Post Departure Blog

I just finished writing my paper and I have had a lot of time to reflect on my trip. I am amazed by how much I learned and how much I have been able to share with my family and friends at home. I still can't get over their maternity leave and how it really (although it may not have been designed that way) does keep women out of the work force. It looks really good on paper, but just promotes women staying at home with the children. I am so glad we got to meet with women who overcame this invisible barrier and were able to get back into the labor market and become extremely successful. I think one of my favorite speakers was Eva who give the conferences to women and teaches them how to become successful women. I really enjoyed how humble she was and what a respected buisness woman she is. I liked how she didn't want to be like most Czech companies and wanted to keep her clients happy, even if it meant sending them little notes or presents in the mail.
Seeing 4 countries in 12 days was incredible. I would do it all over again if I could, I honestly can't believe I am already home! Touring the cities and really taking everything in was so benificial, I feel that I got the most out of the trip I possibly could have. My two favorite cities were Vienna and Prague. In Vienna, we went out one night and met up with a family member of Diana's. He took us to the museum district, which was this huge square were all college kids hung out, drank casually and sat on the benches. I was thinking to myself when I was there, if we were in America right now, doing this, college kids would be running around like crazy, getting wasted, probably distroying property, playing drinking games and getting crazy. There, everyone was so calm and low eye, just hanging out, having a couple drinks, talking and socializing. In America, it would have been "go, go, go", its such a fast paced environment here, its very rare that people our age could just sit on a bench and talk for the night, we always need to be doing soemthing. It was a really relaxing night, not to mention we got to talk to students who were traveling abroad and studying at Vienna University.
Visting the Prague palace and seeing the churches lit up at night was another one of my favorite memories. I will always have that image in my mind and when I look at my pictures, I can't believe I was there!
All around, I had a great trip, with great girls and great instructors. I would do it again in a heartbeat.