Galavecer 2011 - Outstanding student. Me?

The fifth edition of the “Gala Night” project was held in the TBU Assembly Hall at 19:00 on Tuesday, 8 March 2011, again organized by the Student Union in cooperation with students of Project Management and supported by TBU. Six among the twenty nominated students received an award; the winner in the "Crazy Action" category was announced as well.

Fortunately, i was one of the winners too. :) Special Student of UTB : )

When you compare my nomination with others, i would say that i was really impressed by the works of these successful students. Especially Hana Medvedová who visits and entertains child patients in Tomas Bata Hospital every week. This was an example of perfect social responsibility.

Also Soňa Podstupková, a student from FMK with her short video spot aimed to raise awareness on drink-driving was really interesting and creative.

On the other hand, me, i was nominated for several reasons such as;

• My SVOC project on Abbreviations in Business English.
• Efforts on promoting Turkey in events such as Global Village and European Day of Languages.
• A blog (this one) where i am trying to give some information to the international students.
• The promotional videos i prepared for Faculty of Technology
• Award-winning project which Tanya, Svetlana and me prepared and presented in Bratislava.

While i was receiving my award on the stage, i wouldn't have a chance to thank people who supported me during these three years. So here we go :)
- Thanks to my family. They were always near me with their credit cards and never-ending love :D
- Thank you Hanicka for standing by me and supporting me in all my useless projects :)
- Thank you so much my classmates. For 3 years you listened me patiently during the classes :)
- Thank you my teachers Mr Bell, Ms Nemcokova, Ms Drabkova, Mr Trusnik, Ms Janasova, Mr Radim and Mr Buch. (Sorry I didn’t write your titles, they can cover the half of the page : ) )

Below you will see a "cautionary video" in which an English for Business Administration student can't speak proper English :D Guys, believe me they just put me in front of the camera and gave me that perfect order, "Speak!" :) Here is the result :D

Ski Trip to Kohutka

Last Friday international students of Tomas Bata University were invited to a daily ski trip organized by Michaela Blahová working in the International Office of UTB. Ski area was named Kohutka, which can be found near Czech-Slovak border and has 1.5 hours distance to Zlin.Prices of tickets were 100 CZK (aprox. 4 EUR) including the round-trip transportation by bus, ski equipment, almost 7 hours of skiing with instructors and tickets for cable-lift.

Thanks to Tetyana Temna and our helpful ski instructors, who were responsible of us, we managed to end the day without broken bones. Moreover, the meal we had in hospoda (Czech mountain pub) was delicious and quite cheap. I ordered my favorite Czech dish, "kureci rizek" (Schnitzel) with boiled potatoes.

Apart then eating, of course i was trying to ski too : ) Believe me if you are a fat guy like me, it’s quite hard to ski. Adjusting your balance takes a lot time and you are getting tired earlier than the others. Golden tip from me to all beginners: Learn how to fall without hurting yourself! : ) Especially if you are an international student who has Zakladni (Basic) PVZP Health Insurance, think twice! This insurance doesn’t cover sport injuries unless you pay extra premium every month. : )

Below are the pictures from our trip. Please ignore my photos if you don’t want to lose your courage to ski : )

 
 
  
  

New Regulation on D Type Schengen Visas

Good news! Especially for you Erasmus guys who are from 3rd country nations.

Regulation regarding D type Schengen visa holders are changed. Since 05.04.2010 a 3rd country national who holds a valid D Type Schengen Visa can travel between Schengen countries freely*. As you know, before this new regulation, holder of a valid D or D+C Schengen visa, could travel in whole Schengen area only within first three months after the arrival to the Schengen territory.

Unfortunately, Czech Foreign Police (especially the officers of Zlin branch) are not aware of these changes yet. That’s why they keep on saying that holders of a D type Schengen visa can visit other Schengen states only within first 3 months after the issuance of the visa. However, that’s not true anymore.

Here is an official documentation of the new regulation in English and in Czech by the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic. 

* The right of free movement means that the holders of a long-stay visa will be able to travel to other Schengen states (i.e. outside the state that issued them with the visa); nevertheless, the total period of time spent in these countries must not exceed three months during any six-month period.

Note 1: With this new visa policy, D+C type of Schengen Visas won't be issued anymore.

Note 2: By the way, can someone explain me, what are the differences between long term visa and long term residence permit now?

Any other questions? Don’t hesitate to leave a comment!

WISHES Project

WISHES is a new project developed by several European Universities which are the members of the Erasmus Mundus Programme. Nowadays their primary aim is to establish a new mobility portal for the university students who want to study abroad. For this reason, they are trying to build a database of interested students, higher education intuitions and enterprises.

Until now they organized several workshops in Germany, Cyprus, Austria and Turkey. The official launch of WISHES mobility portal to the public will be in September 2010. For now, the portal is supported by 70 universities but in a short time i believe that this number will be doubled thanks to their aggressive and informative marketing.

Benefits for students
As an innovative networking and intelligent information tool WISHES offers plenty of benefits for international students
WISHES enables you to: Easily find your dream job / dream university abroad– supported by former students feedback.

Make well informed decisions grounded on the relevant information  – based on the expressed needs of 4.000 students worldwide.

Directly get in touch with students of your future university – before going abroad.

Sustainably network not only towards students but also towards higher education institutions and enterprises – expending your stay abroad by an internship.

Fully benefit from the Bologna Process – enhancing your CV by an unforgettable stay abroad.

If you are interested in this project, keep on checking my blog. I will try to inform you about the developments in the WISHES project and their upcoming mobility portal.



Below you can find some FAQ and answers to them taken from the projects website.

When will WISHES be launched?
In September 2010 the portal will be opened first time for students.

How many universities are involved in WISHES?
The WISHES mobility portal is set up by a consortium consisting of 9 institutions (see partner). Furthermore, a growing number of currently 70 supporting institutions already ensured to benefit from WISHES from its very beginning. (see WISHES network).

How is WISHES financed – if it is free of charge for all users?
WISHES is a European project and is as such co-financed by the European Commission under the former Action 4 of the Erasmus Mundus Programme. In detail 65% are financed by the Commission, 35% by the Consortium.

How does WISHES help students to find the right place to work/study abroad?
Via the WISHES mobility portal students have got a central source of information to find interesting study and work offers in Europe. WISHES provides well structured information based on the expressed needs of 4.000 students. Therewith, it highly reduces the efforts for students to find the best matching university and/or enterprise for their time spent abroad.

How does WISHES connect international students even before going abroad?
This is realized by the WISHES online community that is included within the WISHES mobility portal. Each student has got the possibility to create his/her own user profile and can then start to communicate with other students. That’s how contacts towards former and/or future international students can be easily established and obstacles to mobility are reduced. Thus, students can already find friends/roommates etc before their first day at the new university which in result strengthens their decision to go abroad.

What are the differences between WISHES and the study-in-europe.org website?
The study-in-europe.org website provides the user with general information about the country one would like to study in. WISHES on the other hand offers detailed information about the particular university one is interested in – including everything one wants to know about the future place to study/work and to live: where to find suitable accommodation, which courses to participate in etc. Furthermore, WISHES offers the opportunity to start a social network and find friends even before the first day in the new country by the “WISHES online community”.

Why is WISHES not yet supported by all European HEIs?
The WISHES project is still a relatively new project which was approved in October 2008. It was presented on several international conferences and the interest attracted is enormous. However, up until now, not all European HEIs know of WISHES and thus, did not yet have any possibility to announce their interest. In case your own institution is not yet listed in our mobility portal and you would like to change this, please feel free to get in touch with us by means of the following contact form.)

You can request exclusive access to the WISHES mobility portal before its official launch by means of the following contact form.

Majales 2010 UTB, Tomas Bata University in Zlin

SVŠ Majáles UTB is an traditional student festival takes place every year at the beginning of May in various parts of small university city of Czech Republic, Zlin.

In Czech Republic, each university city has it's own Majales. During these festivals, various activities and performances of popular Czech bands take place whole day and night long.
Majales is not a festival just for the university students. High school students are also highly welcomed. (Actually this year i think high school students were dominant.)

This year Majales took place on 4th of May. The festival started with the traditional walk from the parking lot in front of the U2 building. Students in various interesting costumes walked through the Komenskeho Park and reached nam. Miru (main square) as usual.

Due to the fact that this year’s theme was “Space”, participants were dressed according to this theme. I gave my best costume award to the girls who were dressed totally in whites. They were symbolizing Milky-Way. Also the guy with a totally black make up who was symbolizing the black hole was one of the bests.

During the concert of the Czech rock duo Xindl, there was a little surprise for me. Lead vocal of the duo changed the melody of one of their famous song called Andel and started to sing it like Tarkan’s (Turkish pop-star) worldwide known song “Simarik (Kiss Kiss)”. Unfortunately, there was one tiny problem. Before Xindl started to perform this, he told that he will sing Andel in the rhythm of an Arabic singers song. Yeap, actually the singer whom he was calling as an Arab was the %100 Turkish pop-star Tarkan. Anyway, i am used to it. In the Czech Republic, if you are somewhere from near-Asia or Middle-East, no matter what, Czechs consider you as an Arab :)

Daytime activities of the festival ended with the perfect performance of an old Czech rock band, Mnaga a Zdorp. These dedeckove (grandfathers) have incredible energy. Especially the lead vocal of the band, he was something like 45 but jumping and singing like 18. In the video below, at the final part of it, you can listen their song Goin Down and watch their spectacular performance.

Majales activities continue at night also. All over Zlin, every club host some special party and entertain all the students of the city. While highschool students celebrate their graduation, university students party for the last time before their final exams. As all you know that i am not an outgoing personality, i have brought you a video and photos only from the day time activities. For the night photos you can check here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Watch this video in True HD,
http://www.vimeo.com/11508829
or
http://www.facebook.com/v/119186544768554