Už som bol na Slovensku za 6 mesiacov, pol-rok. Stále mam vel'a čas tu, ale ešte citim smutny. Pamätam nastupit' na môj let do Europy, ako by to bolo včera. Citim vel'mi spokojny s mojou vymenou a viem že som urobil viac niž si som predstávil. Ale cítim smutny pretože čas tu ide priliš rychly, a život cíti viac aj viac normalny. Nemôzem predstavit' sa vratit' do Ameriky. Moja rodina, moja škola, moje kamaráti, všetko. Môj život je tu teraz, na Slovensku. Som taki št'astny že mám najlepše rodiny. To je pretože citim ako môj život je tu teraz. Skúsim žit' práve tu a práve teraz, presne v tato chvíla. Ešte nehovorim plynule po Slovensky, a mam pocit že nikdy budem hovorit sto percent plynule, ale cítim sa dobre hovorit' po Slovensku. Ked' cestujem, ked' idem nakupovat', už sa nebojím že nie budem rozumiet'. To je divny pocit pretože, mám vel'a pravidlá tu. Ako nemôžem cestovat' sam bez Rotary dovolenie, musim ist' do školy, nemôžem šoferat, a vel'a viac veci, ale stale, citim viac volno tu. Možno pretože nemam moja prava mama tu pre ma kričat', a možno niečo iny, ale už mam strach odist'. Určite, cítim ako nejšt'astnejší vymeny študent na celom svete. Môj Rotary Klub, mesto, a rodiny su najlepši. Cestoval som viac tu než v mojim celom život. Stretol som sa s vel'a l'udmi (Slovaci a vymeny študenti) a urobil som vel'a veci. Vymena je sen. Nechcem, tento sen skončit'. Slovensko, milujem t'a. Week 21 - January 7 (2019!) - After a 2 week holiday, we are finally back to school. I've missed my classmates, but also definitely NOT missed waking up early. After school I went to my host moms private medical practice (which they call "ambulance" in Slovak and confuses me so much), where I had some medical test done. Afterwards, they brought me to Billa and told me to chose whatever food I want to buy and keep at home. I mentioned Horalky, and my host mom took like 20 to buy for me, it was so nice! Afterwards we went to a fancy Italian restaurant and ate such good food! Our waitress also spoke Italian which was a nice break in Slovak for me haha! By Tuesday, I finally had experienced going to and from school independently from my new host family, and was feeling great. When I got home, I tried the keys that my host family gave me and it just didn't work! I should mention that there are no door knobs on the doors, it's just keys that you push extra to the left/right and it opens the door. I ended up getting trapped outside in the snowing cold for about an hour until my host mom could come rescue me. It turns out that the keys worked the whole time, I just thought they wouldn't push any further, and I didn't want to break the key like my other exchange friend did in Germany (hahah hi Katherine). Anyways, that night and the following day, we had a huge snow storm, and Trencin was completely under snow. I woke up expecting a snow day or delay from school, but that's not really a thing here in Slovakia. I waited at my bus stop for around 30 minutes and not one bus came. Every car was still covered in snow (cause most people don't have garages here) and not even the main roads had been snow plowed... I ended up walking to school since I live close now, and I didn't see any other way to get there. Overall I was shocked about how little preparation or cleanup there had been on behalf of the government, yet society seemed to still function as best as it could, and everyone still found their way to work/school. I walked through the town center and it was beautiful to see the castle with snow. I came really late to school and all my classmates just laughed at me knowing I'd seen my first Slovak snowstorm. The next few days went on as usual as possible. I went to go visit my first host family again, which was nice! I went out with my friends from my old class on Friday. I've missed them so much! On Saturday I went to Bratislava, and randomly saw a Canadian girl (living in Czech Republic) walking around old town. It really proves how small Slovakia is! Anyways, my host brother and I bought some candy at the American store, then met up with more exchange students and some Slovaks we knew there. We all hang out at a cafe for a few hours and then went home. I later went to the cinema with my host brother and American friend to see the movie "Zrodila sa Hviezda" (a Star is Born) and really loved this film! The next day, I went to go visit my host grandmother in Považska Bystrica, another Slovak city maybe 30 minutes away from Trenčín. My host grandmother made my favorite Slovak food, Rezen (it's like schnitzel) and she was so welcoming to me! Afterwards we went to a really famous hotel that is about a 2 minute walk from her house. It's called Hotel Gino, and it used to be a Noble/Aristocratic chateaux, but is now a big hotel. It was a nice week once again! Week 22 - January 14 - Monday was another normal day at school and Slovak lesson. Honestly nothing important enough happened this week to remember until Friday. Finally our Winter Orientation! Valeria was sadly too sick to go, so me and Pablo arrived in Poprad and met up with everyone at the train station. This orientation we were staying at an actual hotel which was nice! We had our language test which was written and spoken. The Rotex made me sit in a corner desk all by myself so no one would copy off my test hahah (they know I have a huge advantage from the Polish language). After, we had the spoken part, which also went well. Later, they made us all sing 3 songs, two English and one Slovak, that we're going to sing together at our district conference in Prague this year. The next morning we got up early and got dressed. My room had a view of the Tatry and the sunrise on the mountains was AMAZING. We took a train to the Tatry mountains. We hiked all the way up to Popradske Pleso, which had a beautiful frozen lake and cabin where we all took photos together. We hiked down and took another train to Strbske Pleso and then hiked all the way up the mountain to a big ice sculpture exhibition. They had many sculptures and a giant ice Vatican City Cathedral. Afterwards, we sledded all the way down the hill which was sooo fun! We also had such a nice view from the mountain of the city lights. We took another two trains back to Poprad and then had dinner. We all kind of joked about how the food had no taste the day before, but it got bad on Saturday cause two American kids vomited and a few more didn't feel good after eating the food hahah! Anyways, we all practiced for our talent show based on country. Us Americans did a showcase of a bunch of American dances, Hoedown Throwdown, Crank That, Electric Slide, Cotton Eye Joe, Juju on that Beat and some others I forget. The kids from Taiwan for sure had the most amazing performance. They also did a synchronized dance and it was PERFECT wow. When the night ended they let us have a little longer dance party and then we went to sleep. The next morning we packed up to leave. Some of us had later trains back home so we got to go into the city of Poprad and see the historical sights and town center. It all had a beautiful view of the Tatry! Week 23 - January 21 - Going back to school after a Rotary event is always sad, but again, school continued as normal. Both Monday and Wednesday I went to my Rotary counselors house cause his wife made food for me! She's a great cook and I love spending time with them. Also at their house I discovered the most amazing thing ever. Balsamic vinegar mixed with honey. I ate like 3 salads there it was so good. This week was also great cause FINALLY there were some sunny days. I swear Slovakia hasn't seen the sun since November. On Wednesday at Lidl (grocery store) they had America week, so my host mom bought me cookie dough ice cream, brownies and chocolate chip muffins! All of which I've really missed. On Thursday, Valeria came to my house to watch Modern Family, then later went with me to an American Swing dance class which was SO hard. I was home alone with my brother that night as my parents had gone to Prague early in the morning. Friday morning I was kind of sick but woke up really early anyways to go to Prague with my brother. We traveled the whole morning and got there in the early afternoon. We first went to my host sisters apartment, about 20 minutes from the old town by metro, and we left our bags there and got ready. My host sister was about to leave to the French Alps with her boyfriend and generously left us her apartment for the weekend. When I returned to the town center, we met up with my host parents and went to get Chinese food cause they knew I loved it. After that we went to visit Vyšehrad, which is an old fortess center in Prague with a small castle and big cathedral. It had a great view of all of Prague but was so cold. We later went to a Chinese center to see the celebrations of Chinese New Years. After that, my host parents went to go to some film festival and I went with my host brother to go see the Czech version of Hair. The play was all in Czech so I couldn't understand the whole story, but I followed along well enough. My host brother an I then got kebab and returned home to eat it and relax. The next morning we got up early to go to the other side of the river "male strane" where the Prague castle and main cathedral are. We toured the entire castle with 2 churches and a tiny historical shopping street, all within it. It was so beautiful and so much to see, but also snowing and super cold. At the end my parents left to go to a film festival, so my host brother and I went back to old town to eat. We first crossed the Charles Bridge, then got Italian food. After that, we went to the Town Hall Clock Tower in Old Town Square. The view was my favorite in all of Prague so far. Then, we went to the Museum of Senses, which was interesting. Some of the Museum was kind of disappointing and boring but some was actually really cool. For example they had a bridge you walk across, and surrounding the bridge is a spinning tunnel, and it was sooo tripy to walk across. We then got ice cream and went back to our apartment for the night. In the apartment, my host sister took down the ceiling and built her own, with the entire galaxy in it (from lights). It was one of the coolest home projects I've ever seen. Anyways, the next morning, I woke up with my host parents to go to the Czech National Museum where they had a really cool exhibition on Czechoslovakia. It was great to learn about it and also live in Slovakia there to truly understand it. My parents went to the second museum, but I went to Václavské Námestie (main square in New Town) to visit 3 exchange students who'd just arrived back from their winter orientation in Czech Republic. We went to McDonalds to eat, then went stood and talked in the square for a while. We did some Mexican dances and had a great time, it was so nice to see them! After that, we walked to the train station with my family and had my 6 hour train home! I have to say that I love Prague more and more every time I go. It's truly a beautiful city. Week 24 - January 28th - For this whole week, my host sister Martina would be staying in my house, and I was so excited to get to know her since she was also an exchange student in USA. After school, I came home and me and her spent a long time talking and planning our trip to Germany this week!! Afterwards, we went back to my host mom's private medical clinic to have a blood test done, and it was a disaster. I don't want to describe anything too graphic, but my blood pressure drops a lot every time I get my blood drawn, and the nurse accidentally showed me the needle before it went into my arm, so I started going down in the middle of the blood draw, which caused a tear in the vein and made blood drip off my arm. It was so traumatic haha! But anyways, it's all okay now! The rest of the week I spent going normally to school and spending a lot of time with my host sister. We cooked a lot together, including escargot (cause it's French week at Lidl)!! I've missed snails so much haha. Anyways, on Thursday I went to school in the morning, then came home to embark on our trip to Germany! We first stopped at my host grandma's house to eat and visit. Then we left for the airport. About 4/5 of the drive to Vienna, my host mom realizes I might need my passport, and asks if I have it. I was sure I had it since I was just in Prague the week before. I checked all my stuff, and nope, it wasn't there. To be honest, it never concerned me before to bring my passport as I usually never need it to travel especially in the EU. My host mom got so worried incase I did need it, so my YEO's husband got in a car from Trencin and drove straight to Vienna with my passport (DAKUJEM ADAM!!!) But at the airport, they told us that my EU residence card is enough to get through, and in fact they never even asked once for any form of identification at the airport, which was interesting... It was very very stressful, but my host family was amazing the whole time, making jokes and telling me about their disaster travel stories to make me feel better. It's amazing how under so much stress they were able to still have so much fun and joke! Our flight took off right after sunset and was only around 1.5 hours to Cologne. We were going to be picked up by my host-aunts husband who speaks only German, and all four of us (host mom, sister, brother and I) all speak VERY LIMITED in German, so we all planned one sentence to say in German to make some conversation haha!! My sentence was "es war mehr kalt in Trenschin" (It was colder in Trencin) haha! From the airport we drove to Bonn where my host aunt lives. We only talked the first night, then went to sleep for the next day. The next morning, we had breakfast then drove into the city of Bonn. My host aunt gave us a tour of all the main points in the city. It's a huge university city, with a beautiful town center, city walls and much more! We went to THE Haribo store (Haribo comes from Bonn). It was an AMAZING store and the candy was so much cheaper there than everywhere else. We went to a few churches and also to Beethovens house. We got lunch at a Turkish restaurant and had a very nice Kurdish waiter who also didn't speak English, but we still wished him a free Kurdistan haha. After the city tour, we went to the Bonn museum of Zoology which basically had a bunch of stuffed animals but was still fun. At night, we went to the famous Drachenburg Castle, which is lit up in many different colour lights and designs. The castle was so beautiful and had two lookout towers. Afterwards, we went down to a museum of some fairtail in that castle involving a prince with a sword and a lizard-like dragon. They also had a reptile museum and a lizard cave, all for tourists haha. The first day in Germany was great! I have so say I was sooo impressed with how nice the German people were and how well they all spoke English! The next day we took a train to Cologne. The train station is exactly behind the Cologne Cathedral, so it is the first thing you see when you exit the station. I was absolutely stunned at how huge it was! We were gonna do a free walking tour of Cologne, but the weather was so bad that we decided to go to the Museum of Science. When we arrived there, everyone was like 5 years old and running around, but the worker promised us their was stuff for our age. However, the very first exhibit was different animal noses that you can put on your face in front of a mirror, and we very quickly questioned our decision to come there haha. BUT, it actually got a lot better and there were cool things to see and do there. One of those being a zero gravity machine which spins you super fast in every direction. It was really cool! When we finished we went to my favorite German store, Muller, cause they have DORITOS, so of course I bought some. Then, we went back to the city center so I could meet up with my friend Melissa!! Melissa was an exchange student in Weston 4 years ago! It was so amazing to finally see her again with her sister. We went on some big shopping street in Cologne, then to a cafe together. We didn't have so much time together, but it was still so amazing to see her. After our meeting, me and my host siblings took a metro to a trampoline park at the end of the city. We were definitely the only non-Germans there and it was SOOO much fun! The German people were being so nice to us and asked where we are from. I had a great time! One of the workers ended up invited us out to get Kebab afterwards in the city center, and my host mom let me go with my brother. On the train back to the center, I found out that his sister is a Rotary Youth Exchange Student in Oregon in the USA which is so crazy! We also met a bunch of very nice, but drunk German girls on the metro who spoke Spanish with us, and didn't believe I was from New York cause I was speaking Slovak hahah. It was quite fun, none the least. The Kebab was sooo good! (Germany is known for good Kebab cause of their huge Turkish population. We went back to Bonn by train, ate, then went to sleep! The next morning, the weather was much better so we went back to Cologne. We first went inside the huge cathedral, which was having a mass, and then after to a free walking tour and met my other German friend Max there. Max was an exchange student in East Hampton, Connecticut 3 years ago. The free walking tour was 3 hours or so around all the historical sights in Cologne. The old town was so weird since most of the buildings were bombed during the war. Overall, Cologne is quite a weird city, and many people in Cologne refer to it as an "ugly city." I would not say it's ugly, but definitely completely miss-matched. One cool thing about Cologne was the amount of Roman Ruins around the city as it was originally a Roman city. Another interesting thing was that Carnival in Cologne goes from November until February, so there were many people wearing costumes and parades. After the walking tour we got waffles and then went to the chocolate museum of Cologne. The museum was pretty cool! It showed everything about the production of Lindt Chocolate and also gave out many free samples! After the museum, my host family went home, and I stayed a little longer in Cologne with Max. We got Italian food an went to a cafe until I took a train home. When I got home, I walked all over Bonn at night to see the beautiful city. It was pretty much empty but still so beautiful. I walked along the river with a view of the whole city. It was quite nice as I'd missed the sound of waves. It was such a great week in Germany! Im so grateful to my amazing host family for this experience.
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AuthorNick Bilotti Archives
March 2019
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