OK, before my flight from NYC-Dublin-Prague I was a bit apprehensive about arriving in the Czech Republic. Not a lot, but whatever amount comes with the "embarking into the unknown" (a big part of this was the one-way ticket issue). It's not a lot, but it's comparable to performing on stage.. you get significantly nervous but not enough to just up and run (which is, at the end of the day, part of the overall thrill). Also, I didn't know what percentage of the locals [who I'd need to interact with on a day-to-day basis] would speak/understand basic English: How difficult would it be to buy groceries, or ask for directions? What about these pickpocketing Roma I keep hearing about?
Now that I've been here for 11 days I can look back and see that there was almost O% culture shock. Sure, all my groceries are labeled in Czech (and usually Slovak and/or Polish and/or Hungarian) and never in English.. which is interesting to say the least. Some people don't understand any English (like the owners of the Tabak shops, where theoretically I should be able to buy postage stamps) but the majority do at some level or another, so that's not really an issue. The city is easily navigable, not to mention gorgeous (although in all fairness it has its rough spots just like any city).
[I feel as though I'm rambling.. I'm a bit distracted, talking with other people and thinking about homework all at the same time as I'm typing this, sorry!]
All in all.. to conclude and come to some sort of point before I just trail off and post mis-sentence.. I think I feel more "shock" due to the fact that I'm not surrounded by my library or have access to my DVDs or music or whatever. Which, if that's as bad as it gets, is not really bad at all. As a matter of fact it's negligable. The end.
[I promise a more coherent and premeditated post next time!]
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