I have encountered one of the most important travel experiences of my young life, a trip to the old continent as how some historians will call it. I intend to write whenever I have time about some of my experiences, life's memorable moments, and lessons. I hope that those who always read me can enjoy this article, so in a way, you can travel along with me throughout this adventure. I will write in English but with the option to translate into Spanish. I hope you enjoy this first text!
Winter is almost over, and the temperature is getting warmer; spring is around the corner, and the sun is shining brighter than on my first day in this country, at some point, I’m happy because there is nothing better than some sunlight.So far, I’m loving everything about this experience, mostly because I’m really liking my classes, the teachers and of course some subjects. But also, because the people that surrounded me on this journey are so nice.
It has become a custom now to say “Nice to meet you, my name is Shayron and I’m from Nicaragua…” to those new faces that I usually meet every day, and to who sometimes I must explain where my country is located and a little of our colony period history.
One of the first missions here was to participate in an international dinner, which was on the 15th of February. Every student from different countries had a little bit of their local and national food on their table. I like most of them, some were spicy, and some others were very sweet. The Nicaragua delegation shared with everyone our traditional rice and beans with pig meat, also some somotenian rosquillas, and traditional candies from the Purisima.
On the 20th of February, I hop on a train and departed for Vienna, the capital of Austria, a country with a lot of history and beautiful architecture. I left Hradec at 22:15 passing through Pardubice, Bratislava until I arrived at my destination. It was a trip of approximately 9-10 hours; I really don’t remember if we made a night stop because I was sleeping after watching some movies to keep myself entertaining
I arrived at the main train station in Vienna around 7:25 am, it was very crowded, some people were just rushing to not miss their next train while others were walking very fast towards the metro door, I guess this is the daily routine or they were just all late for work or school (I don’t think so tho).
After I arrived at the train station I went directly to the metro subway, I had to go to a specific direction or part of the town first because I had to go to my visa appointment. Apparently, I got on the wrong metro, so I had to grab another one that took me this time in the right direction. Luckily, I had enough time to get lost before my visa appointment. When I arrived at the embassy the process was so fast, I finished everything I had to do there sooner than I expected, so I just made much of my time to go and know some of the sites in Vienna, like the Schönbrunn Palace, the Government square, the City Hall building, Parliament and also the beautiful square of María Theresa, where I just lay down on the green grass of its garden. Later, I started walking until I got to the train station where I departed back to Hradec.
On the 27th of February, I had to make a presentation with Ana and Valeria —my two compatriots- about our country, this was part of a weekly schedule, where every week there are 4 different countries that are doing a presentation concerning their culture, believes, food, sport, history, and patrimony. On this day it was Colombia, Cyprus, Argentina, and Nicaragua.
I can say that it was a very good activity, and all the presentations were very good and had something to impress everyone. The Nicaraguan delegation shared a little bit about our history, colonization, culture, traditions, and patrimony, and of curse some places where one can visit in Nicaragua. We also presented two videos, one of them was promoting the different cities, cultures, and traditions of Nicaragua (a touristic video), and the other one was a music video from one of our national urban music bands.
After the presentation, our friends from Colombia suggested that we all had to go and celebrate, so we went to have some hamburgers and French fries. It was a nice night, with Latinos accompanied by some European friends.
For the following days, I didn't do much, just going to class and then home, or sometimes taking evening walks or drinking hot chocolate with friends.
I was invited on a personal level to visit the “Obchodní Akademie v Hradec Králové” a local high school on the 7th of March to share with the students from the Hispanic language class about Nicaragua's culture, history, and our national poet, Rubén Darío. I really loved this experience because it reminded me of what I’m usually used to doing back home, sharing with students and young people. The students were very excited about my presentation, they ask a lot of questions and even shared with me some local facts about this country (Czech Republic) and their hometown.
On the 8th of March Ana, Valeria, and I decided to visit the city of Prague (the capital). We had a good time, we visited some historic places, like the astronomic clock and the Cathedral of Saint Vito, where we had a beautiful view of the city.
For this adventure, we decided to stay for two days, where we made much of our time to know some of the principal sites of the city, mostly historical ones, and to taste some of the local food and pastry. So far, the capital (Prague) is a very nice place, all tho it’s crowded, mostly by tourists.
On the 10th of March, the girls (Ana and Valeria) made some cheese soup, a typical Lent season dish of the Pacific of Nicaragua. We had a nice evening, drinking soup and talking a bit. By the way, the soup was really good.
For the moment these are the relevant things of these past few days. Let’s see what comes ahead.
See you guys until my other text!