Mary Spencer
Antelope Staff

Megan Jaeger, a junior communication disorders major from Kearney studied abroad in the Czech Republic through UNK in the spring of 2016. You can read more about her adventures in the Czech Republic on her blog at czechyourbags.blogspot.com.

She decided to study abroad through UNK after catching the “travel bug” from Africa. “I promised myself that I would continue to escape the ordinary while filling my passport and checking off my bucket list that seemingly continues to grow,” she said.

She chose the Czech Republic for three reasons. “My major is communication disorders so it is important from not only the counseling side to understand other cultures, but also the phonetics aspect. I love to write and I hope to one day use my career and experience with all of this to publish a book to help other speech-language pathologists be able to better treat their clients.”

Was this your first time to leave the country/live abroad?
This was not my first time leaving the country or living abroad. I have been blessed with the opportunity to be apart of the BoldLeaders program based out of Colorado. The program allowed 19 students and me, from around the United States, to travel to Uganda. We lived with host families while exploring their infrastructure, culture, and the beautiful country while getting to know the people.

Did you experience any culture shock moving into a new country?
Oh yes! Daily life in the Czech Republic is definitely a culture shock in itself from what I was use to in home sweet Nebraska.
This really didn’t hit me until the second night we were there and went out to dinner. We were greeted in Czech and smiled back, then were seated. The menus were Czech, of course, so we just pointed to something that sounded good. Don’t ask why we thought some strange word sounded good, but we went with it!  

When our waiter came back and he soon realized that we could not understand him. We pointed to the items on the menu while trying to pronounce them and having him laugh at us struggle, while also correctly pronouncing them. Our mysterious meals arrived, I had ordered duck and somehow we managed to pay, and find our way back home on the trams!
 
How long was the program you chose?  Did you go early or stay later?
The Czech program was about two and a half months long. I went early and also stayed late. Kass and I went early to explore Prague together before the program started and to get to know each other.

After the program we spent one week in Croatia and the next in Scotland. After, we spilt up in the Prague airport for the first time in almost three months to travel solo to different destinations for two weeks.
 
What was your favorite moment while you were abroad?
This is probably the hardest question to answer! The trip itself cannot be broken down to one single moment for me, everything that happened just kept adding to one grand adventure.

Now, a year later, the people that I studied abroad with are some of my closest friends. The girl who sat next to me at the very first meeting, Kassidy McConville, became not only one of my best friends, but still to this day my roommate! Many of us came as strangers, but we left as great friends. Each of them has impacted me for the better and because of them, through the opportunity UNK gave me, my heart has grown.