Here's a link to my Blog:
 http://advinbratislava.blogspot.com/

Ginny's Year in Slovak Republic
(Some excerpts from Ginny's Blogspot blog)

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Let's Recap...

It occurs to me that today, I have been in Slovakia for exactly four weeks. This span of time is usually considered a month, although the calendar says that the one month aniversary of my first full day in Slovakia will take place on Friday. So, in honor of this occaision, let us have a recap:

Bratislava is radically different than Southwest Missouri. It gets cold enough to need a sweatshirt in late August, has REAL public transportation, has upteen kabillion parks and cemeteries that are almost exactly like parks. Jana Krishna is the most popular singer, Orange, T-Mobile, and O2 are the only cell phone service providers, and flat is not existent. The tv shows are all in Slovak or Czech, with the exception of CNN and BBC, and English is not spoken outside the classroom. School does not run from the same time to the same time everyday, and there is no set lunch period.

Bratislava is the same as Southwest Missouri. Friends like to get together and talk. Students get bored in class, and don't always pay attention. Everyone has a cell phone. Making friends with kids who have been together for four years is tricky. Sitting on your own at lunch for the first time since you had Solitary Lunch in fifth grade is God awful. Making friends feels amazing. Twilight (Or I guess I should say Súmrak) is popular.

All in all: Bratislava is very different, and very similar at the same time. It's a weird experience, but I'm slowly getting myself accustomed to its quirks.

Some changes to expect when I come home: A knowledge of how to use public transportation, and sadly for Mom and Dad, a fondness for texting. It's much cheaper for Beth and I to text each other on our phones when we need to ask each other something, or just want to talk than it is to actually call, and since we're the ones forking over the euro..... 

On another note, I had my first škúsa (exam) Thursday. It's in French. I spent half the night studying the Slovak infinitives of a bunch of verbs I already know in English. It made my head hurt. A lot. It was miserable! At least I already knew all the conjugations...."

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

GASP* an early Update

Due to the fact that I will be in the Tetras Mountains of Slovakia this weekend, I'm going to be updating early!

I finally found the English speaking church, which actually is within walking distance from my home here in Bratislava. [...]

After we went to church, we went to Aupark, one of the malls in Bratislava, ate some lunch, and wandered a bit. We successfully got there on our own, using the public transit system. After Aupark, we went downtown, stopped by the place where you can get international magazines, and went to Tesko so I could get a folder for school. Yes, I actually need one. I'm getting handouts in French and English, as well as the occaisional copy of a math assignment from Niki.

Last night, we had the Rotary meeting at the National Bank, which is run by one of the Rotarians. It's a rather nifty place, and it was cool to be able to see it. [...]

I have also managed to get hooked to a tv show here in Slovakia. It is called Cesko Slovenska Superstar. Basically, it's American Idol for Slovakia and the Czech Republic. I don't understand everything that's said, but I still really like it. [...] Here's a link to a YouTube video, featuring one of my favorite auditions. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoxxEq4aFgI [...]

School's going well. My English teacher is very fond of the United Kingdom. I think Catriona would have more luck with her. She asked me where my family was from before we were American today, and was certain that the reason my English was so good was because of my Scottish origins, because Scotland is, after all, almost England. [...]

I have my first exam on Thursday. It's in French, on verb conjugations, so I'm not too worried. I am studying, though, mostly the subjunctive, and the Slovak infinitives of the verbs so I can recognize them. Wish me luck!

Friday, September 18, 2009

So, this is what's been happening....

1. My learning of how to get to Aupark, the really big mall here in Bratislava, by myself. It's a nice thing to be able to get there on my own, so I don't have to rely on Miša to drive me there.

2. We went to Garulata, the ruins of this old Roman fort. [...]

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

As that blasted Song says, "Make new Friends"!

Friday was the start of a new adventure. The Rotarian Orientation Meeting went from Friday evening until Sunday morning. So, around 15:00 on Friday, Beth, Carlos, and I piled into the back of Carlos' host parents' car, and were driven to the lovely Slovak village of Strečno. The hotel we invaded, er, well, more like conquered, was nice enough [...] I believe the total headcount for the entirety of District 2240, consisting of both the Czech and Slovak Republics, was somewhere in the fifties, consisting of students from the countries of Brazil, Mexico, Taiwan, Japan, Canada, the United States, and Australia. The breakdown according to size was something like fifteen Mexicans, eleven Brazilians, three Canadians, one Japanese, one Taiwanese, two Aussies, and twenty-three Americans. [...] I became friends with Misae and Sophia, the Japanese and Taiwanese students [...].

Other than making new friends, we got to sit and listen to  lectures that most of us [...], go for a boat ride on the Váh River, and see Strečno Hrad, the Castle of Strečno. The boat ride was so much fun! We had boat paddler/guides who were wearing traditional dress, and told us amusing stories and the like, and the Rotex (Former exchange students who were organizing the weekend) translated for us. I even got to paddle the boat and wear one of the hats for a while!

Such fun, that. The castle was also very cool. There were some amazing views, and I took a lot of pictures. Or at least, I did until my camera started to die on me. So irksome.

We also got to have a dance, and while I did dance some in the beginning [...] I wound up joining a group of people including Misae, Beth, and some Americans named Tim, Jenn, and Alanah playing Skip-Bo!, which, for those who don't know, is a long cardgame, which, while not being perfect, is better than dancing sometimes.

So, on Monday I went to school, where I was to be presented to a classroom full of new and strange people for the first time since I was in, oh, let's say.... third grade. Needless to say I was as nervous as all get out.
[See Ginny's blogspot entry for details ...]
 

Monday, August 31, 2009

What has been foretold has come to pass.....

On Sunday, I did not go to church (we're still working on that one. Miša is determined to find a church that has English services, or as she puts it "mass". I think I'm going to be Catholic for a year....)

First, we went to the Danubiana art gallery. It's an art museum, with a sculpture garden right on the Danube, near the Hungarian border. The views are spectacular. You could just see the amazing, positively ruined castle of the nearby village (the last Slovakian village before you get to Hungary) in the distance. So cool. At any rate, Petra and I got coffee at the little gallery coffee shop before we left. Petra got a latte of some variety, I got what is known as a Vienedská, a coffee with a lot of whipped cream, and a lot of sugar. After eating about half the whipped cream, mixing the rest into my coffee, and then mixing in copious amounts of sugar from the table, I was actually rather fond of it. See my high tolerence of the extremely bitter drink. Maybe I should stick to mochas....

After that, Petra and I went to Aupark, one of the three malls that I know of in Bratislava. We went to a bookstore, and I, tired of running through books at an incredibly fast pace, went for a book I knew would take me forever and a day: a copy of the complete Lord of the Rings novels. You know, one of those ridiculously huge things that has all three books? I think it was a wise decision, personally. In addition, I got a few articles of clothing, and did a bit of a look around in two popular, and slightly less expensive clothing stores. They're definitely cheaper than France, I must say!
After that, we went home. Fairly simple, no?

Today, however, was a bit different. Today, you see, was my first Rotary meeting. Such fun. Miša had deemed that, having gone with her to the bus stop twice before, I clearly did not need her to go with me to see me onto the bus. I said that I thought I remembered the way, hoping that she would see that "thought" meant "about 90% sure, maybe actually 85% would be a better number, that I remembered the way". I decided to leave at about 5:30, which would give me about 10 minutes to get slightly lost. Besides, I had a cell phone, I could call Petra if I needed help.

Well, some of you who know me have anticipated the punchline: I FINALLY find the bus stop at around 8:14, a minute after the 8:13 bus left, and seven minutes before the next bus. [...] I was about 25 minutes late, and showed up in the middle of business. Brilliant. Five minutes later, Petra called me, and I answered very, very quietly. Apparently, Miša had called her in a total panic, because, while I had spoken to her while I was on the bus to the meeting, she was still horrified that I was lost in the city. Basically, Petra called, made sure I was there, and told me to call her after the meeting, and she would give me a ride home. I accepted gratefully. I saw no need to get lost. Again. I felt significantly better when someone else's phone went off during the meeting, and when another Rotarian showed up even later than I did.[...]

I got to meet my counselor at the meeting. He's very nice, and I look forward to getting to know him. I also met the other two exchange students, Beth, who's from upstate New York, and Carlos, who's from Mexico. I didn't get to talk to Beth very much; her ride was already at the hotel, and she was leaving pretty quickly, but Carlos and I talked for quite a while outside the hotel, waiting for our rides. I am pleased to report that yes, there were other people who came in not knowing the required 300 word vocabulary. If Carlos and I fail, we will fail together! This makes me happy. We spent most of the ten minutes or so until Petra got there swapping stories of how our first week had gone, comiserating on the having little or no knowledge of Slovak level. I think he and I are going to get along just fine.

That's about it. Petra and I drove home, explained to Miša that I was really, really horrible about directions, and figured out where I'd messed up (turns out, there's a set of stairs that has a street crossing through the middle of it. I only took the first half of the steps. Of course! So simple! So... typical of me.) [...]
 

Saturday, August 29, 2009

Hungary?

Well. I've done something that I didn't think was humanly possible: In less than a week, I've been to...five countries. I started the week in the US, spent about an hour or so in Germany at the oh-so-irritating Munich airport, and roughly an hour (including transit time to the border) in Austria. Then I spent several days in Slovakia, obviously, and last night I added our lovely neighbor to the east to the list: Hungary.

It worked out like this: Petra invited me to dinner with her and a friend, Lucia (pronounced Loo-tsi-a). I happily agreed. [See Ginny's blogspot entry for details about the trip and the multi-course meal.]

Thursday, August 27, 2009

The first few Adventures...

Well, the first adventure in Bratislava occured Wednesday morning (also known as "streda ráno", for those of you who have a keen desire to learn Slovak), when Miša (my host mother) and I went to one of the malls of Bratislava. This particular one was called "Avion", due to its close proximity to the Bratislava airport. At any rate, we went to the mall to get a newspaper, make a stop at the post office, and to get a sim card. So, we went in, and wandered around quite a bit, going into various clothing stores (thus I learned the words 'nohavice' (pants) and 'rifle' (jeans) and had the words 'blouzka' (blouse) and 'sveter' (sweater) fixed permently in my brain), and then wandered over to Orange, the store where you handle your phone. This is where we purchased the sim card, whose name in Slovak escapes me at the moment. At any rate, this sim card uses credit: right now, it has €10 on it, and I'll need to purchase more when I run out. After that, we got the newspaper, stopped in a petshop to look at new collars for Mattes, and went to the post office to pay the bills, I think by money order. At any rate, after that, we went home. Pretty simple.

The next adventure came that evening when Petra came to take me for a walk around Old Town, which is the downtown district of Bratislava. It's also the only part which didn't get smashed up by the Communists. At any rate, it's not far from my house, walking distance, actually. So, Petra and I went to Old Town, and she showed me around. We got some ice cream while we were there, and decided to head over to Bratislava's beach. The beach is only there during the summer, as it has to be set up every year. It's on the banks of the Danube river, and it's a place where lots of people hang out, and have a drink (both alcoholic and not) with friends and family. Petra and I hung out there for a while, then headed home.

Thursday (štvrtok) morning brought forth a third adventure, when Miša took me to see the Slavín memorial. It's the rough equivalent to the American Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, although it's dedicated to the 6,845 odd men who died liberating Slovakia from the Germans. It has some amazing views of the entire city!

After the Slavín, we went to the Church of St. Mary of the Snow, and it's little quarry chapel. It's beautiful, and so quiet. The cool thing is, people have bought tiles and stones to thank Mary for whatever blessing she's given them. The oldest one I saw was from 1900!

At any rate, fourth, and final, adventure is that I went to Old Town again Thursday night, this time with Miša. Turns out, she loves books as much as I do. We went into a bookstore that had a decent selection of English books. Does it surprise anyone that I purchased one? I did try to get one I don't have at home, and it's paperback.... So, Miša and I walked around for quite a while, looking at monuments, and listening to a Jewish band that had a concert that night, before taking the elektrocar home. The elektrocar is how I'll be getting to school everyday. Well, I should say we "tried" to take it to our stop. Turns out, it was late enough that the elektrocar wasn't on its usual route, so we got off a bit further away than we wanted, but it wasn't really a problem.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

I'm Here!!!

Well, here I am! I'm finally in the lovely city of Bratislava, after spending a grueling day and a half (I'm probably exaggerating) in various airports all over the place. ... [See Ginny's blogspot entry for the tale of her travels]

The first thing I noticed was pretty simple: there are mountains here! I mean, I knew there would be, but I've only seen mountains one other time in my life, and let me tell you, the mountains of Utah have nothing on the mountains of Slovakia. Petra has informed me that my "mountains" aren't really considered mountains, just large hills. They're still awesome, and I still love them. Bratislava is actually situated on one of them. So cool!

The family lives in a pretty good sized house in one of the best neighborhoods in Bratislava. It is close to the house of Parlement, the castle, and downtown. Petra says I probably won't have to use public transportation for much besides getting to school, because I can just walk downtown! When we arrived, Miša as I am to call her, was waiting for us along with their insane but loveable dog, Mattes, and we had lunch, which was a chicken noodle soup, of sorts, and huloški and perkelt. Huloški (assuming I've spelled it correctly) is... well, it's almost like this mix between a dumpling and noodles. You can't really explain it. Perlt is a sauce, containing cream, spices, and chicken. It's reeeally good.

Saturday, July 11, 2009

While I'm not in Bratislava yet....

I'm going to write about how the preparations are going.

I finally got my flight plans last weekend! (I actually squealed with delight. I am nothing if not easily excited these days.) I leave on August 24, I go to O'Hare in Chicago, and from O'Hare I go to Munich, Germany.  At any rate, after going to Munich, I get on another plane to Vienna, where my host family is going to pick me up. I suppose I'm going to have to learn some basic German so I can figure out where the heck I'm going in the two German-speaking airports. My father tells me I should learn numbers and "Where is the bathroom?" I think he has a good idea....

Learning Slovak....  I can count, say the days of the week, say the names of most family members, and a few other things, like "Ahoj! Volám sa Ginny, ako sa máte?", otherwise known as "Hi! My name is Ginny, how are you?"
Read: Yeah. I need to study more. A lot more. ...

I've been in touch with my host family, or, more specifically, my host sister, Petra. She seems really cool, and she did the exchange program ten years ago, when she went to Michigan. I'm really excited, and seriously looking forward to meeting her! Can't wait, can't wait, can't wait!!