Ahoj Steamboat Rotary Club!
I honestly can't believe that it is already November! I feel like it was just yesterday that I was boarding a plane headed to europe and now, after adding up the days on my calendar, I see that I have been here for 85 days already, I guess they really weren't lying when they said that time flies when you are having fun! It is so amazing to think back on everything that I have done these first few months, I don't even know where to begin.
Our first district rotary meeting was in a town about three hours away from Spišská called Strečno and it was so amazing to be able to meet all the other exchange students. There are about 60 exchange students in Slovakia and the Czech Republic that have home countries ranging from Brazil to Japan. It was a great weekend, we saw one of the oldest and most famous castles in Slovakia (there are two right across the river from each other and it is said that that is a secret passage connecting the two that they have not found yet). They also arranged for us to go on a rafting trip down the river at sunset and it was so picturesque seeing the reflection of the colors on the water.
Our next district meeting was in a town called Banska Bystrica and it was over my birthday! We had such a great time getting to bond more (and this time being able to talk about missing home with other people who understood). They arranged for us to have a tour of the historic town and then had a delicious lunch in the town square. That night we had a disco and they rotary club got me a huge cake to share with everyone! It was so amazing!
I am still loving my town and feel truly blessed with my first host family. They are amazing people and have really helped to make me feel at home in such a unique and completely different setting. They also did a fantastic job with making me feel better about the loss of my grandfather, who died on October 16. I really am going to miss having such an amazing man in my life and I have some regret with missing his funeral but I feel that he would have wanted me to move on and have a great experience so I am doing my best to fully come to terms with the loss.
I also have an amazing group of friends that I spend a huge chunk of my time with. I am so lucky to have found such great people so early on in my exchange. I do, however, feel like the new toy sometimes. Every time that I meet someone knew (which is almost every day) they want to know if life in America is like they see in the movies... I always hate to break it to them that American high school is not as glorified as they make it out to be in Hollywood.
My free time is usually spent playing volleyball at my high school, out with friends, or in art classes that I am taking at the local art school here. We also had a "production" at my school called Imatricule which was a series of choreographed dances and skits which were interspersed with hazing of the freshmen class (via public humiliation)... it is their way of accepting them as their classmates. It was really entertaining, but I must admit some of the pranks were a little over the top.
The food here is pretty good be also very different! It is very hearty and they rarely eat out. Most of it consists of some type of potato, cabbage, and meat.... I have to admit that I do miss ethnic food! But so far I have made my family some mexican food that they really love. Also, this thursday we will be celebrating Thanksgiving, my father is going to have all the exchange students from our town (there are three others) over to our house and we are going to show them how America does a feast!!! He is kind enough to make the turkey but I am going to fix everything else... I hope it turns out ok!
Maggie Kriz
