<p>Hey everyone, I'm in the midst of choosing an abroad program to either Amsterdam or Prague. I am just trying to get as much info before I make my final decision. I've done a **** ton of research but nothins better than first hand advice. Im a pretty chill dude, i'm not really into the club scene. I'm more into bars, pubs and cafes. Both cities look unreal so its getting harder and harder to decide. Thank you so much for reading this. Any words will be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>Do you plan to travel whilst in either city? If so you could make your decision on which is best placed to visit other cities.</p>
<p>Personally id go with Amsterdam, just because i think it a more interesting and diverse place. Prague is fabulously beautiful, culturally second to none and endlessly appealing too of course, but without speaking Czech or German (i assume you don’t?) i wonder how much interaction you could have with locals.</p>
<p>Haha yeah the Czech language is going to be pretty bothersome, but I think thats apart of the whole experience. I most definitely plan on traveling as much as possible. ideally I would love to make a couple good friends through my program and we are all up to traveling as much as possible. Thanks for your advice though, its getting more and more difficult to decide. If you have any more thoughts please feel free. Thanks again!</p>
<p>My son just returned from a semester at University of Amsterdam. A HS friend was in Prague at the time. Another friend was at Oxford and his older sister studied in Florence. Any specific question I can ask him?</p>
<p>He wanted English speaking environments so ended up with Amsterdam or Oxford as his choices, ultimately choosing Amsterdam. If you choose Amsterdam, be ready to ride a bike everywhere (luckily his program provided a bike and a phone). His school required him to take a Dutch class. His classes were demanding and there was a strict attendance policy (I think students could only miss one class). Shortly after arriving, he came down with H1N1 flu and then pneumonia and it was a bit of a hassle with teachers. He had no other absences allowed for the rest of the semester. Luckily he had planned ahead and scheduled classes from M evening thru Th so he had long weekends to travel and part of his mid semester break. Check your programs to see if they have a mid semester break. At my son’s school, it was up to the teachers so some gave the students off, other teachers didn’t . Another thing about U of Amsterdam. Americans left for the US before Christmas but the European semester doesn’t end for a couple more weeks. My son only has end of semester papers to hand in (instead of exams), so although he’s home in the states, he’s still writing his papers. I think he has one more to go. Friends who had exams were staying in Europe to take them.</p>
<p>Although there were kids from other US colleges, including a girl from his own school, many of the study abroad kids were from other European countries. My son really liked the diversity.</p>
<p>Wow thank you so much. I’m sorry to hear about your sons H1N1 flu. It sounds like a really good time. I am also really looking for diversity and an overall new feeling. My only question is what program did your son go through, or was it one through his school?</p>
<p>His school didn’t offer its own program in Amsterdam so he went through CIEE (out of Portland Maine). My older DD did her program through Arcadia. No problems with either group. In fact, Arcadia gave her an unexpected scholarship (I think someone cancelled or something).</p>
<p>Yeah i’ve been checking out the CIEE program. I just cant wait for it all to be finalized and get thru all the paper work.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I’d say Prague. </p>
<p>In Amsterdam, except for being hard to find, accomodation is on the expensive side. Actually, everything is a bit expensive in Amsterdam.</p>
<p>There are quite a few nice cafes, bars and pubs, but they are mostly where locals hang out, and speak Dutch. Otherwise most of it is industry. </p>
<p>The main attractions when I was there were the big techno parties. Always lots of clubbing and partying in Amsterdam to be sure. </p>
<p>Extremely beautiful city with a sort of magic vibe, at least when I was there. Cobbled streets with moss growing inbetween the cobbles, 17’th century town houses, house boats. </p>
<p>If you go there, I hope for your sake that you don’t mind psychedelic head shops, legal cannabis and prostitutions. There is a lot of tension between the large community of muslims and the right wing conservatives who are presently gaining ground in the Netherlands. Amsterdam isn’t terribly safe. </p>
<p>Prague on the other hand is all cheap. You will easily be able to share a nice appartment with people from all over Europe for a couple of hundred dollars per month. There is people of all European nationalities there to work or study.</p>
<p>Great beer, the best in Europe. Plenty of beer cafes and pubs, that’s what the city is about, and cheap dining out too, and from what I’ve heard (most of my friends have been there) a cool and bohemian vibe too. I can ask around for more details if you want.</p>
<p>I hear prices are going up, but I’d say you’d cut the expenses by 50% compared to Amsterdam. I have never heard anyone say a bad word about the city.</p>
<p>Thanks man, Yeah i’ve only heard good things from people who’ve studied in prague. It sounds really cool. Im alllllll about pubs and good beer. And the economical side of it is a contributing factor. And the I guess it just comes down to what program I should go through. Thank you so much for the advice</p>
<p>Prague is an amazing city and most everyone we encountered spoke English, so the language really shouldn’t deter you. My D was thinking about studying abroad there so we did check out Charles U…good location from what we could tell. It would be especially good for studying business or literature. I’m sure music and art programs would be good there, too.</p>
<p>I haven’t personally been to Amsterdam, so no opinion.</p>
<p>Thats awesome. Did you guys choose a program yet?</p>
<p>Both cities are beautiful, but I’d go for Amsterdam. There are definitely loads of nice caf</p>
<p>I don’t know Amsterdam, but my limited experience in Prague and the Czech republic in general corraborates Breisis experience with the Czech people. A bit glacial, understandably, as their beautiful city is being overrun with tourists and opportunists from all over the world. That is in addition to the communist past and the general tendencies for people in that part of Europe to be a bit aloof. On the other hand, it is a great location in the center of Europe, if you care about travel, and if you are content to spend time with people from other parts of Europe, there is still plenty to be learned.</p>
<p>I’m sorry for that unintelligible message. Must have been pretty tired yesterday.</p>
<p>“forcing people to even discuss private or political matters in their own homes.”</p>
<p>What I meant is that the Czech people were unable to discuss political and private matters in front of anyone, including the rest of the family, because children were so often interrogated about their parents’ actions by the communist police.</p>