So, took another break there from the blogs for a while. I'm a bit bad at keeping up with these. IT's been about three week again since I wrote, so I'll try to sum it up in good detail. The week following my first rotary conference was pretty good. Nothing very big happened, but I was spending more time with my friends and going out more during the week. On Wednesday, the 27th, Lourdes, Duca, and I went to Žilina to go to the immigration police for our residency permits. Afterwards we were able to go to the mall and shop, which was nice because finally I was ale to buy clothes that I really liked. That week I also bought a nice new camera so I can take pictures that will capture the beauty of Slovakia, rather than just my phone. I received that camera and quickly started taking many photos. I went through the city with my friend Martina and took pictures of the mountains, the buildings, and some statues. On the Friday of the 6th, I went out with friends and it was very fun. Most of the following week again was not very substantial, but on Wednesday, the day before my birthday, my friends really surprised me. Some prior explanation, and I will further explain this later, but Thursday my class was going to Auschwitz (Thursday being my birthday), henceforth we could not celebrate my birthday then. So on one of the breaks during school, my friends Nika and Martina (x2) brought for me a cake and a muffin, singing happy birthday to me. It was so surprising that I almost cried from happiness. Then, my teacher came to me and gave me a gift, and (more backstory to put in here, I lost one of my favorite sweaters in the high tatras, in Teryho Chata, 2015m up. It was upsetting and I thought I lost it forever) everyone was looking to me and I opened the gift, and it was the sweatshirt I had lost! I literally became breathless, and I was so happy to see it again. For me Wednesday was such a good day and I felt so welcomed with my classmates. On Thursday, especially the morning, it was quite the opposite. On my actual birthday, I went with my school to Auschwitz. Yes, the concentration camp (I have literally gotten the "Auschwitz? The concentration camp?" question about 3-4 times). It was so deeply moving, but so upsetting to me. I felt mentally and physically sick, seeing what those people went through, actually seeing their belongings, it was horrible. Learning about it in school through books and movies is nothing in comparison to the real thing. And I'll still never really understand it. But, moving on past the sad things, after that we went to Krakow. Which is an extremely, extremely beautiful city. Except for how crowded it was... that was a bit frustrating, not gonna lie. But I got a lot of good pictures with and without friends, and it was relatively enjoyable with them. And now to this past weekend, which I spent in the High Tatras with my family. We stayed in a really beautiful hotel called Grand Hotel Prague (4 stars). On Saturday, we went to Zelenom Pleso, and that hike to and from was about 23-24 kilometers (about 16-17 miles, for the other Americans who still do not understand those conversions). After this hike everyone was extremely exhausted, and we spent the evening in the spa. I went to a Finish Sauna, which is about 212 degrees Fahrenheit. It hurt to breathe. I've also never sweat so much in my life. Then, I had a nice massage, and beware, anyone getting a massage in Slovakia (if you're from the US) they massage your butt a lot. I was surprised and a bit uncomfortable. But it was still pretty great to get a back massage again. Then, today (Sunday the 15th) my family and I went to Strbske Pleso. It was really beautiful and I enjoyed seeing the mountains. On the way back home we stopped at a restaurant and I had trout, and now it was not already fileted, it was an entire fish. But MY GOD it was so good. And for only 6 Euros. I could eat that every day for the rest of my year here. So, this has been the past few weeks for me. Hopefully my next update won't be so late. Thanks for reading!! :-)
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So, it has so far been an entire month for me here in Slovakia. I think it went by very quickly. And a lot has happened since I last wrote, so I will try to sum it up. I went and hiked up Martinske Hole Ferrata with Terka, and then we went to a lake somewhere outside of Martin. (I don't remember its name). It was a very fun day and I am so happy I got to see so many beautiful sights. A couple days later I went to Dunajska Streda and had a canoeing trip with some exchange students from around the area. It was so much fun to meet them and talk to them, most for the first time. We canoed down a river from one village to another, totalling in 26km, around 18 miles. It was an exhausting 4 hour trip, and I was with a family that did not speak well in English. For me, most of the time it was silent, and I just wanted someone to talk to. Afterwards, I had an hour or two more to talk to the other inbounds. It was really fun. The day after, Terka, Petka, and I went to a village fair in Kláštor pod Znievom. It was cool to see what kind of crafts people here like to make. Fast forward to a week later, and I went to my first Slovak wedding. It was really beautiful, and the wedding was a mix between modern and traditional. I really enjoyed myself and I thought it was really great to see how another country approaches something like marriage. About another week later I had a really fun trip with most of my family. We went to a small area near Banska Bystrica to a cave called Harmeneca. Before we hiked the 45 minute climb to the cave itself, we ate at a restaurant that was utterly amazing. I tried duck, venison, pork, beef, and chicken. After literally stuffing my face, we hiked up the side of a mountain to the cave entrance. I had never been in a cave before this, so it was awesome. The formations of the rock and the stalactites and stalagmites, these are things that in the US you don't see very often. I am very happy that I was able to experience this. The following day began my trip to the High Tatra mountains with my school. I believe that this will be one of the weeks of my life that I will never forget, and I am so happy that I was able to go. To see these mountains in person, to hike in them, it was something that I am so thankful for. I have so many beautiful pictures, and I got to know so many of my classmates so much better. I hiked to Teryho Chata, which is the second highest cottage in Slovakia, 2015m in the air. The hike to the cottage was slow, and as we reached the incline of the mountain it began to snow and rain. It was soooo cold. But the view from the top was so beautiful, I regret nothing. We also hiked to Popradske Pleso, a beautiful lake with the view of the mountains surrounding it. Things like this are so gorgeous, and everytime I see something new I am more amazed by how beautiful Slovakia really is. Immediately after the trip to the High Tatras, and I'm talking immediately (I was home for 3 hours) I went to the rotary inbound orientation meeting. It was really really fun to meet so many of my friends I had been talking to for so many months. We got to see Trenčín castle, and that was really pretty also. I think Trenčín is one of the most beautiful cities I have seen so far. It was so fun to spend time with my friends, and to get to know some of them even more. I am very thankful for this first month here!! <3
24.8.17
On Thursday, I went to a hockey game with my father and Petra. On the way to the game, we got into a traffic jam. This is because the road leading out of the city is near to these big cliffs of rock. The struggle with these is that they are trying to build a tunnel in the mountains so that they avoid these traffic jams. But every time they cut into the mountain, rocks from the cliff can slide and fall to the road. It is a problem for the city of Martin. So, due to this traffic jam, we were a little bit late to the game, but we did not miss much. The game was Slovakia versus Czech Republic. The Slovak team had a new coach for its players, and it was the first time the players had ever played together, so it was new for them. Slovakia lost against Czech by one point. But it was still very cool to see a hockey game in Europe. People cheering for Slovakia were very proud of their country, and we cheered “Slovensko!” and “My chceme go!” and used our ‘rabkačik’ to make noises. After the game, which was in Zilina, we went to Tesco to buy a SIM card for my phone and I bought myself my first shirt in Europe. It was only $6.50. Then, we went back home and I got ready to go to bed, only to barely sleep at all because of jetlag. I ended up watching Netflix for a while and listening to the sounds of the ocean in order to fall asleep. It was long night. ☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁ 25.8.17 On Friday, I woke up at nine in the morning and made scrambled eggs and coffee and talked with Petra at the table for about a half hour. It was a beautiful day already. Then, I took another shower and then Petra and I went out for gelato. I really liked it, and it was only $.50. It is different than ice cream, but it still tastes very good. I then went home and slept for three hours because I was very tired from the night. I woke up and mom was home, so together we went to the city center. If you remember from my last writing, she does not speak English well. Petka and I downloaded Google Translate to her phone and through this we communicated. It was great though, because she did not have to use it much. I was able to communicate a bit and understand most of what she said. It felt good to be like this. We went to two shoe stores looking for slippers for the home, but we did not find any there. So then we went to the drug store and mom bought me soap for the bathroom. On the street there are different venders of food, one is ‘mini-pizza’ which is just one slice of pizza. I ordered cheese pizza, and it was amazing to eat. It had a lot of flavor because there were many different kinds of cheese on the pizza. Then, we went to the fruit market and mom bought bananas, pears, and peaches for me. At the market are like, one thousand wasps and it was absolutely terrifying. Anyone who knows me knows that I hate bees a lot. They landed on me and my pizza, and one flew right into my face. It was embarrassing because I was screaming a little and people thought it was funny of me. It was super scary, so I walked out and waited outside the market until my mom had bought the fruits. We went home and then I went out with Terka (Tereza) and went to Tesco and the mall. Together shopping was so fun, and at Tesco I bought a super cute romper. We then went to the mall and I bought a red skirt !!!!!! (I have wanted a red skirt for literally a year, and I could never find one in America, but I finally found one here!!!) and a really cute black bodysuit to go with it. I also got a lace up sweater. It was really nice to shop in these places, because clothes are actually of a normal price and not outrageously expensive like America. When Terka and I got home, her boyfriend Tomas came, and he does not speak English, and all he knows of English is basic phrases and song lyrics. So, when Zuzana and Simon (my other sister and her boyfriend) came home, Tomas yelled to Simon “I am the best! I am number one!”. He continued to say different song lyrics, like “This is the end”. And he compliments were very.. Nice. To Simon he yells, at random, “Simon!” “Yes?” “Your English… is so beautiful!”. Tomas is a very funny guy and he is super sweet. I think him and Terka are very beautiful couple. Terka, Tomas, and I went to the city center to the ATM, and I got hungry again, so I bought a hamburger and fries from a restaurant. I did not like the burger very much, and the bun was hard and it felt like it cut my throat. But the fries were amazinngggg. Then, again, we went home. When we got back to the apartment, Petra asked me if I wanted to go back out and meet other Slovak exchange students, those who went to America and Bolivia before. So! I went back out to city for third time in the day and talked to these girls. It was a very fun day. And that night was the first night that I slept the whole night without waking up. It was great. UPDATE ON SLOVAK: My Slovak still is not well. It is a very hard language, but my family has been helping me learn vocabulary, which is so nice of them. I think though, that in these past three days, my Slovak has gotten better. ☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁ 26.8.17 Today, Saturday, we went to the village Poliereka where my family has a beautiful cottage. It is only a 20 minutes drive away from our flat in Martin. The countryside is beautiful and there are mountains everywhere. It is so awesome. When we got to the cottage, mom was making ‘halusky’ the famous Slovak dish of potatoes and sheep cheese. It was not to my liking, so I had other potatoes. The sheep cheese is quite bitter, or tart even. It was not bad, but I do not think I like it very much. In the back of the land my family owns at the cottage the boys of the family are building solar panels to power the house. It is a huge project and the metal is very heavy. After we ate our lunch, Terka and I went to our neighbor Josko’s house and played table tennis for a while. Josko has a huge dog named Dino, but he is old and shy. Josko also has a new kitten, and we went inside to pet it, but because it has only been at his home for two days, its stomach is upset, so it pooped on my arm and my shirt. It was funny but it smelled very bad. So I washed and then we played more table tennis. After this I took another nap (these are now very common for me) and woke up later in the day. Terka and I went for a hike and talked about many things, as she took me to a well where you can drink water right from the mountain. She says it has many minerals, so it has very strong taste but it is very healthy. It definitely tasted weird, but it was good tasting. We then hiked back and I ate dinner, and then as big family we went to Josko’s and spent the night with all of the neighbors in the village. I played ping pong a lot with ocko (papa), Terka, Zuzka, and Simon. It was very fun to play. Later in the night I played the guitar and sang for the village, and though they could not understand me, they said I was very good at playing and singing. Then, Janka, a very kind woman from the village, played guitar and everyone sang music in Czech. It was so cool to hear this. I then went home to sleep for the night. ☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁ 27.8.17 Today is Sunday now, which is the last day we spend in Poliereka. It is very hot out, and again I slept normal hours of the night. When I woke up, I went for cold shower by accident, but it helped to wake me up. Again in the morning, Terka and I went for a walk, this time to a different place. We stopped at our neighbor Martin’s house, and he has three beautiful Akita Inu dogs. His house is very big and he built all of it himself. After we went to his out, we stopped at his sister’s house, and she had ten dogs, all of them are Australian Sheppards, which are my favorite dog! I was so happy, and then she told us she sold these in the USA, and hopefully I will get one when I come home in ten months. We finished our walk and came home to eat lunch. It was very good, as it always is when my mom is making food. Then, I took another nap. I think I have taken a nap every day so far. This is not very great habit. After this nap, I practiced my Slovak on my phone as the boys worked on the solar panels in the very hot weather. Suddenly rain started to come, so Zuzana, Simon, and I went home. Then, we picked up Petka and went out to get ice cream. And now I am home, very tired from this long and big weekend, and I am very thankful that I am here. At the same time, I am seeing just how hard this really is. I am missing my friends back home and wondering how things are, and I feel out of place sometimes. I get frustrated because I cannot understand so many of the things my family and my neighbors say to me. It gets hard sometimes, but I am still happy to be here. I arrived in Slovakia about 24 hours ago now, and it is so beautiful. The sights, the mountains, the people. I am so lucky to be here.
I flew in on the plane and landed in Vienna absolutely exhausted with no idea where to go. I had gotten about two hours of sleep on the plane, and I was also extremely hungry. I walked out of customs to meet my family, and there were my sister and my father with a beautifully painted sign exclaiming "Vitaj na Slovensku Tessa". Together we walked through the airport to the car with my four bags of luggage. And the we embarked on the three hour drive to home. When we got into the city Bratislava, we stopped and I had my first taste of European coffee. It is so good! I was able to drink a black espresso and it was not bitter, but alive with wonderful flavour. I also had a chocolate twist, and it was pretty good too. We continued to drive home and I saw at least four castles, all of which my sister, Petra, told me the stories of. They are so daunting and beautiful. As we got closer to the North, the hills got bigger and started turning in to mountains, and they slid high into the sky, shrouded soon by clouds. As we drove into Martin there were large rocky cliffs next to the road that Petra told me about. There were wire nets on these rocks because five people had died due to rocks falling. A good little scare for me as I stared right at these dangerous cliffs. After a long drive and a lot of motion sickness, I arrived at the apartment. It is so beautiful, and my room is so big and beautiful. My sister Zuzana made the bed for me, and then I slept for three hours. I woke up, still exhausted, but slightly less so. Then, my sister Petra and Tereza helped me unpack all of my clothes and other items. I moved into my room in less than an hour thanks to their help. I also met my amazingly kind mother, Marcella. She started speaking Slovak to me, because she is still learning English, and I was so confused I could only say "áno" and "ahoj ahoj ahoj mama". She surprised me with a bunch of Kinder chocolate and made me food. I ate as much as I could at the time. Then came Ján, my counselor for the year. Together with my mother we talked about rules and did the "First Night Questions". It was very nice of my counselor to come see me on my first day and introduce himself. Then, my mother started to make more food, but this time I was a lot more hungry, because I ate around ten pieces of these amazing fried chicken things (I am not sure what to actually call them), a piece of bread, and some salad. I can understand now how exchange students gain so much weight. After dinner, Petra and Tereza took me on a walk through the city center and told me about all of the stores, bars, and cafes they have. It was very beautiful. We went walking by someone playing music by a dance floor and a couple was dancing a very fancy looking dance. It was really cool. Also, there are a lot of bikes. A lot. We came back home after we saw the ampitheatre, and then I took a nice shower. It was weird to get used to the new kind of shower, with just shower head and big bath tub. Then, Tereza made me a cup of tea and I drank it as we watched home renovation shows in the living room. Then, I started to get ready to go to bed. In the night, I woke up probably five times to go to the bathroom because my body still was not used to the time change. I was awake for twenty minutes around four in the morning, but then went back to bed for seven hours. I woke up at around eleven in the morning, and brushed my teeth. I had vanilla yogurt for breakfast and talked with Petra at the table. Then, Petra and I went to U Jakuba, a restaurant in our city. It is only five minute walk, and together we ate lunch there. I ordered steak and garlic baguette. It was so yummy and so filling. I also tried Kofola, a common "cola" in Slovakia. It taste like a mix of liquorice and coke. And now, I am in my home, writing this, until at four we drive to Žilina for a hockey game of Slovakia versus Czech Republic. I am so excited. Ahoj! -Tessa |
About Me:I am a 17 year old girl who has always dreamed about traveling and seeing the world. I love culture and language, and the ability to gain knowledge in both of those fields whilst improving myself was something I could not pass up. I am so proud to be a Rotary Exchange Student. Archives
October 2017
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