Eva Holtanová is a climate scientist at the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics at Charles University in Prague. In 2024/2025, she spent six transformative months at Colorado State University in Fort Collins as a Fulbright Scholar. Her research focused on understanding how extreme temperature events might change under global warming, but her stay was far more than just academic. With her family of five in tow, Eva made the most of the Fulbright “grace period,” which allows grantees and their families up to 30 extra days in the U.S. beyond the official grant. Together, they embarked on an unforgettable road trip from Colorado to Utah, northern Arizona, Nevada, California, Oregon, and Washington, exploring the breathtaking national parks and making memories that went far beyond the lab. Traveling as a family with three kids is always an adventure. Moving to an unknown place in a foreign country on the other side of the Atlantic for six months is a big adventure. Indeed, spending ...
Ian Zwaschka is a high school English teacher. In 2024/2025 he served at the Petr Bezruč Gymnázium in Frýdek-Místek as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant. With a BA in English, Creative Writing, and Cinema, and a year of teaching in South Korea under his belt, he slipped into the rhythm of a Czech college-prep high school as if he’d been there for years. During his grant, Ian energized students with a popular improv club, joined the local folk band Ondrášek on stage, presented at an academic conference, and dove into Czech lessons so he could chat with locals instead of relying on wild gesturing. Somewhere between the mountains, the music, and the everyday wonder of a town of 50,000, Frýdek-Místek stole his heart. So when a job offer from the Vocational High School arrived, Ian didn’t think twice. His Czech adventure was not ready to end. The Czech Republic was once a postcard to me – a saturated image of the Charles Bridge with Prague written in cursive at the bottom. Th...