Cigarettes, Car Exhaust, & Perfume

A lot went on since my previous post. For starters, some of the Polish "Buddies" (not mine, but a few others) intended on taking us to some kind of club last night that would have a special on inexpensive beers; turns out we came on the wrong night and it was actually not when the deal was going on and there was heavy metal music being played. We instead went to a pizza-type place that had a bar and it was karaoke night. There was a coat check for 2 PLN (I am not used to the coat/bag/miscellaneous belonging checks that I see all over and are usually not free, from restaurants to the mall). I had a Red Bull (said there was sugar-free on the menu, but the bartender did not have any). We picked a song to sing for the Buddies and they picked a song for us: there's was "Wanna Be" by the Spice Girls and ours was "Unbreak My Heart" by Toni Braxton. We also sang "I Want It That Way" by the Backstreet Boys and some others sang "Killing Me Softly" by the Fugees. There were not too many people at this place, but there was one guy who did several solos and many in our group were talking about him being good (I thought he was alright). After people had a few drinks and sang some, we left. Along the way to my first "klub," the Buddies purchased juices (black currant - which is not bad - and orange) in addition to hazelnut vodka; these were mixed together and I was offered a couple of sips of the currant juice and a little orange (my only alcohol of the night, but the same cannot be said for the others in the group). We went to a "klub" - Underground: http://www.under.pl/#/Imprezy - and danced for a while (some also drank). It was VERY busy, crowded, loud, and hot. The music was a mix of 80s, 90s, and recent - most being songs I am familiar with but there were a few Polish ones thrown in as well. We were there a few hours before heading back to the hostel and making it back around 4, sadly to have to go to class at 9:30. This was my first time on a night bus and everyone who went out made it back, but using various transportation methods. :) I was glad to go with at least one other in my group and we were shown how to come back by a few Buddies.

We all went directly to bed and those who went out had a "great" time waking up this morning. :-P I did not take a shower until now, so I had some interesting smells attached to me (in particular stuck in my hair): cigarette fumes, car exhaust... and I added Givenchy perfume, haha. I chose to shower later to not have to rush as much in the morning, even if a shower could have possibly woken me up a bit more. Unfortunately, the guy who puts out the breakfast foods seemed to be a few minutes later than usual and put out just paczki (jelly donuts) and other pastries rather than bread, meat, and cheese. Everything else was the same (hot water to make tea or coffee, dry cereals, juice, yogurt), so I had yogurt and grabbed some of my own purchased food before quickly sipping some tea and heading out the door with most of the other beginning Polish class (I will stay with them until possibly joining an Intermediate at SGH when their classes begin in a couple of weeks). We made it to Polish a couple of minutes late and had to say sorry for being late/delay in Polish before we began our lesson ("Przepraszam za spoznienie"). Today we reviewed and learned more object names (I already knew nearly every one, but I do not mind the class too much to help solidify fundamentals) and grammar/verb conjugations with speaking and answering/making questions.

After the lesson, we had one class presentation before we went to a nearby cafe for lunch since we had only about 90 minutes or so before two class presentations back-to-back to finish our day. We went to a place called PAPU (http://restauracjapapu.pl/). I had cucumber soup with dill, potatoes, and little other vegetables in it; both me and another person who ordered it expected a chilled soup, but it was actually hot. I also had a salad with chicken livers (thought I would try this - did not care for this much. The texture is really soft and the flavor is reminiscent of dark meat a bit. Sad that I tried something new and did not enjoy it), mixed lettuces, tomato wedges, cucumber slices, red onions, a toasted bulka (roll) and honey-balsamic dressing:

It's sad when I pick something with meat and I am let down. :( The rest of the salad was good aside from the liver and the soup was pretty good as well.

After lunch ended (it was a nicer restaurant, so we had to wait a bit and ended up using most of our free time), we went back to Malinova (ice cream!) and some people had a scoop - I opted out due to the cold and not being too hungry after our meal. We then had the final two presentations - a literature class and a politics class - before coming back to the hostel in the snow (it was so wet and gray and dirty/muddy - it is strange how the snow does not stick so it becomes more wet than simply snowy). I have been relaxing since then since I did not have much sleep last night. :-P We move out of the hostel Monday morning! I am looking forward to this weekend and wondering what we may be up to - museum visits, Palace of Culture and Science... We are all looking forward to living in the dorm and the gyms there and on campus. Plus, I know a few of us are excited about trying yoga here. I have been too tired and/or busy in the cramped hostel to barely even stretch. :( At least we have had some walking time. :-D I chose my classes, so I believe I will take Polish Society and Politics, Polish Post-War Literature (Search for Identity), Jews in Poland and the Holocaust, History of Central Europe 1879-Present, and Polish (of course). Our schedule for next week has been sent to us: Polish every day and I have the class on Jews once and the Politics class twice (due to working at different schools and breaks and commitments, we begin the literature course the following week and the Central European History class in March). That gives me five classes related to Poland/Eastern or Central Europe for beginning my new minor :) (Russian and Eastern European Studies).

I think that is about all for now!