Bratislava + Prague: “Huddled together, singing our hearts out.”

—Dispatch from Emma Myhre, senior theatre and communication studies major

As we were leaving Vienna for Prague, I got a text from a Gustie friend studying abroad in Tanzania. She said, “Emma, enjoy every single second of Prague. Stand on the Charles Bridge and listen to your favorite song for me. I would give anything to go back.”

This tour has been a wonderful, colorful whirlwind, and I feel overwhelmed reflecting on it. After leaving Vienna, we visited the city of Bratislava, capital of Slovakia. Even though there was heavy snow—not as bad of weather as our Midwest friends—the people in the town made us feel so welcome. It was close and quaint, and we trooped through our walking tour. In every shop and café my friends and I entered, we left to the words, “Thank you, we would love for you to visit us again soon!”

The performance in St. Martin’s Cathedral was breathtaking (and not just because it was a chapel with no heat). Even though it was our second performance together as an ensemble, we were so connected to each other, huddled together to stay warm, and singing our hearts out.

Over this tour, I have found myself walking around with my senior friends trying to anticipate what graduation will hold for us: a lot of us are getting grad school acceptance letters, some of us already have jobs set up, and others are just starting to make our post grad plans. But there’s something unbelievably comforting about being on this incredible journey with my favorite people in the world. I have had so many conversations about all the gifts that Gustavus has given us, and how they sometimes catch us by surprise.

I took my friend’s advice and stood on the Charles Bridge with two friends the last night we were in Prague. I took a deep breath in, surveyed the panoramic view around me: Prague Castle, the Old Town Square, and the Vltava River endlessly flowing under a bridge that has been up for more than five hundred years. I felt so deeply connected to all the people and places around me, and I have my adventure at Gustavus to thank for it.