There may be no better city on earth in which to explore the intersection of literature, visual art, and civic engagement than Prague. The one-time home of Vaclav Havel—poet, playwright, and first democratically elected president of the Czech Republic—Prague is also host to iconic gothic architecture and canonical literary works.

When 13 Principia College students and two professors set out to learn in this legendary setting, they knew something great awaited them. “It is vital for students to learn to think independently and to have a practical understanding of creative and fearless responses to human difficulties,” states the abroad's mission statement. “Students will explore the idea that the arts make a difference in the world.” 

The group kicked off their adventure with figurative drawing exercises and language study on campus, then traveled to Prague in early September for 10 weeks in the Czech Republic. While there, they took in a Dvořák opera, observed the Czech Parliament, visited the Kafka Museum, and enjoyed workshops, readings, and studio tours by working artists, poets, printmakers, and more.

“Reading texts by Czech writers in conjunction with study of the key events of the 20th and 21st centuries, as well as creating our own works, provided a lens by which we were able to not only understand Czech culture in particular, but understand Czech culture as a model of the moral value and necessity of the arts,” summarized senior Mass Communications major Sophie Ungerleider. “Art provides us with a language we need to convey with empathy the difficulties of life.”