The year is 1995, a few years after the fall of the Berlin Wall. This has led to a whole new way of life in former Soviet satellite countries like Slovakia. Mike Fox was privileged to accompany a group of students, who went out from the UK into the country, to experience a changing culture, as Slovakia enthusiastically emerged into the ways of the western world. The UK students also enjoyed their new-found social contacts with their Slovak student counterparts, a process that was no doubt aided by liberal access to ‘pivo’, which is the Slovak word for beer, and which became an appropriate strap line for the tour. It turned out to be a never-to-be forgotten experience.