Time to gear up and push the accelerator

Nevertheless, at least I remembered my love of studying on Valentine’s Day. I saw my summer semester schedule and cried. Mine were both tears of joy and woe, as there are some interesting subjects ahead, yet I won’t be able to avoid cameras and microphones in our state-of-the-art studio either. While I am slowly getting used to the suffering in front of a camera, it still gives me anxiety and fear. Oh well, I am now a veteran at UJAK, to put it in military terms. Little things such as this should not put me off balance for too long. I want to enjoy the rest of my Master’s track and make it as pleasant as I can, whatever that may mean.

The summer semester took off in grand style. The initial two-hour class introduced us to an elderly gentleman from Slovakia whose CV includes involvement in founding Markíza TV and working with TV Nova. Right off the bat, he used his contacts and invited the spokeswoman for Seznam.cz to the next class. She didn’t hesitate and agreed to do a discussion – and free of charge, too, which allegedly is not the case very often! The next day, I was impressed by the track record of another teacher. The director of films such as Jan Hus, Sametoví vrazi (Velvet Murderers), Skalpel, prosím! (Lancet, Please!) and Zánik samoty Berhof (The Demise of the Berhof Hamlet) is our TV Production teacher. Isn’t that great? My enthusiasm cooled down the moment I Googled his name. A long-time member and even the Chairman of the Communist Party? That made me shiver. However, what matters at the end of the day is if he can motivate students and teach them something. Let’s just hope that he won’t be as sharp as a sickle or as hard as a hammer with us.

I am happy to know who will likely be my thesis supervisor and to have the idea for what to write about. It came unexpectedly when I handed in my winter semester paper on children’s shelters and the Zámeček (Chateau) magazine. My teacher liked it so much he wanted me to develop the topic and write my thesis about it. I am happy to oblige, and I will address the particulars soon so that I can start writing in the summer. Have at it and have it. But, enough of education for now…

I wrote in my last post that I was about to take my final driving tests. And you know what? I did it! I got my driver’s license! The only thing the instructor didn’t like about my driving that, as he put it, I was ‘raping’ the transmission. I’m not sure what exactly he meant by that, but I just guess my driving excited and pleased him. “All I have to do now is get a car,” was my mantra until recently. I did my homework browsing the web and printed ads until I found a cool offer. At first, I focused on a near-vintage Škoda Favorit. It would be great for my first forays into driving at CZK 5,000, but then I noticed the mention of the environmental tax. That would quickly turn a bargain into an overpriced buy, so it was back to browsing. My next try was more successful. In just one day, I managed to take a train to a place near Hranice na Moravě, inspect and test drive a car, sign a contract, pay the price, interact with two authorities over car registration and then drive back home in my very own Fiat Brava.

I never loved Fiat cars, but this one actually doesn’t look like a shoe box and has no visible wrinkles on its mature body. And since I already watch Italian soccer games while eating pizza or pasta, why not drive an Italian car too? On my way back from Hranice, I nearly ‘baptized’ my car in a collision with a hare that mocked my driving skills (or the lack thereof), hiding in thick darkness in the middle of the road. It was a narrow miss; our roles could have reversed easily, with my car ending up in the field and the hare taking the road. Luckily, I cunningly steered clear of the hare like Radovan Krejčíř did the police squad and drove away. My first driving lesson learned: my car is faster and more nimble than a hare. However, I will keep on using trains for my trips to Prague. First, it’s more convenient, and second, I’m not yet comfortable driving such a long distance. Oh, and third, no one will likely offer me a cup of coffee for free on the D1 highway.

My plan for the upcoming weeks is clear: focus on school and my part-time job, watch soccer, enjoy the spring, have some fun at St Matthew’s Fair in Prague and wait for the summer. I am looking forward to early May the most, though. That’s when our magazine for children’s shelters will celebrate its 20th anniversary. We are hosting a magnificent weekend event for children and adults to be held in Šumperk. Most (hopefully all) members of Zámeček’s editorial team from all eras, all the way from the start to the present, will be in attendance, and many of them will be rewarded for their volunteering achievements on the occasion. I have been part of the medium for ten years. It has been one heck of a time as I earned some valuable journalist experience, met hundreds of people and undertook countless field trips, workshops, discussions and meetings. The event will even include a music festival with performers such as Voxel and O5&Radeček on the roster. A few days later, I will turn twenty-five, and the summer semester will soon be over… I can feel in my old bones that this May will be worth it.

The spring is at your doorstep, so open the doors everybody and enjoy it to the fullest!