Spontaneous Day in Karvina

Today, I woke up thinking that it is gonna be my first day of work. Hence I made the effort to wake up early, dress up nice, and put on some make up since I wanted to make a good first impression. Michal, an AIESECer, brought me to my workplace and introduced me to my would-be colleagues. I met my Director and he told me that I have one week off before my actual work would start. Lucky me! 

After the meeting, Michal randomly asked me if I wanted to go to Karvina since he was going there anyway. Since I did not have any plans for that day, I did not hesitate to go with him. Karvina is a town located 18km east of Ostrava and near the Beskydy Mountains. Upon our arrival, we first visited the AIESEC Office in Slezska Univerzita, his alma mater. I met a bubbly blonde lady named Martina, who I later found out is the Local Committee President of AIESEC in that area.

Today is a normal school day for most Czechs so they had a hard time figuring out who could bring me around town. I assured them over and over again that I was okay and that I could manage myself. But still, they insisted that someone should go with me. So they called up another AIESEC Trainee who might be free at that moment. 

Around an hour later, a Polish girl named Makata showed up at the AIESEC office. The first thing I noticed was her dark brown hair with red highlights as well as her resemblance to Ashlee Simpson. She has been in the city for several days so she offered to show me around. I knew right then and there that we would hit it off!

We proceeded to walk to the city center, which is just 15 minutes away from the university. It was a beautiful sunny day, so Makata and I made the most out of it by taking a lot of photos just like tourists. It is good that Czech people understand Polish words, hence she was able to ask some people to take photos of us together. There were lots of pretty townhouses in the square, which the Czech people call as Burgher Houses.

We passed by Empire Fryštát, an ordinary castle but with an interesting history linked to its founders and especially to its last owner, Count Larisch-Mönnichs, who is related to Empress Elisabeth or "Sissi", according to this site. Beside the said castle is the Holy Cross Exaltation Church, which looked more like a castle than the real one beside it because of its huge spire. 

Beside the Church is the state-owned Česká Pošta or post office. Later on, we walked to the park behind the castle. The park which was founded in 1804 is called Bozena Nemcova. It is an immensely huge park covering a total area of 36 hectares. Makata and I talked a lot while strolling around and a while later, we were both famished.

We went back to the center to grab some lunch. We chose this small cafe that served Italian and Czech food. Makata ordered Banana and Chocolate Crepes With Vanilla Ice Cream while I got the Baked Penne Pasta topped with Cheese and Tomatoes.

It was a perfect meal for a perfect day. After our hefty lunch, we walked around some more to burn some of the calories from the food we ate. Haha! 

After all the walking, we went back to Makata's dormitory, Cosmos, to get some rest and to chat some more. Today was truly a lovely day! A friendship was born and tons of memories were made!