Slovakia! : )

Amy had her going away party on Dec. 28th, the night before I left on my adventure to Slovakia. Now it means that I am an "oldie" (an exchanger who's been in the country for half a year).
We had a really nice evening until the crying began... and didn't stop. Amy had given everyone a picture of themself with her and a personal note on the back. I don't think there was a dry eye in the room after that. Unfortunately I ended up having to leave early because my train to the airport left at 5:20 the next morning. It was very hard to say goodbye. I have many more similar goodbyes coming up.

The next morning, I took the train to the airport outside of Stockholm and then flew to Prague, then to Zilina, Slovakia. Zilina's a small city of about 100 000 people, in the north of Slovakia. First I should mention why exactly I was in Slovakia.

A year ago, there was a Slovak exchange student in Edmonton who I became good friends with. As I had 2.5 weeks off from school for the holidays, I decided to go and visit Lubos and his family. It's not very often that those types of opportunities come up, so when Lubos said that it would be great to see eachother, I jumped at the chance to go for a week.

At the Zilina airport, I was picked up by Lubos, his dad, and Andrea, an exchange student from the U.S., staying at their home.
We jumped into an old Russian car and drove to the little village where Lubos lives outside Zilina.

The scenery in Slovakia is quite beautiful. There are mountains surrounding you on all sides and THERE WAS SNOW! (Sweden still has +5 to + 8 degrees weather). Unfortunately, that snow melted over the next few days, and then it rained, and rained, and rained... which completely wrecked our plans for going skiing.

After arriving, I met the rest of Lubos' family. They were very welcoming. I really enjoyed staying with them.
The next morning, we went to their cabin, up a mountain, somewhere in Slovakia : ). We had to walk for about an hour to get there. Between 10 and 15 of Lubos' friends were packed into the tiny cottage. They were very friendly, and I fit right in.


I found Slovak people to be very different from Swedes. Swedes are very reserved, yet most Slovaks are more outgoing and social. It took me the better part of the first day to adjust (the Sedish ways have been rubbing off on me)! I think I talked more in that week than in the past month in Sweden!

We spent the first night listening to guitar music, singing, dancing, and having a huge snowball fight.

The next morning, Lubos, Andrea, and I, made a huge snowman, complete with mustache and snow crown.

That evening was New Year's Eve. At 12 o'clock, everyone ran outside to witness a Slovak tradition - all the boys running around in the snow in their boxers.

Later, we watched fireworks, threw a few more snowballs, and then went to bed. Unfortunately for us, there were many more people than beds! hehe

The next morning, we trudged down the mountain, in the pouring rain. We were soaked through in minutes. All in all, it was an adventure!

We spent the last few days I was in Slovakia, wandering around town, and seeing the sights. Zilina is a pretty city, but there aer still many remnants leftover from the communist time. There are row after row of appartment buildings made from cement squares on the edge of the city. Many boarded up buildings can be found scattered around. Slovakia definitely has a different feel to it than Sweden, but I really liked it there.

One night we made 'North American' style pancakes with Canadian maple syrup. MMMMMmm! We were a little out of practice, but they turned out well all the same.

We hiked through a canyon one day for about 2 hrs. The landscape was really beautiful. This picture is of Andrea, Susan (Lubos' sister), and I.

We had to go up and down ladders, and over little bridges, which became quite difficult because of the ice, it was fun though.

We spent the last day at a spa. It was a very nice way to end the trip!

Thursday, they dropped me off at the airport to catch my flight back to Stockholm. It was very hard to say goodbye. Lubos' family are wonderful people. I was more than a little teary as I walked through the security gate.