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.
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AuthorNick Bilotti Archives
March 2019
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