Many of my female European
colleagues used to bug me to describe my cultural shock on my first abroad trip
to Germany. I know what they wanted to hear from me and I used to say I never
experienced cultural shock. To embarrass me further, they ask me how I felt
about the display of affection in public places. I said that ‘it is common
these days in every part of the world’ to which their eyebrows went up in
surprise. Little did I know that I’m getting ready for my first cultural shock
in my second trip to Prague.
Within 10 days of my solo trip to Vienna, another long weekend opened the doors to Prague with a sunny weather forecast. From this trip onwards, I started following the weather forecast closely while planning my trips. I reserved a wonderful hostel for 10 euros per night and travelled through blablacar that got me another good deal. It took me around 4 hours to reach Prague from Munich. Next morning, I took local currency (Czech crown) from ATM and visited the nearby tourist information center. A girl from US approached me and asked me to join 'Free Walking Tour'. The word "free" motivated me enough to join her who introduced me to a group. That tour introduced us to all the major tourist attractions in Prague with a commentary about the history, kingdoms, world war, civil war, political situation, economy and culture. It was a wonderful tour and at the end of it we need to pay for the guide’s service if we consider the tour worth paying. Later, I tasted Czech cuisine (a few rolls) and visited John Lennon wall. In the evening I met a few more enthusiastic blokes who said that Prague has a great night life. I joined them and hopped to different clubs and pubs, which have free entry, listening to the music and dancing with them. It was quite an experience and fun as I never hopped around the pubs before.
While I was coming back to hostel in the mid-night, a guy stopped
me and invited me to a club that has an entry fee of 20 euros. I laughed at him
and said that he got the wrong person as I won’t spend even a penny on these
clubs/pubs. He was persistent and wanted me to have a look for a couple of
minutes and then decide. He escorted me for a quick visit to a club for free
and I thought that it is just like any other pub/club. But, it felt like another
dark world. There were many big halls inside the club. Each hall has a podium
and many tables and decorated with a different theme. The employees of that
club are busy entertaining the guests on the podium and also on the tables. The
guy who escorted me walked very quickly and I had to capture everything at a
quick glance. While following him, there was a time when I wanted to have a
second glance and turned my head back sharply to almost 180 degrees keeping my
mouth and eyes wide open. After a quick visit to the club, we came outside and
that guy noticed my shell-shocked expressions. He smiled and said that it is
time to pay 20 euros and enjoy the ambience. Then I had to change my facial
expressions to suit disappointment and said that it is below par and not up to
my standards. He argued for a long time that it is the best club in Prague and
finally gave up after realizing that I’m not ready to spend even a penny.
Unable to come out of that shock, I trudged in that lane and was interrupted by
another guy. He escorted me to the club in front of him saying that it is free
of cost and I need to pay only for the drinks. As I’m a teetotaler, I had a
smile inside my heart and followed him. He asked me to sit at a table with 5
chairs. There are already 4 guests busy watching the entertainment around. Two
of the guests seem to be a newly married couple from an Asian country and the
other two are American girls visiting Europe. I had mixed emotions flowing
through my body. I am embarrassed to turn my head to get a glimpse of the
entertainment around, uncomfortable sitting with the girls on that table at
such a place and excited to pinch myself and realize which part of the world am
I in. To get rid of nervousness, I initiated a quick talk with two girls sitting
beside me. After a couple of minutes, I could not sit there for any longer and
walked quickly towards my hostel.
This was my first cultural shock for many reasons. Firstly, I always thought
that pubs and clubs are only to drink and dance. Secondly, I always used to
think that only men go to such places.
Old town square
Prague Castle
Museums inside castle
Astronomical clock
Synagogues
Dancing House
Powder Tower
Petrin Lookout tower
David Cerny Babies
John Lennon wall
