Czech Republic 2011

10- 11 May 11: My friend Magda lives in Olomouc and is leaving for Greece at the end of June. What a shame I won't manage to see her! We've only ever spent 2 hrs together, but I'll save that story for a rainy day (it's a good one). Anyway, the long and the short of it is that I might be able to rent her room. If it is near the university and offers what I need, it would be ideal. Rent comes to less than £100 a month, which almost sounds too good to be true! More later.

3 and 7 May 11: Ok, so I'll be flying into Brno on 22 July and staying there overnight, heading to Olomouc the following day. I booked a room at Penzion Cerna in Brno, which I heartily recommend. It's a huge family home with a B&B on the ground floor, and Zdenka and her son living on the top floor. They have a nice back garden full of berries. It's a homely sort of place, well worth a stay.

29 April 11: Booked Outbound flight (Wizzair, arriving 22 July), and Inbound flight (Ryanair, leaving 20 Aug). Would have preferred to fly Wizzair both ways as they are slightly less evil, judging by their fees, but hey ho.

27 April 11: Sent a bullet-point checklist of practical questions to the course admin, got bullet-point answers back..nice and clear. Yes I can get the early payment discount. Yes, I have provisional place on the course. No, I don't get meal vouchers as I'm a private (non-Erasmus) student. No TV in my room. Yes to wired internet, and shared kitchen with fridge. No alternative day or weekend trips provided. Form is filled in, scanned and emailed to Zuzana (admin). Exciting!

26 April 11: Signed up to homestay/flat finder websites. ireality only rent in Prague and Pilsen, and private rentals only seem geared up towards Czech speakers/residents. I may have to live on campus. No problem, bar the price! Still only works out at £15 a night, but that's a bit expensive for student accommodation in Olomouc. The Czech students only pay around £9 a night! Maybe they just don't subsidise foreign students out of term time?

23 April 11: Now, the problem I'm having is that I'm actually on holiday in Cz 10-19 July, which means the logical thing to do is not catch my return flight, and stay in the country until the end of my course. However, the more I look into it, the less likely it becomes. Basically, if you are in the country for more than 30 days, you need to register with the foreigners' police in the region you will be staying. This has to happen within 3 days of your arrival. The problem is, I will be in Prague for the first 3 days of my holiday, then Brno- wrong place! To add to the complication, there are only one/two offices per region (not per town as before), and the office for the Olomouc region is in Prerov. Even if I did get to Prerov, there's no gurantee the police will play ball- they tend not to speak English and are notorious for being crabby and difficult. What I need to know is if I can register in Prague, so....

I emailed the British Embassy in Prague, who just sent me a link and told me the info I need is there (er...been there already, no info!). It didn't have the info I needed re. registering in a different region, and I told them so. They replied to say that they don't know the particulars, and suggested I call the Prague and Olomouc offices. I have a distinct feeling that won't work, as it would be a minor miracle to get hold of an English speaker. I can do without the stress, frankly.

I have decided to return home on 19th, offload my junk, pack a bigger case and fly back out for my course 2 days later. It means I won't have to lug my study gear around unnecessarily, so I'm thinking that this is the easier option. Albeit slightly mad.

22 April 11: Looking into Czech language courses. Settled on Olomouc and have been in email correspondance with the staggeringly efficient course administrator. Course dates are 23 July to 20 August.