Wait, you actually have class?!

2) Academic Life

Although our academic life differs greatly here, at Palacky University, than it does back at UNK due to the condensed course schedule we have, I still feel as though I have learned just as much as I would have back home. Our class schedule in Olomouc, consists of us in class 5 days a week. Monday through Thursday we are in class from 3-7 PM and Friday’s we are in class from 10:30 AM-1:00 PM.

We start our school day with guest speakers who always have something interesting to share with us. Our guest speakers have come from a variety of different backgrounds allowing them to share their unique perspectives with us. The topics usually range from The Holocaust to World War 2 to The Cold War. It has been very interesting to hear history taught from a Czech perspective as opposed to the perspective we get back in the United States. In the United States we have a very negative connotation with the word communism. Being here, I have learned that the communism was not forced upon all of the countries. Interestingly enough, the Czechs voted for communism in the beginning because the ideology behind communism had good intentions, however it was not successfully carried out. Learning from these professors that have lived in a once communist country has been an eye-opening experience.

After our guest speakers, we move on to our Czech language class. Learning a second language is always a difficult task, so we definitely have had our work cut out for us as we are learning one of the more difficult ones. We have spent our time learning basic Czech, however I know there is still so much more to learn. We have also covered pronunciation as well as some basic conversation skills such as, “Hello, my name is Emily. How are you?” and so on. We have also learned some restaurant lingo and a few different foods, which has been very helpful. It has been so useful to know basic levels of Czech while being over here since English is so rare in Olomouc.

Lastly, we finish off the day with our lecture taught by Jan and Martin, our program directors at Palacky. Martin and Jan have been very patient with us as well as helpful. I have learned so much from them in and out of the classroom. They know so much about history it’s almost as if they were alive to experience it. It has been very beneficial to have them around on our field trips as well. They are able to show us the best side of each city. They also do an amazing job of balancing history and fun on all of our trips. This trip would not have been the same without them.

Overall our academic life has been very beneficial while here in Olomouc. I have really enjoyed learning from different perspectives and all of our professors have been amazing. It really has made it worth while.