This entry will cover from the last time I have had time or energy to write until today. My classes are becoming less hectic so there might be a few more entries before I am back in the United States . . . Enjoy!
On Wednesday, April 8, not only were we were assigned to Slovak families to spend the Easter holidays with, but we also left three hours later travel to the assigned villages via train. We were divided into a group of 4 who traveled to a small city, 1 who traveled to a small town, and 2 who traveled to two villages. So Matt and I were chosen to go to the small villages and stay with a family and their cousins. It was, by far, one of the most interesting Easter celebrations I have ever been to. They have a tradition here for Easter Monday, which is bigger here than Easter Sunday, where they make whips from sprigs Sunday evening then on Monday, the boys travel from house to house and hit (gently) the girls with the whip or throw water/perfume on them. The girls then respond by giving the boys decorated eggs, chocolate, cakes, or even money. It was quite the experience. . .I spent the day with Matt's host family because mine did not participate in the Easter Monday traditions. So while I was with Matt's family, we visited one of their relations and the older gentleman had a whip with which he hit me and Matt's host mother. The rest of the day was spent at their grandparents' huge farm . . . they have their own herd of deer . . . where we ate a ton of food and toured their farm and just chilled for the rest of the evening. After such an eventful day, Tuesday was spent repacking and a short visit to the nearby town where we later caught our train and headed back to Bratislava, which is a relatively quite city but seemed extremely loud after spending a week in the countryside.
The Friday after we returned was supposed to be a trip to Vienna, but thankfully, our professor changed the date to the following weekend so we had an unexpected free weekend in Bratislava. We are all coming to the realization that our time here is almost up and we have been discussing what we will miss the most about this city and this country . . . I think I will miss the freedom of movement the most. . . living in the country, I have never realized the pros of public transportation. The affordability and safety of the city buses and the trains is just unbelievable (three of us traveled to one of our Slovak professor's house and for three of us it was less than 4 euro round trip!). The second thing I will miss the most is the food, they cook the most amazing food, not only in our faculty's cafeteria, but also the street vendors and the restaurants. The Slovak students took us to a restaurant with "the cheapest restaurant with the best food" and they were dead on right. I have never spent more than 7 euros there and I get a drink, and a meal, which consists of meat, vegetables, and rice or fries.
So after our free weekend in Bratislava, we spent the week preparing for finals and writing our final papers, unfortunately, we still have a few due this week too. This weekend was spent on a day trip to Vienna on Friday and a trip to our professor Batka's house on Saturday. The day trip to Vienna was very laid back. We only spent a day there because it is only an hour's train ride from Bratislava. In the morning we had a quick walking tour of the city and then we were left to explore as we pleased until that evening when we would meet back at the train station to head back to Bratislava. We spent the whole afternoon in a royal park reading books we had found in a bookstore or just chillin' so it was a great day in Vienna. Saturday, two guys and myself traveled to our professor's home on the outskirts of Bratislava because he had invited us all to come and join him during a festival being held in his town. He met us at the train station and gave us a short tour of the town and his church then he let us go explore the festival on our own. The festival was surprisingly set up in a very American style, with the mix of hand crafted items and the cheap items from China and with all of the booths of food to choose from. So we walked around and ate for a couple hours then decided to head back to Bratislava to finish some papers.
So here I am, less than two weeks to go and not even close to being ready to leave this beautiful city and go home.
The Friday after we returned was supposed to be a trip to Vienna, but thankfully, our professor changed the date to the following weekend so we had an unexpected free weekend in Bratislava. We are all coming to the realization that our time here is almost up and we have been discussing what we will miss the most about this city and this country . . . I think I will miss the freedom of movement the most. . . living in the country, I have never realized the pros of public transportation. The affordability and safety of the city buses and the trains is just unbelievable (three of us traveled to one of our Slovak professor's house and for three of us it was less than 4 euro round trip!). The second thing I will miss the most is the food, they cook the most amazing food, not only in our faculty's cafeteria, but also the street vendors and the restaurants. The Slovak students took us to a restaurant with "the cheapest restaurant with the best food" and they were dead on right. I have never spent more than 7 euros there and I get a drink, and a meal, which consists of meat, vegetables, and rice or fries.
So after our free weekend in Bratislava, we spent the week preparing for finals and writing our final papers, unfortunately, we still have a few due this week too. This weekend was spent on a day trip to Vienna on Friday and a trip to our professor Batka's house on Saturday. The day trip to Vienna was very laid back. We only spent a day there because it is only an hour's train ride from Bratislava. In the morning we had a quick walking tour of the city and then we were left to explore as we pleased until that evening when we would meet back at the train station to head back to Bratislava. We spent the whole afternoon in a royal park reading books we had found in a bookstore or just chillin' so it was a great day in Vienna. Saturday, two guys and myself traveled to our professor's home on the outskirts of Bratislava because he had invited us all to come and join him during a festival being held in his town. He met us at the train station and gave us a short tour of the town and his church then he let us go explore the festival on our own. The festival was surprisingly set up in a very American style, with the mix of hand crafted items and the cheap items from China and with all of the booths of food to choose from. So we walked around and ate for a couple hours then decided to head back to Bratislava to finish some papers.
So here I am, less than two weeks to go and not even close to being ready to leave this beautiful city and go home.
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