Let's be real guys, this language barrier thing isn't always easy.
Hello, I'm Maekayla... Welcome to my first blog! I'm a design student at the University of Nebraska Kearney, but this semester I'm going on a bit of an adventure to study abroad in the Czech Republic! I've been in Europe for over a week already, and I've been having the time of my life. I first flew in to Prague, which was so different and so beautiful, but now I'm getting settled in my new home of Olomouc where I will be primarily living and taking classes this next couple of months! For today's blog I'd love to talk about something that has been a topic of humor this last week or so - and that is the language barrier!
"If culture was a house, then language was the key to the front door to all the rooms inside" -Khaled Housseini
Coming into this trip, I did not expect the language to be easy to pick up, and to be honest language has never really been my thing (Spanish class in high school was horrible for me, I'm an art major for a reason!) But if I was going to live in the Czech Republic for close to three months, I decided that I better make a valid effort at attempting to learn Czech! We are currently 10 days into this whole adventure and we've had a couple language classes already, but I'd be lying if I said they weren't SLIGHTLY overwhelming.
Now here's where where the whole language barrier fiasco gets a little funny. A huge part of our experiences on this trip have centered around food, and to get food of course we have to first order it... which I've encountered some issues with. The other day we found ourselves in a small cafe, where one of the other students saw a bowl of fresh oranges sitting on display and decided to ask for one. Of course we couldn't read the sign in front of the oranges that probably said something along the lines of "Freshly Squeezed Orange Juice" so you can imagine our surprise when she asked for an orange and was handed a glass of juice!
Later at lunch it was my turn for a surprise. Since I've been here I've been on a little bit of cheesecake kick. (Don't ask me why, it's not like it's something we don't have in America!) So every time I see a delicious looking cheesecake I just have to order it. So we had finished up with our meal, and I asked for a strawberry cheesecake, easy enough request (or so I had thought!). A few minutes later the waitress sat in front of me not only my cheesecake, but also a strawberry lemonade! To me this was too funny, and I didn't even bother to correct her.
The surprise lemonade and orange juice both turned out to be amazing, sometimes you just have to roll with the punches and take the happy accidents as they come! Since I've been here I've noticed the locals really appreciate when we make an effort to speak in Czech, and I've gotten a lot better at saying things like "water, please", "thank you", and my personal favorite which I find very useful "I don't speak Czech!". I'm really looking forward to improving my Czech skills, and I always have a little sense of accomplishment every time I manage to say the correct thing so it's been a little bit like a fun little game for me.
At the beginning of this blog I included the quote "If culture was a house, then language was the key to the front door to all the rooms inside." and I don't think that this could be any more true. Understanding the language is going to help me develop an even deeper appreciation for this new culture that I have decided to dive into. You never know what you can learn and the rest of this trip is truly an open door.