Friday, August 17.
Sam and I woke up early in the morning to bike back up Brezina (ugh) and help Rotary collect stones for the new castle fence. We were a little late but it was no problem as everyone welcomed me and tried to speak English. There, the organizer, Julius, told us how many archeological discoveries they'd found while digging and to look out for them. Within the three hours of digging, I found over 30 pieces of plates, bowls, and many other things. It was the coolest experience ever!! Around halfway through, the Slovak national news station, RTV, came to talk about our project. Sam went to them and introduced me as the American exchange student, to which they interviewed me in English about what I was doing/finding there. Crazy to think I would be on the Slovak national news station only after one day! After 3 fun hours, Sam and I returned home as my family and I were going on a "surprise trip." All I knew was that we were hiking somewhere. They packed the bags to hike and we took a bus to a small Slovak village in a beautiful mountain valley. We began the hike with my host family showing me many different natural herbs and plants and how they are used/help the body. We picked and ate many natural berries and apples, it was crazy how much they trusted and understood nature. We hiked and hiked and hiked, until finally we reached the top. The top had a big cross, and overlooked miles of the Slovak countryside. It was absolutely beautiful. My host family taught me how to use grass to call to the Slovak national hawk. At the top of the mountain was a book where you could write a note in remembrance of you being there, so my host mom wrote a note in Slovak and I wrote one in English. At this point, we were far from all civilization so I made a comment to my brother about how you could probably see so many stars from there. (I've told him already about how much I wanted to see the milky-way and Slovak stars). My host mom overheard me and told Sam to get the book and translate her note from Slovak. The note said something like "We are here hiking Vapeč with our new son, it will be a great experience for him as he will sleep overnight on the mountain with our other son." And they all look at me and say "surprise!" It was the cutest thing in the world!! They created the surprise trip for me as they knew I wanted to see the Milky-way. Shortly after, my host family went to hike back down, and it was just me and Sam. He brought out a speak and we just ate candy and listened to Post Malone haha. Before night came, a group of 4 Slovak people came next to us in the mountain to sleep as well. They were so funny and were getting really drunk. The sunset was so beautiful, but around 11, me and Samo went to sleep with alarms set for 1:45am so we could wakeup and see the Milky-way. Tbh, with all the noice from our neighbors and rocky floor, I wasn't able to fall alseep solidy, but when 1:45 came around, we both were fully awake looking at the sky. It was so beautiful, you could see so many stars and the shadow from the milky-way. In this moment, I was so happy to be in Slovakia with such amazing people. I am so lucky to be here. Saturday, August 18. At some point in the night, me and Samo fell back asleep and woke up again in the early morning. The people camping next to us were packing up to leave, and we just waited for a while and filmed the view. Around 9am, we began hiking back down the mountain to the town where we stopped for a Kofola, and then went to the bus stop. Waiting for the bus were two of the girls who camped next to us, so we all talked for a little. By 11 o'clock, we were home in Kubranska (Trencin) and had just one hour of rest. Next we went to a nearby town called Dubnica to try a traditional Slovak food, langoš, and go to a natural sparkling water source. We hiked about 30 minutes to a little park. The water source was underground, and you could go fill up your water-bottles as much as you wanted. The water tasted so interesting. There was a lot of iron in it, but it truly was naturally sparkling! After getting the water and langoš, we stopped off at a house of my host parent's friend. Besides the 100 chickens she owned, in the back of her house was an abandonded and crumbling Slovak house from 1871. Back then, the house was huge and for rich people, but now it was empty and falling apart. It was another great two days in Slovakia!
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorNick Bilotti Archives
March 2019
|