Hi everyone ! I’m Lucie A., coming from France to stay one year in the Czech republic. The program for one year is actually ten months so I’m here since the 27th of August. And here is an extract of what happened in my life in Czech.
First of all when I arrived I was absolutely scared of my English and specially my strong accent that can be a difficulty to be understood. But everything passed has a dream and I loved to share my first days with this big family of exchange student that we were already after the first camp.
Once in my new home I felt really great, my host family showed me everything and I was comfortable from the first moment. When school started my classmates host me in the best way, bringing me the first week to the funfair that was in our small town. We made and I still have a special schedule to avoid the class where I can’t understand and have more english to make me progress. But even though I’m changing class all day I feel really included in my own class. Day after day my classmates let their barrieres fall to realize that they shouldn’t be anxious to speak in english with me so I got to know them more and appreciate them as friends.
For example, they all surprised me for my birthday. I went to school and they were waiting for me with a cake and they all sang Happy Birthday for me. And then, as a great coincidence, it was the last day before Christmas so we went to the ice skating place on the morning and we had a lot of fun. And I met again some of them at night for a diner in a restaurant.
I also got closer to the other exchange student as we meet on weekends usually in Prague or somewhere else to spend time together and share our experiences. I love how easy it is to travel by train or bus all around Czech country side. I particularly like Czech castels which you can found everywhere with different style of architecture.
I’m living a life in the fast lane, shared between my new friends, the sleepovers and party with them, the weekends AFS or just the meeting in Prague and all the moment spend with my host family. Indeed, as you see I’m moving a lot for weekends but also in week because I’m following dance lessons and I’m part of a football team. But I also love to play board games, talk about books or watch movies with my host sisters, drink tea with my host mother, and talk about politic and history with my host father. But my favorite moment was a three days weekend that we spent in the south during february holiday. As I shared a room with my sisters we became closer and we spent some greats nights together. We visited beautiful towns, named České Budějovice and Český Krumlov. And we also went to the castel Hluboká nad V
ltavou and the sun appeared for the occasion, it was wonderful.
Even though all the celebrations for the end of the year were great moments shared with my host family I’m looking forward for spring to be able to discover more of the czech landscapes. Meanwhile, I went to a ski trip with my class in Špindlerův Mlýn for a week, it was my first time to ski but I really enjoyed it. And it was not all about ski we also had some free time in town for shopping and free time in the hotel. We’ve played card games, I’ve learned to play chess and we just spent time talking and laughing together. And the last night we even had a disco party all together.
I’m gonna stop here this article but if you’re interested I have my own blog about my experience here, with two versions, one french and one in english. I just speak about my discoveries, my feelings and some pictures.
https://11moiscommelyceennealetranger.blogspot.com/
https://11monthsabroad.blogspot.com
To conclude, since I’m here I had the best time of my life so I would say this experience is the best choice of my life. So guys, just don’t loose time because time pass so fast and is the most precious thing ever.
– Lucie A., exchange student from France in 2021/2022