On May the 15th, a lecture was held in the Faculty of Arts by Professor Robert A. Rosenstone from the California Institute of Technology, entitled “What Does the Historian Filmmaker Do (to History)? : Inventing Truth on the Movie Screen”. I must admit, before this lecture began, I had my doubts. As a historian and keen Medievalist re-enactor, I thought to myself, was he really going to try and justify Braveheart?

“To overcome prejudice, intolerance, and bigotry – and the suffering they cause – through the educational use of the Institute’s visual history testimonies”. This is the mission statement of The Institute for Visual History and Education, an archive filled to the brim with stories of some from of the world’s biggest events.

For many outside observers, the Erasmus exchange programme appears to be a pleasant stay abroad involving a lot of partying paid for by the EU – and, consequently, our taxes. While this may be true of some Erasmus students, there are also hard workers who are aiming to enrich their CVs not only by participating in the exchange itself but also extracurricular activities offered to them at their host university and in their host country.

Exactly 100 years ago on the 28th July 1914, World War I began to dramatically reshape the relations between the countries on a global scale, turning reality upside down for every one of its citizens.

It was on one of the few snowy and freezing days in Prague this winter when the Erasmus Club of the Faculty of Arts paid a special visit to the German Embassy in Prague, located in Lobkowicz Palace near Malostranské náměstí (Malostranské Square).

The topic of the Lecture was 'Protection of Personality in the UK: The Development of Privacy from the 1960's to the Present Scandals', and as an ex-journalist, barrister, judge and teacher, Professor Smith was in an excellent position to lecture on the topic.

We gathered. It was one of those random evenings where nothing special happened, a random evening you used to take for granted and now you would give everything to live one of them again. Someone, I do not remember who, came up with an idea: “Guys, we could spend the next New Year’s Eve together!” And we could only reply: “Of course, all together, for the good old times.”

For probably the first time ever, a double amputee has been able to ski on two skis. Tests on the newly developed hydraulic prostheses was carried by the in the Italian resort of Passo Tonale in the second half of December.

On the evening of 5th December the Faculty of Science of Charles University in Prague held a special event to celebrate St. Nicholas Eve. The evening was aimed at families with young children, and planned give them a fun night whilst encouraging them to take an interest in science. The students and staff of the faculty ran the stalls which each had a different activity.

Erasmus has its fifteen minutes of fame in the award-winning Czech film Revival, starring two ex-Charles University students from Finland, Siiri Lehtonen and Aleksi Korpijaakko. Given an official rating of 7/10 on the accredited IMDB film reviewing site and labeled the “Czech comedy of the summer” by Cineuropa, I was expecting some good stuff and was not disappointed.