They were attracted to Brno because of the low tuition fees, the quality of the university, and the Czech Republic’s ranking as one of the safest countries in the world. They suspected that they would like Brno, but they never expected that during their six years here they would fall in love with the city so much that they could not imagine living anywhere else.
“Brno is a great place to live. It's such a big village – you can easily bump into your classmates and teachers even at a wine festival. The city is just the right size, there are lots of students and foreigners and no one is in a hurry, which is a nice change from Tokyo, where I'm from. There are as many people living there as in the whole Czech Republic altogether,” says Yumeka, who is currently in her first semester of pharmacy.
Both students were pleasantly surprised by the Czech Republic and the locals. “Czechs are very nice, modest, a bit shy, and very hardworking. I always admire them for getting up early for work. Once I went to the hospital at six in the morning, and I was surprised to see a tram full of people. In our country we don't start working until about eight or nine in the morning. And also I haven't got used to how fast Czechs walk. You can't keep up with them at all,” laughs Yuki, who has just started his second year.
The fact that they do not leave the city even during the summer and rarely travel anywhere else, at most once every two years to Japan, demonstrates just how much they love the city. They spend most of the year in Brno with their friends from India, Ukraine, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic, whom they met at a party and have remained friends ever since. The rest of their time they spend studying and preparing for school, which is time-consuming.
We are taught by leaders in their fields
They say studying pharmacy is not as demanding as medicine, but Yumeka and Yuki still have a lot of work to do throughout the semester with assignments, lab protocols and studying for midterm exams. “The semester always goes by very quickly, but it's very interesting. I enjoy chemistry the most. I've always liked it, it’s fun. But we have a lot of interesting classes and lab exercises. Plus, we are taught by all great teachers who have a lot of international experience and are leaders in their fields, so it's a pleasure to go to school,” says Yuki.
Both also appreciate having smaller classes, usually consisting of just five students, plus a couple of Erasmus+ exchange students. This gives them more space to ask the teachers about things they don't understand. “This is very useful, especially since a lot of the courses end with an oral exam. We weren't used to that at all. In schools in Japan we only have written tests, so at first, we had to get used to oral exams, and we didn't know what to expect. But then you get it,” explains Yumeka.
Both students still have several semesters of study and a compulsory internship in a pharmacy or pharmaceutical company ahead of them before they get their pharmacy degrees. They also have to gradually start thinking about their thesis topic, which they will then work on in the faculty's laboratories for one and a half years. “We don't yet know exactly what we will focus on in our theses and what direction we will take after our studies, because there are so many options that you don't know what to choose. But we would like to stay in Brno or somewhere abroad, especially if we have a diploma that is recognized throughout Europe,” says Yuki.
