Money makes a difference

In Czech Republic nor in Slovakia students do not pay for their university studies. Basically, the only expenses they do have to cover are books, housing, food and their leisure. In Nebraska, USA students do have to pay for their studies. Apart tuition there are many different fees such as technology fee and whatsoever. The results are following:

• students can borrow laptops for free
  
• teachers can make as many copies for students as they need, nothing like "we do not have enough paper bla bla bla"
• there are no lines for computers - and there is big computer room even in our dorm which is open during the night as well
  
• computers are fast!!! new!!! and work properly!!!
• computers have new software
• there are music rooms with pianos in our dorm
  
• it is possible to borrow bikes for $10 per day
• any other outdoor equipment can be rented in recreation center for really good price as well as equipment for indoor sports (squash racket for 50cents heh)
  
• university is very well equiped
• recreation center is wonderfully equiped
• etc
  

Well, you can really see the difference comparing to my home university.

Connections

My father went to Monte Negro one month ago. I told him to send me a postcard. He did. But it did not arrive. One month passed and there was still nothing in my mailbox... I was angry and sad, complained about American post services a lot (also because of three other letters that I sent to Slovakia and Czech Republic and which never arrived).

Yesterday I dreamed about the postcard. In my dreams I got it. In the morning we went to the front desk to ask about opening hours of our cafeteria during fall break. Our mailboxes are just next to the front desk. I said to my friends: "Today I dreamed about the postcard from my father." I opened the mailbox ... and it was there ...

:-)

Piano lessons

In the basement of the Selleck Hall (the place where I live) many interesting things could be found. Apart computer and study rooms, there are also music rooms. Three of them. And in each there is one piano.

I somehow always wanted to be able to play at least one song on piano. And of course, my dream is to play the guitar. Therefore, when I realized that I have free access to piano and moreover, I have person willing to teach me to play very nice song, I started to practice. It makes me really happy :-) I spend every other day maybe 30minutes "relaxing" in the music room. When I need break from studies, or when I just feel like playing, I go there. Usually, in the afternoon none of the rooms is taken.

I am already able to play both hands together, however, I will need much more time to be able to play it the way Linkin (my piano teacher) can play it. But I will manage :-) and then I will play it for my parents during Christmas time :-)

Let's go for a coffee!

There is one thing that I love about USA. And that is American coffee and American coffee houses. It might seem surprising but it is absolutely true.

In the country where "the culture" is said to be unknown word, I have found the strong coffee culture. And I totally fell in love with this aspect of the American way of life.

At the very beginning of the semester, we were desperately looking for some nice place to chat, to have fun, something with atmosphere and charm. We thought there was none. Heh not true. There are many of them. And the coffee they brew is just delicious. Never ever had a better one. I love take-away option or in case I have time and nice company, just sit in Kopeli's and observe people studying all around, or the one at the Haymarket where they have tons of books and huge muffins.

Uuuuhm :-) Let's have a coffee!

Climbing weekend in Blue Mounds in Minnesota

With my climbing class we went to Blue Mounds National Park in Minnesota to spend one weekend climbing on the real rocks. It was wonderful weekend, I only regretted that I could not spend more time in the nature.

The first day the weather was wonderful. But unfortunately, during the night there was horrible storm, thunder and flash hehe I never experienced such a heavy rain while sleeping in the tent. These are the moments when one realizes the power of the nature. I simply loved it!!!

Spring has come to Lincoln

Hehe unbelievable things are happening here at the campus. I have impression that spring has come, not only can it be felt in the air, but also in hearts of many students. Weather is just wonderful and there are more and more couples all around here :-)

Actually, Zdenek gave me wonderful idea. His remarks always make me laugh. He told me that I should start writing it all down to my diary (whose pages are currently quite empty). I think I will do that. It will be fun :-)

Several days ago Linkin told me that he is very happy here. I was very glad to hear that. People who love the place give it the soul. And it is very important. However, it made me thinking about my own feelings. Have I felt this wonderful overwhelming happiness here? After very tough first two weeks I got used to this place. I got into the machine as Keler calls it. I accepted its routine. And I am glad to be here for many different reasons. After the first month I can say that it was worth to come here. And that it was good decision.

...

Omaha

Student life is tough :-)

Heh I do not remember when I had so much work to do. I am sitting on my ass from the early morning till the very late evening working on my assignments. Hopefully, after Thursday I will have a little bit more time to relax :-) And this is only the third week of classes.

American football: Nebraska vs San Jose State

Photos from American football game Nebraska vs San Jose State.

For the first time in my life I went to see American football game. It took me a while to understand the rules, hehe, even at the end of the game I was not always sure what was going on :-) But it was great experience, I loved the atmosphere. Actually, it was for the first time that I went to the stadium for 85 000 people.

Playing time is divided into four quarters. However, we spent there like four hours, as the game was interrupted so many times. Marching band and cheerleaders were constantly supporting red team. And the audience was very much into the game. Snacks, burgers, popcorn, hot dogs and super size drinks are of course part of the atmosphere :-) Well, that is American life style.

IT and me

Hehe I am not very keen on whatever is connected to IT. However, I am very excited at the moment. I just got my new external hard disk and it is gorgeus!!!! :-) It is very handy (more or less the same size and weight as usual calculater) and concerning its capacity, it has 320GB. Wonderful!!!! Just love it hehehe 

Moreover, yesteday I installed Google Chrome and so far, I am quite satisfied with it. 

Ok, that was very short post, I just have to share my excitemnet with everybody, back to studieeeeees now :-))

Rain***

It is raining outside heh this is probably the first real rainy day since we came here. It actually makes me feel really good, probably because it is not so warm anymore and finally, I am wearing appropriate clothes for inside as well as for outside temperature (there is not such a huge gap between these two now).

On the other hand, what makes me wonder again are American students. Even though it is really raining heavily, they are wearing flip flops and they seem not to care at all. Just some of them possess umbrella and those without this very useful instrument do not even bother to run or to cover themselves somehow hehe

And by chance I found this song hehe very nice one :-) It is sung by Jack Johnson, called Banana Pancakes. Enjoy :-)

Short update

I am really happy, because Peťo passed his Math exam. He has one more to pass on Monday and afterwards, he will be done with his undergraduate degree, ready for Master degree :-) Would love to be in Prague in order to come to his graduation ceremony.

My mum will be back at home on 11th September. Finally, I will have opportunity to talk to her. I really miss it. Would be wonderful to talk to her and keep her updated about what is going on in my life so far, listen to her stories and advice, oh, I feel like a little girlie :-) There are some things though that one can probably say just to his/her mum.

Today, after the whole week, I finally went to catering and registered there. My first workday is on September 4th.

===

Sometimes having this weird feeling
of not being at the right time
on the right place
hehe

Jason Mraz Lyrics
Lucky Lyrics

Short Korean story

In South Korea there is a short story about why women put their engagement or wedding ring on the ring finger and not on the index finger. Actually, the answer is very easy. Because the index finger can stand on its own. But it is very hard to raise the ring finger, therefore it needs support.

Advanced HR management

This is one of the classes that I have decided to take.

First class: At the very beginning the teacher came disguised as James Bond in black suit with black tie, with champaign cup in one hand and with fake revolver in second hand. He even put the music on hehehe very funny :-)

Second class: The teacher came with big box of ice cream, plastic spoons and plates. And he asked everybody if we preferred vanilla or chocolate :-)) Hehehe very nice. And he applied this to some kind of research method hehehe Very nice teaching style.

Classes again

What is also quite interesting for me is that there are classes that take 50minutes, than there are classes that take 75minutes and finally, there are also classes that take three hours hehe Yesterday I had one from 7pm till 10pm. It is unbelievably late and too long. Will decide if I take it or not.

Moreover, the atmosphere in class is really informal. The most of my professors told us to address them by their first names such as Chris, Ben etc. However, it does not mean that they do not have respect from the students.

Have not done my final schedule yet. Hopefully, I will make final decision till the end of this week.

First day of classes

My first day of classes is successfully over hehe Quite interesting, have not decided about all courses yet. Even though I am at the very beginning, I feel a bit scared by the amount of work expected to be done for the most of the courses. Seems that it will take enormous part of my free time. Will be quite tough to work, work out and party at the same time hmm

Moreover, I suppose that all homeworks, essays, papers and team works will have to be done on very high level. Not as in Czech Republic, where some professors even do not read all papers.

On the other hand, I knew that it will be kind of difficult. Actually, that is one of the reasons why I have accepted this scholarship - to learn how to study on regular basis hehe Otherwise it would not be a challenge :-)

There is no place like Nebraska!

Location: Selleck Hall, Lincoln, Nebraska
School: University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Duration: two terms in 2008/2009

Well, what we have gone through so far:

1. I have done my class schedule, but probably will change it a bit; we still have time to do it during the first week of class; it is difficult to choose and moreover, quite a lot of classes are full already; fortunately, Larry helps us as much as he can and Robitscheks scholars have quite good reputation here
2. we went for a beer several times to O street - the street full of different bars and restaurants (actually, most of the streets name are very simple - letters from alphabet and these are crossed by number streets)
3. we had tour around the campus - it is quite big with different buildings, several student halls, huge Memorial Stadium and great recreation center
4. than we were all the time running from one office to another because of classes and some other stuff
5. we were invited for dinner at Larry's place where we met Dominika (Robitschek scholar from last year who is still here) and Jiri (Robitschek scholar three years ago who came back in order to obtain PhD degree)
6. I have bought books for $400 (and these are books just for two courses; I am so happy that all this stuff is covered by our scholarship, otherwise it would be impossible to finance everything by ourselves)
7. one whole day was dedicated to international affairs orientation day - they provided us with useful information, pick-nick (well, again hamburgers...), marching band concert at the stadium finished by "tunnel" (all freshmen and international students running across the Memorial stadium - they were all excited as it is the only opportunity for everybody to get to the stadium field)
8. we went for a party to wonderful lake house - wonderful place where I have seen tap in form of little angel for the first time in my life hehe
9. we had lunch with friends of Czech language - unbelievable that even after so many years these people are motivated to maintain the Czech language and all traditions here in USA

My first impressions:

1. it is unbelievably cold in all buildings because of air-condition; even if the weather outside is perfect, I always have to carry scarf and jacket with me when going to the university, bar or restaurant
2. I have to pay even for received call and sms on my cell phone
   
3. all drinks are very cold and they put even more ice into it
   
4. Americans have totally different way of clothing - quite informal
   
5. there are diabetes warning ads all over the city
6. food in the canteen is more or less the same as we got in Yellowstone; however, there is more variety
7. Americans have huge cars and care a lot about legal restrictions
   
8. it is not possible to drink alcohol in the street - everybody is very strict about it
9. in Nebraska there are quite a lot of people with Czech origins
10. if you invite somebody for a dinner at home, it is perfectly ok to prepare hamburgers and bratwursts and serve ice-bars as a desert
11. services are on very high level - if you have to wait in a bank, they serve you Coke or water; in shops and in restaurants they usually take perfect care of you (of course in order to get good tip ;-)
12. beer costs only 1$ hehe, but I always feel a bit sick afterwards, even if I drink just one
13. Americans are quite open and willing to talk to people from abroad
14. there is enormous number of Asians at our university, mostly from China, India, Malaysia or South Korea
15. you can study basically whatever you want here
16. there are quite a lot of fat people around here
17. fraternities and sororities reminds me of Louvain la Neuve and its "cercles" hehehehe
18. legal software costs $15, I will definitely get Office 2007

Everything is going on fine so far; however, I miss my parents, Peťo, Janka and other friends a lot. Even though I do not have time to write emails or to spend more time connected to skype or icq, I think a lot about them... Miss you all!!! Probably need more time to get used to the totally new environment and to find my way of being here. I suppose that after classes start, my mind will be more busy than it is now :-)

About friendship

Lately I was thinking quite a lot about friendship. Some people place it even on the higher level than love. One friend once told me that friendship will last forever.

Actually, I have some doubts. Who are our friends? People that are there when we need them and we are there for them? Those who come to say hello or good bye when we come back or leave for a long time? Those who are honest with us? Who show us that they really care? Who can be trusted and trust us? Those with who we can be in silence and still feel comfortable? ...

And then how come that sometimes people that even do not know us help us with much more willingness than people that we know for ages and that are supposed to be our real friends? Does it mean that they do not care anymore?

As the time goes by, we change our way of being, thinking, acting and reacting. And maybe these two different systems do not fit into each other anymore. It always makes me sad. According to Peťo friend are coming and leaving. Any of them possibly staying forever?

On the street

I was coming from the shop with small basket of peaches. Suddenly, one lady stopped me and asked me how much I payed for it. When I told her, she realized that I am Slovak. And it turned out that she is Slovak as well, living for 28 years in Prague. We chatted for a while. Then I had to go. She told me that if in September I feel like coming for a piece of cake and coffee, I am very welcome. Oh, I would love to, it would be nice to listen to her story.

I have impression that so many nice events will take place in September. Therefore, I am not motivated to leave and make my life again from the very beginning on the other side of the world. No, I am not complaining heh For sure it will be great experience. However, today I was asking myself if it was good decision. On the other hand, somewhere inside I feel that I would not be satisfied if there was no challenge waiting for me.

flowers :-) just for pleasure :-)

Crucial issues

Few weeks ago during one really boring lecture we decided to draw a picture of our ideal men. Moreover, we added a list of all their qualities. We had great fun while thinking about all those adjectives and things that he should be able to do.

Related to this, I was thinking about what is really important in a relationship. Is is important to have the same vision of life? Common hobbies? The same religion? The same age? The similar idea of spending holidays? ... etc. I thought that probably at some point it is important to agree on some crucial issues. But which are these crucial issues?? As if by accident, I overheard the conversation of two ladies in tram.

"We even did not have anything in common and you see, here we are. Happy together."

And then my friend told me about his girlfriend who prefers relaxing holidays at the seaside, no stress, no tough backpacking, no adrenalin. On the other hand, he is kind of guy who went to Santiago de Compostela and hitch-hiked in Turkey and backpacked in Russia. Obviously, their idea of spending holidays is completely different. And still, they are happy and love each other.

And then, there are my parents with 17 years of difference. And my cousin who married guy from different religion. And many other happy couples who do not have exactly the same idea of everything.

Then which are these crucial issues that the couple should agree on?? Is it actually something rational? Or purely irrational? Should we feel it? Or should we prepare some kind of excel table and fill it with "yes" or "no"??

About personal assurance

My mum just left for three months. She will spend the whole summer in Croatia on the beautiful island Hvar as agent of one travel agency. She has been always dreaming about it and now, finally, it came true :-)) I am sure she will enjoy it a lot, especially because of the wonderful location next to the sea. I am really happy for her.

However, from very egoiste and selfish point of view, I have to admit that it is a bit weird feeling to know that the most of the time during the summer there will be nobody at our place. It is as if my personal assurance has left for a while. My home is where my parents are. I love coming home so much. It is the safest place in the world. I love the moment when I open the door, shout hello to them and my parents come to hug me.

And this time there will be nobody to say hello to and to hug. No practical advice while packing. No help. No home made cake. No good bye at the airport at the end of August ...

It is time to grow up.

Short update

After the whole day of studying we went for a short ride on a bike with Peťo. He borrowed me his bicycle and we had another one from Feri. It was wonderful, I enjoyed it a lot. It is really great to combine studies with active relax :-)) I feel much better now!!!

Moreover, I got message from Kačka, my business project team mate. And it seems that the date of our presentation is postponed. Hmm I wanted to get rid of it as soon as possible, and now, we will not have it done until 19th June. Well, never mind, at least we will have a bit more time to work on it.

Apart that no news from here, keep studying :-))

Sometimes I just need to sing for myself:

Don't worry, be happy :-))

It will soon pass whatever it is.

Really love that song.

Stockholm

No photos so far, but will post some soon :-)

My first impressions from Sweden:

• everything is so green and there are so many trees and woods all around (55% of the whole surface is covered with woods)
  
• the sun goes down very late at this period, at 10:30pm it started to get dark
• people around were not so blond and so tall as I thought they might be :-)
  

My impressions from Stockholm:

• there is water everywhere - many seagulls and other birds are flying around
• men take much more care of themselves than here - all of them were very well dressed and their hair was really well cut, mostly they were dressed in suits or trendy jeans
• men with buggies is very common phenomenon in Sweden (men have 60 days for maternity leave, the same for women, and it is not transferable between them; therefore, most of men take maternity leave as well)
• the metro is very silent - in Prague there is always so much noise, here it is perfectly silent
• as the density of population is very low, the city is not crowded at all (I remember in Dublin there were sooooo many people)
• there is always the wind blowing
• the prices are incredibly high
  

I really enjoyed this trip. Stockholm is very agreeable place to be. We were lucky and the weather was just perfect - the blue sky and the sun was shining. Moreover, what I enjoyed a lot were people in the dorm where we were staying. Even though we came just for few days, they were really open, asked us to join them for the BBQ. Comparing to Prague it was totally different feeling. Here hardly ever people say hello to each other while meeting in the corridor. We had really nice time :-)

Thanks to Terka I have discovered this wonderful music.

Lucky

Life is wonderful

I'm yours

Past five years in "Prague" and what will be the next?

Past five years (September 2003 till June 2008):

• first two years - Prague (including one month in Poland)
• six months - Peru
• five months - Prague
• four months - USA
• six months - Prague
• three months - Brussels
• one months - Slovakia
• six months - Belgium
• five months - Prague

******************************************

One year ahead (July 2008 till June 2009):

• two months - who knows :-)
• ten months - Nebraska, USA

Having a bit weird feeling, some kind of unidentified mixture somewhere inside me. Is that what I wanted? Is that the direction that I have voluntarily chosen? Traveling all around the globe is addictive. Once you start, there is no other option to take. More and more. No other way of being. Is there any point where one is willing to stop? Am I at that point? Or will I get there?

Via ferrata/Klettersteig

I have never heard about via ferrata before. I had basically no experience in climbing. Therefore, I was a bit afraid and I did not know what to expect. It was a challenge, real one, and I am so proud that I managed to do it. It was wonderful weekend full of unforgettable moments and I just loved it. Moreover, the company was very nice - we all got on very well :-)) And I was so much taken care of ooooh.

We left Prague on Friday evening. There were seven of us - Čenda, Feri, Peťo, Tomík, Jana, Lucka and me. Both nights girls slept in the car (btw, very comfortable one) and boys outside.

...here we are ...

...morning teeth brushing...

...our "home"...

...beautiful mountains...

First day: via ferrata in Au, Austria

...getting ready for via ferrata...

...my backpack ready to go...

...I was so much trembling at the beginning, I just could not prevent it; but after the first stage I felt much better and more confident and I started enjoying it sooooo much :-))

...wonderful view...

...looks a bit dangerous, but in reality, we were safe because of two carbines...

...waterfall...

...here we are (without Peťo who is taking the picture)...

...proud of ourselves, with our trendy Slovak T-shirts :-))

...having lunch yamiiiiii...

As we decided to spend the second night in car as well, we went to the spa and swimming center not far from the place where we were staying. There was pool with salt water, sulfur water, relaxing corner with heating seats, swimming pool with warm water, swimming pool for swimming... Just wonderful place for relaxing :-))

Second day: we divided into two groups - one went for very tough ferrata and the rest went for a trip to waterfalls; both were great options and everybody was happy about it :-))

...waterfall...

...very last picture of our trip... time to go back to Prague.........

It is really hard to describe how I felt during this trip. It was mixture of fear at the beginning, expectations, challenge, happiness, relax. We had wonderful time all together. It was one of those reasons why I feel so good and satisfied.

Spriiiiiiing youpiiiiiiiii

Oh, I love the smell of fresh cut grass, spring is comiiiiing youpiiiiiii :-))

So many good things are happening to me at the moment :-)

• I spent wonderful weekend with wonderful people in the mountains (Josefuv Dul, Jizerky)

(...here we are...)

(...all in blue...modra je dobra :-))

(...tired after heavy partying...)

(...lazy to wake up in the morning...)

• we had great fun in Lucerna Music Bar - finally wonderful opportunity to daaaaaaaance

• today's wonderful trip in Krusne hory with bunch of CEMS people
• tomorrow I am going to climb for the first time in my life
• and next week maybe again
• ... (this one is very personal :-)
  
• maybe going to Alpes for several days wau (if I am not in a good shape to go to Alpes, then I will go to Machovo jazero - lake in CZ)
• going to Stockholm from 21st to 24th May
• I am eating from the bowl that I made by myself :-)
• and all of these activities are combined with university classes, essays' writing, case competition and business project
• oh...and concerning this, I am going...
  

Yupiiii, great revelation :-)

During past few months I have been working a lot in different teams. Sometimes it was very nice, sometimes it was very annoying. It always depends on team members and their ability to get on with other people.

I always knew that I am not very creative person. And after so many team works I realized one thing. I am always willing to cooperate, but on the other hand, I am never the one with "wonderful and creative" ideas. I thought I might not be as smart as the others. And it bothered me a lot. I felt very uncomfortable.

During our last HR course we were talking about team roles and we got one test. And finally I realized that it is not that I am not as smart as the others. I have just different team role. I am "TEAM WORKER". What does it mean? Here is short explanation:

The "TEAM WORKER" is the team's harmoniser. His concern is for team unity and good spirit. He is aware of others' needs and worries, knows most about their private lives and family affairs, has the clearest perception of the emotional undercurrents in the team. Normally his/her contribution is not very visible. But when pressures threaten to disrupt the team, his loyalty, sympathy and support is invaluable. He/she tends to be extrovert and calm. He/she is the most sensitive member of the feelings of others. He is the most active internal communicator. Unassertive, a good listener, he/she builds on others' ideas rather than producing his/her own rival ideas. He dislikes confrontation and tries to avoid or defuse it. He/she is loyal to the team as a unit.

Hesitating

Should I stay or should I go???

Happy in Prague :-)

Unbelievable... Yesterday, after the whole week of running around I realized that I am happy again, that I enjoy my being back and that actually, there are so many good things happening now. There is a lot of work ahead and April will be probably one of the toughest months of the whole studies so far. But it is really good. I realized that I enjoy my studies MUCH MUCH more than before. I like going to all classes and lectures and I really attend the university regularly. Comparing to my Bachelor studies, this is totally new feeling for me :-))

Moreover, I have met so many nice people since I came back. I really hope that we will get to know each other better and have a good time all together.

And I like my ballet classes and ceramics course :-)

Oh, I like being back here!!!

CEMS Business project in L'OREAL

Today we have officially started our CEMS Business project in L'OREAL. We had the first meeting at the company with the director of the Professional division. It was definitely interesting. We fixed meetings for the rest of the semester and he provided us with short introduction. It looks like real thing. They are launching new brand in September and we are supposed to do the marketing research. A lot of work ahead. Which is not really surprising as it counts for 15 ECTS credits at our university.

At the end, he asked us about the brand that we use for our hair. I felt a bit uncomfortable about discussing this with him. But the result of this discussion was that we got L'OREAL products for our type of hair (I think I have enough shampoo and different hair care products for the rest of the year heh :-))

Concerning CEMS Business Projects there are seven or eight teams working with different companies in Prague. Some of them are really demanding and time consuming (the team cooperating with McKinsey is supposed to spend 15 hours per week working on the project!!!). In the end, I think our project could be useful for me in order to find out, if marketing is the right thing for me :-))

Disorganization

No idea, what is happening to me. I am completely disorganized. I should use more my agenda and take notes of everything I would like to do and especially, promised to do.

1st proof: Yesterday my classes were starting at 11am. No idea how it could happen, but I was persuaded that the beginning is at 9:15. I came to my class, looked around, wondering, how come there were no familiar faces. I thought they might come later, and it is normal, there are some new people in the class (in the 5th week of classes, really stupid idea). Fortunately, friend of mine was there, he came to me and told me that I am probably in a bad class. Surprised, I checked the number of the room. It was ok. BUT the time was not... So I took my stuff and left. Heh...in five years at the university, this never happened to me. I think it never in my life happened to me.

2nd proof: I promised to Janka to prepare paté chinois with her on Sunday. Then, another Janka called me and I promised her to go for a trip with her on Sunday. Afterwards, I realized that I have test and pre-case study and some homework due the following week. Just total mess. I should stay home and study.

3rd proof: This is mostly proof of the total mess in my head heh Nice guy (room mate of a friend of mine) invited me for a coffee. Instead of accepting his offer, I told him I have to finish some stuff (which was obvious lie as it was just 4th week of school and there are no urgent homework to do). Unbelievable, I have no idea why I refused in that moment heh

I should work on my time-management and my self-organization. Otherwise, I will be complete mess for the rest of the semester heh Well, will be again in a shape soon :-))

My new hobbies :-)

Yesterday I went for the first time in my life to ballet class. For those who know me it is probably difficult to imagine me dancing ballet. But this class is really good. It is for total beginners and even if I am the less flexible one from the whole group, I just do not care :-)) I think I will keep attending the classes. We did just the very basic things such as plié and first position and second position etc. But I felt so good afterwards and moreover, it is really good exercise for my body.

Moreover, the next Wednesday the ceramics course begins. I am so much exited about it. I just love everything connected to hand work and have never tried ceramics. So this is really perfect opportunity to do it. Really curious about that.

Missing NATURE

Few weeks ago Jar* told me that he does not like my way of visiting places. He was having impression that I am visiting just for one reason - to be able to say that I have been there. Honestly, not true. For me the true and real visiting is equal to discovering, enjoying the original and unique spirit of the place and admiring of everything that cannot be seen anywhere else. There is nothing better than finding the secret coin that sometimes even people from the place do not know.

On the other hand, I have to admit that during my last weeks in Belgium I was quite tired. I was lacking energy for being enthusiastic about every detail. The reason was very simple. I kept visiting from beginning of the September - every single weekend with some exceptions was spent on journey. And that is quite a lot, I suppose. Even for such a traveler as I am.

Then one day, after short walk around the neighborhood of the house where I was staying, I realized one thing. How much I am missing the nature, walks in the forest, singing birds, flowers, the smell of mushrooms and wood noises. Mountains. Lakes. Trees. Every single detail. As it was one of those early spring days, the smell was even stronger. Just like the village in the countryside.

Birds were singing, people were working on their new houses, the smell of burning leaves reminded me of my childhood. It made many memories come back to my mind. I remembered all those summers spent at my grand-mother’s place with all my cousins, wonderful walks in the forest, the huge amount of mushrooms, green meadow with all bugs bothering me from time to time :-)

And suddenly, in that moment I realized that probably going back to Prague would not be so bad :-)) Instead of visiting cities I would be enjoying walks in the nature. Two weekends are gone already, have not started yet. But hopefully, soon I will be heading somewhere out of Prague.

Oh, actually, this is my second new year's resolution. Even if it is probably quite late for that. I will try to spend much more time in the nature during this year. In order to have much more "hiking" kilometers in my shoes :-))

Working for NGO

After my stay in Peru I started to think about working for NGO. I wanted to give sense to my life and have good feeling about the result of my effort. I was very glad to meet Ivana in EP, she talked a lot about her job in Človek v ohrození, which is NGO operating in Slovakia. According to what she was telling me, I thought I really might like it.

When I came back from Belgium, I decided that it's time to start doing something. The result of my effort was that I joined one group in Amnesty International. There are really interesting people there (some of them with dreadlocks :-)) I have impression to be in a different world. These people are really concerned about what is happening, and according to my first impression they are not so much into business as the most of people I know.

On the other hand, it is not exactly the kind of work I was looking for. At the moment we are organizing demonstration for Tibet in front of the Chinese embassy. I would love to work on some concrete project and see some concrete results. For example fund raising money for school in Africa (current CEMS Humanitarian Project) or improving hospitals in developing countries or organize educational trainings where it is needed etc. I think I would love that. But so far no result and it does not really seem there will be any. So I keep looking for.

Coincidences

Few months ago I read wonderful book written by James Redfield, the title of the book was Celestine Prophecy. I just loved it. It was about coincidences and how everything is connected. Very interesting point of view. Since then, I was thinking about the topic. Do I really believe that everything is based on coincidence? And that somehow we still have the power to influence it by our way of thinking and acting?

Few days ago I put my AIESEC T-shirt on after quite a long time. Thanks to AIESEC logo on it we started discussing with my room mate one guy that both of us know. He used to be member of AIESEC as well. She told me he is leaving soon for a traineeship and later on, he would like to get the scholarship in Hamburg. Since then I could not prevent myself from thinking about the scholarship. Is there any real opportunity to leave and finish my studies abroad?? I was determined to look for it on the Internet, maybe I would be lucky and possibly find it out. It was not really necessary.

The following day I decided to buy the hair dryer. While whenever walking in the center of Prague I hardly meet someone who I know. Coincidence or not, I met this guy. He was actually leaving the same day for Germany, so I was really lucky to meet him. Of course, I asked him about the Hamburg thing and we discussed it a bit. He was no more motivated to pass his Master studies in Prague. None of us is. Then I wished him good luck and we said bye to each other. I had really mess in my head. Big mess. I was asking myself if this was the sign that I should try to get abroad again. I had crazy idea. If I meet him one more time that day, I will do that. I bought my hair dryer. And decided to buy some chocolate. And I ran across him again...

Then I was trying to organize somehow my thoughts. Was that really coincidence? Should I try to find some way of finishing my studies abroad??

Maybe I would not be so worried about spending one and half year back in Prague. So far I am slightly getting used to it, even though I am missing Brussels a lot. What I am afraid of is the lack of motivation after one year and half. I remembered myself when I came back from Strasbourg. It was more or less the same feeling. I was so determined to get back there for my university studies. But only 5 months passed and I had decided not even to apply for that. What if this happen to me again just because I am too lazy???

Relaxed state of mind

I used to be so much hyperactive, always in a hurry, with no free time left for myself. I realized that I have slightly changed, or at least, I am trying to be more relaxed. I would say that I am in a bit different state of mind at the moment. We will see, for how much time I will be able to keep this approach heh

Actually, last two weekends were so much relaxing. The first one at home, the second one here in Prague. I was being spoiled by my Mum, it was just wonderful to be in Bratislava for a while. This weekend, on the contrary, I stayed alone in a dorm, my dorm mates left on Friday evening. I spent the whole Saturday reading a book and later on, finishing one motivation letter. I was wondering, how it is possible that it still takes me so much time to write one. I have already written dozens of them heh In the evening I met Lucka, she is Slovak and from CEMS as well. Really nice girl, she invited me to spend a weekend with bunch of Slovak people. I am really looking forward to that!!!

On Sunday I met Andrej, the son of the eurodeputee I used to work for. He is studying in Prague as well and we met in EP when he was there for internship. I really like his company, I always learn something from him. Moreover, he is nice and open, just perfect person for interesting and relaxing chat. We went to see exhibition about Albrecht from Valdstejn, quite good one. And then for pizza, yamiiiiiiiiii :-))

The week ahead will be probably a bit busy, but I like being busy. In a relaxed way :-))

I am back in Prague

Yesterday I get on the plane and when I woke up, I was already in Prague. Everything was the same, and somewhere inside I was asking, if I am the same as well. Probably from outside there is no major change. And from inside? I am richer because of people that I have met on my way and because of things I have lived. That's it.

My new room mate seems to be really nice, hopefully, we will get on well. Moreover, I got my Bc. diploma today, it is nice piece of paper :-)) Looking forward to have the real one with Ing. written on it :-))

I decided to write just very shortly. Otherwise, I would be writing about very weird feelings that I have now, how strange it is to be back again and having the impression of not knowing anybody. But it is not really important. What really matters is that I have to make my life here again and depends on me, on the way I arrange it, how it will be. So I selfishly keep my fingers crossed for me :-))

The first snowdrop in 2008

As I love flowers, it is really easy to imagine my joy while finding this beautiful snowdrop in the garden of the wonderful mansion in Ichtegem in Flandres Occidentales.

Countryside in Flanders

Instead of going to Boulex, the Brussels' most famous party taking place the first Saturday of each month, I was discovering Flemish countryside. Jean-Charles, ex-kotmate of Ashika, invited me for a house party in Ichtegem. As I did not have any expectations, the final result was very nice.

I was impressed by the house. It reminds me of real aristocratic mansion.

It has plenty of rooms...

...wonderful garden...

...tennis courts, green house, lake (during each party taking place in the house somebody is thrown to it - this time it was Pierre, boyfriend of the girl in possession of this house) ...

...small house for guard and nice park around the place.

And just 15 minutes far from the sea!!!
Unfortunately, nobody is living there anymore. So the overall result is quite miserable. But still, wonderful place to be.


(Almeric and Jean-Charles having "breakfast" at 2pm :-))

Two weeks before my departure

Yesterday I met Miška and Majka, two CEMS girls from my university who have semester in LLN ahead. Oh, I envy them so much. Would love to spend one more semester here. My departure is getting closer and closer, two weeks left...

Afterwards I went for a drink with Jerome, my salsa partner. He is really nice. I regret not to have opportunity to get to know him better. Yesterday and even during our salsa classes we had always so much fun together. Looking forward to see him again. He proposed Monday, but I am not really sure, if it will be possible for me. I feel a bit like in a golden cage. I enjoy being in th house with Doris's family a lot, but it is always so complicated to get around. And I do not want to bother them too much...

Quality of life

I have already been living in different places such as very small room with little light, huge room with a lot of light, shared room, single room, room with wonderful view on El Misti volcano, room with no view, nice and clean house, very dirty house, kot which reminds me a bit of shared flat, shared house hmm that's it probably. But I have never lived in a house with swimming pool heh till now :-))

Doris asked me again if I want to swim. So I put on my swimming suit and went downstairs. The swimming pool itself is quite small, it is maybe 10x4 meters. But there is this special BUTTON, which you push in order to have counter current. So actually, I was swimming on the same place. Seems weird, but it is really great. Oh, I think will go for that tomorrow as well. Really need some sport.

This is probably what makes the difference while talking about quality of life.

Different face of LLN

In January we spent quite a lot of time with Janka walking around LLN and discovering totally new places. It was part of the whole studying procedure heh sometimes, short breaks are necessary :-)) This actually turned out to be really interesting activity. Especially, once we walked around weird place, looked like a skvot (sorry, have no idea how to write this word). I would never imagine such a place in surroundings of LLN. Maybe some hippie students are living in there. Who knows?

Unfortunately, my photos are not really sharp... I took only my old camera.