On the 14th April 2016, I attended a guest lecture in the Faculty of Arts of CU on the ‘Wasteland in Cities from the Middle Ages to the Present’ by Peter Clark, a professor of European urban history at the University of Helsinki.

On Saturday 14th May 2016 it was exactly 700 years since the birth of Charles IV, the Bohemian king and Roman emperor, who founded Charles University in Prague on 7th April 1348. In the spring of the same year, Charles IV also published the foundation charter (8th March 1348) and laid the first stone of the walls of the new city of Prague (26th March 1348).

Easter Monday is the core of the non-religious Czech Easter celebrations - a popular festivity with the Czechs which is sometimes frowned upon by people from abroad because the traditional ‘beating’ of women is misunderstood.  Here, this ritual ‘beating’ is practised as it is believed to bring youth and good health to the girls or young women involved.

Award-winning Hungarian film Son of Saul – directed by László Nemes and co-written by Nemes and Clara Royer – was recently screened at Charles University’s Faculty of Arts. Son of Saul premiered at the 68th Cannes Film Festival in 2015 – where it won the Grand Prix – and went on to scoop many other prestigious awards, including Best Foreign Language Film at the 73rd Golden Globe Awards or the Academy Award for the Best Foreign Language Film for the year 2015.

About 30km away from Hradec Králové (135km from Prague) lies a small village that spans both sides of the river Elbe. As you approach by bus the first thing you will notice is the large palatial looking building sitting proudly atop a hill. This is Kuks Hospital, which is also home to the Czech Museum of Pharmacy, owned by Charles University.

Being a vegetarian, vegan or someone with dietary requirements should never stop you from travelling, trying new cuisines or enjoying your food. I’m a firm believer that this attitude – held by those with dietary requirements and those without – is mostly all in a person’s head.

From the early morning hours, Old Town Square was crowded and preparations were in full swing, organising supplies of energy drinks, nutritious food and setting up various health related stalls and stands. Everywhere you looked, there were runners warming up with their supportive friends or families. This year, the event had something for everyone including a full marathon, a relay, team competitions, a family mini-marathon and even a dog walking race – the only thing required was some energy and encouragement!

An internship at a clinic in Itibo, Kenya is providing student of the CU 3^rd Faculty of Medicine Lukáš Malý with unexpected professional and life experiences. His patients suffer from typhus, malaria and HIV/AIDS, as well as injuries from machete attacks. One HIV-positive mother who he helped to give birth named her son after him.

When preparing an Erasmus trip, you first need to select an attractive destination for the excursion. You must also keep on mind that the destination should not be too far away from Prague (or any other of our university cities). Then you need to plan the programme of the day or the weekend. The very best trips are usually those combining a visit of an attention-grabbing destination and its monuments or other places of interest and an event on which the students can actively participate.

Mirena Vaseva is an Art Education Ph.D. student from Plovdiv University, Bulgaria, who joined the Faculty of Education in Charles University during her Erasmus study in the summer semester of 2015/2016. As an Art Education student it was an obvious choice for her to join the award winning Europe Meets School programme, a voluntary teaching programme of the Erasmus Club at the Faculty of Arts.

A checklist of the Czech Republic’s most historic and beautiful sights is not complete without the inclusion of Karlštejn castle. A candidate for UNESCO World Heritage Site, my trip there last month with the Erasmus Club of the Faculty of Arts demonstrated just why that is. Standing tall on the picturesque hillside of Karlštejn village, it represents a truly alternate era of the Czech Republic’s history, from a time when monarchy ruled the lands and Catholicism was the order of the day.

On Wednesday 30 April, the Faculty of Arts at Charles University in Prague hosted a lecture by Dr. Hans-Christian Trepte, from the University of Leipzig, entitled 'In Search of a New Freedom: New Nomads and Migration Literature.' In his lecture, Dr. Trepte discussed a series of books relating to the issues of exile and emigration, and the links between travel and culture.

Students love to explore and the Erasmus programme has enabled more than 3 million European students to study in various countries throughout Europe in order to enhance their academic studies and many have chosen to come here at Charles University in Prague.

Foreign students, teachers and visitors of Charles University often come to the university bookshop in Celetná Street looking for English translations of Czech books which they can bring back home as a souvenir from Prague. You would not be wrong if your choice of such a token would be We Were a Handful, one of the most popular Czech books for children, written by Karel Poláček.

The year 2016 marks seven hundred years since Charles IV’s birth in Prague, yet his presence is still very much felt around the city. Charles Bridge and Charles University are the two best known monuments founded by the King and a quick walk around the cobbled streets shows that he hasn't and won't be forgotten any time soon.

The day I found out that I had been accepted into my university’s study abroad programme, back in March of 2015, I was ecstatic. I learned that in September I would travel to Prague to study within the Faculty of Arts at the Charles University of Prague for one academic year; this tremendous opportunity filled me with anticipation and like any excited student preparations for my departure began immediately.

Hradec Králové is a lively city situated in the region of Bohemia in the Czech Republic. Just a comfortable two hour train journey away from the centre of Prague, Hradec Králové is perfectly situated for people who want to travel around the Czech Republic and beyond. Home to one of the faculties of Medicine and the Faculty of Pharmacy of Charles University also makes this a student city where something is always happening. Brimming with history but also adapting to modern city life, Hradec Králové has plenty to offer to all.

Rolando has been actively involved in promoting the empowerment of children with disabilities in the Philippines for six years now. He realized that, in order for him to be more effective, he had to study critical background theory on special and inclusive education. He was really happy when he got accepted for a Master’s degree in Special and Inclusive Education through the Erasmus Mundus programme.

There are a number of big decisions that you have to make when becoming a university student, but none more so than what type of university you’re going to study at, city based or campus based.

Charles University in Prague is commemorating the 700th anniversary of the birth of its founder Charles IV (1316-1378) this spring. On Saturday the 21st of May, just one week after the anniversary of his birth (14th May), the university welcomed Prague’s youngest citizens to celebrate and commemorate the anniversary by allowing them the opportunity to take a trip back in time and experience the Middle Ages with students and staff.