It's been about a month since I've updated this blog, and this month I had a lot of opportunities for me that I was really lucky to take part in. And as the holidays come up, and I begin to go further into my exchange, I'm learning a lot. I've spent more than 100 days here, 106 to be exact, and I am getting closer to being 1/3 of the way finished with my exchange. As I look back on it, it seems like a quick blur, it's really shocking to me how fast my exchange is going, and at the same time, how slow it's going.
A really exciting event of this month was traveling to Martin, a city about 4 hours by train from my city, for a Thanksgiving Dinner. Being away from my family for Thanksgiving was something that I knew would be really hard for me, but thanks to Rotary it wasn't half bad. I took the train with my other American friend living in a village near me, and started the night by helping prepare everything. Some Americans were there earlier helping cook and clean, the Americans made Apple pie, and the Brazilians made some Brazilian desserts. It was as close as we could get to a Thanksgiving dinner, and even though I didn't get to spend it with my real family in America, I spent it with another family of exchange students. Along with this, another event I got to go to was a rotary meeting in Bratislava, Slovakia's capital, and meet with all the exchange students living in Slovakia this year. And by far this was my favorite part of the month. The plan was to sleep in Bratislava for two nights and travel to Vienna one day. The weekend began with a 6 hour train ride from Kosice to Bratislava with me and all the exchange students living in Kosice. A 6 hour train ride might not sound the most exciting, but when your with exchange students, it's always interesting. Over these couple of months of my exchange, the students all together in my city have become incredibly close, so I had no problem having to spend 6 hours with them. We spent the time talking and doing each others makeup while we blasted music in our little crowded train cabin. It was one of my favorite parts of the weekend. When we arrived in Bratislava, all the exchange students met in the train station, which looked more like an unchoreographed flash mob. With loud Brazilian music playing and everyone dancing with each other, we definitely became the center of attention of the train station. It was really great seeing all the students that I had became really close with in Trencin, during our first rotary meeting. After everyone arrived, we walked together to the Bratislava castle and then walked to the Bratislava Christmas market. It's easy to say that theses Christmas markets that are also in KOsice and Vienna, are the perfect amount of Christmas I need in my life. We walked around together in the rain and everyone really enjoyed it. After we went back to the hotel and got ready to leave for Vienna the next day. I am lucky enough to have already visit Vienna during my exchange, so this was not my first time touring it, but again it was still a really amazing place to be. We walked around the Christmas markets with all the exchange students, and took pictures, and went shopping. Like I said, exchange students always keep things interesting, so it was really fun to go with them. On sunday, we ended the weekend with a Slovak test, both writing and speaking, and it was great way to leave on a high note... I really think my host district is the only one giving their students language tests, which to me is a blessing and a curse, its pushing me to actually the learn the language, but on the other hand, Slovak is fucking hard. But we finished that and then we all said our goodbyes at the station and began our 6 hour train ride home, which again was super fun,thanks to all the exchange students I got to be with. Other then these too big event I haven't been up to too much. My family took me ice skating with my sister, which was interesting to say the least. Of course I have ice skated before, but successfully is another story. But by the end my 13 year old sister was no longer holding up her screaming 16 year old sister. But it was super fun and i'm really lucky my parents took me. During the week I am going to school everyday and usually doing stuff after. Every Tuesday and Wednesday I have language class with all the exchange students living in Kosice, which is really nice spending time and learning with them. Other days after school I like to go out with friends to the city. It's also really fun going out with people from Kosice because of how much they can teach you about Slovakia. Whether its new words in Slovak or a pet store around the corner where you can look at fish. Everyday I'm here I'm learning new things, and more about this amazing country. Like I always say I don't know what the future will bring me but I'm really looking forward to the rest of my exchange, and I'm really proud of how far I've come. Down below I'll leave pictures from this month. Also I made a video from my trip to Paris, so if you haven't seen it please check it out. Thanks for reading! www.youtube.com/watch?v=xs8QB4Bfgmo&feature=youtu.be
1 Comment
Jim
12/20/2017 11:40:09 am
Hi Sweetheart - LOVED the Paris video! Glad you got to get there. Your blog is great - I love hearing about what's going on for you these days. Must be the trip of a life time... :)
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AuthorRotary Youth Exchange Student traveling to Slovakia from the USA. Archives
December 2017
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