On Wednesday, 13 May, several of our degree students took part in the University Sports Day, a traditional event announced each year by the Rector. We met at 9:15 a.m. at Tržnice and travelled to a village near Olomouc. From there, we enjoyed a beautiful and relaxing walk through the countryside, which lasted about an hour and a half.
This time gave us a nice time to get to know each other more which was one of the highlights of the day. Thanks to the small size of our group, we could talk about deeper topics and share personal stories. It was enriching to hear the different stories behind our students’ decisions to come to Olomouc. Each of them had their own reasons for choosing this city as a place to study and live, and what plans they have after graduation.
The luck about it weather was extreme – the days before had been cloudy and rainy, but on our Sports Day we enjoyed a mix of sunshine and pleasant clouds, with temperatures that were perfect for walking.
Along the way, we stopped at a forest rest area for refreshments, where Dagmar shared her delicious homemade banana bread. We also passed a farm with several horses and heard announcements from the local loudspeaker system – something quite unusual and entertaining for our international students.
“I am very grateful to the international department of our faculty for giving us the opportunity to meet and communicate. This is very valuable to me. During the Sports Day, we went on a hike through a beautiful natural location, listened to the birds singing, drank spring water and enjoyed the emerald colour of the Czech forest. I always respond to such invitations and am always happy to meet my colleagues,” said one of the PhD students.
Our final destination was a village Náměšť na Hané. We entered a local restaurant where a table was already prepared for us. We enjoyed a tasty Czech lunch, and some of us even tried a local beer. Afterwards, pleasantly tired but happy, we returned to Tržnice and went our separate ways.
