New Kid in the House

People ask me all the time what I’m doing in Prague. The short answer is PR, in which I successfully reduce my entire post-collegiate existence to the general line of work I’m in. The long answer has more to do with stress-induced insomnia, several volumes of Murakami, one panicked phone call and a frequent-flyer program. It’s also entirely possible that I watched one too many Woody Allen films.

photo credit: Honza Zima

Driving to Bloomington, Indiana for my final year at university after spending the last semester in Paris felt like the start of a year-long sentence to solitary confinement. The journalism program in which I was enrolled is nationally recognized, the campus party scene is virtually unrivaled and, I swear to God, school spirit permeates every last drop of safe drinking water. I was in a well respected sorority, I had plenty of friends, a great house; I could legally consume alcohol… What else could a 21-year old ask for?

But while most of Indiana University’s graduating seniors were fantasizing about starting their lives in the big metropolises of the Midwest—while they were asking themselves which trendy Chicago neighborhood they should move to, or whether they should plan next year’s reunion in Mexico or Vegas—I was busy looking back at the life I hadn’t yet lived feeling like everything worthwhile had passed me by. I felt out of control and chained to a lifestyle I hadn’t yet committed to. It’s not that the problems of my peers weren’t real; mine were just way more existential.

Indiana University Kappa Alpha Theta Pledge Class '08 (Colleen is top, left)

One thing I did know was that I wanted to do something in PR. The problem was I had no real experience and no connections. I’d heard it was nearly impossible to get a job at any of the big-time PR firms without knowing someone, not to mention the fact that I was job hunting at the height of the economic crisis. What I’m saying is: I was six months away from graduation with no clear vision of what I was looking for in a job, much less in life, and I had no real prospects. And what was the point of scratching and clawing my way into a position I wasn’t sure was worth fighting for in the first place? Huxleyesque montages of corporate American drones infiltrated my dreams until I literally couldn’t sleep. What I needed was something more temporary; what I needed was time to think.

In November, I organized a prison break. I applied to a TEFL certification program in Prague, a city I had never visited, and within a week I’d booked a flight. Graduation came and went—coincidentally, I have yet to pay a visit to my alma mater—and in August 2011, I boarded a plane.

At some point, standing in the rain on a curb somewhere in Žižkov, suitcase in hand, the phrase “be careful what you wish for” took on a whole new and all-too relevant meaning. The landlord had clearly forgotten to hang a shower curtain in the bathroom, the duvet was obviously too small for the bed, which was obviously too small for me, and where in God’s name was the microwave? What was truly terrifying though is how quickly I adapted to this simpler, shower curtain-less lifestyle; by the end of the first week, I didn’t even miss television, and by the end of the month, I couldn’t remember what it was like to have one in the first place.

Bicycle ride in Prague, one Saturday afternoon

Within a month I landed a full-time job at an international preschool and, as fate would have it, my one-year teaching plan quickly turned into two. What started out as a victory lap proved to be the most formative year of my life to date, and as I neared the end of the 2012/2013 school year, I knew I wasn’t ready to leave Prague.

Thanks to a little bit of luck and a whole lot of patience, I suddenly find myself working for one of the top PR agencies in Central and Eastern Europe. I’ve stumbled across something very unique at Best; the work is meaningful, the perks are great, but it’s the people that make it more than just a nine-to-five. I wish I could say it was my plan all along: to run away to Prague and land a life-changing opportunity like this one. Or maybe, on some level, it was. What I do know is that I did it my way, and getting on that plane was the best decision of my life. That, and upgrading to economy comfort for the extra leg room, of course.

Cesky Krumlov with friends, December 2012