Details

• Czechia
• MACEMS-17
• Graduate
• WS 2025
• Time spent at the partner university: 4 months

1. Preparation

Prague was honestly not my first choice when compiling the list for the preferences, but how great my experience was there really goes to show how much people make the place and how everywhere can be a great destination if you find the right people and go with the right mindset. I also think that, even if Prague is not as cheap as it used to be, it's important to be realistic and think about the fact that it's a perfect student destination in terms of affordability, and that really allows you to live the full experience. Regarding the travel choice I went there by plane, simply because I was in Rome for my internship during the summer.

2. Accommodation

The housing has been booming in terms of prices in the years post covid so it's not as cheap as it used to be. I was living in the Eislerova building, which was the building of the uni dormitories reserved for the erasmus students. The payment is required to be done all in one solution and it comes to around 500 euros per month, the building was around 15 mins away from uni by tram (and around 40 mins by walking) and around 20/25 mins from the city centre also by tram. Regarding whether I suggest it or not it really depends on the student: I felt a bit "isolated" in terms of location of the building, but also since it's mostly reserved to the exchange students, a lot of my friends were also living there so there was always someone to have a walk with, dinner etc. For me it was very convenient because the uni sent us the email saying how we could book the room and since I was working full time at the time I didn't want to stress during my free time on Facebook etc to look for other accommodation options, so I just connected to the webiste at the requested time and booked my room (if you do it, you need to be fast because majority of the rooms are double and the single ones get booked out pretty quickly). Some of my friends chose instead to look for rooms in shared apartments and that's kind of a lottery, a friend of mine got a huge room in a huge house in a great neighbourhood (Vinorady) for around 450 per month, and another got a very little room in a nice apartment in a neighbourhood that's quite disconnected for 600, so you can find nice offers if you are lucky and have time, but it's a bit unpredictable. In conclusion, I would say pick the dorm suggested by the uni if you can't spend time searching for the place and if you don't mind travelling a bit by public transport; if you do have the time, on Facebook you'll find for sure something in a nice area at a reasonable price. I don't think anyone has found rooms in a shared apartment in a particular website, they've all used Facebook. In terms of safety, I've never felt unsafe in Prague, I think it was considered the safest city in Europe for some years actually. You will see drunk people and some junkies on the streets but me or my friends have never never been bothered, we always felt super safe.

3. Academic life at host university

The buildings are older but functional all the same. I think the biggest problem of their campus is that they really have no places where students can genuinely study/do group projects: they have a tiny coworking space, but it's literally always completely full, only 3 little working rooms but always booked and even if nobody shows up you cannot open them, so on the system they are always booked but in reality they are almost always empty and still unusable. They also have a library but it's not that big, so also almost always full and the only 3 rooms where you are allowed to talk within the library are also always full. Me and a lot of my friends (basically almost all the CEMS cohort) always went to cafedu, a cafe nearby that also serves as a coworking space, because it was impossible to study at VSE (also it's closed on both Saturday and Sunday, even during exam season). I think the academic culture is way less toxic than in Vienna, people were more genuinely interested in learning and less about the grade, so there was very little peer pressure and toxic stupid competition compared to WU. The teaching style is more or less the same. If I could recommend one course I have done, I would suggest the luxury marketing one: I think the content is nothing we've never heard before, but the teacher is extremely nice and every year they do extremely interesting projects. I did one with L'Orèal and I know the previous year worked with Dior, so it can be really stimulating if you're into marketing.

5. Every day life in the host country

Public transport is extremely efficient and very cheap (students with the ISIC card only pay 12 euros per month for trasnportation across all Prague). I almost exclusively used trams and in general they come very often, pretty much connect all the city and work really well. I think the last one during the week passes around 1 and then for sure during the weekend they also put some night option, that pass by every 30 mins. It's important to mention that Bolt in Prague is extremely cheap, I paid 4 to max 6 euros for 15 mins of ride, and especially if you share it, it's really convenient, so moving at night it's not a problem at all. I've never felt unsafe, even in the night trams or buses. There are some situations where you see some really altered people, but honestly I felt way safer here than in Milan, Barcelona etc. I think the city is quite active in terms of activities (especially when we arrived since it was still end of summer), but I have to say majority of the things I did, the Prague CEMS club organized for us, and it was a lot of activities. Still in terms of leisure, they have nice cheap tickets for students at the theatre, cinemas who also offered movies in English, with the cohort we went go-karting, the trains are relatively cheap so it's easy to do daytrips etc. Only note regarding the sport: all the courses offered from the uni are exclusively reserved to the Bachelor students for some reason, so if you wanna do sports you're going to have to go to the private gym. Not everyone speaks English, but they usually try to help you if they see you are struggling

6. Testimonial

Great people, great vibes. Prague is beautiful and can be so much fun. My semester has been full of walks along the lake, losing myself in little alleys in the city centre, Czech beer in the typical Czech places or, if we were lucky, in a park under the sun, but most importantly, a lot of fun nights in Dog's Bar (not during the exam session though ;) ).