Anaïs: APRIL, my favorite month of the year! Love, legends, dragons, books and roses visited Bratislava

30.04.2024 14:15

Ahoj!

April is my favorite month of the year. Spring has arrived, and the sun is beginning to set. Perhaps it's just me, but I believe that people are happier when they observe how the flowers embellish everything. During this month, I did a lot of activities, it was full of surprises and I really enjoyed it a lot. If you want to know what happened, please continue reading :)

A special visit, birthdays and surprises

This April started with a lovely visit, my boyfriend, Francesc, came to visit me the first weekend to celebrate my birthday! I could show him Bratislava and we could meet with my friends during the weekend. What a surprise when I saw Amandine coming with Matúš! She explained to us that before another trip, she went to spend the weekend but on Monday she would leave.
On Monday 8th of April, Francesc went at the INEX office and met the team. He had the opportunity to celebrate INEX birthday with me and to form part of my experience here in Bratislava.
I'm not sure if I mentioned before, but INEX's birthday is on April 8th and my birthday is April 9th. Coincidence or destiny?
Francesc had to leave on April 8th, so I went with him to the airport to say goodbye. Then I wrote to Amandine, her flight was the same day in the afternoon.
And on the 9th... my roommates prepared me very big surprise, well two!! For starting the day, Evelina and Leo cooked a cake and they went to my bedroom to sing Happy Birthday to me! I was in pyjamas and was sleepy, but I really appreciated it. We ate the cake to start the day with energy and then we went to the office. And in the evening, we had to go to celebrate my birthday in a restaurant. I had to choose which type of food I wanted to eat, but they told me that they had already decided. They thought it would be a good idea to eat pizza, and they knew a great place to go. I love pizza, so for me was fine. The surprise was that we went to the bowling alley. And there were waiting Matus, Katka, Alessandro and Amandine!! I didn't expect that!! When I asked about Amandine, she responded that she came for my birthday and she had fun when I wished her a safe flight!
We went bowling. It was my first time in a bowling alley, and it's not necessary to tell you that I lost, of course haha.

My first weekend workcamp

After my birthday I was very excited because these last days were amazing, and during the weekend we went to the first workcamp, helping to rebuild the Castle Biely Kameň in Svätý Jur. The experience was remarkable and exhausting at the same time. I could meet people and have fun with them. The most important thing is that I could participate in this important project to preserve not only the Slovak castles but also the culture.
You can see the pictures :)

Tea meeting and On-Arrival Training

The next week began with a busy schedule. First of all, Matyas presented the Tea Meeting about Cuba! And I have to say that he was a fantastic speaker and he did a very good presentation. Later, we went to celebrate the exit of our Tea Meeting and we said goodbye to Alessandro because he went back to Italy.

The next day we packed our things to go to the Arrival Training, for volunteers from abroad who are volunteering in Slovakia.
In this year, I have learned that you can be surprised. I will explain better. The objective for this training was focused on the rights and responsibilities in the volunteering field. At first, I thought we had to take notes and I imagined the training was like being in a class. The reality exceeded all my expectations. I took notes, of course but I've learned about this project through different dynamics based on non-formal education. I enjoyed with Shasha and Dean, they are fantastic. And I could meet people from Spain, Georgia, Turkey, Lithuania, Russia and France! I can't wait to meet with them again in August!!

The legend of Sant Jordi arrived in Bratislava

When we returned from the training, I started to prepare for 23rd of April. It is an important and beautiful holiday that is celebrated in Catalonia called Diada de Sant Jordi (Saint George’s Day). For us, it's like Saint Valentine's Day. It is customary for men to present a rose to women, and for women to present a book to men. It's for this reason that on this day you can find a lot of shops on the street selling roses and books. It's very beautiful. I celebrated Sant Jordi buying some books that I can't wait to read them :)

If you want to know more about the legend of Sant Jordi, you can read it here:
https://catalansaarhus.wordpress.com/2013/04/14/the-legend-of-sant-jordi/

Special moments with friends in Prague

And April finishes with an amazing weekend in Prague with my friends, Pine and Barbara. They came from Spain to celebrate Pine's birthday. We spent time together laughing, talking about everything, and we had very funny moments that I'm pretty sure we will never forget. Clue: we had to get off the tram. I loved my time in Prague with them, discovering the amazing views of the castle, walking through the picturesque streets of Prague and meeting new people. Now my question is: Girls, when is the next trip?