Fulbright Reality Czech

Julia Mead is a historian who is most passionate about "the connection between macro-level politics and economics and people’s personal, intimate lives." In September 2021, Julia arrived in the Czech Republic as a Fulbright student grantee with a research project titled "Masculine Heroes: Gender and Coal Mining in the Czech Lands, 1968-2000." Julia grew up in Kentucky, in the Appalachian region, where coal mining has been on decline since the 1970s, with social and economic effects that are very similar to formerly proud coal mining hubs of Czechoslovakia. Coming from the Department of History at the University of Chicago, Julia landed at the Institute of Economic and Social History of Charles University in Prague, and she has been conducting detailed archival research for her PhD dissertation on the relationship of coal mining and masculinity. As a side-product of the research project, Julia notes that "I have become proficient in the Czech language and studie...

Michael Kenney has been  teaching English at Catholic gymnasium Varnsdorf since September 2021. With a Master’s in Education, a Bachelor’s in American Studies and minors in Entrepreneurship and Theology, two years of full-time teaching experience at a Catholic middle school in the U.S., and a life-long passion for sports, this general school with students from the age of 11 to 19 seemed to be the perfect fit. Many of the 6th and 8th graders whom Michael taught English and Theology in the U.S. came from immigrant backgrounds, but his only international travel experience was a week-long study trip to India. Setting off to Varnsdorf, a town of 15,000, located in North Bohemia, right on the border with Germany, was a grand transition. Today, Michael recalls the two specific images—one mental, one literal—that framed his perception of the Czech Republic and its culture. He shares that: “Over time, this pair of pictures has grown into a full album, as each day has handed me new images in...

Marie Pangrácová je v  doktorském studiu na Přírodovědecké fakultě Karlovy Univerzity a pracuje v Ústavu organické chemie a biochemie Akademie věd České republiky. Její specializací je molekulární biologie a fyziologie. V listopadu 2021 vyjela jako stipendistka Fulbrightova programu na osmiměsíční pobyt do Národního onkologického ústavu (National Cancer Institute) ve státě Maryland. Cílem jejího výzkumného projektu je naučit se používat zásadní metodu genetického inženýrství CRISPR. V dnešním příspěvku Marie Pangrácová popisuje,  jak může vypadat každodenní rutina stipendistky Fulbrightova programu v USA. Pokud také přemýšlíte o výjezdu do USA, neváhejte a přihlašte se na některý z našich přípravných webinářů , které proběhnou během dubna. Ráno se mi sice z postele nechce, ale práce na mě čeká, tak se oblékám, balím jídlo na celý den a vyrážím na kole převážně do kopce k metru. Je to takový můj ranní 20 min. strečink :-). Cestou v metru se během hodinky kouknu detailněji na pr...