Brno Museum Night

Dear all! 

Did you know that May 18 is an international museum day celebrated worldwide? According to International Council of Museums "this day is an occasion to raise awareness on how important museums are in the development of society". For those of you who didn't manage to attend Brno Museum Night on Saturday (May 17), there is a short photo report. The photographs grasp the thrilling atmosphere quite well. Enjoy :) 

The visitors could choose from a wide variety of events for both, adults and children. These ranged from seeing Zetor tractors, listening to excerpts from compositions for the organ, to exploring post trains (and much more). We chose to visit Brno Philharmonic and Mendel Museum for you:  

Brno Philharmonic - Besední dům

waiting for the guided tour of the backstage of Besední dům of Brno Philharmonic Orchestra (normally inaccessible sections to the public)

browsing through the information

answering questions from the audience

one of the concert programme of the Philharmonic organised specially for the night

musicians even let the visitors play with them!

Mendel Museum - VIDA! Science centrum exhibition

explaining the experiments

children are the most curious...

... but adults are playful as well

Well done Brno! Another great event...

Photographs taken by Lýdia Rezničáková

Houseparties in Brno

Of course I am a serious student focusing on long term goals and intellectual development. Though occasionally, I feel a strong need to go out, let go, consume and socialize. It always manages to put things into perspective. It is a universal need, and if you have ever been properly out of the country, you know nightlife is different everywhere. In the past months I have occasionally enjoyed the honor of being a guest at (nearly) fully Czech houseparties. It being my natural instinct combined with an incapability to understand the language I have often gone into “observer mode” at these events. So here is my outsiders perspective on how things go when people gather in Brno.

The parties start earlier, and finish later. The official starting time is 8 or 9 which is already quite early for me, and then to an even bigger surprise, people actually arrive on time. It seems like everyone wants to spend time with each other, and nobody carries the illusion it makes you cooler to be 2 hours late. At 10 a party has well taken off, while in for example the Netherlands, this would be more like 12. Then it lasts for ages and goes through all these different stages that I will describe below (I figured some terminology and ordering would be appropriate for an university magazine).

There is food that is not junkfood and that was actually lovingly prepared and brought along by people. This is amazing for me, and turns every regular houseparty into a food festivity. The first stage of the party is the eating and drinking part. Which might explain why people would come on time, there is the food incentive.

More alcohol, more beer, more self brewed stuff. People like drinking in this country. But apart from consuming, they like producing, which I think balances out both hobbies in perfect harmony. I think you know how these things go, so under the motto of (heavy) drinking the party progresses into the second stage of the night. On a side note, people do not get that drunk, as their full stomachs absorb all the alcohol.

Music. Guitars, people singing, clapping, dancing. YouTube is used as a music source only after people have exhausted their lungs by singing all the folksongs they know. I have observed that it is usually the slightly socially awkward silent kind of guy that comes in late, patiently waits for his moment to shine, and then turns out to be an awesome musician. This is the 3rd stage of the night.

The 4th stage is when people get well drunk and/or stoned, the music has died down and YouTube provides entertainment. Some people are slowly going home, others have fallen asleep among the crowd, but there is always that small core that knows how exceptional it is to have all their friends together in one room and therefore do not want to stop the madness, until the sun is coming up and they remember that in some distant past they had a life with obligations and routine and so on.

Author: Roos Derks

This article originally appeared in HALAS, the magazine of students of the Faculty of Social Studies. The original version is available at http://www.casopishalas.cz/clanek/zobrazit/1695

A Multilingual Boy (what if I new all the languages in the world)

There are numerous stories that might seem unbelievable. This could be either because they are so fascinating, that you just cannot believe your ears, or they simply have never happened.

Elizabeth was quite busy that Tuesday, I would say too busy for a five-year-old girl. Hardly had she finished her piano class that morning, when her tutor of French arrived to help her brush up her grammar.

“What a lovely day, - Elli sighed. – I wish I could play and dance all day, just like those lazy girls in the neighborhood”.

This busy way of life was just too much for this young creature and it has never really made her happy either. However, her father claimed that it undoubtedly has a great impact on her education.

“Oh dear, why are you so selfish? Can’t you see the child is not happy with all your education stuff? Why don’t you let her have a normal childhood?” – her mother would  show her dissatisfaction time after time. And as you can see it never worked.

But as the twilight covered the city, her happiest time began. This Tuesday, as usual, her dear nanny Dorothy was ready with one of those stories that you usually do not believe.

“Good evening, young lady. I bet you can’t wait to hear my new story!”

“Oh darling, I don’t feel like listening to any stories tonight. All I need now is some rest.”

“I understand you so much, but there was one extraordinary boy, who could understand you even more…”

“Really? Was he as busy as me?”

“Even more, my princess, much busier. His parents were very famous linguists (each knew about 74 different languages) and as their first child was born, they decided that this one will know all the languages in the world by the time he turns 30. When they announced their intention in press, everyone thought it was crazy, but it has never stopped this marvelous couple. To their happiness, the child turned out to be an extremely obedient one (they even called him Obeyan), so he, unlike you, young lady, never ever complained about the amount of hours he had to study every day.

There are about 5 thousand languages in the world, so he had to learn about 166 languages a year, which equals about two days for each language. Quite challenging, isn’t it? So his parents had to hire the best tutors from all over the world and of course it wouldn’t succeed without brain stimulating pills, which were invented by a very talented Chinese scientist especially for them. Sometimes Obeyan even had to stay up all night to succeed in his studies, which certainly lead to huge health problems, to reduce which they kept asking for a helping hand from scientists.

With every language he learned, the heads of his parents grew more and more gray and as he finally learned all the languages in the world and got his lifetime financial provision for this his parents couldn’t swallow the delightfulness of it and died on the same day. In order to spread the blessed memory of his dear parents, Obeyan packed his bags and hit the road. First he went to Rome, then to Oslo, he also has visited Egypt, Sydney, Prague, Paris, London, New York and many other capitals. It gave him great pleasure that he could understand people whichever language they spoke, but he was also sad, because he hadn’t found the way to apply his great talent, so that it would help people.

Days and nights he spent thinking about the way to help all people in the world, when finally it occurred to him that the best way to do it is just to ask what people need. This was a great time for a new around the world journey with a generous intention to help people. He went from town to town, from village to village, asking people what they need in different languages. Unsurprisingly, that people all over the world were standing in queues to get some help from a generous multilingual man.  Some asked for money, some asked for happiness, some wanted the war to stop; others simply wanted a piece of advice on how to become successful in learning languages. And certainly, Obeyan tried his best to help everyone.

Consequently, the health of this extraordinary man grew poorer and he even started forgetting some languages he knew before. No matter how hard the best doctors of the world tried to save his life, the old age of his wouldn’t let him survive. And finally he died. Millions of people went to honor him and some of them even swore to follow his path of entire kindness.

And they actually kept their promise. Moreover, they even invented a special holiday for all to be kind and cheerful at least once a year.”

“Are you talking about Christmas, nanny?”

“Absolutely, my dear… Oh goodness, it’s high time you fell asleep. Nighty night, sweetheart”.

“Good night, darling” – whispered little Elli, closing her shinny eyes to see the sweetest dream about how she learned all the languages in the world and followed a fascinating road of kindness, just like Obeyan once did.

Author: Tetyana Gurchenko

"Why did you come to Brno?"

“Why did you come to Brno?” The phrase quickly became a familiar sound during encounters in my premature social life in this city. The question might as well have been: “How the hell did you end up in this hole?” Its honest curiosity, mixed with a genuine inability to think of any reason anybody would want to live in Brno. Why?

Dear people of Brno,

I have gone through a minor crisis. Without accusing anybody in particular, the crisis was started by “Why (the hell) did you come to Brno”, the reactions “so then.. you’re just on Erasmus right?” – “no, I'm here for a full degree”(me), which would then be followed by one of those meaningful silences (and I am not even mentioning the facial expressions accompanying all of this). Though, the most problematic aspect was on my side: I forgot why.

But now I remember again. Please listen, especially the Brno-ers.

Good study programs and courses. Social Sciences faculty of Masaryk University rocks. They try hard and good things come from it. It’s high up there somewhere, sharing the academic hemisphere with most universities I have heard about.

Affordable high quality student life (CHEAP). Surviving on instant Noodles and pasta with ketchup is the universal student diet – but not in Brno – where only the most uninspired cooks have to face this junk. In terms of eating and drinking for good prices, buying high quality food and living in the city center: Brno is student heaven.

Student city. Speaks for itself. (Students are awesome people.)

Brno is a beauty. Impressive architecture, parks, castles. Daring sexually tainted modern public art. Moravian Karst to the north, three beautiful cities within easy travel distance.

Really, if I was not already living here, I would want to move here in an instant.

And last but not least, the interesting Consonant/vowel ratio: BRRRNo (it amuses my Dutch friends).

So dear people of this lovely city, try to cultivate that warm fuzzy feeling in your stomach when you think of your city, its not too bad. It’s not Prague, I know and you keep mentioning it, but aren’t we all glad its not?

Author: Roos Derks

This article originally appeared in HALAS, the magazine of students of the Faculty of Social Studies. The original version is available at http://casopishalas.cz/clanek/zobrazit/1624

Interview with Emma Smit

- an international student of the European Governance joint degree programme

Where do you come from, Emma?

From the Netherlands, actually, from Utrecht. I did the Bachelor of Public Administration at the Utrecht University.

Why did you choose Brno and Masaryk University?

Well, especially because of the master programme, because I always had interest in Europe and the European Union and since it is in collaboration with Utrecht University – it’s a double degree – the first year here in Brno, and the second one in Utrecht, I looked at the programme and I thought “well, this is really where my interest lies”. So I started looking at the Masaryk University and Brno and realized that actually it has a lot in common with Utrecht, it’s a student city, the second biggest city in the Czech Republic, which is the same for Utrecht in the Netherlands, so it instantly got my attention and I thought I’d really like to go.

How would you describe your programme, what is it about?

It’s called European Governance and it actually focuses on Europe in a very broad context, it’s about the European law, establishing the European Union, it also concentrates on Europe nowadays, European relations to United Nations and other countries outside Europe, so it’s about concentrating on the European Union from a broad perspective. I follow four courses this semester and each one considers different aspects of the EU.

Is there anything you especially like?

I really like the course on the establishment of the European Union, it’s about all the treaties and the development of the EU, and also the law course, because we come in contact with the real cases within the European Union. Each week we discuss recent news and I would say we really implement knowledge into practice.

After these few months you spent here, would you recommend this programme to other potential students? Why?

Yes, definitely because of the international context, that’s for sure. Right now I had a lecture over Skype with someone in the Netherlands. We are in contact with people from all over Europe, and it’s unique, this is a unique programme to me. Since it is a joint degree, I can experience both Brno and Utrecht and their special collaboration.

How would you describe your life in Brno?

Well, I try to live a kind of a Czech life, I try to be in contact with Czech people, I even started eating warm lunch – I never did that in the Netherlands, we just ate sandwiches during lunch. I also went to the ice hockey game few times. It’s awesome! I just want to get a season ticket. And of course, the breweries here, it’s so nice to have a real Czech beer place… I also really try not to limit myself to hang only with the Erasmus students, but also with the Czechs. I regularly meet my tutor – I have a Czech student tutor who helps me with everything and gives me tips on what to do and where to go here in Brno.

Did you have any problems with Czechs not speaking English?

Well, with students it is not a problem, they all speak English, but sometimes it is hard at the supermarket, or when buying a ticket for something.  Sometimes it is quite hard, but I understand that they do not understand me, so it’s the same for them. But I realized that even though Czech people may seem a bit cold at the beginning, they are very friendly when you get closer to them, and that is the same for Dutch people, so I see some similarities and am quite used to it. I definitely wouldn’t change my decision to come to Brno.