Saints Around the World: Prague, Czech Republic

Brianna Baylis '28 has the heart of an explorer, but there was always one problem...

Baylis lives in Westchester County, just a couple of hours from campus, and admits to occasionally feeling homesick. It's easy to retreat down the thruway for a weekend as needed; it becomes harder when there's an ocean in the way. So as much as Baylis wanted to study abroad, she pushed the idea aside... until her older sibling went first.

Percy Baylis is a rising senior at Dickinson College in Pennsylvania. Percy studied in London last fall and Baylis visited twice. Those experiences, combined with Percy's rave reviews, challenged Baylis to confront her worries.

"I still wasn't sure I wanted to study abroad for a full semester, but when I discovered there were opportunities for shorter trips over breaks, I looked into it. I knew I wanted to fulfill my core arts credit abroad, and that narrowed down the list of options, which was helpful because I wanted to go everywhere. My choices ended up being London or Prague, and since I was in London twice last year, I took a chance on Prague."

And was she homesick? For the first couple of days, absolutely.

"I was jet lagged, and I hadn't made any friends yet, and with the time difference, I was calling my parents late at night. They told me to wait it out, and that I would soon get busy in the program, and I'd meet people. They were right."

Parents usually are. Baylis studied Art and Architecture of Prague during a five-week program that began at the end of May and ran through early July.

"The class was three hours a day, but we were rarely in the classroom. We were all over the city, going to museums and looking at architecture. Prague is an older city because it largely escaped the destruction that happened in other major European cities during the world wars, so it has this amazing Gothic architecture."

And then there's the Prague Castle. Built in the 9th century, it's the largest ancient castle in the world and has served as the seat of power for kings, emperors, and presidents for more than 1,000 years. And it helped Baylis shake the homesickness.

"Our first weekend of the program, I decided to explore the city with a few friends from class. We decided to grab lunch and we just started walking. We were talking about where we're from, and we were just exploring, and then this enormous castle appeared. It's just not the kind of thing you see at home."

Neither is the Eiffel Tower. In just five weeks, while taking her course, Baylis was able to visit Paris, Poland, and Germany, as well as other cities in the Czech Republic. The homesickness never came back; there was too much to do (plus, her parents visited for a few days, and of course Baylis took them to Prague Castle).

"I definitely want to go abroad again. It's something I would recommend to absolutely anyone."