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...

Kurt Klaus is an English Teaching Assistant. This June, he is wrapping up his 10-month Fulbright grant at Sportovní gymnázium Pardubice, a general college-preparatory high school for athletes located in a regional hub and university town of 90,000. With a B.A. in American Literature and Culture and a B.S. in Cognitive Science, a college-preparatory high school was an obvious placement. As an athlete with experience playing basketball and volleyball in high school, Kurt was excited to meet his colleagues and students in September. While he could have simply tried to blend in, he instead decided to take advantage of a fresh start in a foreign country: to him, this meant embracing his authenticity with all that it contains, including his stutter. Throughout his life, Kurt had developed various strategies to mask his impediment and pretend it didn’t exist. This year, however, in his new role as a teaching assistant, he approached the situation differently. Fast forward to June, and today h...