Culture shock (n.): A state of bewilderment and distress experienced by an individual who is suddenly exposed to a new, strange or foreign social and cultural environment. This definition cannot describe the feelings as a virgin traveler for my first time out of the United States. When I was on my flight from Frankfurt, Germany to Prague, Czech Republic I was given a sandwich that had questionable white and green cheese. It was also slightly unsettling when I could not read the ingredients, however, the kind gentlemen next to me informed me it was camembert cheese. When I ordered red wine as my beverage at 7:30 a.m., it hit me that I was no longer in East Tennessee.

I am studying abroad in Brno, Czech Republic at Masaryk University where there are two similarities to Johnson City, Tennessee: McDonalds and KFC. Aside from those two “iconic” restaurants, Brno and Johnson City are totally different.

The meals here consist of sausage, cheese, carbohydrates (mainly bread) and salads.

In the land where lettuce does not exist and all Czechs eat is carbs, one would think you would gain excessive weight here, right? Wrong!

No one I know owns a car here so as far as transportation goes, you have your own two feet and trams, to which you still have to walk a hefty distance to anyway.

Bringing my groceries to my car in a shopping cart, to then drive them home, never seemed like a luxury to me. Now I know how lucky it is to be able to do such.

In Brno, you must pay for shopping bags, so most people provide their own. Which, if you are a student, is your backpack that must hauled through multiple flights of stairs, a tram, a hill that is at a 50-degree incline, then more stairs, and again, more stairs. So, not only is grocery shopping limited, but it is also a workout because you must carry everything you purchase home.

Carrying all groceries home poses a problem when you go to buy a six-pack of beer here. An individual beer that is bought in a six-pack is 1.5 liters so a six-pack is 9 liters and cost only $8 USD.

As a beer drinker, this deal is awesome, until you have to carry it home. But if you go out to eat here, most people order beer because you get a liter for less than $1.50 USD.

If you want water . . . good luck. You must order water “without gas” which means still water. Water to the Czechs is sparkling water so if you want “normal” water it must be ordered properly. And when ordering water you will get less than .5 liter and it is twice as expensive as the beer. Crazy, right? And no, tap water isn’t free either.

I would not say I have experienced culture shock to its fullest extent, but there have definitely been things that have surprised me.

Navigating the town for the first few days with no map and no way of communicating with someone to ask directions wasdifficult.

Not knowing what you are ordering when you go out to eat is always interesting.

And meeting people from all over the world who sometimes break every stereotype you’ve ever held about a country is eye-opening and refreshing.

I think I am going to love my time here in Brno.

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