Reading, Writing, & Arithmetic

“First day of school! First day of school! Get up, Dad! First day of school!” ~Alexander Gould as Nemo in Finding Nemo (2003)

Feb 18, 2013
After being out of school for over two months, the idea of going back to a classroom was daunting. It was especially daunting starting over at a new school, in a new city, where most of the students spoke a new language.

I made oatmeal for breakfast and after cleaning it up, headed out to catch the tram. I rode it into school. By the time I walked in the main entry way, I had about 15 minutes till my class started. I knew that all of the courses I had today were in the same wing (the RB wing or “Old Building.”) I decided to try one hall. It not only dead ended immediately, but I didn’t see any classrooms. I tried a staircase. The door at the top was locked.

As I came back down, I saw a kid trying to shove some stuff into his back pack.

“Excuse me,” I asked him. “Where is this classroom?” I showed him my schedule which I had saved on my iPod.

“Um,” he said, his English clearly broken. “Go up those stairs to second floor. Should be on right.”

“Thank you,” I said. As I climbed the steps, I realized that once again, the ground floor was the zero floor, so the second floor was on the third story of the building. Finding room RB 212, I opened the door and stepped inside.

It was a tiny room with only about 20 desks, organized into three rows. The view out the windows to the side was incredible. It over looked the Vlata river with the castle in the distance. This was going to be distracting.

There was only one student in the room when I entered. He immediately stood up and reached out his hand. “Hello,” he said. “I am Phillip.” The way he pronounced it was more like Phil-leep.

“Zach,” I said.

“You are from where?”

“America,” I said.

“Oh, America,” he said. “I am from Portugal. This is Basic Czech class, no?”

“I hope so,” I said. We both laughed.

Soon another student drifted in. His name was Tibault and he was from France. The three of us talked a bit until other students started to arrive.

When it came time for class to start, our professor was nowhere to be seen. “Back home,” Phillip said, “we wait 10 minutes and if professor no comes, we leave and is their fault.”

“It’s the same back in the States,” I said.

She finally did arrive, just about six minutes late. Her name was Professor Antosova and she looked like a dark haired Julie Andrews. I would guess that she was in her late fifties or early sixties and she spoke with a heavy Czech accent. It turned out that there were only nine students in that class, and in addition to Phillip, Tibault, and I, there was a girl from Spain, four people from Sweden, and one from Canada.

Throughout the day, I heard several times about the European grading system. I must say, it makes a lot more sense than the American system (although it is probably harder.) In America, every student starts out with an A at the beginning of the semester (0/0.) As assignments and test are given and graded, points get put in and your grade rises or falls based on the percentage of points you earn out of the total. In Europe, this is not the case. Here, everyone starts out with essentially an F (0/100.) All of the classes are out of 100 points, always. As points are given for assignments, you gain points and climb up the scale. They don’t use letter grades but instead use numbers. A “1” is for 100-90 points, a “2” is for 90-75, a “3” is for 75-60, and a 59 or below is considered failing (the student is awarded a “4” but usually must retake the course.)

As Prof. Antasova began explaining the Czech language, several things suddenly made sense. She explained that there were no articles in Czech (words like “the” “a” or “it.”) There are only four tenses in Czech—one for the present, one for the past, and two for the future (we have seventeen tenses in English— four for present, four for past, five for future, as well as four conditional tenses.) To make a word or sentence negative in Czech, the prefix “ne-“ is added to the verb. For example: “Rozumim” means “I understand.” “Nerozumim” is “I don’t understand.” There are also no questions in Czech. Questions can only be indicated by the way they are said. For example: In English we would say “Where are you from?” but in Czech it would just be “You are from?”

After these few basic rules, we worked on the alphabet. It was very much a kindergarten style of teaching in which she would say a letter, and then a few words that used that letter, and then she would call on one of us to repeat the words back to her. Occasionally, she would tell us what one of the words meant, especially if she thought it would help us get around town.

The class lasted for 90 minutes. When it was over, she dismissed us and we had 15 minutes till the next class period. It really did feel like a passing period in high school again, but it worked ok. I found the next room just down the hall and went inside.

This room was about the same size although the view faced the other way and wasn’t as good. When I entered, there were two girls from Greece inside who introduced themselves. We talked briefly, although when a student from Texas entered, they said they wanted to go listen to his accent. Another student sat down next to me and I introduced myself.

“Lucas,” he said introducing himself. “You are exchange student?”

“Did the handshake give me away?” I asked. I kept forgetting that they didn’t do that here.

“No, the accent did,” he laughed. “Where are you from?”

“America,” I said.

"Very good,” he said. “I am sorry. I have not spoken English in almost two years. I forget it mostly.”

“I think you are doing fine,” I said and we continued talking

Lucas is in his last year at the university finishing up his Bachelor’s degree. We actually decided to work together on the group project that is due at the end of the semester. The class is over Global Supply Chain Management and our topic is RFID systems. We are going to do some research this week and then get our thesis approved in class next week.

When the class got out, I had to run back to the dorm to get some money to pay my room and board for the semester. We had to pay it at the bank in the school with cash, so I needed my ATM card. It took about 15 minutes to get there and 15 minutes to get back to school. Before I caught the tram back, I bought another Milka Bar to eat on the tram.

As I came up the stairs toward the Bank, I saw Rene. Rene is another exchange student who lives in my dorm building. He is from Mexico City and is just as fascinated by the history of Prague and I am.

“What are you doing?” he asked me.

“I have to go to the bank to pay my room and board,” I said.

“Oh,” he said. “The banks close at 3:00 on Mondays.” Sure enough, he was right. I’d have to figure it out tomorrow.

I went upstairs to the cafeteria and got some pasta. When I paid the lady with a 1000 bill, she started shaking her head and speaking in Czech.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “It’s all I have.”

She nodded, took the bill and gave me back my change. When I got to the table, I counted it, and sure enough she had given me the right amount.

After lunch, I went to my next class. It was actually a continuation of the Global Supply Chain Management course. The session in the morning was the seminar where projects and work would be completed, and the afternoon course was the lecture with information.

The lecture was in a larger classroom, more comparable in size to back home. When Professor Petr came in (he was the same professor for both the seminar and the lecture) he told us, “I do not like this room. Back when Czech was communist, a professor commit suicide by jumping out that window. I think room is creepy.” Everyone laughed. He went on to explain that this wing of the building was the original one and had originally been built as a hospital before it was converted to a university.

As Petr began teaching, I found it very hard to focus on the information through his accent. My mind would wander and soon I was either planning places I wanted to see in town or thinking about Boy Scout events that would be going on back home while I was gone.

When class ended, Lucas and I walked out to the tram. He caught the 26 headed north and I could the 9 back to the dorms. It was already after 6:00 by the time I got back. I was tired. I did a little research about places I wanted to visit, and decided I should start dinner.

I again made mashed potatoes for dinner. This was my favorite dish I’d been able to cook thus far (although the pasta and broccoli is a close second.) With the water boiling, I lifted a potato out with my spoon and attempted to bite into it to see if it was done. As I did, the water on the spoon ran down my chin and burned my lip. Not having any ice, I ran it under some cold water in the sink. It stopped the burn, but within an hour, I had a big white blister pop up.

The potatoes still tasted great! After I cleaned up dinner, I Skyped with my friend James. I found that the Wi-Fi signal was strongest in the bathroom, so with approval from my roommates, James and I carried on our video call from in there.

After we chatted for a bit, we hung up and I started reading about places in the Czech Republic I wanted to visit. I did a little research on the bus and train system but decided I would have to ask Ivana more about it.

After fighting with the Wi-Fi to get a few posts on the blog, I decided to call it a night. It was a great first day of school, and now I was ready to continue exploring the city. My Tuesday schedule is a lot lighter, so I should have some time to do some sightseeing at some point.