Friday was my true first day in Slovakia and it was a great day! Around 12pm, my host brother Sam and his friend Adam gave me a bike tour of my town. We started going around random residential areas and parks until we ended up on Ostrove, the town "island." There, there is a town water park and a restaurant with original Kofola. Kofola is a Czechoslovak invention consisting of herbs and sugar to resemble Coca Cola which wasn't available to them during the Communist days. It is quite a popular drink here and I really do love it! We sat there for a while and discussed how cool it was that I could understand the lyrics of English songs haha! After this, Sam and Adam brought me to the Castle on the hill with a beautiful view of Trencin. To get there, we had to bike up the forest covered mountain called Brezina. I swear to god I've never done anything harder in my life. But once we were at the top, the view of the city with the castle was all worth it! After the castle, we biked into the town square for the first time! It was so European an absolutely beautiful. My host brother brought me to the best sandwich store, then the best ice cream store. Both were so amazing and natural (Slovaks use almost no chemicals or fake ingredients in their foods). Following lunch break, we went to meet my YEO, Lubica, at the Rotary town cafe. My Rotary club operates and holds meetings in a "caste cafe" (located in the former castle prison) which employs people with mental disabilities who couldn't otherwise hold a normal job! While sitting there and talking my host sister from another family came in and recognized me immediately. She was so nice and sweet! She told us about a Rotary project happening in Brezina to recreate a second layer fence around the castle and said they could use our help. So once again, Sam, Adam and I biked up Brezina to find the Rotarians. There, they told us to come back tomorrow morning to help dig! So, we continued on to the town mall, then back home for dinner. After dinner, we went to Adams house to play Fifa and enjoy the view from his house over Trencin. I am truly exhausted, but it was such an amazing day! I'm so lucky to have such an amazing "first" host family.
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AuthorNick Bilotti Archives
March 2019
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