Prague for Beginners: Finding Myself in Prague

The Golden City of Prague in 1994 is in the middle of great change after the Velvet Revolution catapults Czechoslovakia from a closed society of scarcity to a wide-open modern European capital, bustling with new businesses in the midst of its ancient winding streets, gardens, cathedrals, and castles. Elizabeth Logan, an American teacher of English living in working-class Žižkov, rides the crest of this wave of change as she lives and works in the medieval mystery and crumbling grandeur of Prague. As she explores the hidden quirks and historical surprises in the city, Elizabeth also builds a life for herself, making friends with the Czech people she encounters and with expats from France, Britain, Scotland, and the US. Her work with a new American exchange program at Charles University, founded in 1348, gives her a deeper understanding of the ways that past and present live side-by-side in Prague and presents her with a choice - move on or become rooted in Prague.