Life in Bratislava
Coming here was one of the best things in my life. Before I came or even considered for an exchange program, my tutor friends in Finland said that "you need to experience it, it's one of the things that needs to be done in your lifetime". Surely I was suspicious about it so it took some time for me to decide anything. But then with the school not doing so great back home and the urge for going traveling, it just felt right to have a look around the possibilities and pick a destination. Now, I've been through the reasons for different destinations so I will not go into it now.
Settling in to a new country and culture has been... a challenge if something. Sure the other students from abroad settle in quite fast. Being from a big city helps a lot, but me from a city that has 25 000 people, it's a challenge. Consider that I've been living in Rovaniemi for a couple of years now, but Rovaniemi has about 60 000 people. I don't know if it's the whole area or what, but still. Tornio has 25 000 which isn't a lot when you come to a city with over 500 000 people like Bratislava.
So settling in to Bratislava took its time. Trams and local public transportation are quite unnecessary in cities like Rovaniemi or Tornio. Rovaniemi has a public transportation system, but I've found it unnecessary since the area I usually travel within is like a couple of kilometers. So a bike is enough. Here trams, busses and trolleybusses are everyday life. To be honest, I haven't seen too many bikes over here. People walk, take trams or busses. That's it. So getting to know the tram and bus stops was the first thing I had to do. I noticed that the trams (which I use most of the time) go like every 10 mins unless you want to go somewhere further when you need to have a look at the exact trams. But practically from here, there are 3-5 trams that can take you pretty much everywhere. And if that's not enough, bus stop is just next to tram stop and they can take you at least to Novy Most (ufo bridge).
A 3 month public transportation card costs around 1500 SKK which is about 50 euros. This is not a student price which I'm not eligible for as I'm over 26 years old :)
TIP: If you're not familiar with the local transportation system in bigger cities, get to know them. It's pretty simple really. Just see where your end stop is or the closest one to your destination, find out the timetables and hop on to a tram or a bus. And if possible, get a 1-6 month(s) card for the transportation system. You will rather have that than buy separate tickets everytime you want to get on to a bus or a tram. Might sound really simple to people living in big cities, but to us from smaller cities or towns with no local public transportation, it can be a big step to get to know the system. At least to me it was as I've never used it.
Secondly I've to bring up language. I'm able to speak English, Finnish and some Swedish. Swedish is useless here and the only time I used it was during the Slovak lesson as we had a Swedish teacher here teaching Swedish. And Finnish... Well, I've been using it with the odd few Finnish exchange students we've had here. Basically with Jan and Leena who are living here in Druzba as well. Though Jan left like 2 weeks ago back to Finland. But that's it for the Finnish language. So English has been used everyday over here. My Slovak skills are not that good to even begin or participate a conversation :)
As for other people, Slovaks don't generally know much English or don't just want to use it. Students use it quite a lot and pretty good at it too, but if you go to a nearby gas station, pub, bar, grocery store... no. They can't speak it at all or don't even want to try. Which one it is, I don't know.
TIP: So if possible, learn some Slovak before you come here as it will be useful. Or for any country really, learn the local language. Just some basics.
I will continue these once I get some more to write about :)
And even more stuff!
Map, river, river. All from Devin Castle, as you might have guessed. Actually, I think it's Austria over there, but I can't say for sure. Am too lazy to make sure of it. But I'm 90% sure.
Castle, castle, river. This is wicked, isn't it... I should be a tour guide.
View, castle view... Yocko the reptile.
Yocko, castle and castle with with my sister.
Me and my brother, stairs... woods. Castle and Novy Most with the ufo.
This one on the left I don't actually know. Could be Vienna since we're moving to Vienna pictures now. The church is from Vienna for sure, but I seriously have no idea of the name. But it's only a couple of blocks away from the 1-9 something (can't remember the name nor could I spell it) train station.
Church, train station and street from Vienna.
More stuff, finally!
Yawn. Lazyness really got to me here and am too... well lazy to add pictures here or write at all :)
But my family was here a couple of weeks ago and I got some new pictures. Devin Castle pictures you might have seen already from my previous post(s), here we go with some pictures from Vienna and Bratislava with Devin Castle:
On the left, to start off we have people playing... Not sure if that has an official name, but we have it in Finland as well. I will call it streethockey this time. And in the centre a view right next to it. The dining area starts right between the two big buildings we have here that we call Druzba. And on the right, the hotel accommodation of the Druzba. Doesn't look different from outside, but it's better than our accomodation from the inside.
On the left, Polus City Centre. A big shopping mall just two stops ahead from my school so I go there every now and then after a day at school to grab something to eat. Plus I got my Liverpool shirt from there which was a pleasant surprise. In the middle a view from the front of Polus. It's a fountain. Pretty neat one actually.
And on the right, a boat which apparently goes all the way to Vienna every now and then. It's situated right next to Novy Most (the bridge with the ufo thing).
Another view of the river Danube on left. Pretty nice as well actually even though the weather may distract a bit. With the sun shining, this is a very nice view! In the middle, we have (or should have) the line of cars that were going around the city when the local hockey team, HC Slovan, won the national championships. I was just off from my Slovak lesson waiting for a tram when about 10 cars, all alike, went by and used their horns etc. I think it was the players, but I can't say for sure as I really don't recognize any of them even if they stood right next to me. SASU HOVI!
And in the right, the yard for Devin Castle. There's a hotel on left and a couple of pubs on the right. Pretty neat actually, yet again.
Here's a better view of the hotel on left. As you can see, it looks really decent. In the middle, a view from the hills to somewhere far away. On the right, the entrance for the whole castle. I think it cost like a couple of euros to get in. Maybe 70 SK, which is about 2 euros and then some.
Oh, and here we have the prices for the thing. And then some pictures from the castle...
More pictures...
Ok, here we have a picture from a church they used to have back in the day. I really can't remember what year or centruy it was, but it's old. And in the middle, a cross.
And here some saint on the left. Can't remember her name. In the middle an explanation, maybe you find the answer from it if you're able to read it. And on the right, a view from the castle. The main yard so to say.
And again some stuff... The wishing well. Actually no coins were allowed to be thrown down there so they had a mug and a bucket of water to be thrown.
And on right... Well, I friggin' hate reptiles so I don't even give a shit what it is.
Views from the castle.
Bratislava Pictorial
Well I guess I might as well add some pictures again. Just finished my first school assigment which is due on Tuesday. It was about starting a company, giving it a name, an idea, a product and describing its customers. Quick task and I just hope it's enough.
Well well, recognize the brand on the wall? Yea, I thought it looked familiar too :) And if you look closely to the billboard in the background (with red background color), you might recognize a quite famous figure from the past. And yea, I read that there's a pub here that is all up for his ideas.
And the 3rd picture, a view from the old city. Can't really tell where exactly it is from, but as you can see, it's pretty nice.
On the left you can see propably the most famous monument in Bratislava, "Man at work". He looks so busy that I almost feel sorry for him =/
In the middle is I think a view from the main street of Bratislava, Obchodna. It's filled with stores, small shops and home for basically everything you could imagine to get. Although I haven't seen a shop for footy team shirts yet.
And the last one, that badass dude's weapon. No more, no less... than a cannon. Might be a bit rusty, but I'm sure some equipment from DM (a store for cleaning stuff) will do the trick. Still need to find someone to clean it :D
I assume the one on left is the "Michael's Gate". It's basically a street, but that's pretty much all I remember about it :D
I can't really say for sure, but the picture in the middle is either from the Main Square or somewhere from the walking street... I think it's called Hviezdoslavovo Namestie. If you ever go to Bratislava, walk down this street. It's really nice.
The one on right is from the old city as well. The old city as a whole, is basically just for walking. It may look rough now, but I can imagine it looking really nice once summer kicks in.
A bit blurry map of the Bratislava public transportation. Basically the bus transportation is actually quite complex for me, but the trams are a bit more simplified. In the middle and on right, are pictures of this shopping hall close to Tesco (a big shop brand (?) in Slovakia).
These pictures are from the walking street. The first one is located at the western end of it. In the middle, you can see the street quite well. Again, I can imagine it looking a lot better when it's summer. And on right a picture of Carlton hotel.
Another picture from the walking street and in the middle the other end of the street. The street itself is pretty long. I'd say close to a kilometre.
On the right I think is a building next to Danube river and this is where we left off for the tour.
On the left you can see the main building of Comenius University. An in my opinion, it's really nice. It has this scent of history and yet, it's pretty modern once you go inside. But to avoid misunderstandings, this is not the building I study in.
In the middle a picture from the hills. This is some sort of a monument, but I can't remember what it was about as I didn't go there. Too many steps.
On the right, a view from the castle in Bratislava centre. Despite the weather and fog, you can clearly see the Ufo tower at the other end of the bridge.
Here are a couple of pictures from the castle in the centre. Well it's not in the centre per se, but quite close and you can see it from pretty much everywhere in the city if you've a good view to that direction. In the middle, there's the central yard of the castle. I think this side that you can see was reconstructed or something a while back.
In the last picture, you have a nightly view from Novy Most and the bridge takes to Petrzalka (pardon for my spelling, could be wrong). On the other side you have this huge shopping mall called Aupark.
And as we progress over the bridge, here's a view taken from it. There's a walking path taking below the bridge where the cars go. And here's a picture taken from the other end. And in the middle you can see a picture of the shopping mall. Now, don't get confused as the shopping mall goes far back over there and you can't see the other end. And in the last picture, you can see the inside of the mall.
And the last set again... On left a view from the other side of the bridge. Over there you can see the castle close to Bratislava centre. In the middle a boat floating on the Danube river. I remember it being a hotel of some sort as well. Notice the snow on the ground. It was the only day I've seen snow here.
And the last picture, a beautiful view of the Main Square at night.
Devin Pictorial
So as I promised, here are the images. Took a while to add them, but eventually I made it happen:
The third one is simply the entrance where the first picture can be found from. Again, that badass dude!
Again, the badass dude. Reports from all over Slovakia indicate the the vehicle seen behind him, was used for transportation.
Second picture is the overall view of the other main tower of the castle. As we get on, it looks pretty neat. And the last picture is from the way to top. The statue represents some kind of a saint whose name I can't remember.
The second picture is taken from the castle (see next picture) and from it you can see the Danube river flowing between Slovakia and Austria. The shore on the other side of the river is actually Austria. Down from the castle, there's a small "cabin". The guide told us that it's used by the homeless at times. Rumours tell that the badass dude went over there and confirmed it being empty.
And the last picture is of the 2nd main tower of the castle. And yes, it's the baby carriage over there. Can't see it very well, but it's next to the stairs over there. We didn't go to this tower.
The first one is assumably the partner in crime (meaning the other Finn of the tour), Jan. Nice guy, but as I've mentioned in an earlier post, an Everton bastard :(
In the middle one, you can see the baby carriages and apparently the baby is inside with parents pushing the carriages. Behind them is the exit. You can't see it too well, but it's there and there's a statue and a some sort of an table explaining about the "inventor" of the Slovak language.
And the last picture is a view of the Devin Castle "central". I'm sure it was used for marketing et cetera back in the day and I can imagine myself wandering there drunk as hell preaching about some bitch before throwing out in the well in the centre and passing out next to it!
So here I end this lovely tour around the Devin Castle. I hope you enjoyed and stay tuned for an update from 2nd location which I haven't decided yet.
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