Between eating trdelníks and exploring cathedrals, I spend twelve hours a week in class, and many more hours studying in cafes.
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| The blue building is the AAU library, and the third building is the main campus. |
One of the reasons why I chose to study abroad in Prague was because Anglo-American University offered a wide variety of classes that I was interested in. Thankfully, I got a few cleared that would count for my major and minor as well. I am taking Intro to Marketing, which counts as a class for major; Digital Tools for New Media, which counts for my minor; Media and Marketing Communication, and Prague Art & Architecture. I have only had one full week of classes so far, but after meeting the professors and going through the syllabi, I think these will be similar to the classes I take back at
Chapman University.
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| This is Cafedu, a cafe where I like to do my homework. It's nice and quiet on Saturday mornings. |
Chapman University is a private university, so I’m used to classes that have 20 to 30 students and meet once a week for about three hours. Maybe it's because I’m in a study abroad program, but classes at Anglo American University are even smaller, like 15 to 25 students. Two of my professors are American and two of them are Czech, so it will be interesting to see if there is a difference in teaching methods. The students in one of my classes are from all over: U.S. to Belarus, Belgium to Vietnam. A variety of foreign accents and names remind me that although everyone speaks English, I am taking class at an international university.
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| Here is the chandelier leading up to the lobby area once you enter the main AAU building. |
The AAU campus itself is extremely small, and the main building used to be a castle, it's super pretty on the inside! The main campus building has a cafe near the courtyard where students often meet and study before and after class.
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| This is what the trams look like, they're basically buses with mostly standing room. |
Going to school in another country is interesting. We rent textbooks for free from the school since they know half of of the students will just be here for one semester. The biggest adjustment is that I need to give myself 45 minutes to leave my apartment, walk to the metro, take the 8 minute ride, then walk to school instead of just leaving my dorm with 15 minutes, the way I did it back in the U.S. If I want to take the tram, the ride is about 20 minutes, so I'd have to leave even earlier. Thankfully, my first class is just before noon, so there’s no risk of oversleeping.
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| It's so nice that we don't have to buy textbooks, especially this giant one for my Intro to Marketing class! |
Since it is only the first semester of my sophomore year, studying abroad at a new school is kind of like restarting college and being a freshman again. Even with the excitement of this new environment and trying to figure out all of the policies and procedures, I’m already thinking about 4 months from now, wondering how strange it will be to adjust back to life at Chapman.
Laura C. is the Fall 2016 CEA MOJO in Prague, Czech Republic. She is currently a sophmore studying Public Relations and Advertising at Chapman University
