<p>Okay so I am planning on going abroad second semester of my Junior year of college and I have narrowed it down to three places:
St. Petersburg
Krakow
Prague
I would love to hear from people who have lived in any of these places (or any of these countries). I am really leaning more towards the later two since St. Petersburg is such a massive city. But just hearing people's experiences in these countries/cities would be amazing! Thanks.</p>
<p>I don't have any personal experience with these places, but I've only heard wonderful things about Prague.</p>
<p>I have not been to Krakow, but have visisted Prague and St. Petersburg. Both are VERY beautiful! But it is not a good idea to spend 3-4 months during the winter in St. Petersburg - very cold (around the 60-th parallel) with high humidity (near the sea, many islands and canals - like Venice). On the other hand Prague is in the middle of Europe - not so far from Dresden, Salzburg, Vienna, and even from Krakow :).</p>
<p>Prague is beautiful, the food and beer reasonably priced and wonderful (unless you're a vegetarian) But not especially friendly, as the city is innundated with foreigners. </p>
<p>Which language are you more interested in, if any?</p>
<p>I have visited both Prague and Krakow for a few days, but have not yet been to St. Petersburg. I enjoyed both tremendously and would gladly spend a few months in either. Prague is a bit larger (1,200,000 or so vs. Krakow's 800,000) and seemed more cosmopolitan, while Krakow turned out to be the sleeper hit of that particular tour with its friendly inhabitants, lovely town square, castle and churches. I do not think you could go wrong with either choice provided, as great lakes mom notes, you are not a vegetarian. The food in both was very much meat-based and the vegetarian options that my wife and daughter wanted were hard to find and not all that appetizing.</p>
<p>I was astonished to find that, in Prague at least, really good draught beer was cheaper than bottled water in most restaurants.</p>
<p>Given the current political climate, it would be unwise to travel to Russia, especially if you are not fluent in the language. I will be travelling and studying in both Krakow and Prague in the next two months. Prague is supposedly gorgeous, but Krakow will be less touristy.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone! For some reason I have not been getting e-mails indicating that people have been replying so I didn't realize that anyone had even replied until today. I think I have eliminated St. Petersburg altogether mainly for its massive size. I live in Houston now and would really like to go somewhere around half a million or smaller. I am def leaning towards Krakow now. I am far more interested in learning Polish than Czech and my university offers introductory Polish. I can have at least one semester before I leave to gain some very basic knowledge of the language.</p>
<p>Krakow would be wonderful!</p>
<p>While I haven't been to St. Petersburg, I wouldn't let the political situation get to you too much. The elections are just badly corrupted and there's a bit of confusion on where Putin wants to take his country (democracy vs. return to Soviet communism). Russia is far, far too rich in its culture to ignore and there's a rise of nationalism that you should see that's going back to pre-Revolution days. Also the Russian langauge is beautiful and can be very easy to learn (though people will disagree with me- it's only the cases that are difficult) as there are only three verb tenses and many of the words from English (American) and French. So if you have a good background in German or French, you'll definitely have a easy time with Russian. But I would check on the language requirements on the program as some of the very good study-abroad programs require 2 years of college-level Russian.</p>
<p>I have been to Prague for 4 days to visit a friend on a program that I initially considered- CIEE's Jewish Studies/Eastern European Studies program. I thought it was very good as they provided independent living in apartments all over Prague that were very clean and reasonable. The major downside that I saw (personally having just been visiting from Israel and finished a 25/hour week Hebrew instruction for 4 weeks) was that they taught Czech only once a week for 90 minutes because they felt that the language was just too difficult (which is true- but not as difficult as Hungarian). My friend was sorely disappointed in that as she wanted to learn more than just "please" and "thank you." Prague is a beautiful city to walk around but that's it besides the Jewish Quarter. That's it. It's very tiny- I felt as if the size of Prague was just about the same as half of DC. So for a semester, it's doable but not for a year. Like someone said, it's definitely a great place in terms of location as flights go in and out of the airport all the time and you can easily take trains into Poland, Germany, Hungary, and Austria. Prague is also a terrific place to stary studying Jewish history as it was one of the major centers of Jewish intellecutals in the 19th century. My friend, however, ended up being far more fascinated with the transition from communism to democracy- she loved her economics class.</p>
<p>With that said, no matter where you go in areas that were under Soviet communism, it's all very much the same in terms of adapation and mentality. People will seriously grab every last roll of toliet paper. Customer service is non-existent although the locals are actually very friendly and love Americans. But there is still a sense of distrust (because everyone used to spy on each other) so don't expect to make instant friendships with older people. Just read some of modern Soviet fiction and literature on Cold War in the Soviet bloc and you'll get what I mean.</p>
<p>So I would simply chosoe your program based on your personal and academic interests as these areas are not seriously in conflict or heavily depended on the foreign tongue (as it is in Spain, ugh!). Especially that the young people are very anxious to learn English and will seek you out for practice (though it'll take some work for them to teach you their native tongue!!!).</p>
<p>Everyone loves Prague.</p>
<p>I'm also considering Krakow and Prague and was wondering if y'all feel that Prague is too overrun with tourists to give you a true cultural experience?</p>
<p>I think that right now there's no difference in the amount of tourists in Krakow and in Prague. Both are overrun with them. I'm living in Krakow right now and if you go to the main square the language you're least likely to hear is Polish. But it is very beautiful :)</p>
<p>After extensive decision making skills (and a momentary thought of going to South Africa) I have def 100% decided on Prague. Thanks everyone!</p>