Day 12: Jafar, the evil Swan

We had to be on the bus at 7:30 today to drive to the “nearby” Samsung production facility. The excursion ended up taking over two hours due to an ill-advised detour that took us quite out of the way. This gave some of us an opportunity to catch up on sleep. For the first time in Europe, they played a movie on the TVs in the bus. We couldn’t quite figure out the story, as it was entirely in Slovakian, but basically a family repairs a bus, creates a traveling group and puts a carnival on in a distant village. It was more strange than it sounds.

We didn’t have much time at the Samsung plant, but their facility was really neat. Most of the production seemed to involve some level of human interface. Later we were told that the cost of employees is much lower than the technology to build a robot gentle enough to touch and mess with the circuitry/glass parts of the TV. The presentation and tour was quick, but more than sufficient. The technology they are innovating there is really exciting…the picture clarity on the TV screens they showed us was stunning.

We had a much shorter return journey to the University. Our lunch was good again, this time we had Florida Chicken. Robbie had the same meal the night before; basically it is a slice of Chicken topped with peaches covered in cheese. It was really unique, but with rice and some wine sauce, also quite tasty.

After lunch we had a quick session with a Parliament financial advisor who taught us about the political regulative institutions related to economic stimulation in the various regions of Slovakia. It was probably my favorite session thus far, but that’s not to say others were not good. Following class we were given three hours to work on our presentations before heading to the hotel.

We changed into dressier clothes and headed to the Slovakian Opera House to see the company’s last production of The Swan Lake Ballet. About 15 minutes before it started, Steve, Norman, Jessie and I got really hungry and decided to seek out a quick bite nearby. After running around a mall and discovering the McDonald’s had recently become a clothing outlet, we spotted a Burger King and rushed over to get a burger off the Euro menu. Both Steve and I thought the burgers were a more substantial than US versions. The fast food run caused us to miss the first minute or two of the performance, but this wasn’t too frustrating…It was a little long, but otherwise quite good. To pass the time in intermissions (yes there were multiple intermissions), Robbie and Christine played an advanced version of rock paper scissors. I actually captured their final round (best two of three) on video, which is posted below. More interesting is a rare depiction of the Slovakian cheers preformed at the conclusion of the video. As for the ballet, it was really exciting at the end, and the lead character even addressed the crowd in multiple languages so as to honor his former dance coach/professor who attended his last dance.

The auditorium...no entry after the preformance begins (we had to sit upstairs for the first hour).

Robbie, Christine, Steve, and Norman enjoying an intermission.

I snuck a photo at the end

I was planning on returning to the Hotel early to catch up on rest and clean up my inbox. Christine and others had a different idea, and after a five minute walk we were in a basement grungy club not unlike Rick’s All American Café. There was live music and afterwards, much dancing. The entire group had a great time and we stayed much later than we intended. After, we went across the street to grab pizzas which Robbie and Steph are calling “baguettes.” Apparently, it’s the Jumbo Slice of Bratislava (that’s right DC friends…think cheaper and smaller though).

We know they didn't call each other to plan this...phone calls cost too much.

To end the night, Robbie, Erica, Christine and I got lost in the city for 20 minutes before finding a 5€ ride home. This one was not as much fun as the last one, but still friendly. Overall a very late, but successful night.

A building we past when lost in the streets of Slovakia. Don't worry mom, we were fine. Sorta.