My 16 Hour Journey to Prague

On Thursday 19^th September I finished packing my two gipsy-looking bags for Prague. I was quite nervous, wondering if I had all I needed, if I didn’t forget anything, if I wasn’t bringing too much, if I wasn’t bringing too little, etc… After checking and rechecking a thousand times my suitcases, at 1 am I finally decided to go to bed, exhausted. The travel plan was that I flew to Krakow for a wedding, from there took the train to met my father in Prague. In theory it’s straightforward, but in practice … it was a long and exhausting journey.

Woke up early on Friday morning, got prepared, said goodbye to my parents and brothers; before 9 I was out of the house, waiting for the bus down my road.

Step 1: Taking the W bus from Rhode-St-Genèse to Gare du Midi.

Living in the suburbs of Brussels is a pain because it takes forever to get anywhere. On a week day, at rush-hour it takes over an hour to get to the city center. So that’s what happened: I was stuck in traffic for an hour going down Chaussée de Waterloo. When I arrived at the train station, I had to go to the European ticket sell-point to actually get my train ticket from Krakow to Prague.  

Step 1 and a half: Buying My Train Tickets.

Took a waiting number, took a seat, realized that I was 20^th in the queue and only 3 desks were open… The patience game was just about to start… 

After waiting patiently for 15 mins I realized that the queue was progressing much slower than what I’d expected. I calculated the average time each person took to buy their tickets: about 7 mins, and based on that estimated the time I had to wait for my turn. I started to get agitated because I still had get to the airport and so if I waited too long I would miss my flight. 175, 176, 177, 178… I couldn’t stop counting the number of people before me and looking at the clock ticking. 

After 25 mins it became harder and harder to stay cool: I was considering the possibility to just go to any desk when they call the next number, or ask someone if they would be kind enough to swap waiting number with me. After 35 mins it became un-bea-ra-ble: I knew I was running late for my flight but, I couldn’t leave before I got my train ticket. I imagined the fight with my parents if I missed the flight. I started to get panicky, getting up, walking across the room, looking at the time, coming back to my seat, sitting down, repeat. People in the waiting room were just starring at me as if I was a nutcase, but maybe I am. 

After 42 mins, the number just before mine showed up on the screen, I jumped up like a football supporter would when his team scores, it was a small victory. When the next desk freed I looked at the man selling the tickets as if he was the Holy Grail, I was going to get my train ticket for Prague: something that seemed intangible in that waiting room.  Before my number was even called, I was standing in front of the desk looking eagerly at the sells man.

With a surprised look on his face the sell’s man asked: 

-“What can I do for you?” 

I felt that I was begging on my knees when I said:

-“I need a ticket for Sunday from Krakow to Prague, any time will do” 

-“All right” and he started to type on his computer that looked that it was from the early 90’s while I was thinking in my head “Come on, faster, faster, faster”… him typing slowly…Me becoming really impatient… He looked up:

-“Sorry Miss, it seems like there is no trains going from Krakow to Prague”…. I froze, imagining that not only I waited 45 mins for nothing, but on top of that: I was going to miss my flight and wasn’t going to get to Prague. 

-“That’s not possible, have you checked the one with the connection at Katowice?” 

-“Kato-what?” with a blank expression 

-“Kato-wice!” I cried 

-“Where is that?” 

-“In Poland, not far from the Czech boarder” -“Never heard of it” 

-“Can you please find me a train from Krakow to Katowice and one from Katowice to Prague” I said on the verge of tears. He types on his computer, I am just there: desperately starring at the man… waiting… the time is ticking by…I’m breathing very nervously…calculating how much time I had left before my plane… Finally he looks up smiling: 

-“I found one leaving Krakow on Sunday at 7.53 arriving at Katowice at 10.35 and then from Katowice there is a train at 11.11 to Prague and arriving at 16.45” 

-“Perfect! How much is it?” I said with a huge smile, he looks at me with a hesitant expression: 

-“Sorry Miss, I am not entirely sure that I can sell you this ticket”…Literally I felt that I was stuck in limbo just about to hit my head on the desk. I got firm: made it clear that I was going to get that ticket and the faster the better. I am not sure that he understood that I was in a rush because he kept asking questions on and on “Wouldn’t you prefer a night train? What class? Wouldn’t you prefer another time? Window or corridor? Cash or card? ...” I just replied fast and briefly just to accelerate the process. While the tickets were printing he asked me where I was from, … a big mistake. 

Normally I love having the quick chat with people and the man was very nice, but here it was not the right moment. So, I had to explain in 30s my complicated background and my plan of going on Erasmus and he was obviously very curious and just kept asking more and more questions. It was the prefect example of the awkward moment when you’re trying to end a conversation with someone and they just keep on talking. As soon as he handed me the tickets, I said goodbye, he wished me good luck and I dashed out of the train station.       

Step 2: Getting from Gare du Midi to Charleroi Airport … by any means.  

Don’t be mistaken: the Brussels-South-Airport-Charleroi, is not in Brussels, it is a 40-50 min bus ride from Brussels. So running out of the train station I knew that I needed a bus leaving in the next 10 mins for me to get to the airport on time. As I was rushing to the bus stop, dragging my suitcase along, a man came up to me and slyly asked “Charleroi Airport, right?” Initially, I didn’t understand the meaning of his question. The man was from a taxi company, convincing me that for the same price as the bus one of his colleagues would leave in the next few minutes driving me and a few other people to the airport. I thought that it was probably a dodgy idea and a rip-off, but after seeing that in the mini-van there was a strong Eastern-European guy that would be able to pull off a fight; I decided to go with it. I sat in the cab next to the driver, and as soon as the mini-van was full, we drove off. On the way, I was praying that it was not going to be a bad idea as I always take the shuttle bus to the airport. I was looking nervously at the road making sure that we were going in the right direction. On the highway, the taxi was driving slightly over the speed limit and just before the airport the taxi-man switched off the meter. I was pleasantly surprised: we got from Gare du Midi to Charleroi in about 30 mins, we each had to pay only 13 euros and I had plenty of time before my flight!

Step 3: Flying from Charleroi to Krakow.

Brussels-South-Airport-Charleroi should be renamed “Ryanair’s Airport in Belgium”. For those who never been: it is a tiny airport, in the middle of nowhere, where there are no trolleys for your suitcases, and curiously Ryanair seems to be the only airline serving this airport. Check in, security check, buy some Belgian Chocolates for my hosts in Krakow.

And it was a typical Ryanair flight: people queuing at the gate half an hour before they call for the boarding, staff checking scrupulously with a ruler that your hand luggage is no more than 55x40x20 cm, people having a hard time picking a seat in the plane, while you’re trying to sleep during the flight every 10 mins there is an announcement that they are selling food, drinks, coffee, smokeless cigarettes, scratch cards, bus tickets, perfumes … you feel the plane smashing on the tarmac and then a trumpet announces that you’re arrived on time. Until next time Ryanair! I had arrived in Krakow.

Step 4: Getting from Krakow Airport to Krakow City Center.

When I had arrived and picked-up my suitcase I still had 3 hours until the wedding reception, I wasn’t in a rush but I couldn’t dillydally too much. I asked for some information and decided to take a bus that apparently went near the city center. For the next 50 mins or so I had no clue whatsoever if I was going in the right direction, sitting on the bus, glancing out the window, listening to music, completely spaced out while the bus didn’t seem to follow an entirely illogical route. The bus arrives at this final destination, I knew I was walking from where I was staying but I didn’t have the courage to start asking for directions...

Step 5: Taking a taxi  

…So I just took a taxi for what was a 10 min walk.      

Step 5 and a half: the wedding    

Just after I arrived, I went for a drink with my cousins and friends at the Dym bar and I had my beloved White Russian, and it felt so nice to be back in Krakow and catching up with people. Then we went back home, quick shower, got ready and we were off to the wedding reception. Weddings are my favorite parties because everyone knows that everyone is somehow related, they have a nice family feeling to them, everyone dances and has fun. When I told people that I was on my way to Prague, they were excited for me, some were telling me that I have no excuses not to come up to Krakow for week-ends, some were telling me that they will come to visit me. Someone even bet with me that he’ll bicycle from Krakow to Prague: I am waiting for it. It was a great night, I stayed until late and by the time we came back home I was exhausted after such a long day: travelling for 8 hours plus the wedding.

 The next day, there was brunch (actually more like “dunch” because it was between lunch and dinner) in the countryside just outside of Krakow with lots of polish food, tea and soup. Several people were sneakily hiding behind their sunglass. When we came back to Krakow, we went to a friend’s place for a casual drink: the plan was to drop by and come back home before 12 to go to bed because I had my train early the next morning. It didn’t quite work out that way.... 

....and I ended up having only 3 hours of sleep. I was meant to be up before 7 am…I didn’t hear my alarm…I only heard Wiri’s alarm ringing for the second time at 7:10….quickly got dressed, quick breakfast and then Wiri and I were off towards the train station walking like 2 zombies. When we got to the station we realized that the train was leaving in less than 5 mins, by the time we found the train the train officer was whistling to signal that it was time to close the doors. Luckily, the officer saw me giving me enough time for a quick goodbye and to hop on the train, literally if I had arrived 20sec latter, I would have missed the train.    

Step 6: Taking the Train from Krakow to Katowice.      

I realized my luck when the doors closed just after I managed to pull my suitcase unto the train, before I even started to look for a seat: the train was already moving. The train was empty and I was shivering while glancing out the window. For the whole train journey I was fighting the temptation to fall asleep because I knew that if I fell asleep there was a chance that I would miss the stop at Katowice. The fact that I was so cold in that train was probably why I managed to stay more or less awake during the journey.  

Arrived at Katowice, I had a little touristic tour of the modern train station, had a sandwich and then I was waiting for the train to Prague.

Step 7: Taking the train from Katowice to Prague

While waiting on a bench, freezing, I noticed a few people with back-packs speaking English with foreign accents and that most people waiting for the train spoke English. That sort of made me realize how international Prague was going to be. I went euphoric when I saw this:

This was the ultimate step, I was reaching the end of my journey, the last mode of transport that I would take, in 5 hours I would arrive at my final destination: Praha! I was surprised how modern the train was: there were plugs next to every seat, there was a board saying what was the next stop and the speed of the train, the service in the train felt like being on a plane. My journey was quite interesting: there was an old British couple seating in front of me – planning their cultural trip around Prague and analyzing the books they were respectively reading. Behind me: an Asian hipster, getting drunk on Martini, listening with loud speaker to some kind of Asian techno. There is no doubt that the old couple and the hipster did not really get along. When we crossed the Polish-Czech boarder we arrived to this stop:  

And the train stopped there for about 30 mins, no clue why. It seems like that the schedule of the train was to be redone because at some stops the train stopped for half an hour and at other only for less than 5 minutes. It was a nice journey as I discovered quite a bit of the Czech landscape from Bohemia to Prague. It varies a lot: there are flat fields with cute villages where people grow their own vegetables behind their wooden houses, then forested valleys where the train meanders along a tinny stream through these gorges, then beautiful lakes and peaceful rivers were men fish on a Sunday afternoon and then gentle rolling hills. It goes rustic rural to bucolic rural to enchanting medieval villages to run-down small towns that have a strong hint of a communist past. I was amazed and pleasantly surprised to how beautiful the Czech countryside is. During the last hour of the journey I started get butterflies in my stomach, I was getting really impatient and looking forward to arriving. And then I noticed that we were at the outskirts of a city, buildings appeared, and I had this view from the train: 

It took me: 1 plane, 2 trains, 2 buses and 2 taxis and 16 hours to arrive to Praha.  

Helena 

To Summarize the Past Year: Getting Ready for Erasmus!

Hey Guys !

As you probably know, Jan (tall Polish guy) and I are going on a year-long Erasmus exchange to Prague, to study, to get to know the city and the nearby area, to discover another culture, make new friends, and most importantly: HAVE FUN! As we both know that this is going to be an interesting and memorable experience, we decided to create this blog so our friends can easily Czech what we are up to, throughout our year abroad. We hope that you will enjoy reading this and that we will keep you updated as often as possible!

This first article is quite long but necessary to understand my whole preparation to going on Erasmus and to sum up my attitude before my grand departure. So to summarize the last few months and how come I’m going to Prague:

Step 1: Finding an Erasmus Destination.

Since I started at Trinity I was keen on going on Erasmus and I got quite excited when I saw online that my course offered the possibility to go to Poland or to Spain (because I was hoping to improve my weak polish, or my fake Spanish). Last October I started to investigate the different possibilities by asking around Trinity and emailing a couple of universities. Very quickly I was disappointed to discover that it was not going to be possible to send me to Poland or to Spain for both my subjects, and that in general it would be tricky to organize an exchange where classes would be in English and that would satisfy the requirements of both the Geography and Political Science departments. I knew then that I would not get one of my initial choices in terms of destination and I thought that I was not going to go on Erasmus at all...

Until one sunny November day, where after a night out Jan was laying in his bed surfing the internet from his Mac ©, like he usually does, and I was just hanging around the house in my pyjamas. Suddenly, Jan came out of his room with a proud look on his face and announced “I have found the perfect Erasmus exchange!”- I was very surprised: Firstly: I was surprised that Jan would come out of his room before 2 pm after a night out and, secondly: I was surprised that he was looking up universities on a hangover, but thumbs up for that. “Hein?” I replied. He continued “Charles University in Prague has very similar geography modules to those in Trinity, all of them in English and more than 40 politics modules in English”. My first reaction was: “Prague??? …”. At first I was not really thrilled by the idea because I don’t speak any Czech, I didn’t think that our Erasmus Coordinator would be willing to open this exchange and it wasn’t a destination that even occurred to me. But very quickly Jan managed to convince me to give it a try and dragged me into this. It was his idea: if I’m not 100% satisfied I’ll blame Jan. At the end of the day it didn’t really matter where I was going as long as I was able to study both my subjects somewhere in Europe. So after a bit of research we found a destination: Prague, Czech Republic.

Step 2: Playing the bureaucratic game and tough negotiations.

Setting up an Erasmus exchange is no mission impossible but can become frustrating as it’s a bureaucratic process. Our flatmate Kate managed to set up her exchange to Copenhagen within a few weeks and she was repeatedly telling us that if we show enough motivation that we will be able to set up our new Erasmus link. The different coordinators to whom we were suggesting Jan’s idea were glad to see students coming up with new Erasmus links and seemed happy enough to send us to Prague. For several months we had to chase around Trinity our Erasmus coordinator, a certain Dr. M.H., to check how the agreement was coming alone and strongly encouraged him to do his job. There were all the different requirements of the different departments making the opening of this exchange quite tricky. At certain moments I had a bad feeling that this exchange wasn’t going to work out, plus, I wasn’t sure that I really wanted to go to Prague; partly because I started to realize that I will miss living in Ireland : the place and the people there.

The daughter of my parents’ friends contacted me telling me that she heard that I was applying to Prague; she went there on Erasmus in 2007 and was strongly encouraging me to go. She told me how much is liked her stay, that she loved the retro aspect of this beautiful city, that I didn’t need to worry about not speaking Czech because everyone there understands English; and so on. Her enthusiasm about Prague was partly what re-motivated me to continue on with my Erasmus application. There was quite a bit of paper work to do for both universities. And then came the time to pick the modules I wanted to do at Charles University. It was a tough decision because there was a large choice of modules to pick from; on top of that we had to make sure to have the right number of credits for each subject: a real puzzle. When it was pretty much confirmed that we were going on Erasmus… Exams were coming alone and we had an extra pressure to study even harder as we were only going to be sent to Prague if we had at least a 2.1 for our year’s overall mark. To be honest, none of us wanted to screw up the exams after running after Dr. M.H. like we did during several months.

Step 3: Mental preparation.

After several weeks of stress because the exam preparation, several weeks of stress due to the exams and several weeks of stress because we were impatiently waiting for the results: everything turned out fine and it was confirmed that both Jan and I were going to Prague. On one hand I thought: “wow I’m going to C.U.N.T.!!!” … --->To Charles University Next Term” being really proud of myself that I got the Erasmus and about to live a whole new experience abroad. And, on the other hand I thought: “what the hell I’m going?” meaning: realizing how crazy it is that I’m going to live for a year in a country that I barely know – It was then, in my parents’ house in Brussels, that I realized that there is no turning back: I am going on Erasmus to Prague for a whole academic year, and have very mixed emotions about it.

On one hand: I am afraid and sad. I realized that I will not go back to Ireland for a long time, maybe for a year and a half, meaning that there are people that I will not see for a while, realizing how much I like Dublin and will miss it. Charles University having its different faculties spread around Prague, I will not have the advantages that Trinity has of being a campus university and having everything at one location: (OMG: having to go to different libraries around town to find the books I need instead of having the whole TCD library on campus #Heartbroken); also that I will have to adapt to an entirely new academic system that I’m not used to, which might be tricky at first. Furthermore the fact that it is the first time that I am moving to a country where I don’t speak the language at all, that I don’t really know the culture of – (even if I’m slave it doesn’t necessarily mean that I’ll understand the Czech culture and ways of life), that I have no connection to, where I don’t know anyone (besides Jan, but it doesn’t really count); made me realize that this might be the first time ever in my life that I might experience home sickness. This is true a paradox because I have no home country. This feeling of jumping into the unknown is what thrills me but also what scares me.

But on the other hand: I am very excited and really looking forward to this new experience: I’m having itchy feet. A number of my friends from Dublin are also going on Erasmus so I’m looking forward to hearing about their experience (Hint: Agata, write on your blog) and seeing how in a year’s time they’ve changed. I'm obviously looking forward to meeting new people there: checking out the people out on the Prague Erasmus page. Throughout my life I’ve lived in England, Belgium, Poland and Ireland, thus at this stage I’m used to changing country. When I first went to university in Ireland, I didn’t really know the country that well and I didn’t know a whole lot of people: but I’ve managed to very quickly fit in and feel at ease in Ireland. Even if, no matter how hard I’ve tried to claim that I’m Irish- no Irishmen would ever believe that I am Irish (maybe that I might be a wild geese)- it doesn’t really matter because I do feel comfortable on that Island, and realize what a wonderful experience I had there so far.

This makes me realize that I shouldn’t have too many problems trying to settle in Prague because I’m used to adapting to a new environment: it’s a challenge that I gladly accept. Moreover, it is more exciting to go somewhere that you know nothing about, that you have no preconceptions or prejudice, so you can truly get to know the place from scratch. Also, I am looking forward to travelling to nearby cities (Munich, Budapest, Vienna, Krakow, Bratislava etc...) having the possibility to go see friends that I have in Krakow, having people visiting me over there (one has already booked dates). Even if I’m a bit nervous about this now, deep down I know that I am going to enjoy it and I want to make the most of my stay there and take advantage of the fact that I’m young and have this chance to travel and life a crazy experience.

The picture above is a picture of my two older brothers, me and my father in Prague, I’m not sure what year it was but judging how young we look it was most probably more than 10 years ago: the first and last time I was ever in Prague and I don’t remember much, … expect for a big colourful clock, ... and a fountain? When I knew that I was going to Czech Republic, I realized how little I know. This summer I read a few short student guides to Prague plus had a look at a guide’s book that my friend Chloé gave to me, where there was a brief history of the Czech Republic to update and refresh my knowledge of the country: to know who Kafka is, King Charles after who the Charles University was named after, what year Czechoslovakia split; that the film director of “One Flew Over the Cuckoos’ Nest” is half Czech etc…

But also to discover what is worth visiting in Prague and I started to make this surrealist list of all the museums, and bars, and restaurants, and clubs, and markets, and shopping centres, and castles, and theaters, and film festivals, and concerts, and beer factory, etc..., I want to see in Prague. Realistically : if I wanted to do half of what I’ve planned to do in the Czech Republic: I will not be going to college. So reading about the city and country really sparked a great curiosity and opened my eyes to how culturally rich Prague is and how many things they are to do there.

Throughout the summer, I told people that I was moving East and gathered a whole range of reactions and advice from different people of different ages: All said that it is a beautiful city; many said that it is a fun city with a great nightlife; a number of them said that it is a city with a great History to it and culturally rich. I got very different reactions ranging from people saying “Praha is a wonderful city for all music lovers, throughout the year and all over the city there’s classical music concerts everywhere” to people saying “Great city for guys: alcohol and cigarettes are cheap and the girls are easy” This gave me the picture of a city that suits everyone’s taste, making my curiosity greater.

Step 4: The physical preparation

It is J-15 before my grand departure and I’m starting to wonder what will I take with me. To take or not to take my Bucket, that is the question. How many dresses, what jewelry, should I take some books, etc… I know that I should take loads of warm clothes as in the winter I need to survive pretty freezing temperatures: The point being is that I haven’t even started packing and I’m not too worried! ... for the time being!

All this to say that it took us almost a year to get this Erasmus organised: in terms of paper work, doing formalities and mentally, so we've anticipated this for a while now, and the fact that we're now so so so close to leaving for Prague is making me very very very excited and very impatient to move!

Bye for now!

Helena