A Year in Slovakia

My Last Day

2011-07-01T20:21:00.000-04:00

Today was my last day in Piestany.

It rained almost all day, which sucked. I couldn't go out and just walk around, like I wanted to. Instead, I stayed in and obsessed about my packing. It stopped raining in the afternoon ish. I said good-bye to my host family, as they are going to the Czech Republic for the weekend. (I live with my host grandparents, remember.) I met up with my friends tonight, and just talked and had fun with them all night. They got me presents, even though I totally wasn't expecting it. As the night wore on, I said goodbye one by one as people had to make curfew. I finally got home at around 12.30, which is an early night for me. I finished packing, and I'm all set to go now. Not ready, but I don't think I'll ever be ready to leave. I'll be leaving in a few hours.

Budem mi chybas vsetkych!!!!!!!!!
Dakujem pre vsetko, Slovensko, si vyborne.

~Kathleen

My Last Week

2011-06-27T08:42:00.000-04:00

This is my last week.

My final Saturday, I went out with friends that night, like always. We just hung out at an apartment, and it was fun. My final Sunday, I went with the entire family to Bratislava, for birthday celebrations. Both of my host parents, my host cousin, and his other grandmother all had birthdays last week, so we went to my host cousin's house to celebrate. Basically just lunch, cake, and hanging out. It was pretty fun.

Today is my final Monday. I had school, yuck. We aren't doing anything in school, exams were two weeks ago, so I don't really know why we have to go, but whatever. I'm not sure what I'm going to do tonight. Tomorrow, after school I have dance class, but we are just going out for pizza I think. Then I have my last Rotary meeting. Wednesday I don't have plans yet. Thursday is the last day of school, and I might be going to a concert or something with friends that night. Friday I have no clue what I'm going to do. Say goodbye and cry, most likely. Saturday, I leave. My flight leaves Vienna at 7.55 am. Meaning I'll have to leave Piestany at about 3 or 4 in the morning. Ugh. So, that will be fun...not. I don't know if I'll post again from Slovakia. But I will for sure post once I get "home", to tell how different I find things now. Love you all (:

Final Weeks

2011-06-22T17:03:00.001-04:00

Walking in the woods. Finding sticks and stuff, and starting a fire. Pulling out the things you brought with you to cook over the fire, and comparing them with what everyone else brought. Cooking them, and laughing at the one person that always drops food in the fire on accident, and the other that accidentally burns theirs. Sitting, talking with friends. After eating, going to the river and skipping stones, and laughing at the people that can't.

This would be a typical bonfire in America. Or, at least in Holton. This is also what my class here did instead of school Tuesday. Don't worry, we weren't skipping. We actually had a teacher with us. I learned how to skip stones, finally! And I was the one that was laughed at for burning my food (It was delicious, back off!). But it was great fun.

Tap Costume

Today (Wednesday) I didn't have to go to school because of dance. At 11, I went to practice with my class, then came home and showered (It was soooo hot there, and walking outside. Ugh). Then at 6.30 I was back. We got changed, and watched the first 3 dances...then the 4th dance was my tap solo! It actually went really good. I didn't mess up at all, which was a first. But the music was really loud and they didn't turn on the microphone for my feet like they said they would, so the audience couldn't really hear me. I know how it went though. :D

After I was done, I sat and watched with my class for a while. Then we changed into our other costumes, and went back out. We did our dance to "Magic". It's a jive/modern dance, and it's super fun. It also went good, but I did mess up one time. Not super bad, I just kicked with the wrong leg. Ah well. We have 2 "lifts" in that dance. One, we lift a girl like superman, kinda. The other, I taught my class. It's a "half", a cheer lift. The easiest one, but still. They have a lot of fun, and we are the only class that does that lift, while other classes do all the same lifts, and it gets repetitive. So I like our lifts(:
Picture, from left: Betka, Katka, Patra, Kathleen, Barca, Olivia

All in all, I'm having a pretty good week. Tomorrow my host grandma said I can help cook after school! No idea what we are making, but still.

Slovakia, Home again

2011-06-16T17:39:00.000-04:00

So, I realized that my blog is called A Year in Slovakia, and my past many posts have been about other countries I've visited. So, what's new in Slovakia?

Well. The day after getting home from Euro Tour, I went to Trnava with my host family. We stayed overnight at this little hotel in the woods. I got to go on a tour of a cave, which was pretty sweet. We were actually there for some relative's 60th birthday/whole family get-together type thingy. It was fun, but there's no way I'll ever remember all those people, or how they are all related! (:

The school week after was mostly normal. That Thursday night I had a performance with my dance class. We did our dance to "All the Right Moves" and I also did my tap solo for the first time. It went pretty good, I only messed up in one part, and my class said they couldn't even tell. So I'm happy with that, even though only about 15 people showed up to watch. Then later that night, Anna (my travel buddy) came to visit. We had a total girls night, staying up till 3 am watching movies and eating junk food. I can't believe how much I've missed nights like that, and only having one again made me realize it. Friday we slept in, and then dyed sections of our hair purple. I have very dark purple in my bangs, and lighter purple just above my right ear (because I actually lightened that part of my hair first. Always a good thing to do with dark hair, I found out). Then we went out with my friends that night, then met up with Ernesto later. Saturday we went to Bratislava. We got lost in the city for about an hour and a half because Bratislava has stupid bus maps. But it was all ok in the end. We went out with my host cousin (you will recall him from the Easter fun...) and stayed with them (host aunt and uncle and family) Saturday night. Sunday we hung with the exchanges in Bratislava for a bit, then parted ways.

This week has been pretty normal for me, too. Nothing truly exciting. I had to redo my tap dance because one of the other teachers decided it was too long (2:40) so I shortened it to 1:30. It looks a lot better now though, because I could keep all of the really cool steps, and get rid of the ones I had been using for fillers. So, finished that up.

Tomorrow is my last Friday with Ernesto! He leaves for Mexico Tuesday, which is super sad. Then Saturday I'm headed to Kosice for the weekend, to hang with my girls there, and see the city.

For those of you who don't know, I leave July 2nd. Which is 16 days from now, which seems insane when I type that. But it's true. I can't imagine saying goodbye to my friends and, yes, family here. But I having people that I love very much and am excited to see waiting for me in America. So, once I get home (it's so strange to think of Michigan as "home" now) I probably won't blog much. I'll write a bit about getting used to things in the USA again, and I'll post about Rotary conferences. But, other than that...this blog is coming to a close.

Euro Tour - Venice

2011-06-11T05:22:00.000-04:00

We arrived outside Venice in the evening, around 5 I think. We got on public transportation, aka a BUS-BOAT!!! Super cool. So we took that to St. Marco's square. (I think that was the name. It was some famous place.) Rotary basically just gave us free time then, which was awesome.

I went with 3 other girls. We got souvenirs real quick, then found this quaint little restaurant. It was awesome. We got salad, pasta, and a drink, all for 9 euros, which was about 10 times less than most places we could have gone. And it was really good. After that we just had enough time to walk back to Rotary. Then we all checked in, and had more free time. I went with a bunch of people that time. We walked to the bridge, and hung out there for a bit. Then split into smaller groups, and just wandered around. Then met up with Rotary again, and headed back to the bus-boat. There, we were rushing to all get on the boat, but 3 boys got left behind. We were all freaked, but they got on the next one and it was all good. So we all made it back to our bus, and drove all night to get back to Bratislava at 7:30 in the morning. Then said goodbye (forever!!!) to people. It was very sad. And then home.

Overall, Euro Tour was amazing. I definitely want to go back to Italy, hopefully after graduation next summer(:

Euro Tour - Florence

2011-06-08T13:38:00.000-04:00

After departing Pompeii, we arrived in Florence in the evening.

We had to take a bus, then the metro (which was above ground), then walked to get to our hostel. We got our rooms all set (Very happy with my roommates, I had both dinosaurs in my room!) and had dinner in the restaurant-thingy in the basement of the hostel. After dinner we had free time, but most (if not all) of us just hung out in the hostel. I was with a bunch of people, exploring and after having an impromptu dance party on the balcony of the Brasilian boys' room. Very fun. (They got me addicted to the song "Ih Caraca", if you have time to waste, check it out: www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2Z-0Gg820s)

The next day, we saw a church (What? A church? That's something completely new that we haven't done 20 times a day on this trip! Oh, joy!), and then the statue of David. And some other random art, but I wasn't really listening. We walked down across the river, and across the bridge with all the jewelry. Then free time(:

I went with Anna, my new travel buddy. First we just walked a bit, exploring. Then we went to buy souvenirs. We ended up spending about a half hour just trying on masks (And yes, I bought one. It is green and gold and amazing). Anna ended up getting 2, because she has a face that masks look really good on, and because she couldn't pick just one. (One of hers is blue with feathers, and the other I call her "Black Swan" mask.) Then I bought ~~some random crap~~ a lovely plate for my mother. We walked down the jewelry bridge then. Almost everything was gold, so super expensive. But we found one shop that was only gold-plated silver, so quite a bit less. I got this pair of GORGEOUS earrings. Then we stopped for ice cream, and The Great Cannoli Search was concluded! Yes, It was delicious. Then checked in with Rotary.

When we split again, I was still with Anna, but we acquired 3 Brasilians. Anna and I wanted to get portraits done (real ones, not charactatures), so we waited. We were debating two different street artists. One was a little bit better, but also 15 euros more expensive. So we went with the other one. I got mine done first. (The Brasilians didn't want to wait the whole time, so they left and came back when Anna was almost done.) I sat for like 20 minutes. It's a really weird experience. Total strangers come up, smile, give you a thumbs-up. (And then there are also the cute Italian boys that get ur attention, say in Italian that you are pretty [or a similar sentiment] and high-five each other, while walking away, after you smile at them.) But it's fun. The artist totally romanticized us. The portraits turned out good, but I don't think mine looks very much like me. Anna's turned out more like her, if you ask me, even though she says I'm wrong. Then the Brasilians came back, and we went about 50 feet. They ran into a Brasilian guy that lives in Italy, so we had to wait and talk for like 45 minutes. Anna and I were laughing at how totally obvious the boys were about checking out random girls. It was funny, it was so bad. Then we walked farther, stopping for us to look at shoes (The boys almost left us behind, but didn't). We got back to the hostel and changed into our swimsuits. The pool was like ice water! I was almost drowned twice, thank you so much Gustavo -.- Then a few of us went into the sauna. Somehow I ended up in there alone with 5 people I didn't know, and two Brasilian boys I did. It was an...interesting...experience. (If you know any teenage Brasilian boys, you will know what I mean.) Then back to my own room for curfew.

We left Florence the next morning, after Rotary getting us lost, not able to find the right bus, going to the wrong metro stop...It took us about 4 hours to get out of Florence. Then we got on our lovely bus, and off we went.

Note: I don't have many pictures from Florence, because I was too busy having fun. (And too lazy to fight with my camera.)

Euro Tour - Pompeii

2011-06-06T11:39:00.000-04:00

We left Sorrento in the morning, and drove like 2 or 3 hours (or 4, I don't know) to Pompeii. Now, I have always wanted to visit Pompeii. Like, I love learning about it, watching specials on the History channel, reading, studying in school...I just love Pompeii. So this was like a dream coming true. Needless to say, I was pumped. (Literally bouncing with excitement. I got some looks...but it's all good!)

Once we got there, we were split into two groups, each with our own tour guide. I was in the first group :D First we got to see the arena. Then we went into the actual city.

When reading about it and such, I never realized how big it is. Pompeii is not just 3 streets. No, the entire city is still there. It's very cool in a creepy-ghost-town kind of way.

She (tour guide) told about how the crosswalks were raised, because the streets were so filled with human waste and water and general nastiness.

There were shops, and they know exactly what was sold in each.

Some houses still have the paintings on the walls, even.

We didn't get to go into the infamous brothel, because the lines were too long, but I could see a little from out side it...

We only spent like 4 hours there, but Pompeii was one of the highlights of the trip for me(:

Euro Tour - Mount Vesuvius and Sorrento

2011-06-05T12:38:00.000-04:00

Each day of the Euro Tour, a different group of 4 was chosen to write about the day, and they will all be put together into a book for us, or emailed to us (which is more likely). My group (Anna, Emma, Zoe, and I) wrote about the trip to Mount Vesuvius and Sorrento. Instead of writing a new thing about it, I will type up our entry for you, adding my pictures.

"May the XXX

"On this day in history, the District 2240 exchange students had yet another epic adventure. They departed from their hotel at the early hour of 7.30, due to the impending train strikes. Against all odds, they managed to successfully arrive at the next stage of their journey. From there they embarked on a three hour bus ride to the mighty Mount Vesuvius.

"After a treacherous drive up the volcano, they were forced to set out on foot. They trudged up the impressive peak, determined to conquer it. The most intrepid of the explorers took the experience to new heights - literally. They joined a tour and trekked to the most perilous parts of the peak, to experience unsurpassed panoramas - and blow on a cigarette. (1) After completing the circumnavigation of the crater, the fearless joined with the feeble, the frugal, and the 'fraid.

"They journeyed back down the mountain, and following another long ride in the "beloved" bus, they arrived in the lovely seaside city of Sorrento. Accommodation was made in a hostel in the heart of the city. after settling in, they gorged themselves on a bountiful feast in a local Italian restaurant. From there they parted ways, each group to explore the city as they pleased.

"The main explorers of our story set off on a quest for a beach. They descended to sea level and there found a quaint harbor to sit on a wall, climb on the rocks, and take in the lovely starlit view. Unable to bathe themselves in the sapphire seas, they continued onward. Success was theirs whence they came upon a sandy shore of utmost beauty and perfect dimensions. After short discussion, they elected to frock in the ocean, clad only in their undergarments. (2) Once they finished with their swim, they redressed and headed home.

"Twas overall...awesome.

"(1) Note: as Rotary students, we obey all rules, including those regarding smoking. Blowing the smoke from the cigarette into the vent in the volcano caused a chemical reaction that made extra steam.
"(2) Once again, all Rotary rules were entirely obeyed. It was innocent fun in underwear only due to a lack of proper swimming attire."

As you can see, we had fun with it. We started in the style of Monty Python, but it evolved to general nerdiness. Credit goes to: Anna Essex, Zoe Dilles, and Emma Brooks. And me :D

Euro Tour - Vatican City

2011-06-05T08:46:00.000-04:00

To get to Vatican City, we had to walk for about 15 mins, then took the metro for a half hour. Then waited in line for like an hour. Super fun. NOT.

Once we got through security (a la airport), we had about 3 hours by ourselves to explore. I went with one other girl, and we saw so much. I got laughed at because I took over 500 pictures. But really, how many times will I be in the Vatican?

We saw the Sistine Chapel first. Well, actually, we saw all this cool stuff that lead to it. We couldn't take pictures inside the actual chapel, but it was so ahmazing.

Then we saw St. Peter's Bastillica (spelling?). Also very cool.

We met up with Rotary outside. I was one of the few who didn't get to see the Pope. We had been in the Bastilla when he came outside. So about half of the exchanges saw him from all the way across the square, but we didn't. I still had a great time.

Then we left, and went back to Roma (:

Euro Tour - Rome

2011-06-04T13:11:00.001-04:00

First, let me just say: Now, every time I type "Rome", I have to backspace and type it again, because I always type "Roma" the first time. So if I miss it in this post, don't freak(:

So, from the ferry. We got on our bus and drove a ways to a train station. Because Rome is stupid. To take a bus into the city is a 600 euro charge, or something insane like that. So we took a train in. Everyone got on the train, no problems. Then in Rome we walked to our hostel/hotel. I think this one was actually a hotel, because it was quite nice. And only 3 people to a room.

After dumping our stuff and getting changed (have to look good for those Italian boys, you know?), we were going to walk to a fountain. But, it turns out Rotary can't count: we were missing 18 people. So we just went for dinner (I was with 5 other people who got kebabs, everyone else [read: losers] got McDonalds. Yuck.), and then walked back. The other 18 were at the hotel, so at least we didn't lose them.

The next day, we got a real breakfast! Cream filled croissant, and cappuccino. YUM. So much better than bread and tea. Then got ready for the day (cover those shoulders and knees, churches are picky!) and set out. First we saw a church, nothing special. Except for the fact it was in Italy, so it was super-gorgeous. Then we walked to...wait for it...the COLOSSEUM. Boo-yeah! We met our tour guide there. Side note: No matter old, young, boy, girl; if you have an Italian accent: I love you. Just saying. Anyways...She showed us around the Colosseum, and the ruins and stuff around there. Then we ditched her, and had free time.

I went with a bunch of girls. We got pasta for lunch. (Tortellini with ham and cheese, mmm.) Then just walked around. The others got ice cream, and I started The Great Cannoli Search. Sadly, the search was not to be completed that day. But we had fun. Later we checked in with Rotary, and went to some more churches. Then had more free time. More fun in the city, buying souvenirs, eating Italian, etc. Then back to the hotel.

Our second day in Roma, we went to the Vatican in the morning. I'll write about that in my next post, since it is a different city(: After that, we had free time. I went with different people (again). We had pizza for lunch, and I had tiramisu, then shopping. I actually got something for my dad! (This is a first, all his other gifts are mostly for my mom...I love you, Daddy!) Then we took lots of random pictures at this cute little place we found. We met up with Rotary for dinner after that.

I had pasta for dinner. And more tiramisu for dessert (because Rotary didn't give us choices.), but it was better at lunch. Then I went with a bunch of people to the Fontana de Trevi. It was sooooo pretty. I left with 3 other people then. We walked to the Spanish Steps, then back to the hotel. At the hotel, I was in one of the boys rooms (Brasil and Mexico were in there) for a bit, just because they bothered to pay for internet, and I was being a mooch. Then I went back to my room to shower, and when I came out there were people canoodling (yes, I say that's a word) on my bed. So I went back to the guys room (It was short a person...hahaha.) I just hung out in there, writing in my journal, and listening to a Brasilian soccer game online. (Apparently the good guys were losing.) Then my room cleared out, and I went to bed. (If there are adults reading this who are worried, when I say "canoodling" I mean cuddling. A "D" was not broken that night. At least not by anyone I know of...haha.)

The next day we left Roma, after riding the subway, a bus, Rotary getting us lost...we finally left around noon. The Great Cannoli Search was still on.

Euro Tour - Ferry

2011-06-04T05:54:00.000-04:00

For the ferry, we had to wait a while on our bus. Then we all walked on, the the bus was driven on. It was cool, we went up two flights of escalators to get to the part we needed to be at. And it was a legit ship. I had been expecting something quite small. This had 10 levels, restaurants, stores, a casino, a pool, and all the rooms. We were all in the same hallway. The rooms were so tiny, and to shower, you basically had to choose which limb to keep out of the shower, because it was so tiny. But very cool.

When we got on, after dumping our things in our rooms, we basically spent 2 hours running around exploring the ship. In some cases, literally running. It was sweet. Not so sweet was finding out the pool would be closed, due to "cold" weather. So we were all taking pictures, and doing our little back rub lines. Then we started to move, so we all went to the rail to say goodbye to Spain.

yay, tan lines! :D

We watched that for awhile, talked, wandered around. I ended up in bed by about 11 though. The beds were comfy, but cold. There was only a sheet and thin blanket, and they tried to freeze us overnight. We got up at like 8.30 and went down for our usual bread and tea breakfast. After breakfast, I went with most of the girls to change into our swimsuits. We took books and towels, and lay on the top deck. For like five hours. It was lovely. During that time, the boys just "happened" to show up. And hover. But whatever, I got tan so I am happy.

After lunch I spent some time with a few other girls, trading dances we know. I learned "Cotton-Eyed Joe", "Creu", and an Arabian dance from a Columbian girl. We all just call it the Columbian dance.

We arrived in Italy at about 7.00 pm, and got back on our bus for the next leg.

Euro Tour - Barcelona

2011-06-03T12:50:00.000-04:00

Driving from France to Barcelona took 10 hours.

We arrived in the evening. We were told we would be walking 300 meters to our hostel, it was more like 3000. Actually, I don't know how long it took, but it was really far. And, we got to see some lovely Catalan prostitutes on our way. Yes, Rotary put us in a hostel that had to cross a sketchy street. (No one was killed in Barcelona, don't worry.) So we got all settled in out hostel (which actually was pretty nice, not including the location. or the bathrooms). Then we went with Rotary, just showing us the main drag near our hostel-ish. Then...free time! (Meaning, ditch your name tag asap.) I went with 3 other girls, just walking around for a bit. We had really good tapas for dinner, and of course we all shared. So we had calamari, mussels, clams, and mushrooms. Yum. Then we just continued being tourists, and turning down the invitations to go on pub crawls.

The next day, Rotary took us on a tour. We got to see the stadium, so all the Brasilians and Mexicans were super excited. Then we saw some other stuff, I don't remember exactly what. (I'll know [maybe] when I look through my pictures, but it was a while ago, and I saw a lot since then. Don't be hatin.) Then more free time (Can you say souvenirs?) and just hanging with everyone.

Gaudi House Roof

Our second full day, we saw the Gaudi House in the morning, which was super cool. We had a tour of the Gothic section of Barcelona, and our tour guide was really really good. Rotary took us all to the beach, and turned us loose. (Note: Barcelona has some.. interesting...laws. Men cannot go around without a shirt on, but they can walk around naked. At the beach, it wasn't "tops optional" it was more like "if you're a girl and still wearing a top, you are the definite minority. And yes, I was part of that minority. Not all the other exchanges were, however. As some of them explained it to me, "How many times can you swim naked in Spain?" My answer, "You all have swum naked in Spain one too many times." But I digress.) I was with a small group of people. We only stayed for like an hour, then went to get dinner. Paella! Yum, it was so good. We had a ginormus plate of it that we all shared. Ice cream for dessert, and met up with Rotary.

Paella

Back to the hostel to put on dry clothes, then out with different people. I got my name drawn with pictures for the letters at this one place, then I and another girl got charactatures. He wasn't very good. I think he just liked to draw teeth. We all headed to the pier after that. On the way, we were still getting invited to pub crawls, so we were thinking of different excuses to tell people. There was "we are 14", "Prepacte, nerozmiem", and my personal favorite (accompanied by fake crying): "This is our trip to celebrate, we just got out of AA!!!" At one point, I turned and saw we had an addition to our group. This creepy little lady (seriously, she was like 5 feet negative 7) in a bear suit was just standing there. I pointed her out, and one of my friends jumped about a foot and a half, and ran away screaming. I was laughing so hard I couldn't breathe. The pier was uneventful, after the bear lady.

Our last day in Spain, I got up really early. A bunch of us went to the market. I got a loaf of bread, 2 apples, 2 peaches, and a chunk of mozzarella for under 8 euros. It was awesome. Then back to the hostel to pack. We loaded into the bus and went to a park-ish place. It was so pretty. The best part was watching the performers though. Just people singing, or painting, or selling stuff. After that, we went to the top of a hill, where the stadium was. We could either go to the "Spanish village", the main drag again, or the museum of modern art. I went to the museum. It was pretty cool, although bits were slightly too modern for me. After that, we just hung out talking. Everyone made it back on time, even after a group got lost and had to walk an extra hour. (They were a bit cranky.) We hopped on the bus, and drove to the ferry.

Euro Tour - Monaco

2011-06-03T09:25:00.000-04:00

We started the District 2240 Euro Tour of 2011 on Saturday, May 21st. We all got to Bratislava by ourselves. There, we met up with everyone in the train station. By the time everyone got packed into the train, it was between 4 and 5 pm. We started on our way.

We drove for 17 hours, with stops every 3 hours. You know how hard it is to sleep in a car? Well, this was a bus. With half of the air conditioning blocked by our bags. No free seats. 49 people crammed in there. Oh, lord. It was a crazy ride. I think I ended up getting about 4 hours of sleep, between talking, watching movies, and not being comfortable enough to sleep. And, teenagers are noisy. So, that was fun...not.

We arrived in Monaco in the morning. We had stopped at a rest stop to change clothes and get ready for the day, but that was it. So we all looked (and felt) like we had been on a bus for 17 hours. (If you are my friend on Facebook, you will note my lack of pictures of me and my friends from that day.) First we waited while everyone took about a bajillion pictures. Then we went to this tiny oceanographic museum. It was kinda cool. I found the Nemo and Dory fish, so I call it success(:

After that, we went to see a church. It was kinda cool. We saw the tombs of Princess Grace Kelly and her husband. Sadly, no pictures in the church.

Then we got free time. I went with a group of "Czech" girls. (For this trip, we had the "Slovak" and "Czech" kids all together, and this is how we refer to each other. It's not an insult in any way, just to clarify.) We had lunch, and ice cream, and bought some souvenirs. We met up with Rotary after. We got to see the casino in Monte Carlo. Actually, we couldn't go into the gaming rooms, gamble, or take pictures, so it was a slight letdown. But the main entrance was so gorgeous. Then more free time, during which we did more of the same.

After that, we all got back on the bus and drove about 2 hours to our hostel in France. Let me just say, yes, the stereotypes are true. We went to a restaurant for dinner, and they totally understood our English, but refused to speak it. I know, I know, I took French. But when I tried to remember stuff, I automatically thought in Slovak. I remembered enough to decode the menu, which was good. And the food was good, very French. Our hostel was nice, but I was rooming with 2 girls, from Mexico and Columbia. So I went to bed, and woke up, to hearing high-speed, high-pitched Spanish on Skype. Oh well, better than the bus. The next day we got up and drove to our next stop.

Czech Republic

2011-05-19T18:57:00.000-04:00

We got to Prague at night, and got all set in the hostel.

The next day, we took a tour in the morning, and then had to stay in the hostel for a few hours in the afternoon. Rotary was making us write this "story" about our trip. But they made us take two hours to write it, instead of actually living it. Which we all thought was a load of crap. Ah well. That night, we went to a black light theater, which was pretty cool. Parts of it, I'm surprised Rotary took us, because it was a little risqué, but very funny.

The morning after that, we went with our tour guide again, but I liked this tour better. We toured the castle, and the cathedral there. In the afternoon we went on a boat tour, which would have been amazing, but it was raining, so we couldn't see as much. It was still cool, though. After that we went to a mall there. That night we went to the biggest disco in Prague, it had 5 floors! It was crazy fun. I talked to guys from Sweden, Holland, Germany, and Turkey (: So, a very good night, haha.

The day after that, we went to Ceske Krumlov for the morning. We saw a castle, and a theater there. Then we had time to go souvenir shopping, which was very good. After that we went to Ceske Budejovice.

In Ceske Budejovice, was the Rotary District 2240 Conference. We got all settled that night, with the Czech kids too. The next day, we had practice for the talent show in the morning, then the actual talent show during lunch. I didn't perform this time. After that, we toured a brewery there. Rotary actually let us taste the beer! (I know, right??) But I still think beer is nasty, so I gave mine to someone else after trying a sip. Then we headed back to
change into our nice clothes, and went back to the conference. I really don't know why. We sat for a while, ate dinner, and then took crazy pics with everyone. (I got grief because I changed out of my heels for the pics. I hate being taller than guys in pics, so...what can I say? haha)

Got up the last morning, and came home(:

Poland

2011-05-17T17:48:00.000-04:00

We arrived in Krakow, Poland, in the evening. Went to dinner, and then chilled in the hostel.
Picture: Random buildings in Krakow that I thought looked cool.

The next day, we took a tour in the morning, and then had free time in the afternoon. The tour covered a bunch of churches, some history, and the castle there. Our tour guide told us all these cool little stories about the city. For example: Every hour, on the hour, a trumpeter plays from the top of a building in the main square. He plays a little fanfare from each side of the tower. But in the middle of the tune, every time, he cuts out. This is because in the old days, there was a lookout in the tower. The lookout was shot down suddenly with an arrow, so the trumpet stops to pay homage to that. And after he played, we all clapped and he waved at us(:
Picture: The trumpeter played from the top of the left tower.

During free time we went shopping and had lunch. We spent another early night at the hostel, but everyone was so tired, it didn't matter.
Picture: A candy shop that we went in, and ended up getting about 3 steps out the door, trying our candy, and going back in to buy more.

The next day, we went to Auschwitz. I'm not going to describe it here. I will just say, until you actually go there for yourself, you cannot imagine what it was like. And even after going, I can't fathom what it would have been like to be there as a victim.
Picture: A sign on the tour, in Polish and English.

After that, we continued on to the Czech republic.

Slovensky Raj

2011-05-16T11:54:00.000-04:00

Friday morning I left for Slovensky Raj (Slovak Paradise). Almost all of the Rotary kids were on the same train, so the train ride started the fun of the weekend. We arrived, and got to the hotel without problems. Although (like always) we got some weird looks from people at the train station because of how loud we were.

At the hotel, we met up with everyone else, and had dinner. Then we watched the hockey game, and stayed up super late talking.

The next morning, we went hiking. We walked through the forest, and by the end, we were exhausted. We spent so much time taking pictures. I have tons of random ones. After hiking, we had lunch, then practice for the talent show. I did my tap dance. We had the talent show right before dinner, and it went really good. After dinner, there was a "disco" but I was feeling sick, so I went to bed early (ish).

Sunday morning we packed up and left after breakfast, all of us on a bus to Krakow, Poland.

Easter

2011-04-25T07:52:00.000-04:00

Easter vacation started last week. No school Thursday, Friday, Monday, Tuesday. Thursday and Friday I mostly just hung out, nothing special. My host aunt and uncle came Friday and stayed until Saturday.

Saturday my other host aunt and uncle, and my host cousins came. For lunch we had goulash (Hungarian version, cooked by Czech and Slovaks) that was really good. Saturday night I went out with my host cousin and Ernesto, fun times.

Sunday we had a family lunch. I dyed eggs with my host mom and aunt. It was really cool. We put onion peels in a pot, then uncooked eggs. The eggs we put weeds on, to make designs, and wrapped them in pantyhose so they would stay. Then put them in the pan, and boiled them for about 10 minutes. They looked sweet when they were done.

Monday morning...ah, Easter Monday. I was woken up at 7:30 by my host dad coming in my room, saying good morning, and proceeding to dump a glass of cold water on my neck, and hit me with a willow switch a few times. After he left, I went back to sleep. Until my host cousins and their dad came in. They sneaked in and woke me up by pulling off my blanket, and hitting me with their switches. They had a spray bottle filled with water, which was used on my face. Yea, thanks. After them, my host grandfather came in, hit me a few times, sprayed me with his bottle...yay. So yes, Slovak Easter Monday is not my favorite thing. Supposedly the water is for beauty, and the hitting is for...something. I don't remember what, exactly. It wasn't as bad as it sounds here. The glass of water sucked, but the spray bottles weren't that bad. And the switches didn't hurt. My host cousin said they were being nice, apparently last year he had a bucket of water...yeesh.

So, that was my Easter in Slovakia. Tomorrow the girls are allowed to get revenge, or so I've been told...we shall see.

Giselle

2011-04-21T11:43:00.000-04:00

Yesterday afternoon, I met my dance teacher and Olivia (my friend who's also in my dance class) and we went with a bunch of other classes from our dance school to Bratislava. We took a bus, so it wasn't a great ride (I'm still a little freaked/excited when we drive through the circles on the bus haha), but it wasn't horrible. Once in Bratislava, we had a little free time, during which Olivia and I got ice cream. (The ice cream is better in Piestany.) Then we all went into the theater, to see Giselle. We had really good seats, first row, right center of the balcony.

Giselle is a ballet, for those of you that are confused right now. It is one of the ballets I have always wanted to see (the other being Coppelia). (And for those of you that have only heard of a few ballets, yes, I have seen Swan Lake once, and I go to The Nutcracker every year. [Except this year, but that's beside the point.]) The traditional story of Giselle, Reader's Digest version: A young peasant girl and a prince fall in love, but he is in disguise so she doesn't know that he is a prince. There is also a peasant boy in love with her. (Insert random dances with the other townspeople to take up most of the first act.) A bunch of royalty shows up, yada yada. The peasant boy finds out who the prince is, and proves it to the girl. She dies. (Either by stabbing herself with the prince's sword, or from a weak heart, or dances herself to death. It changes. Either way, she's dead.) Then in the second act, the peasant boy visits her grave at night, and is danced to death by the other young girls that died before they were married. Then the prince comes, (same night) and she saves his life by not letting the other dead girls dance with him. And, that's pretty much it. Aw, how romantic. (It's like "zombie bride saves life of beloved, and also doesn't eat his brains". See why I love this ballet?)

But the version we saw, changed a bit. The basic story was the same. Except it was traditional Slovak dances in the first act. Which was really odd, set to classical music. If you have ever seen Slovak daces, you will understand. It involves a lot of stomping and a little bit of yelling. Meaning no one was wearing pointe shoes in the first act, so Giselle couldn't do her traditional solo. Well, she had a few solos, but not with the choreography I had been looking forward to. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HL5dKMWkIe0&feature=related attn. 0:26)

It was still really good. I loved the scenery, it was truly spectacular. And in the second act they all had their pointe shoes, so it was a little closer to the traditional version. Don't get me wrong, I had a great time, it just wasn't what I had been expecting. It was still a great ballet, done very well. Now I want to actually see the traditional version in person, to see how different they really are.

I'm sorry that I don't have pictures, but we couldn't have cameras in the theater. And they announced that in English too, so I couldn't pull the "poor little american exchange student" act if I got caught. So, no pictures.

American Weekend

2011-04-18T16:20:00.001-04:00

This past weekend my friends Teague and Sami came over. They are exchanges staying in Kosice. Teague is from Wisconsin, and Sami is from Mexico. What fun!

Lunch Saturday

They arrived Friday afternoon. I showed them around a bit, and we went food shopping with my host mom. Then we went out with Ernesto. Saturday morning I made pancakes. "We" cooked lunch...meaning I supervised, and had some issues when we realized Teague couldn't even manage to stir two things at the same time. She was put in charge of washing the lettuce, and tearing it for salad. The extent of her cooking skills were revealed even more when she asked "wash the lettuce with soap and water, right?" No, Teague...no. So, I supervised Teague not killing us, and we cooked baked beans, "Barb's Salad", and Hawaii Burgers. (Hamburgers with pineapple, onion slices, and guacamole on them instead of ketchup and mustard.)

In the afternoon we went for another walk, taking lots of pictures. We came home for dinner, and then went out with Ernesto again. Sunday the girls walked to the train station to get their tickets for later in the day. This should have taken about a half hour, maybe 40 minutes. An hour and a half later, they got back. (They missed the turn walking there, but managed fine on the way home.) While they were gone, I made cheesy potatoes and Death by Chocolate, with my host mom's help. As she told me with a laugh, "I like American cooking. You just have to mix everything in one bowl and that's it!" She then baked chicken for lunch, too. After lunch the girls headed back, managing to get on the right train and get home without problems.

All in all, it was a very good weekend. And the Death by Chocolate was the favorite dish, I'm thinking...my host dad was sad as he finished the last of it today, asking if there was more as he scraped the bowl clean. My host mom asked me to make it again next week for Easter, which should be fun. (Expect a full report about Easter sometime next week...I've been warned it will involve water, and lovely little sticks to beat the girls. Oh, joy.)

Ski Week

2011-03-28T15:17:00.000-04:00

Ok, once again, I didn't post for a while. But this time I have a good excuse! I was at Ski Week.
Picture: Me halfway down one of the hills, enjoying the scenery.

There were 29 exchanges from District 2240, which was amazing. We were in Jasna, Slovakia. We arrived Sunday night, and stayed until the next Saturday morning.
Picture: Ernesto (Mexico), Me, Kristina (California), Zoe (Oregon), and Rafa (Brasil) standing in front of the lift, getting ready to go down the hill.

We skied every morning, and all day on Monday, Tuesday, and Friday. I fell at least once every day, but nothing major. On Wednesday afternoon, we toured a cave in Liptossky Mikulas, and then went to a waterpark there.
Picture: The "Pussy-willow Waterfall" formation of stalactites in the cave.

On Thursday afternoon, we had a "carnival", basically we wore masks and had races down the hill on inner tubes and the like. Monday night we had our own little "disco" in the basement of our hotel, and Friday night we got to go to the real disco there. It was really fun, dancing with everyone all crazy, and avoiding the drunks trying to hit on us. But nothing bad happened, don't worry(:
Picture: Our team, Os Fodas, for the carnival. Me, Rachel (Illinois), Rhihannon (Washington), Gustavo (Brasil), and Jenn (New York).

Also Wednesday, we went out to dinner. I was with 4 other friends, and we all went to an American restaurant (yum) then met everyone at a bar that the Rotex had reserved for us. Twas fun.
Picture: A group of us taking random pictures with our flags in the hotel. Top row, from left: Lydia (Pennsylvania), Ana (Brasil), Kenton (Ohio), Lewis (Australia), Me, Marina (Brasil), Samara (Mexico) Bottom row: Piera (Brasil) and Victor (Brasil)

Yes, I know I skipped around a bit, and this was a super short post to describe my week, but the week went super fast. Just enjoy the pics!
Picture: Going up the lift, this was one of my roommates, Kristina (California).

Trying to Keep You All in the Loop (:

2011-03-18T18:33:00.000-04:00

So, I just realized that I haven't posted in like a week. Whoops.

Let's see...last weekend I went out with friends Friday night. Then Saturday I stayed home, because my new host aunt, uncle, and cousins visited. They used to live in Canada, but moved back to Slovakia three years ago, so it was fun for me to be able to talk without having to worry about using words that everyone knows. And also, it's fun to meet new teenagers. On Sunday we had a BBQ, and it was super fun. It was really warm out, finally it is spring. (Actually, it feels like yesterday was fall, so it's not really finally...) I got to play catch with my host cousins (with my American football - yay for having someone who already knew how to throw a spiral!)

This week, school was not normal...the seniors had exams Tuesday - Thursday, so we all had to be out of the building. On Tuesday my class was helping to clean a park. We were done by about 10:30, so that was pretty good. On Wednesday we saw a documentary, I think about taking care of the environment and such. (It was in Czech, so I didn't understand a whole lot of the narrator.) Then Thursday, I went to Bratislava with Eva and Monika, because Monika had a press conference. We went shopping first (although I didn't buy anything, since my father doesn't understand the need to buy clothes - hello, teenage girl here! Just kidding, I love you, Daddy. But I would also love some more money...haha) and then to the ice arena.

So far this weekend (it is only Friday) I went out with friends to a tea shop. It was fun, I feel like I now have a "group" again, which is very nice. I don't know what I'm doing tomorrow, but Sunday Ernesto and I head to Jasna to go skiing! Yay! (:

I Feel Special

2011-03-10T14:03:00.000-05:00

I rode the bus all by myself, like a big kid today! I'm very proud of myself. And yes, I realize that I sound like I'm mentally challenged, but I don't care. (And, quite frankly, I usually sound like I'm mental, so this is nothing new.) But the story...

Today after dance class, I didn't want to walk the 40-ish minutes home, so I decided to ride the bus. Olivia went with me to the stop to make sure I got on the right bus, and such. We had to talk to the driver to convince him to give me a student fee, since I don't have a card (I need to get one...). But he did. And Olivia left, and I rode all by myself(: I even got off at the right stop! (This is also really good, since problems with bus stops runs in the family...Remember that one time in Chicago with Judy, Mom? hahaha) So yes. I'm proud of myself, and I just thought I'd share(:

I Really Should Write More Often

2011-03-08T16:35:00.000-05:00

But I'm busy.

After getting home from Italy, life went back to normal. Last weekend I hung out with my host sister and her friends Friday and Saturday nights, and also on Sunday. They are very nice.

I just moved into my last family tonight. I now have my host parents, and a host sister in Brasil, and a 15 year old host sister here. This was originally going to be my second family, so I have most likely mentioned them before.

I'm really tired right now, but I just wanted you all to know I haven't forgotten about my blog, I've just been busy.

Italy 7

2011-02-26T15:24:00.001-05:00

Today after breakfast we didn’t do anything. Well, I watched “Hotel Rwanda” and Barca studied. Then at about noon, everyone except me and Barca’s mom (she doesn’t ski) went skiing at the mountain here. I stayed at the hotel because 1) I was really tired, 2) It was super windy down here, and I figured it would only be worse at the top of the mountain, and 3) I am going skiing again in a few weeks, but there probably won’t be a sauna there(:

So I stayed here and went to the sauna for a while. It is so relaxing. I’m definitely going to be using Grammy and Grampy’s sauna when I get back, haha. But after that I came back up to our room to wait for them to get done skiing. It was about 5 pm, and I expected them back anytime. So I started watching “The Sting” while I waited. At about 6:20, when I was starting to worry, I got a call from Barca’s mom, saying, “So you know, Barca is in our room. She broke her leg.”

I went down to their room right away, where Barca was sitting with a splint on her leg. She said it was super windy on top, and like all ice. She had fallen and kept rolling for 10 meters, is what I understood. I’m just glad she is one of the few people here that wears a helmet the whole time she skis. Her mom and I came and got her some clean clothes, and now she’s showering and I’m waiting in my room for them to call me to go to dinner.

George Clooney's Pig

During dinner, we had some interesting conversations. The choices for dinner tonight were pork or rabbit. Of course, I got pork. I’m just gonna reinforce my idea here, eating rabbits is just wrong. They are fluffy and adorable pets, plus a certain rabbit brings candy during Easter…my point being, pigs and cows never bring you candy, so it’s ok to eat them. Haha, no. I just think there is something not quite right about eating rabbit, but apparently I’m the only one here who thinks this. So Erik was eating his rabbit, and laughing at me because I was making my “they are pets, don’t eat them” speech. Then he pointed out that George Clooney has a pet pig. And he made the observation that George Clooney also has a house in Italy, and maybe tonight his pig wasn’t at home…to which I replied, “Well, his pig was delicious.” Which kinda canceled my original point, but oh well. Then later in dinner, he said that he was staying in my room tonight. And I’m still not sure if he was kidding or not. Because he said Barca will stay in her parent’s room with her dad, and her mom would stay with Erika, so Erik would stay here. And I think he was kidding, but either no one else was listening, or they were not making any other jokes or anything because he was serious. But I’m not sure, I will see later. I’m guessing Barca might stay here, but I don’t know if she will because of the stairs, and also if it were me, I would totally want to be with my parents after I broke my leg.

Actually, I think she just tore some ligaments in her knee or something similar, because it’s the knee that’s the problem, not the bone. She said she will have to have surgery in a few months. Now she can walk, but not dance or anything, which is why she needs the surgery, or so I understand it.

Ok, so now Barca and her parents are in here. Barca is trying to get situated so her leg doesn’t hurt, and I can’t do anything to help. I feel really bad, there’s nothing I can do. I have offered to help. But everyone just tells me, “Oh, it’s fine.” So ok…

Italy 6

2011-02-26T15:23:00.001-05:00

Today after breakfast we (everyone left in our group) went skiing. Half went cross-country, and the other half, downhill. I went downhill with Barca, her dad, and another guy. We were at a different place than earlier this week. Also, I borrowed Erik’s skis, which saved me a lot of money (nothing is cheap here). WE only went skiing for two hours, but it was really fun. I think this was the best place we have gone, but I think I’m the only one who thinks that. It was just one really small hill. But I liked it, because it reminded me of Shannon at Caberfae. I went on like 10 runs, I think. I fell three times. The first time was because I had loosened my ski boots going up the hill (Poma lift) and forgot to tighten them. The second time was because I was turning super slow because I had just fallen, and my skis crossed. The third time was later, and I took a turn too sharply. But besides that, it was amazing. Because it was so small, there weren’t many people there. And you couldn’t really get lost on the hill…haha. Also, there were a few bumps in the run that made for great jumps. The first time I jumped was semi-accidental, but the times after that were totally on purpose. I’m not sure how far I actually jumped, but I know I was about a foot vertical in the air. It was shweet.

Gnocchi(:

After our skiing, we all met up for lunch at a restaurant that was near the hill. I had gnocchi, yum(: Our waiter was really cute, too. (I do love Italian boys! haha) So lunch was good. After lunch we went back to the hotel, but we didn’t get here until about 4:15. Then we hung out. Barca and I finished “The Sound of Music” which I still can’t believe she had never seen before. Then we got all dressed up for dinner.

Barca and her friend

Dinner tonight was a five course meal. All delicious (duh). During dinner, this adorable little German (I think) girl made friends with us. She was peeking over the divider and talking to Barca in German. She was three, she told Barca. Then after dinner (we didn’t finish until 9:15!), we just came upstairs to look at the gazillion pictures I have. And now to bed.

Italy 5

2011-02-26T15:21:00.001-05:00

This morning I slept in a little bit, so I didn’t get to breakfast until about 9:00. Still delicious, as always. After breakfast, I went to our room and read, while Barca went to her parents’ room to study for school. Her parents went cross country skiing. I’m not sure what everyone else in our group did. I do know that one couple went home today. And the father and son that came the day after we did also left. (They got stopped at the border and had to wait for like a half hour because the son forgot his passport, and the authorities were convinced he was kidnapped. But they got home safe, so it’s all good.)

Today I mostly hung out. I filed and painted my nails (purple, of course). I finished my book. (It was really good, great twist at the end.) I was reading when housekeeping came in to clean. Funny story. The lady came in, and started speaking in super fast Slovak, so I said I didn’t understand, sorry, I don’t speak good Slovak. So she asked, “German?” (only, in German, of course.) And I shook my head no, and asked “English?” to which she replied, “No. Italian?” And again, I had to shake my head no.

Side note – I think that I am at a distinct disadvantage, coming from America. By the time kids here (in Europe, I mean) are my age, they speak at least two languages, if not three. I only speak English, and I’m learning Slovak (duh) but I feel like a loser when all these people can switch languages as easily as I try on new shoes. It’s mind-boggling. And I wish schools in America would start teaching languages at a younger age. Like, first grade would be a good place to start. Anyways, enough ranting.

Eventually we (through sign language and such) managed to communicate that I was going to a different room so she could clean. So I called Barca, and went and read in her parents’ room for 45 minutes. Then I went back, and our room was nice and clean, the blankets folded into hearts (no idea why) like always, the pillows folded to create a heart-ish triangle shape. And Snuggles sitting happily in the fold in my pillow. This was new, since I usually put him in my suitcase before I leave (since it’s mildly embarrassing that I still sleep with a stuffed duck, but whatev. Not anymore, since I’m telling the internets lol), but today I forgot to. I appreciate how nice housekeeping was to him, not just plunking him in the corner or something. Kudos to you, housekeeping.

After I finished my book, I watched “The Shawshank Redemption” for like the 5^th time. (Great movie.) Barca came in when I was almost done with it, and I think she found it a bit amusing, the parts she was listening to, anyway. After that, we went on a walk to take pictures. Well, actually we spent about a half hour putting on makeup and changing clothes first, but oh well. We got a lot of silly pics, but a few really good ones too. I found the ones with the cows most hilarious. Ok, so there are cows here. Big deal. Well, to Barca, they were. She hadn’t seen that many cows before (unlike me - Hello, I’m from Holton!), and so she was a little scared of them. Which I found funny. (Right after I made sure Barca was ok with this paragraph: Barca- “I just don’t see cows everyday since they are not living in Piešťany.” Me- “well it’s not like I see them everyday either. What, do you think I live in a barn? I don’t live in a barn!” Barca- laughs and laughs. Pff.) (So I just acted out a cow trying to attack Barca, and she said I looked like a squirrel with rabies. Thanks. -_- )

Yum

We ended up going inside once we were totally frozen. Inside, we just hung out for a little bit before dinner. For dinner tonight we had “Italian Cuisine”, which to me, was regular food. That surprised just about everyone, when I said that this was normal food for me. And it was. Fried zucchini, tomatoes and mozzarella, melon and prosciutto, seafood. All normal for me, but not for my Slovak family. It was very very good. After dinner, we went down to the game room. When we got there, I was super excited. I got to see TINKERBELL!!! Mind you, it was in Italian, so I didn’t understand near as much as I would have liked, but still. It was Tinkerbell! So I watched Tinkerbell with the other 5 year olds, and Barca watched the adults play poker. After, we came upstairs, and saw an Italian musician in the lobby. A bunch of little kids (a few of my friends from watching Tinkerbell, too) were dancing, and I took an adorable video. But we only watched for like a song and a half, and now we are upstairs being random.

Italy 4

2011-02-26T15:20:00.003-05:00

Today I went skiing with a few people from our group. Well, technically I was skiing alone, but they were on the mountain with me. I went on the first run with a woman from our group. She didn’t really give me a choice of which trail to go on though. She just told me, “We are going on this one.” It was a red (intermediate). And I didn’t really want to go on that one for the first run today, but I didn’t really have a choice. So we went down that one, me very slowly. I fell at one point, but it wasn’t a major wipeout or anything. It was more like I took a turn too sharply and kinda floated to the ground. So it didn’t hurt or anything, which was good. After that run, my legs were complaining about skiing…so I asked if we could go on an easier run, and she said that I could, but she wasn’t going to. So I did. It was only like 9:45 and we were meeting at 12:00, so I had a lot of time to ski by myself. I did like a gazillion (or, ya know, like 10) runs on my own. I did them all on the same hill. It was funny, because at the top I had to watch out for all the little kiddie classes that were learning to ski, and at the bottom I had to pay attention to all the really good skiers that were going 8000 miles an hour. But it was good for me to work on the basics, like turning, and stopping when I wanted to.

I met up with everyone for lunch (pizza and flan for dessert, yum), and then I did two more runs, this time a guy from our group went with me. It was starting to snow a bit, so we only had like 15 feet visibility, which was actually good for me. Because it was more instinct then, and less “ok, if I go here it will be faster, and here is steeper” and such. On the second run I was doing good till the end. To quote one of my favorite books, “I’m actually quite good. I can slalom! I can turn! I can- Smack! –fall on my butt.” So yea, I wiped out…majorly. Like, I hit some ice, and knew I was going down, so I tried to ease into it a bit. But either it didn’t help, or I was doing it wrong, because somehow I ended up on my back, feet pointing in (painful in skis) and headfirst down the hill. Quite a sight, I’m sure. But I was helped up, and made it alright the rest of the way. It was getting late-ish, so after that I rode the lift back down, and returned my skis, and caught the shuttle back to the hotel.

Here I put on my swimsuit and went down to the pool, nabbing a book from the resting room on my way. (The book I started yesterday.) I read at the pool for a while, and then swam for a little bit, and read some more. Then up to change for dinner. Dinner, then back here. Now I’m about to go to sleep. I have no idea what I’m doing tomorrow, but I think maybe cross country again.

Italy 3

2011-02-26T15:19:00.003-05:00

The top of the mountain

During breakfast this morning, everyone was talking about what we were going to do today. The original plan was for me to go skiing with Erik and Erika, but Barca said people were saying the weather was bad on the slopes. So my options were to go skiing with them anyway, go cross country skiing with Barca and her parents this morning and then into town, or just stay at the hotel. At first I was going to go cross country, but then I decided that I’m probably going to only be in the Alps this one time, so I went downhill skiing.

Halfway up the hill...

These hills are crazy huge! Like, the one run from the top to the bottom is about 5 kms, I think. But that was black (expert). I only went on blue runs today (beginner), because I haven’t skied a lot lately. I have only been once this year, and like once last year, and I don’t even know before that. But not a lot since we moved to Holton. So I’m a little rusty. Hence the easy runs. One of the many things I like about skiing on huge hills…the lifts. You take off your skis, and they sit in this little thingy on the side of the lift. And then like 6 people can fit in the lift. And it had a floor, so your feet aren’t just dangling there, which is a major plus.

One of the runs

Oops, I need to back up. So I went skiing with Erik and Erika, and two other people from our group here. They all had skis already. Erika went with me to the rental place. And then I got my lift ticket. The lift tickets here are electronic. So you just put it in a pocket, and when you get to the lift, you put it near the sensor, and it lets you through. Very smooth. So we had to carry all our gear to the lift, get it in and go. As we were going up, I was just thinking “How on earth am I going to get back down? I really must be crazy.” When I thought we were near the top, Erik said to me, “No, we are not getting off here. We are going all the way to the top.” Um…wasn’t this the top?? Nope. We were only halfway up. When we finally got to the top, it was amazing. We were on the very summit of the mountain. And up there, you could ski down in any direction you wanted to. There were restaurants and I think some stores, too, there. All at the top. We started on the easy hill, for me. We did that run 3 times, and then we took a break. We had a snack at the top of the hill. How crazy is that? After our break, we did one more run on that trail, and then Erika and I went on a different easy one, and the others went on a little harder one. Erika and I ended up doing 3 runs on that one, I think. I had a few mantras that I was repeating. Mainly, “Oh shoot, slow down slow down!” but also, “Ohmigawd, this hill is huge!” And then when I was doing better, “I’m no Jacob Mitchell, but I’m holding my own.” That last one was usually followed by “oh shoot” but still. (For those of you who don’t know, Jake is my friend that is a really amazing skier. The last time I remember skiing in Michigan was with him, his mom and sister, and Jack. Which is why I was comparing myself to him. And compared to him, I suck.)

Then we met up with everyone else. They decided to take the black trail all the way to the bottom. And that is the only trail that goes all the way to the bottom, I think. So I just rode the lift back down today. Actually, a lot of people were riding the lift back down. Like most people who had little kids, or older people. And me. I might attempt that run another day, but it’s 5 kms, and it’s black. So…not today, because I was really tired after all that skiing. We all met at the bottom. I returned my skis while I waited for them. Then we went back to the hotel.

I started writing this then. When I was in the middle of this, Barca and I decided to go down to the sauna. (Which is why this might be slightly more random than usual.) At the sauna, oh dear. Can you say AWKWARD? A few of the adults with our group were there…naked, of course! (I’m laughing at that because in the brochure about the hotel, it describes the different saunas. And in each description, “naked, of course!” Which I find amusing.) But I really didn’t need to see people that I know, and will be having dinner with, naked. Ick. (Yes, I am a prude.) But today Barca and I showered between each sauna, which we didn’t do yesterday. Although, we did it so one of us was showering while the other was holding up a towel to create a makeshift shower curtain, and having eyes tightly shut. So we did 2 times in this one that we don’t know the name of. But it was like a cave, and very nice. Then we went in the herbal sauna, which I don’t think smells all that appealing…After that, Barca wanted to go study, but I wanted to do the cave one again, so I actually put aside my prudeish-ness a little, and took a shower without anyone holding up a towel. Mind you, I faced the wall the entire time, so people would have to work at looking at me, but still. So after my last sauna, I went into the resting room where Barca was. I found the one book there that was in English, and started reading that. It’s actually pretty good. I was only in there for like a half an hour, so I’m only on like page 55. But I will hopefully finish it this week. Then I came back up to our room, and now I’m waiting for dinner.

Italy 2

2011-02-20T17:21:00.006-05:00

This morning I woke up, and Barca was gone. I was like, “Oh crap! What time is it?” Cause I knew that we had to be down for breakfast at like 8 am. I checked my phone and it was only 7:30, so I got ready, and Barca showed up at about 7:50 (she had been in her parent’s room). We went to breakfast, and there was so much food! I’m not just trying to be dramatic here (well, not much anyways). But there was cereal, and bread, and sausage, bacon, prosciutto, and mortadella (spelling?), and cheese, and fresh and dried fruit, and eggs, and muffins, croissants, and danishes (spelling?). The danishes were better than Mom’s, but not as good as Aunt Joanne’s, to give you an idea. Still delicious though.

It's mud! I promise!

After breakfast, Barca and I went back up to our room to get changed for skiing. Now, today I didn’t try to kill myself by downhill skiing, but I think I will tomorrow. Today we cross-country skied. This was a completely new experience for me. And let me tell you, it’s a LOT harder than it looks. It looks like you just have to walk, or maybe move your feet like you’re skating. Uh, no. You have to use your ski poles to push yourself along, and slide your feet forward. And it is very tiring. I was doing pretty well. I could go forward pretty fast, so I (being oh-so-humble), tried to ski the “professional way”. Meaning I tried to do the skating-ish motion like you see on TV. And actually, I did ok with that too. I got about 10 yards. Until I sorta lost control…(Now, the trail we were on was fake snow on a cornfield I believe. So if you went off the trail, there was mud. Keep this in mind.) Well…I fell. It didn’t hurt, the actually falling. But I couldn’t get my ski off, and so my ankle was hurting a bit. Barca, once done asking, “Kathleen! Are you ok? Did you break anything??”, helped me to get the skis off. Then I could stand up. And oh yea, I fell in the mud. I looked like I had a little accident…nasty brown mud and white ski pants do NOT mix. At all. I did make some new friends though. Mainly because I found this whole situation hilarious, and was laughing as Barca helped me wipe off my butt as best we could. All the professional type people that went by us were laughing at me because I smiled at all of them and gave a few people a thumbs-up. One guy asked if I was ok. So after I got up, and was back to beginner skiing, it was all good. But people were still laughing because I had a mud stain on my butt. So attractive…sigh.

After we were done skiing (I skied 5 kms!) we drove into town to find somewhere to buy lunch. Except for the fact that it’s Sunday…so not much was open. We went back to our hotel, where Barca and I had lunch. I had to explain what ravioli was to her, which is just a crime against nature. How can you not have ravioli? But I digress. We had our veal and herb ravioli (YUM) and went back to our room. Now we are waiting until the wellness center opens (pool, sauna, solarium, etc.) and we will go there.

Stupid Air-less Air Hockey

Barca finally got up…after me waking her up and believing her when she said “Ok, give me a minute.” 45 minutes later, I woke her up again, and we got ready to go. Wearing our swimsuits with ugly bathrobes over them (that were way too big), we headed down to the wellness center. We first swam for like 10 minutes, then got in the hot tub, sorry, whirlpool, for a bit. Then on to the sauna. Now, before this little experience I wouldn’t exactly call myself a prude…but OMG, I am. I understand that you use the sauna naked. But is it really necessary to stand outside of the actual sauna, drinking tea, without bothering to close your robe or wrap a towel around yourself? Add onto this the fact that most of the people there were over 45, and not in great shape. This was one…different…experience. But I liked the sauna (even though I further proved my prudesh-ness by keeping a towel around myself the entire time) and after that we had tea and lay on these awesome waterbeds in the “resting room”. And then back up to our room to change for dinner. After dinner (delicious again), we went down to the game room to play poker. I wasn’t allowed to play for money, being underage and all…haha. But that was pretty fun. I ended up being dealer because I was the only one who could actually shuffle. I quit after a bit, and played foosball with Barca and another girl. Then we played air hockey, except it was stupid, and didn’t have any air. So it was like table hockey, but boring. And then Barca and I asked how to get online, which is why you can read this now(: But it is really expensive here to use the internet, so I will upload pictures later because it takes too long to upload. So check back next week-ish for pictures.

Italy!

2011-02-20T17:21:00.005-05:00

Cow!

So today I was picked up at about 9:50, with my one suitcase (amazing, right?). We (me, Barca, her parents) drove to Bratislava, where we stopped at Marian’s friend’s house. We rearranged some luggage, stayed and talked for a bit, and then hit the road again. (All six of us in two cars.) We drove through Austria until about 3 pm. We stopped for lunch somewhere…I’m not sure the name of the place we stopped at. But, for the first time in about six months, I ate COW! I was super happy. And it was delicious, although I think it was cooked a bit too long (it was about medium-rare). But very good. Then we drove some more…somehow we went through Germany. And I know I don’t have the best geography, but I still don’t see how we had to go through Germany to get to Italy…ah well. Germany was fun because there are no speed limits in certain areas…hahaha! (Good thing no one here lets me drive.) And then somehow we were back in Austria. And we spent a LONG time in Austria…in reality, only about 3 hours, but it felt like forever because I was so excited to be in Italy. When we finally crossed into Italy, I couldn’t stop smiling.

Side note – Italy is the reason I became an exchange student. I have wanted to go to Italy as long as I can remember. Originally, I didn’t want to go through Rotary because you can’t pick your exact country, and in other programs you can. But I ended up going through Rotary (duh.) and I’m glad I did, because we have awesome conferences. But back to my point. I originally decided to be an exchange in the hope that I could see Italy someday. Once I found out I was going to Slovakia, I wasn’t disappointed. I’m still in Europe for a year, which not many people get to do. But I have always been interested in Italy (I’m half Italian), and so this is to explain why I was (and am) so excited to be in Italy.

Once in Italy, I just spent the rest of the ride smiling and looking at how gorgeous it is here. We drove for about an hour to get here, I believe. When we were about ten minutes from our hotel, we got a call from Marian’s friends, that they were in a car accident. They are fine, but we went back to where they were (about 3 minutes behind us). They got rear-ended, so it wasn’t a super big deal, but they still had to do the whole trading-insurance thing. And they speak Slovak and English, and the guy that hit them spoke Italian, a very little English, and German. So we had to go back so Marian and Barca could help with translating. But Barca and I mostly spent the time, instead of waiting, in eyeing the guy that hit them. Because, let me tell you, those stereotypes are right. Italian guys are very cute. Like, really really really cute. But we didn’t talk to him, we went on our way.

We arrived at our hotel at about 7 pm. It’s a 4-star hotel, and I love it(: Sadly, I have actually been paying attention to how expensive everything is. Sigh. I’m so used to just letting Mom and Dad take care of the little things, like, ya know, PAYING, and I don’t like this…because now I feel a little guilty bout spending money here. Not guilty enough to not buy stuff, but enough to hesitate first. So we had a delicious dinner (cow again, I’m so happy!), and then got our bags and went to our rooms. And I read the brochure that explained everything. Like how it costs 5 euros an hour for internet…crazy! So if this isn’t posted until way later, that’s why. But Barca is fluffing her pillow, which I will take as my hint to sign off(:

Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho...

2011-02-18T17:57:00.000-05:00

...It's off to Italy I go!

Yes, you read that right. Tomorrow I'm going to Italy for a week with my second host family. We are going skiing in the Alps, and I'm very excited. I don't know exactly where...but it's Italy! Does it really matter? (:

So, there are many things that I haven't written about. First of all, I'm in my third family. I'm only living here for a few weeks, and no, I'm not sure why I had to move. But hey, that's Rotary for you. I really like them, they are nice. They have a pet rabbit that growls...it's hilarious.

Last Saturday was the Rotary Ball. Basically, I got to get all dressed up, and then go and sit with Ernesto for like six hours. No, it was fun though. But many adults dancing to music that I can't really dance to. Well, ok...I can, but I would need someone to dance with, and Ernesto wouldn't. But it was fun to listen to the music. And the fact that it was a live band, so I could finally point out to people what a bari sax is, and be like, "That's what I played in the US!" And then I got some strange looks, but hey.

There's probably lots of things I'm forgetting, but it's really late here. Anyways, I'm going to Italy, yes, I will take lots of pictures, and I will blog about it when I get back. Hopefully I don't kill myself on the Alps...haha!

What do you think of my dress?

My Annual Cold

2011-02-06T17:29:00.000-05:00

So, if you know me really well, you know that almost every winter, I get a cold. Not a big deal. Just the same old runny nose, cough, sneezing, and tired deal. Well, it's here!

My host family seems really worried about me, which is good, but I don't think they believe me when I say I'm fine. I have tissues, water, nasal spray, blankets...I'm set. Plus tea. Lots and lots of tea. Yum. So I think I will take a few days off school this week (walking 20 mins in the cold to school probably won't help my cold...), and hopefully I will be better soon. I will keep everyone updated, but if I don't post, it's because I have been home, resting.

SCORE!

2011-02-02T06:52:00.000-05:00

Mwah-ha-ha! I'm so excited right now, I am going crazy(er than usual...haha)!

So, basically, here's the story. I have a 20 minute walk home from school. I found this cute little coffee shop about 5 minutes from my school, on my way home. (I might have mentioned this before...oh well.) The first time I found it was about two weeks ago exactly, and I went there once that week, and I think once last week. But this week it has been really cold and I actually have small change, so I have gone there like every day this week so far.

Today when I went up to the counter to order my usual coffee to go with milk, the lady (I think I'll call her Em) just asked "kavu s mliekom?" (I might have spelled that wrong...but I'm ok with that, since my spelling sucks in English, too.) And I was so happy, because now I am like officially a "regular" and I have a usual order! Also, then I got a croissant, and I barely had enough money for it. I'm like 99.9% sure Em knows I'm a foreigner, and don't speak that good of Slovak. So I was paid my 1,75 euro price with one euro, two 20 cents, one 10 cent, one 5 cent, and the rest in 1 and 2 cent pieces hahahahaha. It was actually pretty funny. Em found it funny, not annoying at all, which is good. Because if she hadn't been smiling at me, I think I would have been super embarrassed. As it was, I just found it amusing. But then after that, she started talking really fast, and I didn't understand at all what she meant, until she showed me one of those "buy 9 of our coffees and get the 10th free" cards. So now I have one! I feel super happy. The only other time I remember having one of these was back in Cadillac, and using it for hot chocolate at the one place. I never knew the name of that place...so if anyone knows what I'm talking about and would like to inform me of the name, I would like it(:

On a side note: I'm going to try to blog more often (most likely about random things like this) because I follow a few other blogs, and I know I always wish they would post more often. So I will try. And again, if you have any requests for topics for me to write about, just let me know! (:

Banska Bystrica

2011-01-31T14:09:00.000-05:00

Ok. So I have so much to say, and this is gonna be super random (as if everything else I write isn't...hahaha). But I'm sure you all have noticed, I don't really go back and edit these posts...so yes.

Friday Ernesto and I took the bus to Banska Bystrica for our Rotary Weekend. We arrived, and checked in and stuff. Hung out with people. Then once everyone was there, we went to a concert. It wasn't exactly the type of music we all prefer, so we spent the time taking pictures, and after we talked more, haha. During dinner, "the Australian" arrived. His name is Lewis, but everyone just called him the Australian. He was surrounded by like 15 girls, and Jenn and I just laughed at all of them. After dinner, we heard announcements. Then went in this other room, and talked with the rebounds, and had this competition thing. My team came in like last, but it was fun. Then all the Rotarians left (haha!) and we all talked, and played baseball with apples, and danced on the table, and choked on water, and laughed until we cried...well, we didn't all do all of that, but all of that happened. And we were all in our rooms by midnight.

Saturday after breakfast we went into town. We had a tour of the city hall, and spent like 3 hours taking pictures, cause we're sweet like that. Then we split into two groups and went on a tour outside around the city. Our tour guide, at one point said to us, "If you want to see the homeless people here, just look over there." It was quite funny. Rosa (Mexico) and Lewis were playing in the snow, and were completely covered. Good times. Then we were all back together as a group for lunch. We went to a restaurant that was owned by a Slovak pro hockey player. He played on like 3 teams in the NHL, but I don't know his name. We all got signed stuff by him though, so that was cool. During lunch, at my table we were all playing music with our water glasses, probably annoying everyone else..too bad. And asking Lewis to say things, like "wombat", and "koala", and "kangaroo". And asking him a gazillion questions about Australia. Then we found out we could get virgin cocktails for 10% off, so of course we had to get them(: But then we found out, because we were ordering them from the regular drink menu, and just having them made virgin, they would be full price. But we still got them anyway. I had a strawberry daiquiri, but I also tried Rachel's pina colada, and Jenn's raspberry daiquiri, and "love you" (very fruity, yum) and Lewis's something-or-other. I don't know what exactly it was, but it had banana and red bull, and was good. And I tried Megan's drink, but it was nasty. (And we were all sharing drinks, I wasn't just being a mooch, FYI.) After lunch, we went to the mall. I hung out with Jenn, Ramiro, Crystal, and Lewis for the most part, but our group changed as we ran into other people and stuff. We didn't spend much time shopping, mostly we were just walking around and making jokes about the "Erotic City" store. (And no, we didn't go in it. At least, my group didn't...haha) And then we all got ice cream at a shop in the mall, and ate that while listening to Lewis talk about the gypsies. And he said Jenn and I were immature, but we explained that in a few weeks he will be just like us. (By the end of the weekend, he was. Win!) We all went back to the hotel and had dinner, then a ping pong tournament. The guys were separate from the girls. Myles (America) won the guys, and I won the girls. It was pretty fun. After that, we had a disco! That was fun, crazy dancing...and I'm not gonna go into a lot of details. But I danced with a bunch of people. And we were all back in our rooms by 1:30.

Sunday we went to a museum after breakfast. It was about Slovakia in the World Wars, and it was chilling. I don't think this group of kids has ever been that quiet. After that, we went back for lunch, and then everyone went home. I already blogged bout my traveling issues, so I won't repeat that, haha. I hope you enjoyed the pics, and come see me in person in July to see the pics I refuse to post online(:

And I am having picture issues, so they are all just below. Gah.

Lewis and his girls

Girls Bracket

Teague and I at the "Disco"

I HATE Public Transportation

2011-01-30T16:19:00.000-05:00

OMG. I miss having a car.

So, to get home today, Ernesto and I took a bus to Trnava, and then were supposed to get on a bus to Piestany, about 40 minutes later. Well, we were in the wrong spot, and missed the bus. And then tried to make the train that was leaving in 10 minutes...yea, that didn't happen. So he called his host dad, who said the next bus was in 20 minutes. So we waited for that one. And then like 2 minutes before it was supposed to be there, this bus pulled into a different spot. So I said I think that was our bus, but Ernesto wasn't sure...we checked anyways. Thank goodness we did, cause it was our bus. So we finally made it home, but I don't like public transportation. At all.

Side note: A post about my Rotary Weekend in Banska Bystrica will be up soon, but I'm tired right now. Check my pics on Facebook if you want to! (:

School!

2011-01-24T16:31:00.000-05:00

So I got a request a while ago to do a blog on how school is different. Sorry that I'm just getting around to it now, but I have been busy. All of this is to the best of my knowledge, so if I get some facts wrong, it's because I'm not sure, and I apologize.

To start with the very basics. We don't have "high school" here. After elementary/middle school, you take a test to choose where you will go to school. There are sports schools, and academies, and where I go, gymnasium. The difference between gymnasium and academy is that you go to gymnasium for four years, and academy for five. Also, at academy you learn a trade. (Think "Career Tech Center") As far as I know, Piestany has a sport school, Gymnasium Pierra de Coubertina, and Hotelova Akademia Ludovita Wintera.

I'm in class 3.A This means I'm in the third year (like a junior) and the "A" part is my actual class. I don't change classes. Like, I'm with the same group of people all day, every day. And they have been together for the past three years. So they are all really close. We also don't switch classrooms (much). For the most part, we stay in our classroom. And also, they have been in the same classroom for the past three years. We have a "class teacher" which basically means, she is like homeroom teacher. (She is also our math teacher.)

For most classes, we stay in our classroom. Although we (obviously) go to the computer lab for computer class, and the gym for P.E. But we also have to go to a different class for Biology, and Chemistry. And half of our class is taking German, and the other half (me too!) takes French. So half the class goes to a different classroom for that class. And sometimes, for reasons beyond me, we have to go to a different classroom because other students have to go to our class. I have no idea why.

I have the same schedule all year. However, I have different classes everyday. Also, on a different time frame. Meaning I have to go to school at 7:50 on Tuesdays, but on Wednesdays I don't start until 9:50. (Yes, I love Wednesdays!) I have a regular schedule, not a changed one because I'm an exchange. Meaning I take English, French, Slovak, History, Geography, Math, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Art & Culture, Computers, P.E., and a class that is similar to Psychology, I think.

Our Classroom

We don't have desks. We have tables that each seat two people, and out teacher also has a table, but there is a nicer chair for the teacher. (See front left desk and chair in picture.) Our lockers are very small, and we only use them to store our books and gym clothes and stuff. We just keep all our things in our backpacks, which we have in the classroom, and carry with us. We also hang our coats in the classroom. We carry our boots with us. Well, boots and other shoes. We have to wear "school shoes" during the day. They can be like sandals, or crocs, or other shoes that you don't wear outside.

We have at least a ten minute break between classes, and between second and third hour is a twenty minute break. During that time, most kids stay in the classroom and talk, although we can leave if we want to. Some people leave to go smoke. There are no teachers in the classroom during break, they are all in the teachers lounge, I think. (Which is why I am able to get so many crazy videos of my class. Check my youtube if you want to see some of them.)

If our teacher is not there for some reason, we get free time, because we almost never have subs. Which is nice. Also, sometimes our teachers will trade classes with each other. Like, we will have History instead of Biology and then vice-versa. But it's not often. During breaks and free time, the blackboard has to be cleaned. Each week a different student is in charge of this. They use a wet sponge to clean it, but it usually just results in wiping chalk all over the board. If they don't have it clean when the teacher gets there, they get in trouble, and sometimes have to clean the board the following week, also.

We do not have many textbooks. For the most part, the teacher will lecture all hour, and the students take notes. In math class, our teacher reads the problems, and has kids go to the board to do them, while everyone else does them on their own. In English and French, they have workbooks. I like to read the English one and help out my classmates with the answers when they ask. Also, I find it funny that they have to learn all the perfect grammar, some of which confuses me. Like past perfect, and junk like that. I mean, I know how to use it, I just can't explain it. It just sounds right, you know? (This is apparently a bad explanation, which usually results in my classmates laughing at me, and not asking for more help. But really, I don't know how to explain all the pointless grammar rules English has.)

So, I think that's pretty much it about school. Any questions, feel free to ask(:

Family Number 2

2011-01-15T15:52:00.000-05:00

So today I moved into my second host house.

I now have a 19 year old host sister, and of course my new host parents. My room is awesome. Its green, and has a really fuzzy carpet in one part. And a black and white cheetah blanket on the bed. I love it. The rest of the house has mostly orange walls, which might sound a little odd, but it's really pretty. Also, bunches of art and little elephants everywhere. It's definitely my style.

I don't exactly know my address yet...but I think I know how to find my way home from school and stuff. I think. I'm not sure yet...we shall see.

I'll keep you all updated with new things(:

Directions

2011-01-12T16:47:00.000-05:00

Last night, I was walking to my dance class, and to get there I have to walk through a not-well-lit parking lot. As I was walking (alone, mind you) a guy came up to me. At first I was like, "Who is this creeper?" and then I realized he was pretty young and kind of cute. So he started to ask me something, and I thought, "Oh crap, I don't understand him." But then I realized, I did understand enough of what he was saying, that he was asking for directions to Indian's (a local bar). Even more exciting than understanding him, I could actually give him the directions he wanted! Mainly by pointing, but still. The point got across. As he walked away, he said, "Danke" For the unfamiliar, that would be "Thank you." In German. (:

Stop

2011-01-11T15:38:00.002-05:00

...shipping me things. I am moving this Saturday, so hold on for a few weeks to ship things. Once I know my new address, you can email me for it. Until then, put a hold on packages and letters, because I definitely want them, but I won't get them if you ship them to the same place you have been sending them.
If you have sent me a package or letter, and I haven't acknowledged that I received it, please let me know so I can watch for it. Thanks!

An Unintentional Explore

2011-01-05T15:59:00.000-05:00

So today I went to Austria.

We (my host family and I) went shopping in this ginormous outlet mall. The shopping was good, I got a few new things. I'm still looking for a good winter hat but I got gloves for skiing today. Yay(:

But...we got to go on an explore. Apparently we took a wrong turn or something...but I don't mind, I love going on explores. I got to see an extra hour of the Austrian countryside today. It was pretty cool.

Ok, so this was just a really quick update. Comment on what you want to hear about!

Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T13:02:00.000-05:00

Yay, it's 2011!

So, for New Year's Eve...I went with my friend Sofia to watch her dance performance. She is in a folk dance group, and they are REALLY good. It was fun to watch. Then after that, we had food and stuff with some more of her friends. And then went to watch fireworks. They were awesome. Plus I felt popular because I saw a bunch of people that I know(: After talking and seeing everyone, we went to a bar. (I'm not sure what the name was.) Dancing, laughing at drunk people...One guy was like passed out. His friend was trying to get him out the door. Right as he got out, the drunk guy came to a bit, and I think he tried to punch his friend...I'm not sure, but it was pretty hilarious. Sofia's parents picked us up around 2am, and took me home. It was a super fun New Year's Eve.

Stastny Novy Rok!

Christmas

2010-12-25T13:06:00.000-05:00

Ok, I have wayyyy too much to write everything, so I'll just give a brief overview.

First, we celebrated last night. We had dinner, (fish and potato salad) and then opened presents. Then we played with our presents, and talked, and did the usual Christmas thing. Then today, we had a huge breakfast, and just hung out all day. So that is my VERY brief overview.

Now for the pictures...

Table set for Christmas dinner

Food!

Dessert...

Nutella is delicious(:

And I have lots more pictures on Facebook, or email me if you want specific pictures, and I'll tell you if I have them...Happy Holidays!

You Call THAT Tap?

2010-12-24T05:23:00.001-05:00

Hey everyone. I could say that I haven't blogged because I have been busy, but truthfully, I have just completely forgotten.

My Dance Class

Ok, so the 13th and 14th, I had my dance performance. My class did our tango. It was really fun, and I got to see most of the other dances. I must admit, my entire class was busting up laughing when we watched the tap dancers...(there was only one class of 3 girls tapping)...because they have seen me tap. And these girls have been tapping for 7 years (I tapped for 8), and wow. Let me just say, when my mom took one year of adult tap class, they were better then these girls. (Don't get me wrong, my mom is a great dancer, but some of the other people in her class...not so much.) So we found it completely hilarious. And the girls in my class told me that the tappers think they are "so cool" because they are the only tap dancers...HAHA.

My ice skating lessons are going amazing! I can do spins, and sorta go backwards, and im learning a (very) simple jump. As in, I don't spin, but I still get some air! (: I also can skate on one leg, and I can (finally) skate crossing my legs. It's pretty sweet.

I saw my future host sister compete last Saturday. She got first place, making her the Slovakia National Junior Champion, or something like that. All I know is, she's an amazing skater, and she gets to compete in South Korea in February. Go Monika!

Right now I am on Christmas Break. My first day off was the 23rd, and I go back to school the 10th of January.

In school Tuesday, we had "Christmas Market". Basically, each class that wanted to set up sweets and small things to sell in their classrooms. It was really fun. Then Wednesday, there was a show in school. All of the graduating students had things in the show, mostly dances, and a few other people performed, too. (Including the three tap dancers, LOL) It was really cool to see. And I think Holton needs to do this next year(:

I just want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I Get It.

2010-12-14T17:00:00.000-05:00

Yea, you miss me. Get over it. I'm not coming home soon. And if the only thing you have to say to me is, "I miss you." then why bother? I know that you miss me. I miss you too. But repeating that doesn't help. Tell me what's going on with you, or sound interested in what I'm doing. But don't talk to me just to talk. Because I really don't have that much to say anymore.

You Wish You Were Us

2010-12-12T10:48:00.000-05:00

Rotary Conference as an Inbound number 2!!!

First, let me say, I'm so tired right now. Like, super tired. So if this makes less sense then usual, it's totally not (completely) my fault.

Friday
Ernesto and I took the train from Piestany to Bratislava. It's an hour by train. We met up with all the other exchanges at the train station. Everyone was yelling, hugging, being the crazys that we are when we all get together. We took our luggage to a van that Rotary had for us, and then we walked (through the rain) to the Government Office. We got a tour of that, which was pretty cool. Lots of pictures. We probably take 3 times as long as other tours, just because we get so easily distracted by taking pictures. So we did that.
Then we walked to the Old City part of Bratislava. We got a tour of that too. It is so pretty! And really interesting, all the history that is there. It's so different for me, just hearing about all these buildings that are hundreds of years old. Well, obviously I've heard of old buildings like that before, but I haven't seen any in person before this year. So it was pretty sweet.
After that we all went to the Christmas Market. Which is like the best invention ever. Stalls set up in the middle of a square, with ten bazillion things to buy for Christmas! (Lots of really good food, too.) We sort of ate dinner there. (We were supposed to, but I don't remember what I had, which means it was probably junk food. Or as close to junk food as it gets here.) We went shopping at some mall then. I don't remember where. (I really pay attention to the names of places that I go.) Since I'm broke, I only bought a few shirts, but it was still fun.
Back at the hotel, (once we got there, I mean.) we got our room assignments. The rooms had 7 people in them, but they were split up into like 3, 3, and 1. In my 3, I had a girl from Mexico, and another American. Of the other 4, 3 were American, and 1 was Mexican. So our room had a bit of Spanish going on. We had our Secret Santa thing then. Everyone seemed pretty happy with the gifts. I got a scarf/pennant thingy that says "Slovakia" in really big letters on it. Then we all were talking and hanging out until curfew, at which point we just went to our rooms and continued talking. My room was awake until 1:30.

Saturday
I woke up at 6:30. So, wayyyyyy too early. Breakfast was at 7, but all we had was tea and bread with butter or jam or whatnot on it. Then we grabbed our coats, and waited for the bus. And waited. And waited. The bus finally got there, but we had a bus with no heat. It wasn't a huge deal, since there were like 40 of us, and those South Americans are crazy! They were singing, and dancing, and just being noisy in general, but it did warm us up. So it was nice and toasty warm there. We went to Vienna, where we saw a palace. No, I don't know the name of it. But there was another Christmas Market there. So we shopped some more. It was horrible weather though, like 33 degrees and raining. Ugh. (1 degree Celsius)
After that, we went to the like center of Vienna. We had the option to go on a tour or to just shop. Only 10 of us out of 31 went on the tour. It was really interesting, hearing about all the history that was there. Then we went shopping. My group's first stop...STARBUCKS!!! Yea, I know. But we have been deprived of Starbucks for 3 months, and we are teenage girls. Do the math.
Then we went window shopping, for the most part. But it was really fun. Until Jenn and I went to find a restroom, and couldn't find our group. We met up with Ernesto and Crystal later, and the first thing I said to them was "We lost Teague!!!" They laughed for quite awhile over that one. We found them later then.
When most of us were on the bus, we had a bit of an adventure...First, 2 of the Mexicans were missing. Then Viktor (Brasil) fainted outside. It was really scary because we didn't know what was going on. In the end, the Mexicans were only about 5 minutes late. Viktor had to go to the hospital in Vienna, and as of this morning, he was doing fine. We will get an email update once they (Rotary) have more information.
We went back to Bratislava, to the mall. It was more shopping, so obviously it was fun. I didn't lose anyone else then(:
Back at the hotel, more talking. I was with Jenn in the guys room, where we were basically having a back massage party. Until Jenn found out I was ticklish, and tried to throw me on the bed to tickle me more, but she ended up slamming my head into the wall. Ouch. (I'm fine, by the way.) A lot more people came into the room then, it was super crowded. Jenn, Teague, and I went to Jenn's room to talk for a bit. Then Teague went back to the guy's room, and Jenn and I went to the lobby for the wi-fi. We stayed there until curfew, at which point we all went back to our rooms. My roomies and I stayed up talking for a really long time. At like 2am, we heard this pounding coming from the floor. We were freaked out for like 5 minutes, until I remembered that Jenn's room was right below ours...We ended up all of us out on our balcony talking to them (Jenn and her roomies) for a few mins, but it was really cold. I think we stayed up until about 3...

Sunday
This morning, we had our tea and bread again. Then our Slovak test...it was really hard. We had to listen to them read questions, and they talked super fast. Then there was like an entire page for us to read in Slovak, and answer questions. The whole thing took almost 2 hours. After, we packed and got ready to leave. We rode the bus to the train station. Most of us still had to buy tickets, which was crazy. Because once I had my ticket, I had exactly 5 minutes to make the train. We ended up running and just barely making it. The train was so crowded that we had to stand in the hall for the entire ride. Or at least I did, since Ernesto and I were the first ones of us exchanges to get home. It was only an hour, so not too horrible. Train got here, I walked home...After lunch here, I slept for like 1.5 hrs. So I'm still really tired. But this weekend was amazing(:

Oh Snap.

2010-12-12T09:31:00.001-05:00

So.
Thursday night my backpack was stolen while I was in dance class. I left it in the same place that I always do, in the little room we use to change clothes. And all the other girls had their bags there, too. But only mine was stolen. Which doesn't sound so bad, until you realize that in my backpack was my: phone, ipod, camera, nook, and wallet. So I lost my driver's license, my debit card, my credit card...all of it. What a fun time.
I'm getting the cards replaced and stuff, but for now, I'm not so happy. I don't like being broke...sigh.

Do I Get a Name Day Too?

2010-11-25T15:34:00.000-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving, Americans!

So as I was walking to dance today, I was thinking. Whenever I hear a little kid talking in Slovak, I always feel like they are really smart at first. Like, "Wow, they can already speak a foreign language." And then I remember...no they can't. They can only speak their language. It is still a funny feeling though, having 4 years olds use words that I don't know. I can honestly say that is a first.

School today was boring as usual. But it was slightly worse, knowing all my friends in Michigan had the day off...and have been (slightly) rubbing my face in that...thanks, guys. haha, I'm kidding. I'm only complaining because everyone has something to do with Thanksgiving on their Facebook...but it's ok.

Tonight I got to see Lucnica, only the most awesome thing ever! It is a Slovak Folk dance group. And it was amazing. Seriously, if you ever get the chance to see this, do it. It was sooo cool. But I couldn't take pictures, so too bad for you all. (:

So Predictable

2010-11-19T12:22:00.000-05:00

Last night I went to see the Russian National Ballet (or something like that. I'm not really sure.) with Andrea, Gregor, and Babicka. It was really fun.

We didn't see any specific ballet, it was a gala thingy, or something like that. (As you notice, I'm not so good with the details. I do have a lot of pictures, though.) We saw parts from The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, (I think) Giselle, and a few others that I don't know.

I was very happy with what they showed from the Nutcracker, namely the Russian dance. If you aren't familiar with it, it is the part in the Nutcracker where they are in the Land of Sweets. There are 4 dances, the Chinese Tea, Spanish Chocolate, Arabian Coffee, and Russian Candy Canes. (I have also seen it with French something, but I don't remember what it was. All I remember is that they started playing the wrong music for the Frenchies, so after their dance, we think they got mad because we didn't see the French when the rest of the dancers had a dance together. [This was a few years ago when I saw the Moscow Ballet.] But I digress.) Anyways, I love the Russian dance because the male part has these amazing jumps that he does for almost the entire dance. It's really cool to watch. And amazing to see how high they can jump! Also, I remember thinking as the male dancer came onstage, "Finally, he has on proper trousers." I think the British English-English class is getting to me. Although I do still giggle when someone calls them "trousers", so I don't know what the voice in my head was thinking (maybe it wanted me to laugh? I try not to listen to its suggestions, the last time I did, I ended up naming my penguin Carlos.) But I know that I was glad he was wearing real pants and a shirt, not the white tights and midriff shirts the other male dancers were wearing...I will never understand why they don't wear longer shirts. The current "male ballerina" (male ballet dancer?) look is not a good look. It's just not.

Swan Lake-The Swan That Refuses to Die for At
Least 27 Minutes(Or So it Seems)

I have a lot of pictures, but they are really blurry because I didn't set my camera on "sport" or whatever to take motion pictures. But I have a video of most of the finale, it's pretty sweet. If you want the link, comment for it, because I don't want this to just turn into a video diary, and I'm not sure if you are all interested in watching the ballet(:

After the performance, when we were walking out, I saw two little girls in the lobby. They were about 7 years old, and as I watched, one started running, with an almost comically intent expression on her face. I distinctly remember thinking to myself, "I bet she's gonna jump." And lo and behold, she did her version of a grand jeté. It was quite funny, in they way she executed it, and in the fact that it was completely predictable. I mean, really, after a ballet, you see a kid running intently through the lobby while another kid watches, obviously they are trying what they just saw. Still very amusing.

17

2010-11-14T17:30:00.000-05:00

So I'm sure most of you know that my birthday was last Thursday. I'm 17 now. Yay me.

Like a week ago I got my birthday box from my parents, but I was a good kid and didn't open my present. Then. I did, however, freak out about my football that I got. Yea, I know what you are probably thinking...yes, I know there isn't "American Football" here. Yes, I know I'm a girl. But no, I don't throw like a girl, so there. And I took my football to school and my friend liked it, she can actually throw pretty well. So I had fun with that.

Then the day before my birthday, I was on Skype with my parents so I opened my present from them so they could watch me open it. I have a lovely nook from them. My nook's name is Margret. (If you don't know, a nook is like a Kindle, basically an electronic book-thingy. It's awesome.) So far, I have had my nook for 4.5 days, and I have read 5 books. Yay, I'm back to being my geeky self(:

My new art stuff(:

Then on my actual birthday...a bunch of people told me happy birthday at school, which was nice. At first it surprised me, though. Mostly because for my past birthdays, I have seen my friends, who then tackle me with hugs to say happy birthday. This year, all of the people that told me happy birthday did so with a handshake, and a kiss on each cheek. Very different. (The first time scared the crap out of me, though.) After my dance class that night, my host family had an amazing dinner for me. Plus I got presents, which I wasn't expecting at all. They included chocolate, an angel figurine, and pastels with paper. (Not all, but I don't feel the need to list everything I got.) I tried my pastels today, but I need to watch more tutorials on Youtube before I show my pics to anyone, haha. Oh, also, before my dance class I got a box from Aunt Gen...she is without a doubt the very best aunt ever. In the box: 84 packages of Starburst. Amazing. (Starburst is my favorite non-chocolate candy, for those of you who were wondering. Also, no Starburst in Slovakia.) I'm pretty much set for life, Starburst-wise. (Actually, at this rate, more like 2 months...but oh well.)

Friday night I went with some friends to a bar here. We mostly gossiped and danced. It was pretty fun, but I didn't know that many people, and my friends introduced me to this semi-creepy guy, because he spoke English. But it all turned out fine.

Anyways, that's what I did for my birthday here. Questions, or for more details, feel free to email me(:

What to Say?

2010-11-08T11:40:00.000-05:00

So walking home today, I realized a few things.

1. Life here is normal to me now. Meaning I'm probably not writing stuff that people are interested. But it is all so normal for me now. So I don't know what you want to hear about, bringing me to my next point...
2. I don't hear from you people! I want to keep this interesting for you. But you gotta help me out a little here...So just leave a comment telling what you want to hear about, or you can email me (kathleen.buckley18@gmail.com). But I like feedback.
3. My birthday is Thursday! I will be 17, and I'm really excited. I'll tell you all about what I did after the fact. =P

So that's pretty much my update. I don't know what to write about unless you all ask.

I'm so Lazy

2010-11-06T16:01:00.001-04:00

Ok, so it's not that I haven't been doing stuff, I'm just too lazy to blog about it all. =]

This picture is from today...see below for details, cuz I don't want to bother reformatting all of this, haha.

On a side note, because this is a really random post...check out my dance class, I taught them some cheerleading. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3yLH7GIY-I

So, what's new...hmm. Skating and dance are still good. I'm still learning Slovak. Same old, same old.

Also, Ernesto is teaching me a few words in Spanish, fun times. He's mostly teaching me compliments, aka how to flirt...hahaha. And then he laughs, because apparently I have an accent...who knew?

Yesterday I went to a benefit concert that the Rotary Club here sponsored. It was piano, cello, and opera-ish music. I liked it. =]

Today Ernesto and I went with most of the Club to this wine tasting, no, we didn't taste the wine. But I took pics. After that we went to this ceramic place, it was totally awesome. I can't really describe it, so here are some pictures. =] (Also, you can check it out on this website: http://www.slovakia.cdfoto.net/keramikaen.htm)
oh, and yea, i got to try making a bowl/vase-thingy =]

Lots of Updates

2010-10-31T06:48:00.000-04:00

Ok. So I have a bunch of stuff to talk about...but I will probably get bored and not write that many details. I don't know yet.

Fiona: I have heard (I'm not the first in the loop, for better info talk to my parents.) that she is doing great. The surgery went fine. As I understood it, there is still a little bit of the tumor there, but they are waiting for the lab results to see what they will do. Fiona is alert and remembering things, which is good because apparently a bad sign is short term memory loss, but she is all good for now. She is moved out of intensive care, but still in the hospital. So that is what I know from my last update.

The itty-bitty skaters that I think are better then me.

Skating: My skating lessons are super awesome amazing fun! I have had two lessons so far. It looks like I will be taking about two lessons a week. So, in my first lesson I learned to not fall, and how to stop. In my second lesson, I did a turn! And not just like 360 degrees, either. It was like 3 turns! Go me. When I finally did it, I got super excited, and then I got laughed at because apparently I'm funny when I'm acting like a 5 year old. Go figure.

Slovak: I am still learning (duh) and I think it is going pretty good. I can remember a lot more now, and I'm having fun when my friends don't realize I know something, and I just say "I understand." Their faces: priceless.

an elf, me, a butcher, and a pirate

Halloween: So, sadly, there is no trick-or-treating here. But I think I had way more fun then any of my friends in USA. (na-na-nana-na!) So last night ( 10/30) I went out with a few friends from my dance class. We went to 2 places: the first was a bar and there was a band playing like alternative rock. They are friends with a few of the band members. So we listened to them for a while, then went to place number 2, Indians. They had a thing, where if you wore a costume, you got in free. So we were all dressed up, although my costume was a little lacking. I was just wearing a dress and heels, so they were going to make me pay, until we used the "she's an American and we are showing her stuff" excuse. So I got in free, and the guy told me "Welcome to Slovakia." Exchanges rock. So once in, it was a madhouse. We didn't get there until like 10:15, so it was already crowded. Everyone was in costume, and the dance floor was soooo packed. But it was super amazing. We spent the whole time there dancing. At one point, I got my butt grabbed...It turns out it was a guy that was friends with my friend, so she explained the whole "American" thing, and he apologized. But he said that he wouldn't do anything unless I wanted to. hahaha. Relax, nothing happened. =] I had to be home at 12 (boo.) but all my friends were staying until it closed, at like 3 or 4 am. So I left early, but I still had the best Halloween ever. =D

Fiona

2010-10-26T17:30:00.000-04:00

My cousin, Fiona, is having surgery Thursday.

She has a brain tumor, but the doctors don't know what it is. They are removing it, and will have it biopsied. She has had 2 seizers because of this. Fiona is 14 months old. Please keep Fiona and her family in your thoughts and prayers as she goes through this time.

Thank you.

Finally =]

2010-10-24T13:19:00.000-04:00

So I had my very first ice skating lesson yesterday. I had to be ready to leave a 7am...it was very early. I learned how to stop, which is very important, since my old method was to slow down and run into a wall gently to stop. But now I can stop without looking like I should be in a mental institute. I also learned how to look graceful (ish) when skating forward. And how to go backwards very slowly. My coach tried to teach me how to turn, but I'm failing at that...well, I can turn if I'm going like .0005 mph. But that's about it. I also forget to keep my back straight, and my knees bent, and my arms up...ballet didn't pay off. At all. But it's super fun, my next lesson is Wednesday.

I have a picture, but I'm being too lazy to connect my camera to get the pic, so you don't get to see it. I'll tell you about it, though. It's a pic of a little girl, probably about 3 to 5 years old. She was better at skating then I currently am. Sigh.

=D

2010-10-22T15:36:00.000-04:00

I did a little happy dance today...

Because I'm awesome. Well, not really. (Actually, I am awesome, but that's not why I was happy-dancing.) I was happy-dancing because I finally got ice skates!!! Whoot whoot! Meaning, yes, that's right, I start my lessons tomorrow morning! (Yay!) at 8:00 am...but I have to be ready to leave at 7:00 am. (not-so-yay.) But I am super excited, it is going to be so much fun! More on skating later. =]

Not our table, but one like it.

Tonight I went to this really cool tea-shop-ish-place with Olivia. It was sweet. (hahaha, pun not intended, but still funny. =D) We sat on this carpeted elevated floor area that had a bunch of cushions, and we had a little tiona-sized table. (That's a table that is like a foot tall, for those of you that are confused right now.) We had to take off our shoes to sit down. The menu was like and entire book and inch and a half thick! There was tea from China, Japan, Tibet, India, South America...everywhere. Of course, I couldn't read the menu, but still. The tea was really good, and we stayed for like 2 hours. We were mostly gossiping and laughing at everything, but really, we're teenage girls. What else do we ever do? =] So it was a very fun night.

(Just Desserts)

2010-10-20T14:52:00.015-04:00

This is gonna be completely random, and not in any order...just to warn you. I'm going to write of things as I think of them, so there might be some pretty odd connections here...anyways.

School has been pretty normal, aka super boring. The other day (I think it was yesterday...yea, it was yesterday.) I understood a little bit of what my English teacher was saying when she switched to Slovak. Meaning I understood when she said that what I had just said, after she asked for my opinion, was wrong. And that she was right when it came to British English. Yea, ok, whatever. But other things that happened in school...I have started taking random videos with Olivia between classes...they are quite hilarious. If you want the link, send me an email and I'll try to remember to give you the Youtube link. So that has given me something to do during school.

I am taking Slovak lessons from Babicka (my host grandma) and I think I'm learning more...So far I have learned the months, and days of the week, times of day (morning, noon, night, etc.), and sports stuff...So yea. I'm studying during school. Ish. I feel like I know a lot, until I try to talk in Slovak..then it's all like, "Wait, what's that word? How do I conjugate that?" But oh well.

Before...

My dance class is...AWESOME. We finished learning our tango. Olivia is teaching me the modern dance they have to the song "All The Right Moves". (They already knew it when I joined the class.) And our teacher said if I learn it, I can perform it with them. =] Now we are learning jive! So I had my iPod in class, and I was showing the girls some of my "American Music". They had never heard the song "Magic" (by B.o.B) and so I played that one for the teacher, too. Oh yea, I rock. We are jive-ing to "Magic" hahaha! Go me.

After =D

Rotary meeting are still pretty boring for me since I don't understand any of it. But the food is great. =] The District Governor for District 2240 was there last week. (Ok, technically this week, whatever.) But he was speaking in Czech, not Slovak, so it wasn't a big deal that Ernesto and I couldn't understand him. (Whew.) I was going to add some pics of the food on here, but it's not letting me...I'll add them later if I can.

Ok, so I guess this wasn't as random as I thought it would be (mostly thanks to parenthesis haha). Oh, and about skating: Since I don't have skates, it probably will be awhile before I start. But I have dance class, and I bike to Babicka, and tomorrow Ernesto and I are playing squash with a few Rotarians...so I'm not worried (much) about the "exchange student weight gain" haha.

Oh, and the title: If I could post the pics I wanted to, you would get it. =D ***As you can see, I now uploaded the pictures. These are all from Rotary meetings. Enjoy!***

I Was Right

2010-10-16T17:56:00.000-04:00

Today started out ok-ish...but ended awesome.

I had to clean my room, which I don't mind, but I had help...let's just say: if you tell me everything I'm doing is wrong, but you don't tell me how to do it right, you're not helping. But I ended up cleaning alone (long story) so it was ok. Then Gregor and I went to Grandma's house. We had lunch (YUM) and then she taught me some more Slovak. We stayed and played and stuff for awhile.

Then tonight I went out with Ernesto and Barča. (She is one of the Rotarian's daughters.) We walked around downtown. Went to one place for pop, then went to another which was like a chocolate cafe! I got this thing-y that was like melted (still warm) white chocolate, with raspberries and whipped cream. In a word, Heaven. It was amazing. Then we went to Indian's, a bar/disco. It was crazy, and super fun! Barča's dad was there too. He was there with a friend, and we all ended up dancing together. Super crazy. But also very fun. I really want to go back next week, but probably stay later. But tonight I came home at like 11 because I hadn't asked how late I could stay, and I don't want to get in trouble. =] But yes, tonight was awesome-ness.

Oh, and if you want to know what I was right about, email me =]

Day 47

2010-10-12T16:42:00.000-04:00

So I just want to say, I'm trying to learn the language. Really, I am.

But I still have to translate things. So when people talk to me, they forget that they have to wait. They don't have to say the words super slow, but they have to give me a minute to go over the sentence and translate it. Which no one does. I'm not at the point where I can think in Slovak yet! I still have to translate! Give me a chance people, I'm not a dumb as I sound. At least, until I got here I didn't think I was.

Dance class is still fun. And my friends are awesome. I'm excited for our movie day, Katka and Olivia! But the adults...I understand that the teachers can't take time to explain to the one exchange in the room. That's fine, I try to at least listen to the language, since I have no idea what the meaning is. But I wish the Rotarians here would try to help more. And by help, I don't mean lecture me on the fact that I'm not a prodigy when it comes to learning a new language. Yea, I can't talk. Yea, I'm trying to learn. Yea, telling me this doesn't help, it makes me want to not learn, so I don't have to understand all the things I'm doing wrong. But everyone: I AM TRYING. I'm doing the best that I can, so get over it.

Je Mi Zima

2010-10-09T17:38:00.000-04:00

Today Gregor and I went to this really cool restaurant for lunch. We got pizza. And we each got our own pizza, and they were like 14 inch pizzas...but we both ate all of it! It was super good. I got 4 cheese pizza, and it also had some spices on it, I'm not sure what kind though. Anyways, the point of this...Slovak pizza is really good, and I was stuffed.

Then we all went to Andrea's cousin's house later today. We (Gregor and I) played this odd, and fun game, where you have 9 bowling pin-type-thingys, and there is a ball on a string, and you try to knock over the pins...it's kinda hard to explain...but it was fun. Then we ate soup that had sausage in it (I think...). After that Gregor and I went for a walk up to the "lake". hahaha. More like "oversized-pond", but he argued that it was a lake...ok...anyways. It was freezing, so I learned how to say "I am cold." in Slovak. (After I got corrected...apparently saying "Som zima." means "I'm winter." oops.) I was repeating it a bit (or, ya know, a lot...) so Gregor got mad and kicked me. But it was funny. And I deserved it, I know. When we got back, I found out we had to eat more! We had potato salad, and duck, and kapusta, and something that I don't remember the name of...but it was all really good. So now I don't need to eat for like 3 days...haha.

At home, Gregor and I watched "The Game Plan" in Slovak on tv. I can figure out a lot more. I only had to ask what they said 3 times. The rest of the time, I just guessed what they were saying. Sometimes I actually knew though. Yay me! And right now I found out that I can listen to football games online, thank you ESPN. You're awesome. Go Blue.

Circles =D

2010-10-06T11:38:00.000-04:00

I love circles. ( I mean those traffic circles, or rotaries, or whatever they're called, by the way.) There is one (tiny and pointless) circle in Muskegon. Washington DC has some good ones (I'm still annoyed that Dad wouldn't drive around the donut one...grr.), but I don't get to go through those often (duh). Piešťany, however, has like a bazillion. And they aren't the itty-bitty Muskegon kind, either. Today, I was super excited, because I got to go through 2 circles...on a BUS. Oh, yea. It was awesome. =D

My entire grade went to Bratislava today. We had to take 3 buses. We went to this college-thingy. Basically, we were in a large room, with about 50 or 60 colleges in Czech and Slovakia there. People could go and ask questions, and get info, and brochures and stuff. It was like a job fair, only for college. I'm sure you're saying, "You must have been bored, and I bet you didn't talk to any of the colleges." Haha, you're wrong. Well, yes, it was boring. But I did get some info on the University of New York in Prague. It actually looks pretty cool, especially if I want to come back to Europe for college. All of the classes are in English, but I can take a Czech class there, too. (Like as a language course.) It offers an American 4-year Bachelors program, in a few different majors.

Honestly, I don't know what I'm going to do for college, but the colleges I'm sort of interested in right now are: University of NY in Prague, University of Michigan, Grand Valley State University, and University of Notre Dame. But really, I have no clue what I want to study. I also think I'm going to look into some college in Arizona (Phoenix is awesome), and I might take a look at Butler University, just for you, Jack. =]

So, this started out about circles, but I got a little off topic...I just wanted you all to know my plans in the distant-ish future. =]

Cooking

2010-10-03T13:44:00.000-04:00

I helped cook today =]

We made: rice, potatoes, carrot salad, cucumber salad, soup, chicken, stuffing, pork, and I think wild pig. Guess how many people we fed. Yupp, that's right. 4. Mhm. Only 4. (There's a bunch of leftovers.)

I made the carrot salad. Recipe: Take like 6 or so carrots. Peel. Use a cheese grater to grate the carrots. Add juice from one lemon. (About 2 Tbs?) Add enough brown sugar till it tastes right. Stir. It's really good, you should all try and make it now =]

I also was helping cut stuff, like the carrots and potatoes. And I tried to help cut the liver...but that didn't happen. The liver then went in the stuffing. I tried it, but I found out that I don't like liver.

So I tried a bit (or, ya know, a lot) of pretty much all of it...And all of it was good, except for the liver-stuffing. So I am now a stuffed chicken myself. This is why exchanges gain weight...we don't eat as unhealthy as I did in America, but I sure eat a lot more, because it's all so good! Thank you, Andrea, for letting me help out today =]

Figure Skating!

2010-10-01T15:56:00.001-04:00

So today I got to skip my last class (English...I think I better find out what we did, I really need to pay attention in that class...), to go with Ernesto, Eva, and Monika to Bratislava to watch a figure skating competition. It was so much fun! There were about 15 skaters, all ages 15 to 17, I think. The final places: 1st, a girl from Japan (pictured), 2nd a girl from Italy, and 3rd, a girl from Sweden. It was ahmazing to watch.

After we got back to Piestany, Ernesto and I watched Monika's practice. She is sooooo good!!! I think in the entire practice (it was about 2 hours, I think) she only fell once! At least, only once that I saw. This girl is going to be famous one day.

So, on the subject of skating...I'm going to take lessons! I think I will start a week from tomorrow, depending on when we can find some skates for me to borrow that fit my ginormous feet...I might have to buy my own though. Don't worry, I'm just going to buy the cheap-y fun kind, not the uber-competitive kind. (Difference in price: 20 euros to 500 euros.) But I'm super excited! As some of you may know, I already know how to skate forwards, run into things, and fall. I hope to learn how to stop, turn, and skate backwards, but I'll be happy if I can just learn how to stop gracefully. =]

Hum the Tango (Seriously. Do it. Because that's the title of this post. I'm thinking like "do. da do. do. do. da da d-da, duh da da dada, hmm hmm hmm hmmmmmdo do do, da do." Or maybe with "bum"s [bum. ba bum. bum. bum. etc.] But not "la"s. I'm not feeling "la"s here.)

2010-09-28T15:21:00.000-04:00

I had my first dance class today. There were four of us there, but there are normally 9. One of my friends from school invited me. It's technically a modern dance class, but tonight we learned how to tango! We are going to do a dance that is a tango with a modern twist. It should be a lot of fun. I really like the dance class =]

I think my title is almost as long as this post...haha too bad. =P

Oh, and I wanna give a shout out to my awesome AUNT GEN!!! Thanks so much for commenting on all of my posts, it means a lot. You're the best, Aunt Gen! =]

I Got a Package! & Gym Class

2010-09-24T09:12:00.000-04:00

I Got a Package!:

I got a package, I got a package, I got a package, hey hey hey hey. =D
(Yes, I was actually singing. Be glad no one heard.)
I'm super excited! This package had good timing. =] I got: a sweatshirt from home (it smells like my house, so I probably look really weird right now, I'm sniffing it like I'm addicted to something...but I digress), little American flags, my nail stuff, chapstick, my favorite kind of tea, cornbread mix, and RAMEN NOODLES!!! I am a happy camper. =] Oh, and a note from Mom. Thank you =]

Gym Class:

Today it was awesome! Steer clear! It's a rollerblading American! And she can't steer! (hahaha) We went rollerblading, and since there were only four of us, we stopped and out teacher bought us pop. =] I had to borrow some, and the ones I was wearing didn't have a brake-thingy, so um...I'm sure I looked...interesting. It was really funny. But after a little while, I had to switch with our teacher, and she bladed while I rode her bike, because the rollerblades were a little to thin for my ginormously wide feet. But later we switched back and it was all good. It was a very fun gym class, Mrs. Rizley should let us do this sometime. =]

A Serious Post, For Once

2010-09-23T09:59:00.000-04:00

For those of you that don't know, my dad has prostate cancer.

Yesterday he had surgery to have his prostate removed. Everything is looking good, he's doing fine. The doctors sent in lymph nodes for testing, just to make sure they got it all. But Dad looks good.

His surgery took place at around 8 am eastern time, so 2 pm for me. I found out the time of his surgery at about...1 pm here. I found out by reading my brother's Facebook status. Yes, my mom forgot to tell me. She claims it was to keep me from worrying, but really, she just forgot. (Ok, so that was probably the original plan, to keep me from worrying, but in that plan, I still have to be told eventually...) Anyways. My dad is doing fine, and I've finally stopped freaking out about it. (About the surgery, and the fact that I didn't know about the surgery, that is.)

But please keep my dad in your thoughts. Thanks

It Smells Like Home

2010-09-22T13:42:00.000-04:00

Yes, for those of you who think like I do...I was in a McDonald's today. =D
Back up. I went with Ernesto, Monika and Roman (My second host family) to Bratislava this afternoon. Monika had to be there for a press conference, because she's an amazingly good ice skater. After it, we went to the mall (I only got shoes and jeans for me, and a gift for a friend). Then we went to Micky D's! I got laughed at. A lot. By everyone. Even the staff laughed at me. I don't care. It was fun. And yes, all McDonald's smell and taste the same. =] It was sooooo good. Especially since I knew what exactly I was eating without having to ask.
And yes, I have pics. But I'm too lazy to upload them right now =P

This is Quality Spinach

2010-09-21T16:15:00.000-04:00

Today I had to walk to my Rotary meeting. I wasn't quite sure of the way, but Andrea gave me directions, and she said it would take about 20 minutes to get there. So I left early, giving myself 35 minutes to get there.
40 minutes later...I arrived =] So I was only a little late. Because I only got a little lost. Her directions were to take all roads, but somehow I ended up in the park...It all worked out in the end. =]
Ernesto and I talked the whole meeting. We were comparing pins on our jackets, and talking about other random stuff. For dinner we had chicken and spinach and potatoes. The potatoes were good. Do you know those frozen dinners that are like chicken cordon bleu? And they have like ham and cheese in chicken? It was like that, except this wasn't a cheap frozen dinner. So it was chicken filled with blue cheese. I didn't realize that until about bite number three, and then I decided I wasn't very hungry. Until I realized what it was, I just thought it was some funky chicken. No, it was nasty cheese. Anyways. I ate the potatoes and spinach, so I'm not hungry or anything.
Note on the title of this: Yes, I actually thought that. When I tried the spinach, the little voice in my head told me, "This is quality spinach." I have no clue why I thought that, but I found it funny so I'm sharing it with you. =]

Strecno!

2010-09-20T09:14:00.000-04:00

So yesterday I got back from an awesome weekend in Strecno, Slovakia. It is a city in the north-ish, near Zilina.

On Friday, Karol Ambra drove Ernesto and I to Martin (a city near Strecno.) Ernesto is the other exchange in Piestany, if I haven't mentioned that before. Anyway. We had to go to get a medical check-up type thingy. Basically, they drew blood and got chest x-rays from both of us. This is for our visas, so we didn't really have a choice. It was super nasty outside (aka it was raining), so we couldn't do much. We had planned on going to an outdoor museum thingy, but we couldn't because of the weather. Instead, we went to an indoor museum. It had an exhibit about Slovakia during ancient times, and there was an exhibit on the different traditional clothes from different areas in Slovakia.

We met up with 3 inbounds from Bratislava, who were also getting the medical thingy. We all went to lunch together, and I think it took about 2 hours, because we were messing around so much. We ordered ice cream that came in little plastic animals. I got a penguin that had a toupee, so I named him Donald =] The other animals were: a bear, a cow, and an elephant. (Pedobear, Old Spice Guy, and the Grapeist, respectively.)

After lunch, we all drove to Strecno, but we were there super early. So early that our rooms weren't ready. So we went on a hike around the town, and to a memorial for something. I don't remember exactly what, but something to do with a group of French soldiers helping Slovakia somehow. I don't know the specifics. It was really pretty, we could see the entire town =]

Then when we got back, we met with the other inbounds. There are about 50 of us, from all over. There are 18 Americans, like 12 Brasilians, and 7 Mexicans. There were also a few kids from Canada, Thiland, Taiwan...maybe other countries, but I don't know which. We all talked and compared experiences. We listened to a few presentations. When we were all in our rooms that night, they taped the doors shut so they would know if we left our room. My roommate was from Flordia, and she is staying in the Czech Republic, but I don't know which city.

Saturday morning, we had to listen to more presentations. I had heard most of them before at 6290 conferences. We had lunch, then hiked up to Strecno Castle. It was ahmazing. First, on the walk there, the Brasilians and Mexicans were singing quite loudly. All the songs were in Spanish or Portuguese, so I have no idea what they were singing about, but they were definitely enthused. When we finally got up to the castle, we all took a bunch of pictures. Then we went on a tour of the castle. Strecno Castle is one of the very few castles in Slovakia that has been restored, so that made it even more gorgeous. The tour took most of the afternoon.

When we got back, we had more presentations to listen to. Then we were divided into small groups. In my group, 2 Rotarians and 2 Rotex talked to us individually. They asked us a bunch of questions, about how we were adjusting and such. Then they asked if we had any questions, and the only thing I asked was why they don't use textbooks in school. (Answer: It's too expensive to buy them, and the teachers can just as easily teach without them.)

Then all us kids were talking in the main room, and someone turned on music, so it morphed into a dance. It was super fun, I learned a Mexican line dance =] We were all having a super fun time (I really need some new adjectives, don't I? Too bad.), so curfew was extended from 11:00 to 12:00. Once again, we were taped in our rooms. (About the picture: Yes, that is from the dance. Yes, we were doing the Macarena. Yes, I'm the one on the right derp-ing. Sigh.)

Sunday morning, we had breakfast and then a little good-bye, thanks for coming and following the rules, good luck speech. After that everyone went home. I slept about half of the way home (it was an hour and a half drive, I think), and then when I got back, I unpacked and took a 4 hour nap.

I made a bunch of new friends. Facebook is a wonderful thing. =] So, in all ways, this weekend was a success.

I want to say thanks to Teague and Jenn, you helped make this weekend great for me. And yes, I will eventually watch The Hangover with you both. =]

2 posts, 1 day

2010-09-16T17:03:00.000-04:00

Yea. Second post of the day. I'm just awesome like that. ;]
Or, ya know, I have more crap to talk about...
I went to the movies with some of my new friends (go me!). We saw Step Up 3, and I got laughed at cuz I did a little happy dance when it started...in English!!! Weeeeew! Anyways...I thought it was a good movie, cheesy, but I expected it to be. On the way home (walking, of course) we were dancing and laughing and it was fun. I showed my dance to "Evacuate the Dancefloor" and one of my friends did a dance to "All the Right Moves". Good times...she invited me to go to dance class with her. I'm excited! I still have to ask, which I will do once all the angst about the conference is done.
Oh, yea. My first inbound conference is starting tomorrow. I will write more after it, but I'm not taking my laptop. I will keep awesome notes in my journal, though. =] Cuz I know how much my writing interests you all...hmm, I'm guessing not much. Haha, just kidding. Check back Monday or Tuesday, I'll try to write then. =]

Mail Time

2010-09-16T10:37:00.000-04:00

So, I'm just gonna say...I love getting mail. It makes me feel important. (I was gonna say special, but I really don't wanna give people even more reason to make "special" jokes about me...)
So far, I have received 3 letters. Ish. One from my dad, but it was only documents that I needed, and he didn't even write me a note...tsk tsk. (I love you, Daddy =] ) The second was more documents I needed from my dad, but this time he took and extra 30 seconds to write a note....that it took me 5 minutes to decipher...hahaha. And today I got a letter from my Grandmother. Thank you, Gram. Although now I'm thinking I should start wearing my glasses when I open mail...
That's all, folks!

P.S. Ok, thank you. Yes, you do have peanut butter in Slovakia. I get it. I was wrong. But it is not common, and my host family hadn't tried it, so I (wrongly, apparently) assumed that there wasn't peanut butter here. Also, because several people who went to Slovakia on exchange said there was no PB...anyways. Ok, there is PB. I'm sorry that I was wrongly informed about that, but I got it now. =] No need to keep bringing that up...Byes!

Best Friday Ever!

2010-09-11T13:00:00.000-04:00

Holy wow. Yesterday was awesome.
So I meant to post this last night, but I was really tired, and, let's face it, lazy, so I didn't. Anyways...
Yesterday, school was good. More people talked to me, and I had two English classes. They are super-duper hilarious! It's so funny, the fact that they learn British English here. So I laugh at some of the terms (hoover = vacuum LOL) and I laugh at some of the accents...so it's a very good class for me. After school, one of my new friends invited me to a concert that night.
I only had to walk for 15 minutes to go to a concert! My mind was blown by this fact. There were 6 of us together. We went to a rock concert. The first band we saw, was a Slovak rock band. I liked them, but I don't know their name. We ended up working our way to about the 4th row in front of the stage. It was so cool.
The next band was a Slovak ska band. They were ah-mazing. I was laughing to myself, remembering the time Mr. H told us about his band, and how they picked the wrong genre of music to make it big. Apparently they picked the right genre, just the wrong country. The ska band, Polamy (I think that was the name...) is hugely popular here. We worked our way to the very front! We rocked out right in front of the trombone, sax, and trumpet players. It was like the funnest thing I've done here yet. (I used some great grammer there, huh?)

This morning, I was ecstatic to find out my laptop's fixed!!! ( Did you notice all of the wondiferous apostrophes?) My laptop, it turns out, had my anti-virus, Kaspersky, making it very slow, and also it had a virus. So we ditched the Kaspersky and fixed the virus, and now I'm all set! Whoot whoot!!! I have a few new thingys to work out with my laptop right now, though, so if I don't reply to emails or comments or stuff right away, I'm sorry. But I'll try =]

OMG

2010-09-09T14:18:00.000-04:00

Holy wow. Gym is...a different experience.
So far I have had two gym classes. After the first, I thought "Ok, I am a little sore, but I will be fine. Even though we spent the whole 45 minutes running in the park, and stretching in between different kinds of running, I will be fine. My friends said that today was an unusual class, usually we just warm up and then play games, like volleyball. I can handle that. No problem." Ha. How wrong I was...
That was two days ago. Yesterday, I walked to school (for my three classes of the day, Wednesdays rock!) and I felt a little sore. Then I got to school. And walked to my classroom. On the third floor. All stairs. My legs felt like jelly. If that was not bad enough, I was then told that our class was on the second floor. So back down we went. Ugh. I almost died. At least I was only at school for a few hours, then I came home and lounged about all day. Ahhh...so lovely.
You know how they say when you are sore, the second day is worse? So, very sadly, true. Made worse by the fact that I had gym first thing this morning. At least we were in the actual gym today, as it was raining. But we did more running. Then we messed around with volleyball, and I am happy to report that I did not forget all my volleyball training, so I was not the worst one. I think I was one of the better ones, but hard to say.

Oh, that is another thing about gym class. Boys and girls are seperated. So while we were running, the boys got to play soccer. And most of the girls have "conditions" that make them unable to participate in gym class. Right, I am sure they do. So, we should have about 20 or 25 girls in my class. Today, we had eight. The first day, there were four of us. It is crazy. Although I am happy to report that I do not think I have gained any weight...yet. And if gym keeps being this crazy running torture, I might actually lose weight. Which would be a plus. Because the food here is so delicious, if I did not do any kind of workout, I would come back to America weighing close to 400 pounds. At least, that is what I guesstimate it would be...hahaha.

Rotary!

2010-09-07T16:18:00.000-04:00

I went to my first Rotary meeting in Piešťany today. It was very different.
There were thirteen people there, including me. I was the only kid, and also the only girl. We were in a small conference room at a hotel. The meeting started at 7:00 pm. When I got there, I was introduced, and then Karol Ambra talked a little about Ernesto, the other inbound who is not here yet. (He should be here soon, I am very excited to meet him!) Then we had soup. I think it was some form of cabbage and lettuce, but I am not totally sure...It was good though. Then more things were discussed. I have no idea what they were talking about. Then we had the main meal, fish and potato salad, maybe? Then more talking. Then dessert, mmmmm. Chocolate cake. Yum. Then even more talking, and that was it.

It was way different than Fremont Rotary. There was no singing, no socializing, no funny fines, no presentation...so no whispering during the presentation (ahem, Dad. hahaha). Not only did we eat three seperate courses for dinner, they were served to us. Yes, we actually had a waitress. It seemed like guests were not allowed, so maybe you have to be a Rotarian to go to Rotary meetings here? I am not quite sure, but if that is the case, I do not agree with that policy. I believe that anyone should be allowed to go to Rotary, is not the whole point of Rotary to get people more involved with other people and the world around them? If all Rotary meetings were closed meetings, Rotary would not be able to get nearly as much done in the world as it does. I could be wrong about the Rotary Club of Piešťany, but I still stand by the fact that guests should be allowed to attend Rotary meetings.

Walking is Tiring

2010-09-06T12:42:00.000-04:00

School is better. I have made some friends. Today we were fundraising around the city for cancer research. At least, I think that is what it was for...anyways. I was with two girls from my class, and we walked all over Piešťany. It was fun, but we probably walked a little over 10 miles.
At home, I had to walk to the store with Gregor to get shoes for the house. I need lots and lots of shoes here...I like it. =] Then Gregor and I walked to Babička house. (Babička is grandma.) It was about a mile and a half or two miles. I had my Slovak lesson for the day. So far she has taught me: things in the kitchen, veggies, fruits, chess, body parts (eyes, nose, hands, etc.). I might be forgetting stuff, but that is all I remember off the top of my head.
Then we went to the gorcery store. Ok, before I tell you this little story, I have to give some background info. Here, when shopping, you have to pay for a cart. The carts have a chain-thingy connecting them, and you put a euro in, which releases a cart. Ok. So Gregor asked if I knew what to do with the euro, and I said yes, but that we did not pay for carts in America. He was blown away. He did not believe me at first, and it was hilarious. Just thought people would find that amusing. =]

School

2010-09-02T04:46:00.000-04:00

Today was my first day of school. It turns out my class is going to Italy for a few days, so tomorrow until Tuesday I have to go to a different class, but I do not know which one. There are about 20 kids in my class. Only 4 girls said hi to me. 2 of them showed me around a little, but everyone else, including the girl who sat right next to me, ignored me. I could not understand a thing the teacher was saying. There were some announcements, I could not understand those either. The other kids do not speak very good English. I do not like school.

Say What???

2010-09-01T16:03:00.000-04:00

Whoops, I forgot to mention this.
They do not have PEANUT BUTTER in Slovakia. OMG.
So, I brought some. And last night, I made PB and banana sandwiches for myself and Gregor. He loved it. (How can he not? Its peanut butter. Haha.) So he made me make PB and banana sandwiches for his parents for breakfast this morning. Andrea said it was too sweet. I am not really clear on if Peter liked it or not (minor language barrier, being that he does not speak English and I do not speak Slovak. Yet.), but I think he did...
But I digress. My point here: I did not realize that peanut butter is an "American food". I thought America did not really have its own food, just McDonalds. But hey, we do! Go us. =)

Lalala.

2010-09-01T15:45:00.000-04:00

Ok, just a really quick update:
Everything is going good. I miss people from home, but that is to be expected. I am still not using my laptop, hence no contractions, because I do not know where the apostrophe key is...anyways.
The family went to the mall in Bratislava today. It was fun. I got my "school shoes". (Do not ask...)
Tomorrow is my first day of school! Eeek! Haha. Andrea and Karol Ambra are going with me. I think. I do not know how long they are staying at school though.
I do not know when I will next be able to post, but I hope my next post will be from my laptop, I really miss apostrophes...haha.
Thanks to everyone that is reading this. I really love my 15 followers, thanks for taking the time to let me know you are reading. =)

My Loooooooong Trip

2010-08-29T10:42:00.000-04:00

Ok, so this is going to be in a few parts. I'll try to be sorta in order, but no promises...

Ok everyone I'm sorry I didn't write the other day, my computer was being dumb. Basically the update is: thanks to everyone that came to my final goodbye, it was really hard to see all of you go.
This morning my parents and I drove to Detroit where we hung out at the airport till 1:10, when I said goodbye and got on my first flight. I'm writing this from the plane, and I'll post it later, so this post is gonna be long, and not really in order. This is part one, I will write part two when I land in Chicago or during my next flight, Chicago to London.

So yea. I totally didn't write from Chicago. In Chicago I had to go through security again, then I met up with Myles, Crystal, and Eleanor. We hung out till our flight. We got our seats changed so we were two by two instead of all spread out. I sat by Eleanor. We had a really good dinner actually. We watched movies and read and I colored. =]
I slept for a bit, then we got to London at like 7 local time. We had to go through security AGAIN; and now we're sitting waiting to see which gate we will be at.

We were at gate 24. We found it fine, but didn't have time to change our seats. We just took off from London a little late but thats ok. None of us are sitting together; which isn't fun, but it's only two hours, so we will be fine. There's another exchange on this flight. She's from Pennsylvania, and going to Bratislava. Her name is Maggie, and she's super quiet. But she sems nice.
I'm sitting at a window seat, and there's two guys next to me. They are just reading, hence me writing this right now. I'm actually writing this on my ipod, so I don't have to worry about pen and paper. I need to figure out the internet once I get to my new house...should be interesting. I'll write the next bit of this once I actually get online and put this on my blog, unless something exciting happens. =]

Ok. So I firured out the internet, but Zuska (my laptop) is being stupid. So I'm still on my Ipod. My host family is super nice, and I love Piešťany =] I think I've taken about 20 billion pictures, but I can't upload them because of my stupid computer. Oh well. Also, I need to get a new converter because the one I have doesn't fit the plug-in thingy on my laptop. (Thanks, DAD.) But I have to go, I'll probably post more once I start school.

New York, New York

2010-08-25T00:18:00.000-04:00

To NY I went...
Dad and I arrived at around 9am. We got to the Consulate at like 10:15, and we were out by 11am. All we had to do was give them my paper work and then I was asked like 15 questions about why I'm going to Slovakia and the like.
Then it was nasty outside, like down-pouring (ugh), so I didn't get to sightsee like I wanted to. We got a cab back to the airport, where we stayed all day. We finally got home a little after midnight. I entertained Dad on the drive home by singing enthusiastically, loudly, and very very badly. But really, he's the one that got me the espresso at 9 pm... =] So it wasn't all my fault that I was hyper.

Tomorrow is my last full day in the USA. I fly out Thursday. I still don't know what time, I'm waiting to hear back from my travel agent on that. Stay tuned, I'll keep you all posted! =]

Sorry to everyone that I told I'd write this sooner, I got busy, and then I forgot. But here it is now! =]

Just an Update

2010-08-18T21:46:00.000-04:00

Ok, so I took 3 tests. On the first, I got 6 out of 10, on the second, I got 11 out of 13, and on this last one, I got 12 out of 12! Weeeew! =] I have almost everything I need, my appointment in NY with the Consulate is Monday. Then I should (fingers crossed, knock on wood) be flying out a week from Friday (the 27th!).

Information Is a Good Thing

2010-08-16T23:05:00.000-04:00

Ah, the wonders of new information.
As in: I will probably be going to New York on Monday to meet with the Consulate. I will most likely be leaving Michigan A WEEK FROM FRIDAY!!! (I'm not excited or anything...=D) I have talked with my maybe-second-host family, including my maybe-host-sister! Weeeeeeew!
Now, I'm sure you're saying, "But Kathleen, you are only saying 'maybe'. When will you know all of this for sure? Why are you so excited about 'maybe'?" Well folks, because "maybe" is more information then I have had this far, so I'll take what I can get in the "information that leads to excitement" front. =]
I want to say thank you to everyone that has been following this blog, I really appreciate your support! I also love comments, they give me a warm fuzzy feeling, like someones actually paying attention to what I write, and not just ignoring my excited rants like this one, hahaha.
To conclude: Yes, I'm super excited. I'm probably leaving in 11 days. I love when people respond to my blog. I go on crazy random strange rants when I'm excited. (Look forward to more crazy rants in the future, just a heads up.)

For those of you that are part of Fremont Rotary: This Tuesday is possibly my last meeting before I go, so if you have any questions for me, or just want to say "hi", this is very likely your last chance to do so in person. Thank you so much for sponsoring me!

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2010-08-15T23:03:00.000-04:00

So. I had my going-away party yesterday. (I am now super tan, the beach is ahmazing like that.) Only 20 people came. I know that a lot of people are busy, but it still hurt a bit. Oh well.

On a happier note, I found out a little bit about my second host family. I will have a sister, for the first time! Well, unless you count Dani and Paula so...I will have a sister, for the third time! =] I have emailed them, and I hope to hear back...let's hope the info I got was correct, haha.

Thanks to everyone who reads this and supports me! I love you all <3

Erg.

2010-08-11T18:05:00.000-04:00

Well.
This time of the year, aka waiting for info, is super-not-fun. I'm constantly emailing people, like my travel agent, and my other friends that are going overseas, to find out what is going on. I still don't know what's going on with my visa. I still don't know exactly when I have to visit the consulate's office in New York. I still don't know what day I leave, where I leave from, or what time. I pretty much know 4 things: 1. I'm going to Piestany, Slovakia. 2. My host parents are Andrea and Peter. 3. They do not speak english. 4. My slovak is super simple, as in, I would feel comfortable speaking in a preschool class. A special education preschool class at that.
What makes all this waiting worse, is the fact that some of my friends have already started their exchanges. I don't like seeing people posting on facebook "6 days to go!" "i love my new country!" "hlkfj hlwhfel!" (I'm not sure what language that last one was in =] ), when I'm stuck with "im so bored. when do i leave?" (Notice the lack of exclamation points.) I understand that I'm not going to be the last one to leave, or even one of the last (haha Sarah! =] ), but i still want to know WHEN I leave. Right now, it feels like nothing is for sure. I don't have a visa, I don't have a plane ticket, I barely can say "good morning" in slovak. (Dobre rano, for those of you that were wondering.) I just want information. Patience is important, I get that, but can't I also get an email saying "your paperwork is being processed. You will find out more in 3 days." Is that too much to ask for? (answer: yes.)
I'm super excited to go, don't get me wrong. I know that I have to wait for the greater powers at work to get to work. I know that when I finally do get the info, I will prolly panic and have some packing issues. But right now I really wouldn't mind that. It beats not knowing.

On a side note, I have to take some slovak language tests. On the first of three I got a 6 out of 10, on the second I got a 9 of out 13, and I'm waiting to hear how I did on the 3rd and final test. Wish me luck!

Hello, and Welcome!

2010-08-09T21:11:00.001-04:00

Hey there everybody!
This is my very first post, so cut me a little slack. =]
On this blog, I will write about my experiences in Slovakia, and other places in Europe I might visit during my exchange. I will try to include as much detail as I can (or as much as I have time to write), but if you ever want to hear more about my travels, don't hesitate to email me at: kathleen.buckley18@gmail.com
There will be more to come once I know more about my travel arrangements and such...keep checking here to stay posted! =]