Elizabeth Preece from the University of Leeds joined the Protestant Theological Faculty of Charles University for the period of the winter semester 2011/12. Similarly to other students she enjoyed exploring Prague. But there is also something different about Elizabeth – she is also (a bit) older than the regular Erasmus students. On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Erasmus programme, we have asked her to share her experiences of the Erasmus study stay with us.

The commencement of Lent is marked in various ways across the globe: Mardi Gras, Shrove Tuesday, and more locally, the Czech festival of ‘Masopust’. Dating back to the 13th century, the celebration of Masopust, a meat feast before fasting (the name literally means giving up meat), traditionally symbolises the departure of winter and the beckons the arrival of spring.

It’s often the neighbours that we know the less. This is true when speaking about the countries and regions bordering on the Czech Republic with the possible exception of Slovakia. When picking a place for our holidays, we mostly deem the border regions simply not exciting or exotic enough. For us they are only transfer areas leading us to the skiing or seaside resorts further to the south; places not very different from our own country.

Our new interview is with students who arrived to the Charles University in Prague from the University of Regensburg and the University of Passau, two seats of the Bohemicum specialized in teaching Czech language.

The Patriotic Hall at Carolinum welcomed the celebration of the rename the inter-university MA programme, appropriately named after the former president Václav Havel. The special ceremony introduced a programme organised by EUROPAEUM, which intends to interconnect prestigious European universities on a single, multi-practice postgraduate scheme.

Over the weekend of March 22 and March 23, the Faculty of Arts at Charles University was host to the conference ‘English in business and commerce: Interactions and policies’. The conference was part of the English in Europe project, an academic project sponsored by The Leverhulme Trust and coordinated by the Centre for Linguistic Research at the University of Sheffield, which aims to investigate the role of the English language throughout Europe.

When the EAIE, European Association for International Education decided that the capital city of the Czech Republic, Prague, will be the next host of the EAIE annual conference, following previous hosts Copenhagen, Dublin and Istanbul, Charles University was thrilled. EAIE is the largest conference and fair of the European higher education, annually visited by several thousand of higher education officers.

To celebrate Christmas, the Erasmus students gathered at Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Arts building for the special Christmas themed evening prepared by the Erasmus Club of Faculty of Arts. The event started by decorating gingerbread biscuits with white icing, whilst listening to traditional Czech Christmas carols.

The first day in May is not just for celebrating spring and international workers day but also a festivity whereby students rejoice in the beauty of student life. Czech Majáles (Rag) is a long run tradition and is historically a student run event that happens every year at the beginning of May. It enjoys the participation of various student clubs and societies as well as individuals sharing their ideas with fellow students.

The “Student Marathon” was a student team competition at the annual Prague International Marathon on 13th May 2012. The two largest Czech universities, Charles University in Prague and Masaryk University in Brno, were each offered a free start number for one team. This team was formed out of three Erasmus and one Czech student.

The autumn course named “The sociologist as an involved observer, or How to write sociology for the media”, which took place in September 20 – 25 in the Faculty of Social Sciences’ Hollar building, was a joint project of the Faculty’s Institute of Sociology (ISS) and the Lidové Noviny newspaper (LN). It was focused at doctoral and advanced graduate students of sociology and related disciplines. Jan Maršálek from the ISS served as the project’s coordinator.

From the 19th to 22nd February the Law Faculty of Charles University hosted a number of participants and judges from various countries for the Prague Regional Finals of the European Law Moot Court Competition (ELMC).

Hello, dear reader! Welcome aboard. Make yourself comfortable because the cruise begins its journey in a few minutes. In the meantime, let me tell you what this trip will be about. If you are expecting a high school style essay, I am sorry to disappoint you, but you bought a ticket for a wrong ship. This excursion is all about heroes, kings, castles and monsters. Sounds fascinating, right?

That Other Life (Ten druhý život) is an ongoing exhibition mapping Czech military missions abroad. Bringing together the work of numerous acclaimed photographers, it offers viewers a close-up look at conflict areas where Czechs continue to serve: Afghanistan, Mali, Kosovo and Iraq.

The show opened at Charles University’s Carolinum on Thursday.

Prague’s Charles University has joined the European heritage organisation Europa Nostra, founded in 1963. For more than 50 years, the organisation’s aim has been to help protect significant cultural heritage sites such as the university’s St. Wenceslas Rotunda - recognised in an official ceremony earlier this year.

Situated in the heart of bustling Prague 2, the Charles University Botanical Gardens area is a sacred spot of tranquility. Originally founded on the other side of the river Vltava in 1775, the gardens were moved due to frequent flooding.

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.

As European citizens we can count ourselves lucky to live in one of the most stable, developed regions on the planet. However with their consistent placing at the top of every index, table and graph out there, from quality of living to longest life expectancy, to happiest people, there is one group of countries that always reign supreme. The five golden boys of Europe – Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, and Denmark – or the Nordic countries as they are also known, can seemingly do no wrong.

“Students of Prague University 1882-1945”, a new digitalisation project, is underway, aimed at digitalising old Charles University documents pertaining to staff and students. Some of this is for the creation of a new app run by the university, enabling users to search for old doctorates.

The past 6 months at Faculty of Arts of Charles University have been wonderful.  The Erasmus program has allowed us to meet a lot of new people and also develop our skills in our field of study which is Education.  However we now have to arrange a placement in a local school which is proving to be very difficult.