Stepping Out of My Comfort Zone; Reporting from Prague, Czech Republic

"Be uncomfortable!"

It was the first morning of my welcoming orientation at New York University in Prague, and I was sitting on a classroom bench at the prestigious Charles University, listening to Dinah Spritzer, professor of the International Reporting class, speak to us about how to try and soak in being here in this foreign country. My head still felt fuzzy from the exhaustion of early morning travel; but the words that were coming out of Professor Spritzer grabbed hold of my attention, and ingrained into my mind living here in Prague up until now.

As a junior at New York University, it is upsetting to admit that yes, I am over halfway done with my college years. With that, I could not have started my second half of college any better than spending a unique study abroad semester at New York University in Prague, Czech Republic.

As of this month, I am an English major at NYU's College of Arts and Sciences, hoping to minor in either Producing (which entails courses about broadcasting, general aspects of media such as internet design, the music / film / arts / general entertainment industry, and financial aspects of it such as marketing), or Music (music theory / history, ethnomusicology). Here in Prague, I decided not only to take advantage of the English courses offered here, but also the journalism courses, after having had an enriching experience at CPBN Media Lab (shout out!) - as well as piano lessons, under Professor Martin Vojtisek of the Prague Conservatory.

Professor Spritzer's message to us was not your typical "Enjoy yourselves!" kind of message. Her message was real. Her message was this: Be uncomfortable with yourselves here. You are not here to feel just as comfortable as you do when you are back home in New York. You are not here to expect to be treated nicely all of the time - it is not about you. You are here to learn about the Czech Republic, its people, what its people think about their country, what they think about America, what they think about their culture, their artistic ideas, their values... their lives. Be uncomfortable; don't constantly surround yourselves with English speaking American friends. Talk to Czech locals. Build international relationships. Try to understand their culture; we aren't here to stay in the bubble of ours.

In this blog, I plan to write about focusing on my experiences here in Prague that include and mostly focus on my journalism experiences taking the challenging-yet-rewarding class, International Reporting taught by Professor Spritzer (editor for a news agency here in Central Europe, formerly writing for various publications like the New York Times), auditing the Reporting the Arts class taught by Jan Machacek (journalist, former member of influential underground band Plastic People of the Universe back during the Velvet Revolution), interning for the Forum 2000 Foundation (to be blogged about soon!), as well as various other experiences I find noteworthy!

And I have to add a disclaimer: this is my truly first time delving myself into journalism, and so with that, this blog will be where I record my day-to-day journey learning about how to be a journalist living in a totally new culture. Please allow me to make some mistakes here and there, and please feel free to add to any discussion I start, to help make this a continual learning process.

In the meantime, I leave you with this; anywhere you go, whether you are in just your town, your state, your country, even if you aren't in another country like I am, I hope for people to keep in mind what my professor suggested; be uncomfortable. Not exactly the kind of uncomfortable where your sweater is too uncomfortably itchy,... but be uncomfortable and let yourselves be exposed to new experiences. Be uncomfortable as in, humble yourselves to prepare for new, important learning experiences, such as meeting someone with a rich, important history. Being open-minded to expect the unexpected sometimes is, I think, one of the best ways anyone can learn about anything; especially when we all just as well know that this world is made up of all kinds of people and not just one.

This is something that will underlie everything about my experiences living here in Prague, and I hope you enjoy learning from what I learn while residing in the Heart of Europe.