Slovakia Today, English Language Current Affairs Programme from Slovak Radio

A recap of what happened last week and some highlights from our best stories.

Ben and Patka discuss the week, look ahead to what is happening next week and of course read some letters and play some music for you.

In today’s show, we explore Matus and Hana’s summer working adventure in the USA, sharing their experiences and cultural insights. We also dive into how young people from Slovakia and abroad perceive traditional Slovak food, drinks, and common stereotypes.

In the interview for Radio Slovakia International, Daniel Bunda talks about his experiences as a young Romani man coming from eastern Slovakia to Bratislava. The LEAF Academy alumni mentions his time with the Divé Maky NGO that helps talented Romani students in Slovakia as well as his passion for media as one of the presenters of the Media Incubator project. Daniel is currently focusing on his studies at The Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava.

This week Ben Pascoe talks with economist and historian Andrej Svorenčík about the state of Slovakia Today. They discuss the state of the economy and what the strike alert means for culture in Slovakia.

In this Monday show, Patka is going to talk to the general director and headmaster of the newly opened high school Skyro, that is the first one in Europe focused on AI technologies. You are also going to hear an opinion of experts from Národný inštitút vzdelávania a mládeže about incorporating the AI into the education as we know it.

Patka

Ben and Patka look at interesting happenings from the past week while looking ahead to what is happening in Slovakia in the upcoming week. They also read some letters and play some music for you.

We will take you on an audio-tour of the manor house, where the noble family of Pálffy is historically connected with its origins. Later, in the second half of the 20th century, the manor house was briefly used as a barracks and then as a hospital. In 2007, the town of Malacky became the owner of the building and is still working on its renovation.

Light pollution is an increasingly widespread problem that has profound, negative effects on the human body and the natural world. This fact has led some to push for measures that aim to mitigate these effects. The first to recognize the problem and call for change were astronomers.

In this episode, we travel to the darkest place in Slovakia, Poloniny dark sky park, to experience something most people have never seen, true1 darkness. There, on a remote hill sits the Astronomical Observatory on Kolonica Saddle where a handful of astronomers are attempting to preserve the night sky while teaching the public about the harms of light pollution. Along with those scientists we spoke with students and visitors about the joys of stargazing.