Why Study Medicine in Pilsen, Czechia?

What do you think of the city of Pilsen, the faculty and the study?

Filipa Falcao: So Pilsen is a small city with a great transportation system, so it’s very easy to move around. I like that very much and it’s also an affordable place to live.

Marios Kaloutsis: I like it. I like the city because it feels like a university city. It’s small, but it’s also big enough for a student. You get the feeling that everyone around you is young and they also study and you can also make friends. And it’s really easy to get concentrated when you see many people doing the same thing that you do.

Martha Sardeli Krimpeni: I really like it here. There’s a lot of parks. There’s a lot of places where you can eat like restaurants, coffee places and so on and so forth. I like many activities. There is paintball, there is laser tag, there is cinema. You can do anything you want. So it’s a very friendly or student friendly city. And at the same time, it’s small and it has a lot of parks. It has a lot of green. You can do skiing. There are mountains around it. You can go and visit small villages around it. I really like nature. So it’s a perfect spot for me. Prague would be too big and I think too hectic.

Angelo Maccone: I have chosen Pilsen mostly because Pilsen is a small city. I came from a big city north of Italy, Milano. And I wanted to escape mostly from that suffocating big city. And I wanted more space and more freedom. And Pilsen got everything that you need because even if it’s small, you can arrive everywhere in Pilsen just by walking. You can have all the same things, that you got in a big city, in this small city. You’ve got a lot of bars, many pubs, student life. The life here in Pilsen is even cheaper than the life in a big city, even because the costs are one of the most important things for the family when they have to choose a university and I chose Pilsen even because it’s in the middle of Europe. And from here you can just go everywhere whenever you want. When you’ve got free time, just take your free time and go and look around and have trips and just clean your mind and do whatever you can, be happy.

Marios Kaloutsis: On the topic of the city being really small, we can also see that on the left side of the university, we can see all the other buildings, new and old. And on the other side, we can also see the university hospital, which is really close to the university.

Martha Sardeli Krimpeni: When you come here, you have different opportunities to choose where to stay. Right. This is important. So you can either stay in the dorm and it’s pretty affordable. There are two dorms that English speaking or foreign students use. One is Bolevecká, the other one Karlovarská. And you also have the possibility to choose a flat in the city centre, which is very nice because everything is close by and you can either pay by yourself and have your own flat or share it with more people.

Taya: The city itself is not really big, but at the same time it has everything that is needed. It’s easy to get to the different parts of the city and it has really full student life. People are coming here from all around the world. The faculty is considered one of the most international student friendly. So during all the events that are organised by the faculty and just our students who are getting together, sometimes at some places it’s easy to meet people, to get to know people from different nationalities. And it’s really interesting experience. And the faculty by itself, after some time that I’m studying here, I can certainly say that here I’m getting more practice and more general experience that I could get in my own country.

Angelo Maccone: At the first, from this university I expected a lot. And then when I came here, yes, I found that this university is worth it, because even from the first year of the General Medicine, you have lectures and practices.

Filipa Falcao: I like that the university focuses more on the theoretical side of things and then the practicals come to consolidate our knowledge. And I also like the organisation of the programme of our studies, and I think they are very well conducted.

ISMAP: International Student Medical Assosiation of Pilsen

Martha Sardeli Krimpeni: I happen to be the president of ISMAP. ISMAP is the foreign student association here in Pilsen, and it is a very old association actually. It has been going on for ages and ages. And the idea behind it is that we are trying to incorporate and integrate students into studying here in Pilsen. And what we do is that we have specific teams. So there is a sports team, there is an archives team, there s a social and cultural team and so on and so forth. And we are trying to organize some nice things for students. So, for example, we have basketball, volleyball, we have a yoga class or teacher who is actually one of the students teaching the rest of the students. We are organizing things like paintball, laser tag, debates.

Angelo Maccone: They are doing a lot of things for us, for our students. And I appreciate in the first year, that I had the opportunity to participate at some of these activities, for example, playing football, playing basketball or even volleyball. And we just meet. We just and participate and we just play all together.

Filipa Falcao: Our students organization ISMAP helps us all come together. They organize parties during the semester. They organize also some food festivals and some yoga classes. And it’s very nice to have those activities outside of the university.

Do you have any message for to those who consider study medicine in Czechia, Pilsen?

Angelo Maccone: When you just go to a university that is not in your home country, when it’s not in your own city, you have to do a big jump because it’s the moment when you start to think like adults and you have to take your life in your hands and then go ahead, because otherwise, if this will put you down, you will have a hard time.

Filipa Falcao: It has always been my dream to become a medical doctor. And as soon as my parents told me about the opportunity to study abroad here in Pilsen, I knew I had to take it. The transition was also quite easy for me since I knew some people that have studied here already.

Martha Sardeli Krimpeni: So to begin with, I knew already that I will come and study medicine in Europe because I was doing back in Greece, I was doing the International Baccalaureate IB and particularly why I chose the Charles University is for different reasons to begin with the rankings. But also I had a friend who has already been here, especially in the faculty in Pilsen, and I received very positive comments from him. So I decided to come here.

Marios Kaloutsis: I like the city. The university is really organized, so I’m happy with it. Basically, in my one year of experience, I feel it’s very good.

Filipa Falcao: I would totally recommend studying here in Pilsen. The quality of teaching and the international recognition are very important for me, which is one of the other reasons why I chose to study here in Pilsen and also because I made so many friends from so many different cultures and all over the world. And I’m so grateful for that.