also recommend do not stay at super nice places when you are traveling and studying abroad. Do the hostel, save the money, even if you have more disposable money and income. Spend more time getting to know other people through hostels. It's the best thing to do while you're young. So, study abroad and do it that way. But, now I will stop with the lecture and let's get on to my favorite part of studying abroad. The best trip I went on during my study abroad was when I went to Italy with my absolute best friends. So, I went with some girls that I knew from college, as well as some of my lifelong friends that I know from Maine, where I spent some time in the summer, as well as another girl that I met way early on in life. She's, funnily enough, actually my twin. We, it's kind of like a parent trap situation. I'll have to explain that story another time. But I went with all these girls who I just have such deep connections with, which was incredible. And then of course some new friends as well. So we went to the Amalfi Coast. None of us had ever been there before and this is such a romantic place the Amalfi Coast is this stretch of coastline on southern Italy that is famed for being a very rugged terrain. It's absolutely beautiful. You have these gorgeous homes that just spot the hillside. And it's a dream. So we arrived in the morning in Positano. And this is a cliffside village that just overlooks this beautiful sparkling water. And we checked into a villa. If you wanna check into hotels, I am obsessed with the hotels in Positano, so I recommend checking out Hotel Marincanto. It is so stunning, the views are excellent, and then we went and had lots of pasta lunches, lots of pasta dinners. Make sure you do your research in advance because, shockingly enough, you think that you're in Italy so all the food is going to be amazing. That's not true. I think because I live in New York City and I have access to amazing Italian food here as well, but you do need to do your research. We spent one afternoon just strolling through the Positano streets. They have these narrow and steep streets where you can find lots of boutique shops. I think one of the most common things to buy there are these homemade sandals as well as limoncello. And then we relaxed on a beach down at a beach club where we rented daybeds for the day and just had such a nice time. For dinner, we went to Restaurant Max, which I highly recommend. Very airy space with delicious Italian food. Also with a bit of a modern twist. Now, I will note that the streets are so winding in Amalfi that you need to take public transportation, have your own car, have your own Vespa. The most romantic is, of course, little Fiat or rent your own little Vespa to scoot around, but you cannot walk on these streets. It's so dangerous. The roads are way too small and winding for that. So, take the CITA bus, that's the S I T A, grab a taxi, get your own transportation. And what you're going to want to do is go to the Piazza del Duomo as well as the Amalfi Cathedral These are super famous spots. You definitely do not want to miss We had a bunch of guy friends that were also visiting Amalfi at the same time And so we went over to their villa cooked a big dinner with them We went out to have drinks with them. We went out and about on the town and They had a gorgeous massive villa. Actually their villa was so insane. It was one that Michael Jackson used to stay at back in the day. I think it's the iconic. I mean, this is what they told me. This is the iconic place where Michael Jackson held blanket, his baby, out over the edge of the balcony on the hotel or on the villa and so many paparazzi took photos of him doing that thinking he's crazy. He's gonna drop his baby off the balcony. So our guy friends were staying at that place. They had rented it, which is insane. So that was very fun. And then the next day we had to get up super early because this was the best day of the entire study abroad where we did a tour. And so we got on the boat. Oh, it was just amazing. It was a beautiful Italian boat with a beautiful Italian captain. And we had these beautiful Italian sandwiches. Okay. So the sandwiches were absolutely amazing. Many of us still say that that's probably the best sandwich we've ever had in our entire lives We sailed along the coastline in this boat for such a long time, and it was all of our guy friends and all the girl friends, and we each had a bottle of champagne, of course, and we were popping it and playing music, I think we did three different stops. The first was we pulled up to this restaurant, and we went in and had a couple little appetizers. And by appetizers, I mean for twelve people, we ordered four pizzas, the pizzas actually came out heart shaped, which was adorable. And then some people were asking for ranch, and the Italian people got really upset and wanted us to leave. And so then we had some espritzes and espresso martinis, and we walked through town and did some shopping. And we were a little bit tipsy. It was so fun, so beautiful. The sun was shining. It was just the best day. Another stop that we had was we anchored out in the middle of the bay and we all jumped off the boat and there were a bunch of boats all around us and so we were swimming to the other boats and meeting all the young people and just having such a fun, like, silly time. So cool to do that at such a young age with your friends, where you're all just splitting the cost of this thing, trying to make it cheap, and kind of doing it in a rough way. Way, I mean it doesn't sound rough and rugged, but trust me It was like when I'm telling you that you can't walk along the streets. You have to take the bus That's because we did it ourselves We walked along the road and realized we were gonna get smashed by some of these cars And so we had to learn okay, you can't do that. We don't need to save 10 We can actually just take the bus which I know now we can take the bus, but at the time we saved the 10 bucks We would do all sorts of things like just grab a bus I'm going to go get a box of pasta and go home and have that for dinner, I'll cook it together after going out for a nice lunch, and some of the best memories just being frugal and making the most of where you are, and really placing the importance on being where your feet are, rather than trying to enjoy the fanciest restaurant, the fanciest hotel, that was the best day ever, and it was such a long day, too. We just danced and played music and had amazing food swam in the ocean. The next day we went over to Sorrento and we had a very chill day at a beach club. We rented chairs for maybe 15 euros each we all had burgers we just went swimming, enjoyed the sun. And then strolled around through more shops and learned a little bit of history that day. We then went all the way back to Naples. We took a bus there and then flew back from Naples to Prague I remember our flight was just so cheap and I think we all laid over somewhere, maybe Florence, on the way back to Prague. And so if you are planning to study abroad, I highly recommend it. Would love to answer any questions that you might have about studying abroad in Prague or just studying abroad in general. actually, I do want to answer some of the questions that I've gotten about studying abroad now. So I've had a few people reach out to me and ask how to finance their study abroad a lot of times, the same funding that you have at your university can also apply to lots of schools in Europe that you're going to want to study at. I don't know too much about other universities outside of Europe, just because I did all of my research on universities in Europe. But scholarships, grants, financial aid, and part time work opportunities are very common throughout Europe. It's worth asking the question. Number two, will my credits transfer to my home institutions? you do need to find out if they will all transfer and make sure you're taking the right courses, but if your university has a partnership with these schools, which my university did, Georgetown had a university partnership with CIEE, which is where I studied abroad in Prague, then yes, of all the credits transferred, and what was different for me versus my other friends who came from other universities, but were still studying at CIEE Prague, is Georgetown did not accept the GPA that I got when I was studying abroad in Prague. Whereas my other friends who are studying at St. Lawrence and Elon, for example, their GPA did translate. So if they had gotten all B minuses or C's when they were abroad, those lower grades did translate. But luckily for us, Georgetown, it was just pass fail. And if you passed, the credits did not transfer. So that does mean that you have one less semester in order that will rack up and count towards your GPA. So take that into account. just find out what your home institution does. What are the visa requirements and processes? So a lot of times you will need to get a visa because you are staying for longer than 90 days in each of these countries. And so your university will help you out with the application process, but the cost might be on you. Just make sure you're looking at the timeline ahead of time because that is crucial, especially for international study. You don't want to be behind the eight ball. Moving on, what housing options are available? Most of the time you're going to be in a homestay or you're going to be living in your own apartment with someone from that country. So I was living in an apartment with one girl who was Czech as well as three other girls who are from different universities around the U. S. but studying at the same university in Prague. My brother and sister, they both studied abroad in Spain. My sister in Sevilla, and my brother in Logroño, Spain. Logroño is in the north of Spain, and Sevilla is in the south. And finally, how can I stay safe while studying abroad? Staying safe while studying abroad is obviously crucial. You need to have a positive, enriching experience in a new country, and you don't want to risk anything happening. So here are some of my key tips to help you stay safe. Number one, research your destination. Make sure you understand local laws and customs, not just in where you're studying abroad, but all the places that you're going to be going. So familiarize yourself with local laws, cultural norms, societal expectations of the country you're visiting. That just kind of goes across the board whenever you're traveling, especially going between countries and going outside of your home country. You want to stay also informed about current events. This is very self explanatory, but especially when you're studying abroad and going to multiple countries within the same month. Keep up to date with the latest in the news, know what's happening in the area, and make sure you're checking in on travel warnings, travel advisories. This is so crucial. I cannot emphasize this enough. Number two, keep important documents secure. So passport and visa, make sure you keep these in a safe place. When you are abroad, consider carrying a photocopy or digital copy of your passport with you. When you go out, maybe give one of your friends who's studying abroad with you a photocopy of your passport too so that they have it in their apartment in case anything happens. Also have a list of emergency contacts including the local embassy or consulate as well as local emergency services and contacts back home. This is self explanatory as well but you're spending so much time living in another country you need to be on top of this. Number three, health and insurance. So when it comes to health insurance, you need to have comprehensive health insurance that covers you when you're abroad, non negotiable. So also make sure you bring all the necessary medications and check if any vaccines are going to be required so that you do not need to refill prescriptions while you are over there. You can tell your doctor at home, I need to have four, five, six months of my. medication and a lot of times you'll be able to be granted exceptions to have all that medication brought with you from day one, rather than having people ship it over and you don't have your medication or whatever it might be. Just be on top of that. Number four, stay connected. Regular check ins. So keep in regular contact with whoever it might be. Family, friends, let them know about your whereabouts, share your location with people if you're comfortable doing so, and also maybe have a local sim card or an international plan. This is so you have a reliable way to communicate. Sometimes I would go off the grid and I don't recommend doing this. You should be connected so people know where you are. And last but not least, I will say trust your instincts. If you feel as though something is off or something is unsafe, just trust your instincts and remove yourself from these situations. Be conscious of not just yourself, but the people you're traveling with and your friends. And you will have a very safe and happy study abroad. I had the absolute best time when I was studying abroad in Prague. I think about it constantly and I'm so grateful to have had this opportunity and I hope that other people hear this and become inspired to want to study abroad as well. Hey, if you never go, you will never know. Thank you all for listening. I really appreciate all of you who do come listen. And if you enjoyed this, please subscribe to the short sleeve travel podcast, new episodes coming out each and every week. As you know, you can follow me on any social media platform at cat short sleeve, that's K a T. And you can also always email me gmail. com. Cannot wait for the episode next. It's going to be an exciting one. Thank you all and cheers.