Im expecting this blog to be a pretty long one this time due to the fact that I haven’t written one in such a long time, and things are always happening in good idea slovakia. I believe I have just finished my second month here and looking back it's a tangle of new memories, new places, new experiences, and good mix of ups and downs.
I began the month with a trip to Vienna Austria with my classmates from school, which was a whole other world compare to the small Minturn Colorado I've been growing up in. Needless to say it was a very new experience for me, seeing these huge buildings designed to every little detail, being surrounded by these stores that I wouldn't dare step foot in due to that belt over there that costs more than my whole exchange, and being around crowded streets with cars that won't always stop for you when your in the street like they do in Minturn. Nevertheless, these new experiences were what made the trip so great, learning about these new places I had never dreamed about going to. I think my favorite part of Vienna would be getting to experience everything with my exchange student and classmate from Peru, Gabriela. Everything for us is so different compared to our regular lives back home and it's really funny to watch each other slowly understand and learn more about different these cultures. After this trip I had a week more of school and then a small holiday after. School here is, to put it lightly, a challenge. I am grateful that my school is so involved with me and tries their best to include me in what there doing, but I won't lie, it's does become discouraging when a paper that would take a regular classmate to do in 5 minutes can last me more than an hour. I am trying my best to keep up but some days I am left upset and frustrated because of this language barrier, but I do understand this is a big part of exchange and just another thing I will have to overcome. And I'm really excited for when I can understand what my classmates are talking, and who knows, maybe even ass to the conversation. But thankfully I was given a very much needed holiday where my host family took me on a quick trip to paris which I'm so grateful for. We decided to drive there which was about 10 hours overnight, which was amazing as it sounds. The first day we spent walking around Paris and seeing all the monuments that you have seen your whole life in books and movies, like the Eiffel Tower and The Louvre. Something I've come to really enjoy is just that shocking bewilderment you feel when you finally get to see these amazing landmarks that you have only dreamt about it. Walking towards the eiffel tower was mesmerising, it was like seeing the picture in the book come to life. After sightseeing, we ended this great day with your everyday pickpocket in the Paris train station. Yes the naive american exchange student who carelessly left her wallet, that holds very important things to her life, in her pocket, was stolen from. I was always told that when I'm Europe be careful with your things because of the danger of pick pocketers, which of course I always brushed away with that common thought of, that would never really happened to me. But of course my 5 minutes in the train station resulted in me coming back to the hotel with 30 euros less, no bus or train pass, and my cards in someone else's hands. But thankfully after about a week of being back in Slovakia, I have a new wallet that I intend to keep in my own hands. The next say, was planned for us to go to DisneyLand that was about 10 minutes away from our hotel. I had been to DisneyLand in America once when I was around 5, so this was really my first time being in such a place and being conscious of it. When people say that DisneyLand is the place where dreams come true, they really mean 20 minutes of dreams paired with 6 hours of waiting in lines. But even though most of our time was spent waiting, I did really enjoy being with my family, especially my sister who fell in love with the amusement and excitement Disneyland offered. Finally, after a 8 hour day of excitement, we popped back into the car where we would drive through the night once again, and I don't know how my host dad did it but he got us there. The funny part of this though was where we were going. When your an exchange student, something you do a lot is just go with it, even if you have no idea what's going on. So I was under the influence that after France we were traveling to Germany, which would be around another 10 hours stacked on our travel time. So when I wake up I can see that everything was in German, the signs, the billboards, so obviously I thought we were in Germany. And when it came to visiting Germany, of course I'd love to see it, but after driving that much, I wasn't exactly ecstatic about being there. So as I'm sitting in the car, with my neck about to break from my awkward sleeping positions, and with yesterdays makeup and clothes on, somewhat wishing that Germany was postponed to another trip, I see the sign that says Bratislava, (the capital of Slovakia ). So once again I decided to just go with it until I convinced myself that germany shares a border with Slovakia... But finally I decided to whisper my sister, where are we, and she let me know that we were in Austria, not Germany, obviously, and of course I was shocked along with a little relieved with the fact we were going home. So moral of the story, never underestimate the little knowledge an American can have of the geography of Europe. Overall it was a short but really nice trip, that I'm so grateful for. My favorite part, easily was the cheese. French cheese is a a whole new experience in itself. Both nights in the hotel was spent with my family talking while eating the best bread and cheese that I've tasted, and its defiantly going to be something I will miss until next time I will visit France. Which will be around March, when I go on Eurotour with rotary, where I will be purchasing as much cheese as I can fit in my bag. Now after my trip, I'm back to my regular week in Slovakia. With a new wallet and bus pass, I'm back at school just trying to learn Slovak and enjoy my exchange. So far it's been really great and finally after two months, I'm getting into a routine and getting more and more comfortable in my new home.
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AuthorRotary Youth Exchange Student traveling to Slovakia from the USA. Archives
December 2017
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