1st DAY - TUESDAY : ARRIVAL
Today is the 5th of November. I woke up at
7 o'clock. I put on my clothes, and took the luggage into the car. I said
goodbye to my dad, sister Eva and brother Matej. My mum drove me to school.
Last, of course, was our Laura, which is nothing new. We were all nervous and full of expectation because we
would meet our Comenius partners from other countries. I said goodbye to my mother and we drove away. I sat
in the backseat between Laura and Andreja. Beside us were Eva, Kristjan and
three teachers: Tanja, Marija and Marta. The journey was seven hours long. Our
journey, if you can imagine it, looked something like this: We started from the
primary school in Žetale. We drove to the north towards Hungary, near Budapest,
then to the north to Slovakia. Hungary is similar to Slovenia with smaller
hills and smaller forests. Most of the time, we drove on the highway. Houses
there are all in the form of cubes, similar to each other. At 10 am we had a break
at the gas station somewhere in Hungary. There we ate our sandwiches and drank
tea. There we also went to the bathroom. After half an hour we continued the journey.
When we arrived to Slovakia, the landscape was more densely populated. And soon
we were in the city, which is the second largest in Slovakia and bears the name
Košice. We arrived at our destination point in front of the hotel Maraton. The
families were waiting for us. I saw Daška and her family, brother Oliver and
mum Silvia. At first we drove to a very big supermarket. We bought some
supplies and went home.
Daška showed me the entire
house. I unpacked and helped Daška with the homework. We did English and
mathematics. We talked about the similarities and differences between our two
countries and ways of life. That's when her father Robo came home. We had dinner.
After dinner I played Slovak Monopoli with Daška. The house in which I am is really
beautiful, even more beautiful than a 5-star hotel. After Monopoli we went
sleep. I was scared because I knew that the next day I would have the
presentation.
2nd DAY – WEDNESDAY : FIRST TIME IN SLOVAK
SCHOOL
I woke up at six and prepared for school. The school
is very high compared to ours, in front of it there is a kind of a park. On the
right there were two girls dressed in national costumes. The school has three floors.
At the end of the ground floor are closets for shoes. With me was Daška. She
led me up the stairs to the top floor. There were all gathered in one
classroom. With us were pupils from Slovakia, Turkey, Spain and Italy. All
together we went to the school hall. There the pupils from Slovakia had a
welcome program for all of us from other countries. They sang songs in
different languages, danced, played songs... Then the presentation of
Turkish pupils followed, and then was our turn. When I finished my presentation
I immediately felt relief. Then the Italian and the Spanish pupils had their presentations. The
presentations were pretty good. Then I went home with Daška. We dined at home,
chatted a bit, listened to music and went to bed. That night I slept like an
angel.
3rd DAY - THURSDAY: SIGHTSEEING KOŠICE
Again, I got up at six. And as each day I went to
school. To the school is a 30-minute drive. In school we sat all day in the
classroom of pupils. Laura, Christian and I were together in the same class in
6.c. There I met more pupils: Kika, Fabian, Patrick, Alexandra, Marinka, Petra,
Saška, Ema,..... The class is large and has a lot of desks. All periods are in
the same class. We had mathematics, physics, Slovak, geography, history, and
computer club. When we compared our and Slovakian language we found that there
are many similar words such as cat, rabbit, mum... It was a lot of fun. During the breaks there was a real circus in the
classroom. Pupils were screaming, eating, using the phone, throwing paper
airplanes, playing football with plastic cups ... It was fun, because I know
that they are not the only ones who throw paper airplanes in class. We talked a lot with the pupils. I really
liked it. After school I went out with Daška’s family for pizza and then we had
a dessert with chocolate and bananas and cream on top. The pizza was quite
different from ours, it had no cheese and spices like our pizza, but it was
still good. And then the sightseeing of the historical part of Košice began. We all
gathered in the city. We had our own guide, he presented the city. We saw the
longest church in Europe, which was really gorgeously decorated, we also saw
her tomb, this part of course was the coolest, because I love those things.
There are also aquatic organ, which unfortunately works only during the summer.
Of course, there's also a lot of shops. The tour lasted about two hours. Our
tour was over when it was already dark. Then we went home. At home we had dinner,
good as always. After dinner, we watched a cartoon, Shark tail in Slovakian, it
was very interesting. After the cartoon we went to bed.
4th DAY – FRIDAY : HIGH TATRAS & SPIŠSKY
CASTLE
Today I got up at half past six. We drove to school,
where we waited for the bus. We were first taken to the High Tatras by bus.
Before High Tatras we stopped in one city. We saw the humiliating cage in the
middle of the market. The trail lasted
quite a long time, but I did not think it was so, because we were distracted by
talking with other students. We had a task which was to mix among the students
and also talk to them. In English, of course. We realized we were getting closer
to our main destination, when we saw a beautiful mountain ahead. When we
arrived at the High Tatras we continued
way on foot. We went around the lake. All the way we three girls sang songs out
loud. We made a circle around the lake, where we saw ducks that swam across the
lake and headed back. Again we went on the bus and drove to Spišsky castle.
Then teacher Tanja gave us a task that we have to learn three words in all
languages. We had to learn: good morning, thank you and I love you. The bus became
very loud because we all murmured words in other languages. The hardest were
Turkish words. We stopped in front of the restaurant near the castle. There we
tried Slovak food and drinks. The inn was called Spišský Salas and it was a
traditional Slovak restaurant. I didn’t like their food, but their drink was
really good. Especially Vinea. After lunch we drove to Spišský castle. There we
made a group photo. Spišský castle is really a very powerful castle. We went up
to the top of the tower where there was a very nice view of the whole plain
below the castle. It is the largest castle in Europe. After visiting the castle
we went home. The teacher checked how well we learned those three words in all
languages during the
journey. I was pretty good. On the way we talked a lot with others and it was
very nice. And then we went home. We were at home
when it was already quite dark. We dined at home. Then I showed Daska on the
Internet the place where I live. We compared the words of our language. After
one hour of laughter we went to bed.
5th DAY - SATURDAY: FAREWELL DAY
Today is the 9th of November and this is
our farewell day. I got up at half past eight. Daška’s dad took us to the bus
station, where we all gathered together. At 9 o’clock we went to see the
hunting castle Betliar. We visited the inside of Betliar, which was really
beautiful. This castle is really very luxurious. Each room had its own
bathroom. They had a room with a pool table. Around the castle paintings,
armor, weapons, stuffed animals including real elephant head, porcelain dishes,
etc. are exhibited. We looked
at the surroundings. Andreja and I went
to a lake. Before the castle there is a beautiful garden. After this visit we
returned home. On the way our teacher Tanja again checked our knowledge of the
three expressions in all languages. At home I had
lunch and after some time again went out. This time we went to a farewell
dinner at a restaurant that was very interesting to be equipped with the tools
that are sometimes used in the field and elsewhere on the farm. First we waited that we all gathered and then we
started with dinner. We ate
roast turkey, beetroot, boiled potatoes with horseradish sauce. After dinner,
they presented Slovak folk music to us. We had live music. After the show we
learned the Slovak folk dance called Železiar. Then followed some free dancing. We danced like crazy.
We danced even the ducks dance. After the dance, we were still talking. Andreja
and I sat among Spaniards, Italians and Turks and talked about everything
possible. We started to sing. The evening was really gorgeous. Then we even got
a cake with a picture of where we were all from in the Comenius project. We had fun until the late hours. Then we had
to say goodbye. We arrived in Žetale at 6.45. The parents were waiting for us.
This was the end of our trip. I really miss the Comenius project partners. It
was really fantastic and one very beautiful unique experience. Comenius project
thank you for everything!
Katja from Slovenia.
Nice memories. :D
ReplyDeleteLepi spomini.
Katja, Slovenia