I am sure
most people seeing my adventures through social media think that I have not had
any classes or homework while here, however, I have been exposed to a little of
the academic life here in the Czech and in Europe in general. There are many similarities between my
academic life at UNK and Palacky University, but there are also many
differences. It is also difficult to
understand the academic life here completely since our classes are tailored to
our group and we are also traveling so much while here.
Traveling
is actually one part of the academic life in the Czech and in Europe that I
have noticed a difference. It is much
more normal and common for students to travel while in college Europe to other
countries and Universities. I talked to
several students that are actually required to travel to a few different
countries while completing their upper level degrees. I feel as though it is common to study abroad
in the United States, but it seems like more of a “big deal” to us than it does
to many of the Europeans.
As far as
the classroom, I did notice a difference in the way lectures are given. Many of the lectures were straightforward and
not interactive with our group. There
were a few lecturers that asked questions and conversed with us, but not very
many. I am used to lectures at UNK where
most of the time we are asked questions frequently or have a discussion about
the topic that is being taught. I
appreciate the more interactive lectures because I feel like I retain more than
if I am just lectured to for an hour and a half. Of course, part of it is the fact of being
tired from traveling, which probably also played a role in my ability to focus
and retain. I do think the field trips
helped cement some of the facts and points into my head, though. Another thing that I found interesting was
the fact that a lot of discussions after movies that we watched for class
happened in the pub. That would never
happen in the United States.
The
classroom teacher/student dynamic was similar.
Again, that we were there only for a short period of time and therefore
had different presenters most of the time, so this is a different situation
than most Czech students. Like I said,
it is hard to judge what a normal classroom experience would be in the Czech
with such little experience. However,
the professors did seem very invested in our learning and knowing more about
us. We probably spent the most
consistent time with our two Czech language professors since we only rotated
through two of them. I felt that they
took the time to make sure we were learning the material and also that they
knew us personally, which is very similar to any other language class I have
taken in the past.
Overall, I
felt that in some areas the academic life at Palacky was a little stricter than
at UNK and in some areas more relaxed. Our
flat mates told us about how they have to take pre-finals tests and pass them
just to be able to take the actual final itself. This is one area where I would say the school
is stricter than UNK. I think a lot of
it has to do with our different cultures as well. We get used to learning a certain way and it
is difficult when you have to try to learn something in a new way, but I think
me as well as the whole group adapted well.
Last day of class!
First day of class roomie selfie!
Last day of class roomie selfie!
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