Local News

Exchange student tells Elkins Rotary Club about Czech Republic journey

ELKINS -- On Monday, the Elkins Rotary club welcomed a returning exchange student.

Aiden Miney, a rotary youth exchange student, went to the Czech Republic for a year. There, he learned a new language, learned the proper etiquette, made international friendships and experienced the culture's traditions.

Miney lived with three different host families while in the country. He stayed in two small town locations and one located in the city.

"My host families really helped me learn how to fit in the Czech culture, how to speak their language, and how to interact with others properly. With their help, I adjusted a lot faster," Miney said.

He said he preferred staying in the smaller towns because he felt he connected more with the local culture.

"Prague is nice, but it is so big and there are so many people. You don't get to feel like you are really apart of it. In a smaller town like I stayed in, it definitely forced me to learn the language, too. It was very difficult for me to learn the language but it was good that I did because a second language is always useful. Nobody there spoke any English, so it was a challenge."

Miney explained the challenges that he faced during his year-long journey.

"The Czech Republic is a little larger than West Virginia, but not a whole lot more. It has about 1 million people. It is right in central Europe, next to Germany," he said. "It is a great place to be if you want to see a lot of Europe."

Aiden shared some memories that stood out the most from his trip.

"The traditional dish is called Vepro-knedlo-zelo, which is just roast pork, boiled potatoes, pickled cabbage and dumplings. It is a lot of hearty, down to earth basic foods like that," he said. "Prague has the same number of people as our state does. So, there is about 1.5 million people in it. It is a famous place because the Vltava river flows right through the village and they also have about 25 bridges in about one mile of river."

He said one of the biggest draws to the Czech Republic is the castles.

"Everyone comes to see them," he said. "Around the town I was living in had about 30,000 people living there and in the area there were over 12 castles. Each one was absolutely stunning."

While in the Czech Republic, he made many friends from not only the Czech culture, but he even made come connections with people from all around the world.

"There were two exchange students while I was there. There was a girl from Chile and a girl from Taiwan. We ended up doing a lot of things together," he said. "When you are an exchange student you bond more over shared differences with the culture you are in together, not your own separate cultures. We shared being the outsiders and that is what brought us together."

Overall, Aiden expressed his gratitude for Rotary and how thankful he was to have experienced such an incredible year abroad.

"I just want to say that I am really really grateful for this opportunity. It was by far the best year of my life and I could not have done it without rotary," Aiden said.