Monday, September 24.
Luckily I didn't have to go straight to school today, but instead had my first Slovak language lesson with Lubica (my YEO) and Pablo and Valeria. Since it was just the first lesson we learned the Slovak alphabet and all the accents in the Slovak language (Slovak has 17 letters/accents that English doesnt have!) School was also fun after the lesson. Once school ended I went to go get Kebab while I waited for Valeria to come to town. We ate my favorite kebab dish and hung out there for a few hours. About 30 minutes before salsa class, we realized we wanted ice cream so we went to Billa (Slovak supermarket) and bought a tub of ice cream with some spoons which we had to eat so quickly before the class. Salsa class was also fun but getting so much harder hahah! Tuesday, September 25. Today was just another normal day at school, but after school I went to a cafe with my two friends Adam and Martin. I love going out with them cause they have such funny stories and know the class so well. By the time we finished and went home, I realized I'd committed to going to a town quiz about Trencin, Oflajn. There, I saw many people from town I knew!! The event itself wasn't so beneficial as it was really difficult Slovak questions about the city of Trencin, but still I had such a great time with my English teacher and some of my classmates. After the quiz was over, I went to Coffee Sheep, a nice cafe in town with my friends and some new people I met in a different class. Sadly by this night I was already quite sick and lost my voice Wednesday, September 26. I woke up feeling really terrible and deciding not to go to school. I didn't have much to do at home so I ended up playing GTA and making yerba mate, a traditional Argentinian tea. Around 3 o'clock Valeria came over to my house to visit me. We hung out and she helped my host mom make pizza rolls until 6 o'clock when we all went back into town for the Rotary club meeting. This meeting was a welcome for me and Valeria, so all host families were there and so were members from the other Rotary club in town. They bought us so many gifts it was so sweet! Also tonight I got to meet my Rotary counselor for the first time, she is so nice! Thursday, September 27. Today I stayed home sick again as I didn't feel well and wanted to rest for my trip to the Tatra Mountains during the weekend. However, in the afternoon, I went back into town to meet up with Lina (daughter of Rotarian in my club) and Valeria, and we all made a list of all the things we want to do/see in this year!! Some of our wishes were a lot, some were small simple things. We met at a new cafe I'd never been and they had American style French fries!!! Woowoo! Afterwards we went back to Lina's house for a little, then I went home as I didn't feel well again. At night I learned that I would no longer be going to the Tatra mountains cause the weather would be bad and cause I was sick. Friday, September 28th. I woke up still pretty sick and literally didn't do anything all day. My host mom was home from work pretty early so I got to spend time with her and help her bottle apple juice from the hundreds of apples my family'd collected from their farm. In the afternoon, I decided to go into town to see the town market where my Rotary club's cafe would be present. I came a little late and the Rotary had already left, so I went by myself to get a baguette then to go to the Church viewpoint and see the town during sunset. When I walked up there I saw my good friend Bibiana there!!! She is the cutest girl ever cause she loves Chicago and always asks me about specific landmarks there hahaha! We talked for a while during the sunset, then I went back home. At night, I continued to help my host family bottle probably about 100 bottles of apple juicy, and also hang up klobasa (sausage) to dry out. My house had quickly turned into a pre-winter Slavic household. Saturday, September 29th. In the morning I went with my host mom and sister to a small market to help them organize clothes for sale. I got to meet everyone but shortly after was picked up by my host dad so we could go see my brothers floorball game. It was my first time watching floorball actually be played and i was excited for it! At the game I see three of my friends at school which was nice after 3 days of being sick! The floorball game made me sad cause my host brothers team won 26-0 and I felt so bad for the other team lol. But anyway, it was such a nice time spent with my host dad. I really enjoy spending time with him. He knowns only very little English, but some how we always are able to understand each other and communicate so well. It helps me realize that my Slovak truly is making big improvements. After the game we went home, ate, then left the house for Bratislava. There, we would see a light show around the entire city called Biela Noc (white night). I walked with my amazing host family along the Danube river until the sunset and we began visiting attractions. The first and coolest one was a shipping crate that had a million little holes punctured in it and was filled with smoke. They shined lights from the outside so when you went in, you could see so many light rays coming at you in all directions! After a few more attractions we went to the tallest building in Bratislava to go to the top and get a view of the whole city at night. It was such a nice view and opportunity. My family and I got kebab together and went to the rest of the city. The rest of the city was decorated with so many lights and colors, and I was so happy to meet up with 3 other exchange students during the night! We went through Stare Mesto (old town), my favorite place and then hiked past the castle for another attraction. There, we met another nice Slovak woman who spoke Italian!! We talked for so long about Slovakia and what we miss about Italy. It was so nice to speak Italian again after so long. After about 30 minutes we'd barely moved in line and decided to just go home. We left around 1:30 and got home around 3:00am, where I slept well into Sunday. Sunday, September 30th. In the early afternoon my host parents and I went to a nearby town called Trenciansky Teplice which is famous for it's natural thermal water pools. The therapy spa town itself was so small and quite with beautiful buildings. We started by going to a pool. First, they brought us all to private rooms and a beautiful Arab-tiled room. There we had to get completely undressed with only a towel to wear. It was quite uncomfortable but the experience was completely "natural". While walked to the actual pool, I met another nice American man who told me about the pool. It was a big pool that smelled like eggs (from minerals in the water.) In the middle of the pool were two "sources" from where the water comes from the ground. We stayed in the hot pools for exactly 20 minutes. It was so interesting as a million little bubble formed all over your skin in the water. I could literally write on my skin by clearing the bubbles. After 20 minutes in the hot water, we went back to our private rooms where we were fully rapped and rested for another 10 minutes. After this we got dressed and went back into the town. It was such an amazing experience. I went on a walk around the town/lake with my host parents and had such an amazing time. I am truly so so so lucky to have such an amazing host family. After walking around we went to an Oplatky store which made fresh Oplatky! Then we went to a very traditional Slovak restaurant which was beautifully decorated. It was such a great day with my host parents.
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Friday, September 21 Today was such a crazy day! Since I didn't go to school, I got to sleep in a little to go meet Valeria in the town at around 10:00am. I walked to the town wearing my blazer cause me and Valeria were gonna take photos with it. I've honestly never gotten stared at more in my entire life and eventually took it off haha. First me and Valeria went to the shopping center in the town to buy Valeria a new suitcase. We bought a small rolling one and went into the "walkway" around the shopping center and began transferring clothes to Valeria's new bag there. In the middle of doing so, Valeria's host mom walked right by and noticed us, just to started yelling (in a fun way) about how stupid we were haha! It was so funny. Then we went to go get crepes in an amazing pancake restaurant in town. We sat there eating and studying for the Slovak language exam that we would have the next morning with Rotary. After, we went around buying more clothes for Valeria and eventually back towards my house to pick up my stuff. We were running short on time so I had me and Valeria get on bus 2, a bus that runs more frequently but stops at a station a little further from home. While on the bus, it followed the same route right up until my usual stop when it took a different turn. I figured it might be going around, but NO, it went on the highway straight to some SMALL RANDOM VILLAGE that was so far from the center I couldn't even see the castle. The whole ride I was panicking knowing I'd just gotten lost for the first time. We got off at the first stop in the village, in some tiny road with a few houses. I had around 40 minutes to get home, get my stuff, then go back towards the center to my Rotary counselors house. It was impossible. I flagged down the closest woman I saw and began desperately trying to explain my situation in broken Slovak. She first referred me to the nearest bus stop to take me back to the center and I had Valeria RUN to it. With my luck, as soon as we walked to it, a bus towards town was pulling up. All in all, we were only about 30 minutes late and our counselor is too nice of a guy to even care. He gave us a quick house tour and introduced us to his daughter and her friend, and we headed off! It was me, Valeria, Pablo (other Brazilian boy in my city) and Ziga (my counselor) all in the car. The drive was about 2 hours and through the beautiful Czech countryside. We stopped to take a photo at the border crossing and headed straight to Kromeriz as we were soooo excited to finally meet all the other exchange students. We were a little early but we pulled in the same time as my friends from Brno, Ana (MI AMOR <3) and Aurelia!! I was sooo happy to finally meet them. The next two hours were the most exciting of my entire life (no joke haha). I was finally meeting all the exchange student's I'd talked to for months. We all hugged for so long, took photos, and exchanged candy from our countries. It was honestly so exciting and happy, I can never explain this feeling. We all got our rooms and then had dinner together to settle down. That night we had the opening ceremony and introduction to the exchange. We played tons of games and activities together before bed. It was so hard to go to sleep as I was so full of energy and just wanted to spend more time together. Saturday and Sunday, September 22-23 These next two days honestly went by so fast it's better to not separate them. We spent the two days either listening to presentations about our countries, rules or exchanges, along with playing lots of games in between. Saturday morning was our first Slovak language test, which Valeria and I both got first place in the district (thanks to the fact I speak Polish haha). We got food three times a day but were honestly so hungry in between. This was only a good thing cause most of us brought food from our countries that we all shared. My friends Joaquin and Julia (THANKS I LOVE YOU GUYS) brought me both food and gifts from their countries, and my friend Maddy brought me a worm on a string toy which I'd been wanting to have my whole exchange (THANKS MADDY I LOVE YOU). While we didn't get a whole lot of free time, we found time to be together and talk constantly. The highlight of the weekend was trading pins with all the exchange students and the city tour! For those of you who don't know, all exchange students have a pin to represent themselves. Every time we meet other exchange students, we trade pins with them and put all our collected pins on a Rotary blazer. I spent hours both nights putting new pins on my blazer, and now it's so full and heavy. The second thing I mentioned was the city tour. Our orientation was in Kromeriz, Czech Republic. It's such a beautiful Moravian city and we were lucky enough to visit it for a few hours. On the walk to the city center I stayed with all the Latino kids as we blasted reggaeton music in the street and sang and danced to it. We were so loud and having so much fun! So many people in the narrow city streets opened their windows to watch us parade around with our flags and music and waved hello to us. Most of the time in the square we spent trying to get in heart formation to take a photo. I cannot even describe how amazing it was to be there with so many people from all around the world. Leaving on Sunday was honestly DEPRESSING. A lot of us cried cause we wouldn't all be together until after the new year. We gave so many goodbyes, then headed off. On the way home, my Rotary counselor brought us to a very traditional Slovak restaurant along the border with another Mexican girl in Kosice and her Rotary counselors. We all tried different traditional Slovak foods and had a great time. Overall it was such an amazing weekend and I am so lucky to have such a big exchange student family with me. I LOVE YOU GUYS MORE THAN YOU KNOW. The beginning of this week marks one full month I've been living in Slovakia! Before I right about my week, I want to write about my progress here in the country. At the very beginning, I was kind of annoyed at myself, thinking I was learning everything so slowly, worrying I'd never learn Slovak or that I'd never feel comfortable here. As this month finishes, I've found all my worries to be pointless already! Routine has set in here, and I'm only learning more and more. My ability to speak Slovak is quite good already. I can tell stories and ask for help when I need it. I still cannot understand anything or have long conversations, but I'm getting there! I've completely figured out the bus systems here, but most days chose to walk home on my own! I've made so many friends around the town and am helping to teach English at two schools. Luckily for me, I never had extreme culture shock. Maybe Polish culture is similar enough or maybe I just prepared myself well enough. Of course I miss my friends and family, but who doesn't? It hit me hardest last week when my sister Julia had to evacuate her school in North Carolina cause of the hurricane, and got to fly to Michigan to spend the week with my other sister Kayla. Everyday I'm feeling more and more comfortable and becoming more and more Slovak.
Monday, September 17. Monday started off long and boring as usual but got better immediately when my friends from my old class bought me a pelendrek and came to my class to give it to me. It was so sweet! The boy sitting next to me in class told me about a Chinese restaurant in the nearby shopping center, so immediately after school I was on a bus there. I've missed Asian food more than you can imagine. The menu was definitely different from American Chinese food and the worker spoke no English, so I ordered what looked closest to sweet chicken. I got one order for me, and one order for Valeria, then took a bus back to town to meet Valeria. On the way to the center, I saw two girls I knew from the party on Saturday and they told me to come get crepes with them. Although I didn't eat anything, I went to join them and told them all about Chicago (their favorite city). Once Valeria got there, we had to take another bus to my English school where I would be assisting a teacher for the day. It was my first time in this school and I sat in on the lesson, watching how and what the kids learned. They couldn't speak enough English to talk with me, but I still helped them using my Slovak. After an hour of lessons, I finally finished and could eat my Chinese food. It was kind of cold and soggy, but still Chinese, and I loved it. Me and Valeria walked back to the center for our weekly salsa class. Tuesday, September 18 Tuesday after school my class invited me to a cafe with them. I had to go teach English again but I went with them for as long as I could. At the cafe, I saw Hanka (Valerias sister) and then Valeria and Petra (her friend from school) and quickly got to say hi to them too! Even though Trencin is twice the size of Westport, you see people you know everywhere! I took a bus back to my English school and again, sat on another lesson. These kids where the same age range (9-10) and still were unable to speak English with me, except one boy who knew quite a lot! After the lesson, I caught a bus to town and got picked up by a boy in my class who brought me to another Dukla Trencin hockey game. This game had much fewer people than the last, but was still so exciting and full of crazy fans. Luckily for us, Trencin won again! Wednesday, September 19 Since I'm a third year student in my school, three times a week we have something called "seminars" which are an extra two hour long class that we can sign up to attend to learn more about a subject. Todays seminar I attended was English. Almost my entire class was there to practice their English, and my teacher had me create a presentation about my life in the USA to give to the class. I talked about everything from school, to my town to Rotary! It was the first time I've given a full presentation about my life in USA and it was so cool to do so! After school, me and Valeria went to Laugaricio (the town mall). We first went to Tesco and looked for BBQ chips and gummy strawberries which I've missed so much. They didn't have the strawberries and they only had "BBQ pulled pork" chips but I bought them anyway. Also in Tesco, I visited my classmate who had just gotten a job there! Me and Valeria spent wayyy too much money in the mall haha! We bought more Chinese food, ice cream and spent 4 euros on a photo booth haha! Valeria also bought some clothes as she brought almost no winter clothes to Slovakia. After Laugaricio we went back to town to our Rotary club meeting, then I went after for my second Slovak haircut. When I got home from my haircut, my host family had surprised me with a giant box of my favorite pelendreky. It was the best surprise ever!!! Thursday, September 20 I woke up today quite sick and decided to skip first period of school. Coming in late was fine, and even better cause I got to leave early again! Today was my first day helping out at another school in my nearby village of Kubrica. It's a "homeschooling school" which is basically an elementary school that's independent from the government. The kids in this school ranged from 6 to 12, and also couldn't really speak any English. I wasn't there to necessarily teach English, but to help out and bring new influence to the school. I spent a few hours there then took a bus back to town to meet up with Valeria and our two other Slovak friends from the party. We went to their house across the town river. The house was super beautiful and modern. In the backyard was a beautiful rabbit that was so furry you couldn't even tell what it was. I held it for a long time, making me very happy. Slovak kids are so fun and are always trying to make us happy, it's so nice! Monday, September 10 Today was another boring day in school, but I've become much closer to my class. Today they bought me a gummy rat cause they know how much I love rats haha! They're so nice and helpful to me, always giving me Slovak words to study. In school I was interviewed and photographed by my school to be put into the school facebook page. Somehow, all the information they reported was wrong, but it's still the thought that counts. After school, I went to town to get my favorite baguette and then met up with Valeria and her host sister. We went to their house to see her new baby kittens. They were so cute I really couldn't contain my love for them. There, we also had the most traditional Slovak meal, bryndzove halusky. At 6:00pm, we had to return to the square for a salsa dance class that Valerias host sister found for us. The class was actually quite fun. The average age was probably 40, and we were the only teenagers, but I enjoyed it so much! After class we went to go get drinks, then back home! Tuesday, September 11 Everyday I get sadder about leaving my current class on Thursday (when my real class gets back from Scandinavia.) I've become to close with them and get closer everyday. After school, I went to the town square with Valeria and we met her friend from art school at a cafe. Her friend lives in a town about 2 hours from Trencin, but dorms here in the week to attend the high school. Since high schools are based on application in Slovakia, it's a common thing to dorm for high school here. Her friend Petra was so nice and funny. We spent about a few hours studying Slovak and telling funny stories. Before going home, we walked up to the castle church to get a view of the whole town. By the town we walked back down to the bus stop, Trencin had the most amazing sunset! It was absolutely beautiful. Wednesday, September 12. Today was overall a good but sad day for me! First of all, my sister Julia had to fly to my other sister Kayla to evacuate the hurricane in North Carolina, and they were together for the first time since they left. I really wanted to be with them and it made me miss them a lot! It was also sad cause today was my last day with my class. I really loved being with them so much and I'm so grateful for how welcoming and fun they were with me. I've had such a great experience already at this school. At the end, I said a sad goodbye to all of them, and of course, my promise to visit a lot. After school I met up in the square with Valeria and my other friend Anton so we could get Kebab together. The whole menu was in Slovak and I really didn't know what to order. The worker, who was an immigrant to Slovakia ALSO, was probably one of the rudest people I've ever met (In Slovakia people don't give tips, so majority of waiters and servers are not friendly or helpful.) The kebab was honestly quite good! After kebab, Valeria, her host sister and I all went back to my school to my school to meet up with Pablo, the Brazilian boy, for the first time! It was nice to meet him, and we went with him to get his bus card, then to a cafe! We talked all together for a while about our exchanges and how life has been in Trencin. We had a few hours until my Rotary meeting so we all went back to my house to see my pet chickens and hang out. Valeria and I both made it back for our Rotary meeting at night and got our first monthly allowance! I love my host Rotary club so much! Thursday, September 13. I got up early again to find my "new" class, who had gym first. Seeing all of them was really nice actually! I hadn't talked to them since the first day of school, but we had lots to talk about, from their trip to my first week here. It was a whole new schedule to get used to, but change is a good thing! I kept meeting more people in the class and really enjoyed it! After school they all invited me out to a cafe with them again. We hung out at the cafe for a while until Valeria came to see me. We hung out for a little bit, then she had to find her host dad who was at some folklore center in town. We walked about an hour until we finally found it. I ended up walking the all the way home cause it was such a beautiful day. Friday, September 14. Today was a fun day in school! I stayed in my English class for two periods and the teacher let both classes sit and ask me questions about USA and my life. Most of the kids were shy at first, but of course, opened up later. After school, I went out with my friends from the old class. We went to a cafe together and had so much fun! They all know about memes and vines and TRUE American high school culture, I feel so comfortable with them. Truly, I'm so grateful. Shortly after going home, two boys in my class invited me to go to see a hockey game in town with them that night. I said yes, and 20 minutes later, I left. They had a ticket for me and explained me everything about the team, Dukla Trencin. Almost all Slovak NHL players are from Trencin and played for Dukla Trencin, including the uncle of one of the boys who invited me, Andrej Meszaros. The hockey game was crazy! Compared to an NHL game it was much smaller, but the fans were soo crazy! It was so entertaining to see the whole thing! They had so many chants and cheers that they all did so well. During halftime, we went to get food, and the food stand was 100% sausages and sauerkraut, the most Slovak thing I've ever seen haha. Luckily for us, Trencin won the game! Afterwards, we went with the hundreds of people back into town to a cafe for the night. Another one of our classmates and her friends joined us. We talked for a few hours all about my class, and my two friends told me everything! They are such nice boys and soooo welcoming to me, again, I am so grateful. It was also the first time I saw true Trencin nightlife. It's such a beautiful and fun city! Saturday, September 15. Today, I woke up early in the morning and traveled with my house family about an hour away to an old coal mine. It's called Bana Cigel and is located within a mountain towards the middle of Slovakia. We had to take an old mine cart 20 minutes into the mountain. This was all followed by a 3 hour tour of the mine and explanation of how it operated. As cool as it was, I struggled to understand what was being said and resorted to learning Slovak during it. I came home and fell asleep from being so tired! At 8:00am I woke up again to go to a party organized by Valeria and her host sister Hanka. Valerias host sister's uncle owns a gallery in town, and he agreed to let them have a welcoming party for me, Valeria and Pablo. I arrived and saw that my friends from class were there! It was the sweetest thing ever. We tried to make the party as American style as possible, but it just ended up with the Slovak kids singing Slovak folk songs together (Hanka is part of a Slovak folkgroup). I met so many new people at the party and they were all so nice to me, inviting me to so many things! At around 12:00am, my brothers movie finished at the cinema and he walked to town to see the party for a little, then go home. I would have slept over but I knew my host family was gonna bring me on a trip in the morning and knew it'd be better to just go home. We walked home together and went straight to sleep. Sunday, September 16. Although we were gonna go on a trip, my host parents decided to let me sleep in and my dad went to work. I did nothing all day until the afternoon when my father got back. My host parents brought me and my host brother to a nearby mountain with a view-tower to see all of Trencin and nearby villages. There, we went mushroom picking in the forest and found a bunch! It's a very common thing for Slovak people to go in the forest during this week to pick mushrooms. It's quite interesting how much Slovak people love mushrooms and know everything about them. They taught me how to chose the right mushrooms and clean them properly. It was actually such a fun trip and good end to the week. Friday, September 7.
I got up early in the morning with my family and we headed to a nearby mountain in the town of Terchova to hike for the day. The first hour of the hike was all ladders and platforms over a river below. We were hiking through a small canyon created between the mountains. The next two hours of the hike were up a mountain getting higher and higher. We stopped to have lunch at a clearing of the forest with a beautiful view of the two mountains we were in between. We chose to climb the slightly shorter one for time reasons, and made our way to the top. The view from the top was absolutely beautiful and was full of Czech and Polish tourists! We hiked all the way down into a super tiny village, consisting of no more than 10 homes, but was so lovely. Once we walked back to the nearby town, we ate at a traditional Slovak restaurant and then visited the town of Terchova. Terchova is the town of which "Janośik" (Slovak version of Robbin Hood) was from. The town had a beautiful statue of him overlooking the entire town. We made it there at sunset, the perfect time! It was a really long but nice day! Saturday, September 8. Today my host family took me to a (or an? I literally cannot speak English anymore, sorry) historical train which was used to bring wood from the forest into the town. Today, it is just a tourist attraction which shows tourists how it used to operate. We rode two types of trains until we got dropped off at an old Slovak village, a replica of what the villages used to look like. Surprising all the houses looked extremely similar to those of old towns in USA. There was such a beautiful church in the village and many wild sheep, which I loved. After we finished with the train and the village, we went back to our cabin and played Slovak board games. I still love how clean the air is there. It's amazing! Sunday, September 9. Today, we packed up to leave our cabin and went to the nearby village to visit a mini trampoline fun-park. My host brother and I both a high just from some tower, which was scary, but I'd done before in USA! There, I heard two women speaking Spanish and started speaking with them! They're both from Venezuela and one of them had married a Slovak man. We joked about how bad we could all speak Slovak haha! After leaving, we drove another 30 minutes along the Polish border to get to a beautiful castle, Oravsky Hrad! The castle and town below was absolutely gorgeous. It was something straight out of a movie, literally. We were in a tour group which brought us on a 2 hour long tour of the castle. In our tour group were 3 American men! They were all from the West Coast, but one of them moved there from Slovakia when he was just a young boy. It turns out, he's from my city, Trencin, and his second cousins wife is my school teacher! How crazy! It was truly so nice to talk with another American, I forgot that feeling hahah! At the end of the tour they brought us to a room that showed all the movies that were filmed in the castle. It was probably the most beautiful castle I've ever visited. After we walked back to the town, which was filled with Polish tourists! I spoke to some of them as I'd missed the Polish language. Sadly for me, my Polish has gotten so bad as I confuse it with so many Slovak words. We went to another traditional Slovak restaurant where I had a Slovak meal and FRENCH FRIES! Something else I'd missed about USA. On the 2 hour drive back to Trencin, we stopped in the nearby town of Dubnica Nad Vahom, the youngest city in Slovakia. It was built in the 50's and consists entirely of communist buildings. Two of my host uncles live there and I got to go into my first communist flat. My mom explained life under communist rule to me for awhile. It was really fascinating to learn about. Monday, September 3. Today was the first day of school!! My alarm was set for 6:00am and I got to school around 7:00. Since it was just the first day, my dad drove me. It was miserable and down-pouring but I was still excited. My friend Adam and his friend Gabika were waiting for me at the front door. They gave me a quick tour of the school while trying to find my class, 3C, which was literally impossible to find. We gave up and just went back to his class. All the kids in his class were so nice, hugging me and introducing themselves. When school started, Adam brought me to the front office where they made me a school card and brought my to my class. The principle walked me into the class and yelled in English "THIS IS YOUR NEW AMERICAN FRIEND, HE'LL BE JOINING YOUR CLASS FOR THE REST OF THIS YEAR." and walked right out. Everyone was just staring at me, it was so awkward. Some girl told me I could sit next to her and I was so thankful she did. My class was definitely less friendly than Adam's class as most of them just stared at me in confusion. It got even more awkward when I found out that the seat I was sitting in was supposed to be the seat of the girl's boyfriend. Let me also explain that in Slovakia, the seats you chose the first day are the seats you have for the rest of the year, and you will have every class with the same classmates. My class teacher was very nice and introduced me again. The next two hours she went over school rules and the class trip tomorrow to Scandinavia (which I wasn't allowed to go on sadly) and then let us leave for the day. In all of Czechoslovakia, the first day is just a few hours! I left class by myself and was about to call Adam to meet him and his friends at a cafe when the kids in my class asked me if I wanted to join them at a restaurant! I was really happy cause this meant they didn't hate me haha! We first went to a restaurant to eat. I ordered a 4 cheese pizza which I ended up not liking haha, but my host brother Sam happened to be at the same restaurant! My classmates were shyer but asking me questions and telling me a little about their lives. After the restaurant, they brought me to a hangout bar in town and bought me a drink! We talked for a while and played foosball until they had to go shopping for their trip tomorrow. It was actually perfect timing cause I was supposed to meet Valeria and her sister in the square right around then. I met Valeria and she brought me to another cafe with about 10 other kids from her host sisters school. These kids were SO nice. They were asking me and Valeria so many questions about my experiences and where we're from. All Slovak kids start by asking "why would you come here?" and are always very happy when we tell them how much we love and are interested in Slovakia. Besides "why Slovakia" the most common question I get is "is American high school like in the movies?" To which I always explain, kind of, but not so dramatic. After about an hour in this cafe, I went with Valeria, my host sister and one of her friends to their English school in another part of town. At the English school, me and Valeria got to talk about each-others first day, and then met a teacher from Scotland! I told him how I'd be studying there the next year, and he told me about how he's studying to be a pilot here in Trencin! He was such a nice guy and it was nice to talk with a native English speaker. From there, me and Valeria went back to the town center with her sister and English school friends for pizza again! I got home around 6:30 and was exhausted for the rest of the day. It was honestly such a great day and I'm so happy to have made so many friends. Slovak kids truly are such sincere people. Tuesday, September 4. Today was my first real day at school, and classes started at 7am. Since my class was in Norway, I will be going to school with Adam's class for the week. I absolutely loved his class. They were all so welcoming and friendly to me. Not gonna lie however, the school day is incredibly boring. I can't understand much, and I couldn't do anything even if I did. Slovak students don't ask any questions or interact with the teacher. It's pretty much lecture style in a classroom. Luckily in the day there are many breaks and many time to talk with my school friends. Another thing about Slovak school is that you have the same group of kids for all classes, and the classes change time everyday. For for example, today we had class from 7:00am until 3:30am. It was a very long day. After classes finally ended, I went into town with all my friends from this class and another girl from a different class. We all went to their favorite cafe and talked about American memes, vines and Cardi B hahahah. I have to say I was really excited to find kids who knew about American "culture". After this very long day, I finally came home and played with my host families chickens. Wednesday, September 5 Today was a much shorter school day! We had classes only until 1:30pm and so school seemed shorter. Everyday I'm there, I'm liking the kids more and more! They are so fun and nice, asking me how to say things in English and also teaching me so many Slovak words! In the long break today, my friend Emma brought me to the school store where I bought a Slovak candy called "pelendrek". I swear I've never had something so good in my life! It's amazing. After school, I met up with two of my friends Tomaš and Anton, and one of their friends, all from the other school in town, and we took the bus to Laugaricio together. Laugaricio is the mall in my Slovak city and has a Mcdonalds. We went shopping for a little bit and I was actually surprised that Slovak clothes aren't THAT much cheaper than in USA, unlike how cheap food is compared to USA. I had Slovak McDonalds for the second time an I still missed having unlimited ketchup with my french fries. After McDonald, we all took a bus back to the town center and Tomaš and their other friend had to leave. Me and Anton walked through the square and saw Hanka and Valeria! We went to the Slovak library, and then to another area of Trencin, Sichot', to drop off Valeria. My host mom met up with my and Anton in the square, and I went home with her. At night, we had a Rotary club meeting, but it was in a different cafe than it normally is. At this meeting, I finally met my second host mother and my third host father, along with my club counselor, Žiga. At the meeting we talked about a bunch of future events we have coming up and I'm so excited! Thursday, September 6 Today was another pretty boring day in school haha. At this point I am getting really close with my class, and I have so much fun talking with all of them. They teach me so many Slovak words and we have so much fun together. OKAY AND ALSO LET ME SAY, Slovak schools are VERY underfunded by the government. Our school has no air-conditioning and each classroom is like 90 degrees. In addition, the school uses no lights or other forms of electricity to save money. Today was the start of a new heat wave in Trencin, and we were DYING in class, it's so hot. After school today, I met with my friends from the other school (Hanka, Anton, Paulina, Valeria, and a few others). We all went to a brewery in the town center and hung out for a few hours. Eventually I had to go home and pack for a weekend trip that night! I packed all my things, and we drove about 2 hours north towards a Slovak city, Žilina. There, my host family rented a cabin (chata) in the forest with my host-uncles and their families. The cabin was very traditional and beautiful. At night, we made diner over a camp fire and then watched the stars. You could see the entire milky-way from there! It was the most beautiful thing ever. I also must say, it's the cleanest air I've ever breathed. Like it cleans your lungs haha! I am excited for the rest of the weekend. Tuesday, August 28.
Today Valeria and her host sister Kamila invited over me and my host sister for Slovak pizza and to make Slovak pancakes. We drove to their village and arrived! Their house was so beautiful and the family, as usual, was so nice! It was my first time trying Slovak pizza, and it was alright. I had a ham and corn pizza (the most common type) and I did enjoy it! After that, we made pancakes with all different types of toppings, which I also enjoyed. We made many extra pancakes then brought them over to the scout house, which is about a 5 minute walk from Kamila's house. In Slovakia, scouting is a much more common thing. In each city is a "scout house" which is a literal house, that is run and operated by teenage scouts. We brought them pancakes then helped to clean the house for about 2 hours. This truly made me realize the maturity level of teenagers in Slovakia is definitely a little higher than most American teenagers. From the scout house, I went into town to meet Adam, my familys friend who goes to my school. We walked around my school property so he could show me everything and explain to me how school works. I was quite surprised to learn that the school has no lunch period and computers are not allowed. After that, we went back into town to a cafe, then to the church to see the sunset over the town. Trencin is truly a beautiful city. Wednesday, August 29 In the morning I went with my family (including cousins and grandparents) to a piece of land they own on the border with the Czech Republic. There, we did a lot, from cutting the grass, to picking hundreds of apples. After a few hours of work, my brother and I took bikes around the village to the border of Czechia. We crossed, making it my 11th country! We continued around the village for a while until we returned to a house of my host dad's childhood friends. At the house were about 10 older people at a table drinking alcohol and eating food. They were all so friendly to me and fed me very well! It was so cute to see the true village life there. They also had a pet chihuahua that was about the size of a rat. It was so cute. From there, we went back to Trencin, to the river Vah, which runs through my city. My third host dad had invited me and my siblings to go on a "dragon boat" with his sports camp he runs. It was quite an interesting experience. Whenever the head woman hits a drum, you paddle. We were on the water for about an hour, and it wasn't too difficult. I was able to meet my third host brother, and he was very nice. After this, I went with my host siblings to the scout house from the day before for my first scouting trip. (Yes, I've joined the Slovak scouting association.) The night was so fun making new friends and playing foosball. All the scouting kids were so nice to me and asking me questions about the USA. At night we had a safety meeting and another scout presented about his two week trip to Kyrgyzstan. We ate dinner and went to sleep as we had to be awake early in the morning. Thursday, August 30th. Today me and my brother woke up at 6:50am to make breakfast and get ready for the boating trip. At around 8:00am, we all walked from the village to the Vah river where we inflated raft boats. The next two hours, me and my brother were in the "Baraka" or head boat, finding the easiest path for the other boats with six people. Later on, we stopped and all went back on land. There, we learned how to rescue people in a capsized boat and be rescued. Of course, they made me be rescued. In all my clothes, I went in the water with my brother getting pulled down the small rapids until someone through a rope to pull me in. It was actually a really cool experience as I also got to learn how to save people. The next 5 hours were spent switching boats going down the river, with many water fights in between. Most of the scouts targeted me in general cause they knew I don't like water, and they all called me "America." My clothes never got to dry, but I was having too much fun to really be cold. At around 4pm, we reached our final destination where we said our goodbyes. A big truck dropped us all off back in Trencin. It was quite an exhausting day! Friday and Saturday - August 31/September 1. Friday was a very relaxing day. I went with my host brother to meet his best friend Emma, where we went into town to get Slovak pizza. It was the second time I had it, and once again, I got ham and corn. In Slovak, almost every single type of pizza has ham on it. Theres no such thing as just a "cheese" pizza. After this, I went to go get my city bus pass and a new house key, and then went with my brother to an abandoned bridge with a direct view of the castle. After, we went to the town hotel to see the Roman Inscription in the mountain, from when Roman soldiers occupied the city 2000 years ago! I peeled apples with my host mom for about 4 hours and picked grapes from the backyard! At night, we went to our neighbors house who had a grape press, and they made us fresh grape juice with the grapes! Saturday, I peeled apples with my host mom for another few hours and chilled around the house. At night, my brother and I took a bus to my fathers work in another village. He designs metal parts for car companies and I got to see all the machines and how he does his work. It was quite cool but really gave me a headache. At night we had a special Greek fish, which was actually really good. It was the first time I've ever eaten a fish having to take the entire thing apart on my own. Sunday, September 2. Today is sadly the last day of summer. I'm really excited for school, but I will miss being to wake up whenever I want and going on random adventures. In the morning, my brother and I went to the town castle. It was so beautiful there, I absolutely love my city! We visited every room from the torture center, to the hunters house. In the very end, we went all the way up to the castle tower with a view all over the city. My brother brought my American flag, and we hung it over the top of the tower where there's also a flag of the former king. We called my host mom from our village and told her to go on the street and look at the castle. Even though it was far, she was still able to see our American flag hanging! We left the castle when it started raining and went into town again to get my favorite sandwich. At night we went to my host moms best friend's house for a dinner. It was there I realized how much I love tarter sauce. It's quite common in Slovakia and I love it so much. It was storming insanely loud at night and I stayed up much later than I should have for school at 7:00, but again, I was too excited to be tired! |
AuthorNick Bilotti Archives
March 2019
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