Day #2 in Bratislava - Monday

Our Monday in Bratislava was full of activities and fun! We arrived at the C.S Lewis School in the morning (they start school at 8:00 am) and met with the school administrators that have arranged our visit here, Zuzana and Peter. They welcomed us to the school and told us they were happy to have us visit them for the week. We also met with the Slovak students that are still here at the C.S. Lewis School that have attended Minnehaha in the past - Megi, Jack, Hana, Tatiana, and Karolina. Some of those students then took us on a tour inside the school and outside on the surrounding grounds. We then received a history lesson on Slovakia from one of the resident administrators and history experts. It was interesting and we heard a lot in a short period of time.

After that our students went to lunch in the cafeteria, and the principal and Peter, one of the staff members and coordinators of our trip, took Dr. DiNardo and I out to lunch at a nice restaurant on the Danube river. We talked about our schools, what our hopes are for our institutions looking forward to the future, and the relationship that MA and the C.S. Lewis School has cultivated over the past 14 years. We then went to meet up with our students, who were touring the Bratislava Castle, and we took a tour around the old town, did some shopping, got some gelato, had some free time, and ended the evening with a traditional Slovak dinner at a local restaurant.  It was a fun and full day! Below are some pictures from our Monday adventures - enjoy!

This is what we saw when we walked into the school to meet our students - a coffee shop! Pretty cool to have in a school.

Ping pong tables in one of the main hang out areas of the school - fun!

Some of our students and Megi hanging out.

Our first welcome meeting at the school.

The coordinators at the C.S. Lewis School who worked hard to make sure we have a great visit - Zuzana and Peter.

The WICK mural and area. WICK is a weekly student body gathering that is similar to MA's assembly time.

The gym!

The art room

One of the music practice rooms - Asa decided to try out his keyboard skills while Soren supervised. 

Lexi and Hana trying out one of the Chemistry lab spark machines.

Chemistry room

I saw several of these Slovakia flag pictures in many of the classrooms.

History room

History room

History room

The cafeteria

Watching a historical film before hearing from Daniel, the resident history expert.

This map is right in front when you enter the school. It shows all of the countries and universities, including Slovakia, where their alumni are studying.

The Danube River

The beautiful Bratislava Castle

At the Bratislava Castle... what a good looking group!

Bratislava Castle

Map and info about the Castle.

The "UFO" bridge. If you look carefully beyond the bridge you see a huge area of apartment buildings.  These are the formerly drab housing from the communist era. They have been painted brighter colors in the past 20 or so years so they look more vibrant than the dull look they had during the communist years.

Our group of 11.

Look carefully in the distance - see all the windmills?  That is Austria!

A statue commemorating the former Jewish area of town that was destroyed in WWII.

It says, "Never Forget" in Slovak and Hebrew

The cathedrals in Europe are stunning!

Walking around Old Town

Free time with shopping and more.

See that black dot to the left of the window? That's a cannon shot by Naploeon that they decided to leave in place to remember the event.

The American Embassy in Bratislava

Gelato stop! Doesn't that look delicious?  :)

Mmmm... gelato.

Ben and silver statue man. The story goes that this was modeled after a man that was always in the streets being cheerful and friendly to everyone around him. When he passed away they put up this statue in his memory. I love that story!

This restaurant that we went to was fun and very european looking inside and out.

Happy table! On the left is Jano, one of our C.S. Lewis host students, and Tatiana is next to Ben and Elsie.

I wasn't sure exactly what I ordered, but Jano told me it was tasty so I went for it. My host family later told me that is is a traditional Czech meal - beef in a vegetable cream sauce with dumplings (that are pretty much like soft pieces of bread).

Elsie had a salad with what I thought looked like a chicken breast on top, but I was wrong! It was a delicious, fresh piece of cheese.

Lexi with her dumplings (that she gave names to... funny).

Most of us ordered Kofola, which is a soft drink that tastes similar to Coca Cola, but it has less carbonation - it tastes a bit like flat pop, actually, but it is good!  Kind of a cross between root beer, coke, and ginger ale.