 Okay, everybody. So, once again, I would like to wish you a good evening or good morning or good afternoon wherever you are watching this from. My name is Natasha Eckston, and I'm the head of admissions at Prague College. We're delighted to be joined today by a couple of our students and colleague Nelly from our student services team. And we are going to talk to you about the international student experience, what you can expect from Prague as a city and from Prague College by way of support if you are moving abroad to study with us, which if you're listening tonight, then I assume that is your case. So, just a couple of things before we get started. If you would like to share with us where you're joining us from, it would be great to hear and read what countries you're from, find out where you're listening to us today. So, please feel free to put any questions either in the question and answer if you're watching this through the Zoom webinar, or if you're watching live on Facebook. Then again, please use the chat there and we will try and get through all of your questions within the hour. So, it's great to have you with us. As I said, please do share where you're joining from. It's always great to hear where our future students may be listening from and with that we'll get started. So, as I mentioned, I am joined today by a couple of our students and colleague, Nelly. So, I'd just like to hand over to them at this point to introduce themselves so you know who you're going to be hearing from and talking to today. So perhaps we can start with you, Nelly. Thank you, Natasha. Hello everyone. Welcome to this webinar. It's very nice to see you, even though we don't see you literally, but it's good that you're here joining us. So, my name is Nelly and I'm working as a head of student services. And I think I just have to mention that about like 15 years ago, I was an international student coming to Prague to study at Prague College. So, I kind of have my experiences as an international student coming to live in a different country with different culture and so on. So, I think that really helped me to understand better what what our students need or might want or how can we support them better. So, I'm looking forward to talk to you today and tell you what kind of things we do for our students. Thank you. Hi, my name is Genevieve. I'm from the States from California and I'm in the creative media production program here at Prague College. And I believe I moved, I guess it's almost, I've been here for almost two years now. Hi, my name is Arulan Reddy. I'm from South Africa and I'm studying international finance and business accounting and I'm in my second year. Perfect, thank you. So you'll hear much more from Genevieve, Arulan and Nelly later. I should say that you might be able to tell from my accent, but I'm originally from England. I did move to Prague prior to Brexit. So, for anybody who's listening, who's from the EU, my experience would be very similar to what yours would be at a time when it was quite quite simple for Brits to move. But let's not dwell on that. That's not why we're here today. But it does lead me quite nicely just to give you a very short introduction, which as you might already know, Prague College is offering British degrees and diplomas awarded by Teaside University if you complete one of our bachelor's or master's degrees. And, you know, we like to think that most of our students come to Prague College because they come for the outstanding education. They want that British degree and diploma and they come for the practical teaching, you know, the research and the background that our academics and professors can offer. But of course, you'll see there that there's two things highlighted in bold, which I believe is relevant to the international student experience. And that is that all tuition is in English and it's actually quite common for many of our students that English is their second language. So maybe for some of you listening today, you're also interested in how it is adapting into that English speaking environment, which perhaps is something that Nellie can touch upon and also to be in an international environment. And that's not just within Prague College, but it's also within the city itself. But we do have students from over 80 different nationalities studying with us. So it truly is an opportunity to meet people from all over the world. But as I said, this is something that we think attracts students to study with us. But of course, there is a student experience that you gain from actually studying in the city of Prague. And at this point, I'd like to share with you by way of an introduction, a very short video, which was captured by some of our study abroad students who actually came over from America. And this is just their take on the city of Prague. So it's only a minute long, so I'd like to share this with you now. OK, so that was just a short video of their experiences that I wanted to share with you, as you could see from that video they covered a lot of the views, which is something that Prague has to offer and some snapshots of the city itself, some of the food, but you could see that they were in a grocery store, which is, you know, if you move abroad, you do have to fend and cater for yourself. So something to get used to, perhaps if you're not already, showed some of actually the art spaces and green spaces, which we'll talk about in a bit more detail later on as well. But perhaps at this point, I'm sure most of you that are listening today really want to hear from our students who have been through it. You know, like I said, we've all actually moved to Prague from our home countries, but there are things that specifically when you are a student and perhaps if you're moving alone and you're leaving your network of friends and family that you have to go through when you move to a new city. So at this point, I'd really like to invite Genevieve and Arrolan to discuss how they found moving and transitioning from their home towns to Prague. So please feel free to start the conversation. Thank you, Natasha. I'll go first, Genevieve, if that's fine with you. I'll talk about culture shock. So coming from Africa, specifically South Africa and moving to Europe, I did experience culture shock, but it's very, very easy to adapt to and I think that the whole support team at the university really makes it quite easy. But what was unique for me was the small differences that I experienced. In Africa or South Africa or other, we don't really use a public transportation system, although it does exist. So when I moved to Prague, I had to learn how to use public transportation and it sounds silly, but I used to drive everywhere and I wasn't used to walking on the street. And suddenly when I moved to Prague, I had to walk everywhere. I had to use trams and trains to get around. And it was actually what shocked me was the efficiency of it all and how no matter who you are or where you're from, everybody's using the public transportation system. So that was really nice for me. And then the other differences were like when I'm in the grocery store, for example, and I'll be shopping, you'll notice that the tellers don't actually pack your groceries for you. So the first time I was in a grocery store, I was standing there and I'm like, OK, here's my bags and nobody was packing my groceries and it was such a confusing moment. And then I realized in South Africa that is normal, but in Europe that's not normal. So you can kind of adjust to these small little discrepancies. And I think no matter where you come from, the culture shock really comes in play when you're not around, when you're not regularly around the same type of people, like from your culture, from your tradition. But it's very easy to make yourself feel at home and make yourself feel less of an impact where culture shock is concerned. I mean, if you think about it, Prague has every type of restaurant you could find. There's American bars, there's a lot of Indian places, which I go to as well. And that kind of helped me to settle in and adjust. And then also when you're around so many people at Prague College and it's such an international community, you find yourself after you settle in, maybe after a month or two, you find yourself wanting to learn about those around you and you focus much less on what isn't around you anymore. So that was my experience. Just to add on to what you said, Arlan, with the transportation, it was the exact same for me. I drove everywhere, even if it was the grocery store, was a block or two away, it was like, why would I walk there? And I just would take the car. And the city that I'm from also, there was just... The bus system was about as close as we got to a public transportation system, but it really wasn't great. So adapting to the transportation system here has actually been amazing. It's so easy to get everywhere. And I actually really enjoy reading on the trams and the metros and actually walking to more places. I actually think that when I first moved, I really think I got to know more of the city just from walking around everywhere. So walking around is just really great. You run into little unique spots all over and you can just explore that way. I think in terms of culture shock, there's definitely some weird things. Everywhere is just going to have these little differences. But for me, when I got here, I just really felt welcomed by the city and I just felt at home and it was a really warm, nice feeling. And actually it was at the... Yeah, the welcome week was really, really great for me. I actually made some friends at the welcome week that I was very, very close with. That I still am close with. So that is really helpful. I think the city in general just really has a lot to offer. But I do think that even when I first moved, I had... I mean, my check was really, really bad, but I do think learning check is really important. It makes you feel more at home and more like a part of the culture and community. And it just shows that you care. I think that also with relation to making new friends, Prague College and the programs that they offer make it so easy to make friends. And really where a lot of my friends came from was the student council. So once I joined up as student council treasurer, I was able to network with the student body on a different level. And through that networking, I found common ground with everybody who I worked with. And that's one way to expand your network. And you really need to get involved. You need to join societies. You need to attend the events that Prague College frequently runs. So we'll have a Christmas party or all these different events that we can have. And that's one way. You have to be outgoing. You have to network with those around you. And if you are struggling at some point, you feel like you're struggling. Student services is always there and they always step in and they're like a huge support base for every single student at Prague College. I think I've come to them with so many problems. I think Nellie's probably had enough of me in the year and a bit that I've been there. And it's also so easy because you'll find that if you're staying at the student accommodation, which I think Natasha will talk about a bit later, it's really hard to be living in a student accommodation and be in a kitchen that you're sharing with people and not talking to them. So when you walk into the kitchen or any common area, you will interact with people and it's so easy to make friends. You just literally have to be yourself and just introduce yourself and it all works. Thank you guys. That's some really good insights actually. And it just goes to show that yeah, what you're accustomed to and what perhaps can surprise you isn't what you expect. So obviously students that come to us, they have done their research. They know a little bit about what to expect but there's those day-to-day experiences that you perhaps can't plan for let's say and you just have to adjust and live through it and get an understanding of what your new surroundings are. And the other thing I wanted to pick up on, which I'm sure I'm going to hand over to Nellie in a moment, will second, is that it's quite normal to have ups and downs. You can move and still love the city but homesickness is something that affects people in all different ways and it's not to be too hard on yourself if you do have a bad day and obviously with technology which due to the current circumstances we're all using so much, you can kind of keep in touch with that network. But I think the advice to really get involved as much as you can is great advice because that will help you to settle in. And perhaps at this point I will pass over to Nellie to perhaps cover a little bit about how we help and expand on some of the things that Arulan and Genevieve have just touched upon already as well. Yeah, thank you Natasha and thank you Arulan and Genevieve. It's so nice to hear we managed to help you. And Arulan, you can always come back to us. You are definitely not tired of helping you out. So what we are, the students mentioned some things and that which was actually our focus and is our focus in the student services. And one of them is specifically when we talk about international students and understanding their background and the transition that they have to go through. Not only that students change from high schools typically to university level where it's by itself it's challenging but then they go to a different country and they speak different language. They don't understand the language around them and that's really, and they're alone and their friends and families are not with them. So we completely, we're trying to just kind of to imagine that and feel that and see how can we help. And so our main approach is, I guess, is to support students in kind of finding friends around or feeling comfortable because we understand that this loneliness and you know just when they come and they're just alone that that's one of the things that leads to that maybe bigger problems in settling down and kind of getting accustomed and they're just starting to close down the students. They just don't, you know, they're not so open-minded or as Arlan said, like, you know, proactively searching for things. So first idea is we're trying to get the students familiar with Prague College with the community and that's even before they actually came to Prague, right? So we typically, we're taking students over from kind hands of admissions team, you know, from admissions advisors, and then it's kind of, I think, approximately eight weeks or eight to six weeks before semester starts or before the welcome week, we start actively communicating to students, talking about things that they need to know, they might need for their studies, for their first weeks or first months, which is the most critical time, you know, for each of our students. So we talk about, you know, what to expect, what's around Prague College, what's Prague College community, what Prague College community is and things like that. Yeah, so that's happening through by emails. We also run now some digital events, not only for students, but also for parents and kind of helping parents to see the environment their kids are going to. And so things like that. Then we have one week before semester starts, we have welcome week and the welcome week, we typically run so pre-COVID times students we arrive in, we're welcoming them to Prague College, we were showing them all our campuses, we introducing them to staff, teachers and other students. We also, I think already around five years ago or four years ago, we've decided to drop this orientation, which will be just like information given like slides and presentation, but we've chosen a different approach, which we kind of focus on getting students to interact between each other. Because definitely, like as Genevieve mentioned, during this welcome week and particularly during the orientation, if the students can find someone who kind of think the same, feel the same or can hold the hand just in case of the moment of loneliness, that's already a big victory, that's what we are trying to do. So during welcome week, we're trying to create those bonds between students so in the digital, during the COVID times, so the past two semesters, we welcome students digitally, virtually, and we are trying very hard to think of all type of activities, even though they are online, which will anyway try to put students together in some smaller groups, they can do some activities, they can still try to find some connection with another student. So that's welcome week. And then, of course, during the studies, we were just always there. We are study advisers. Every single student at Brock College has a... I'm sorry, Natasha, you see I'm a little bit jumping right all over the place. No problem, no problem. Yeah, so just since I started that just during the studies, we assign a study adviser to each student. A study adviser is a person who will always there, will be always there to talk to student about the studies, about some, you know, life issues, give advice, just listen to students, so that type of things. And just typically also a student can come to any one of us. There is a team of three people in student services. So we always there waiting for students. And I think that should I, Natasha, go ahead and just talk about the support mechanism, right? Yeah, yeah, please do, Nellie. You can jump back. Yeah, so and then we train also to organise different types of activities for students, as Arlan mentioned, of course it's parties, different types of parties, events. But also we have a certain students associations, which are meant to kind of be closer to the students, right? Of course we are there, but we are administration, you know, and all these things. So we have student council, which works very close with the student body, with the whole student community. We also have international student association, which to be honest is less active nowadays, but that's just because international students, I actually majority back home, like in their home countries. So international student association was meant to kind of, you know, provide this exact support to the international students who are, who just travelled to Prague. It's their first time in the Czech Republic, or you know, they are very new. And we were doing lots of interesting events and activities with international students. We also do have student societies, and that's basically society clubs of interest. We have very active music society. We have gaming society, or used to have running society, where we could, during the times we could run together. So things like that. And actually we are asking students if they have any interest in opening society, they can, it's just as easy as to find another three to five students, the same, who share the same interest, and then a new student society can be created. Other support mechanism that we have that, and it's particularly me doing that, it's a visa support. So for international students who then travel to the Czech Republic, or have visas, then I'm helping them to extend those visas, or you know, deal with all these related things. Yeah, I just wanted to say really briefly that Nellie has like personally helped me with, I think every time I've had to do anything for a visa, and I hate having to do stuff for visas, I hate paperwork, but like without the support it would just never, I would never be able to do it. It's like too much for my mind to handle, but like the school actually does make this really, really easy. And I think when I was, before I even came to Prague, the school helped me. Yeah, I think Nellie helped me even before I met her. When I was still in California, she helped me do my visa originally to come, and that was super simple. Yeah, thank you Nellie. Thank you Nellie. Yeah, that's nice to hear. Thank you so much. So I'm trying my best to help students with all this boring, and I know, I know that's not the most exciting stuff to deal with. And just the, I suppose the last thing, I can see here the Czech language assistance. One of team member in student services is a native Czech speaker. I can speak Czech so I can help with that as well. But, you know, whenever any kind of translation like simple, you know, like to read the contract, the accommodation contract before the student moves into the new apartment, we'll do that, or, you know, we create all kind of confirmation of studies in Czech language. And just, you know, if a student needs to communicate to someone in Czech, then they can ask us and we'll represent them. And the last but not least is something we specifically in the COVID time, we are focusing on a lot, and that is well-being support of students. Because obviously the times, the time is hard now and students are facing different challenges and some issues like to working with anxiety and depressions and all kinds of things that are all normal, which can happen. But now maybe they're just quite strong. So we have my colleague from the student services department, Philip. He is a meditation instructor, a qualified. So he's offering meditation club every week. We also have a yoga classes every week. This time is with me. And we also work with the city practice, which is our long-term partner. The company provides counseling services for our students. It's external, this is anonymous, and students are very welcome there to go and share and talk to professionals, you know, to professional counselors. So I think that's been, we got very good feedback from the students on this service. So I was like, I think I will stop now because I think I'm just like two slides in a row. Sorry, Natasha. No, thank you, Nelly. I think it highlights things which I'm sure for those listening are very important aspects and aspects that, of course, of student life that we take very seriously. And I think as it's hopefully been outlined, you know, it's quite normal. A large proportion of our student body are moving from abroad. So please don't feel like you're the only one or you're not. You know, you're not sure what to expect. As you've just heard, we're very, very much prepared to welcome you. You know, we understand as far as possible the challenges that you might face and have put in place kind of mechanisms to support you in that transition. So I do just want to jump back a little bit and just touch on a couple of things that were mentioned, which is one about the Czech language. So as you heard, there is support in student services for this. Genevieve, congratulations for continuing with classes. I have to say, I don't speak Czech. I've lived here now for almost five years. You can kind of learn some basic phrases and enough to get by. And, you know, I personally find that that's enough for me to be able to integrate. But of course, if it's something that you're looking to do, then we do offer classes through Prague College. But I certainly would say that, you know, Prague is becoming a more and more international city. And we'll talk a bit more about what Prague has to offer as well. So we are going to hear from our students again. And I just wanted to briefly come to student accommodation because we know from working with students that this is obviously a big consideration. You want to know where you might be living. Now, typically what we find is that students who are coming to EU tend to prefer to find their own apartments and they're very much welcome to do that. But for students who do require visa assistance, we do typically recommend that when you first move, you move into one of the student residences that we cooperate with. This is because you will need a confirmation of where you are living to be able to apply for your long term visa. And these student residences are very accustomed to doing that. And we can provide that documentation to you. And we know that it will be accepted at the Czech Embassy when you go to apply for your long term visa. So that's why in the first instance we recommend to stay in a student residence. You heard about Ireland mentioning sort of shared kitchens and I'll invite the invite Genevieve and Ireland to tell you a bit about their experiences. You can just see on the screen here some of the prices in euros. Typically in the residences, particularly in student house cottage, which is the main provider we work with and where quite a lot of college students do live. It's twin rooms with a bathroom shared between you and your roommate. Or they offer slightly cheaper rooms where the bathroom is shared between four people. They do have some single rooms but they're quite limited. The other provider you can see there do offer single rooms as well. And then there's another new provider called the FIS which also offers some single rooms. And then student room flat is a platform where you can kind of put in your budget or put in the number of rooms that you're looking for and it will kind of throw up different options for you. They do also provide confirmation of accommodation but they work directly with the landlords. So it's a really good option sort of once you are here and it might help you to find something even beforehand. But we would really typically recommend one of those sort of top two providers and something else I would just kind of recommend is to perhaps consider particularly in these times right now around what kind of cancellation or like breaking the contract is like what the notice period is as well. Because you do want to make sure if you get there and you would prefer to move that you're able to do that kind of without losing your deposit. So it's just worth reading through the contracts as well. But if you do apply to study with us or you've already applied then you can indicate within the application form if you want to live in one of the residences we cooperate with or if you'll be finding your own accommodation. And as mentioned if you do require a visa and typically we would ask that you do stay in one of the residences we cooperate with. And typically this would be student house botage. So that's just to note there so perhaps Aralyn and Genevieve you might want to say about your experience I know Genevieve you stayed in student house botage so perhaps I can invite you to start off. Yes so yeah so first student house botage or botage. Yeah I think the one really good thing is that it's just super simple to get you know your room sorted with them online and then you know because I'm coming from the States I needed this for my visa I needed to have the agreement in order to get the visa. So it's in actually a really cool area there's some really nice parks and some really nice bars and restaurants around so I really I still actually go to that area quite often. I was actually only living there for like two or three weeks because yeah before I before moving to Prague. All I wanted was to share a room with someone and have like that dorm life experience. I was living it. I realized I needed my own space and I couldn't live with someone in the same room. And that was just that's just me. It really depends on the kind of person you are like how much space, like you need for your for your own well being. So I moved out of there, but I remember I had to pay like some kind of fee there's some you need to yeah you need to read the contract over because what I recall is there's like a month or two that you need to give them like an advance for when you're leaving. But I can't quite recall the details. I would say. Yeah student room flat like even if you are from if you do need a visa that's kind of a bit more risky I mean it's still I think isn't a better option than just, you know finding a flat on Facebook before you've moved if you need a visa because, you know once you're here you can find thoughts really easily. But if you're requiring a visa I think, honestly it is best to do to do yeah what's recommended. And I do think. Yeah if I could have done it over I would have just applied to get single room. But of course I couldn't have known that at the time. And so yeah now I'm living in in a flat and I've had a few different flats since being here. I find the moving to moving process like it kind of depends on how much stuff you have but for me I've moved around quite a lot. And it's actually really easy to find flats when you're here. So even if you do start out in a student house it's actually quite easy to move to move out. Yeah I think what I would add on that is what's most common is that students spend their first semester, most typically in the residence and then once they've kind of settled into the city and perhaps know the area that they like and have met and your friends that they might want to live with and they might go into kind of an apartment and sharing. But as Genevieve says that the accommodation in the student residence is and it's it's very modern and it's well equipped it's newly renovated the location is great but of course, you know, it is worth considering what environment you're going to be comfortable with but normally students stay for one semester which Ireland perhaps at this point you can kind of comment on what your experience of sort of student living in park has been. For sure. Okay, so I live that Zatrim general kind of experience or opinion amongst the student body is that people like Zatrim more than they like a footage, but you know it's really up to to what your budget allows and where you want to live. But Zatrim was really wonderful. The facilities were really good, which I was impressed with with Zatrim. And when I went in one of the things I needed to insist on was that I had my own bathroom, because I hate sharing a bathroom with anybody and wasn't going to happen. So that's what I managed to get and that I think that really alleviated a lot of the stress you know just being a student and in the dormitories and stuff having your own bathroom is like heaven, you know. So that was a big, quite a big deal for me I was quite happy there. And then, you know, with COVID and everything and I really felt like I needed my own space I wasn't comfortable in the dorms anymore, which, you know, as as Genevieve was saying I didn't waste my case basis it depends on who you are. And then I found my own place and I moved which was really really smooth. And you just have to find the right landlord, if you are going to move. And once you find the right landlord everything goes so well. And my suggestion to all students really even if you're from the EU America anywhere is that you start off in the dorms, because if you don't start off in the dorms. I remember if you're looking to assimilate within the student body and make friends, you are immediately secluding yourself. So if you want the highest chance of success, start off in the dorms, it humbles you it teaches you about sharing being in each other space, and it also helps you to make friends, and then once you've established a friend group and you're a little bit more comfortable with the city, then you can now kind of move out and try and be on your own. And what's really important is that, living at the student accommodations, it means that the receptionist, the security guys, they all speak English, which means that you instantly have people to guide you around the neighborhood. Whereas when you're on your own instantly, you kind of have to figure it out from from scratch, whereas you can, you can use that network around you. So that would be my suggestion. Thank you. I think that's really good advice, actually, and it is worth noting that the reception teams at 24 hours. So there is that support. So just for reassurance if you're new to the city, you can count on your residents when you first arrive. So thank you very much for that insight and input. So we've already covered what student support and well-being Park College, sorry, what student support Park College can provide for students well-being. So at this point, you know, you've kind of heard quite a lot about what the experience maybe you can expect, but perhaps we want to concentrate for some time on why Prague, what does Prague offer? By way of an international student experience that perhaps other cities don't and some of the advantages of living here. So I think we'll all kind of cover this one. We also have different experiences. You know, like I said before, I'm from the UK. And if you want to go abroad, you basically have to fly. So for me, one of the really big advantages of why I wanted to move was to be able to travel and to see more of central Europe. And, you know, you're within kind of a train ride, a bus ride that's very, very affordable to different countries all around you and even cities within the Czech Republic. There is if you kind of like walk in a nature, there's a lot you can do in that regard. There's lots of different cultural events that you can get involved with. And, you know, Berlin, Vienna are the large capital cities. As I say, only about kind of four hours away. So depending on where you're from, you know, distance is also quite subjective. So, you know, the lengths that I'm kind of willing to travel like in a day or over a weekend have definitely extended since living in Prague. But for some of our students that are from much bigger countries, you know, for them kind of a two or four hours of train up a sprite doesn't feel like any time at all. So of course it's all relative. But I would say like for me personally being really in, you know, it says there the heart of Europe but really Prague is such a good base to sort of have the freedom to do that. So, and yeah, that was that was one of my main motivations for wanting to move as well but I'll invite our students who obviously move the study to maybe comment further on some of those other things and what attracted them to Prague. Yeah, when I was, so I was originally just looking for some universities in Europe that would be more, you know, cost effective than than in the States. And, you know, I was looking for a couple. A couple weeks or something and really just trying to research. And, you know, I was looking, you know, for the criteria of the right budget in English and the right field of study. And, and then all of a sudden actually like a few schools popped up in Prague. And Prague College was one of them. And then after applying I was actually admitted to a couple universities here. And then, yeah, based off of the interview that I had actually with one of my professors I just, I knew that I wanted to go to Prague College. And I kind of just, you know, moved here I didn't know anyone. I was alone, I didn't know what the city was really like. So there wasn't really it wasn't so much drawn from the city but rather from the school. Now that I'm here I think Prague is honestly kind of like the perfect European city it's it's small enough so that you feel like it's one, you know, a bunch of different communities and you feel like everything's kind of connected you know when you're walking around like you will bump into like people that you know just on the streets. It's really common to you know just see the same faces like again and again. And then, and then it's big enough so that there's something always going on, like there's just always something to do. You know infinite places to explore. I do think it's super super international which is really cool. And one thing actually I wanted to say earlier is that the small the small class sizes is actually a huge. Sorry, actually a huge benefit because I haven't been involved with any clubs as of yet. But for me, you know, all of my classes have really felt like a little family. Whether they're like closest friends or not everyone is just there for each other, and you know makes you feel super included which I love. I do think there's a lot of opportunities that the school does provide like in terms of internships there's a career board that were all the students have access to. And when there's new opportunities that pop up. The school will post them and then the students can get involved there. Yeah, I just think that the city overall. I haven't met anyone as of yet that's come here and is living here that doesn't like the city, and everyone who's visited me here. Really just falls in love with it too, which is really really great. But Genevieve said, living in the heart of Europe is really a huge plus it is so cheap to travel to any to any bordering country anywhere in Europe, which is really nice. Cost of living is one of the lowest in Europe, which I think is a real plus for most students, because you can live a higher quality of life. You, you choose your country right and I think that was really important for me as well is I didn't want to quite literally go to an expensive country and be broke. You know, because that is the reality if I was in the US or in the UK, it would be a struggle, but here I'm very comfortable I have no issues. It's very international. I mean I live in the city center so there's a lot of international people around me, and that kind of makes me feel a little bit more comfortable. The art in Prague so exhibitions galleries film studios is to die for it is so cultural when I first moved to Prague I got invited to the National Gallery opening. And I went there and I saw their whole they opened a new section of the gallery which was like all of this Asian art and all of these artifacts from China, Japan, Korea and just to see the different type of of art that they had in this in a national gallery was amazing. And there were floors and floors of art and I could only get to through like maybe three floors in like four hours and then I was done, but it was amazing. And as far as career opportunities go. I really don't feel worried because I will be graduating next year, just in over a year's time. The Prague College and the team are really really proactive in finding students job placements and assisting students and I think what's worth mentioning is that there are add-ons that the university does. There are CV courses, there are recruitment courses, the university encourages us to both soft and hard skills. It explains from day one that you need to have simple things like a LinkedIn profile, which can help you to be more visible in the job environment, it teaches us how to build CVs. There's literally a dedicated course in your first year I think well as a business student must have been different for me. In my first year there was a dedicated course about CV building HR management and recruitment. And suddenly, I really like that aspect of my course because it put me inside the mind of a recruiter at a major company. So I know what they're looking for and I know how to get that across on my CV. And I think those are really really important things just those attention to details with career opportunities is what I feel will give me a boost in the next year or so. And then proud cottage campus is so central, I live like three minutes away from the campus so I literally just walk across the square and the campus is right there and it's central to everything. So the campus has a square, which is just in front of the campus there's a square which is right next to the metro and the tram station, and there's a whole bunch of cafes and stores in the area. So just the location of the campus is absolutely wonderful. So the location, I study at the main you study at the been already one. Yeah, I'm at the Polska campus yeah so I'm at that one as well. I have been to the other campus I can't remember the street which is also really nice. And yet it is in just a great area, super central, lots of nice places around a huge park behind it that's gorgeous. It has such a great view of the city. And I did just want to say also that the one thing about the city itself is that when I was living in California I was someone that would always like be like looking over my shoulder like walking down the street and walking quite fast at night. I haven't done like as soon as I moved here, one of my first thoughts was that it's just super super safe. I don't think I've had any, you know, experiences where I felt unsafe. It's super super important to me. So I actually do feel safer here than in my hometown, which is awesome. And especially the, the, where the campus is. That's a super super safe part of Prague as well. Thank you both. Yeah I think I think you've covered the sort of the city and again some of those key points really nicely so I am mindful of time at this point and I do want to make sure that we can answer any questions that people watching either on Facebook or through the webinar can ask and we can get to so I just want to mention at this point that we've touched on a couple of things today and that our videos on our Facebook page and YouTube channel so including a quick kind of fly through campus tour of the Pulska location that Aralana and Genevieve have referenced. We do also have an art and design studio in Bishop's Court, which is in Prague one so very central, and in an up and coming art district called Pragueovka, if you are looking at either the MA fine art or future design those programs are based out of there so please do feel free if you'd like to kind of have that campus tour to go to those channels but at this point and as you want to make sure that we cover there are many things to get through which importantly is around how we will be teaching for September for those of you who are joining us. You've heard all about this great international student experience but obviously if you are moving to Prague we do acknowledge that the times are more challenging than they've been in the past for obvious reasons. And what you see on the screen now should be inspirational events and speakers and the reason I highlight this is because all these activities are some of the things that you've heard about. We also have a student council, you know we also have a business and lecture series and talks from either what previously it was from people that were perhaps able to visit on campus but we with the pandemic we've obviously opened up a lot of our activities and to be virtual which has meant that we can get speakers from all around the world so we've had speakers from Australia from America and you know this is something that will continue to do because obviously that adds value for our students but as you've heard Prague is a very international city so there's many people from all different walks of life living here and we try and invite them in to offer their experience. As well so just what you can see here is some of the things that Park College provides and including as well a digital career fair which and you know our I mentioned sort of about the opportunities and on offer and this is something that's there for all students as well and Prague does enjoy your one of the lowest unemployment rates in Europe as well so if you are wanting to kind of complement your studies with work it's a good city to to be in. At this point as I mentioned, for those of you watching who are looking at studies for September 2021, I'd just like to briefly spend some time about how we are planning to teach now. It was referenced about our small class sizes, so if it's feasible at the time we are planning for face to face teaching across our programs. But because we do have class sizes in school of art and design around 12 to 14 people maximum, creative media production is actually something similar. As well within business kind of up to 20 students perhaps but the spaces that you will be taught in. And in the case or eventuality that some students might not be able to get here. Obviously we do fully expect the social distancing and being able to maintain that throughout the campus will definitely be feasible. The art and design studios are kind of open plan and open spaces. So again, it's possible to kind of keep that space, keep ventilation throughout the campuses, and as mentioned we have small class sizes anyway so we don't envisage any sort of issues in that regard. Now of course, for some of you listening you might require a visa to study with us. If you do encounter delays to being able to do that. Sort of on time, and it prevents your arrival for the start of the semester, which will be the 27th of September with welcome week taking place. The week prior to that, then you can be assured that you will still be able to start your program with participation through our digital campus. I've been running all classes this semester through the digital campus and again if you want to kind of hear about some of our student experiences of that. We did host a sort of student takeover open day, specifically talking about what it's like to study in that environment. You know, some of our programs are very practical but the students talk about how sort of project works been managed, how they've still been able to meet people you've kind of heard about our welcome parties that just touched upon some of our guest speakers. You know, all those activities have still been ongoing. And we've still had sort of excellent participation rates and our students are still sort of settled in and with that support from Nelly and her team. And, you know, we've been delighted to see how well our students have been succeeding on their program. So, if you do want to kind of hear more about what that might be like, and I do recommend you to kind of check out those videos. And what that essentially means is that, you know, if you either from the EU and you move here, we also obviously have some students joining us who are already based in Prague or from the Czech Republic. Then we can run classes in a hybrid format. So what that would mean is some students would be participating on campus, and some would still be participating through the digital campus and we have invested in the technology to make that possible. And, you know, we are fully sort of prepared to do that to make sure that students like I say who who may still experience delays in any capacity can still join their programs and are very much a part of our community. And I touched upon it before, but actually all students, whether physically present in Prague, or taking part digitally at some of our events and indeed there might be some teaching that, you know, does still happen and completely remotely because we do have a lot of guest speakers, for example, that take part in some of our programs. So, you know, it's also an opportunity to actually kind of expand the learning experience. So if you would like more information, we have a dedicated page on our website for 20 September 2021 applicants. So please do visit there if you're not familiar with it. And of course, you can get in touch with the admissions team. So I believe the next slides are around deadlines. So we do have a couple of admission deadlines upcoming. Now, you can see the associated benefits there. And again, these are available on our website. Similarly for non visa, you can see sort of the deadlines and associated benefits. As I say, I do just want to touch upon sort of what the next steps would be. So if you've got any questions for us, like I said, please start writing those in the chat now. We will make sure that we check those out and answer those that we can. But if you are listening and you think that the city of Prague and indeed Prague College is the right place for you, then of course you would apply to your chosen program. The application process is all online for all our programs. We have a final interview that is at the moment and taking place over zoom. You would then hopefully be successful after that final interview and be offered a place to study and accept that confirm your place with payment of the first semester tuition fees. We would then give you more information about the visa application and as and when it's possible for you to apply for your visa. You would do so and then of course arrive in Prague and as you can see there, if feasible, you would be starting in person. Of course that's dependent at the situation at the time or in a digital campus and there's the link to that website. And if you are watching this, I'm going to put this next slide up so you can see our email admissions at prog college.cz. If you would like a copy of these slides or to get to some of those videos that we showed you, please don't hesitate to get in touch with us and we'd be happy to share them and happy to help. So, I'll just leave that up for a moment, but at this point, I do want to make sure, like I mentioned that we can answer your questions. So I'm going to stop sharing my screen at this point. And let's see. Let's see who's been joining us on what questions we have. Okay. So I can see we have some people actually from Seattle from Ukraine. This is exciting. Very nice. Thank you for being here with us. And there's a question about an admission of non traditional students. And I assume what that question means is perhaps somebody that does not have a completed qualification. Or is in a specific situation, but actually what I would recommend on that is to get in touch with us on admissions to let us know the program that you're most interested in applying for what your background is. And we can advise you individually. In fact, how we work as an admissions team anyway, is that a bit similar to, as Nellie mentioned for the study advisors. If you get in touch with us, you will have your own personal admissions advisor and they will work with you and answer any questions right through from, you know, about the program. It could be about how to apply for the visa fees, whatever question you have, we're basically here to help and we can have individual calls with you to. And of course, as part of that process, we would be happy to advise you around which program might be the best fit for your qualifications. We offer qualifications right through from foundation level bachelors right up until master's level and perhaps what's interesting to note as well is that, you know, students move abroad at all different points in that journey. Students come from foundation with us, and they study the foundation at Park College, the bachelor's degree, and then their master's degree, whereas some, you know, might have done their bachelor's in their home country and come just the master's. So, you know, it really is mixed, but in terms of that particular question, I think my advice really would be to get in touch with us and tell us more about your educational background so we can make sure we give you the right advice. But whilst we do have our students and Nellie here, is there anything else that we can that we can help you with that you'd like to know, or perhaps are there any sort of any closing comments? Okay, no, I think we do have another question that comes in. Yes, so this is about the visa process and we've not gone into too much detail. At this time, we typically do go through the documents that you would need in our general open day presentations of welcome to Park College. So the visa application process can take around, well, the application itself can take anywhere between three to four months to be processed from the time that you submit your application. So this does not account for the time to kind of get your documents prepared and make sure they're translated and in the appropriate format for submission at the embassy. So we do usually recommend that students are aware of the documentation that they'll need so they can start to research how you'll get that from your home country. The applicants, for example, who, you know, their citizenship might be from one country, but they reside in another. So the things like if you need a criminal background check, you have to get that from both countries. So these things can take time, which is why we do advise you to sort of start that research early. But the actual application itself, once you've submitted it, it can be quicker than 90 days, but typically it's around the three month mark for it to be processed and in rare cases, it can take up to four months. In terms of potential issues for delays, at the moment, these are in regard to the pandemic. So there are currently measures in place and from the Czech authorities, which are currently preventing the submission of new visa applications at local Czech embassies for the type of visa that our college is supporting. So for that reason, we would normally, for the September semester, recommend that students submit their application in May time or in the month of June. So that's still a couple of months away from now. You know, things are improving in terms of the epidemiological situation, but as of now, we just don't have a timeframe for when certain measures might change. And this is why, as I mentioned before, we are definitely planning for face to face teaching to happen. But we're also preparing for the fact that some of our students may or may not be able to get here because the preparation process for the visa application. It can actually really vary from individual to individual based on sort of the country and just based on how easy it is to go through those administrative processes. So I hope that answers that question, but again, do get in touch with us on admissions at our college.cz to tell us, you know, where you'd be applying from. And we can kind of tell you what's sort of the average timeframe for students applying from that country. We're definitely happy to help you in the admissions team on that. Are there any other questions before we head out to leave you guys? I'm aware that we've come up to the hour mark now. So thank you so much for staying with us. It's been a lovely sort of evening in Prague. So if it's been nice where you are, we're very grateful for you for taking the time, taking the time to out of your evening or out of your day to be with us and hear about this international student experience. And I would really like to thank Nellie, Genevieve and Arrolan for your insights. And yeah, they've been been really valuable. And I hope that you as the listeners have enjoyed hearing what what we've had to say and will of course consider Prague as your future study destination. Okay, well, if there's no further questions at this point, thanks once again for listening and taking part. And if you do need any follow up information about accommodation or want these slides, as mentioned, don't hesitate to get in touch with us and we'll be happy to help. Thank you very much everybody. Bye bye. Thank you. Bye.