I stayed at the hostel until it was time to check out. My plane didn't leave until 4:30 p.m., so I had plenty of time. I checked out at 10 a.m., and then I went to the city center to get one more souvenir before I left Bratislava. Then I took a tram to the bus station, and a bus to the airport. I got to the airport at about 12:30. Once at the airport, I had to wait for about an hour for Ryanair to open. So I sat down on a bench and started creating my review for my mid-term tomorrow for Art History. Once Ryanair opened, I got my visa checked and went through Security. And then I sat for about 3 hours waiting for my plane. I have never seen an airport so dead. It was a pretty big airport with lots of seats, and there was maybe 10 people there. It is not a very busy airport. Once it got closer to the time for my flight, more people started to show up. There was a male choir group on my flight. They had flown over with me from Rome to Bratislava. I know this because they were all wearing the same jacket design and I noticed them on the flight over. Before the flight they started singing, and they were pretty good. I have no idea what they were saying because it was all in Italian, but it was still good.
Then I had about 1.5 hours on the plane. I had to catch a bus from the airport to Termini Station, so I bought a ticket on Terravision. Of course, as I walked up, 2 Terravision buses left. So I had to wait a while for a new bus to come. The good news is that I know where the Terravision station is now, it is on the far left of Termini Station. Once at Termini Station, I had to catch the H bus to Trastevere. The bus was really crowded, so I was really glad to get off. I walked back to the apartment and started studying for my Art History mid-term.
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I walked around Devin Castle for a couple of hours, then I took a bus back to Bratislava. The bus stop in Bratislava is located under the UFO bridge. This bridge was constructed in the Communist era, and they constructed the UFO tower. It is a very expensive restaurant now, but tourists are allowed to go to the top for 6 euros. It is supposed to have a great view of the city, but you can see the same view for free at Hrad Castle, so I didn't pay it. I didn't have anything to do in Bratislava, so I went back to my hostel and FaceTimed my parents. Then I went to go eat, but by that time everything was closed. It was only 8 o'clock! I guess everything closes early on a Sunday. So I walked down the block to Tesco, and got the Slovakian equivalent of a pig-in-a-blanket, an orange, and some oreos. Then I went back to my hostel and relaxed. Today was supposed to be the day that I traveled outside of Bratislava. I was going to go to Devin Castle, or maybe even to Vienna, but that didn't happen. I woke up early, but Devin Castle didn't open until 10 a.m., so I laid in bed and read a book on my phone. Finally I decided to get up and turn on my laptop to work on my report. And guess what happened? Nothing. My laptop wouldn't turn on. So I tried to plug it in, thinking maybe I was out of battery. Still, nothing happened. The charging light wouldn't turn on. I thought maybe something was wrong with the plug, so I plugged in my iPhone and everything worked just fine. I tried resetting my laptop, and still nothing would happened. Finally I got out my phone and tried googling it, since google has all of the answers. Google told me that I was having problems with my battery. Since the cord that I use to charge my iPhone is not an Apple product, it drained my Mac whenever I plugged it in, causing it to stop working. It is easy to fix, all you have to do is remove the back panel of the Mac, unplug the battery connector for a few seconds, plug it back in, and voila you are done. The reason I was worried is that I have a report due on Monday. My report is completely written, all I had to do was proofread it and turn it in. The only place I had it saved was on my laptop. So I had no access to my 14-page report that I have spent the last 2 weeks working on. I couldn't go to the Apple Store in Rome, because I don't arrive in Rome until 6:30 p.m. on Monday, and I wouldn't have enough time to get there and get it fixed and still have time to do my report. So I had to fix it today. The problem is that the back panel is protected be 10 tiny screws that are impossible to unscrew, especially if you don't have a screwdriver. I tried everything to get these screws to turn. I tried my fingernails, my debit cards, someone left a nail kit so I tried that. The stubborn things would not budge. I googled the closest Apple store, which is in Vienna but is closed on Saturdays and Sundays. There are certified Apple sellers here, but no one that can fix my computer. Finally I went down stairs to the check in desk to ask if they knew of a place to buy one. They suggested Tesco, which is right down the street. So I walked there and went in. That place is huge! There were 4 levels, each the size of a small Walmart back home. It was a cross between a Walmart and a Macys. You walked into the level of make-up, diapers, pharmacy, random stores like optics. I looked around, saw the optic store, but decided to keep looking just in case the screwdrivers were somewhere else. I went downstairs, which was the food floor. They had all different kinds of food. I walked around for a while, then went back upstairs. I tried the second floor, which was all clothing and accessories. I found some cute knee high boots for Kendall that were 70% off, but I didn't know if they would fit her. The European and U.S. use different sizes for shoes and clothes, so I had to google a conversion chart. The chart said that a U.S. size 8 is equivalent to the European size 38.5. The problem is that the shoes on sale had 38's and 39's, but no 38.5s. So I sat there a while, debating whether or not to buy them. Finally I moved on to Mom, and started sending her pictures of purses on Voxer, so she could pick out her Christmas present. She picked out a purse, but I decided to wait until I heard back from Kendall on the boots to buy it. Then I wondered around some, looking for a screwdriver. I went upstair to the last floor, which was kids toys and electronics. Then I tried heading back downstairs to the optical center, and I got hopelessly lost. I have not gotten lost once on the streets, but I got lost in Tesco. Unknown to me, Tesco has two buildings standing side by side. There is a bridge that connects them, but when you cross the bridge you are surrounded by walls with items to purchase, so I never knew that I had crossed over. I tried going downstairs and I ended up in the home department looking at bedding and silverware. I wondered around, trying to figure out where I was, and finally realized that there were 2 buildings. The problem was that I didn't know where I had crossed over. So I had to go back upstairs and wonder around until I found an escalator going down to the main floor. I was finally able to find, and the optics center. I went in and asked the sales lady if she spoke English, but she didn't. So I took off my glasses, pointed at the screw, and turned my hand like I was unscrewing a screw. She copied my movements and said something in Slovakian while shaking her head and sounding apologetic. I thought that they didn't have any, so I thanked her and left. I went back to the home section, and bought small brads that I was going to use to try to turn the screws because they looked thin. Then I went back to my hostel, but the brads didn't work. This all took about 3 hours. So I sat in my room feeling sorry for myself. I kept googling things to use to unscrew a Mac without a screwdriver, but that didn't help. By this time it was around 3 p.m., and I didn't know what time Devin Castle closed. Online, some websites said it closed and 3, while others said it closed at 5. I just decided to wait until tomorrow to go, because it was not a pretty day anyways. While I was sitting on my bed googling, one of my roommates walked in. She is an older lady, obviously past her retirement age. There were only top bunks left, so I offered her my bottom bunks, but she refused. We started talking. She is from New Zealand, and is backpacking across Europe alone. She started in July, and is going to continue on until mid-December, and arrive home just before Christmas. While she is traveling, she has been tracing her family's genealogy and writing a book. She already has 3 traveling books published, and she is working on her 4th. She has traveled all over the place, and we talked about some of the places she has been. Finally, she decided to explore and get something to eat. She invited me, but I declined because I was still hoping to find somewhere that had a screwdriver. While we were talking, she was getting her bed ready. There is a cover she put on the comforter. I was watching her and I realized that I didn't have to do that. When I came in last night, the bed I chose was already made. I think I accidentally stole someone else's bed. I feel so bad! All the other bottom bunk beds had something on it to mark them as taken, either a book, a towel, a water bottle, shoes, or the comforter was messed up like someone slept there last night. But this bed had nothing, it was just made. I didn't look at the top bunks to see if they were made up. I thought that it was like a hotel, where the beds are all made up when you arrive. I was the only one in the room when I went to bed, and the other girl was nice enough not to wake me up when she arrived. I noticed that the bunk on top of mine's comforter is folded in the same way that mine is. I think she still in Bratislava, and is sleeping on the top bunk. I don't know if I should say something tomorrow when we get up in the morning. I feel really bad about stealing her bed, especially when she took the time to make it so nicely! Finally, I just decided to walk around and see if I stumbled on a place. I wondered through the Old Town, stopping at all of the souvenir shops on the way to see if they had one. They didn't. I also stopped at a few pharmacies, but their pharmacies aren't like ours, they only carry medicines. I stopped at the tourist information center, but that lady didn't know of anywhere. It was getting dark so I headed back to my hostel. I wasn't able to find a screwdriver in the Old Town, but I was able to find Napoleon! On the way I found another optic store, right across the street from the Tesco I had visited before. I went in and waited a while because there was someone already with the sales associate. That person left, and I asked if the sales associate spoke English and she said a little. I took off my glasses and pointed the screws, asking if she had a screwdriver I could buy. She thought I wanted to tighten the screws, so she took my glasses into the back and did something to them. I heard metal drilling metal, but I have no idea what happened. She came back saying nothing was wrong with my glasses. I took out some euros and said I wanted to buy a screwdriver. She understood that, and brought out 2 small screwdrivers. I bought one for 8 euros, and went back to my hostel to try it out. When I got into the room, there was a small screwdriver on my bed waiting for me. The old lady I was talking to earlier had found one for me and bought it. I hid the one I had bought, because I didn't want to hurt her feelings since she bought it. I used the one she had given me to undo the screws on the back of my laptop case. She came back while I was still working on it, and I thanked her profusely for the screwdriver, not telling her that I had found one. I also bought it off of her. It only cost 3,90 euros. Guess where she found it. At Tesco, the place I spent 3 hours at this morning, in the same optic center that I stopped at. I guess the sales lady didn't understand me when I asked for a screwdriver, but figured it out later or was able to understand my roommate. I finally got all of the screws out, and took the back casing off. It looks super high-tech with all sorts of gadgets that I was afraid of touching. I finally just googled how to disconnect the battery, and watched a YouTube video on it. I was afraid to try it, but I just decided to go for it. I disconnected the battery for a few seconds and then plugged it back in. I turned on my computer, and it worked! I had power again! I immediately started working on my report, because I wanted to submit it and be done with it. I wasn't going to risk losing it again. I proofread it, added 2 tables, and submitted it.
This was a plate to commemorate the first witch burning in Slovakia. This is were the witch was burned. On the plate, the craftsman put in big numbers 2002, which is when the plate was designed. The witch was burned in 1602, which was written in smaller letters in Slovakian, which no one could understand (except the Slovakians). So tourists thought there was a witch burning in Slovakia in 2002, which is why the city removed the plate.
So I got up at 3:30 this morning. I got a good 3.5 hours of sleep. I got ready and finished packing, and then I walked to the taxi stand to wait for Victoria and her roommates. We got in the cab, it took us to the Ciampino Airport. Once we got into Ciampino I get getting flashbacks of walking the streets at midnight to get to the airport.. We got to the airport at about 5 a.m., and there was a long line for Ryanair. I was worried that the other girls wouldn't make their flight, because their gate closed at 5:45. The line for security was REALLY long. A lady in line wasn't paying attention, so they slipped in in front of her. I went to the back of the line because I had plenty of time. By the time I got through security they were just boarding the plane. I walked around looking for something for breakfast. I couldn't find anything, so I went to the duty free store and bought a bag of mini Snickers for breakfast.
Bratislava is one of the places that gives free tours. The tour guide has to work extra hard to impress people because they only make money from tips. Our tour guide's name was Barbara, and she was awesome! She knew a lot of information and she shared a lot of stories about the culture and traditions of Slovakia. Like, on Easter, a girl's male family and friends get up early and go to the river to get ice cold water. Then between 6 am and noon, they toss the bucket of water on the girl. They also get a piece of wood and smack her on the butt with it. Usually, as this happens the girl is trying to run away. I am so glad I wasn't raised in Slovakia! She took us around Old Town, showing us some sights. Some of them I had seen earlier, but she gave us the history of the place, along with the legends. She also pointed out some things that I hadn't noticed before. She also showed us around New Town, and talked about the effects of Communist era on Bratislava. I will post pictures and add more description when I get back to Rome, because I don't want to tie up the hostel's wifi by uploading a ton of photos.
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June 2022
AuthorThese are details from my adventures around the world. |