The past 6 months at Faculty of Arts of Charles University have been wonderful.  The Erasmus program has allowed us to meet a lot of new people and also develop our skills in our field of study which is Education.  However we now have to arrange a placement in a local school which is proving to be very difficult.

It takes more than just learning effort in order to successfully complete a university degree. In some moments, your path is blocked by barriers from around you. Support in tackling such barriers is provided by a system of assistance to students with special needs run by Charles University´s Faculty of Arts. PhDr. David Čáp, coordinator of assistance to students with special needs, explains.

To help the homeless rediscover their lost self-confidence, give them work and some income, and to give others an unusual experience: these are the goals of the Pragulic social organisation, founded last year by three students of the CU Faculty of Humanities. Initially offering unconventional guided tours of Prague by homeless people, Pragulic is now adding further projects to its programme. People can now experience for themselves an entire day on the street or take part in ‘homeless teambuilding’.

Who is a librarian? For the majority of us it is a person responsible for lending out books and cataloguing new purchases. However, there is much more hidden behind the title.

Writing an article on the election for a head of state is something of a novelty for me. Coming from Scotland, we have Queen Elizabeth as our head of state. We have elections to Westminster, to the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood, but none for our highest representative of state.

You can place it somewhere between handball, volleyball and basketball and the main goal is not to win but to properly stretch your bones and have fun with friends. The game is called tchoukball and Adam Šťastný, a student of the Faculty of Physical Education and Sport of the Charles University, is now scouting for a faculty team and promotes the relatively unknown sport among his schoolmates.

For many, the Erasmus exchange is too short – especially if they arrive at their host university only for the few short months of the winter semester – and their home university requires them to return for the start of the next term already in January. For these students, the month of December is mostly about preparing for and attending exams. The more lucky ones, allowed to stay longer – be it till the very end of the winter semester in February or even until the end of the summer term in June – can join the various programs of the International and Erasmus Clubs prepared especially for the Christmas season.

There are Erasmus students and Erasmus students. One group takes Erasmus solely as a prolonged vacation in the country and city of their choice and as a great opportunity to meet and befriend people from across Europe. The studying itself is just the “necessary evil” to make this all possible.

University of Udine (Italy) belongs to universities with a well-known study programme in Czech language. Students from this university visit Charles University frequently, mainly through the Erasmus programme.

During the academic year 2012-13, the Faculty of Social Sciences at Charles University is hosting Judith Schüler from European university Viadrina (Frankfurt an der Oder), who is currently in Prague with her 2-year-old son Karl. I-Forum approached Judith to share her experiences of having a child whilst studying abroad.