This program certainly provides an intensive and extensive in-class academic experience. However, by design, it also offers much more. We aim to give students a lot of freedom for individual exploration and entertainment. Classes generally meet once or twice a week and can be concentrated in three or four days. That gives students more time for travel. All cultural excursions are voluntary. Guided trips take place generally every two weeks. Entrance tickets to various concerts, theatre, opera, and ballet performances are very affordaby priced, as are accommodation and transportation in the Czech Republic and other former Communist states.
Many beautiful and historic European towns are easily accessible from Prague. To mention a few:
Dresden, the major historical city of Saxony, Germany (2.5 hours by train)
Berlin, Germany (4 hours by train)
Bratislava, capital of Slovakia (4 hours by train)
Budapest, capital of Hungary (6 hours by train),
Munich, capital of Bavaria, Germany (6 hours by train).
Krakow, and/or Auschwitz, Poland (8 hours by train).
Vienna, capital of Austria (4 hours by train)
The most comfortable means of transportation in Europe is the train. If one purchases a Eurail pass in the U.S. , trains are only slightly more expensive than buses. We can also recommend two bus companies that provide quality service to many cities in Europe. They are Study Agency and Eurolines.
Low-fare airlines offer bargain tickets to farther destinations in Europe (see Smartwings, SkyEurope, EasyJet, etc., or browse on www.skyscanner.net) For details on planning travel in Europe, contact the program’s executive manager, Marcela Janickova.
Suggestions for further trips (at students’ own expense) to destinations within the Czech Republic
Half-day trip to Troja: a large public area in Prague that contains Troja Chateau, the Prague ZOO (7th best zoo in the world), and the Prague Botanical Garden
Admissions to the Botanical Garden: 3 dollars, to the ZOO: 8 U.S. dollars (student discount).
Day trip to the spa town of Karlovy Vary (Carlsbad)
3-day trip to Lednice and Valtice chateaux and grounds in southern Moravia (UNESCO cultural heritage site) with a stop in Brno (the “capital” of Moravia, the eastern province of the Czech Republic)
3-day trip to the Krkonose mountain range (Giant Mountains) in the north of Bohemia, featuring a hike to the sources of the river Elbe and vicinity
2-day trip to Safari ZOO in Dvůr Králové http://zoodvurkralove.cz/en/
Suggestions for further trips (at students’ own expense) to destination close to the Czech Republic
3-day trip to Munich and the Bavarian Alps (Bavaria, Germany)
4-day trip to High Tatras Mountain Range in Slovakia
