This land is my land
Monica Harrison
Issue date: 9/25/08 Section: Features
Our flight took us from Detroit to Amsterdam and finally landed in Prague. Unlike landing in Amsterdam, when I noticed the ground looked so similar to any other that a plane descends upon, as our plane landed in Prague one of those confident thoughts was placed in my mind:
“This is the land in which I belong.” While I do not believe that I am best suited to stay in any one land, this place felt more like home than any other location. Perhaps it is due to the Czech heritage I hold, but despite knowing no one there and having only spent a short amount of time in that country, there is some mystical part of me deeply rooted in the Czech Republic.
My cross-cultural trip to the Czech this past summer was my second visit to the country. When I was first there, now over three years ago, I felt no attachment to the place; it held nothing extraordinary. But throughout the time since that first trip, the Czech Republic has remained on my mind and so I gradually tugged the suitcase out of my closet.
In comparison to my first time there, this trip enabled me to gain a new perspective of the country. Visiting many of the cities, as opposed to staying in a rural area gave me the opportunity for more observations and encounters with the Czech people. I was able to comparison and contrast their way of living to that of most Americans. Unlike our American culture’s primary focus on vocational success, the Czechs lead a more relaxed lifestyle, balancing the personal and social, as well as vocational aspects of life. I also gained an understanding of their distinct personality, how that personality stems from their recent history, and the unique contrast of their exclusive and inclusive social circles.
I have developed a strange connection to the Czech: its land, its people, its aura. The country fields of bright poppy flowers, the Gypsies, the Czechs, the contrast of Agnosticism and Catholicism, the lifestyles and personality that permeates their European air—I am connected to it all, spiritually and inexplicably.
“This is the land in which I belong.” While I do not believe that I am best suited to stay in any one land, this place felt more like home than any other location. Perhaps it is due to the Czech heritage I hold, but despite knowing no one there and having only spent a short amount of time in that country, there is some mystical part of me deeply rooted in the Czech Republic.
My cross-cultural trip to the Czech this past summer was my second visit to the country. When I was first there, now over three years ago, I felt no attachment to the place; it held nothing extraordinary. But throughout the time since that first trip, the Czech Republic has remained on my mind and so I gradually tugged the suitcase out of my closet.
In comparison to my first time there, this trip enabled me to gain a new perspective of the country. Visiting many of the cities, as opposed to staying in a rural area gave me the opportunity for more observations and encounters with the Czech people. I was able to comparison and contrast their way of living to that of most Americans. Unlike our American culture’s primary focus on vocational success, the Czechs lead a more relaxed lifestyle, balancing the personal and social, as well as vocational aspects of life. I also gained an understanding of their distinct personality, how that personality stems from their recent history, and the unique contrast of their exclusive and inclusive social circles.
I have developed a strange connection to the Czech: its land, its people, its aura. The country fields of bright poppy flowers, the Gypsies, the Czechs, the contrast of Agnosticism and Catholicism, the lifestyles and personality that permeates their European air—I am connected to it all, spiritually and inexplicably.
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