Easter Weekend

Wesołych Świąt Wielkanocnych! Wszystkiego Najlepszego z okazji Wielkanocy i Smacznego Jajka.
[My rough translation: Happy Easter! All the best on the Easter occasion and tasty eggs! - The last part is a Polish phrase for the holiday. :-P]

I am here in Świebodzin (the place of my mother's birth, close to the Polish-German border and the Polish cities Poznan and Zielona Gora) celebrating Easter with family (my first Easter in Poland, of course). Yesterday I packed and took the train; I have a guest room at the house of my mother's cousin (his house with his wife and daughters is very nice and they are all wonderful hosts). Today I visited the famous Jesus statue here and walked around the town a bit (lunch included a seafood soup and Nicoise-like salad at an Italian restaurant; I liked the soup since I quite enjoy anything with tomatoes - broth, sauce, sun-dried tomatoes, cooked tomatoes, raw tomatoes... - and seafood).

The BIG Jesus statue of Swiebodzin, walking distance from where I am staying right now and a good "person" to celebrate the holiday with... since it is HIS death and rebirth ;) [picture from Internet, but I do have a few pictures with it from today with me and others as well - too bad I look funny with the wind blowing my hair around :-/]

I watched the movie "Chloe" at my relatives' house and we chatted a bit; I showed some pictures of friends, family, and other students here. We hung around the house (lots of Polish practice :-D ) and relaxed (now watching "Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events" dubbed in Polish on TV) since tomorrow a lot more family members are coming to visit. I think Monday we may go out somewhere if the weather is nice - cannot remember the name of the place - and then I take a bus to Legnica on Tuesday.

I am in the process of earning Polish citizenship (dual with my natural US citizenship) so that I can be part of the European Union, which would mean cheaper tuition in member states in case I decide to go to a graduate school here. It also means easier travel between countries.

I am very excited for certain people in the US to join me here in Europe. ;) I am also the only one on my program who has yet to leave Poland for at least a couple of days (I do not mind this fact), but being taken out of the country (as my family will take me) is a lot easier than doing it myself alone or with other students here. :-P