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Queer Prague & Pangea

Hello Crumpets,

My name is Mathilde, I am 22, and from Denmark. I am a full-time feminist, book-geek, funky socks lover, and aspiring activist. I am also gayer than a group of unicorn swingers at Eurovision.


I have lived in Prague for the last two years, studying International Relations at Anglo-American University, so I know Prague and the queer community quite well. In addition to founding AAU Queer-Club, I am the founder and executive director of Pangea.


Pangea is a feminist & queer non-profit organization operating in Prague.

We meet every other Tuesday evening at 8 to 10 pm at the Prague LGBT+ Centre. Here we take turns presenting and debating feminist issues such as women in war, queer politics, polyamory, ecofeminism etc. We also host and engage in other events such as workshops, poetry evenings, demonstrations, and fundraisers. Everyone is welcome to join (yes, we even let in the scary straight folks.)


Prague is a safe and fun space for queer people.

I have been here for years and I have never experienced any discrimination or homophobia. (And I am clearly gay as hell). I have kissed my girlfriend in public and talked loudly about vibrators on the tram. I am female presenting, however, so I acknowledge it may be different for queer men and trans people.


People in Prague are open-minded but older Czech people (especially older Czech men) are generally not that progressive. (Are they ever?) It will be harder to be trans or a “gay-looking” man (whatever that is) than a gender-queer woman.


There is a long range of spaces for gay men though. Prague has gay cafes, bars, clubs, spas, and fetish hubs. This does sadly not apply for queer women or female presenting people. There are currently no bars or clubs specifically for queer women. I am hoping to change this, however, and am planning on opening a dyke bar and club in fall 2023. Please stop by when we open. ;)



Prague also recently opened its first LGBT+ Centre.

It is open every Thursday (and Tuesday for Pangea) and is general a great space to meet other queer people. Prague also host pride in August every year and have great events like the queer movie festival Mezipatra, weekly drag and burlesque shows, gay Halloween balls, and other gay parties. This makes Prague an entertaining and easy space to be queer in.


Just don’t walk down a small Czech village in full drag – and please don’t cross the border to wave your rainbow flag in Poland. (This will get you into some real trouble for sure.) When you're in the mood to travel and wear your sexy harness or your sparkly-diamond-dragon costume (as we all do from time to time) take the bus to Berlin instead.


Prague is in the centre of Europe and close to all other European capitals. You can go pretty much anywhere with public transport in a matter of hours. This also makes Pride month incredibly fun as you can run the metaphorical Pride Marathon – provided you don’t die from alcohol poisoning or excessive sex (though to be honest, there are worse ways to go).


If you want to learn more about queer Prague, you are welcome to contact me on my Insta: @mathildekjeldbjerg or you can follow Pangea on the Instagram: @pangea_prague.

I hope to see you in Prague.


Gay hugs and banoffee pie,


Mathilde F. Sandahl Kjeldbjerg

(Pronouns: she/her, he/him, they/them, my dragon lord, your majesty).



Scholarships to Study in Europe

Updated: Mar 16, 2023

At this point, we've definitely established that university in Europe is far more affordable than in the US. From tuition to living expenses, making the move is well worth it. But even universities that are affordable when compared to the US are still out of reach for many. So here's your game plan for getting your degree in Europe for free.

In case you don't know me...

I'm Liza, an American student who took my education abroad after graduating high school. My initial motivation was avoiding the crippling student debt that has, unfortunately, become so normalized in the US.

Four (debt-free) years later, I have graduated from Anglo-American University in Prague with a Bachelors in Humanities, Society and Culture, and have just started grad school at Vrije Universiteit Brussel studying New Media and Society.


Skip ahead:

Before I explain how I did it, let's look at some numbers;

Undergraduate Degree: $ 25,700 total ($ 4,283 per semester)

Graduate Degree: $18,338 total ($ 4,584 per semester)

Definitely read my whole blog post about this (linked above) but here's an uber brief overview.

Rent: 10,000CZK ($428)

Food: 2,400-4,000CZK ($100-$181)

Transportation: 120CZK ($5.15)

Drug Store Stuff: about 500-750CZK ($21-$32)

Entertainment: 400-2,400CZK ($17-$100)


Non-EEA Undergraduate Degree: € 3,247 - €3,850 per 60 credits (one year)

Non-EEA Graduate Degree: € 961 - € 3.850 per 60 credits (one year)

and keep in mind you may have to take a few preparatory classes which might add €10 to €40 per class.

Living Expenses per Month in Brussels:

As far as living expenses go though, I have been here exactly one month and can't accurately say the total costs but heres what I know so far.

Rent: €410 plus €100 in utilities

Renters Insurance: about €100 for the year depending on your coverage options

Transportation: €1 (students get a €12 pass for the year!)

yup thats what I know for sure thus far (but sign up for emails so I can notify you when I write the full updated blog!)


Okay so now that you know how much it costs to live abroad for uni...

Let's talk affordability.

I paid my tuition and living expenses three ways:

Student Jobs:

Throughout my time in Prague and Brussels, I have always had a job or two. In Prague, I was an ESL teacher at Kids&Us. I loved every minute of it and it paid higher than most student jobs in Prague. However, hours were limited in my first year so I was thankful to have savings and working definitely helped me stretch my savings out much longer.


Savings:

Savings are absolutely essential before moving abroad. I am privileged to have parents who set up a 529 college savings plan when I was born. However, any interest accrued on your savings will be lost if the money isn't spend on tuition at a college in the US. Still, we decided it was worth it to pull the money out of that account to fund my education abroad. Thanks to this account and my savings from high school jobs, I moved to Prague with $12,000.


Scholarships for International Students:

There are so many scholarships out there that will help you cover the whole cost of your degree. So, here is the list of scholarships I have found (and let sit in my notes app) over the years that are available to international students.

Skip to the section you need:

Non University Specific Scholarships:

  • Merit-Based Scholarship

    • 100% off tuition

    • Available starting your second semester based on your performance in your first semester

      • you must complete 5 courses before qualifying

    • GPA > 3.9 or UK numerical GA > 68

  • Afghan Refugee Scholarship

    • Full cost of tuition and fees and an additional 60,000czk support allowance

    • Afghan citizens evacuated from Afghanistan in August 2021

    • No deadline

  • Milena Jesenská Journalism Scholarship

    • Tuition for the program’s 4 core courses

    • For a dedicated member of the school newspaper

    • June 1st

  • Ministry of Education Accommodation Scholarship

    • 540czk per month in cash (about $300 a year)

    • Literally every foreign student gets this, you apply in like two seconds on your computer and it's just given to you twice a year

  • Bring a Friend Program

    • $500 for every student who enrolls and references you on their application

    • p.s. if you don't know anyone to write down feel free to write me :) I'm not a student anymore but because of my blog and TikTok and all that I'm technically a recruiter now so I'd appreciate it <3

  • Master Mind

    • Reduction of tuition to that which is paid by Flemish scholarship student (I think this is only like $300 but I'm not certain)

    • Deadline: February 25

    • Granted to 20 students

  • VUB Scholarships for Master of Science in Photonics Engineering

    • 10.000,- EUR/academic year

    • For the Master of Science in Photonics Engineering program

  • VUB B-PHOT Excellence Scholarships

    • 5.000,- EUR/academic year

    • For the MSc. in Photonics Engineering

  • VLIR-UOS

    • Award:

      • Waves International student fees reducing tuition to about $1,000

      • Health insurance

      • Pays for your flight to Belgium & return home

      • Logistic allowance and indirect travel costs

    • Requirements:

      • For students from countries in Africa, Asia and Latin-America

      • For MSc. in Marine and Lacustrine Science and Management

      • For Interuniversity Programme in Water Resources Engineering

And don't limit yourself to this list! Your nationality, as well as the country and school you study at, will change what you qualify for.


Edited by Sophia Pedigo

My Story: How I Found my University in Europe (And the Mistakes I Made)

Updated: Apr 8, 2024


If you're here, you probably already know that when I was a high school senior, with an increasing desire for adventure and a fear of student debt, I decided to move to Prague and get my degree at Anglo American University.

To start at the beginning. In 2015, just as the thought of college began to enter my mind, so did the stress of how I would manage to pay for my education. The obvious answer seemed to be loans. It was what every other middle-class student seemed to resort to so I figured I'd just end up as another student debt statistic. I planned on applying for financial aid and scholarships, but I was no Ivy League candidate and wasn't sure how far that would get me. So, I settled on a life of debt.


But, as you could guess, I wasn't the only student dreading this fate. June of 2015, I had just finished my sophomore year of high school. My mom and I were in the car listening to NPR Weekend Edition when we heard Scott Simon say, "American students looking to escape the staggering costs of a university education are heading abroad." My mom and I look at each other and she turns up the volume. We listen to Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson interview Americans who chose to take their education abroad to Germany. The 3-minute story ended and I immediately turned to my mom and said, "I would totally do that." And so it began.

The Search

With our only information about this route coming from a 3-minute NPR story, we began excitedly looking further into German Universities. Free tuition and a large international student community were alluring and seemed to make so much sense. There were drawbacks, of course, being so far from family and an uncertain job market in Germany for immigrants. But, free education from a top European university seemed entirely worth having to migrate back to the US after graduating.


But it wasn't long before we hit our first snag. The research was proving to be more difficult than expected. After a few months, I had found a hand full of universities I was interested in. These both offered degrees fully in English and had programs I was interested in. But the websites were difficult to navigate and it felt like the information I needed wasn't there. I felt like there must be some secret website that all the German students knew about which listed all the information about schools and helped give some sort of more personalized advice about which university to attend. But all I could find were dated websites written all in German.


Junior year had arrived. Even after visiting some American universities that left me less-than-excited and months of research turning out a disappointing lack of information for Americans seeking to study in Germany, I was still certain that going to college abroad was right for me. I had found two universities that especially interested me, the University of Freiburg and Rhine-Waal University.


With certainty this was the right path for me, my family and I packed up for a family vacation to Germany. I visited the universities in which I was interested and fell in love with Freiburg (to this day I still love the city). I learned many of the world's best-known philosophers had studied here including Martin Heidegger, Edith Stein, Max Weber. I was smitten but also worried.


Freiburg had become the only university I was interested in. And it was a good school, like really good, like Heidegger good. I didn't want to risk applying to only one school then being denied and getting stuck in my hometown post senior year while trying to figure out my next move in life. So we went back to the drawing board.


Expanding the Search


A bit threatened by my friends' increasing lists of potential schools, my mom and I hit the internet again with more research. After our trip to Germany, I spent 10 days visiting friends in England. I loved my time there so we started our search there but quickly realized that UK tuition was about equivalent to in-state tuition at my state's flagship school, UCONN. Without the motivator of massive financial savings, my mom was far less motivated to send me to school on another continent.

So school in England was scrapped and I was still left with just one school that interested me. Not wanting to settle for school in the US with maybe one semester abroad, I decided to start looking at schools across the rest of Europe, starting with France- and boy was that a mistake.


I quickly found the American University of Paris. Super excited about the thought of living in Paris, I dove right in and quickly found the tuition. It was $40,000. More than UCONN, the UK, and definitely Freiburg. This find gave me the impression that this was typical European tuition. So, I started to give up.


But, lucky for me, my mom didn't. She continued researching further and found that across Europe tuition rates are FAR more affordable than in the US. Not everywhere was free like Germany, but a $2,000 or even $6,000 yearly tuition was far more manageable than $40,000.


Senior year approached, and we were met with a similar challenge to the beginning of our search. A lack of information. As well as a new fear, what if these schools weren't legit? What if it was just an elaborate scheme to steal thousands of dollars from my family and I would arrive in Europe to find out the university didn't even exist? We couldn't afford another trip to Europe, so we had to get it right.


Consulting an Expert


Just as we began to give up once more, my mom came across a new online service. It was a new small business started by a university student coach who also sought an alternative to student debt for her kids. She had comprehensively researched universities across Europe which taught in English and offered degrees recognized in the US.


This felt like a godsend. It was a new business and there weren't many people that had used the service yet, so although we were a bit skeptical we figured it was worth a shot.


And we were right, this was a godsend. We started talking to the founder of this small business and sifting through their database of universities. Not only did this database provide us with key information on each university but it gave us a better understanding of my options – and there were SO many options.


Feeling a bit lost in all the options, my mom suggested we invest in some one-on-one consulting with the founder. Knowing that the price of the consulting would be made up for in the cheap tuition of whichever university I ended up choosing


With this list, Anglo American University jumped to the top of my choices, even above Freiburg. AAU was an affordable option located in Prague, Czech Republic. The founder had visited AAU and assured us that she loved both Prague and the university.


Unfortunately, the founder of this business has now moved on to new endeavors. But, with about 4 years worth of research on universities across Europe, scholarships for international students, visa requirements and other matters of immigration; 2 degrees from studying in 3 countries; and 7 years of lived experience with studying, working, and living in Europe, I have also begun to offer international student consultations.


(As this is a story of how I found my university in Europe I wont get into that now- but feel free to email me at liza@skola.be if you would like to inquire!)


Applying


With a new exciting list of universities, I started the process of applying. I found out most European universities don't require SAT scores, though they do tend to focus more on academic performance over extracurriculars. I had to create a CV rather than a resume (honestly loved that though, I hated trying to narrow down four years of high school to one page), and I had to write letters of motivation over a college essay (though it's not much different, this relieved so much stress for me. I felt like there was so much pressure to write the perfect college essay and my ADHD and perfectionism have me feel like if I can't do something perfect, I don't want to do it at all.)


There was one challenge though, my top universities required my diploma for the application. This meant I couldn't apply until June, and then I had only two months to get my student visa, which usually takes three. Except for Anglo American University. They allowed me to apply at any time, they would give a conditional acceptance as long as my high school diploma was sent in as soon as I graduated. With AAU being my top choice this was perfect.


So, I applied and was accepted before I ever had the chance to apply to any other universities. With an acceptance to my top university, I didn't feel the need to spend more time and money on any other applications. So I immediately began my visa process and booked my one-way flight to Prague!


Now

Well, it's been three years since I first arrived in Prague and I've never regretted it for a minute. I've met friends for life at AAU and had the opportunity to spend a semester in Malaysia. I am working on my thesis and I'm about to graduate with a degree in Humanities, Society and Culture in February.


Getting to where I am now wasn't easy or stress-free, as I'm sure you can tell now. But, it was the best decision of my life and I hope my story can help you avoid some of the mistakes I made.


xx Liza

Edited by Sophia Pedigo




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