The Grassalkovich Garden in centre of Bratislava (source: Sme)
“I could not be a poet without the natural world. Someone else could. But not me. For me the door to the woods is the door to the temple.”
— Mary Oliver
"Would you be willing to relocate to Slovakia?" asked the HR manager at the end of a successful job interview.
I thought about it for a second. "Sure, why not?" I replied.
I had applied for a remote position, and I didn’t know anything about Slovakia, but all of a sudden the idea of moving, once again, to a completely unexplored area sparked some excitement in me and in my itchy feet.
Funny enough, only a few months before that life-changing conversation, I had met a couple who was travelling around Europe in a van. When asked about their favourite country, they had exchanged an intimate look and stated: "Slovakia was unreal". They had then described the breath-taking scenery and forests, and talked about ‘The Slovak paradise’ as the most enchanting place on Earth.
Upon agreeing on moving to Bratislava, I could feel the adrenaline rising: I had spent the previous 7 years in really warm countries, and, although I was definitely scared at the idea of having to buy a coat and face the winter, I was looking forward to walking in forests and finally being in nature.
Needless to say, I was not disappointed.
Falling in love with Slovakia
On my first day in Bratislava, I sat on a window in my new home. I remember noticing how the trees, in their variety of shapes and colours, were moved by a light breeze, so that their arm-like branches were softly knocking on the double glass window, as if to get my attention.
That was just the beginning of my obsession for the trees of Bratislava.
After years of sweaty and dehydrating attempts to walk in desertic landscapes, I couldn’t believe I could now go out and be in the woods in just a few minutes.
I kept walking from park to park, from forest to forest, just admiring the unbelievable beauty of nature in this part of the world.
Watching the city from the TV tower in Kamzik was a transformative experience: never before had I seen such a web of trees. It was like being in a chapter from The Lord of the Rings, the one where the Ents start talking and moving very slowly. That’s how it felt from up there: an army of trees, a forest eating the city, and making it look small, humble, almost trivial in comparison to the majesty of nature.
Nature and her rules
I have always found the alternation of the seasons deeply unsettling and disturbing, but in Slovakia I rediscovered the magic of it, and learned to appreciate the cycle of life and death in its mutable colours and shapes. I felt like a child while playing with the autumn foliage on the street and watching the squirrels jumping among the trees; in December I enjoyed the spectacle of the city getting white, gently covered by a blanket of snow, just like in the fairy tales that my mum used to read us at night. I also built my very first snowman, or at least I tried. And then, almost unexpectedly, spring literally exploded, and - in the midst of the blooming of colours and perfumes- my heart was finally reunited with the sunshine, its natural element.
Pretty soon, I found my favourite trees, the ones in the Presidential gardens: those trees witnessed all of my moods, all my petty little dramas and several of my conversations with friends. They protected me from the rain whenever I left the house without an umbrella, and provided me with some shade on the hottest days. They were also the trees that nurtured me when I received the sad news of my grandfather’s death. I remember that walk to the park, early in the morning: it wasn’t unlike my usual strolls in that area, but that day the trees became my refuge, my nest, and I could strongly feel my grandfather’s presence in each one of them.
Do I miss living in warm countries? Very much. Do I constantly complain about being cold? On a daily basis. But in no other place I have felt this level of connection with nature.
That’s what I love the most about being here: the trees, the flowers, the colours, the infinite sky, the forest with its inhabitants, the lakes and the Danube… constant reminders of where we really come from and of what really matters.
The author of the blog is Giada Cortese, who comes from Italy. Currently, she is a language teacher at the Bridge English Language Centre in Bratislava, Slovakia.
