Mařenka v Americe

Welcome to my experience!

So, after 2 months of living in America, I finally got myself to start writing a travel blog. I hope this blog will also help my other fellow students who were thinking of being part of exchange program. If that is your case, let me say it right away... If you have the opportunity, then DO IT.  But before we start, credits to my fabulous sister for setting this whole blog thing up, thank you! Although my first intention was to write in english only, my awesome sis made a valid point about my grandmas not going to able to read about my adventures, so for those from Czech Republic too lazy to sharpen their english, scroll down for Czech translation. My whole journey started during German language class (paradox right?), where I found little CCI Greenheart poster. I was always thinking about how awesome it would be to go somewhere as an exchange student, but I honestly never truly believed that I actually will go. Same week, I attended CCI meeting in my school, where they asked us if we might be interested in going abroad to study. We listed our preferences of place, duration etc... Then, 2 months later, I attended CCI tests (speaking, writing, reading, listening). After that, all what was left was signing an agreement and paying money. Once we did that, I received an email with all the paper work. Geeez, I gotta say, that part was the worst! In the end, when all was done, after numerous hassles with members of my family (Hi dad!), I sent my completed application to CCI Greenheart, and waited. After approximately 2 months of waiting, they found me a matching family, in little city called Huxley, state Iowa. Let me set this straight right now, I couldn't have wished for better fam! But I didn't know that back then in Czech, I got basic information about the family (family members, religion, daily routine etc.), school and city. Time flies, so I suddenly had myself thinking about how I will miss my family, friends and basically every single thing in my life. I was pretty scared before I left. The day had come, I'm sitting in a car heading to Vaclav Havel airport in Prague. Wow, I'm not scared anymore. Just kidding, I'm terrified. But I did my best to not to show my fam how scared I was. But as soon as I stepped inside that airplane, my mind instantly switched from "Don't know what to expect and I'm scared" mode to "You are on your own now" mode. I flew from Prague to Amsterdam, where I transferred for the first time. Amsterdam airport is one of the biggest airports in Europe, and I had only 50 minutes to find my terminal, get my ticket, and hop on a plane. Fortunately, I managed to all that pretty fast. So there I was, sitting in a plane, course Atlanta! This flight lasted about 10 hours, but it was kinda comfortable and relaxing for me. When I said that Amsterdam airport is big, I did not know what I'm talking about. Atlanta airport is one of the biggest airports in the world. Wow, that place is huge, they have a subway to get to different terminals. Fortunately, I had 3.5 hours to transfer, so I got my luggage, used self check-in to get my ticket, went through immigration department, wrote my parents and called my host family that I'm currently in Atlanta waiting for my flight to Des Moines. That flight was 2.5 hours, so thats approximately 14 hours of flights, 5 hours on airports, 7 hours time difference. Yes, I was tired. I was limping through Des Moines airport, and there they were, smiling and waving at me, with their big "Welcome to the USA" sign! Alright, that is enough for today, next week I'll publish another article about my daily routine and first expressions. If you want to contact me or have other questions about my journey, hit me up on Facebook (Mara Lukas), Snapchat (maraluk), or email (marek.lukas03@gmail.com). See you next sunday!




Taaaaak, po 2 mesicich jsem se konecne dokopal k tomu udelat neco produktivniho a mozna take pomoct ostatnim studentum uvazujicim o exchange pobytech. Pokud je tohle tvuj pripad, tak to reknu rovnou, pokud mas moznosti a prostredky, nevahej a do toho! Jeste nez zacnu, velke diky patri me skvele bozi uzasne sestricce za zarizeni cele tehle stranky! Jo a prej pro ni mate hlasovat v Blogerce roku, nevim co to je a nerozumim tomu, ale je to ma fabulous sister takze hlasujte, link @ her bio (to taky nevim co znamena) @ instagram ('dominikalukasova'). Tak, nezbytne promo mam za sebou, takze k veci! Cela tahle cesta do zamori zacala na hodine nemciny (paradox ze?) kde nam nase profesorka ukazala letacek od CCI Greenheart, za coz ji patri velke diky. Sice me asi sezere zaziva az se vratim s nemcinou na urovni houpaciho kone, ale co! Vzdycky jsem tak nejak premyslel ze by bylo skvele odjet studovat nekam do ciziny, ale uprimne jsem nikdy opravdu neveril ze se skutecne seberu a odletim.  Jeste ten samy tyden jsem se zucastnil schuzky CCI u nas ve skole, kde jsme dostali obecne zakladni informace o vymennych pobytech, a na oplatku jsme vypsali nase preference co se tyce mista, casu a podobne. V tuhle chvili bylo jeste vsechno absolutne nezavazne. Po 2 mesicich jsem se zucastnil CCI testu (mluveni, psani, cteni a poslech). Potom zbyvalo jen podepsat smlouvu a zaplatit. Jakmile jsme tak ucinili, prisla mi horda papiru, ktere byly potreba vyplnit, obehat, zaridit a tak dal, urcite si to umite predstavit. To byla nejhorsi cast cele teto akce, verte mi. Po par mesicich a nespoctu hadkach s jistymi cleny me familie (Ahoj tati!) jsem konecne poslal vyplnenou application do CCI Greenheart. Dal mi nezbyvalo nic nez cekat az se pro me najde vhodna rodina. A tak se stalo po priblizne 2-3 mesicich, kdyz se mi u me aplikace rozsvitila ikonka o "Matching family". Reknu to rovnou, nemohl jsem ani doufat v lepsi rodinu! Ale to jsem v tu chvili nevedel, dostal jsem jen zakladni informace o clenech rodiny, o meste a skole. Muj novy domov je ted male mestecko jmenem Huxley, stat Iowa. Cas leti neuveritelnym tempem, najednou zacinam premyslet o tom jak mi bude chybet rodina a pratele a vlastne muj zivot se vsim vsudy v Cechach. Budu uprimny, tak posledni mesic pred odjezdem jsem byl vcelku vystraseny. Sedim v aute smer letiste Vaclava Havla, a muj strach graduje. Jsem ale sikovnej kluk a nic na sobe nedam znat, prece nechci aby se ma familie stresovala jeste vic! Jakmile nastupuju na letadlo, v hlave okamzite prepinam z "Nevim co cekat a mam strach" modu do "Ted je to jen na mne" modu, coz mi neskutecne pomaha. Muj let z Prahy do Amsterdamu trva jen hodinu a pul. Amsterdam je jedno z nejvetsich letist v Evrope, a ja mam jen 50 minut na prestup, nervozita je zase tady! Nastesti zvladam najit terminal, ziskat letenku a naskocit na letadlo vcas, takze wohoo, smer Atlanta, Georgia. Let trva asi 10 hodin, ale mame pohodli, jidlo, filmy a hudbu, takze nestradam a let pro me neni nic hrozneho. Kdyz jsem rikal, ze Amsterdam je velke letiste, nemel jsem tuseni jsem o cem mluvim. Letiste v Atlante je jedno z nejvetsich na svete. To misto je vazne obri, maji dokonce vlastni metro ktere vas dopravi na jednotlive terminaly! Na prestup mam 3.5 hodiny, easy, letenku si zaridim na self check-inu, prochazim pres kontroly a imigracni, a potom mi nezbyva nic nez cekat na muj let do Des Moines (hlavni mesto Iowy). Vidam prvni americky fastfood, a jak muzete hadat, hned si jdu pro double cheeseburger, abych si to cekani trochu zprijemnil zejo! Pisu sms sve rodince v Cechach a volam moji host family. Let do Des Moines trva cca 2.5 hodiny, to je priblizne 14 hodin letu, 5 hodin na letistich, 7 hodin casovy rozdil. Ano, jsem unaveny. Tamhle jsou, vidim svoji novou rodinu, usmivajici se a mavajici na me s transparentem "Welcome to the USA"!
To by pro dnesek stacilo, pristi vikend sem hodim dalsi clanek o prvnich dojmech, zkusenostech a moji denni rutine! Pokud me chcete kontaktovat nebo mate nejake dodatecne dotazy, dejte vedet: Facebook (Mara Lukas), Snapchat (maraluk), nebo marek.lukas03@gmail.com. 

Arriving to Amsterdam!
Prilet do Amsterdamu!

Finally Des Moines, with my new lovely fam!
Konecne Des Moines, s moji novou uzasnou rodinou!