Hlavní stránka Info portálu ZČU

She is in the first year of the Social and Cultural Anthropology Master's programme at the Faculty of Arts and expects to continue his education in this field. Kateřina Bučková has successfully completed her bachelor's degree programme and, according to her, she enjoys her studies more and more. In the autumn she will even be doing field research in Kyrgyzstan. Read our interview with her. Maybe the Faculty of Arts at the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen will catch your eye and never let go.

• What surprised you more on your first day at university—the difficulty of the subjects or the price of lunch in the cafeteria?
  I can't judge the prices of lunches in the canteen, I don't go to the canteen here in the city centre. But I do take advantage of the discounts at the UWB friendly network, so I tend to go there.
  
  
• If you had to describe your field as a movie genre, would it be a thriller, comedy, or sci-fi?
  Anthropology is a mixture of probably everything - when we do field research, it's going to be a thriller, something adventurous, and at the same time it can be comedy when interacting with people. It can also become a tragedy when we're writing a last-minute term paper. Here you find all genres, you get a taste of everything (laughs).

• What's your best survival trick for exam season?
  I have to hide my phone in a drawer and tell myself the day before that I need to study it. I don't study regularly, I study in spurts.
  
  
• What was your biggest "I see" moment during your studies? Is there something you wish you had known in your first year?
  I guess my general advice to everyone is to be proactive and enrol in something optional in addition to the compulsory subjects in your freshman year. Classmates usually have only the basic number of credits and make up the rest in their sophomore and junior years, and that's a horror.And don't be afraid of C-level courses, even from other faculties.
  
  
• If you could give your first-year self one piece of advice, what would it be?
  Don't write those essays the day before, write them before (laughs). Also: enjoy every day you're here, because studying won't last forever.

• Imagine you have 30 seconds to convince a prospective student to choose your faculty. What would your "ad" sound like?
  If you like history, interpersonal relationships, like to dabble, like to talk to people, or maybe you're into languages, be sure to come check us out because you're sure to find something. We have a lot of Erasmus contracts and we can also look at a lot of places abroad. Plus we're right in the centre, so there's no shortage of social life.

• What’s the biggest myth about university studies that you’d like to debunk?
  I think the biggest myth about FF is that people slack off here and end up with a title from here in McDonald´s. I personally find that to be a big untruth. Those who come here just to have the status of a student, or those who realize that this study is not for them, such people get sorted out in the first year and the others who stay at FF go on to work in that particular profession. And if one is active, looking for contacts, integrating into the university or looking for a job and going on field research, it is impossible not to get a job somewhere.
  
  
• What was the most interesting debate you had during your studies? And did you manage to come to a conclusion at all?
  We debate in every class, there is always some discussion. Last time, for example, about whether there is a race. We've come to the conclusion that there are several ways of looking at this issue. So we came to a conclusion and everybody was right (laughs).
  
  

Studying during the day or late-night cramming?
Definitely at night, only at night. The energy man will then take me through all the tests (laughs).

Cafeteria or instant noodles?
Neither. I go to the discount store downtown. When I have time, I like to cook something, but when you're at school all day, you want to make yourself happy and go out to eat.

Front row in a lecture or in the back by the power outlet?
Front row, because I get to chat with the speakers the most, that's where the most fun is.

Group projects or doing everything solo?
It depends on the collective. If they are lazy classmates, then it is a terrible pain to do a group project with them. I can't complain though, I have a really nice year group, so I'd do everything in there as a group.

Oral or written exams?
Definitely oral, because the interaction with the examiners is the best part. Sometimes we learn new things in the exam or realize what we've been learning wrong that we don't find out in the written test.

If I can, I'll do all the early dates so I can take as much time off as possible.

You can apply to the Faculty of Arts at UWB in Pilsen for a total of 10 Bachelor's and 11 Master's degree programmes until 30 April. Don't wait for anything, start your application here.