Over the course of three days, I took two planes, two trains, a few cars and vans, an underground subway system and countless buses, across the eastern side of the Czech Republic, into Poland, and then finally to the United Kingdom. And then vice versa (starting at 2:30 in the morning…big mistake thanks to my lack of booking experience). I had to travel through several different villages across the Czech Republic via Czech Rails (we all know how much I love the train), and then drove with Roman to a small airport in Katowice, Poland. Once in Poland, I passed through customs and security, found my gate, climbed (yes this is the right verb) into a plane and landed at Stansted Airport in London, an airport about two hours by bus to the center of the city, or in my case, Southwark, where my friend’s flat lives. I reversed the journey for the return trip, with an extra cab, bus, van, and train less than two days later. What’s more, all transportation was slow or rerouted because of Climate Change demonstrations and protests happening in the city. Absolutely exhausting to even type out all the different means of transportation I needed to take to spend all of maybe 40 hours in London. Was it worth it?
Simply…ano.
As I mentioned above, all this travel was absolutely exhausting. After a long week of teaching, after-school activities, and continuous adjustment, the thought of tackling all this transportation on my own, with the language barrier, over the course of three days was extremely daunting. And less and less intriguing by the minute. However, when I arrived at the London airport, naturally I had a question about where I needed to be for the bus. And I immediately received a response in English, even touched with a charming British accent. Then, I found one of my favorite UK grocery stores, bought a sandwich and knew exactly what I was eating because I could read every single ingredient on the label. On top of that, I quickly spotted Café Nero, my favorite coffee shop in both the UK and my hometown in Andover. I was able to recognize aspects of my surroundings, everything quickly felt familiar and it was refreshing. Not only refreshing but for the first time in almost two months I was in a country where the majority of people around me spoke English. I can’t even put to words how this felt because I was shocked by the feeling…it was a little surreal and I was taken by a pleasant surprise.
By the time I left Stansted Airport via the national express bus, it was about 18:30 or 6:30 p.m. While the bus ride was long, I was able to restfully sit and soak in the forthcoming déjà vu. We passed through Paddington, Piccadilly, Westminster, Camden, Soho, and Waterloo. I saw street signs pointing toward Big Ben, London Tower Bridge, Regent’s Park, Hyde Park, Buckingham Palace, even Greenwich, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Shakespeare’s Globe, and the Victoria Theatre, where I watched Wicked with friends on one of the last nights of our short-term month in this beautiful city. We passed by the Tube stop for Tottenham Court Road, where the St. Giles Hotel resides, along with the British Museum and Gail’s Kitchen, another café I frequented with friends. Even though the bus was constantly stuck in traffic, as we were passing through the streets, I was greeted by memories from an abroad experience that helped to reshape my personality, rehabilitate my trust of other people, inspire me to step outside my regimented American routine and keep exploring and challenging myself to broaden my perspective of the world around me. Without this trip, I don’t know if I would have had the courage to even apply for Fulbright or share personal experiences and thoughts via a travel blog. I know a lot of people say that abroad is life changing….but yes, it truly helped me turn my life around and it was exciting for me to return as a stronger person.
I met my friend outside the Tube Station at Southwark. It was pouring rain (classic London weather) and in the Czech Republic it was 70 degrees and sunny. Again, I was thinking, “Am I crazy? Too ambitious for squeezing this in, especially when I could be enjoying the mountains of the Czech Republic?” Soon after, my friend ran up to me, gave me a giant hug, smiled and told me, before I even said a single word to her: “Sarah I can already tell you are not the same girl I met in London the first time. You seem comfortable here, even now!” I laughed and assured her that I had many stories to share about the new experiences I have faced since leaving London the first time around. At this moment, I may have been a tad delirious from travel but I was touched and knew I made the right decision to come.
We spent Saturday hitting our favorite spots from our short-term trip. The feeling of seeing all the stores in front of St. Giles, where my class stayed, and eating at the same cafes and revisiting all the historic sites that London has to offer, such as Buckingham Palace, Westminster, the Tower Bridge, and the Eye, was so bizarre. I was retracing an experience I had over a year ago, walking down the same streets that were part of my daily London routine, eating at the same places, seeing the same sites, talking with the same friend. When I did this the first time around, part of me was still a fragile young woman, hesitant to take risks and open herself up to people. I did not have any close friends off my cross country and track team before leaving for the month. Now I was here, as a young woman who has stepped far beyond her comfort zone, out of reach from anybody familiar to her for a long period of time, exploring the same city with someone who has become a close friend, someone not attached to a sports team and someone I did not meet from a prior class. I was here as my own person. Someone able to think about decisions unrelated to her previous high school and college routines.
Here in the Czech Republic, I am forced to take risks without thinking too long and hard about them. This has become my life and it is allowing me to garner confidence and enthusiasm about my mistakes, successes, and new experiences. I was struck by the déjà vu but at the same time found it intensely rewarding to reflect on how I have been deflecting taking steps back into the shoes of the person I was only a year and a half ago. I am not going to say I have completely changed – I still have cycles of anxiety and moments where I second-guess myself. It is impossible to change completely and I am only human. That said, London was a whirlwind of a trip and even that sheer fact, the fact of traveling outside of a country I just moved to for the year, over the course of 3 days, – this is something that is wild and not a typical choice I would have made only a year ago. But I feel all the better, and a touch more experienced with public transit, for it.
This week I also finished up student presentations and began a lesson about the difference between American and Czech secondary, or high, schools. I entered every lesson greeting the students with an enthusiastic: “Today you are not students at this gymnasium. Today you are all at Andover High School.” Then, I proceeded to break the students up into four groups: Freshmen, Sophomores, Juniors and Seniors. I explained to the students that these will be their groups because this is the system of class years for public American high schools.
Instead of lecturing the students about topics such as student transportation, class schedules, course load, extracurricular activities, and school traditions, I passed around a list of questions, organized by the above topics, and had the students discuss with their group and then ask me questions before I explained both the information in more detail and the nuances of each topic. By establishing an interactive approach to an information heavy lesson, I was able to ensure that all students felt comfortable participating while also integrating time to speak, listen, read, and take notes in English.
The students are starting to become more comfortable with me in classes so I do my best to keep their attention and respect by ensuring that nobody hides and everybody is always speaking in a respectful, productive manner at one point during the lesson. As one teacher told me today, there are no more new intros. Me being the native English teacher at the school is the new norm and my new reality for the year, a reality that lasts for an entire year, not just one month. The students know me at this point so now it is my job to keep them excited, curious and interested about what I have to offer for them as their Native English teacher this year.
On another note, teaching a lesson about Andover High School, I was faced with a surprising level of nostalgia for a past I had completely erased from my memory for five years. When making the presentation, I compiled pictures from my high school experience while also looking up new procedures and policies on the website. I not only faced my past but quickly realized that the Andover High School I knew has changed drastically since I was there. This was a strange feeling and again one that threw me off guard a bit. Students asked me questions about my classes, extracurricular activities, stress levels, cliques, friends groups, and school traditions (specifically prom, American football games, and graduation). I showed them pictures from my past along with some videos that my school compiled from experiences had during my time at the school.
When teaching about my high school experience, I drew upon the good times, the experiences that sparked my zeal for English, athletics, and education in general. However, I did not want to paint a picture-perfect portrait of an American High School – so I also made a point to talk about other types of experiences that may occur for students – detentions, friendship dramas, sports’ teams’ cuts, grade anxiety, and college pressure. As their native English representative, I want to ensure that my students see me as more than a teacher – I am here as a person who has not only experienced what they are going through right now but is still working through her own feats. We all are and I want students to know that it is ok, even normal!
I also met with some students after school at local cafes and asked them what they were especially interested in learning more about during this lesson and also during the year. My students were particularly surprised by the sheer number of extracurricular activities offered and how many students participated in them. The lack of activities and sports events here is one difference that has surprised me the most because my sports and after-school clubs at both high school and college were what kept me going. They were a necessary break from my intensive academic life at both places. This is also just something I miss in general living here in the Czech Republic.
I grew up a Bostonian and then went to Andover High School and finally Bates – all places where athletics and sports events are an expected, competitive, and essential part of the community. There is nothing quite like sitting in Fenway Park watching a Red Sox game on a summer night in Boston. And the cross country and track teams at Andover High and Bates introduced me to my closest friends, most of whom I am still consistently in touch with today. My life story would be completely different if I didn’t have these teams and groups of people as part of my day so it blows my mind that it is not a more substantial part of what my students know as well. So, I have ensured them that they will know how to follow Boston sports by the end of the year and that there is more to American school sports than American football. I want to enlighten my students by dismantling stereotypes and I hope they do the same for me as we are all learning and exchanging lessons about each other’s cultures alongside each other.
Finally, today I started a baking club for my students and their family members. Keeping with the theme of this blog, I really want to hold onto the excitement that followed my first month here by working on developing friendships that will allow for an empathetic classroom community. We made mug cakes because a microwave and some simple ingredients is all I could find for now. A student and her younger sister joined me. It was nice to hear genuine laughter from my students as we guestimated ingredients, watched my cake fail and then taste while laughing as they said, “not so good.” It was a great way to practice English in a non-formal way while also getting to know each other’s personalities more in an after-school setting. The students even asked what we will be making next time and then told me they think this a great way to make friends because my cooking is funny. We will be making something pumpkin spice next time because it is October and while I am away from Andover, I need to show these students some delicious pumpkin spice goods that are a staple of Autumn in MA for me. Students see that I make mistakes and that I am not perfect in these settings and that is exactly what I want them to see and laugh alongside me.
Everything has been new and exciting and I want to make sure I keep sparking that same curiosity and intrigue in both myself and my students as more challenging months are on the horizon. The reality of being so far from home, without any meetings from my family and loved ones from America, is continually setting in and I am still learning how to navigate and control my stress in a way that widens my independence and keeps me grounded – I can call family from home but need to understand that they are still living their own lives and I can’t always rely on them to fix all my problems. I want my new reality to involve calling my mom with good news instead of asking her about how to pay a bill or how to go about booking some sort of appointment. And I’m getting there slowly but surely.
I may have experienced some déjà vus this week and some unexpected memories certainly resurfaced – but it was also eye-opening for me to walk off the train back into Česky Têšín after my London trip. I still can count the number of Czech words I know on my fingers and the culture shock and language barrier is different than anything I have ever experienced – but I found my way back “home,” to a place where I continually work on balancing this independence and adjustment every day with the help of my Czech family.
To end, I will be back in Prague for a Media Literacy Confernce this weekend – the travel never stops but I will be back with Fulbrighters from the Czech Republic, Poland, Germany, and Slovakia and I look forward to sharing the story that is sure to follow! In the meantime, as always, ahoj and enjoy the foliage and seasonal joys that follow Autumn! Na zdravi!
Redefining Escape 
What a wonderful post about London!
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