糖心Vlog

Alumna de 2013
Licenciatura en Relaciones Internacionales y Diplomacia

Nacida en 1989, al principio pens贸 que estaba destinada a tocar el piano, tras cursar seis a帽os en un conservatorio de su ciudad natal, Pardubice. Sin embargo, se ha labrado otro destino en el 谩mbito de las relaciones internacionales y el mundo acad茅mico. En 2010, tras enterarse de que no pod铆a seguir tocando el piano por razones m茅dicas, se apresur贸 a elegir otro camino.

驴Primeros recuerdos en AAU?
I was really scared because my English wasn鈥檛 that good at the time, and I remember picking up all these readers for all six classes and thinking I wasn鈥檛 going to last more than two weeks!

驴Clases memorables?
I think the most important class for me was Cold War with William Eddleston. It was a tough class, but it prepared me well for Oxford. I also realized I was interested in the Cold War era.

驴AAU en tres palabras?
Amigable, internacional y riguroso.

驴Cosas intangibles que te llevaste de AAU?
Firstly, I met many great people there, such as my friends and my husband. Secondly, it also opened the opportunity for me to study at Oxford. 

驴Qu茅 te empuj贸 a estudiar en Oxford?
One day I met a girl who was applying to Cambridge鈥� and I thought: 鈥淲ell, you can actually apply from the Czech Republic?鈥� I never knew that it was possible for anyone from the Czech Republic to study at these schools. Then I began talking to professors at AAU, and I thought I could maybe just give it a try.

Between keeping up a straight A average and spending three to four months on her motivation letter, her efforts became a reality鈥� 

驴La mayor sorpresa en Oxford?
The most shocking thing was the list of readings we were supposed to prepare for each week. I tried to do all the suggested reading my first couple weeks where I was reading 14 hours a day, then I realized it was impossible. So, I had to establish some kind of system to get through a lot of literature and how to learn what I needed and the most important points that I could use in class and what was most interesting to me. I never imagined something that intense before.

驴Temas de tesis en AAU y Oxford?
I was working on the same thesis topic the whole time 鈥� at Oxford I just developed the topic I started at Anglo-American, which was about cultural exchanges between Czechoslovakia and Great Britain in the 1960鈥檚 before the Programs Spring. I was looking at the relationship between domestic liberalization processes in Czechoslovakia, starting in 1956 and leading to the Programs Spring of 1968, and the concurrent process of rejuvenating cultural dialogue between Czechoslovakia and Great Britain. So I spent basically five years researching in archives, conducting interviews, and putting it together since I was the first person to write about the topic.

驴Cu谩les eran esos canales de comunicaci贸n?
The main channels of communication between the two countries were two-way cultural and academic exchanges, emerging and limited tourism, and an increasing inflow of British popular culture to Czechoslovakia. The ongoing academic debate about the origins of the Programs Spring often neglects the increasing transnational experiences of Czechoslovaks coming to capitalist countries from the country鈥檚 gradual opening, and the effects of the subsequent inflow of Western culture to Czechoslovakia. So that鈥檚 why I find the topic very interesting.

驴Qu茅 le ha ense帽ado Poetizer?
That people actually really like to write poetry! It just started off as a fun project and then more and more people kept on downloading it and using it 鈥� now we have almost 8000 users, and about 300 new poems a week which is awesome!

驴Conexi贸n entre RI y poes铆a?
Poetry is an art, and art has a very important role in international affairs. In the late 1980s, Joseph S. Nye developed the concept of soft power that highlights the importance of culture in international relations. Simply put, he argues that a country鈥檚 soft power can shape relations with other countries through attraction and cooperation rather than coercion, and culture alongside with political values constitutes this soft power. I think he made a very important point, through culture we communicate with other people, cultures and nations, and we establish relationships through it 鈥� so as for myself, poetry and IR are certainly interrelated.

Del piano a la ense帽anza de ni帽os de preescolar, pasando por el aprendizaje del franc茅s en Grenoble, al mundo acad茅mico... 驴qu茅 opinas de tu variada formaci贸n? 驴Es importante?
In the terms of my studies at Oxford, it was very important for me to have a background in arts because it was an interdisciplinary program. I wrote my thesis on cultural exchanges in the Cold War, so it was important that I knew a lot about music and cultural arts, along with international relations and politics, so that I could use my knowledge of both fields.

I also believe that if you do more diverse things it makes you more open minded and creative so you鈥檙e not scared of trying new things.

驴Los mejores grupos checos?
J.A.R. y Monkey Business.

驴Si pudiera viajar en el tiempo para ver cualquier concierto?
Freddy Mercury y Queen.

驴No Mozart?
Se r铆e... "No, Queen ser铆a m谩s divertido".