Published: 15.01.2018
At the beginning of autumn, not only hundreds of young Czechs and Slovaks from all corners of the former Czechoslovakia move to the Pardubice campus, but also foreign students from all over the world who come to the University of Pardubice to study are also coming to staying here. Their needs are attended to by the ESN Pardubice Student Association, which is of great assistance to them in the new environment. There are also a number of leisure activities being prepared for them.
Generally, study abroad is often associated with the socio-cultural entertainment at the place of study; ESN Pardubice successfully combats this prejudice every year by organizing excursions to nature. Even though October has traditionally been a bad weather season in the Czech Republic, inclemency of the weather did not discourage the students from ESN Pardubice and "their" foreign students from taking a trip to the National Nature Reserve of Adršpach-Teplice Rocks and a few days later from another hike.
Trip record in the number of participants
This year's 8th October will make its mark in the history of our student association since for the first time we had organized a trip eventually by 102 participants. Most of them were Pardubice foreign students, but also 12 foreign students from Hradec Králové joined the expedition as part of their cooperation with the local student association of a similar orientation. The all-day trip started at Pardubice Train Station in the morning, where the train was conveniently taken to the Adršpach railway station. The tourist march took the students through the Adršpach Rocks through the most interesting places of this "rock town" - the rock formations Mr. Mayor and Ms. Mayor, the Lovers and a view of the rock panorama, including a small detour for the poetic Elephant Square. Unfortunately, the rain, which was accompanying the students with varying intensity all day, was the heaviest when we were cruising along the Adršpach rock pond. Nevertheless, it did not spoil the unforgettable experience, so the journey continued through the Vlčí ravine, connecting both the rocky towns. In the Teplice Rock Town, more active students set for another walk around the rock walls, those more tired or exhausted by the rain headed straight to the town of Teplice nad Metují. The two groups met again at dinner with traditional Czech cuisine in a Teplice restaurant, and then went back to Pardubice.
The weather was not on our side during the trip to the Moravian Karst either
The weather forecast promised a harsh, windy and rainy Sunday, and the first obstacles caused by the gusts of wind had already occurred during a train trip to Blansko. In the upshot, local traffic constraints resulted in an almost hour delay. Still, we managed to make up for the lost time and by the afternoon the participants of the trip had already been admiring the 138 m deep Macocha Abyss, enriched by brief information about the mythological origin of the name of the abyss and the geological origin of the whole Moravian Karst. We descended to the Punkva Caves where photographers' attention was naturally attracted by stalagmites of various types, shapes and sizes. The long-awaited cruise on two boats on the subterranean Punkva River brought us to the pearl of Punkva Caves, Masaryk's Dome. Our strength, especially the moral one, was subsequently put to a test by a persistent rain. Strengthened by lunch in the Skalní mlýn Hotel, we then climbed from the valley of the Pustý Žleb to the village of Těchov, where about half of the group, either feeling tired or having got soaked, separated from the rest and waited for a bus back to Blansko. The braver and more persistent ones went on to the final 7-kilometer march to Blansko, which was accompanied by fine rain and, in the last phase, also by gloom that passed into darkness of the Sunday evening. The final adventure of the trip was then our waiting for a return train, whose departure was, owing to the all-day problematic traffic, a big unknown. Eventually everything went well and around 10 pm we all arrived in good spirits back to Pardubice.
Jaroslav Cetkovský, Martin Trpišovský
ESN Pardubice
