Fulbright Reality Czech

Blair Hassett is one of the 25 English Teaching Assistants who help with English language at various Czech high schools across the Czech Republic. With an MA in Environmental Science, an interest in vineyards, and a passion for exploring rural South Moravia, Blair was placed at the Engineering and Art School in Hodonín, a 25,000 town bordering Slovakia. Blair's motivation to spend ten months in the Czech Republic was inspired by photographer and Fulbright alumnus Matthew Monteith and his book Czech Eden. Captivated by Monteith's photographs of rolling hills and his affecting style, Blair has used her time in the Czech Republic to navigate her newfound relationship with the Czech landscape in reconciliation with her personal identity. Blair believes that "[p]hotography is a distillation of the past or the future, whichever you prefer." This year, she has decided to focus on presence.  Moravia is elusive. Passing through this region in late August after my arrival in Vi...

Eva King is a 2022-2023 Fulbright English Teaching Assistant Alumna who taught at Purkyňovo Gymnázium in Strážnice, Czech Republic. Prior to teaching in the Czech Republic, Eva was a 4th grade public school teacher in Maryland, and upon her return to Maryland she began teaching 3rd grade. Eva King is currently still teaching 3rd grade near Washington D.C. and keeps up with one of her former mentor teachers, Dáša Lovecká, by doing a Pen Pal program. The Pen Pal program is with Eva’s American 3rd graders and Dáša’s Czech students who are in primary school in Hroznová Lhota, where Dáša works now. Eva also keeps up with her primary mentor teacher, Katrin Holubíková Jongepierová, by messaging and video calling, especially to see Katrin’s first baby, Jonáš. While Eva is also in contact with some of her former students, some of the people she keeps up with most are her lifelong friends and fellow 2022-2023 ETA alumni. Photo on the left: Eva at her mentor teacher, Katrin’s, wedding ceremon...

Spending ten months in a foreign country is always a transformative experience. Spending ten months in a small Czech town, far away from the capital, Prague, in a place where you may be the only American (or even the only foreigner or English-speaking person) is a unique cultural experience that one never forgets. Every year, Fulbright Czech Republic welcomes 30 English Teaching Assistants and places them at regional high schools of various types all over the country. Most of the Assistants are recent graduates of different U.S. universities. They want to teach English in the Czech Republic to gain international work experience, to get to know the Czech culture, and to have a year that will be unlike anything that they have ever experienced before. Seven of this year’s ETAs have decided to chronicle their Fulbright adventure by getting a tattoo with a special significance to their host town, region, or their stay in the Czech Republic. Below, you can read stories of seven of our as...