Living in the "Real" Czech Republic

“Mladá Boleslav is where the real Czech people live.” This is what I was told by my program coordinator before moving from Prague to my new home for the next 10 months. Considering I had chosen to live outside of Prague to get a better look at Czech culture and practice my not-exactly-beginner-but-certainly-not-intermediate Czech, I was thrilled to hear this. However, from the moment I arrived, nearly every “real” Czech person in Mladá Boleslav (translation: young Boleslav) opened the conversation by insisting how not nice the town was. I’ve heard this so consistently that I can’t tell whether people really feel this way or if it’s some kind of hospitality thing-- the same way that people apologize for how unkempt their spotless homes are.

Here’s the thing. Mladá Boleslav is a completely normal town. With about 40,000 people, it is neither a big city nor a small village. There’s a mix of giant Sídliště (apartment complexes), residential streets, a few malls, smaller shops and restaurants, schools, and parks. All the standards. Its claim to fame is the Škoda factory, one of the biggest manufacturers of cars in Europe. The factory is the economic center of the town-- if you mention Mladá Boleslav to a Czech person, they will say "Škoda." The vast majority of my students have at least one parent who works for Škoda in some capacity, which leads me to believe that the town really does revolve around the company. This makes the town an exceedingly rare hub of industrial work opportunities, which I find fascinating in comparison to the rust belt cities in both the US and Europe. 

I have to admit, I’ve had moments of seriously envying my cohorts, the rest of whom are either living in the fairytale city that is Prague or living in small fairytale villages south of Prague. Here I am, about an hour north of Prague, in my perfectly normal city. Other than these not-my-finest moments, I really do enjoy it here. I’ve only been here a bit over a month but it feels like home. Perhaps the locals can take their hometown for granted, but I’ve found some amazing spots and things to appreciate about this “young” town that is still far older than any place in the US.

Coming in my next post… the gastronomic adventures of lunch in a Czech school cafeteria.