Under the communists, it employed 10,000, but now employs only 2,000. The town is in a valley surrounded by the Carpapthian Mts. It was a center on ancient trade routes bewteen Poland to the north and Hungary to the south. Surrounding the town are fields where potatoes and beets are grown. Robert thinks that this is the most beautiful area of Slovakia and quite different from Nitra which is located on the broad north edge of the broad Danubian plane.
Primary school is for the first eight years.
Students are required to take at least two more years of schooling. In Slovakia, high schools are smaller and may offer two, three or four year programs. The two and three year programs are in practical or trade education and persons taking these programs cannot enter the univeristy but go directly into jobs. The four year programs are offered in high schools called gymnasia and prepare students for entry into one of the 18 universites in Slovakia. Depending on the size of the town in which they live and the student's educational goal, they often must leave home at age 14 to go to a high school in another town offering an appropriate program.