The program is affiliated with the Charles University
Faculty of Humanities. Charles University is the oldest university in
Central Europe, founded in 1348 by King Charles the IV of Bohemia. Both
its students and faculty have played a leading role in the history of
the country from the rectorship of Jan Hus, one of the original
Reformation theologians, up to the present time with the active
involvement of students in the Velvet Revolution of 1989.
CET
students take classes in the CET center, right in the heart of
Prague, just steps from Wenceslas Square and Old Town. The neighborhood
features excellent public transportation, countless restaurants and
cafes, and numerous museums, movie theaters, and stores. The
CET Center features classroom spaces, offices for the Prague staff, a
small computer lab, and a library. The entire center has wifi Internet
access.
In
the spring and fall, students have the option of enrolling in an
elective course through one of our institutional partners, the Charles
University Humanities Faculty or FAMU, the Film and TV Academy of the
Performing Arts. Please visit the Academics section for more information.
Students are housed with fellow CET students and local student in an
apartment in a Czech residential building. Each apartment has a full
kitchen, and is located close to the heart of Prague. Students should expect a commute of about 20 minutes to commute to
the CET center via public transportation. Students dine in Prague's many cafes and restaurants or
cook for themselves at home. Vegetarian cuisine and kosher food is
available in Prague.
Information for students with dietary restrictions will be included
into the post-acceptance materials, and guidance will be provided in
Prague by the Resident Director.
Roommates
There is no better way to learn about a foreign culture than by immersing in it. In some semesters CET may invite Czech or Slovak students to live in our apartments. Living with Czech or Slovak flatmates can
provide valuable insight into the local culture and often leads to
close friendships. These
local students are excited to interact with you--they have chosen to
live in an English-speaking environment and some may even take courses
through CET. Few study abroad programs offer their students the
incredible opportunity to live as true Prague residents!
CET believes firmly that students should
integrate themselves into the host community as deeply as possible, and
that in doing so that they should have a positive impact on it. We urge
students to use the community service program as a means to create
"real" relationships with members of their adopted community. Ideally,
these friendships will mature and grow beyond the realm of the service
program.
Program Design
All
students participate in several group community
service projects throughout the semester. These day-long projects
benefit the local community and provide students with the opportunity to
become intimately involved. In the past, community service has included
building
restoration, cemetery weeding, tree planting, and teaching at an
after-school program for disadvantaged youth. Students gain insight
into issues facing Czechs today, and come away with the satisfaction
gained from making
a contribution on a personal level.
Students wishing to pursue more
in-depth individual community service projects should take advantage of
the Service-Learning Placement course. This course, for 1 recommended credit, is in addition to the five courses students already take and requires a minimum commitment of 3 hours/week. For more information about
this course, visit the Academics section.
A wide variety of activities arranged by CET make Prague come alive.
Activities are designed to provide opportunities that students would
not normally have on their own. Such activities might come in the form
of special tours, cultural events, film screenings, and social
activities with Czech students. Past activities have included guided
visits to Prague Castle, the Jewish Quarter, the Czech Parliament, and
Radio Free Europe.
CET students have the chance to meet and hear exclusive lectures from influential Czechs and visitors to Prague. Lecturers may include members of Czech government and
civil society, notable artists, authors and thinkers, as well as
representatives from the American Embassy in Prague.
Students gain a contextualized understanding of regional identities in this unique study trip through Central Europe. The itinerary varies each term and often includes Vienna, Austria. Past seminars have featured an
inner look at Roma history and culture, the relationship between architecture and power, lectures from NGOs and a visit to a
Communist-era mining community.
This
journey to a former Bohemian village puts students face to face with chilling
history lessons. Lidice was destroyed by the Nazis in 1942 in
retaliation for the assassination of the Reichsprotector of Bohemia and
Moravia by Czech paratroopers. The villagers were rounded up; men were
executed on the site, and most women and children were sent to
concentration camps, although some children were sent to Germany to be
adopted into German homes and "Aryanized." When possible, a survivor
from Lidice guides students through this site.
On this traveling seminar, students take their course work on the
road to Hungary, where they get to know this center of Hapsburg
power and model for the "gradualist" approach to economic and political
transitions. Students visit sites of historical significance and
compare the Czech and Hungarian post-communist transformations in
lectures from Budapest's Central European University. This trip is
packed with experiential learning that goes well beyond the cultural
immersion level of casual tourism.
Cesky Krumlov image taken by David Chorney, Central European Studies alum, Muhlenberg College
Each
semester includes a short overnight excursion to Cesky Krumlov, a
beautiful medieval/renaissance castle town on the Austrian boarder,
featuring the world's best-preserved baroque theater. As part of the
Sudeten Land, Cesky Krumlov is the perfect setting for
investigating WWII history, contemporary Czech-German and Czech-Roma
relations and life under communism. The castles, deserted German
villages and natural beauty of Cesky Krumlov's surrounding region
help students to internalize Czech history and culture.
