Why Prague?

How did I wind up in Prague, anyway?

Looking down the Vltava

Like so many stories, this one started with a boy.  We were in love and happy and, although life wasn't always easy, it was good.

It was good until, sometime after finishing graduate school, depression took over my brain.  I took care of myself, took medication, and took myself to a therapist.  Over time it got better in phases and got worse in phases until eventually, the stress of my job (intake counselor at an Employee Assistance Program/Behavioral Health Insurance company) rose so high that the TMJ disorder impacting my jaw caused it to lock.

I spent the next several months dealing with chronic pain, trying to work at a high-stress job that required an intense amount of talking, and becoming steadily more depressed.  Finally, one day I asked my then-fiance if he would support me as I quit my job and focused my energy on finding a new one.  He agreed, and two weeks later I left my office for the last time.

One week later, he left me.  We had been together for over five years.  Our wedding was two months away.  I was devastated.

I moved back home with my parents, unable to cope with living alone.  Almost immediately, I enrolled in an intensive outpatient therapy program at a nearby hospital.  It's not an exaggeration to say that it saved my life.  Therapy gave me something to do with my time, people to think about outside of myself, and hope that maybe, just maybe, my life could move forward.

Catch you later, USA!

One of the first thoughts that made me hope a future was possible was the thought that, without a partner keeping me in one place, I could travel, and maybe even live abroad.  Life in Europe had been a dream of mine ever since a study-abroad stint in college.  A trip to London and some time with my dear friends there confirmed that I wanted to try to make my life somewhere outside of the USA.

I looked into the Peace Corps and other options, but the one that always called me back was a small TEFL certificate program in Prague.  I had been to Prague for a weekend previously, but never for a significant amount of time.  Nevertheless, I decided to go with my gut and sign up for the program.

Six months to the day after my seemingly world-shattering break-up, I was boarding a plane with a one-way ticket to Prague.  After six months convalescing at home, it was time to start a new life somewhere far away.  I've been enjoying the local beer, meeting new friends, and generally Eat Pray Love-ing it in Prague ever since.