Get on the Tram!

Have you ever tried to drive a car in the centre of Brno, at about three or four o’clock in the afternoon? If not, don’t ever try it. And if yes, you will probably agree that the easiest and quickest way to get around the city, especially when you really need to be somewhere on time, definitely does not involve a car, but, as you may have guessed, the tram. And what is more, travelling by car would never provide you with such interesting observations, situations, and kinds of people as the tram. In fact, when looking for a great topic for some sociological research, the trams would definitely be the right place to go.

                So, who are the most distinctive “tram characters” one can meet? Let’s start with the students. They are usually divided into two major groups. First are the desperate students. You can find them nervously browsing through their notes, trying to cram the last pieces of knowledge into their brains. Notice the bloodshot eyes, the shaking hands, the quiet mumbling, and sometimes, the slight cloud of smoke above their heads. They appear especially in September, November, before and after Christmas, in February, April, and at the end of spring (please don’t feed them).  

                 The second type are the hung-over students. Very often, they are the same people you saw the day before, back when they were the “desperate students” (the only difference is that, now, the pre-examination despair has changed into a post-examination alcohol despair). Hiding their vacuous faces behind dark sunglasses even though it’s raining outside, gasping for breath at the nearest open window, they may appear a little lamentable and wretched. Please, show compassion and offer them a place to sit (but, as with the previous type, DON’T FEED THEM).
                 Moving on from the students (and especially from the hung-over ones), we get to a totally different sort of people, which you definitely should not offer a place to sit. They are the “proud people”, well-known for their “I-am-not-that-old” look, which, if it was possible, would kill you right at the moment you stood up to leave your seat for them.

                Actually, thinking about it, good deeds done in tram are often not so well appreciated as you would expect them to be. Stepping aside to let a woman get on the tram could cause the door to close right in front of your nose. Offering a seat to a woman because you think she is pregnant will backfire right after it leaks out that, in fact, she is not. When you want to help a young mother with her baby carrier, you could also easily end up with a giant slobbery spot on your shirt (well, okay – in some sense, this could be a toddler’s expression of gratitude).

                But do not be disappointed. The trams are not just a kind of scary “freak show” (although it really does look like it sometimes), and you do not always have to feel as though you’re caught in some perverted fairy tale in which bad wins and good loses. The tram could also be a place for miracles. Imagine all the old men and women with their crutches, moving slowly on the platform. At first sight, they look defenceless and harmless, but when the tram door opens, they suddenly gain an amazing vitality, and with youthful energy, they knock out all the other passengers just to get a place to sit. Have you ever heard of any medicine that could cause such a thing? We do not need doctors anymore. Trams are the cure!

                You may now think this whole article is more or less exaggerated. In that case, there is no better way to find out whether it is or not than to get on the tram and make your own observations. Soon, you will find out that the list of people you can see and the situations you can find yourself in when travelling on the tram is really endless. There, you can meet a man dressed in a giant black monkey costume, see Prince Charles’ wraith, observe a trapeze artist practicing his skills with the handrail, come upon an old woman trying to sell you gold rings, or find a group of boys dressed like they are going to participate in Spartakiáda.

                But be careful! You should never forget that you are a part of the whole “tram world“ as well. And maybe a day will come when you notice a girl sitting behind you, watching you carefully and writing down some notes. Do not be surprised, then, if you find yourself in an article like this.

Author: Barbora Vlachová

This article originally appeared in the spring 2013 issue of the Exit magazine published by The Book Club at the Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University. Online version available at www.phil.muni.cz/wtbc/home/magazine/exit-1/

The Big Semester Plan

The End of August

The feeling of utmost desperation comes to my brother when the end of August approaches. School again, homework again, no free time, teachers pushing him into what he certainly doesn’t need to do… While his older sibling (that’d be me) hilariously dances around the table uttering the words “I still have three weeks of holidaaaay!”

The End of September

The feeling of utmost desperation comes to me when the end of September approaches. Lectures again, essays again, no free time, professors pushing me into what I certainly don’t need to do… While my parents laugh at the idea of their children being ‘tortured ‘at school when actually they only have enormous amount of free time along with little studying for their exams.

The Big Semester Plan

When the time comes, I sit down and prepare a plan… I will attend every lecture and study right after the lecture so that it gets easy before the exams… I will definitely go to the library every week to check the reading professors will recommend… I will write the essays straight away so that I have enough time to party before the deadline… And I will definitely take up some volunteering to fill my free time with a meaningful activity…Yes, I will.

The Real Semester Time

When the time has come, I realised how little thorough my plan was… I could not go to every lecture, because I had to get a good sleep before it. I didn’t get a good sleep, because I was out with friends the night before. I had to go out, because I had been really tired after looking for those recommended books in the library. Now, since I was not at the following lecture, I cannot start writing my essay straight away. Therefore I can party now and write it short before the deadline. Therefore, however, I cannot get to any volunteering activities until I finish all my papers and am good for the exams...

So as it goes, I enjoy nights out until the exam period starts.

Then, in pain, I think… maybe I should have followed the big semester plan…

Semester is over, and where is all the fun?

Another semester is over and all of my academic friends are happy to embrace summer freedom again. But not me this time… It may be because I have to work on my bachelor thesis throughout the summer. It may be because I also have to work on my other bachelor thesis throughout this same summer. Or it may be the fact that I work at the university and for the first time in my life I see that the end of semester for students is definitely not the end of work for university employees.

I stare out of the window every day, imagining how colourful my summer would be if I weren't sitting at a computer at work that moment. Regrets come to me when my imagination combines what I have gone through before, what I could go through now and what I cannot do at the moment. Wherever a person is, there always is somewhere else they imagine to be. Human nature praises us to be the most intelligent creatures on the Earth, but our thinking is often overdosed with 'what ifs' and 'if onlys' that make us feel uneasy about the current situation.

Of course it is freaking hot outside and half of my friends are diving somewhere deep in the fun of summer craziness, but doesn't every story have several sides to observe and several witnesses to say it different? It does, and so does my situation. Not only is it honour to work at the university, but it also provides me with the utmost academic experience. I've never even imagined there is such a load of information one can grasp when taking interest in his home academic institution and, more importantly, receiving it from the first hand.

So it happened that from studying I made it to volunteering, and from there I went straight to getting an awesome job with great people. You better listen carefully when I say – I may work this summer, but you may work the next one, while I am having fun. Taking paths means making decisions, and I am proud to say that the one to work was the best I have made. There is a huge difference between theory and practice - studying helps you gather knowledge, but working brings experience. And I would never trade that.

Dear end of semester,

I wanted to let you know how impatiently I’m awaiting you coming every half a year, when struggling with the mind-boggling research on final papers and craving for all the incredibilities of summer time and freedom from school. Those few months of battling the university go as quickly as a snail around the world and poor students need rest. I thank you for coming, semester end, I really do. If only you didn’t come with the other one, the hated one, the cursed-upon one, the one-who-should-not-be-spoken-of-aloud. The EXAM period!

 

I would say I love you so much for finally coming to my life and inserting the notion of approaching summer into my poor-student mind, but… why do you always have to bring the exam period with you? Is it not plain torture to make us all happy as lectures are over and we can sleep longer, while bringing sleeplessness into our days and nights just because of those few hours spent taking exams? I myself would suggest a reason. Is it because things in life are never only black or white? Maybe the reason is that everything bad actually brings new light into life, new opportunities, new viewpoints, new beginning… Is that the reason? The end of semester initiates exam period to keep us focused on the subject we freely decided to put upon our shoulders. It summarises the knowledge we should have gathered throughout the semester lectures and our work. I understand it is an evaluation of our eligibility to stay at the university and progress well. Also, if semester is over, there has to be something else filling holes in our precious time left after lectures disappear. I would only suggest a little change – why not having summer instead? Everybody already has summer in their minds as soon as the imaginable bell rings at the end of the last lecture. The Sun is shining, birds are singing, and teachers are waiting for our research papers. Suddenly the few months at school seem to be of too little time to manage cramming for my exams and finishing my papers. Suddenly I want to have my lectures back only to gain more time for figuring out the whole exam period struggling. I could believe you have a reason to bring your exam friend with you. I could believe there is a deep, a very deep purpose in what you always do, dear semester end. I could believe all of that, but I am a student whose exam period has just begun - and so my feelings stay unchanged – antagonistic towards the bittersweet reality:  

End of semester, what a perfect time to arrive.

End of semester, how I hate you for coming so quick!

B for Brno, B for Bike!

As the Sun brought full colours of the spring to the country, people brought bikes to the streets of Brno. It have never occurred to me how hard it may be to bike through the city centre – until I have brought my own bike to Brno. It’s a beauty – a pink half-track half-road bicycle, brand new from the factory of bike Cadillacs ready to go into action. I have never really been much into pink and this pink lady is the first pink thing I own, but I must admit it does not strike me a little as girlish or barbie-like, rather as a funny recession. And of course I plan to upgrade its very face – drawing black something on the pink body will make the one be even more unique than it is now.

Nonetheless, the first thing that should interest bikers is how useful and how well-running their bikes are. You have plenty of chances to try it out on the roads and tracks of Brno. As there is little space for bikers next to all the cars in the city centre, you can perfectly test your brake action at the lights and acceleration when running down the hilly streets, not mentioning your physical strength when coming back – up those hilly streets. There is a long hilly street like that between my flat and my faculty, and I can tell that my face must be the same as the colour of my bike when cycling to school.

Source: Brnonakole.cz

If anything goes wrong with your two-wheel friend, there is an ocean of bike shops to fix it. There even is the International Bicycle Trade Show and exhibitions taking place once a year, where bikers eagerly tune up their rovers and get the hold of the newest hits. Bike devotees organise events such as the great spring bike ride through the city. If you get into a massive ride of such sort, you better be on bike than on your feet – both cases being a lot of fun, though. Another big thing is the project ‘Bike to work’ – a perfect combination of exercising and releasing stress before gathering it up in your office chair again. 

Source: Dopracenakole.net

 My curiosity also found out that there is the amiable possibility to join cyclotours organised by Masaryk University usually during the spring break, or closer to the end of spring semester. I have never been on such tour, but my instincts whisper that it must be huge fun – cycling across picturesque places with enthusiastic people, preferably on a pink bike to colour up the whole image. 

 To conclude things up, I would say that Brno offers a lot concerning biking, if your interest brings you to the right source of information. Despite the fact that many roads lack side track for cyclists, there is always a crowd of them happy people on two wheels riding across the city. It is not so desperate as it seems though, as there are some tracks worth taking the trip, as the one directing bikers to the lake and further away. When you take it, be careful not to fall, as apart from other bikers on the track, there are also these enjoyable distractions of trees blooming all along the track, birds singing odes to the reflection of the pure blue sky on the Brno lake, the sun shining bright into your face, and a girl on a pink bike!