Brno, Czech Republic: Lots of Social Opportunities, Fewer Academic Past Review
By Andrew R (Teaching English or French as a Second or Foreign Language., SUNY - College at Oswego) for
Masaryk University: Brno - Direct Enrollment & Exchange
Worthwhile, definitely. My wallet hurts, my liver hurts. I've seen a lot, experienced a lot, and met great people. However, the classes were a mockery to education.
Personal Information
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | 6 months+ |
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
Workload for the CELTA program was of reasonable proportion to the time we spent in class. Grading system for CELTA is a little difficult to say because of its nature. However, I took two other courses (linguistics and Czech language) which were absolute garbage. Linguistics was interesting, though we had zero homework and only a final exam, which was basically a vocabulary exam. Czech language was the most awful class I've ever taken. The professor had no clue how to teach a foreign language, homework was given but not graded and we also only had one exam. The class was supposed to be grammar and conversation, however we ONLY covered grammar. I believe conversational Czech would have been MUCH MORE useful. I was only living in the Czech Republic for a few months, knowing how to get around and ask for simple things is obviously much more useful than knowing every ending of every case and gender. When we only know ~20 words, what good does it do to know their respective endings? What good does that do when I can't form a sentence?? I laugh at that course, in my book, it wasn't worth spitting on. Thanks Oswego for recommending it to me!! NOT |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
Martin Vasek was the most helpful person to have helping the foreign students. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
Vinarska is the place to stay if you like to party. However, they also made us pay full rent when the building was under construction.. which was the ENTIRE SEMESTER. Let me ask you, do you like to wake up at 7am to construction workers outside your window after you just went to sleep at 5am? No. Also, we were left without blinds on our windows for over a month. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
The International Student Club in Brno was awesome. They organized small weekend trips as well as big excursions. They also put on a party in a club every Wednesday night. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
My friend got sick while abroad and the insurance that Oswego's OIS recommended to us wasn't worth the paper it was printed on. |
| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
Yes
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Finances
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* Money: How easily were you able to live on a student's budget?
(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost) |
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| Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week? | Oswego said we'd need about 1500 spending money. Let me tell you, I spent 5500 of my own, and they gave us about 1500 as a scholarship for food and rent. What Oswego recommends is 100% BS. It's only so they can print lower prices in brochures to attract more students. |
| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | It will cost 3x more than they tell you. |
Language
| How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program? | None |
| If applicable, to what degree did your living situation aid your language acquisition? |
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Direct Enrollment/Exchange
| * Did you study abroad through an exchange program or did you directly enroll in the foreign university? | Direct Enrollment |
Other Program Information
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* Where did you live?
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* Who did you live with?
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* Who did you take classes with?
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A Look Back
| * What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | Frat brothers might benefit the most from this program. |
