Ruzomberok Revisited

 No, I'm not actually going back to Ruzomberok, Slovakia (although I'd like to do so). Instead, as I've been culling through old pictures, I came across some from the painful summer that I passed through Slovakia a couple different times. Sadly, many of the Slovakia pictures were lost when my camera was swiped in Barcelona. This led me to going back into my blog and reading my posts about Slovakia, which, sadly, are few. I found a very lovely and heartfelt post about my time visiting Rozomberok and the good folks at the university there. It's inspired me to post a couple pictures of the city itself, snapped on a gloriously overcast day, but I'm think I'm going to try and reach out to my friends from there and see if they are still teaching at the university. One of my many failings as a human beings (and they are legion) is that throughout all the heartache of the last decade I've let people slip away.  This blog, with all its flaws and missteps, is a lovely history record in and of itself and I'm going to mine it.

Visit to the Catholic University of Ruzemberok

Here is a nice article that my great friend Katarina Labudova wrote for the Catholic University of Ruzemberok website about my visit there. I loved the picture - and it's very rare that I take good ones, so I'm posting it. The article is in Slovak, but I think the short transation is: ["The visiting imperialist does not seem very intelligent, but we are impressed by his imposing height. Not since the Habsburgs dropped by looking for a cup of sugar and directions to Bratislava have we been so nervous about a visitor."] However, my brother Eric said that the only line he could pull out was, "Where are the little pastries?"

"Prof. Gary Scudder (Champlain College, Vermont, U.S.A.) prednášal na FF KU
Dňa 23. novembra 2010 sa na pôde Filozofickej fakulty Katolíckej univerzity v Ružomberku uskutočnila prednáška na tému Global Modules. Prednáška profesora Scuddera predstavila inovatívny spôsob výučby, ktorý ekonomickým spôsobom rozvíja spoluprácu a diskusiu medzi študentmi rôznych univerzít zapojených v programe Global Modules. Profesor Scudder bol za svoj inšpiratívny prístup k výučbe a ku študentov odmenený viacerými akademickými cenami. Prednáška vyvolala mnoho podnetných otázok a inšpiratívnych návrhov, ako by si naši študenti predstavovali zapojenie sa do tohto projektu a ktoré témy by v jeho rámci radi riešili.

Prof. Garry Scudder na FF KU prednášal na pozvanie Dr. Janky Kaščákovej, vedúcej Katedry anglického jazyka a literatúry FF KU. Profesor Scudder navštívil FF KU už po druhý raz. V roku 2009 bol jedným z hlavných rečníkov konferencie Ambiguity, ktorú katedra anglického jazyka a literatúry organizovala."

And leaving Slovakia

Wait, didn't I just get here? As is usually the case on these trips, everything has become a blur. I'm packing up this morning for another long day of travels. I catch a train at 10:24 here in Ruzemberok and then change trains about fifty minutes later in Zilina - and after that it's a five hour ride to Prague. This means I had better pack some goodies for the trip. I've been of trips before where I was certain there was a restaurant car, and found out to my chagrin/consternation that there wasn't, and almost starved to death. I've survived on the way over from Vienna on a couple Bounty candy bars, but I think I'll need something more substantial for the trip to Prague.

It was a nice stay in Ruzemberok, and, in addition to giving a well-attended student presentation and having a very fruitful meetings, I also caught up with some old friends. Out of the blue last night a couple professors from the Catholic University just showed up unplanned at my hotel because they figured I was bored - and took me out to the People's Cocktail Bar around the corner (the scene of the infamous cocktail napkin oath), but this was a far more tame one mojito evening. The Slovakians really are the most kind, caring people. I'll post some pictures when I have more time and better wifi.

Off to Prague!!

Back in Slovakia

One of the things that always amazes me about travelling is that, like a bad penny I suppose, I always do return. I'll leave some place and imagine that there is no way in hell that I'll ever return there (and usually remorsefully), but somehow I manage to make it back - which gives me hope for future return trips to Kasgar, China and the Ajanta and Ellora caves in India. My only previous trip to Slovakia was in the summer of 2009, on the tail end of my seven week seven country world tour. I spent a day in Bratislava and a cuple days in Ruzemberok, where the good folks at the Catholic University there had asked me to give a keynote address at a conference. Sadly, all of my Slovakia shots were in the camera that was pilfered in Barcelona, so my only shots are loaners from my friends. It really pained me because I had the best time here, and, as I've noted on a previous post, I was never treated better by anyone at a conference ever. So, I'm really excited to revisit the Catholic University of Ruzemberok and see my great friends Janka and Katarina - and hopefully they won't hold me to my sworn agreement to spend my sabbatical in Ruzemberok (I say this mainly because my signed agreement is on a cocktail napkin and we are rather worse for wear at the time - and although I love Slovakia and the thought of spending more time with these amazing people is very appealing - I'm concerned about the legal precedent). I left Vienna yesterday at 8:25 a.m. and arrived in Bratislava at 9:25 a.m., switched trains and left the station at 9:57 a.m. and arrived into Ruzemberok at 1:42 p.m.. I mention the times simply because every one of them was to the minute - I can't remember the last time a plane left on time in the U.S. let alone a train (oh, that's right, we don't have a functioning public transportation system in the U.S.). Anyway, I hope to get some replacement pictures today - I snapped a couple yesterday of downtown Ruzemberok, but the weather was pretty dreadful. Sadly, my great shots of downtown Bratislava and the hinterlands of Slovakia are long gone, although, obviously, I will be back.

Reflections on Things at Hand: Slovakia

Sadly, one of the biggest victims of the camera theft in Barcelona, besides a couple hundred extra pictures from China and the pictures of Barcelona itself, were all of my pictures from Slovakia. I passed through Slovakia a couple times during the summer odyssey. I flew into Bratislava on the way back from China, before catching a train up to Ruzomberok for a conference, and then catching another train on to Austria, before passing back through Bratislava on the way to catching a flight to Madrid. On the way to Spain I had a day to walk around downtown Bratislava, which I absolutely loved. Folks who complain about the expense of visiting Europe should consider Slovakia - much less expensive than neighboring Czech Republic, Austria or Hungary, but very beautiful - with loads of history. On the initial trip to Slovakia I was scheduled to speak at the Catholic University of Ruzomberok at a conference. I can state without any reservation that I have never, ever been treated so well at any conference. They were extraordinary - from answering all of my questions to picking me up at the train station to feeding me royally to taking all of the main speakers on a whirlwind tour of Slovakia after the conference to taking a detour on a late night, rainy trip to the train station so that I could say that I had visited Poland. Absolutely amazing. It's one of the places that I am considering for my sabbatical, and I can't imagine a more pleasant group of folks to spend a few months with. Ruzomberok itself is a fairly sleepy town, although it had just opened up a western coffee shop as well as a more western nightclub (both owned and run by one of the students at the university). The guy who ran the nightclub was great - he'd talk to you for a few moments and then order you a drink. You might then say that you wanted to drink something else, but he'd just shake his head and "your" drink would arrive - and, he was right, it was fantastic. The Catholic University of Ruzomberok is first-rate. Again, sadly, all the pictures are gone, with the exception of ones that my friend Janka sent me. On the last night (which I had photographed extensively) we were up in the mountains and ate at this little mom and pop restaurant - just an amazing group of folks (including a Dickens scholar who was kind enough to allow me to pester him endlessly about Dickensian subjects). It was one of those moments when you just realized that there would be few times in your life when you would be that completely satisfied. Here are some pictures that my friend Janka (she's the one in the hat) - along with pictures of Kathleen (an ex-pat from the US - the one standing behind me while I look like I'm meditating) and my good friend Katarina (in the black t-shirt). The last year has been pretty brutal, and that's one of those moments that recharged my batteries - I don't think I've had so much fun since the world was young.