#4.r

[addiemokra]

Housing

1.  How are homes different in the Czech Republic compared to England or the United States?

2.  Please describe your house and the area where you live.  What do you like about it?  What don’t you like?

3.  What’s in your room? (What does it look like?)  Are there any changes you would like to make?

4.  Is it better to buy or to rent a house or flat?  GIVE REASONS FOR YOUR ANSWER

Here we go again! My answers should be under "read more".

1. Although I was in the UK once, it’s hard to write how are homes different. When I was in London, I noticed they have a lot of detached and semi-detached houses in the suburb, which in the Czech Republic, Prague at least, isn’t as common as it is in England. In the UK they also have terrace houses, which are houses situated in a long row. I don’t remember seeing any of these in Prague, or the Czech Republic in general. There are, of course, other differences, inside of the house. I noticed that even children in the UK often have double bed, while children in the Czech Republic have single bed or bunk. I’m not very sure if it’s true, though. What I know for sure is that in England there are different plugs. When I was in the UK, I was really confused because nobody told me that, my mistake!

2. I live in a rented flat with my mother, her boyfriend and my younger brother. Although it is rented, the flat belongs to mother of my mother’s boyfriend. The flat is on the eight floor of a block of flats. It’s Prague 4, Chodov, which is something like suburb of Prague, and our block of flats is actually one of many others, together they form one big housing estate. It’s not typical housing estate as you can think. It’s really quiet here, which is one of the things I appreciate the most. Our flat has a balcony which offers you view on the entire surroundings. View from my room, however, isn’t as good as from the living room. The only things I can see are another blocks of flats, but it doesn’t bother me. When I’m really bored, I watch people who live there. As I said, I really like the silence and also bus stop or subway station only 5 minutes away from my home. We don’t live here long enough, so I haven’t found anything I don’t like yet.

3. My small room is full of unnecessary things and according to my mother, it’s chaotic mess. When you walk in, there are two big wardrobes on both sides, one bed, desk with computer on it and a few cupboards and bookcases. Because it used to be someone else’s bedroom, there are old wallpapers with floral printing and green carpet, but in my opinion it looks really great. One of my cupboards, which has things for school in it, has two little flowers in flowerpots on it. Not that I don’t like flowers, but every single one I’ve ever had died. There are also stuffed unicorns and one of my biggest prides, small collection of different LPs by The Beatles, Pink Floyd or David Bowie. As you probably already guessed, I also have black modern gramophone. Besides that, I also have passion for books and my bookcases are full of them. The biggest wall in my room has a lot of pictures, photographs and posters on it, 3D one with Jack Daniel’s theme. There are a lot of things I would like to change, but I don’t know for how long I’m going to stay here, so any changes would be useless. Moreover, I like my room as it is, after all.

4. Both options have their pluses and minuses. For my whole life I’ve been living in rented flats, so it’s hard to be objective. In my opinion, being in rented house or flat is the best choice for young people or families, because there are possibilities they would like to move out or their family suddenly gets bigger. Another reason of renting a house or flat may be that people don’t have enough money to actually buy their own house or flat. There are some disadvantages, too. Owner of the rented house or flat may decide to live in or sell the place and sometimes you can’t do anything else than finding another flat or house. This obviously can’t happen to you if you own in. Moreover, as an owner you can do different changes in your home without asking somebody else. On the other hand, you have to take care of every single thing in your house or flat, which you don’t have to, if you rent something. As I said at the beginning, both options have their advantages and disadvantages. I would rather rent a flat, as a student, because if I would like to move out, it would be easier this way. However, if I will have a family sometime in the future, I’m definitely planning to buy my own house.

[addiemokra]

Travel, tourism and transport

1. Compare the different forms of public transport in Prague.  What are the advantages (good things) and disadvantages of each?

2.  Tell me about one holiday experience you have had.  Be specific! (talk about accommodation, sightseeing, activities, travel, etc..)

3.  What are some reasons people travel?

4.  Mass tourism and its impact on cities - discuss

Click on "read more" to read my answers.

1. We can find 3 main forms of public transport in Prague, which are buses, trams and subway, although there are other forms, such as taxi and ferries. I would like to start with subway, not because I like it the most, but because I use it the most. People, including me, like subway because of its quickness. Travelling by subway is also very easy, because it connects almost every important part of Prague. On the other hand, some people don’t have to like subway because most of the time you travel underground, which means you can’t see anything, unlike when travelling by bus or tram, and subway tends to be a quiet place. However, I like buses more. It’s not as quick as subway or sometimes even trams, but it’s more comfortable and not as overcrowded as subway can be. The only disadvantage I would like to point out is the air, especially in hot weather, which is the same for trams. Public transport I like the least is tram. As I said, the air can be really horrible and trams are often very overcrowded, especially in the mornings. The only advantage of trams can be nice view, but even then I’m not going to like them.

2. This one is really hard since I don’t really travel anywhere. I remember one holiday experience, although I was only 11 years old. It was summer 2007 and we flew to Tunisia, Tabarka. Our way there was terrible from what I can remember, but it’s probably because I really hate planes – since then I’ve never been on a plane again. I didn’t know what to expect, it was my first stay at foreign country. When we arrived, we’ve been taken to our room in hotel we were staying at. It was a simple room with only small bathroom and four beds, it was the nicest room I’ve ever seen, though. Our beds were decorated with towels, which looked like various animals, every single day, and although it wasn’t one of the luxury hotel, it definitely looked like one. There was no kitchen, because we had all inclusive and for meals there was special dining room with “Swedish tables” – or differently called buffets. Since my mother doesn’t like sightseeing as much as I do, we spent most of the days at beach or at the hotel’s pool. I remember evening activities for kids which were really funny. Employees taught us different types of dances and the last evening of our staying we, children, performed for our parents. I really enjoyed that!

3. In my opinion, there are two types of people. People who travel to relax from daily rush in their lives and people who want to discover new culture and meet new other people. Sure, there are also people who travel because their job or school requires it, but they probably chose it because they do love travelling. Every once in a while, everybody needs to go away from the city or village where he or she lives.

4. Mass tourism is definitely hard topic to talk about. On one side we have cities which need mass tourism, because they just wouldn’t survive without it, and on the other side there are cities, for example London, New York, Paris, etc., for which mass tourism doesn’t have to be as important as somebody may think.  Mass tourism is surely good for countries where unemployment is a big problem, because it brings them a lot of useful money. But it’s not good for cities I’ve already written. Sure, there are a lot of people who profit from mass tourism, but it must be terrible for ordinary people living in the city. Everything gets expensive and therefore people with less money are not even able to pay rent. Moreover, these cities would survive without mass tourism, because they have other businesses in the environment. But then again, it’s just my opinion.