Fulbright Reality Czech

Kaylee O'Brien is an English Teaching  Assistant. This year, she teaches English at Gymnázium Cheb, a college-preparatory high school tucked into a town of 30,000 just a few miles from the German border. Armed with a BA in Philosophy and Political Science, a lifelong love of sports and fitness, and experience teaching everything from English and math to boxing, Kaylee arrived eager to discover what life in her new home might hold. What she didn’t expect was how quickly that search for belonging would take shape in a local gym, where shared routines turned into friendships and a foreign place began to feel, unexpectedly, like her own. I remember the moment last summer when I received my Fulbright placement...I was going to Cheb in the Czech Republic! I was thrilled beyond belief; but shortly, thereafter, that thrill left, I realized I was going halfway around the world, to a country whose native language I did not speak, and to a town where I knew no one. Would I be able to find a p...

Hayley Lanier is a biologist. She specializes in ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Oklahoma. The 2025/2026 academic year, however, is taking her far from campus. Together with her husband and their two school-aged children, she is spending the year in the small Czech village of Liběchov, home to about 1,000 residents. Less than an hour’s drive from Prague, the village hosts the Institute of Animal Physiology and Genetics, where Hayley is conducting research as a Fulbright Program Scholar. Her work focuses on how population history shapes genomic adaptation to climate change. But beyond the lab, the year is also an adventure for the whole family. What is it like to settle into life in the Czech countryside and to experience local traditions and holidays along the way? “But will Santa be able to find us?” When we planned to move to Czechia for my year-long Fulbright my 3-year-old, Iggy, had some very pressing concerns about how holidays and birthdays would happen in ...

Petra Junková is an English language teacher. She began this school year at the University of Northern Colorado as a participant in the Fulbright Teaching Excellence and Achievement (TEA) Program. Her connection with Fulbright began in 2022, when she mentored an English Teaching Assistant from Chesterfield, Missouri — an experience that reshaped her professional path. "It’s the difference between learning a language and truly living it," Petra reflects. Motivated to continue her professional growth, she found the Fulbright TEA Program to be the perfect next step. Today, back at Gymnázium U Balvanu in Jablonec nad Nisou, she encourages other Czech educators to pursue similar opportunities: "You become a student again — exploring pedagogy, social studies, and new technologies — while experiencing the life of an American high school teacher firsthand. It equips you with practical tools, global connections, and the confidence to innovate in your own classroom." “Do you ...

Ivera Pirkl Beštová  je středoškolská učitelka. Na Střední odborné škole Šumperk učí angličtinu a odborné gastro předměty. V září roku 2025 vyměnila svou šumperskou školu za University of North Dakota a společně s dalšími 23 stipendisty programu Fulbright Teaching Excellence and Achievement (zkráceně TEA) se zúčastnila šestitýdenního školení zaměřeného na mediální gramotnost a kritické myšlení. A výsledek: "Vrátila jsem se jako sebevědomější učitelka s jasnou vizí. Ve své výuce už nyní aktivně využívám poznatky o zapojení umělé inteligence (AI) a metodiku kritického myšlení... Díky Fulbrightu vznikl konkrétní nápad na mezinárodní projekt Erasmus+ KA2, na kterém nyní pracuji s kolegy z evropských zemí."       Být učitelem v dnešní době znamená víc než jen předávat znalosti z učebnic. Znamená to být průvodcem ve světě, který je zahlcen informacemi, a učit žáky, jak se v tomto digitálním chaosu neztratit. Právě tato ambice – kontinuál...

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...