5 Reasons to Fall in Love with Brno

Brno: the City of Opportunities

Four years of my life in Brno passed like one day and each moment spent in this wonderful city was full of colors, willing to help people, positive emotions and numerous opportunities for both personal and professional start-up. From the viewpoint of my personal four-year life experience it is possible to make a short but very succinct list of 5 reasons to fall in love with Brno.

The first and the most important reason are Brno people. Yes, they are special sort of Czech people, completely different from inhabitants of Prague, Ostrava or Olomouc. Although sometimes they look very serious and busy, but if any problem happens with you, they are always ready to help you – they either go straight to solution of your problem or send you to the person who can directly help you. Also they are very proud with their fantastic wine and grilled sausages.

The second reason is that Brno is the City of Universities and Research Centers with all corresponding outcomes. Second after Prague, Brno holds the leading position by number of universities, labs, schools, libraries, museums and course centers among Czech cities – there are 5 public, 1 state and 7 private universities, 85 libraries of state, regional and municipal level, and countless number of student dormitories and student canteens make Brno to be a truly student city. The topic of special dignity and success of Brno R&D are two international scientific projects - International Clinical Research Center under operation of Faculty Hospital of St. Anna (FNUSA-ICRC) and Central European Institute of Technology (Ceitec), which perform numerous projects in fundamental and experimental science, employ top experts from all over the world and cooperate with leading universities and research centers of the world. By the way, the single office for the whole Central and Eastern Europe of Red Hats Co., the world open source leader is also located in Brno as well as offices of IBM and Avast.

The third reason is historical heritage and cultural events hold in Brno. Spilberk fortress, Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul and villa Tugendhat – they all are UNESCO objects of word cultural and architectural heritage attracting visitors and art experts to Brno from all over the world. As for cultural program so numerous cultural events such as cinema festival, wine festival and beer festival, Shakespeare’s days on Spilberk, Illusionists and Masks festival are held in Brno annually.

The fourth reason is that Brno together with its picturesque surrounding lands of South Moravian region is the seat of countless sporting activities – numerous professional and amateur facilities and tours for bicycling and motorcycling, walking and running, canoeing and kayaking, rock climbing and caving and many other types of sports are all available in and around Brno.

And the last but not the least reason is Brno wine making, which makes the City to be the heart of wine industry not only of the Czech Republic, but also of the whole Central and Eastern Europe. In the late summer the boundless wine fields around Brno provide a scene of unforgettable beauty, creating a traditional land mark of the South Moravia and the Czech Republic.

Oleksandra Lemeshko, international student of Faculty of Economics and Administration MU