Slovensko

The previous night, I stayed up not sleeping one bit watching The Rebel, a Vietnamese American film about the colonization of Viet Nam by the French. It is a very interesting film, action packed, but lacking in the "acting" area. Johnny Tri Nguyen, I would have to say, has the worst pronunciation of Vietnamese I have ever heard in my life. Despite the terrible acting on his and Dustin Nguyen's part, I would have to say the film was quite interesting as it underlined and highlighted a lot of issues which the Southern Vietnamese people fought against.

The film ended at about 3.45 in the morning, so I decided to just stay online and google and youtube a few things here and there. Our train to Bratislava, Slovakia departed at 5.50 AM, so I figured there was no point in sleeping for an hour; there was no way I'd want to be late. Kevin and I left the dorms at 5:10 and waited for the metro, which seemed like forever. It was getting really close as the clock hit 5:40 and we were two stops away. Getting out of the train, we ran as fast as possible to the train stop where Bianca and Caroline were waiting. We arrived on time, right on time as the train was leaving the station. We missed our train to Bratislava.

The next train was at 9:50 AM, four hours later. What to do this early? Sleep? No. We walked around for an hour and eventually ended up in McDonald's for breakfast. I had this McSomething, which tasted like artificial food; garbage. We boarded the train and I fell immediately asleep.

We arrived in Bratislava at around noon. I felt lost in this city, even though it was tiny with a population of 450,000. Soon enough I realized that the capital of Slovensko was actually quite navigate-able. The four of us decided to eat lunch at this cafe. I had a really tasty dish--roasted goose, crepes, breading, and red cabbage. It might sound like some medieval meal, but it was delicious. Afterwards we went to the castle and essentially walked around the entire city three times snapping away on our cameras. Everything seemed to be closed in the largest city of Slovensko, so there was absolutely no window shopping. A few stands were open and I purchased a Slovensko t-shirt.

The city, although small, was very interesting. The city centre appeared to be the gathering place for its inhabitants. Narrow brick, winding, hilly roads, colourful old buildings, and friendly people. What I found particular about this city was that the youth seemed to have disappeared. We walked around for hours upon hours, but seldom ran into any people our age, besides a group of American students touring the city. As the four of us were waiting at the train station for our ride back, a huge group of Slovak youths suddenly emerged. It seemed as if they were on some weekend religious trip as there were two nuns with the group. It makes sense now, being such a religious nation, probably very conservative, the children are either locked up in the house to be protected from the social evils which exist outside or are on religious camps for the weekend.

Overall Bratislava was a relaxing trip outside of Budapest. The food is good, the people are friendly, and the air clean. Considering I have seen everything within seven hours, I would probably say I would not return to this city in the near future. But I do advise those of who are interested in a break from their hectic lives to visit this area. Of course, it is not simply a little exotic area to release all one's worries; there are most definitely social issues that exist. Quite invisible within the city, most likely visible in the countryside. If I do return to Slovensko, this is where I wish to visit.

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