Fulbright Reality Czech

by Madison Kambic (current English teaching Assistant in Ostrava) I had the privilege of attending one of the strangest culture-bomb events I have ever seen in my life. What is Masopust? The way my Czech friend-of-a-friend explained it to me was this: it’s a three-in-one festival in early spring. It’s a combination of Czech Mardi Gras, a welcoming of the spring season, and the beginning of a “fertility” period. I hadn’t planned to attend, but I found myself in Prague with an invite and nothing else planned for that day. I arrived at the festival with a few other Fulbrighters; three scholars and myself as an English Teaching Assistant. Also joining us was a group of NYU students and their Czech professor, Matej, for the festival. What first got me curious was the amount of people on the train to the festival. We were only travelling three stops from a smaller Prague station, but the train was  p a c k e d with people. Almost everyone was wearing a costume. There wasn’t