Xuexiu Jia
Relaxed life pace in Brno
I come from a beautiful town by the sea in Shandong Province, China. Before I came to the Czech Republic, I have studied in Beijing for 8 years for bachelor's and master's study. I tried to move on to a PhD study and get myself ready with a language certificate, publications, research proposals. On the other hand, I can’t decide if still keep “floating on the sea”, or find a job and settle down in Beijing, where I can meet all my school friends and live a nice local life. So, in my 8th year, I found a job close to home and started regular, peaceful life.
Things were changed when one day my senior shared with me some PhD position advertisement, saying it is my filed, a new group lead by a famous professor in this field, maybe I should try. I contacted the Professor and went through the interview. Now I have been here in BUT (SPIL group lead by Professor Jiří Klemeš) for more than 3 years.
From a small town by sea to the capital city Beijing, and finally a peaceful small city Brno, I thought it would be difficult to fit in. It was indeed at the beginning. So much fewer people, slow life pace, the Czech language barriers, on the top of this, full-time studies in English.
After going through it, these “problems” become the reasons I like being here. Brno is a small, beautiful peaceful city so I don’t need to rush every day; I learned the Czech language, now I really like it and it’s indeed a rich language (I have to thank my Professor Jiří Klemeš who highly encouraged and helped me to learn the language). Language helps a lot fitting in the local life, it gets people naturally closer. Of course, life in Brno is also ok with only English, as the city is more and more open and active.
In the past three years, I have seen remarkable progress in the city and the university of BUT. There are noticeable more English-speaking people, not only in shops and restaurant, but also in municipal offices in the university of BUT. New office and staff helping with international students’ admission (visa, diploma recognition, accommodation, etc.); International student club is more active with helping new students fitting in the new atmosphere, and now, the international student ambassador project, where we are trying to help you explore more about the city and the university of BUT.
The city and BUT are getting more active and open to new faces from the world, are you open to your new possibility?
