Vacation time

Hello everyone!

 I am just waking up to Slovenia’s national holiday “Preseren Day”.  This day is dedicated to the beloved poet who has his own statue in the city center.  A lot of the museums are free and not much else is open so we are going to see the National Ethnographic Museum.  I believe they have a lot about immigration and history so it’s time to get me some learnin’!

Last Friday was the last day of my language course so I do not have to worry about school until the 21^st of February.  Hm so what to do?  Well I plan on continuing in my struggles to learn Slovene and use the teach yourself/rosetta stone method a few hours each day.  I still have a horrible American accent when I speak the few phrases that I know so I hope to get better at pronunciation, vocabulary, and the dreaded Slavic conjugation, in that order.  I also plan on continuing making my new hobby a habit.  Running!  Well run-walking more specifically but hey it’s a start.  There is a nice long street close to where I am currently staying at and I’ve been taking a quick jog there just about every day.  The running is short and the walking is long but I just keep thinking about bikini season and wowing everyone with a nicely toned bod in time for summer.  Ahh if only I could instantly have abs.  I am hoping to start a Pilates class in the university fitness center soon.  If worse comes to worse Vanessa and I will do Pilates via YouTube.  After breakfast and before the museum I plan on going jogging in Tivoli Park.  It has quite a lo t of trails and is a huge park next to the government district downtown.   Cooking and cleaning and a little bit of partying will also be in order ;)

This past weekend was great!  Vanessa and I took a few trips to see the different regions of the country.  We went to Piran for one day.  It’s considered the “pearl of the Slovenian coast” and it was so pretty!  It was quite strange traveling just a few hours from the big, busy city to see such a quiet town by the sea.  The sun was out and it was really warm.  We explored the coastline, ate gelato & pizza, and jogged by the sea.  In the evening we got a bottle of wine and sat and watched the sunset over the water/fog.  We then hiked up the huge hill to see the view from the church.  It was pretty dark by then so all you could see was a huge void of nothingness where the sea was, quite cool.  We got up early to watch the sunrise but it was too cloudy.  Anyway it was really nice and relaxing to get out of the city for a bit.

We also visited Celije, the oldest city in Slovenia.  It’s about a 1.5 hour train ride on the way to Maribor.  It was located in a big valley with a river surrounded by mountains.  We hiked up the massive mountain to check out the view from the castle.  It was definitely worth it.  I think we were the only ones that day who chose to hike over drive (obviously we have no car) because when we got up to the castle, we were the only ones sweating and gasping for breath ha!  Anyway it was also a nice day trip and a good opportunity to see what else Slovenia has to offer!

Still waiting for my permit but enjoying my time until then!