Thursday, September 22, 2011
My Faculty.
This is the building that I will have the majority of my classes in. At Masaryk University, colleges are called Faculties. Like, back at the University of Florida I was in the College of Liberal Arts. Well here I am in the Faculty of Social Sciences, FSS. No one pronounces the individual letters, just Fssssss. The building is beautiful and from the early 1900's. There is a cafe in the basement level and a huge open room in the middle of the building. Soon I will take some pictures of the inside. When you come and visit, I will take you on a tour!
Classes
The way classes work for Masters programs is different than undergrad. I'm taking 4 classes that meet once a week on Mondays and Tuesdays. Then I'm taking a Czech class that meets twice a week (Tuesdays and Thursdays). It sounds easy and unproductive but the amount of reading and writing I will be doing will take up a day for each individual class. And since the classes only have about 10-15 people in them, I can't skimp on the readings. Then for each class I will be preparing presentations. In one class I will have to give 4 different presentations plus my papers, exams, commentaries and doing the reading and attendance. The other classes I have to give 2 presentations at different times of the semester. Then I have to have a response to the readings prepared for each class meeting. Masters Programs are more of you teaching yourself than having an instructor follow your every move. Exams consist of 5 questions and you have a 20 page booklet to answer them (you can bring more if you think you'll need them). I will be able to take all of my exams before Christmas break and I will have some papers to send in in January.
The Making of Europe:This course introduces students to the development of Europe since the 17th century (i.e. of the so-called modern Europe) as a unique project based on very broad processes; therefore, it primarily aims at outlining the trends constituting social background of this development - nationalism, colonialism, secularisation, technological innovation and so on. At the end of the course, the students shall be familiar with social thinking and habits that occurred in the 16th and 17th centuries, with the power conflicts that constituted the bases of the modern European states, with the 19th century as a breaking point both with regard to power constellation, and to general shifts in European societies of the time, and also with both world wars of the 20th century as - in a sense - the climax of the previous processes. At the end of the course, student should be able to interpret the notion of European state system history and to explain its internal periodization. Student should be able to compose main trends of economical, societal, intellectual, and political development. Student should be able as well to compare changes of European domestic and international politics since the Peace of Westphalia till the outbreak of the Cold War.
Radicalism in Europe: The goal of the course is to introduce students to the study of radicalism in Europe. At the end of the course the students shall be capable to differentiate within the most important forms of radicalism, to trace and compare their ideological backgrounds and to characterize their organizational structures. On the other hand, students shall also be able to evaluate, criticize or compare state policies against antidemocratic and violent forms of radicalism.
Crisis Management Operations: The course provides students with the understanding of military crisis management operations of the United Nations (UN), the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union (EU). On successful completion of the course, students shall be able to characterize the concept of crisis management and to compare its application by the above mentioned organizations. Students shall be able to understand and evaluate the main principles of UN, NATO and EU crisis management operations, their historical context and institutional background. Next to it, they shall be able to summarize significant crisis management operations cases and to outline the participation of the Czech Republic in crisis management operations.
International/Transnational Organizations and European Politics: Through this course, students will be able to analyze important international and transnational organizations with a specific focus on European politics. Moreover, students will be able to utilize their analytical skills in this area of research. At the end of this course, students shall be able to characterize the most important international organizations and their involvement in European matters, to outline the role of transnational actors, i.e. non-state organizations that establish cross-national relations, to examine the basic theoretical framework of international organizations, and to interpret the theoretical aspects of international organizations in general and the European Union in particular.
So while only having class 2-3 days a week sounds nice, it is a lot of sitting in the library reading, writing papers, making presentations, office hours with professors. And the fact that it's too cold to do anything outside!
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Dorm Life...
Here are some pictures of my super exciting dorm room. I still don't have a roommate and these pictures were taken on the first night so they are very rough. Enjoy!
This is my side of the room. Once again, this was taken on the first night. I'll update with some new pictures soon. The bed is very small and narrow, the desk is about 10 years old and the chair rocks. But, its a place to sleep and work.
My kitchen. It has a small fridge, sink and 2 hot plates! I haven't made anything on the hot plates yet, so I'll have to let you know how that goes.
My bathtub/sink combo. It looks like a full bath, but it's just fooling you. It's only about 5 inches deep. And the sink takes up most of it! But it has a hand help shower head that does the job decently.
My Toilet. I have been told that even by Central/Eastern European standards that this toilet is terrible. Others have told me that they have to pour water into theirs to make them work, so I guess I'm lucky.
Windows! The only new thing in the room. They are quite nice actually. You can see the scaffolding outside of the window that the workers are on at about 530 am every single morning (yes, even weekends). But if I just crack the top, the room stays nice and cold. Also, you can see my fan, which was my first purchase in the CZR. These rooms have no circulation and I am too much of my mother's daughter, I need moving air to sleep.
I can't get a good picture of my closets because they are so dark, but I am very lucky and this room has a lot of storage space. It is also a lot larger than I thought it would be.
It's nice, I can live here for a little bit.
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