The Class Round-up

For those of you interested in my academic life here in Prague (hey mom!), he's the round up of the NYU in Prague offerings.

First, Czech language class. While not required, this class is the most popular at NYU, and most people take it as a matter of convenience. The woman who teaches it is like a drill sergeant for Czech; she comes in with a game plan, making us repeat difficult words rapid-fire style. The most ridiculous of these rounds came with the word díky, the informal version of thank you (dekuju). Literally the pronunciation is "D.K." Ah well, we've all mastered it now. Honestly though, the class will probably be useful, especially in deciphering the prices so often shouted from across the counter. Lately, they've just been pointing at the cash register so as to avoid my deer in the headlights stare.

My next class, Western European Comparative Politics, began in possibly the worst way imaginable. As a representation of the sheer terror this class initially incited in me, I present to you an exercise: Close your eyes. Imagine yourself sitting in front of a blank map of Europe. Now imagine that this map has dots representing the second largest cities in each country (read: not the capitals). Enjoy the terrifying feeling that everything you've ever learned about Europe could not have prepared you for this, and that you crammed for every map test you ever took, now rendering that information inaccessible in the caverns of your mind. Now open your eyes. Understand? Good.
Actually, the class itself is not horrible. Our professor will not be present for the first two weeks of the course, so we're being taught by distinguished faculty from the Comparative Politics Department at Charles University. We started by discussing what Europe is; where the borders are, where North/South and East/West divides are, etc. We were also informed as to where to get the best international information (BBC, FT.com). The guy had never heard of NPR. Pshhhhh...

Now comes the fun stuff. On Wednesday and Thursday Mornings at 9AM, I have rebel class with Jan Urban, dissident extraordinaire. The actual name of the course is "Modern Dissent in Central Europe and the Art of Defeat". While I'm legally not allowed to talk about what Jan is teaching us, I will say that it involves the Communist Manifesto, Mein Kampf, and The Stanford Prison Experiment. I exaggerate the purpose of the course, but I have a feeling it will definitely open my eyes to some other viewpoints in the world, and maybe stir up some of my long-quieted rebellious nature. Plus, Jan is an amazing speaker with equally amazing stories to tell about his days undermining just about everything. He also keeps mentioning something about Iraq...

My final course this semester is "American and European Relations in the 21st Century." While the awesomeness is not so easily apparent in the title of this course, the professor, Josef Jařab, is the end all and be all of cool. As a university president during the Velvet Revolution in 1989, his school underwent a complete strike after the initial protests, working round the clock as a collectorate to befall communism in Czechoslovakia. Today, he showed us a video that his students made from that time, with some of the first footage of a democratic Prague. Personal friends with Allan Ginsberg and (former Czech President) Václav Havel, he was also a Senator in the Czech Parliament for 8 years. And during the video, as they played "Another Brick in the Wall", he danced along. His lectures are completely fluid conversations, with personal anecdotes integrated perfectly with major world events, all the while addressing our own interests in the subject. I am completely blown away.

In other news, I also was offered an internship with Project Syndicate (www.project-syndicate.org). This non-profit service produces op-ed pieces for markets that have struggling medias. The pieces are provided free of charge, so long as information about their distribution and reception is sent back. This information will then be used in the future to develop these markets for commercial distribution. The way I understand it, I will probably have to speak French. It really should be funny.