Something Like SlovEnglish

Today marks my third week across the pond and over some land, located in Slovakia. My Slovak has gotten better; I for sure can count to at least a million but, I don't exactly know when that will become useful. I've realized that instead of trying to make others repeat what they said but in English it's better to have them repeat their sentence but just slower. This helps me catch a few words I've learned and have a new sentence I can use in the future. Communicating with my host family is still a struggle but that's to be expected. All of us are trying our best and that's all anyone can ask for.

 I'm not getting any weather shock because it is VERY similar to Oregon which I love. Except in the winter there will be a lot more snow which I can't wait for. I've been on at least 5 hikes since I've been here and there's been something incredible about all of them. There are so many more I can't wait to see! 

No matter where you live in the world school is school and eventually everyone would rather be at home sleeping. I love my classmates and schoolmates, most people are very kind and want to talk to me. There are still people that I haven't talked to because they aren't comfortable with English but I have been starting to communicate more in Slovak so hopefully they'll feel more comfortable. One day at school I was in a very negative mood, I was tired of not being able to communicate with anybody. I didn't want people to feel like they had to translate every time I was around. I felt very much on the outside and I felt very lonely. It wasn't that I wanted to go home but, I just wanted a friend from back home or even another exchange student who knew what I was going through to be there. After sitting in this sucky mood for a couple of classes I talked myself into really stepping out of my comfort zone and just talking to people in the very little Slovak I had known. My day I had gotten better and the days after it too.

Everyone has there own perspectives of the worlds they don't live in and I think it's world travelers that give others the opportunity to learn correctly about the outside world. I've come across many curious minds about the U.S. One of my teachers is very blunt but she is also not very good at speaking English so what she says can come out harsher than she means (or maybe she means to be rude.) She is really interested in my ethnicity and ALL of the U.S.'s problems. She asked me where my parents had come from in Africa and after many questions realized that neither my parents or grandparents are from Africa and it's my ancestors that are from there. Once that was finished she wanted to know my ancestors EXACT location but, I had no idea (I've always been curious though), she then insisted I ask my mom where exactly and the next time I had her class to tell her. I forgot and she was kind of upset. I feel that most African-Americans have no clue where there ancestors are from but I could be wrong. I've never been asked about my feelings involving demonstrators from an outsider so when the SAME teacher asked how; and I quote "felt about the black boy last summer being shot by the police" I had no idea how to respond (I was very surprised.) Of course I don't agree with the situation but I don't know all of the details because the media can be very misleading. In the end I just laughed it off (uncomfortably) and said I didn't want to talk about it because I didn't feel like it was my place.

Last weekend I got to meet over 80 incredible people from around the world, excluding Europe, that all decided to leave their normal comfortable lives at home and live in two completely different countries then what they're use to. I've found some life long friends/travel buddies. They are people who get me in ways friends from back home truly can't and might not ever be able to. Last night I went to a birthday party and a student that went to California last year for exchange was there and I just got to talk about everything I was feeling and it felt GREAT. I figured out that a very important ingredient for an amazing exchange is support. All most people need in life is reassurance that what they're doing may be crazy (example exchange for a year) but there's someone who has your back.

So thanks for reading, sorry it was so late, and as always thank you for the support,

Emani