Magazine created by students of the Department of English and American Studies at Masaryk University.

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Languages, Cinema and the Fire of Revolution: Erasmus in France

in Other

by Mariia Minaeva

THE CITY OF CAEN. VIEW FROM THE CASTLE SITUATED RIGHT NEXT TO THE UNIVERSITY CAMPUS.

There were two things I had heard about the Erasmus programme – international students do not have a responsible attitude to studying and have crazy parties that prevent locals from sleeping. There were two things I had heard about France – French people like complaining a lot and do not speak English (or, if you are lucky enough, they do, but only with their famous French accent). Are these just long-standing stereotypes claimed by the people who have only seen it from the outside, or simple facts noted by someone who has experienced it firsthand? Before the beginning of my Erasmus stay in France, I was prepared for both options. And – maybe at least a little bit – I was eager to prove them wrong.

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Greetings from Central Pennsylvania

in Other

By Anna Mária Pisoňová

Picture courtesy of Lee Junsu.

The United States has never been on my bucket list. I have never dreamed about visiting the country of President Trump, eating hamburgers, or living the American dream. I happen to be here, because of an email from Dr. Tomkova that we all got last year in December in which she presented a last-minute offer to study abroad for a semester. There were no motivational letters and no interviews needed, just a genuine interest to go. It took me a thirty-minute-long googling of Juniata College, its location and options, to make a decision. Hasty? Irresponsible? Undigested? Definitely. But so far also one of the best decisions of my life. Keep Reading

Report from the 14th ESSE Conference

in Interviews/Other

By Patrícia Iliašová

 

Anne Fogarty’s plenary lecture in Scala. Photo credit: Eva Růžičková.

At the end of August 2018, Brno welcomed around 660 delegates from 55 different countries to the 14th ESSE Conference which ran from 29 August to 2 September. The conference was organized by the Czech Association for the Study of English (CZASE) and the Department of English and American Studies (DEAS), Masaryk University. The conference took place in several venues scattered across the city centre, and consisted of over 60 seminars, 18 parallel lectures, 4 plenary lectures, workshops and a rich cultural programme. Re:Views was fortunate enough to take part in some of the preparations and to have attended some of the sessions. However, to give you an overall insight into the conference, we asked the chair of the Organising Committee, Ivona Schöfrová to answer some questions about the preparations and the conference itself. Keep Reading

Aggie for a Year: Yet Another Letter from Texas

in Other

By Tereza Walsbergerová

Me and my CEFT guardian angel Lynette in front of the Kyle Field football stadium before my very first Aggie football game.

 

Dear reader,

I thought that since this is supposed to be a letter, I would treat it as one and address y’all properly. I have only been in College Station for a couple of months and it feels like I have been here for years. Yet – even though I have been burned by the Texan sun, soaked through by the Texan rain, licked by Texan dogs, fed Texan kolaches, and learned Texan slang… I do not believe I will ever stop feeling strange about being on a different continent, almost 9.000 kilometers away from Brno. Let me start from the beginning, though; who am I and what am I doing in Texas? My name is Tereza and I am currently in the PhD program (Literatures in English) at the Department of English and American Studies, MUNI. I have been given the opportunity to relocate to Texas for a year and attend the MA in English program at Texas A&M through the William J. Hlavinka Fellowship at Texas A&M University in order to experience American culture and interact with the local Czech Texan community.

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Sounds like Something Written by Margaret Atwood

in Other

By Petra Polanič

The political climate is eerie. You might wish to use a clever literary reference to illustrate just how dystopian the future could be. Orwellian, by now, is a well-enough known term, present in most major dictionaries. With the increasing significance of The Handmaid’s Tale, both the 1985 novel and the new award-winning series adaptation, Atwoodian might be the adjective to choose. Keep Reading

Howdy! A Letter from Central Texas

in Other/Views

By Tomáš Kačer, PhD.

The best thing about going to the United States as a research affiliate is that you have time for research only and don’t have to deal with students. Well – it’s not true. I may have got plenty of time to carry out research and to spend with my family, but at the same time I’m missing teaching and contact with students at all levels. Let me give you my perspective of where I am, what I’m doing there and how things work there. Keep Reading

Post-Brexit Britain According to the Acting British Ambassador

in Other

By Markéta Šonková

 

Photo by Eva Růžičková

On March 29, Theresa May triggered Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty. With such a step, she commenced a two-year process of the UK exiting the EU. This decision is also the result of last year’s referendum, known simply as Brexit, where the Leave campaign won by a slight, yet decided, margin. On April 11, the acting British Ambassador, Her Excellency Jan Thompson OBE, thanks to the invitation of the Student Section of IIPS, visited the Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University, and talked about Czech-UK relations and also about Brexit and the future of Scotland in the light of Brexit.

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Letter from Abroad: Greetings from Washington

in Other/Views

By Natália Poláková

Bellingham downtown – Courtesy of Denisa Krásná

In the first place, I don’t want you to get confused. I am writing from Bellingham, in the State of Washington, home to Western Washington University, not Washington D.C., home to President Trump. This place rather wants to distance itself from Trump – but I will get to politics a bit later. Keep Reading

Taking Pictures with a Matchbox

in Other/Views
Matchobox camera (the sloth works as a shutter)

by Helena Brunnerová

That day I spent the morning photoshopping walls (which is a part of my job), and the afternoon and evening translating a text on the history of photography; at 11 p.m., as I watched white smoke rising from my battery charger, I felt inspired to try an alternative to digital. I wanted a reliable camera that does not need electricity or Photoshop. So I decided to build it myself.

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In the Land of the Armed

in Other

By Jan Beneš

Cocks Not Glocks demonstration at UT on August 24, 2016
Cocks Not Glocks demonstration at UT on August 24, 2016

I don’t always receive emails inviting me to go to an active shooter training, but when I do, I attend it. (Un)fortunately, there are no actual guns or any weapons involved in this kind of training; rather, it is a dry presentation by the campus police at Texas A&M, where I am currently studying, on how to act in case of an active-shooter situation on campus. Rather than being a hands-on practice session on how to neutralize a threat, the seminar involves a brief, yet effective presentation of a triad of strategic principles in case of attack: run, hide, fight. Have an escape route, evacuate regardless of others’ decision to stay behind – that is the run part. Locking yourself in your office, staying out of the shooter’s line of sight, barricading the door, and spreading people around the room are sound hiding strategies. Fighting back, though – that is where the presentation turns into sobering reality. During the Q&A at the end, where educators around me ask how to protect not only themselves, but their students from a potential, but all-too-real threat of an active shooter on campus, the presenter acknowledges that fighting back, and not coming out alive, might be your only option. After all, as one of the Powerpoint slides states: the aim is to prepare both mentally and physically for what might come. Keep Reading

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