Hello Everyone!
My name is Monica Singh and I am slowly making my way back to San Francisco for my second year after doing the 5 week study abroad program in Prague (along with some serious vacationing). All in all the summer was pretty amazing. I find that it's always nice to get out of the states for a bit and live in another perspective.
The city was amazing, always tons of things to see and do. With a bit of pointers from some of the Czech student aids I was able to get in some great sightseeing and learned a lot about the ancient city. We were staying in old town Prague, which is a complete mixture of old bohemian architecture and more modern, trendy shopping. It's pretty crazy to see such an old city blending with all the new fancy shops and businesses. Old town square was the center of various festivals through the summer, as well, including a hilarious folk festival and a "bohemian jazz" festival (I dont know exactly what genre they were going for, but it certainly was the Jazz of the US that I've always known. Of course, it is necessary to leave old town Prague and go visit the Prague castle. Crossing the famous Charles bridge to reach the castle can be a bit difficult, especially towards the end of July when the hordes of European tourists descend. All in all, Prague is an amazing city and I guess that's why there are so many tourists visiting through the summer. It can get pretty intense in the major shopping area (Wenceslas Square) with all the tourists; sometimes I would wonder if there was even a local Czech person there.
As for the classes, I took five credits worth. The definitely kept me busy, and having International Intellectual Property Law at 9am was quite rough. I still don't understand why you would have a 9am class in a country where nothing starts before 10am. Is that really necessary? Despite the time of that class, and the work involved in my others: Antitrust in a Global Perspective, Human Rights in Central Europe, and the EU - Institution and Structures, it definitely seemed worth it to take the courses and get the credits out of the way. I didn't mind the work/early hours nearly as much since I was in such an amazing spot. Plus, the grades are a nice boost to the GPA with law less pressure than the regular semester.
I would highly recommend the program, and though its five weeks, it hardly seems long enough to really get to know the city AND do some traveling on the weekends. I recommend staying on a bit (either before or after the program) and oing some good traveling then. As for me, I hit up the Greek Islands and London to see some family. I had a blast, and sadly now the summer is coming to a close. At least I can look forward to getting back to my law school friends and the city of San Francisco.
