Eastward
In the Fall of 2017, I departed for Slovakia on an exchange program with Rotary International. I kept a blog, documenting my travels, as well as Slovak culture and history. Now I’ve returned to Europe. Starting with a month back in Slovakia, I’m traveling across Europe
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Hello, Slovakia.
A surreptitiously taken photo of the inside of my first European cafe in years. There's a table in the back corner of a cafe, lit ...
The Great Venetian Scavenger Hunt
Rotary ended our 2-week journey through Europe with a grand adventure. Our bus pulled up to a seaside hotel on the Italian coast outside of ...
Červený Kláštor
Just setting foot within the first courtyard of Červený Kláštor (the Red Monastery) it is evident why this place inspired legends. The orderly cobblestone underfoot ...
Slovenský Raj
Waterfalls are abundant in the Blue Ridge Mountains of my home, but our paths force hikers on long detours through the forests to circumnavigate them, ...
A Week of Skiing at Jasná
My breath wet the mask through which it passed, quickly freezing and collecting flakes from the densely falling snow, glued even harder by the rushing ...
The Tatras’ Symbolic Cemetery
Every so often a day will pass when circumstance conspires to bring you adventure. So it did for me one snowy winter morning not long ...
Viennese Christmas Markets
The size of the Viennese Christmas markets is not what makes them exceptional. If that was so, any shopping center with a half-a-theme could compete ...
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Past Vyšné Hágy and Starý Smokovec
Last Thursday, the Canadians students in Slovakia had a small dinner party in Poprad and planned to tour the village of Starý Smokovec in the Tatras the following morning. I was invited to join them on their trip and instead of traveling all the way to Poprad to take the ...
Maurice Benyovszky, Adventurer and King
An nondescript building on the main square of Spišská Sobota, one of the communities within the city of Poprad, boasts an odd history. The home once gave refuge to a Slovak King... of Madagascar! Though that certainly isn't how he began. Maurice Benyovszky (Móric Beňovský by Slovak spelling), was born ...
A Week Away, Skiing in the Tatras
This coming week, I will be journeying to the nearby ski resort of Jasna in the town of Liptovský Mikuláš! Exchange students from across Slovakia and the Czech Republic will spend the week there, skiing and participating in all sorts of activities! Despite Rotary, as per usually, squeezing every hour ...
Piešťany, A City of Thermal Spas
Piešťany's coat of arms features the symbolic "Crutch-breaker", speaking to the faith put into this city's healing waters. As noted in the previous post, I have spent the past three Mondays traveling. The first two trips were to Olomouc in the Czech republic, but the third took me to the ...
Olomouc – Part One
The sleepy silence of 3:00 AM and I have become more familiar than I had expected this January. Three consecutive Mondays began with early morning departures and sleep deprived car rides. The first two of these sent me to Olomouc in the Czech Republic. I function poorly on anything less ...
Cross-country skiing in Štôla
A short trip through the woods alongside Štôla's western side saw my host grandmother and I cross-country skiing on the nearby, rolling hills. Unfamiliar with the sport, I began shakily but quickly caught on and soon found no difficulty in keeping up with my grandmother while still taking in the ...
The Tatras’ Symbolic Cemetery
Every so often a day will pass when circumstance conspires to bring you adventure. So it did for me one snowy winter morning not long past. I rose early, around 5AM, with hopes of catching the dawning sun against the Tatra peaks. Regardless of the temperature, these steep and snowy ...
Slovak Coats of Arms
Heraldry is the tradition of keeping a coat of arms as identification for familial and regional heritage. Before coming to Europe, I only thought of these coats in their stereotypical medieval sense, decorating some chivalrous knight's shield or flying on a banner above a feudal lord's keep. However, across the ...
Above Vyšné Hágy
A short post today! Below are a select few of the photos I took a little over a week ago on a hike above the village of Vyšné Hágy, which itself sits at the base of the Tatras just above my own village of Štôla. Signed, Andrew ...
Inbounds in Poprad
This past weekend, dozens of exchange students converged on Poprad for Rotary Youth Exchange's Annual Winter meeting. Past years have seen former students high into the Tatras, sledding among the winter peaks and exploring wintry woods. However, atypically warm weather had turned sledding slopes to slushy slip n' slides and ...
Exemplifying Winter at Hrebinok
The temperature rose further above freezing by the hour and winter itself seemed to have recognized the coming of an extremely early Spring. Yet, we caught those last few hours of before the blanket of snow turned to useless slush as we completed our ascent to Hrebinok. The short hike ...
A Slovak Primer
I have been studying the Slovak language for around six or seven months now—throughout my exchange and shortly prior. Recently, my proficiency has gone way up! I have held several (basic, but nonetheless) full conversations and found it much simpler to understand day to day speech. This increasing comfort has ...
A Wonderfully Lonesome Hike in Vysoké Tatry
A few days ago, I discovered that Štôla is within the boundaries of Tatra National Park and has trails leading into the mountains. I have hiked every day since, a habit I plan to keep despite the wintry season. Even though school picks up again tomorrow, I want to continue ...
The Great Effect of an Inconsequential Meeting
Something changed today for me today and I know exactly what, when, and how. Shortly before lunch, I took an hour long walk to explore Štôla alone. Snow fell last night and, as it is a sleepy little village, most of the wintry blanket lay yet undisturbed. I wandered the ...
Štôla, My Winter Home
A new year is dawning and in it I see so much impending change. I will travel across Europe and learn a new language, then later return to my home in Blue Ridge Mountains and start college. Life won't be the same then as it has been for so many ...
Slovak Christmas Traditions
Vianoce, as Christmas is called in Slovak, is far and away the biggest holiday of the year here and in most European countries. Christmas markets crop up everywhere and glittering lights decorate town squares. In contrast to the US, where our Christmas traditions are a mosaic of various European and ...
Viennese Christmas Markets
The size of the Viennese Christmas markets is not what makes them exceptional. If that was so, any shopping center with a half-a-theme could compete. It's the atmosphere and the quality of the goods that inspired global admiration for this seasonal Austrian wonder. My first glimpse of this occurred early ...
Exploring Poprad
A few days ago, I decided that I would explore my city after school, go places I had never been and look at things from new angles. All with camera in hand, of course. It was time well spent. I was able to savor hours which otherwise would've sped on ...
The Historic Avenues of Vienna
The bustle of Viennese streets persistently threatened to tear apart the meticulously ordered, two-by-two line of exchange students that marched through. Though perhaps not so much as the slack-jawed photographers within who had to stop every few paces and marvel (such as myself) or the mobile Latino dance party that ...
The Earthen Bird Masters of Vienna
Below are two of—what I consider to be among—my best photos. I just love it when nature cooperates. EastwardExchange ...
