Brno Expat Community

To be honest, the expat community in Brno, Czech Republic is mostly eastern europeans. And, right or wrong, the czech culture seems more welcoming to those from the west than those coming from countries "worse off" than themselves.....Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, etc. Myself being American, and most of my friends (americans, germans, dutch) enjoy the highest level of hospitality here, deservedly or not. Besides that particular factor, czech people are generally friendly to everyone. I've been in the country for more than a year now, and have rarely seen any acts of violence or even hostility towards anyone, local or foreign.

Whenever anyone asks me what is better about life in Czech Republic or USA, I cringe...there are simply too many complexities to this question, one must truly live in both cultures to fully understand. To name a few of the things I like about Czech life...definitely the beer always comes to mind first, then the ladies, the peaceful / happy nature of czechs, the old architecture and history, just to name a few. What do I miss about life in America? Plenty. Mostly, the conveniences and niceties that come with established capitalism. Being a developing nation (although it's WAY ahead of further east countries), Czech Republic life can seem archaic compared to the developed lifestyle I'm used to. That being said, though, I find most of the differences exciting & tolerable. I've simply traded away conveniences & comfort for excitement and novelty!

The beer & women are definitely great enough to each warrant their own blog entries....I won't try to cover them in this initial post! But I will say, to anyone thinking of visiting or relocating to Brno, Czech Republic from an established western nation to go ahead & do it. I've not regretted it for a single day since I've been here. Of course, when I'm waiting in a slow moving, 30 person long queue for milk tomorrow, I'll think about the conveniences I've left behind. And then I'll smile & consider all the great things about life here. Maybe it's just my values, who knows.