My graduation

I had such a lovely graduation day. When I was thinking about this day, I did not really picture it in any way, but once it was over, I had wonderful feeling of accomplishment and happiness. 

Now, when I look back at the end of my studies, I do not really think about the very last lecture, final exam nor about my thesis defense. The first thought that come accross is my graduation - the day that I spent with my best parents ever, my brother and his wife, my step brother and his family and of course, with my dear boyfriend. 

Reunion times :)

I guess this semester can be called "Reunion semester"  

• I got to see my great friend Eduardo from Peru after three years; moreover, we had AIESEC Peru reunion in Budapest
• my brother got married and he also invited our two step brothers with their families for the wedding; I guess that was the first time for all of us to get together
• we had Nebraska reunion in Munich during Octoberfest
• Laurie, my friend who I met in Belgium, came to the Czech Republic and I got to see her at least for a while
• Hanna, another close friend who I met in Belgium, came to Prague
• Lou and Rozelin, the couple at whose place we were staying in D.C. visited Czech Republic
• Linkin, my best friend from Nebraska, came to Europe for a few days; we spend one day together
• Adinka, my best friend from high school, came back after one year in Brazil and stopped by Prague 

More reunions to come :) I am very happy and thankful for all these precious moments. 

Dual-career marriages

We have been talking about this topic a lot. Why? Because we were concerned that one day we will have to choose - either career or family. We thought that there was no possible combination of these two. So many people and statistics seem to prove so. 

Few weeks ago, during one lecture, we were discussing this topic again. Our teacher seems as very smart guy, I really admire him for his openness and experience. He told us that it is not matter of choice "either, or". But that there is always possible way to combine these two things and if we try, we can find or create a mechanism to make it work. He said that he is persuaded that in most cases it is possible to find suitable solution for both. We just need to look for the right way.  

Moreover, we discussed this issue a bit with one HR lady in ABB. She seemed persuaded that there is no problem having family and career at the same time. Of course, there will be times when the mother of the family will have to be a bit in the back, when children are little. But later, there should be no problem to maintain work-life balance.  

That was really unexpected encouragement! Let's see what the future brings. 

Warrior of Light by Paulo Coelho

Každý bojovník světla už se někdy bál jít do boje.

Každý bojovník světla už v minulosti zradil a lhal.

Každý bojovník světla už kráčel cestou, jež nebyla jeho.

Každý bojovník světla už trpěl kvuli malichernostem.

Každý bojovník světla už si myslel, že není bojovníkem světla. 

Každý bojovník světla už pochybil v duchovních povinnostech.

Každý bojovník světla už řekl ano, když chtěl říci ne. 

Každý bojovník světla už zranil někoho, koho miluje. 

Proto je bojovník světla; protože tím vším prošel a neztratil naději, že se polepší. 

What I have learned so far :)

... that optimistic and positive thinking people leave much longer than pessimists.

... that extroverts are more prone to the divorce than introverts.

...that children's attitude to money (if they are more generous or more stingy) is formed during the first three years of baby's life.

...that sometimes, instead of making a compromise (none of the parties is happy with the solution), it is much better for both parties to find the third alternative, acceptable for all. 

...that stress can be managed by efficient relaxation and that it really works!

...that people that have long term goals are usually more successful than people with no plans.

...that it is important to clear your expectations in a relationship. 

Is it for the best to try everything?

During one of my classes our teacher asked us kind of interesting question: "Do you think that it is for the best to try everything?" As he explained, most of the young people think that they should use their youth to try "all the stuff", whatever that means. 

As he explained later, everything we do, will leave a trace on us - it can be deeper or lighter, but it is impossible to predict what trace it will be. If we take such an extreme example as drugs, there is always huge risk that one will become dependent on this shit. Therefore, it is highly important to choose all the stimuli and things that could somehow influence us. If there is the possibility of choice.  

He especially referred to all the opportunities for young people. Compared to the period twenty years ago, we can go and do whatever we want, there are no limits. And sometimes we have impression that we have to be everywhere, study abroad, visit Asia, Africa and Latin America, backpack in all the different parts of the world etc. To be honest this explanation really appealed to me, since I recognized myself in this statement. 

However, it is important to make choices - to carefully choose what we will do and where we will go. It may seem very easy and obvious, but it definitely was not for me. I felt bad about passing some opportunities and challenges. In order to make good choice it is important to know ourselves very well. If we know, where we are heading and what we want to accomplish, it is much easier to choose the right way and to filter all incoming messages.

Update

It's been a while, I know, sorry for that. But I guess either I was not in a mood for writing, or there was nothing that interesting to be shared with you, or I just simply took a break from writing. 

I have come back to the old continent and now, I am in Prague again. Two semesters ahead of me, first one has started quite successfully. I actually really enjoy my studies this semesters. All my courses are so interesting that I never skip any seminar nor lecture. It does not bother me to be at school from 9:15am till 6pm and I am glad to be back the next day again. I am unbelievably happy with my choice of minor specialization. I have learned so many interesting things, concepts and ideas, I will definitely share some of those with you in next posts. 

Wish you wonderful week!!! <3

I'm a Porsche 911!

You have a classic style, but you're up-to-date with the latest technology. You're ambitious, competitive, and you love to win. Performance, precision, and prestige - you're one of the elite,and you know it.

Take the Which Sports Car Are You? quiz.

...

What goes around, comes around.

I truly madly deeply understand the meaning of this saying now...well, probably I deserved it.

One month left. Scary!

Think about it

Today I was walking down the street. Instead of trying to imagine myself in Canada, in some nice company doing my internship in the field of Human Resources, I focused my energy only on the fact that I really do not want to spend my summer working in housekeeping or catering anymore. And that is really bad approach. Instead of positive thinking, I was very negative and it cost me so much energy.

The thing is that I really want to learn something during the summer. It is not about being picky, but I guess that I feel that I had enough of these "manual" jobs and it is time to move on. I would like to develop my professional skills related to my major and not my knowledge about "serving the food from left and picking the empty plate from right" or "using pink liquid for the toilet and blue for the mirror" ... Don't get me wrong. I am not degrading any kind of job. I just need to feel some kind of satisfaction. And at this point of my life these jobs do not satisfy me anymore.

And then, I saw this little girl with her mum. The girl (she was maybe six) was blind. And her mum was teaching her how to use the white stick for blind people. And I felt very ungrateful and ashamed. I should never loose hope, enthusiasm and energy. I should continue fighting for my dreams and enjoying my life. I should go on doing what I like. And I should pay more attention to all those beauties all around. That is energy!

Deep inside

I remembered one exact moment from exactly one year ago. My friend asked me: "How come that you always look so satisfied and happy?" I thought about it and I told her: "It is simple, I am satisfied and happy." I really was. And then suddenly, it has gone somewhere with the wind. I am not trying to say that I am completely unhappy and lost, but deep inside, there is something missing. There is something that just do not work as it should. And what makes me even more uncomfortable is that I have no idea what is that. The result of that is that from time to time I just behave in really weird way, I am just surprised by my own reactions.

Sometimes I find myself in a labyrinth and I just cannot find the right way. Finding oneself is always very important. I think it is like getting the ticket for the happiness. You still have to get on the right train, but at least, you know that once there, nobody will tell you that you have to get off.

Hmm this will take probably time. But I will get there one day. Because positive and optimistic thinking is still something that I am very good at.

"Live from my soul"

Sometimes (or quite often??) I tend to make very simple things quite complicated. It makes me feel uncomfortable as well as the others involved. Grrrrrrrrrr I should have been more rational sometimes. Or just stop analyzing everything so much.

Multi-culti

What I enjoy here in Nebraska is its multicultural atmosphere. My room-mate is from South Korea. My best friend here is from South Korea as well. My colleagues in catering are from India. My teachers are respectively from Ethiopia, Philippines, USA and Spain. I met one really nice girl from Japan, I talked to many Latinos from South America. There is huge variety of people from all over the world and all of them are very interesting.

Today we got invited by Indian guys to their place. They cooked for us real Indian food. All I knew about it was that it is usually very spicy. It was, but at the same time I considered in delicious. We ate a lot of rice with many different things, chicken and at the end home-made yogurt. Really delicious!!! And what is more, to fully experience the Indian culture, we ate with our hands. I never tried it before, it might be sometimes quite tough hihi

I am grateful for all these experiences. I guess these are unique moments and it made my life here very lively and interesting.

The Little Mermaid

I kind of believe that some things just find us, because we want them so much and because these things (it can be whatever) are meant to be with us. And if we listen to our intuition, they will come to us. Usually when we less expect it.

Today I went to the second hand bookstore and I was looking for one book. I could not find it, BUT while searching for it, I noticed huge box with Walt Disney books. My heart started beating a little bit faster and I was thinking: "What if..." ... Sleeping Beauty, Lion King... and right between Lion King and Snow White I found it. The Little Mermaid smiled at me and I knew that today I was meant to come to this shop to find this book :-)

Winning the first prize

Today we went for the Chinese night. It was the evening organized by Chinese people from the UNL. We got some good food and several performances took place. Quite interesting. The part of that was also tombola. Hehe and I won one of the two first prizes. Unbelievable. I told Jirka that I never won first prize before. And he told me that my Robitschek Scholarship here at the UNL is also kind of first prize.

It made me thinking about all these first prizes that we actually "win" but sometimes we even do not realize it. I won in so many aspects that I can hardly count it all. I have the best parents on the whole Earth, great brother, wonderful friends, I got uncountable amount of opportunities to experience the world, I "won" healthy body and clear mind...

In reality, I won the first prize so many times in my life. I just do not always realize it.

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!