Erasmus anyone?

So I promised you all that I would tell you about the new people we have met in Brno, mainly the other Erasmus students. Our first encounter with them was during our language course. Sadly Kirstie sat next to the most miserable of them all, a chemistry student from Moscow, so we didn’t have a very good opinion of them initially. Throughout that first week we went to class, chatted briefly with some of them, and then went home. I know, not much effort on our part. But the first weekend we had a welcome dinner and then the following day, a full agenda of meals and outings, so we had no choice but to socialise.

The welcome dinner was a bit of a nightmare… thankfully we sat with nice people and managed to actually talk for more than just a minute. But the restaurant was completely unprepared for the arrival of 70 hungry students, and we waited 3 HOURS for our meal. After the first pangs of hunger passed it wasn’t so bad waiting, it was just irritating. Especially when people started to leave, and we were almost the last seated. But whilst we waited we met a German girl, Daniela, who is also studying fine art. She seems very nice, chatty and a good contact to have in moments of confusion. We were then introduced to the two other English Erasmus students, Henry and Sam from Bolton. Both have great northern accents, something of a problem they were telling me, when trying to be understood by our fellow Europeans. For most of the evening we chatted to Martin, from BRNO, an actual Czech student. He seemed very friendly at first, but then started slagging off England a little too much. It was a bit of a joke for Kirstie and I because he was basing his whole opinion on our fair land from a semester he spent in Coventry. I mean, come on! I think most people would slag off England if Coventry was their only point of reference. Anyway, he refused to take what we had to say about Coventry into account. He seems quite keen to be our friend; Kirstie and I have already declined one offer to go for a drink.



Following that evening and the next day, going around the vineyards of southern Moravia, we have concluded that it is not going to be that easy to befriend the other Erasmus students. For one, they alllll live in the Dormitories, the equivalent to Halls of residence in the UK, except with one hob shared among 40 students and probably fewer toilets and showers. They are pretty bleak. They are also very far away from the centre of town. I love our little flat, but when it comes to meeting people you really can’t beat the dormitories. They are also dirrrt cheap, only about 60 quid a month. But enough about the benefits of dormitories, been there, done that, and when most of the rooms are shared I am glad not to be there. But I haven’t given up on our Erasmus lot. I feel there are some good’ens amongst them, and I intend to seek them out.

P.S Of the Moravian Wine that we sampled… Czech wine seems pretty bad. Really nothing to write home about, so that is all I will say on the matter.