Today I had one of the more interesting experiences I have ever had. Syvlia's aunt is a teacher at a special school in Slovakia. While these schools were originally intended for students with learning difficulties, they quickly became schools in which Roma (gypsy) children were placed. The principal of the school agreed earlier this spring to give me a tour and talk to me about the school when I came this summer. We toured through the school which has an enrollment of 400 students. Of those 400, 389 are gypsies. Many of the children live in horrible conditions and attend the [View Full Entry]

---

---

Today Sylvia, her brother, his girlfriend, and I traveled to the village of Bojnice to see Bojnice castle. It is the most popular museum/castle in Slovakia and has been shown in several movies. The castle was constructed starting in 1113 and was continually modified through the 17th century. It was owned by King Matthius of Hungary who enjoyed the location and spent a large amount of time there. The last royal owners were the Palffy family, who after several centuries, sold the castle to Jan Bata, who had this property confiscated by the communists. After seeing the castle, we went next [View Full Entry]

---

---

Sylvia's cousin Marian invited us to come with he and his girlfriend to an outdoor Punk Rock concert happening in Roznava, a few blocks away from where Sylvia lives. It was held near the new pool in town and although it was raining, quite a few people showed up. The types of people were exactly what you might expect from a punk concert (not that Ive been to many), so it made for an interesting time. The first group was a Hungarian group called Romeo Verzik that played way too long. The main act was a famous Slovak punk/heavy metal group [View Full Entry]

---

---

Today Sylvia and I drove to the village of Stitnik to see one of the oldest remaining churches in the region. The church was built starting in the 1300's and unlike many others from the same period, the inside of the church has been largely untouched, including many of the original wall paintings, which date to the 1300s and were copied after Italian works. The church also houses the oldest remaining pipe organ in Slovakia, which is from the period and amazingly, still works. Each prominent family in the town had private boxes for services, and a place was saved high [View Full Entry]

---

---

Today Joyce, Sylvia, and I took a trip to Budapest with Sylvia's dad. It is about a 4 hour drive from Roznava to Budapest, although Roznava is in southern Slovakia and very close to the Hungarian border. Many times throughout history this region of Slovakia has belonged to Hungary and so culturally, there is a great deal of overlap between Hungarian and Slovak. As an example, Sylvia's father is Hungarian and is very knowledgeable about Hungarian history, particularly about Budapest. He was a very nice tour guide and driver for the day (he was also once a race car driver). We [View Full Entry]

---

---

Sylvia's dad drove Joyce, Sylvia, and I to Bratislava for the day while he was in meetings. We spent the day walking around the Old Town. We started at the President's palace and took a bus up to the hill where the castle is located. Unfortunately it is being remodeled (it was burned in the 1800s and has never been fully restored). We walked down from the castle to the original part of Bratislava and saw the original square. The highlight of the day was St. Martin's Cathedral, which was the location of many famous Hungarian coronations, including Maximillian II and [View Full Entry]

---

---

Today Joyce arrived in Košice after backpacking in Europe for the last few weeks. We found her as she was trying to work a phone on the train station since she had been there for a little while before we arrived to pick her up. The three of us spend the morning and afternoon in Košice. I got to attend mass at St. Elizabeth's Cathedral, which is the largest church in Slovakia and was built starting in 1378. Joyce, Sylvia, and I sat outside on the square for a drink and then headed toward Roňava. We stopped at a roadside restaurant [View Full Entry]

---

---

Today we spent the day in the villages of Janik and Moldava. Sylvia's mother's family lives in these two towns. We ate lunch in Janik with her Aunt's family and one of her favorite cousins, Ka. For lunch was my favorite soup, liver dumplings. This area of Slovakia is very near the Hungarian border so most towns are heavily mixed between Slovaks and Hungarians. Most village signs are bi-lingual and most people speak both languages although they are quite unrelated. [View Full Entry]

---

---

I arrived today in Hungary. Sylvia and I both left from MCI in Kansas City and arrived at the Budapest Airport, but had different flight itineraries, so we had 24 hours of traveling through airports seperately. I traveled through Washington, D.C. and Munich, Germany. I had a three hour layover in Munich and spent it by sleeping and watching German business men play foosball in the airport terminal. I arrived finally in Budapest and found Sylvia with her pile of suitcases. Sylvia's brother Okush picked us up and drove us the four hours back to Roznava where Sylvia lives. [View Full Entry]

---

---