One of my favourite things I have done on exchange in Czechia is go to proms. I have never seen anything like this. Of course, in Canada, when you graduate high school, you go to prom, but it definitely cannot compare to Czech proms.
In my little town, there have been so many proms; I think I have been to 5 or 6 already. Unlike in Canada, the prom isn’t just for the graduating class. Other students are invited too. Everyone dresses up really nicely, and the graduates have the most beautiful dresses ever. At the start of the evening, they do a giant performance and receive their sashes, and then for the rest of the night, everyone is dancing and hanging out, just having a good time.
One of the craziest things for me was that there is alcohol at the proms, and the students are drinking it too. Another funny thing is that because I live in a small town, everyone knows who I am. So at the proms, people will come up to me because they know I am the Canadian exchange student, but half the time I don’t know who they are, hahaha!
The first prom I went to was my school’s and my Rotary counsellor’s graduation. I hung out with my friends, and they tried to teach me to dance (it didn’t go very well), and I also got to see Bel! Everybody seemed to have a great time, and all the parents and teachers were dancing too. At midnight, they had a “midnight surprise,” and all the graduating guys came and did a dance with no shirts on. Everyone was definitely surprised!
The prom goes super late into the night, and no one even wanted the band to leave when they finished. I finally went home with my friends at around 2 a.m.! I really love these proms so much! They are soooo fun, and I already know I will miss them when I go back to Canada.
Jocelyn Lyons, District 5060, Canada → RC Hradec Králové, Czechia
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There’s Nothing Like a Czech Prom
One of my favourite things I have done on exchange in Czechia is go to...
