My Experience in Prague, Czech Republic
Explorers, I had a bit of an interesting experience with my travels to Prague. While I was there for some vacation, I was also there to work. In the summer of 2019, I traveled with my dance company known as Star City Ballet to compete in an international dance competition in Prague. The dance competition was known as New Prague Dance Festival and featured dance teams from countries all over the world. This was a trip my company had made every two years, so when it was my turn to go, I was stoked.
Traveling Overseas
About 15 dancers traveled together along with three chaperones and our dance instructor. We woke up bright and early to catch our 12-hour-flight. Our first flight was in Roanoke. We then landed in France and flew from France and France to Prague.
I always get more anxious about the airport scene than I do flying. Airports tend to be pretty hectic, so the best thing is to stay focused and move fast. Also don’t look suspicious lol because there’s nothing worse than getting searched. Once you make it through bag check, security, and customs, you can have some time to breathe while waiting to board your flight.
Once we were all boarded on the plane, we looked at the map to track our journey. This was the longest flight I had been on so I was definitely a little anxious about that. The best tips I can give for surviving a long plane ride are to make sure you bring snacks, have some movies or videos downloaded on your phone, or watch the movies provided by the plane. This will make the time fly by. I also personally struggle with my ears popping at high altitudes, so I made sure to purchase ear-planes which are ear plugs designed to stop ear popping.
Since this was such a long flight, we had lunch, dinner, and breakfast the next morning on the plane. They were all mediocre plane food, but survivable, especially if you’re hungry. I watched our plane on the screen get close to our destination and by that point, I was so excited to exit the plane. Once we landed, we did the whole airport scene again and finally got on a bus to take us to our hotel.
Touring the City
The first few days of our journey were spent exploring the city and tasting all the wonderful food. That was honestly the most I’ve ever walked, but the breathtaking architecture of the city made it worth it. So much can be viewed just by walking around and many of the castles and churches in the city are free to the public. We took advantage of this and toured several castles and churches downtown. Along with the free tours, we also visited a Holocaust Museum, a local dance shop, and went on a boat tour through the city.
When walking through the city, there’s an immense number of shops to browse through, so make sure you bring your money. There are also many pop-up vendors for fun treats such as Trdelnik, which is a traditional old bohemian sweet pastry made of yeast and dough. Cinnamon and sugar are usually sprinkled across and you can either enjoy as is or fill it with ice cream and other fillings such as Nutella. So good! I had one probably every day.
During the tours of the castles and churches I was blown away by the structure and art that formulated around the ceilings and walls. Each piece of artwork had so much detail and passion put into it. It also should be noted that when traveling to places like this, it’s polite to dress modestly and presentably. So, no booty shorts, crop-tops, short skirts, or short dresses. Getting the opportunity to walk through these amazing buildings made compromising some of my outfits worth it.
We did the boat tour on one of our last days. All my friends and I were served a lovely dinner while floating down a canal through the city. The food was great, and the views of the city were even better. We stayed on the boat for several hours and got to see the sunset along with the city lights in the night sky.
Dancing throughout Prague
Aside from the tours, we got the opportunity to take dance classes with Czech dance instructors, which was such an amazing experience. The studio spaces were nothing like I had seen in the U.S. and the atmosphere of the space made me want to dance forever. Each room had high ceilings decorated in art or wooden sculptures. The mirrors were also draped in fabric curtains that gave the rooms an elegant look. Each instructor also had their own style of teaching, which is always interesting. Most of them also spoke little to no English so I was thankful that ballet terms translate to the same meaning.
Once we got to the actual competition, we had three separate days to showcase our ensembles. We had been rehearsing all summer for this competition, so it was relieving once we had finished each piece with applause from the audience. When we weren’t dancing, we got the opportunity to watch all the other performances. BYU was one of my favorites as they performed huge modern and contemporary pieces. They ended up getting first place, which was well-deserved.
While the performance was amazing, it was something I was used to doing. The part that really stuck with me was meeting the other dancers from other countries backstage. It was so cool to hear their stories and what was crazy to me was that they all spoke English, while none of us spoke their language. It was such a crazy contrast of how they all put effort into our country and how very few people in America put effort into learning other languages.
After the last night of competing, we got our awards and we had won third place in the Ballet Category, which made sense since that was our expertise. Winning that award made me emotional because while it was amazing to bring that home with me, it also meant that our experience in this country was over. Usually when people think of traveling, they think of vacation. I remember being nervous about the responsibilities that we would have while being abroad. We had to wake up early, go to new studios, rehearse with strangers. Though, tours and lounging around aren’t the only purpose for travel. Utilizing resources from other countries and cultures is so rewarding and this can apply to anyone’s interests. There are so many cool things you as a traveler can learn abroad and I would take advantage of that.
Leaving Paradise
Though, before we boarded our flight early the next morning, we partied one last time with everyone we competed with in the festival. We made so many great connections that night as we weren’t in the strict environment of competing. I danced for hours with my friends on the dance floor until we had to leave.
The next morning, we all woke up at around 6am to enjoy our last continental breakfast at the hotel and board our plane around 9am. Leaving for me was very bittersweet. I loved every minute of it and was happy to take these memories home with me.
