Well, week went past pretty quickly, and so here I go with another article, enjoy! 

I’d like to focus on my first experiences of America as well as on my daily routine. People often ask me about what is the biggest difference between Czech Republic and America. I always tell them: "The people." To be honest, hospitality and kindness of the people in Iowa stunned me. Most of the people I've met so far were out-going, talkative, kind and willing to help me with everything, despite I was complete stranger for them when I arrived. And from what I've seen and experienced, it goes the same way with other people. To start to talk to complete stranger is absolutely no big deal here, I don't know, I just feel you don't get to see that kind of hospitality often in Czech Republic. Last time I ended with my arrival to Des Moines right? Well, after all the flights and troubles, I was dead tired. I just basically ate some food, unpacked, spoke with my new family little bit, and then went to sleep. Despite the fact I was still pretty tired the next day (because of jet lag, time difference is 7 hours), at 25th August, we went to school to set up my schedule (about which I will tell you later) and to meet the football team. Coach introduced me to all the guys (around 90 members of the team), and then I watched the practice. Well, I think that football is a chapter for itself. I thought that I will have a good time playing football, but I never expected this kind of awesomeness. But when I'm thinking of it right now, I will probably write whole separate article about football and members of the team.  26th August, first day of school. First day of school was kinda laidback. Speaking about school, my schedule sustains of 7 different courses, which I have every day of the week in the same order. First class of the day is US Government, in which we learn mostly about US Constitution and questions of power, authority and legitimacy. Second is Advanced Scientific Frontiers, where we learn and experiment with genetics and crossing members of same species (fruit flies) with different features. Then we usually (except for Early Out Wednesday) have Junior Advisor Group, which is basically "study hall" class, where we can learn stuff that we need, or finish our homework. My third class is Psychology, not really much to say about that, we are learning things about human mind, brain and a lot of different topics. Next is Foods, where we learn about different types of foods and nutrition, and obviously, how to cook. Then we go for a lunch in school (not that I would eat that stuff they call food in school cafeteria). Then I have American Studies & Compositions, then US History (Civil War, Western Migration etc.). My last class of the day is Money Sense. That is probably the class I'm most glad that I took it about. We learn about how to invest in stocks, mutual funds and bonds, how to make a budget, how we should choose mortgage and how to handle our finances in general. I absolutely love this class and think that this type of class is something we could certainly use in our schools back in Czech Republic, because is directly connects to the real life, and is something every single one of us will have to deal with in the future. Well, that was kinda longer than I expected, so I will probably go over my daily routine next week. I'd be glad if anyone of you had some idea about what to write about in next articles, so if you'd like to hear about something specific, don't hesitate to hit me up on facebook or e-mail. Last but not least, credits to my man Matej Skorepa, for constantly bitching about how I should start writing a blog, wouldn't be doing this without you, thanks buddy!

See ya all next week!

Vazeni a mili, tyden utekl jako voda, a tak prichazi i muj dalsi clanek, enjoy! Rad bych se v tomto clanku soustredil hlavne na prvni zkusenosti, zazitky a dojmy z USA, a take se snad dostanu ke sve 'Denni rutine'. Asi bych nespocital kolikrat uz se mne nekdo zeptal na to co je ten nejvetsi rozdil mezi Amerikou a Ceskem. Odpovim vzdy naprosto stejne: "Lide." Kdyz jsem dorazil, byl jsem naprosto takrikajic okouzlen tim jak jsou vsichni hrozne mili, vstricni a schopni vam pomoct naprosto s cimkoliv, bez ohledu na to jestli jste uplny cizinec a clovek ktereho v zivote nevideli nebo dlouholety rodinny pritel. A z toho co jsem zatim videl a prozil, funguje to tady takhle s drtivou vetsinou lidi. Zacit se bavit s cizim clovekem a pozvat ho jeste ten vecer k sobe na veceri, s celou jeho rodinou, je tu na dennim poradku. Uprimne, neumim si predstavit ze by se neco podobneho stalo u nas v Cechach. Secteno a podtrzeno, lide jsou tu skutecne mili, hodni a vstricni za jakychkoliv okolnosti. Naposledy jsem skoncil u priletu do Des Moines, ze? No, po tech vsech hodinach na ceste, trmaceni se po letistich a vseho stresu, jsem se citil ze kazdou chvili padnu a usnu vecnym spankem. Jen jsem se pobavil s moji novou skvelou rodinkou, najedl se, vybalil kufr a potom asi 16 hodin spal. I potom co jsem se probudil jsem byl unaveny, casovy posun je 7 hodin (celkove mi trvalo asi tyden nez jsem se prizpusobil). 25. rijna jsem si udelal prvni vylet do skoly, abych si zvolil predmety (o kterych vam povim za chvili) a potkal se s kluky z fotbaloveho tymu. Coach me predstavil behem treninku (necekal jsem ze v tymu bude okolo 90 hracu), a potom jsem zustal asi dalsich 45 minut a sledoval jak probiha trenink. Od prvniho dne na me byli vsichni strasne mili, jak kluci tak treneri, i pres jejich vzezreni ktere pripomina spise medvedy nez lidi. Hned behem prvniho treninku, kdy jsem kluky jen sledoval, jich za mnou spousta pribehla s tim, ze kdybych neco nechapal nebo potreboval pomoct, tak ze jim mam bez problemu rict. No, a ted uz je to taky uplne jina pisnicka, fotbal a spoluhraci jsou kapitola sama pro sebe, pravdepodobne se tu v nejblizsi dobe objevi clanek jen o fotbalu a vse s nim spojenem. Uuu, 26. rijna, prvni den skoly. Ano, prvni den skoly byl nuda, nic moc jsme nedelali, hadam stejne jako v Cechach. Tak, konecne jsme se dostali ke skole, moje vyucovani zacina s hodinou US Government, kde se po vetsinu casu ucime o Americke ustave a otazkach sily, autority a legitimace co se vlady tyce. Druha hodina jsou takzvane Advanced Scientific Frontiers, coz je v podstate pokrocila biologie a genetika, tahle hodina zahruje i spoustu pokusu a laborek s krizenim jedincu ze stejneho druhu s ruznymi charakteristikami. Treti je tzv Junior Advisor Group (krome Early Out Wednesday) coz je v podstate volna hodina kdy mame cas na to si dodelat ukoly, ucit se na testy a podobne. Treti plnohodnotna hodina je Psychologie, predpokladam ze netreba vysvetlovat co je tematem vyuky. Dalsi jsou Foods, kde se ucime o jidle, jak s jidlem pracovat, jak varit a tak dale a tak dale. Potom mame obed, ne ze bych jedl to cemu rikaji jidlo ve skolni jidelne. Dalsi jsou American Studies & Composition (zde probirame literaturu, anglictinu a ruzne otazky jako "Proc jsme vlastne ve skole?"), a pote US History (Obcanska valka, zavrazdeni Lincolna, migrace na Zapad...). To nejlepsi mam nakonec, a to Money Sense. To je pravdepodobne hodina za kterou jsem nejvice vdecny. Behem dvou mesicu jsme stihli probehnout par temat jako jsou napriklad jak investovat do akcii, bondu a spolecnych fondu, cim se ridit pri vyberu akcii, jak si vytvorit realisticky budget, na co se ohlizet pri vybirani hypoteky a podobne. Muj nazor je takovy, ze neco podobneho kriticky chybi na skolach v Cesku (nebo alespon v Hradci), nebot jsou tyhle informace primo spojene se skutecnym zivotem, a troufnu si tvrdit ze kazdy z nas se proste bude muset potykat s podobnymi problemy v budoucnu.

No, to bylo trochu delsi nez jsem cekal, takze o moji denni rutine se doctete pristi tyden. Kdyby jste mel nekdo nejake dotazy, nebo treba chteli vedet nejake specificke informace o mem zivote v USA, urcite dejte vedet. A v neposledni rade, me velke diky patri mladenci jmenem Matej Skorepa, za neustale stezovani si a ryti do me ohledne toho, jak moc bych mel zacit psat blog. Diky Ti priteli, bez tebe bych jiste ochudil desetitisice (mozna statisice) ctenaru o pocteni o mem nudnem a stereotypnim zivote!

First day of school!
Prvni den ve skole!

School cafeteria
Skolni jidelna

Ballard wrestling room

School weight room
Skolni cinkarna

Meeting teammates for the first time!
Prvni setkani se spoluhraci!

Welcome to my experience!

So, after 2 months of living in America, I finally got myself to start writing a travel blog. I hope this blog will also help my other fellow students who were thinking of being part of exchange program. If that is your case, let me say it right away... If you have the opportunity, then DO IT.  But before we start, credits to my fabulous sister for setting this whole blog thing up, thank you! Although my first intention was to write in english only, my awesome sis made a valid point about my grandmas not going to able to read about my adventures, so for those from Czech Republic too lazy to sharpen their english, scroll down for Czech translation. My whole journey started during German language class (paradox right?), where I found little CCI Greenheart poster. I was always thinking about how awesome it would be to go somewhere as an exchange student, but I honestly never truly believed that I actually will go. Same week, I attended CCI meeting in my school, where they asked us if we might be interested in going abroad to study. We listed our preferences of place, duration etc... Then, 2 months later, I attended CCI tests (speaking, writing, reading, listening). After that, all what was left was signing an agreement and paying money. Once we did that, I received an email with all the paper work. Geeez, I gotta say, that part was the worst! In the end, when all was done, after numerous hassles with members of my family (Hi dad!), I sent my completed application to CCI Greenheart, and waited. After approximately 2 months of waiting, they found me a matching family, in little city called Huxley, state Iowa. Let me set this straight right now, I couldn't have wished for better fam! But I didn't know that back then in Czech, I got basic information about the family (family members, religion, daily routine etc.), school and city. Time flies, so I suddenly had myself thinking about how I will miss my family, friends and basically every single thing in my life. I was pretty scared before I left. The day had come, I'm sitting in a car heading to Vaclav Havel airport in Prague. Wow, I'm not scared anymore. Just kidding, I'm terrified. But I did my best to not to show my fam how scared I was. But as soon as I stepped inside that airplane, my mind instantly switched from "Don't know what to expect and I'm scared" mode to "You are on your own now" mode. I flew from Prague to Amsterdam, where I transferred for the first time. Amsterdam airport is one of the biggest airports in Europe, and I had only 50 minutes to find my terminal, get my ticket, and hop on a plane. Fortunately, I managed to all that pretty fast. So there I was, sitting in a plane, course Atlanta! This flight lasted about 10 hours, but it was kinda comfortable and relaxing for me. When I said that Amsterdam airport is big, I did not know what I'm talking about. Atlanta airport is one of the biggest airports in the world. Wow, that place is huge, they have a subway to get to different terminals. Fortunately, I had 3.5 hours to transfer, so I got my luggage, used self check-in to get my ticket, went through immigration department, wrote my parents and called my host family that I'm currently in Atlanta waiting for my flight to Des Moines. That flight was 2.5 hours, so thats approximately 14 hours of flights, 5 hours on airports, 7 hours time difference. Yes, I was tired. I was limping through Des Moines airport, and there they were, smiling and waving at me, with their big "Welcome to the USA" sign! Alright, that is enough for today, next week I'll publish another article about my daily routine and first expressions. If you want to contact me or have other questions about my journey, hit me up on Facebook (Mara Lukas), Snapchat (maraluk), or email (marek.lukas03@gmail.com). See you next sunday!




Taaaaak, po 2 mesicich jsem se konecne dokopal k tomu udelat neco produktivniho a mozna take pomoct ostatnim studentum uvazujicim o exchange pobytech. Pokud je tohle tvuj pripad, tak to reknu rovnou, pokud mas moznosti a prostredky, nevahej a do toho! Jeste nez zacnu, velke diky patri me skvele bozi uzasne sestricce za zarizeni cele tehle stranky! Jo a prej pro ni mate hlasovat v Blogerce roku, nevim co to je a nerozumim tomu, ale je to ma fabulous sister takze hlasujte, link @ her bio (to taky nevim co znamena) @ instagram ('dominikalukasova'). Tak, nezbytne promo mam za sebou, takze k veci! Cela tahle cesta do zamori zacala na hodine nemciny (paradox ze?) kde nam nase profesorka ukazala letacek od CCI Greenheart, za coz ji patri velke diky. Sice me asi sezere zaziva az se vratim s nemcinou na urovni houpaciho kone, ale co! Vzdycky jsem tak nejak premyslel ze by bylo skvele odjet studovat nekam do ciziny, ale uprimne jsem nikdy opravdu neveril ze se skutecne seberu a odletim.  Jeste ten samy tyden jsem se zucastnil schuzky CCI u nas ve skole, kde jsme dostali obecne zakladni informace o vymennych pobytech, a na oplatku jsme vypsali nase preference co se tyce mista, casu a podobne. V tuhle chvili bylo jeste vsechno absolutne nezavazne. Po 2 mesicich jsem se zucastnil CCI testu (mluveni, psani, cteni a poslech). Potom zbyvalo jen podepsat smlouvu a zaplatit. Jakmile jsme tak ucinili, prisla mi horda papiru, ktere byly potreba vyplnit, obehat, zaridit a tak dal, urcite si to umite predstavit. To byla nejhorsi cast cele teto akce, verte mi. Po par mesicich a nespoctu hadkach s jistymi cleny me familie (Ahoj tati!) jsem konecne poslal vyplnenou application do CCI Greenheart. Dal mi nezbyvalo nic nez cekat az se pro me najde vhodna rodina. A tak se stalo po priblizne 2-3 mesicich, kdyz se mi u me aplikace rozsvitila ikonka o "Matching family". Reknu to rovnou, nemohl jsem ani doufat v lepsi rodinu! Ale to jsem v tu chvili nevedel, dostal jsem jen zakladni informace o clenech rodiny, o meste a skole. Muj novy domov je ted male mestecko jmenem Huxley, stat Iowa. Cas leti neuveritelnym tempem, najednou zacinam premyslet o tom jak mi bude chybet rodina a pratele a vlastne muj zivot se vsim vsudy v Cechach. Budu uprimny, tak posledni mesic pred odjezdem jsem byl vcelku vystraseny. Sedim v aute smer letiste Vaclava Havla, a muj strach graduje. Jsem ale sikovnej kluk a nic na sobe nedam znat, prece nechci aby se ma familie stresovala jeste vic! Jakmile nastupuju na letadlo, v hlave okamzite prepinam z "Nevim co cekat a mam strach" modu do "Ted je to jen na mne" modu, coz mi neskutecne pomaha. Muj let z Prahy do Amsterdamu trva jen hodinu a pul. Amsterdam je jedno z nejvetsich letist v Evrope, a ja mam jen 50 minut na prestup, nervozita je zase tady! Nastesti zvladam najit terminal, ziskat letenku a naskocit na letadlo vcas, takze wohoo, smer Atlanta, Georgia. Let trva asi 10 hodin, ale mame pohodli, jidlo, filmy a hudbu, takze nestradam a let pro me neni nic hrozneho. Kdyz jsem rikal, ze Amsterdam je velke letiste, nemel jsem tuseni jsem o cem mluvim. Letiste v Atlante je jedno z nejvetsich na svete. To misto je vazne obri, maji dokonce vlastni metro ktere vas dopravi na jednotlive terminaly! Na prestup mam 3.5 hodiny, easy, letenku si zaridim na self check-inu, prochazim pres kontroly a imigracni, a potom mi nezbyva nic nez cekat na muj let do Des Moines (hlavni mesto Iowy). Vidam prvni americky fastfood, a jak muzete hadat, hned si jdu pro double cheeseburger, abych si to cekani trochu zprijemnil zejo! Pisu sms sve rodince v Cechach a volam moji host family. Let do Des Moines trva cca 2.5 hodiny, to je priblizne 14 hodin letu, 5 hodin na letistich, 7 hodin casovy rozdil. Ano, jsem unaveny. Tamhle jsou, vidim svoji novou rodinu, usmivajici se a mavajici na me s transparentem "Welcome to the USA"!
To by pro dnesek stacilo, pristi vikend sem hodim dalsi clanek o prvnich dojmech, zkusenostech a moji denni rutine! Pokud me chcete kontaktovat nebo mate nejake dodatecne dotazy, dejte vedet: Facebook (Mara Lukas), Snapchat (maraluk), nebo marek.lukas03@gmail.com. 

Arriving to Amsterdam!
Prilet do Amsterdamu!

Finally Des Moines, with my new lovely fam!
Konecne Des Moines, s moji novou uzasnou rodinou!