Story time! Today we are going all the way back to my very first day, or even just the first morning
actually, of living in Europe, when I arrived in Prague in the Czech Republic.
It was a really exciting day for me, but also a really nervous, butterflies in my stomach
to the max kind of day as well.
Hey everyone, Dana here!
Back in 2008, right before leaving the U.S. I visited my aunt and she gave me the book
"Water for Elephants."
And having that book, having something to kind of tuck my mind into whenever I got nervous
was exactly what I needed.
Because, I was nervous.
I tried to kind of play it cool, but I was super nervous.
So when I got off the plane in Prague at 6:40 in the morning and I had a taxi reservation
pre-booked and pre-paid to take me my hotel, and the information that I had been emailed
told me that I would find a taxi kiosk right by the exit to the airport but when I got
there there was no kiosk to be found whatsoever, and I felt totally lost and alone and I didn't
know whether the taxi kiosk just didn't exist at all or if I was in the wrong place,
or if it just wasn't open yet, and, you know, the anxiousness of having just sold
all of my stuff and bought a one-way plane ticket to a place that, oh wow, I've actually
never been before and I don't actually have any idea what I'm doing began to form a tight
knot in my throat...I took a few breaths, sat down on the floor near the airport exit,
and read my book, waiting to see what would happen next.
An hour later someone showed up and set up a taxi kiosk that hadn't been there before
and I went over and sure enough, I was registered for a ride. Yes.
And then when the taxi driver brought me out to the taxi and put me inside, and said something
to me in Czech and then shut the taxi doors and wandered away, and I had no idea what
he had just said to me because at this point most of the Czech that I knew were phrases
that I had learned from my mom and my grandmother when I was kid, like dobrý den, jak se máš,
držím palce, veselé Vánoce and some other little Czech nursery rhyme songs -- but I
didn't really think it would help anything if I started singing Já Mám Koně to the
taxi driver -- and then sitting there, seconds turned into minutes and minutes turned into
10 minutes, and I had no idea if he was ever coming back or when, and so I started to get...it's okay.
I put my nervous thoughts into my book once again and just waited to see what would happen next.
30 minutes later he came back out and, without a word actually, off we went.
Unfortunately reading in the car makes me nauseous, but I would have liked to because
it was about an hour drive from the airport to my hotel, and I spent most of the time
looking out the window, looking for those cobblestone streets and castles and little
meandering alleyways that I had read about online, only to see nothing at all like that.
Did I maybe make the wrong decision? I wondered.
Maybe Prague isn't actually anything like what I'd read about online.
What am I even doing here?
Ah no, turns out that was just the highway running outside of the city center, which
now makes total and complete sense to me that the taxi driver would, of course, take the
highway rather than drive right through the center of Prague, but at the time I was just
so full of nervousness.
And kind of wondering, like, what had I gotten myself into moving there.
And then when I arrived at my hotel to find that it was this massive gray building in
what felt to me like the middle of nowhere -- so in other words, not surrounded by those
cobblestone streets and quaint cafes that I had been dreaming of -- and when the people
at the reception area did not speak English, but they did take my money for my
room and then said something in super fast Czech -- or at least it felt super fast
to me -- that was not veselé Vánoce or the words to Já Mám Koně so I had no idea what
they had just said, and then they simply turned around and left, going back to continue doing
their work, and I had no way of communicating with them to ask what was going on, would
I be getting a room key or not, what should I do now?
I took a deep breath and went and sat down and read my book and I waited to see what
would happen next.
About 30 minutes later someone came and handed a key to me.
So yes, apparently I would be getting a room after all.
I was very happy about that.
Because I didn't really know what I was going to do if no one came to hand me a key.
That's what the book was for.
Put my thoughts in my book and just waited to see what would happen.
And when after all of that I went up to my room and I found that it was not exactly the
prettiest or the coziest place in the world, this tiny, dusty little room that kind of
smelled like a musty old lady's purse, and then I realized that I didn't know what
I was doing with my life, or, or what would happen next, or or or...I took a few breaths
and I sat down and did what?
I read my book until I had gathered my confidence again to continue on with my day.
So to my aunt: thank you for giving me that book.
Having that book, having a book really helped me get through all of that nervous stuff that
was happening. That exciting stuff, but also, yeah...
When I was ready I went to the Metro and I didn't really know what I was doing.
Luckily I got on the right train going in the right direction.
And then I simply got off where all of the train lines came together in the middle of
the Metro map that had been above the door.
I took the Metro into the city center without any real plan or goal in mind, except to explore
the place that was my new home...at least for the next 3 months and hopefully longer...so
I figured that seemed like a pretty good place to start.
And when I came up out of the underground area in the middle of Prague and finally, finally laid
eyes on those cobblestone streets, meandering alleyways, the river, the bridges, the amazing
architecture and the castle, I knew I was in the right place.
For the first time in my life, from the very first moment of being in a place, I felt at home.
I felt like I was in the exact right place that I was supposed to be.
And that was all before noon!
So my question for you is: Do you have a memorable first day or first morning even in a new place?
Please let me know in the comments below. Thank so much for watching.
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Until next time, auf Wiedersehen!
And I had a taxi...
Story time!
Until next time, auf Wiedersehen! Woooo! Good thing there's a couch back there.
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