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| Making graffiti in Alt. Culture |
Classes are different over here.
Maybe it's just because it's summer session, but there's a different vibe right now going on between both professors and students. As I conclude the 1st half of my USAC Summer Session in Prague, I figure it's time to give some attention to the study portion of studying abroad. This summer, I'm taking 5 credits at Charles University, locally known as Univerzita Karlova v Praze, in Alternative Culture and Lifestyles, Travel Photography, and Introduction to Czech Language. To break it down:
Alt. Culture: Every time I attend this class, the hashtag #staywoke always appears in my head. When I was looking through different programs for USAC, this course was actually a deciding factor in choosing Prague as my host city (alongside cost and other determinants). As a biology major, I don't often get to dabble in the humanities and often times, I feel that most of my classes are just simply tests on how well I can memorize, cram, and recall specific information. While useful skills, I have recognized that my problem solving abilities and understanding of the arts and humanities have begun to suffer; this summer, I wanted to take some courses that would stimulate me to think critically and not necessarily come up with the right answer, just an answer that I could reasonably support. Additionally, I wanted something that would give me more life experience and broaden my understanding of the world today.
Alt. Culture: Every time I attend this class, the hashtag #staywoke always appears in my head. When I was looking through different programs for USAC, this course was actually a deciding factor in choosing Prague as my host city (alongside cost and other determinants). As a biology major, I don't often get to dabble in the humanities and often times, I feel that most of my classes are just simply tests on how well I can memorize, cram, and recall specific information. While useful skills, I have recognized that my problem solving abilities and understanding of the arts and humanities have begun to suffer; this summer, I wanted to take some courses that would stimulate me to think critically and not necessarily come up with the right answer, just an answer that I could reasonably support. Additionally, I wanted something that would give me more life experience and broaden my understanding of the world today.
Alternative Culture with PhDr. Prusova has definitely been everything I was expecting from this course and more. In comparison to my usual 100+ lecture classes, this class has no more than 10 students; while this can most likely be attributed to the fact that the USAC program only has 50 students and that there doesn't seem to be many other students in the area for the summer (additionally, it has also been finals month) nevertheless, it has been refreshing to be in a class where our thoughts and concerns are individually addressed. Especially considering the material we've been covering; from performance art during and after the Communist Regime to the Yes Men attempting to save the world through their impersonations of representatives of major companies, this class has forced me to think about many issues that will be affecting my generation, our society, and our planet. While I expected to head back to Reno a changed individual, I did not realize the extent of how much my thinking would be changed from an abbreviated 4 week course. Although some of my peers may complain about the amount of work we have to complete in the limited amount of time given (it's a 15 week course crammed into 4 weeks after all), I know that I personally am pleased that I was fortunate enough to take a course that has allowed me to express myself freely and open my eyes to some of the more serious issues that we as a society need to soon address.
Travel Photography:
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| Fast Shutter Speed |
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| Slow Shutter Speed |
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| Narrow Aperture |
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| Wide Aperture |
Travel photography - which is really just an introductory photography class and not exclusively focused on taking exciting pictures to document one's travels - has been a hoot and I know that once I'm back in the states, I will most likely look into purchasing my own DSLR camera. For any Circle K historians reading this, know that I have a deeper appreciation and respect for the work that you do. Each week, we receive information on new techniques that we have to display in differing assignments; the following week, we reconvene and one at a time, present a portfolio of our work in which we display the techniques we previously discussed; during this time, criticism is received from both peers and instructor before new techniques and assignments are discussed during the next class period. I was unprepared for the amount of constructive criticism I would receive from my instructor after this first week's assignment; while the pictures shown above were decent, I can also see where simple fixes would have dramatically improved their quality and in the case of my Wide Aperture picture, ultimately I have to redo the assignment for that specific technique. Additionally, the comments I received have gotten me to start thinking more about the pictures I take - what's the focus of the shot I'm taking? What message am I conveying? Is there anything else in the frame that might detract from the answers of the two previous questions? This class has shown me that photography is more than just the preservation of a moment; it's also an art form, a method to not only create meaningful memories, but to also tell a story.
Intro. to Czech: The most practical - at least for the time being - class that I'm taking, I am slowly but surely improving my Czech; already, I can understand more of the culture and language around me. This class has the same feel as previous intro language courses that I've taken, but unlike those courses I now have the opportunity to put what I've been learning to good practice. The Czech alphabet is relatively simple once you get used to the extra letters and sounds; each letter always makes the same noise, so reading and pronouncing Czech words becomes significantly easier once you have a solid understanding of the abeceda. Grammar also seems to be intuitive thus far; although I still prefer to speak in English (and it is fortunate that many Czechs are also proficient in English) I hope to one day have a decent proficiency in speaking Czech. While I have been able to get around with relative ease (learning basic manners and phrases really helps), communicating in Czech is something that has become less frustrating as time passes and I hope to continue this upward trend.
Those are classes in a nutshell. Again, things seem to be functioning slightly differently given that it's summer; a significant number of students are more concerned with enjoying their summer vacation and traveling to other countries and partying every night instead of their classes. However, I am still enjoying the material I am learning in all of my classes and I know that I will be extremely satisfied with having taken them once I return home.
To conclude, an update on my phone situation: after spending around $85 on a used phone, a sim card, and microSD card, I now officially have mobile access to most social media sites and Spotify again. While it was somewhat inconvenient to have to spend that money, overall it is turning out to be well worth it. Having a phone with WiFi is essential when studying abroad and I'm glad that I was able to rectify my situation.
To conclude, an update on my phone situation: after spending around $85 on a used phone, a sim card, and microSD card, I now officially have mobile access to most social media sites and Spotify again. While it was somewhat inconvenient to have to spend that money, overall it is turning out to be well worth it. Having a phone with WiFi is essential when studying abroad and I'm glad that I was able to rectify my situation.
I'm making this post at about 3AM, so forgive me if it seems a bit rough. I may edit this post more later in the morning after some rest, but for now this is na shledanou!
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