Na Shledanou

The countdown until my flight home has begun. Thirteen more days until I say goodbye to Prague and return to California. I'm not exactly reluctant to leave Prague- so much Christmas cheer has made me miss home a little (not to mention the 70 degree weather in LA). However, I do think I will miss this city as soon as I leave. After Christmas, or maybe New Years, when the novelty of home has worn off and I've sufficiently gorged on all the peanut butter and mexican food I've been missing out on, I suspect I'll long for these cobble stone streets again. As soon as a crave a good beer or remember the view from Letna, I'll surely miss Prague.

However, I hope that I don't recall Prague through rose colored lenses, like a beautiful, blurry image printed on a post card. I hope that Charles Bridge and Old Town Square are not the only sights that stand out in my mind. Unlike a tourist or a local, I have experienced Prague as both a transient visitor and a resident. I have seen the famed sights of Prague but spent most of my time frequenting local spots and trying to escape  the masses surrounding the historic districts. More than Prague Castle, Tesco and the dark basements of pubs dominated my time spent here. This perhaps is not an unusual summarization of the experience of a study abroad student in Prague, but I do think this is a special perspective not often offered visitors. Students are afforded a unique position in the city. They are encouraged to gain exposure to the foreign culture and interact with the native inhabitants, yet are kept at bay. However, despite the limitations of this position I'd like to think I have come to form some understanding of the city. I have learned the many contradictions and strange features that characterize the city that often avoid the criticism of the natives and the attention of visitors. And I have come to love the city in a strange way. In a more complete way than any tourist and not motivated by inherent feelings of nationalism. I hope that I will come back to visit Prague sometime in the future, but if not, I am content in knowing that I have a true and lasting image of it in my mind. 

Christmas Market

I love Christmas Markets in Prague. They have all my favorite things. Svarak. Roasted Chestnuts. Those wonderfully crispy potato chips. I vow to go everyday before I leave. 

A December Visitor

Yesterday, I showed my mom around Prague. We walked through Old Town Square, through the Jewish Quarter, down the river to Charles Bridge, and of course, to the Castle. Despite having lived in the city for a little over three months now, I probably had visited these places maybe only twice before during the early weeks of the semester and had not re-approached them since. While in the initial excitement of my stay in Prague I had no qualms joining the throngs of tourists in their usual tour of the city, as I spent more time in Prague and the routine of my day to day life evolved into that of a resident (at least semi-permanent), I shared the natives' resentment of the transitory visitors. Even as the crowds began to die out in late September, I avoided the historical districts at all costs, and when forced, would move quickly and self-confidently through the tourists that blocked my path. Amongst friends, I would speak dismissively about the tourist traps and kitschy museums, most of which I had seen only briefly or, in the case of the castle, not at all. My mom's trip to Prague, however, against my better wishes, forced me to revisit the same places I had written off as tourist pit holes. 

We walked the usual route- from monument to monument with stops to overpriced cafes and ridiculous gimmicky stores peppered between. While the places were familiar to me, much had changed with the changing of the seasons. What squares were crowded hubs of foreigners throughout August and September, are now nearly abandoned. Tourists who want to have their picture taken in front of the Astrological Clock no longer had to push their way to the front and fight off those who would walk into the picture. It was empty. Since I had long associated these parts of Prague with tourism (and thus written them off) this altered landscape left me unsettled and a little confused. In winter, when the last bus of tourists leaves the city, is Prague return to the locals? If the tourist machine is still in place and functioning during this time, only less frequently used, does it affect the city in the same way? And, in light of these seasonal discrepancies, how does my mom perceive Prague? Without the crowds of tourists, it is difficult to distinguish tourist Prague and 'real' Prague. And while I had previously thought these two images of the city were one in the same, in the apparent absence of tourists prompts me to question whether there in fact is some form of authenticity hidden beneath the underpinnings of the tourist industry that is only exposed during this time of the year.

My mom, unaware that the city had undergone any change, cannot be expected to interpret Prague in the same way I had when I first arrived. Empty save for a few visitors mixed unsuspiously with Czech natives, the city seems to be wholly authentic- a city well preserved in its history and steeped in unadulterated culture. And I suppose I can't blame her for thinking this way. Without the masses of tourists swarming about, the city seems more real and more functioning. When walking to the Castle or across Old Town Square, you don't feel like one of hundreds experiencing the same manufactured city, but rather it seems that a less savvy bystander could mistake you for a local. And that is much the aim of tourists: to blend in, to experience the true culture. Tourists never want to feel like tourists. And yet, the city they are exposed to, though seeming to be more authentic, is the same one seen and photographed by the many summer visitors. The only difference is the company in which they experience the city is decidingly less dense. While this obviously alters the perception of the tourist, the reality remains the same. Like the postcards sold in bulk by souvenir shops, the image of Prague in the mind of every past visitor is the same- stunning, beautiful, yet a mere facade of a city.