Kosice Rotary Vikend

So about a week removed I'm going to tell you about my most recent Rotary Weekend. One of those ones where all the exchange students from Slovakia get together. This one was not quite as well organized as the others have been but I guess you can not get a perfect score everytime. So despite some minor organizational glitches, a snow storm, and Sketchy hotel, it was still a pretty darn good weekend. Really though, I've come to the conclusion that you could stick all of us exchange students in a hole and we would still have a good time, we just like seeing eachother that much.

But yes there was a snow storm and I was fortunate enough to get to walk right through it. Let me tell you while I've been in Slovakia I've become quite well acquatinted with the elements. So this weeend our destination was Kosice. The second largest city in Slovakia,renowned for it's historical sites and buildings. We were scheduled to tour the city center on foot which was not quite as enjoyable as we were forced to wade through knee deep snow which was only getting deeper by the minute. It in times like this that I am happy to be Canadian. You should have seen how cold the poor mexicans, brasilians, and Australians were. The poor things. But snow and all, the city was pretty spectacular and has been chosen as the European cultural centre for 2013 I believe. We visited the main cathedral downtown and it as absolutely stunning. We then proceeded through the blizzard to a museum which happened to be situated in an ancient prison. Now let me just say it now.... I would never EVER want to be captured and held in a Slovak prison back in the day. It was scary! There were torture devices and chains and all kinds of crazy things. Now don't ask me why on earth the Rotarians decided to take us there, perhaps they were sending us a message "be good or else!".
After viewing the torture chamber and various other tools for imprisonment we went out bowling! It was super fun just to have the chance to sit and talk and eat and drink with all the other exchange students and catch up on life (our slovak life that is). Many good times were had and we bowled well into the evening. This was one of the more successful activities planned this weekend. The other ridiculously fun activity was salsa lessons. Yuppers, they put 35 foreign exchange students in a room together and taught us how to dance! Boy I be it was entertaining to watch. And man oh man did I get shown up by the brasilian and mexican girls! Can they move there hips or can they move their hips! IT WAS UNBELIEVEABLE! I feel like a complete and utter square now. Here all the American Girls were trying so hard to shake our booties, but all we ended up doing was looking like we had to pee or something. So I discovered I'm not the most graceful nor am I the most coordinated being on this planet but I still had a lot of fun trying to get my hips to cooperate with my brain.
And then there was the Hotel. I'm just gonna come right out and say it: It was THE sketchiest place I have ever stayed in my entire life. But it did just make the weekend that much more memorable. Before I even stepped foot in the building I was beginning to feel a little concerned. It was this giant square dirty, grey, block of concrete with bars on some of the windows. Mhhhhmmmm. I know. Great first impression. We walked into the lobby and much to my surprise it looked pretty decent, like any 3 star hotel. We got our keys and headed on up. To get upstairs you had to take one of those nightmarish tin boxes which pass as elevators in slovakia, so I opted for the staircase. Taking the stairs I had the opportunity to briefly see all the floors and much to my dissapointment as I went higher and higher, they were in worse and worse condition, which was just wonderful because I happened to be staying on the top floor. I finally made it up there luggage in tow only to discover my be-a-u-tiful room. not. I have pictures so you can see for yourself but here's a quich rundown: the cupboard doors were falling off, there was a puddle on the floor and a constant drip from the ceiling, the bathroom doors didn't close, the shower had a black hose, the water ran brown first, the lighting was virtually nn existant, the carpet was coming up, and the radiator starting spurting water randomly. As I sat down on my bed to take it all in I could help but burst out laughing. Oh how I love the expereinces I have encountered while in Slovakia! I mean when else would I ever find myself in a place like this?
And the adventures don't stop there. On our last day we were scheduled to take a tram to the train station where everyone would get on a train to their seperate cities. Seemed simple enough but perhaps mother nature thought it was too easy, so she put her own twist on things. All 35 of us slowly but surely made our way outside only to discover even more snow. ughhhh. So there we were trudging through the snow WITH our luggage to the tram station where we proceeded to stand, frozen by the wind, for 30 minutes waiting for our tram which never came. So not funny. So we had to walk the six or seven blocks to the train station which wouldn't have been that bad had it been a beautiful summers day out, but that it was not! I'm sure we looked more than a little ridiculous, a string of 30 plus people hiking through the city with luggage on their backs, through a snow storm, but we made it! Our train ended up being delayed three hours so we got to hang out at the train station while a man tried to steal one girl's purse and a trio of homeless people sang to us. It really was quite the adventure but I guess the important part is I made it home in one piece and I saw and did a lot of things I wouldn't/couldn't have done on my own. Leave it to Rotary to put on an unforgettable weekend!