Lectures in the Czech Republic

2) Academic life

Academic life at Palacky University is much different than at home. Granted my schedule is condensed into a two and a half month program, so it differs from regular students schedules. I have class Monday through Thursday from 3pm-7:15pm and Friday from 10:30-1:30.  It is convenient that we only have morning class on Friday's, so we can travel on the weekends.

My schedule varies quite a bit as we take a substantial amount of field trips with the class. The four hours of class time is split up into three separate lectures. The first lecture is usually over a historical topic and is taught by a different professor every day. Some of the professors speak better English than the others, so the level of difficulty varies.  I enjoy having different topics every day because I am learning about a lot of different historical events within the Czech Republic and Europe.

The second lecture is Czech language class. This class always goes by quickly as it is very interactive.  The Czech language is all about pronunciation, so we spend a lot of time learning it. Once I can properly pronounce words I can order food easier, even if I am unsure what I am actually ordering. We have also learned basic phrases that help us communicate including my name is Tess and I am from Nebraska. The goal of the class is for us to know enough of the language to feel comfortable getting around Olomouc. Being a foreigner that can't speak the language has made me much more empathetic to people living in the United States that don't speak English.

The third lecture is usually taught by Jan or Martin, the professors that take us on our class field trips. They are as intelligent as they are interesting which makes for a pleasant end to the day.  Most of the lectures are about the holocaust. It is beneficial to learn about the holocaust in a country that was occupied by the Nazis during World War Two. The Czech Republic sadly lost the majority of their Jewish population during the Holocaust like so many other European countries.  

Most of the professors in the Czech Republic aren't as interactive as the ones back home. It is mostly just the professor reading off of a power point. However, I have found learning history in Olomouc to be a great comparison. Growing up in the United States I have always heard the western world’s view points on important issues such as The Cold War.  Some of our professors were in school when the communism government was in power. They have the ability to tell us personal experiences explaining what it would've been like to live under the communist regime.  When you are from a country in the west, it can be easy to condense the outcome of The Cold War into communism is bad and democracy is good.   However, it is also important to look at the countries that didn't want a communist government but had it forced upon them. Learning history from people that were here to witness it has been an incredible experience.