Yes, I updated!

Sorry this update has taken so long. I put it off until it became so overwhelming that I put it off some more. I will update more often in the future. I will put more pictures here if people want, but they are all up on facebook now.

My trip was fine. I changed planes three times, which was nice because it gave me a chance to walk around. I had a book and I rented three movies from iTunes and put them on my iPod to keep me occupied. My layover in Detroit wasn't too long. I got something to eat and then just hung out at my gate, reading. I met two other Rotary Exchange students, Nick and Taylor, in Amsterdam and a third, Jeremy, in Prague, so I had company for those layovers.

I arrived at Bratislava Airport with Taylor and Jeremy right on time, 18:00 Slovak time, and my bag was one of the first ones on the conveyor. It was funny that I had the least luggage of the three exchange students there. There was a little confusion since Bratislava Airport just added a new section that our host parents didn't know about, but I soon met my host parents, Jozef and Luba, and we got in the car for the short drive to Nitra.

Jozef speaks English very well, so we chatted on the drive. I was feeling surprisingly comfortable and happy. The scenery was not especially different from Indiana, so for awhile the occasional signs and billboards in Slovak were really the only clue that I wasn't still at home. Then we passed a few towns, which I should have photographed, but didn't because I was too busy looking at them. Sorry. I will get the hang of this picture-taking thing eventually.

We arrived at the house, which is on the side of Mount Zobor, and Jozef gave me a tour. I love my room. It has lots of storage space, a desk, a TV, and a balcony overlooking the yard, the small pool, and the city.

My host brother left for his exchange in Illinois two days after I arrived, so the day after I arrived we went out for a welcome/send off meal at a hotel restaurant near our house. I had lamb, potatoes, and chocolate cake. It was delicious.

One day my host parents showed me around the city center and then we went up to the castle. It was closed, but we looked around outside and took some pictures.

My first week, I got caught up on the time change and Jozef and I got the paper work pretty much worked out. I'm not really sure what was going on because it was all in Slovak, but we went to the post office to get some stamps and a little shop where I got my picture taken. We went to the police station, where we met up with the other exchange students and their host families. While our hosts worked on the forms and asked us occasional questions, the other exchange student from the United States, Allison, and I talked. We'd met on facebook, so it was a little strange to see each other in person. She's from Iowa; I'm going to go to Cornell College in Iowa. Neither of us knows much Slovak, but we are starting to lose our English. We also talked to Amanda from Brazil a little, but I didn't get to talk to Miguel from Mexico.

My second week in Slovakia was spent in Turany at language camp. I didn't really learn much Slovak, but I made friends with other exchange students, traded pins, and went on some Rotary outings. They took us to Martin, which is an important historical town, and showed us around a little, then we had some free time in Martin, and then went bowling. My group spent our time eating pizza. It was my first Slovak pizza and probably some of the best I've ever had. There were only two or three lanes at the bowling alley, so we mostly sat around and talked. I talked to Allie, another New Yorker/Hoosier. The next outing was to see an artist/musician. He played two Slovak wind instruments and a whip. The whip was the most interesting. He swung it around and cracked it really loudly. He let a few of the exchange students try it and I guess it's pretty hard because only about two of them got it to crack. The last outing was to a horse farm. We took turns riding horses and the little cart, but mostly sat around and talked.

I got back from language camp on Friday. The next day we went to Brno, Czech Republic to visit the family of a high school friend of Jozef's. On the way, we stopped at Valtice Castle where we visited the wine cellar and got a tour of the castle. Jozef got me an English translation of what the tour guide was saying. I liked the desks and benches. They were wood inlaid with tin and what I think was tortoise shell. Saturday I got to look around Brno and see "Mama Mia!" with the daughter of Jozef's friend. Most of the movies here are from America, but have Slovak, or in this case, Czech, subtitles. We came home on Saturday, stopping at Lednice Castle. I went on the tour, again with an English translation, while Jozef and Luba waited. They have been on the tour more than once. This castle is famous for it's beautiful, freestanding, spiral staircase.

The first day of school lasted about twenty minutes, all of which took place in the auditorium and was in Slovak. After that, the other exchange students and I walked around town a little and I started my collection of Slovak clothes.

We had normal schedules for the rest of the week. It's different from school in the US. We're broken up into small groups, I'm in 3B, and schedules are posted around the school. There is a different schedule for every school day. All of the students and teachers are really nice to me. I had several girls showing me around and telling me what was going on. Their English is surprisingly good. I know how to read the schedule now, so I could go through the day without assistance, but I haven't actually done that yet. As far as I know, I am taking English, German, chemistry, biology, gym, math (geometry as far as I can tell), history, Slovak literature, and physics, but there might be more.

Everyday after school the other exchange students and I go out. Sometimes we meet up with some Slovaks. We know that we should all make Slovak friends, but we want to stay friends, too. I think we're balancing this pretty well. On Friday night, Miguel, Amanda, and I went to a cafe with a group of Slovak kids. I talked to Amanda and Miguel a little, but I also talked to the Slovak kids. On Saturday, yesterday, I went shopping with two Slovak friends, Kate and Barbara, then met up with the other exchange students for an early supper. I had been invited to see a movie with some girls from my class and I invited the others. Miguel and Amanda couldn't come, but Allison could.

This did not turn out as I had wanted, but maybe that is a good thing. Part of my goal for this exchange is to learn how to relax when things are out of my control and don't go as I want them to go. So, here's what happened.

Allison and I knew that bus 25 went out to the movie theater. We got that bus, but we didn't recognize the bus stop. We realized that we had passed the theater, so we decided to get off at the next stop. The next stop was pretty far away, so we decided to ride the bus around, thinking it couldn't take too long. I had a phone text conversation with my friend at the theater. I told her that we would be late. She said that she would buy me a ticket, but she didn't know that Allison was coming too and I was so flumuxxed by the whole bus thing that I didn't mention it. The bus went way out somewhere. Then it stopped. When it started up again, it was a different number with a different route. It took us back to the center of town and we just walked to the theater. I texted my friend and she came out and gave me the ticket. I suddenly realized that there wasn't a ticket for Allison. I tried to talk her into getting a ticket, but she decided to just go home. That was the worst part of the whole thing. I really wish that she had seen the movie, too.

The confusion did not end there. After the movie, we said our good-byes. My main friend, Veronika, took me to the bus stop and made sure I knew how to get home. I did. Take the 25 into town and the 10 up Zobor. She left and I waited for my bus. I waited some more, my bus did not show up. I realized that I was going to miss the last 10. I got on the first bus that came, all buses go somewhere downtown. This is where my amazing luck finally kicked in. I got off the bus and who do I see? Veronika! She got me a taxi and we said good-bye again (and, yes, thank you, thank you, thank you). Of course, the taxi driver got lost, but I got home eventually.

So there, I updated.