One of the things that I learned to appreciate the most during my time living in Prague was having such easy access to public transportation, especially the trams, to help get around the city. At first, it was strange seeing trams filling the streets and hard to get used to the sound of them rumbling by at all hours of the night, my apartment was right by an intersection with multiple stops. I had never lived in a big city for a significant amount of time before so the hustle and bustle outside my window was something that I wasn’t very familiar with. Getting to know what line went where was also something that took some time to learn. The first time I went on one was when me and my roommates were trying to get to the place that my program was meeting, and we ended up getting on the wrong tram not once, but twice and ended up having to walk across town and were 30 minutes late, not having any cell service during the first few days we were there didn’t help that situation much either. After a while, though, I got used to using them and the other modes of transport, like the metros, to get around town. I got to know which lines went to which stops and taking them to class and back became second nature. The best part about using the trams to get around was the fact that you wouldn’t ever really have to worry about finding a way back home, they ran all over the city so you’d only have to walk a couple blocks to find a stop, something that helped out a lot when I wen out with my friends. The trams run 24/7 so there was always a way to get back, and if you happened to miss one, you’d only have to wait around 5-10 minutes for another one on the same line to come back around. Not having to worry about who was driving home or who was going to call the Uber was really nice, and saved us all a lot of money as well. Purchasing a pass for using public transport was one of the first things that I took care of from the tasks given out to us at orientation, which cost about $25 for a 3 month pass, and about 10 of those dollars were for the plastic card itself. It was really cheap considering that I took the tram just about every day I was there and it took the burden of purchasing a ticket off of my shoulders and prevented me from getting a fine for riding without a validated ticket. I missed being able to drive around town in my car with my music playing on the speakers was definitely something that I missed while I was abroad, but I’ll miss being able to hop on a tram after a long night out on the town. The extent of public transportation in Prague and in other European cities that I visited was much greater than I what I have seen compared to anywhere that I have been in the United States, especially the trams, and it is certainly something that I wish was implemented here to a greater degree. Living in the Prague, it almost seems pointless to own a car if you aren’t planning on leaving town often and I’m sure saves people tons of money in the long run.
