Day 7 Blog
Michael Candido
Freshman (Edmonton, Alberta)
Wednesday, January 9, 2019

"Wednesday began with breakfast and then we met our tour guide, who took us on a tour around Bratislava. Our tour included many ancient churches and buildings throughout downtown, including a castle that was built by the Hungarians over 1000 years ago.
 
Downtown still had quite a bit of snow on the ground from the snowstorm on Saturday, which led to many intense snowball fights, one of which resulted in the demise of Mr. Ryan Erwin.
 
Our tour guide then took us around the city center and we were able to stand on the centre of the world (4667 km from both the North and South poles).  We also visited the Opera House in the town square and many other Slovakian history attractions throughout the morning. We were able to hear many stories about the history of not only Bratislava, but also Slovakia. My personal favorite attraction was the building where the Treaty of Pressburg was signed, which essentially marked the end of the "old" Europe and the start of the new and modern Europe we know today.
 
For lunch, we enjoyed a nice little taste of America in the shape of a cheeseburger and fries. After lunch we were able to visit some souvenir shops and go exploring on our own around Bratislava.
 
In the afternoon, we played our second game of the trip. For this game, we played a local semi-pro adult team and despite losing 6-3, we were able to give their team Bibles after the game, which was awesome!
 
So far this trip has been an eye opener for me and I'm so blessed to have the opportunity to meet so many extraordinary people and show God's love in many different forms. I have to say that my faith has grown so much over this little time we've been in Europe and just getting to talk to other followers of Christ from Slovakia has been really extraordinary. Also to be able to compare life as a Christ-follower in North America to a Christ-follower in Europe is such a unique opportunity that we all are so blessed to be apart of."