Arriving in Quiet, Peaceful Bratislava, Slovakia
After a short but satisfying sightseeing trip in Vienna, I hopped on the train to Bratislava. I hadn't heard much about Eastern Europe beforehand, so I expected the transportation to be subpar. However, the interior was quite pleasant and not too crowded, so I could stretch my legs out on the opposite seat and travel comfortably. The overall vibe was like a mix between a Korean express bus and the Saemaeul train.
As soon as I got off in Bratislava, I went back into high-alert mode. While we were trying to figure out how to get to our hotel, a young woman saw us and asked, "May I help you?" Instinctively, I thought, 'What's this? Is this one of those European scammers I've heard about?' But then I figured, 'How can I refuse help from such a beautiful woman?' and shouted a loud "YES!" We told her which hotel we needed to go to, and she showed us the bus stop and how to get there, occasionally throwing in some clumsy but genuine Korean.
She guided us to the bus stop saying things like "Where are you from?", "Over there," and "Here" in Korean. It was absolutely amazing that an Eastern European beauty could speak even a little bit of Korean, not in Korea, but in her home country of Slovakia. What's more, she gave us her ID in case we ran into any trouble later—and it wasn't a Facebook ID, but a KakaoTalk ID. KakaoTalk in Slovakia...
She was an incredibly kind and curious Eastern European woman who loved Korea so much that she even went out of her way to attend a Korean church in Vienna. Thanks to her showing us how to buy tickets and telling us exactly which bus to take from which stop, we arrived at our accommodation with ease.
I'm already looking forward to exploring this place!!
My first impression of Bratislava is that it's a very calm and quiet city overall.