Zuzana Čaputová spent a few months in the USA at Stanford University, where she worked as a visiting member of the Institute for International Studies. Her stay behind the big puddle was made more pleasant by the visits of her two daughters, and after them, her partner Juraj Rizman came to see her. In the discussion about the book Nestratiť sa, she described to herself the experience from the university and what she experienced in the last months.
The discussion with Čaputová and the editor-in-chief of the Czech weekly Respekt Erik Tabery took place right after her return to Slovakia, which she managed to do before Christmas. “For the last few months, my academic place of work has been Stanford University. There I met several world-class scientific capacities, amazing professors, exceptional students, as well as many successful Slovak and Czech managers and entrepreneurs. They were great, inspiring meetings,” she wrote on Instagram after arriving home.
She described what she experienced during that period and what she learned. “Staying at Stanford was an amazing life experience. I am very grateful and glad for it, because it was extremely stimulating, interesting, inspiring. What I did… was many things, it was meetings, lectures, discussions with students, with professors. But I also had time to research, study, analyze, which I really enjoy,” she admitted again during the discussion.
She was interested in the topic of regulation of social networks and the concept of polarization of society. But the extremely intense period also took its toll on Čaputová. “I even managed, out of enthusiasm, to get myself into a situation where I was cut and paralyzed” said the ex-president now with a laugh. “I had to literally switch off and lie down and do nothing for a while. Then I calmed down a bit” she added.
Then she returned to Slovakia for good. “I’m here. I’m here at home and I’m looking forward to being with my loved ones. I won’t be coming backI was supposed to go back there for a month, or to continue during December and January, but I wanted to be home for Christmas and I evaluated it in such a way that I won’t go back there for January. The option to go is there, but I decided to be here and closer. I want to be helpful in some way in Slovakia, with potential jumps to Europe,” Čaputová clarified her reasons.
