Freshman Year

I’ve been in Prague for 10 days now, and it feels like freshman year of college. It’s been both amazing and overwhelming. Upon arriving, they divided us among six hotels across the city. With everyone so excited to meet and become best friends, there was lots of energy in the air. And with beers costing a little over $1, there was plenty of social lubricant as well.

It’s been amazing to hear each person’s story about they heard about Remote Year and how they then mustered the courage to do it. Many people’s families weren’t exactly supportive. Upon telling her about the program, one person’s mom hung up on him. Another person’s dad tried to tell her she couldn’t go. With people from 15 countries and ages ranging from 22-50 years old, we have a good deal of diversity. There is one thing we have in common though. We were all willing to take a chance and try something different. This has created an immediate bond that’s just so cool to be a part of.

It’s also been a bit overwhelming. I found myself trying a bit too hard to be outgoing and become friends with everyone. I needed to settle down, and I found an unexpected opportunity with some good old jet lag. At the time, my sleep schedule consisted of sleeping at 11pm, waking up at 2am, being wide awake until 6am, and then sleeping again until 10am. It sucked. After lying awake and allowing myself to get upset the first couple nights, I starting getting out of bed instead. Since I didn’t have anything I planned to do, I didn’t feel the usual pressure to hurry and get everything done. My mind went quiet, and I found a calm that is often so difficult to find during the day. It was amazing how much I was able to get done when I wasn’t worried about getting anything done at all.