Praying for Prague

Published on by jillianec516Leave a comment

*Gun violence warning

It’s absolutely insane that it’s just two days before my flight and I received texts from family in the US asking if I was okay because there was a school shooting today at the Faculty of Arts at Charles University in Prague. I am so in disbelief, and my heart is extremely heavy. 

The Czech Republic has honestly felt like one of the safest places in the world while I’ve been here. I can’t imagine how much this is going to affect the families, friends, and colleagues of the victims. And even just the general Czech public. A shooting like that just does not happen here.

It’s four days before Christmas. The holiday season for a lot of people was just crushed, in this country where school shootings are not a topic of conversation. This is the deadliest school shooting Europe has seen in the past 15 years. 

with a heavy heart
I took this photo this morning around 10 am because I wanted a picture of the Czech Flag. I didn’t notice it was in front of a school. I didn’t realize that this photo would probably be more significant to me than I thought.

I have so many words to say that I’m now at a loss for words.

Even right now sitting in my dorm room in Brno, just over 100 miles away, I’m hearing some bangs that are honestly making me scared to leave for the night, even though those bangs might have been happening every other night. I sound paranoid in my head, but it’s terrifying that even in the safest feeling of places this can just randomly occur. I hear police sirens every day, but today they feel like they mean something different. Czech media already said the shooter was eliminated, by suicide, and that the public is not in danger.  

In 2019, when there was the Walmart shooting in El Paso, my heart was frozen for the whole day. I am absolutely feeling that feeling again. My community did not deserve that, and neither did this one. I hate sitting with this feeling. 

Tonight I’m praying. This country has been home for the past few months and it’s a devastating note to feel like I’m ending on. This happens in America, even though it shouldn’t, and the fact that it happened here- it’s f*cking heartbreaking. It’s a devastating routine in the U.S. that I pray doesn’t ever repeat here.

There is a lot of violence happening this Christmas season, all around the world, and my prayers are with every person affected by the hatred of others. Even though the Christmas decorations are beautiful, God, this season has been so ugly.

Packing Up and Leaving Aix

Published on by sarahblaiserLeave a comment

https://www.instagram.com/p/C09cufJMo18/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MjJkMmIyYzQxYw==

The threat of packing had been looming in my mind for many weeks. I am an overpacker and I was stressed because my luggage was overweight on the way to France. Many people suggested buying a second or third suitcase for returning home since it is difficult to not accumulate things. Thankfully I did not need to buy another suitcase, but I know others who did. I began packing about a week before I left because I had lots of finals to study for and a few papers to write. I found this to be more than enough time and left wiggle room for if something broke or if I needed another suitcase. The last week is a bit overwhelming as well because there are lots of final events and saying goodbyes, so allowing yourself enough time is key.

Saying goodbyes are always difficult and this instance isn’t any different. Sad but also very fulfilling to speak with professors one last time. I was able to make a few arrangements to see my friend group before I left. There were a few events organized by the school that I would definitely recommend attending. Connecting and being able to thank the people that made your stay possible is really great. Many of the events incorporated the host families as well, and it was really fun to meet everyone’s families. These events are nice because they give a bit of a reprieve between the packing, finals stress, and looming thoughts of tiresome travel.

The travel day was quite long. We woke up at about 2:30 am to head to the airport. Altogether about 12 hours of traveling. I would suggest getting to the airport a bit early as well because most of the students are leaving on the same day. Unfortunately for us, there was a bit of a strike that day, so the lines were pretty long. But thankfully if you are earlier then this shouldn’t be too much of a problem. This day is very likely going to be physically and emotionally draining, so prepare as much as one can.

One thing I would really recommend is planning a meal or snack to look forward to once you get home. Once I landed my mom took me to get lunch and it was everything I dreamed of. Try to stay up as late as you can to adjust to the time change. The jet lag is inevitable, but trying to stay up and go to sleep at a ‘normal’ time will help immensely.

Returning home is really exciting, but it can also be very overwhelming. I have been over the moon to be home and so excited about all of the positives. However, as with anything, there are some negatives. I have been adjusting to the difference being in a large crowd in the US. You wouldn’t think that it would be that different, but realizing people understand what you are saying kind of took me aback at first. Another thing is adjusting to talking to strangers again. I did talk to random people while abroad in English or French, but not as much as I would consider normal in the States. It was really nice to talk to random people again, but I found it draining my social battery a bit more than I expected. Overall, lots of random things that I am slowly noticing that I wasn’t doing abroad but am doing a lot at home.