Mobility specification

Country:Georgia

Institution:Georgian Institute of Public Affairs

City:Tbilisi

Program:Erasmus+ ICM

Activity type:Study

Academic year:2022/2023

MU faculty/department:Faculty of Law

Study level abroad:Master

🎓Hit the books! How do you rate the university experience?

Can you enroll in a course where you can learn the local language?no

Does the university offer enough courses in English?they have tons

Are your credits converted?yes

Can you give an example?The Georgia courses I took were all 6 credits each and some of them transferred in as PVP and I had two Georgia courses recognized together as two required courses by the faculty and then transferred in according to the credit allotment of those recognized courses

Was there anything in the teaching methods that surprised you?I was surprised that the whole school was only in aj, so it was no problem to get along. I was also surprised that there was a class for master's students in the evening. But that's because in Georgia, lawyers normally work after their undergraduate degree, and so they do their master's in the evenings, so I had school from Tuesday to Friday from 7pm, and every day just going to class.

Does the university offer international students' programs and activities outside of lectures and seminars to help them integrate more quickly?GIPA is a small private university, so she didn't, but her classmates or teachers did, so it was no problem to fit in.

In which areas does the university offer support for students with special needs and strive to be inclusive?I haven’t noticed

💸Did you have to rob the bank?

Try to take a guess at what your monthly expenditures were:10000 CZK/month

Did you stay in dorms?no

Do you have any tips on how to find private accommodation?I went to Georgia with the idea of having an Airbnb for two weeks, during which time I would search. In the end, two friends and I had no problem finding a great spacious apartment with two kitchens and two bathrooms in the center of Tbilisi (practically as if it were in Prague's Wenceslas Square) and we paid about 6000 CZK each, which was perfect. Then we found out that before Russia attacked Ukraine, rents in Tbilisi cost maybe a third of what we were paying.

What about unexpected expenses? Did anything surprise you?It was not surprising, it is also because of the very generous scholarship, where one has about 17 000 CZK per month, which, considering that the average salary in Georgia is about 8 000 CZK, is a royal scholarship, so I will not have any unexpected expenses, because the scholarship covered what was needed.

Do you have any tips on how to save money?I can't think of anything, given the amount of the scholarship, we fortunately didn't have to save much, and I don't have any tips for saving. I was surprised how cheap it is. You can easily eat in a restaurant for under 100 CZK.

🗺 Learn the ropes in a new city

How well did you manage to communicate in English?neutral

How does public transport work in the city?I've seen better

And what about transport outside the city?I've seen better

Where to find connections? How to buy a ticket?As far as public transport is concerned, there are buses in Tbilisi that are absolutely tragic. The first day I went to school by bus and according to the timetable I was supposed to arrive 10 minutes before the start. I arrived 50 minutes after :D. So I started taking the metro and there you can get something like a shalinkart at the metro entrances and you can also recharge there. One ride costs 1 lari, which is 8-9 CZK. In Tbilisi you can also take the Bolt, which costs about 30 CZK for one ride.

As for transport outside the city, there are domestic flights in Georgia, which I recommend if one is going to the mountains in the northwest, as it is difficult to get there. Otherwise there are virtually no trains (perhaps only one that connects the three largest Georgian cities Tbilisi-Kutaisi-Batumi). If one wants to travel between cities, the marshrutkas are the most convenient. There is a marshrutka station in every city from where one can get practically anywhere. You just need to have cash, because they don't take cards in the marshrutkas. Firstly, they are authentic and secondly, they are cheap, I paid about 120 CZK for a ride across Georgia.

Did you deal with any health issues during your stay?no

🤠Help create the perfect bucket list

What is a must-see in the city?Old Town in Tbilisi, Chronicles of Georgia, Fortress over the city, Bridge of Peace, Holy Trinity Cathedral (the third largest Orthodox cathedral in the world), Mother Georgia statue, Tavisuplebis Moedani, Rustaveli Avenue. And for food, the Khinkali house on Rustaveli Avenue is said to be beautiful and the sulfur baths, but I unfortunately missed them. Those places in Tbilisi can be explored in two days, but I enjoyed the atmosphere there the most and it was nice to just walk around the old town and enjoy the vibe of the place.

And outside of the sights, the techno club Bassiani is my ultimate indulgence. I'm not a fan of techno, but the atmosphere of that giant club is unbeatable. You really just have to observe the surroundings and let the vibe take you.

What are the must-visit trip destinations?In Georgia one must not miss the mountains, I was in the Svaneti region, which is in the northwest of Georgia and there I visited the villages of Mestia and Ushgli, they were incredible experiences and views.

I would also definitely recommend Batumi on the Black Sea, it's a city that I agree you either love or hate. Either way, it's worth seeing because I haven't seen anything like it anywhere else. And if you're lucky, you might see dolphins in the Black Sea.

Also, Kutaisi, this is more of a curiosity, because there is a cathedral in Kutaisi that was in UNESCO, but after the modifications that were made to it, it was removed from UNESCO, so it's more of a curiosity to see a monument that was removed from UNESCO.

Then Gori, where there is a huge fortress over the city and Stalin's birthplace with a museum where there is an interesting exhibition of the history of Georgia in that time period.

Definitely visit a wine cellar too, we went to Kakheti with our Erasmus students this way and it was also a great experience. Georgian wine is made completely differently than Czech wine and it doesn't give you a headache :D

And then I can think of the Rainbow Mountains Nature Reserve.

Share your best experience:The absolute best experience not only of Erasmus, but maybe of my whole life was when we were in the mountains in the north, in the village of Ushguli (by the way, you can only get there offroad), so we rented a horse and went there to see the glacier. And the experience of riding that horse in the middle of untouched wilderness with the five thousanders of the Caucasus above was, in a word, amazing.

💅A nugget of wisdom to make the life easier

Did you need to handle a visa?no

How did you get to the place?Plane

Is there anything to watch out for before the trip?I flew to Georgia from Prague via Warsaw to Tbilisi, I don't recommend it. I recommend flying from Katowice or Krakow to Kutaisi, it's much cheaper, faster and there is a shuttle from Kutaisi airport directly to the main Georgian square and it cost about 120 CZK, so you can already enjoy and get to know Georgia.

As I flew to Tbilisi, it arrives at dawn, so after an hour of sleep I had to wait about five hours at the airport before my accommodation was ready. Then I rode the bus for an hour and had to watch the 37th stop where I got off (it was the main square). Kutaisi, on the other hand, is a normal daytime flight.

I would recommend learning the Georgian alphabet and basic phrases. I wanted to learn Georgian, but gave up after two weeks as the language is unlike any other. As for the language, I wouldn't be worried at all, because our generation is perhaps even better at English than we are, and the older generation can speak Russian again, and you can get along with them in that universal all-Slavic :D and at worst with your hands and feet.

I recommend those basic phrases because Georgians appreciate it a lot and then you can switch to English or Russian.

Can you pay by card?sometimes

What not to forget when packing?Don't forget your boots for the mountains :D, otherwise there are supposedly some beautiful ski resorts, but unfortunately I didn't have the chance to try them out, so skiing stuff. Otherwise think about the fact that in Georgia it's quite hot and until the end of October there is for a T-shirt and shorts, but from November and through the winter there is weather like ours.

🥳Summary

Whew, what a ride! 😮‍💨 Thanks so much for taking the time to complete our survey and for sharing your unique experience. Just one last thing. 🙏 How would you summarize your trip in one or two sentences?At the end, we agreed with the other Erasmus students that a little bit of each of us was left behind in the Caucasus. Miss you Sakartvelo.