In March, I found out that I received it. Living and teaching abroad for a year is a dream come true.
Slovakia is located in central Europe and home to about 5.4 million people. In 1993, Czechoslovakia split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. People here become unhappy if you mistake Slovakia for Czechoslovakia because they are passionate about their country. Slovakia is a part of the United Nations and European Union. The main language spoken is Slovak, and many people identify as Roman Catholic. The capital city is Bratislava, which I have already gotten to travel to! Slovakia is famous for its beautiful mountains, which I am lucky enough to see from my new bedroom window.
When I return to the United States, I would like to start working as a high school English teacher. Eventually, I will get my Masters to work in curriculum development, educational policy and research. I want to help make decisions about the schools we attend. While, I am here my goal is to learn more about the Slovak school system to see for myself what works well, doesn’t work well and what might be able to be applied to U.S. schools.
So far, the transition to living in Košice has been good. The weather is similar to that of Milwaukee. Additionally, since Košice is the second largest city in Slovakia, many signs are bilingual - in both English and Slovak. This helps me get around, while I still work on learning the language. Coming to Slovakia, I only knew a few basic words and phrases in Slovak. While I am here, I hope to learn more Slovak, so I can better communicate with my Slovak speaking friends and family. Finally, I am living with a host family for the year.
