Fulbright Reality Czech

Jacob VanHouten is a biologist who came to the Czech Republic to explore environmental science at the Masaryk University Faculty of Science in Brno.  Jacob arrived in Prague in early September to comfortably settle in and to prepare himself for a smooth start to teaching and doing research at the Department of Botany and Zoology, where he currently teaches Stream Ecology and Professional and Academic Writing in English. In this blog post, Jacob explains why he feels that the Czech Republic is the perfect fit for his Fulbright experience: "There are two things that I am very passionate about outside of my academic interests… those are ice hockey and hunting." While the local hunting community feels very much like his own back in Michigan, the atmosphere at the local ice hockey games of Kometa Brno feels like: "football (soccer) on steroids!"   Everyone has their “COVID” story or tale of woe, so I might as well start by sharing mine, as it relates to my Fulbright expe...

Barbora Pafčo působí na Ústavu biologie obratlovců Akademie věd České republiky a zkoumá střevní parazity a bakterie vyskytující se u lidí a ostatních primátů. V roce 2017/2018 strávila osm měsíců na University of Minnesota ve městě Minneapolis. O její profesní cestě k parazitům a vědecké zkušenosti v USA se dozvíte v nedávno publikovaném rozhovoru "Odkojená dokumenty National Geographic snila o zvířatech v Africe"  zde . Dnešní text je o zvládání vědecké kariéry, partnerského života a péče o dítě. Barbora říká, že "největší zátěží pro pracující matku jsou kritické názory okolí." Paradoxní také je, že o cestování Barboru nepřipravilo mateřství, ale až koronavirová pandemie.     Jmenuji se Barbora Pafčo a působím na Ústavu biologie obratlovců, AV ČR. Zabývám se zejména studiem strongylidních hlístic, což jsou červi parazitující především v zažívacím traktu svého hostitele. Zajímá mne jejich druhové složení, dopad na hostitele a zoonotický potenciál, tedy přenos m...

Břetislav Dančák je politolog a prorektor pro internacionalizaci Masarykovy univerzity. O důležitosti zahraničních studentských pobytů rozhodně nepochybuje: „ Z mého pohledu má každý vycestovat, protože získá nejenom znalosti, ale i sociální dovednosti. Pobyt v jiném kulturním prostředí člověka mění.“ Břetislav Dančák má s dlouhodobými pobyty v cizině vlastní bohaté zkušenosti. Akademický rok 2003/2004 strávil jako Fulbright Scholar na prestižní Columbia University v New Yorku. Zcela zásadní pro něj bylo i načasování pobytu v USA, protože město New York se tou dobou vzpamatovávalo z teroristických útoků, začala druhá válka v Zálivu, rozbíhala se prezidentská kampaň pro druhé období George Bushe mladšího a Česká republika v květnu 2004 vstoupila do Evropské unie. Kromě dynamického prostředí amerického velkoměsta a setkávání se se světovými osobnostmi Dančák velmi kladně hodnotí také způsob, jakým Fulbrightův pobyt obohatil celou jeho rodinu. Břetislav Dančák je od roku 2020 členem s...

Rafael Maarek was an English Teaching Assistant at Vysoké Mýto in 2019/2020. A recent graduate of Biomedical Engineering with a passion for STEM, Rafael was placed at Civic Engineering High School and Integrated Technical High School in Vysoké Mýto. With little teaching experience, Rafael started to teach about 400 mostly male teenagers with the support of his Czech colleagues. Besides teaching English language, in the afternoons, Rafael hosted technical clubs, which focused on programming and electronic design, where his students had the opportunity to practice English conversation while working on an engineering project of their interest. Together with one of his students, Rafael built a calculator from scratch! He also tutored a number of students who required extra help one-on-one, and in his free time, he explored the broader culture of engineering in the Czech Republic. After his Fulbright experience, which was cut three months short due to the pandemic, Rafael returned back ...

Three English Teaching  Assistants Jordana Bickel, Dakota Tackett, and Charlie Deichmann experienced a rich portion of Czech culture at the Slovácko Wine Festival in Uherské Hradiště last weekend. Jordana, or Jo, teaches English at an Art High School in Uherské Hradiště and, together with her mentor Martina Dočekalová, an English teacher at the same school, they invited other nearby ETAs to join them for this popular wine celebration. Dakota Tackett, who teaches at an Agriculture High School in Přerov, and Charlie Deichmann, who teaches at an Art High School in Ostrava, both eagerly accepted the invitation. Every year, people from all around the world come to this festival to taste Moravian wine and to watch different regions of the Czech Republic showcase their unique cultural dances, songs, and traditional costumes. Aware of the fact that three American Fulbrighters would join the festival, the Art School Headmaster, Ivo Savara, arranged traditional Moravian folk costumes called ...

Veronika Bednářová is a journalist, Fulbright alumna and one of the few Czechs, who personally experienced the tragic events of 9/11 in New York City. After graduating from Film and Theatre Studies at Charles University in Prague, Veronika won a Fulbright scholarship to continue her education at the New York University Tisch School of the Arts. Today, Veronika writes for the Czech weekly magazine Reflex, and she teaches Travel Writing at New York University in Prague.  Veronika Bednářová wrote about her 9/11 experience the following text for her book “ Má americká krása ” (My American Beauty), published by Ringier/Daranus in 2006. Below Veronika's preface written this week, we publish the  English translation of the  original text acquired with the author’s permission. ________________________________________   New Ground Zero During this year’s reverent anniversary ceremony of 9/11, I wish I could be at the National September 11 Memorial in Lower Manhattan - two gia...