Extra Extra! Read all about it! Carleton students visit Bohnice Psychiatric Hopsital, explore the town of Kutná Hora, and cheer on their favorite Czech teams!
As part of our cross-cultural psychopathology studies, we visited Bohnice Psychiatric hospital and spoke to Dr. Jan Koznar and sex offender patients. The experience was a difficult one — I think many of us were initially apprehensive — however, I believe it was a very worthwhile one.
While we were there, we were able to ask Dr. Koznar and his patients about their experience under the Czech system of paraphilic disorder treatment, which differs so greatly from the U.S. system. His patients answered our questions and asked challenging ones in return. One question in particular I came away with centered around the rehabilitative nature of the Czech system and what is our individual responsibility to reincorporate these individuals into society? I’m not sure, but as a an aspiring psychologist, I think this is an important question to be thinking about.
We ended week 5 strong with a day trip to the central Czech mining town of Kutná Hora. We visited three historic churches — Sedlec Ossuary, the Church of the Assumption of Our Lady, and the Cathedral of St. Barbara.
Beautiful churches are part of the Czech landscape, which is interesting because so is atheism. Today, most churches are used as concert halls or are act as galleries, to showcase their impressive architecture. The Ossuary we visited is known for its chapel made out of human skeletons, the Church of the Assumption of Our Lady has self-supportive stairways, meanwhile St. Barbara is recognized for its medieval frescoes and flying buttresses.
Next, we headed into the mine! Kutná Hora is famous for its silver-mining history, which once drew people to the region. Before heading back to Prague, we took a tour of their Museum of Silver and medieval mine replica.
Also notable of our weekend activities was our attendance of the Czech-Albanian national team soccer match, game night, and the Sparta-Liberec hockey match. All were exciting, however I think we were the most invested in the hockey match, which home team Sparta Praha won 3-2 in overtime.
And that’s the latest news, thanks for reading!