<p>No you haven’t. You having visited there as a tourist isn’t concrete enough for me im afraid.</p>
<p>Then by all means talk to your teacup and stop spouting your ill-founded opinions on something you clearly know very little about.</p>
<p>You’re so presumptuous to assume i dont understand what you meant? Of course i did, i want to know why you did, given that it hasn’t been called that in what? 600 years? You may just as well call London, Londinium and New York, New Amsterdam.</p>
<p>Oh bloody hell. First you made this remarkably ill-informed assertion:
</p>
<p>which you followed by this bit of nonsense:
</p>
<p>Wrongheaded, obtuse, and ossified “thought.” By sheer happenstance, the past week I’ve been reading THE GATHERING STORM, by Winston S. Churchill, a name I entertain some glimmer of hope that you’re familiar with. From Chapter 20:
Note how explicit this is: the “Soviet Union” is juxtaposed against “Eastern Europe.” </p>
<p>Nor did the fall of the XSSR in 1991 change the geography. Neither did it change the cultural outlooks, which are as valid a metric as anyway.</p>
<p>I’ve always been amused to run across students who seem to think that sex was invented not earlier than 1995. In a similar vein, I should not suppose there aren’t prats who were having their nappies changed in 1991 who are equally in error about matters of geography, culture, and history.</p>
<p>Fortunately, I am in correspondence several times a week with numerous Brits, with a significant amount of conversation dealing with matters historical, 1910-1960 in particular, and the general lot is well informed.</p>
<p>TheDad, although I do not mean to pick a fight as well, I do think that I agree more with Samual’s argument. In cultural and political outlook, the Central European states and Balkan states are distinct from Eastern Europe. It’s unfair to draw the line at the Iron Curtain simply because Poland and Belarus are radically different. Coming from Romania, I’ve witnessed the divergence of countries in that area after the 1989 revolutions. As I’ve said before, Ukraine is half pro-Russia, half pro-West. That is not the case in countries that are already in the EU, like Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary etc etc
And I feel like it would be fair to differentiate between the Baltic states and e europe a little bit too (though geographically they are the same). That’s cause they’re also very pro-West and part of the EU.</p>
<p>Agreed again member2008.</p>
<p>TheDad - I grow weary of your feeble posts and childlike manner. You have given no argument to assert your opinion except that the Iron Curtain defines Eastern Europe, which is absurd. You ignore over a 1000 years of history and culture in favor of a few decades. You are wrong. End.</p>
<p>Well, I obviously haven’t checked this thread in a while, but I want to thank all the people who gave me constructive responses! You were very helpful.</p>
<p>To everyone else: Forums tend to be riddled with people who will try to pick useless arguments and be unnecessarily snobby; they are also the kind of people who likely would not have the guts to argue the same way with you in person. Just because someone attempts to derail my discussion doesn’t mean you should take their bait.</p>
<p>shasheenmachine, again I apologize for going off topic, but I dont think this argument is useless, nay, I would say it’s very important. There are many misperceptions about non-Western Europe. Times are changing and political change is coming in many places. This is not an argument about semantics (or at least that’s not how I take it). Rather it’s a theoretical debate about post-1989 politics in former Soviet-dominated countries.</p>
<p>It seems this topic has gotten a little tangential, and I originally read it for what the thread was titled, so I am going to respond based on that and your original post.</p>
<p>Prague is a very liberal and distinct city, with lots to offer. I backpacked through Europe after studying abroad in Italy for a semester, and Prague was very cool. But, it has it’s downfalls as others have mentioned. It is a neat city, but it is not a big city like Paris with tons of things to do all the time. Yes, it might be true that Parisians don’t like Americans, but that’s true in lots of places in Europe. Don’t rule out a city for that reason alone. Paris has a LOT to offer and if you were able to spend an entire semester there, you would see it for what it really is and really get to know the city as your home. A big thing to consider is if you might get bored in Prague COMPARED to Paris. Prague is not a boring city, but Paris just has so many things to see. I spent a weekend there and I wish I could’ve been there for a month at least, whereas after 2 days in Prague, I felt like I had seen it all…</p>
<p>Prague. Paris is such a clich</p>
<p>Prague all the way! I have no interest in studying in Paris or France for that matter. So overrated, IMO. Plus, I’m way too loyal to Italy, LOL.</p>
<p>Have you decided yet? If you are still considering Prague, I think I could help, because I’m a Czech and so I know a lot of about Prague. If you have a question, just PM me.</p>
<p>I would definitely consider studying abroad in Prague, as it’s a) beautiful! b) the “heart of Europe” c) rich in a history unique to that part of the world.</p>
<p>However I assure you you will find just as many tourists in Prague as in Paris, it’s no secret that it’s a beautiful and relatively inexpensive location.</p>
<p>I myself lived in Paris for some time and really loved it. It’s a gorgeous city with tons of art, awesome food and nightlife, etc, and if you make an effort to speak the language you will not be treated unkindly (certainly no less kindly than you would in Prague for not trying to assimilate). </p>
<p>I think you’ll love whichever city you choose. Plus there’s always the Eurorail ;)</p>
<p>The United Nations Statistics Division developed a selection of geographical regions and groupings of countries and areas, which are or may be used in compilation of statistics. In this collection, the following ten countries were classified as Eastern Europe: Belarus, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Ukraine.</p>
<p>wow, looks like someone just got pwned by the UN</p>
<p>there is nice university in prague - [University</a> of New York in Prague - UNYP.cz](<a href=“http://www.unyp.cz%5DUniversity”>http://www.unyp.cz)</p>
<p>well CR is definitely central europe. if i may recommend - you should go to prague. of course paris is much stronger brand, but i guess it will be much more interesting and adventurous for you in prague. if you would like to study in english school then you have here good offer as well, including american schools, e.g. university of new york in prague (<a href=“http://www.unyp.cz”>http://www.unyp.cz</a>).</p>
<p>I don’t think anyone would describe CZ as “adventurous”. These days it’s a rich mainstream EU country.</p>
<p>This thread is 5 years old and the OP is long gone.</p>