Halle's Visit to Slovakia


This past week, my best friend Halle hopped on over to Slovakia for a visit! She's a true trip buddy of mine —we've been to Puerto Rico, Spain, and Greece together already. Hal is always a fun person to hang out with, dancing and acting goofy at all times, so I was super stoked to have her visit me here in Slovakia. We'd been preparing for this week for months, chatting almost daily about the fun things we wanted to do and see!

We started off with a spontaneous trip to Budapest because she's always dreamt of seeing the famous Szechenyi Baths (which she was right to, they're soooo relaxing). It was a fun two days gallivanting around the city, tasting traditional Hungarian goulash and taking a boat cruise of the Danube. This was already my third time in Budapest, and I think it's safe to say that it's my favorite city I've ever been to. The streets have an unexplainable atmosphere of grandeur and weirdly feel like home to me. I think I'll return in June!

Just some gals being pals

Coolest building award

Back in Bratislava, Hal was able to explore the old town while I worked away. The one downside of having friends visit while on co-op is that you actually have to, you know, work during the day. But, we were able to spend some quality time after-hours eating Slovak sheep cheese dumplings and catching up. She described old Bratislava as a "fairy-tale Shrek town", and I do say I have to agree with her. She had no idea what to expect when coming to Slovakia, but turns out she liked it a lot!

Chillin' like some villains in Bratislava

We stumbled across this lit fountain while out on a very important gelato run in Bratislava

Lastly, we made a trip out to Vienna for some sightseeing, and Hal fell head over heels in love with the almost Parisian feel of the city. We took a stroll around the gardens of Schonbrunn Palace and enjoyed the absolutely perfect 75 (or should I say 24 Celsius?!) degree sunny weather. After nibbling on some apple strudels, we headed downtown to check out the main cathedral and grab an iced tea at the oh-so-cool Palmenhaus cafe. We could have stayed days more exploring Vienna, but unfortunately, Hal had to catch a train to Munich for her flight home.

Us checking out our new apartment on the Hill (jk it's Schonbrunn)

Halle did my nails and they are super cool! (and yes this is even more gelato)

I was so happy that one of my best friends was able to come see what ~la vida Eslovaquia~ is truly like! For a short of amount of time, we really hit a bunch of cool places in Central Europe and were able to add to the list of fun adventures that we have had together. Hal, keep visiting me wherever in the world I end up and I promise it'll always be a fun time!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

All the Airbnbs I've Ever Stayed in, Ranked

Image
Oh, Airbnb—you gotta love it. It's my go-to for finding cheap yet comfortable places to stay when traveling. Hosts are usually willing to spill all their local secrets and seem to always jump at the chance to help you in any way they can. To me, Airbnbs offer a much more authentic way to experience a city you're visiting. Here's a ranking of all of the Airbnbs that are in my login (some others were booked by my friends—I've unfortunately lost those!) 9. Gran Canaria, Canary Islands This Airbnb was pretty overpriced and under-furnished—my bed had only one thin sheet without any blankets on top of it. That paired with the rainy weather and freezing cold shower made it a pretty uncomfortable stay! Plus, the kitchen was weirdly separated from the living room on the other end of the apartment.  8. Ibiza, Spain This apartment was in a pretty convenient location, close to the water, Ibiza's old town, and famous nightclub Pacha. However, it wasn't the th
Read more

“Sooo...how did you end up in Slovakia?”

Image
  This is the classic question that I get greeted with by nearly every person I meet in Slovakia. For some reason, they can’t fathom why I’d choose to come here from the U.S. “But you’re from New York! You can do anything there!” is a line that I hear a lot. The truth is (besides the fact that I'm from Connecticut, not New York), there’s not one straightforward answer as to how I ended up co-oping here in Slovakia. It’s sort of a combination of factors that ultimately got me here in the land of goat cheese dumplings. My great-grandparents are from here!     A big reason why I was drawn to Slovakia is the fact that ¼ of my heritage is from here (well, it was Czechoslovakia back in the day). My great-grandparents immigrated to the U.S. way back in the 1880s, so I thought it’d be cool to come back here and “get in touch with my roots”. It was a cool feeling the day I arrived knowing that I was the first person to step foot on Slovak ground in my family in generations. 2.
Read more