Finding Friends at MU

Finding friends when being new at the university may seem to be a very challenging quest. Masaryk University is full of international students, who are either happy to live a new life, or struggle to discover people of same interests and fitting personalities. I – a student myself – went out to question them for you and find out how hard a task it is to find fellow friends at uni.  

Kawa from the Faculty of Informatics says that 'friendly' was his very first impression of the Czech people: “Later on, during my life in Brno, I received the attention and assistance from them whenever I needed.” His colleague Aubrey adds that “once you break through to the Czech and Slovak people, you truly make friends for life.”

However, there are students struggling to break the ice with the Czechs. “In terms of student life, I would say it is much easier to make friends with international students than with the Czech students, most probably because we don't attend lectures together,” says Isaac, a student of Economics.  But as our promising medical student Thomas points out, “nationality isn't really important as we are an international community where everyone knows everyone”.

Simon, too, feels to spend most of his time with the internationals. He says “it’s because it is easier to communicate with them”. Making friends sometimes means to skip the easier option, though, and try harder. If the language gap appears, there always is the common feeling of being a student. And students unite. As Karar – another future doctor – puts it: “It was very easy for me to make friends, and I think all the other students feel the same, because we are all on the same boat.”

All on the same boat sailing down the academic river to the great sea of knowledge, all that way down or up, we have the chance to make friends. Some have it harder than the others, but it all counts down to the efforts we make. Those who seem cold outside may always bear a warm smile behind their expression. Some students fight for their Czech friendships, some stay with their international family until the end. What stays important is that none stay alone.