Have you ever gone fishing? I haven’t, so don’t take my word for what it’s like; I’m only speculating. Fishing seems like a long, arduous process. You’re sitting there after dangling out what you got, hoping that fish will bite so you can reel it in and enjoy it for what it is. Once you get the fish, you can do whatever you want with it. Maybe celebrate you have it and take some pictures with it. Or maybe you take it home to cook and eat it. Perhaps you stay and catch more fish. You might be one to throw it back in the water? I don’t know, but if you’re willing to go fishing for that one particular fish that is Prague, it might be awesome.Being in Prague so far is pretty damn dope. First off, if you want a European experience, without language requirements, and with non-London prices then I would highly recommend looking into Prague. I mean those are three things that sound pretty good to me. But that’s not all; there is an assortment of great things about Prague! It’s hella picturesque. It was Hitler’s favorite city apparently, which spared it from being blasted to smithereens, so you get to see a ton of old architecture. The school itself is located right smack dab in the middle of downtown. You walk out of class into a super touristy area, but it’s well worth it because of how beautiful it is. Prague is super walkable, and it’s honestly super nice to just walk around and take in the city. If you want, you can hop on the SUPER accessible trams/metro (I’d argue the trams are even more convenient than in Shanghai) and get to basically wherever you need to go. You honestly don’t even need to have a lot of activities to do because walking around is enough. But if you want, you can catch a symphony, opera, play, or something along those lines. Word on the street is that those things are pretty sweet.Okay, so what about being at NYU Prague itself? Aight, well the dorms here are pretty nice. The two housing options here are either to live in the dorms, which are super nice suite style living spaces or to live in a hotel right across the street, which is cheap and has free breakfast. Regarding the dorms, there are four different dorms to choose from, and you can not go wrong with any of them. Classes here are… well, it depends on what you are taking. Keep in mind that most of the professors here understand that students come here to travel and experience Europe, and they don’t necessarily want to punish you for that. Not super academically rigorous, but there’s definitely work to do. It’s different being here as opposed to Shanghai or Accra. Our cohort has about 180 or so students, which is smaller than Shanghai, but it’s not necessarily reflective of a group that gets along. I mean let’s be real, y’all already know that studying away doesn’t mean you have to make new friends. But you can here, which is the great thing. Nevertheless, sometimes it’s hard to make new homies because peeps be tryna travel and stuff.Speaking of travelling, if you’re considering costs, being in Prague is a good option. First off, the food here is pretty darn cheap. I can go to a really nice restaurant and get a great meal for the equivalent of 42RMB. Not saying I’ll spend that much each time, but you can get by with just spending 20-25RMB a meal, which sounds pretty dope to me. And you can travel from here too! Bus to Germany. Train to Poland. Fly to Italy. The Czech Republic’s central Europe location is really conducive to traveling. You can get around to anywhere for fairly cheap. And even if you don’t want to travel to other places, you can just bus somewhere in the Czech Republic for real cheap. Don’t feel obligated to travel; it’s totally cool not to. It’s dope sticking around Prague too. But the option to travel is here, and it’s a damn fine one. Keep that in mind if you come here.I mean I guess that’s all I really have to say about that. Coming back to the fish thing, though. Think of the process of fishing and then you catch that fish that is Prague. You can take pictures with it, be happy you’re there, do as you please, just as you can being in Prague. You can also just enjoy it for a bit, then cast out again and catch another fish, other fish representing other travel destinations. You can also take that fish home and cook and eat it and really embrace and appreciate it all for what it is. All worthy options. You can do whatever you want to do. I mean I am really glad I have the opportunity to have come here and experience life in Europe. But I know I will never fall in love with it like I did with Shanghai. In this case, fishing was kinda fun. But I’m gonna have to let this fish back into the water.P.S. if you are into Vietnamese food, most definitely come here. There are mad Vietnamese people and the food here is hella bomb yo. It’s all legit too. This article was written by Kevin Pham. Please send an email to [email protected] to get in touch. Photo Credit: Debora Bang