Ahoj! (That means hello in Czech. It’s pronounced “Ahoy.”) If you are new here, welcome! Write Side Up is my website where I will hopefully be doing some marketing/ writing work in the future, but for now, it serves as my blog while I am away from home visiting the Czech Republic.

Why the Czech Republic?

Great question. I got a marketing internship at Cumorah Academy, a European school for young adults located in Načeradec, Czechia. (That one is pronounced like “Na – shed- er- esh.”) I will create content for and run the social media here at Cumorah for three months. I am so excited for these next three months and excited to include you on this journey!

Please check back often for a new blog post or sign up for my newsletter and I will let you know when I have posted through there!

Day one:

I flew from Salt Lake to Amsterdam and then took another plane to Prague. I need to travel to Amsterdam again sometime in my life (for a longer time) because it looked gorgeous during our layover. The airport had a flower shop in it (since it was Amsterdam,) and it looked so pretty. It’s definitely on the bucket list.

When we arrived in Prague we were picked up by Cumorah’s driver, Daniel, and driven to Načeradec (which is about an hour south of Prague.) The first thing I noticed during the car ride were these bright yellow fields of flowers. We passed by four or five of them at least. When we asked Daniel if he knew what flower it was, he said, “Canola.”

Later I found out that canola flowers are what make canola oil. I also learned that canola fields cover 16% of the Czech Republic. I didn’t get a window seat on the plane, so I am not positive what the aerial view looked like, but I bet it looked like a patchwork quilt with all the rolling hills and yellow canola fields.

Everything is in Czech but there are a lot of English signs as well. We passed by 3 Mcdonalds on the way to the school which was kind of weird.

Everything is so green here. It is the Czech countryside. (I had read that before coming but did not fully understand. When it says Czech countryside, it means CZECH COUNTRYSIDE.) Rolling hills, crab apple trees in full bloom, driving through forests, canola fields, farmland, etc. Countryside. It is beautiful here!

It has rained every morning. It is very humid. I couldn’t tell you the temperatures. I need to learn how to convert Celsius to Fahrenheit. I also need to learn military time- it’s throwing me off! 🙂

Another thing I don’t understand how to convert is the money. I bought a Czech SIM card and it said 2,000! I was a bit shocked but learned that it was only $8 in America. Whew!

What is Cumorah Academy?

Cumorah Academy is a school for young adults. I know I said earlier it is a European school, but they have students from many countries including Brazil and other South American countries, African countries, and for the first time this semester students from Japan and Australia.

Cumorah’s mission is “to assist individuals in their desire to follow Jesus Christ and positively impact their lives, careers, homes & communities.” You can learn more about them by clicking here.

The academy actually used to be a hotel, Hotel Štamberk, but was refurbished as a school. The founder Patrick served his mission in the Czech Republic and decided to create Cumorah Academy. This is Cumorah’s third year and ninth semester.

The students arrived yesterday and the official start of the semester is today. Since Sunday it has just been the interns and the staff here. I am still learning the ropes of my responsibilities as the Content Creator intern, so I will have more to say on that note in my next blog post.

More pictures:

The photos above are of bread and pastries in the grocery store and some that were served with breakfast yesterday. They have bread with every meal, and pastries at least once a day, usually with breakfast.

Breakfast consists of eggs, sausage, bread, avocado, cucumbers, tomatoes, and fruit.

I’ve been eating avocado toast (with eggs and avocado,) herbal tea, lemon water, and a banana with Nutella on top. (Sometimes a pastry or doughnut as well.) It’s been very good!

We are blessed at Cumorah to have professional chefs who provide all the meals.

I also found Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza in the store in Czech and thought that was fun.

How am I feeling?

On my mission, the church had a color chart for different feelings. It went from really good – green, to less good – yellow, then orange, and finally red which was not doing well at all. My family members and I have since gotten used to labeling our mood with one of those colors. “Today I feel a little yellow,” for example, or “This week was orange.”

To keep up with tradition, I am super green. I am excited to be here. I still can’t believe I am in another country. Me!?

Until next time

I watched the movie “Notting Hill” on the plane. In it, the main character, William Thacker meets this famous movie star, Anna Scott. The first time he meets her he says that meeting her is “surreal, but nice.” I have been quoting that line in my head since we got here. Being here in the Czech Republic is surreal, but nice.

I am excited for what this semester will bring.