When Kyra Crabtree left Kansas City to study in the Czech Republic this summer, she knew she wanted to do everything possible to remember her adventures abroad. 
Inspired by a class experience at UMKC, she decided to keep a “senses journal” in which she would daily record something she saw, heard, felt, smelled, or tasted. As Kyra notes: “It wasn’t just about what cool things I saw, but what I absorbed from everything around me. My experiences overwhelmed me and excited my soul in ways that I didn’t expect to feel.”
The sounds of the Czech Republic were “just beyond our classroom window, drawing us to the outside world” and, even though there were many different tourists speaking many different languages, Kyra noted that they could all go to a ballet or an opera and understand the story. Smells from the Prague streets varied from “trashcans overflowing with stale bread for pigeons” to “rose gardens, parks, and flower shops that perfumed the air” and made her wish she was better at gardening. On every street corner there was the smell of hot food and Kyra kept a record of dishes she tried: sachertorte, currywurst, schnitzel, and shawarma.
Kyra admits that she never imagined that she would study in the Czech Republic:
“But during my time there I allowed myself to be completely immersed in their culture. I saw towering cliffsides, heard classical opera, walked on ancient roads, smelled roses in palace gardens, and ate like a local. This wasn’t a vacation, where I would sit on a beach and do nothing. It also wasn’t a field trip, where a teacher would hold my hand through everything. This was nothing short of an experience, one that has shaped me and the way I view myself and the world. I am thrilled that I chose to study abroad and would visit Prague again if given the chance.”
