In this article you are going to learn about my very first trip in Bratislava as an individual and my meeting with local people and flatmates. I am so thrilled that I came to work for INEX as a volunteer and actually interact with new people, peers and colleagues. I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I do. See you soon!
Hello Everyone!
My name is Christina and I come from Greece as an ESC volunteer in Slovakia/Bratislava at the beginning of March and I wanted to share my experience with you, during my stay in the town! The first couple of weeks were on quarantine, due to COVID_19, in the apartment with my two roommates, Monika and Helenka. At first I didn’t have much to do as you can imagine hehe, but we played some zoom games with the girls and the other volunteers of the INEX organization and it was pretty fun actually. I’ve met with the guys(via zoom of course) and they are very friendly people. I am looking forward to meet them all in person! we played some team games and we laughed a lot.
Also, at our first day at home office we’ve been treated a traditional slovak food that it has potato dumplings and goat cheese sauce.( it is my favourite, I don’t know if there are more, but this one stole my heart)! 🙂
And as the days pass, here I am for my PCR test and I’m free to roam the city. At first I went to the old town which is lovable..! So, cute, romantic, clean and has these beautiful houses. I specifically like that it has trees and lots of parks around the centre, so you can walk freely and watch the scenery. I went to a local cafe with homemade sweets and the ownership was so kind and helpful. She actually was talking to me in Slovak in order to get use to the language(but of course I paid her talking english otherwise I wouldn’t be sure) hahaha. I saw a few pubs through my walk and a wine house that I after learnt it has its own cellar and it’s pretty cozy.(i will definitely visit when the city opens up).
Additionally, I visited a few sight-seeings such as St Martin’s and St Elizabeth’s Cathedral, Michael’s Gate and Garcalcovich Palace. They were all breathtaking and especially the churches, because I admire the catholic architectural design. I really hope that one day I can see them from the inside. I liked the fact that there are sidewalks and bicycle paths and you can explore the city at your own pace. I was watching families with their children passing by and it was really cute!
Last but not least, the people around were polite and smiling a lot. They helped me when I needed to ask something and especially the younger ones because they know to speak English. Other than that I assume and the “elderly” want to help, just couldn’t and it was fine.
I expect to see more and more during the summer and meeting new friends! For now we are learning Slovak, which I must say is a very interesting language and challenging for me, because I cannot really pronounce some very basic letters! And it’s fun! I have my loving teacher Dominica to help me out with lots and lots of patience! 😀
Hope to meet eachother soon! Till then, you all have a great day and spend however you feel full and complete.
Byee!
Christina
