Read the students' reports and essays on this year's Freshers' Week, a series of introductory events and courses for freshmen studying in English at the Second Faculty.
What an experience Freshers' week was! If you have any worries or concerns about getting settled into a foreign country, meeting people, and getting around, then let me ease your mind!
I have never seen a school with such a tight-knit community than at the Second Faculty of Medicine. The upper years put in so much effort into planning the week and making you feel welcomed. They give you advice on classes, teachers, books, even finding a place to live! Any stresses you may have; they will ease during freshers' week. Any questions you may have; I guarantee they will answer. Upper years go out of their way to make you feel like you can approach them. It was very reassuring, especially as a foreigner moving to the Czech Republic and hardly knowing anyone!
Another great part about freshers' week was meeting people from my own year and forming strong bonds I'm sure I'll have for years to come! I've met some amazing people and grew close to them during freshers week. Nothing makes you feel more comfortable living in a foreign country than having a good group of supportive friends!
Charles University Second Faculty of Medicine is very reputable and very difficult! The hospital has the latest technology and some of the best doctors, the professors teaching you are well-known in their fields, and the standards for us students are very high. You learn how the system works, how each class itself works, how to manage your classes and teachers, and how to make it into the next year. It is all such valuable information; I don't see why anyone would choose to not come!
If it hadn't been for freshers' week I don't think I would've developed the strong bonds I have now with my friends in my year and also in upper years! Not only that, but, I don't think I would've been able to find my classes and get around this beautiful city had they not given us a crash course during this exciting week!
Serina Satti, USA
On September 25th, 2017, students from all over the world gathered at the Second Faculty of Medicine of Charles University in Prague all sharing the same ‘dream’ of becoming the best doctor out there. Each carrying a unique story with a specific goal to achieve in life. The place was overwhelmed with feelings of excitement, confusion, motivation, and delight. Being in a foreign country and adapting to a different culture is not an easy task. But I do not believe it is tougher than medicine... huh!
After registration, the dean of the faculty gave a speech welcoming all successful applicants and wishing them good luck in this long hectic journey. Towards the end of the day, all the students met at Dr. Vojak klub for team building activities that broke the ice between us and started creating good friendships amongst us. With all our diverse backgrounds, harmony and enthusiasm were dominating.
On the second day, we met again in the same lecture hall for a ‘welcome to the life of a med student’ speech given by upper year students. Jaws started dropping, hearts pounding harder, and eyebrows raised in shock of the information we just received about the harshness of studying medicine. Regardless, thanks to the upper students for clearing the image and for resolving our confusion about how the system works, the Do's and Don'ts etc. ...
The third day was dedicated to discover the beautiful city of Prague. From fascinating architecture to breath taking river sites, our minds were blown. This increased our excitement to study in Prague even more. Quoting some of the students: ‘I'm never gonna regret coming to Prague.’
On the fourth day, upper year students provided us with crucial information on how to successfully make it through first year. They gave us helpful tips on studying and time management. We also learnt which books will be essential to pass our monstrous exams to come.
Our facial expressions were indescribable at that moment in response to what we have just ingested. But again, as the great motto says, no pain no gain! This was the most helpful part of freshers' week for it fully equipped us to start our long journey.
Finally, the day that we've all been waiting for, the White Coat Ceremony in the historic Profesni Dum hall. Souls filled with passion, eyes full of hope, and faces of anxiety and pride were overflowing the hall. That moment when your name is called upon, and the upper students hand in your symbolic white coat with parents cheering is memorable for life. The ceremony was devoted to recite the phenomenal oath promising responsibility and dedication towards health and science. This was followed by an elegant dinner with the faculty members, parents, and students.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all faculty members, upper students, and AIMS members for allowing this helpful week to happen. Also, choosing the Second Faculty of Medicine was a profound decision regarding its outstanding academic excellence in medicine and health care.
Monah Nasr, Lebanon
Fresher's Week was a blast. I was actually sick for few days but managed to attend most of the events, and I'm glad that I did! I was happy to make new friends, which is so important because these are the people who are going to be my family for the next six years (hopefully). It's important to get to know not only your fellow classmates, but also the upper years, who have been extremely helpful and indispensable to us freshers. During Fresher's Week, they advised us on courses, textbooks, professors, and general advice on how to survive medical school and living in Prague. And the evening events were loads of fun with games, good beer, and great company. My favorite event had to be the Interfaculty Party where we were able to meet students of all years from the First, Second, and Third Faculties.
Arriving in a new country is a lot to take in at first, and attending a full week's schedule of activities did seem daunting. (Actually, I must say that it might have been better if there more time for breaks in between the events.) But having the opportunity to meet people and getting to know the campuses and course material really helped to make a smooth transition into starting the semester. All in all, I do not recommend missing out on Fresher's Week!
Soyea Moon, Korea
What is freshers week?
Freshers week was the perfect start to my studies of general medicine at the Second Faculty of Medicine of the Charles University in Praque. Why?
First of all, you are going to do a 4 day Czech course to learn the basics of the basics in Czech, so you already get a feeling of the language, which is a good thing, as you need to learn the Czech language beside your studies of medicine.
Secondly, and this might be more important for us as freshers, the upper years gave us a complete overview about everything important about the life as a medical student.
We did many cool activities like information presentation, teambuilding nights, so we could all meet up each other before the official start of the studies, and of course, we enjoyed good nights in Prague! It was a lovely week with many good impressions.
Attend, and take your start to medical studies easy!
Max Stang, Germany
Fresher's week
This week has been the perfect way to start my new life in Prague. It is always quite scary and intimidating to arrive alone in a new city, but as soon as I arrived at the Faculty on the first day of fresher's week everyone was so friendly and welcoming that I immediately that the stress of the first day went away.
Where to start, this week was so amazing! Everyone went out of their way to make us feel welcome, reassure us and answer any question we had.
It was great to participate in it because during this week we had the chance to get a better understanding of the city that is going to be our new home, and also a better understanding of the language and culture.
The Czech classes in the morning were a great opportunity to get familiar with this language without having to worry about any other subject, and the teachers were really helpful answering any question we might have about the upcoming year.
In the afternoon we had activities organised by the upper years to help us find our way around the school and the city, they brought us all around showing us the perfect studying spot, the bookshops amongst other things. If it wasn't for that I would probably have gotten lost so many times going from one class to another (because they aren't all in the same area).
The days would usually end with everyone gathering for dinner, at a bar or at a party and that is where we got to meet all our classmates. I am so grateful that I was able to meet them all before starting classes, I think that it allowed us to really bond and to find our support system with people you can really trust (which is something I need since I am not able to be around my family).
I think that every fresher should go to this week because any worries, stress or questions you might have they will be answered there. The upper years will give you so many essential information like telling us how to approach each subject and giving us tips on which books to get.
I am really grateful to all the people that put their time and energy into it because it made me feel so much more comfortable about the year.
Capucine Casari, France
I remember my own Fresher's week. The anticipation, excitement, eagerness to start this new chapter in life. These were the people I was going to see every day and share this experience with. We were all in this together! And, in retrospect, you truly become a family as the years pass by. And many friendships began during fresher's week.
There is honestly no better time to make friends, since when school starts many other things occupy your free time. This year we had team building night, pub quiz and big party at Lavka just to mention a few. And as the week progressed it was great to see all these new faces having more and more fun together as well as seeing a glimpse of how it was starting first year again. It feels like a great achievement ‘coming back’ as an upper year, now being the one passing on the experiences.
Because during Freshers week, there's also a great opportunity to meet upper year students. This was of great value to me during my Freshers week, and I think all of us back then, since it was a very warm welcome to the university life. That's the reason I wanted to volunteer during Freshers week. I wanted to share my experience, say some calming words, give new students the ‘do's and don'ts’ in both formal ways and informal (the parties are great!). These years will be tough and as an upper year I feel like we own new students our guidance and help with small things (‘where can I get a nice haircut?’) and the big from the very start! I had great fun during my fresher's week and I want and hope all new students shared my experience and kicked-off this journey in the best way possible.
Elisabet Hernes, Sweden, 3rd year
It's almost become a yearly tradition in our faculty which we dedicate an entire week to welcome the freshers to our faculty. Well a little bit more than a welcome; we, the upper year students, try and organize events during this to not only welcome but also to give the freshers a crash course about our university, how to survive med school and of course a welcome speech by our dean. During the first day of the fresher's week all the students were gathered to register in Nemocnice Motol; after all what is university without going through some bureaucracy work. After all the boring registration stuff were over the students were welcomed by our dean which then it was followed by a presentation by group of our upper year students which included information about acquiring public transportation, house renting and etc. As perusal we always dedicate a day to give our freshers a tour of our faculty followed by a tour around the beautiful city of Prague; showing where to go for partying (and studying of course). But hold on a second, this is just the daily routine, at night is when the real fun begins. Every night of freshers week we have events in which the new students get to drink, have fun and most importantly get to know each and form bonds that's going to last their entire med life. one of these fun events this year was in dr. Vojak (our resident faculty pub) where different stations were set up, each stations with its own game and freshers were split to groups and had to jump from one game stations to another, and at the end of the night winners got a prize. of course that's not the only fun night event that freshers had; we also rented the entire The Pub for our beloved freshers, in which they had plenty of beer and lots of laughter and love was exchanged, and last but not least the freshers went to the biggest party of the year at Lavka, every year all the students from all the medical faculties gather in Lavka and get crazy.
The fresher’s week ends with white coats ceremony, in which student's parent can participate and see their beloved children in white coats swearing an oath in union, which is honestly the best way to end the fresher's week and start your life as med student.
Ehsan Abbaspour, Iran, 3rd year
