My name is Lauren Welsh, and I recently returned from studying abroad in Prague, Czech Republic! Before coming to college at the University of Montana, I knew I wanted to study abroad in hopes of having the chance to travel and meet new people. Over three years ago, I moved from Wisconsin to attend the University of Montana, and I loved experiencing a change in environment by meeting new people and living in an unfamiliar place. It pushed me out of my comfort zone and taught me so much about myself, and I knew that studying abroad would provide a similar experience. My time in Prague taught me how to be comfortable with uncomfortable situations, even if I hated it at the moment. Dealing with the culture adjustment, language barrier, and knowing no one in my program was not an easy start to my time abroad. But as it progressed, I met friends in Prague going through similar experiences as me, allowing me to finally lean into the experience rather than fear it.

As an English Education major, I chose Inequality and Human Rights as my Global Theme because I saw connections to my future career. Because I am a prospective educator, I will need to understand my students of all different cultures and who have had different experiences than I have. For my Global Challenge, I chose to take a course titled Mediation and Conflict Management to discover how to mediate my future classroom and promote healthy discussion where students with different beliefs, cultures, and backgrounds will be interacting. I believed that studying this in Prague would provide me with a unique, global perspective, as I would be interacting with students from all over the world in a manner I had never had the opportunity to participate in here at home. By focusing on this Global Challenge, I developed a deeper understanding of how to navigate potential debates and conflicts in the classroom from a place of care and curiosity. One of my goals as a teacher is to make every student feel welcome and comfortable in my classroom as well as to encourage them to share their perspectives and backgrounds with their peers, and I am grateful to have had time to develop my own skills through my conversations with my own peers in Prague.

I thoroughly enjoyed having the chance to meet so many people from all around the world during my time in the Czech Republic. Prague is very centrally located in Europe, and Americans were outnumbered in all of my courses at my University. This allowed me to meet and befriend students from across Europe and beyond, giving me a glimpse into the world outside my own. During a school ski trip at the beginning of my semester, I met one of my close friends during my semester abroad, Jana, who is from the Czech Republic. Throughout the semester, I got to spend time with her and get to know more about the country I was studying in through firsthand experience. Jana’s dream is to visit the United States, and she even taught herself English through American television shows and movies! I found her perspective on my own country very interesting because I had always dreamed of leaving the United States to visit Europe, while she was experiencing the opposite feelings. I hope one day we can meet here in the United States!

When I look back at my first few weeks, I remember the culture shock and discomfort of how little I knew about my new city. I like to look back at the small wins I had, like figuring out the trams for the first time or ordering my coffee fully in Czech. Although I did not know everything, I figured it out day by day and enjoyed the experience. Even though I experienced those small anxieties and fears, I wish I could go back and endure them again because now I know I can. During my time in Prague, I gained confidence in myself and learned that putting myself out there is the best thing I can do for myself. Without feelings of discomfort, I would not have met my amazing friends, traveled to 12 countries during my semester in Prague, or created memories that I will appreciate forever.