QUICK UPDATE

-Took 5 Polish classes (6th and final is tonight, but they are playing games and I am not in the mood physically to drive to Ansonia heehee) and they were a neat way of working on Polish (pronunciation, alphabet, nouns/vocab, grammar, etc.)

-In terms of classes, I have gone to NYC twice (soon will be three times) for field trips through my Honors class. I love going there and the short train ride from school is great. Too bad we were hit with bad weather each time (luckily just near the end of the first trip but not so lucky with the second trip being full of snow in October). I am also working on a capstone/independent study (which will also merge into my Senior Honors Program Project) for my Russian & Eastern European Studies minor in which I am writing a paper on Poland and the European Union. My internship at an international institute for helping new Americans is a mix of learning experiences and chaos. It has some value, but also a lot of frustrating moments. I do gain some from it, especially when it comes to crazy stories to tell...

-Almost time to register for Spring courses. I will take mostly psych courses since I am basically done with all requirements except for having enough credits and classes (just a couple shy for each). I think I will take some classes to help with what I may do next (intro to management, organizational/industrial psych, another internship). I also spoke recently with a business professor and she is helping me look at my options, especially when it comes to schools in Poland that would be better to apply to in terms of recognition. She gave me the good thought to contact schools I am considering to ask of any American students who have gone through the same programs before.

One Week

"Bloom" by Pogo

Neat remix/mash-up of Disney songs into one neat mix.

http://www.pogomix.net/

Already just one week left until move-in day. Not much going on lately other than reading "The Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follett (which means more Prior Philip, Tom Builder, and  - especially - Jack Jackson enjoyment, haha). I have begun some buying/packing/prepping for moving back to school next Wednesday (plus I'll be in a townhouse again, which is much easier than being in any dorm - own kitchen, own bathroom, own living/dining space) or dealing with "real life" rentals on the beach or elsewhere off-campus; apartments are not too different from townhouses I'd assume). I have my textbooks bought or rented for pick-up on campus; I did some clothes shopping and collecting of past semesters' dorm items, which leaves actual packing of said items into boxes and suitcase(s) before packing a car. Plus, GRE practice has sadly had to begin as I have just over one month until my test date. I will also begin Polish lessons (it is an adult enrichment class in a nearby town to my school, just under 30 minutes away; other world language classes were Spanish and Italian, but there might be others as well; other classes for adults ranged from fitness/health-related: Zumba and the like, to gardening, cooking, art, and business skills); classes will be weekly for six weeks on Monday evenings for two hours, beginning at the end of September and ending probably by late October/early November (depending on if there will be classes on Columbus Day and Halloween). I attempted to do some work in my Polish books that I have from classes while abroad, but it helped much more when I was not only immersed, but also doing more guided lessons in a class with a teacher; giving myself homework made it too tempting to just look at answers since the book does not give quite enough guidance or instruction - it is much easier to have someone to help explain the grammar. One more weekend is left to spend time with family, then off to CT (where I will have one more family weekend when visitors come for Labor Day weekend a couple of days later).

Coming Soon...

Finally watched "The Way Back" and it was pretty good. Some of characters are Polish, including the main character Janusz (Jim Sturgess). The story is about men who escape a gulag in Siberia and trek all the way to India through Mongolia, China, and Tibet. The film left me with some questions that I had to research online after the movie ended. It had a lot of important facts - not just from during WWII, but also after about such events as Prague Spring and Solidarity - that I generally already knew, but they are still not widely known in history classes taught in America, so it is valuable for the audience to learn.

I am working on my last paper for the spring semester. After that, I need to begin thinking about some work I will begin in the fall.

Some posts I am planning to do:
-Recommendations (food, stores, restaurants, museums, tourist/interesting places to see - mainly in Poland, Warsaw especially)
-Future travel and possible plans to go back to Poland in 2012
-Further Polish lessons
-School (and thoughts about grad school)
-Summer reading and events

Fall

Still a bit jet-lagged, but now is the time to finish up my work from the spring semester. I have two more papers to complete (one entire paper for Polish politics and less than half left to finish for the other in Central European - mainly Polish - history). Some aspects of Europe have been maintained at home, such as eating borscht a couple of days after coming back when my Babcia/grandma made it. Also, I still drink some sparkling water and eat salads/surowki. But I have also welcomed back items I did not have abroad: Kashi cereal, almond milk, On Demand television...

I spent the last few days catching up on a few television shows (The Office, Parks & Recreation, some Castle, United States of Tara...) and beginning Game of Thrones.

There is a lot to like and some that I do not like about this show. I like some characters (Ned Stark, Jon Snow, Tyrion Lannister, Arya Stark, the dire wolves, Samwell), while others are terrible. Some parts of the storyline are a bit strange or gross, but the show still remains to be good as I watch around the scenes where you wonder if certain views are necessary...

There are also some movies I need to catch up on. The Hangover Part II was quite good, but used an identical model to the first movie with a few changes. However, the writers know what worked for the first film, so why do too much differently for the second film; this is about entertainment at the end of the day. And everyone laughed a lot in my theatre.

Once I finish my two papers, I will read a lot more. I finished a few magazines, but I have books I need to go back to. I also have new Polish instructors and homework: my mother and grandmother are now going to give me written work out of the book and workbook I used during the spring, plus I was told to watch Polish television and practice more speaking and listening.

Something for travelers:
These trips sound really interesting
http://escapetoshape.com/

The Suburbs

Legnica was fun as usual. :) It was nice to see more of it from my last two visits and to experience the town with family again. We spent some time hanging out with friends of my mother's on Saturday (went to their house, saw a swimming trophy award ceremony and business picnic, and back to their house - including a great soccer match) and Sunday (going to a really nice public park and local palace for lunch [http://www.palackrotoszyce.pl/; I had bullion soup with little meat dumplings and then a salad made of green beans, sliced turkey, and sun-dried tomatoes] before hanging out in their backyard garden for the afternoon/evening (I also played around with a mini golf set with the young daughter)). It was sad to say goodbye, as usual, but there are always possibilities to return sooner for more visits (and maybe even a closer location to western Poland than months in Warsaw).  Sunday afternoon and night I watched my first partial episodes of "The Flintstones" in Polish and Polish "X-Factor," which is basically "American Idol" with some differences. Monday was spent mostly traveling back to Warsaw after hotel breakfast (seeing mostly countryside and small towns after a brief trip through some of Wroclaw early on), with a stop at a fruit stand and a lunch bar along the way (I had red borscht and a sampling of different sides/surowki - shredded beets, shredded carrots, and a little salad). The weather has been lovely the last few days with warm temperatures and sunshine. We now have given up the rented car, collected all of our luggage (including what I stored in Warsaw at school), and arrived at our final hotel near the airport (after some brief issues on the road with traffic and/or construction). Tomorrow is our last full day in Warsaw before an early flight on Wednesday morning. I have some school work to do and a bit of planning for the final day, along with relaxing in the hotel room (such as watching Polish TV).

Jak Byka Kartofel

Last couple of days in Warsaw (other than another short stay pre-flight in about a week and a half). Yesterday was spent packing, going to Loving Hut for lunch (with a stop for a tiny bit of Malinova ice cream shop gelato-like ice cream/sorbet (apparently extra healthy from the sign about it and Italian-looking with the name 'Rosso'), and then heading to the airport. After picking up family and the car, we drove to our hotel - first hotel stay in Warsaw for me. :) After some relaxing, we went to Old Town and some of the city center. We had dinner at a restaurant in the rynek of Stare Miasto/Old Town (I had red borscht soup with a weird baked pancake with meat paste inside that I did not like and did not finish; I also had a salad with tuna, olives, tomatoes, lettuce, and cucumber). It was nice weather and we had a chance to go by the castle, some monuments and churches, and near the President's Palace. Today, after hotel breakfast, we went to the "state" office, where I learned that I was not fully prepared for gaining Polish dual citizenship unless I lived here a bit longer, in which case I would need my documents in English translated to Polish. I could go to do this procedure where my mother last lived in Poland (Legnica), but I would also need translated documents there. Otherwise, it might be best for me to do this at the consulate in NYC. Once we finished there, we packed up and fully moved out of my dorm, giving up my card, key, and bed linens when the room was checked over. We left one suitcase with the coat room for my program director to keep in his office while we travel around. Once we dropped off some luggage at the hotel, we left for Nowy Swiat Street and lunch at a milk bar (I had some bean soup - being called 'bean' does not mean 'meatless,' since it had pieces of pork or bacon - that was OK and a sampling of 'surowki,' which are basically different sides or pickled and/or shredded vegetables such as lettuce, carrots, cucumbers/pickles, and such that are normally used as sides in dishes. Most of them were good). We walked around a little before going to Lazienki Park; we saw (and heard) some pretty peacocks, the palace, and some monuments (Sobieski and Chopin). We then went to Nowe Miasto/New Town to a cafe before now relaxing at the hotel for a bit before going to dinner later. More to come (including a few pictures to be added soon)...

The End Has No End

Quick note since I have sunshine outside I need to enjoy and some packing, so I just wanted to jot down some quick points of the last day or so. I took the Polish exam and then went out for a bit. I checked out the Warsaw University Library (garden and rooftop). Not only gorgeous, but amazing views. After that, I went to the cytadel area before heading back to the dorm for a few minutes. A little after 5PM, I went to Old Town, where we all met for dinner at POLKA [http://www.restauracjapolka.pl/en]. I had some broth soup with noodles (rosol) and a salad with neat tomato sauce, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and the famous Zakopane OSCYPEK (smoked cheese), which was grilled on some small pieces of bread. This was my first time having the cheese since I was a bit nervous based on the testimonials of others. :-P It was not terrible, but WAY too salty and the smokiness was not too bad; I had the main issue that our director has with it: the salt. We gave our program directors flowers and cards. In exchange, we were given tote bags with gifts inside (krowki - Polish butter caramel candies - in a tin and SGH pin and pen and yo-yo), in addition to a whole several course dinner with champagne toast. After a long dinner, the whole group when to the SGH student club, PARK. (Terrible beer comes with the entry free... the beer was worse than I remember when I had a few sips a couple of months ago...) Today I am about the head out for lunch and I receive guests very soon! :-D

Some photos added to Photobucket. :)

Maps

"Wait, they don't love you like I love you... maps..."

My thoughts today were about the song "Maps" by Yeah Yeah Yeahs. It can sometimes be easier to stick to a bus ride when you want to go somewhere than to figure out alternatives on-the-spot (sometimes luck or something else comes into play and a map is not needed, but that did not happen today for me). The weather was gray, cool, and rainy (more so in the afternoon a little bit after I decided to venture out). I wanted to do something today other than schoolwork, so I decided to go to Wilanow Palace since the palace has free entry on Sundays and most of my ideas would require the outdoors, but this one had a chance of being inside as well. I was out and did not grab a bus near me, so I took a Metro ride and some walking before giving up in the rain and heading back using a long bus and then tram ride. :-P. Saw some of the city and had a lot of rain on me, but it is okay.

Tomorrow is the beginning of the last school week (and the last Monday). Time for me to head back to working on this silly, lazy Sunday. Just learned not to forget my map next time I go someplace where I may need it. :-P Before I left, I did catch up on "Parks & Recreation" and "The Office," plus a little "Community" (I am a bit more behind on that one).

Parks & Recreation

Part of "Grass" by Animal Collective:
I was very nervous how I felt in there
I was very cautious when you said "hey there"
Would you like to see me often
Though you don't need to see me often
Because I'd like to see you, often!
Though I don't need to see you, often!



Today, I began my day with a Polish lesson, during which we were given our practice tests to work on for next week's final exam. We then had a lesson on Zakopane (people, culture - food, music, clothes, art, animals, etc.) and Polish slang. Since the weather was so nice, I decided to head outside and go the Lazienki Park. I am glad to see it now that winter is over (last time I went inside the park was my first full day here at the end of January). The trees are flowering, the animals are out, the sun is shining... it was a nice day to walk around and see most of  the monuments and other sites around the park. After my walk, my program had a meeting; we talked about our trip to Lublin Friday to Saturday (our train departs Friday at about 9AM, to arrive less than 2.5 hours later; we are staying at Hotel Europa: http://www.hoteleuropa.pl/en/; We will almost immediately begin our tour of Lublin - mainly places of Jewish significance - after we check-in and drop off our luggage. In the evening, we have a group dinner at Mandragora Restaurant: http://www.mandragora.lublin.pl/, which apparently is Jewish cuisine to fit with the trip's theme/purpose of Jewish education.) Saturday, we have breakfast at the hotel before a tour of Majdanek concentration camp. Our train back to Warsaw is at about noon, so we can prepare for Night of the Museums and have some time to ourselves. Also, we received information at the meeting about our final dinner (Wednesday evening in Old Town), our program evaluation, and finishing the semester - checking out of the dorm, finishing classes, etc.

Only one more day of classes this week, plus I need to finish a paper before leaving for our Lublin trip. :-/ After that, I have classes and one test next week, plus 3 final papers that need to be completed by early June.

Photos from today on Photobucket...

Mistaken For Strangers

Interesting day. The weather was nice, but I did not have much of a chance to enjoy it because of my class schedule. It was a bit awkward to have classes again, although not too strange. I had a Polish lesson, where I had to go back to learning the details of Polish grammar. We learned more information about our Polish exam sometime next week (our last week) and that our class on Wednesday will include everyone on the program, where we will learn about Polish slang. I later had a history class (we learned our papers are due at the beginning of June and are much more personal and liberal in topic; we select what we want to write about based upon what we learned in class and from our experiences abroad; our actual lesson was about Prague Spring) and a politics class (again, another open-ended, personal choice topic. Similar to the paper in politics - in terms of due date, length, using course material - except about politics and foreign relations; today we learned about foreign relations between Poland and other countries after the fall of Communism). My Jews in Poland class was cancelled due to the professor's illness (both today and tomorrow classes are cancelled with a make-up tentatively set for Thursday; out trip to Lublin, so far, is unchanged - to be from Friday to Saturday). We had a paper for the Jewish class due tomorrow, but since the teacher is sick, there has been a loose extension for the paper, set to be due by the end of the week. :)

The extra time I had from cancellation of my Jewish class meant that I could eat dinner earlier, begin the long tirade of laundry work, and watch "Source Code" [it was quite good...]. Now I am up to finishing laundry and WORK. I have four papers, readings, some Polish work, and studying (for the Polish exam) to do the next couple of weeks...

Polish poster, where it is called "Code of Immortality" (in Polish)

Quote of the Day: “We don't receive wisdom; we must discover it for ourselves.”

—  Marcel Proust

Source Code

Have not written since Tuesday, so I have some bits to fill in from the last few days in Krakow. On Wednesday, we went on a trip around Wawel Castle - the royal tombs, rooms full of weaponry (I was pretty interested in the weapons, especially the swords...), the castle itself (where, in one room, people wore period clothes and sang or used archaic instruments to perform a song), and the cathedral. It was really nice, but sadly no pictures were allowed of most of it. :-/ After the tour, I had my first Krakowian pretzel (obwarzanek; it had a mixture of seeds and such on it) and a vegetarian kebab (basically a regular kebab without meat or cheese or falafel - so lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, tahini-like sauce in a roll). I walked around the city a bit (including going back to a famous store for my family - a deli in the rynek that has candies on one wall and alcohol on the other). For dinner, I went to a place called MOMO (it is an eco vegetarian bar), where I had a miso soup with mixed vegetables and a plate with rice, beans and onions in a sauce, spinach and tofu, and zucchini and broccoli in a sauce (the best of the three; I liked it a lot). After dinner, we all met up for a string concert at a church near the hotel. The music included pieces by Handel, Vivaldi, Chopin, and Mozart. It was really nice. On Thursday, I went out for a walk and saw a monument for a famous Polish battle and then walked a bit at a mall and around the city before taking our group bus to Oswiecim/Auschwitz. This second time at the death camp, for me, was interesting since last time I did not watch the video shown to tourists. We also had two great guides - the one from the museum and our program director (who had previously worked as a guide at the camp years ago as a summer job when still at university). I learned a lot more and had another chance to look at the camp. I did not mind going again to experience it with different people and to learn some new or additional information. Thursday night included a little going out at night to dance and to see the city when it's dark. :-P On Friday, we went on a tour of Kazimierz, the Jewish area of Krakow. The tour included a few synagogues and a cemetery (I also saw a more recent Jewish cemetery later on after I went to the nearby mall). After the mall, we all met up at the restaurant at our hotel (http://www.podwawelem.eu/), where I had some barszcz with dumplings and an oriental salad with shrimp, before catching a train ride back to Warsaw. Since then I have been relaxing since I have more "travel lag" with fatigue and aching muscles. This has led to 24 hours of nothing. I have some schoolwork to accomplish and I am in the middle of catching up on TV shows and movies I have been meaning to see or missed recently. The weather today and tomorrow are not the best for going outside a lot, so at least I do not have to feel very guilty about not leaving much. School starts again on Monday for our final two weeks!

Photos added: http://photobucket.com/kab1221

Kim i Kraków

Enjoying being back in Kraków. :) Forgot how much I really like it here. Yesterday, we had a train ride that was about 3 hours, so it went by very quickly. We checked in to our hotel (it is very close to the Wawel castle; I am sharing a pretty big room with a sitting area, TV, desk, two double beds, and balcony with view of adjacent walkway. Unfortunately I now smell a weird smell... so my only issue may be my bed. :-P There is also a very awkward "maze" to make it to the rooms and there is construction going on inside the hotel.) Yesterday, we had an Italian dinner at Da Pietro: http://www.dapietro.pl/ I had fish soup, a salad with capers, smoked salmon, hard-boiled eggs, olives, lettuce, and tomatoes, and a dessert of ice cream, strawberry sauce, fruit, and whipped cream (that I tried to skip around :-/ ).

After dinner, I walked around the rynek here (including taking photos or looking at stages, and several other displays and decorations for Constitution day on May 3 and for Pope Jan Pawel's II beatification; a lot of people and celebration here in the city for the long weekend and Pope): some streets, the Sukiennice, and area between the Old Town and the hotel. I went back to my room when the sun went down and hung around my room and other people's rooms before we went out for a bit (dancing and such). Now I am resting before going to breakfast and our first tour session of Collegium Maius (never been), back to the Sukiennice and Main Square (LOVE), and a couple of churches (also never been inside). Later on we have dinner at (I believe) a Polish restaurant named Wesele: http://www.weselerestauracja.pl/

Tomorrow is Wieliczka salt mine. I also started taking pictures yesterday and will take more today, to be added soon to probably Photobucket. :-D Weather is much cooler than what I experienced last week... but still not bad as we welcome MAY. We have a map and a guide to the city, plus free time to go with the scheduled tours. I also have some homework to do: readings for literature class, a couple of final papers to begin (since those are the two with set topics and due dates; any others I lack enough information to work on), possibly watching a movie for a class, and some Polish book and workbook exercises. I know that I have been doing at least some practice and studying of the Polish language in the last week, in preparation for the exam the final week of classes. :-P

On To The Next One

Feeling a bit of travel/train lag today. :-P I need to finishing preparing for my program's trip to Krakow tomorrow midday.

The few days I had in western Poland went by quickly: visiting "Jesus," seeing around Swiebodzin or Lagow or Sieniawa or Legnica or Wroclaw, Easter family visit/meals/gifts, music video channels, bus rides, train rides, watching movies ("Chloe" and "Limitless"), first time at Pizza Hut in Poland (it's fancy here :-P) and first gofry (with strawberry jam), shopping, listening to organ music, learning Polish, and being able to see people who had not seen in a while.

Backyard Garden in Legnica :-D

Now I am resting and preparing for a few days in the Krakow area. :-D I am also looking more at where I will be going in about a year when I finish up in Fairfield. Right now I think I might be interested in pursuing a Masters in International Management/Business. Since I am thinking Europe might be less expensive and more sensical than the US, I am researching schools mainly on this side of the Atlantic... particularly because I am in the process of earning a Polish Passport. This would mean probably going to Warsaw again or to Krakow or to Poznan [I am thinking using English and being able to continue learning more Polish while being close to friends and family again]. Some prospects include:
http://www.kozminski.edu.pl/index.php/en/graduate_ma/abe_international_master_in_mana [mostly in Warsaw, but also time in other parts of the European Union]
-maybe back to the school I am at now (SGH/Warsaw School of Economics)
-maybe the school of economics in Poznan or Wroclaw or Krakow

Bigger Than Us

Bleh weather today. I actually had coffee from a machine this morning for warmth and to wake me up a bit. It was raining when I left class (during Polish, there were issues with the disc for the movie we were supposed to watch, so we watched another series instead). We watched one episode of the series "Dekalog": http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092337/ This is a series that details one of each of the Ten Commandments in each episode.

The episode we watched was "Thou Shalt Not Steal" [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094989/]. It was about a young girl who kidnaps her "sister." Not sure I want to reveal too much. :-P A good actor from "Pan Tadeusz" was also in it. After class, I had some reimbursement money given to me and headed back to the dorm. I have a make-up class this afternoon/evening and may just hang out in my dorm until then (doing laundry tonight, unfortunately...)

Weekend trip weather: (I hope it stays closer to this rather than change to anything bad...)
http://www.weather.com/outlook/travel/businesstraveler/weekend/PLXX0005

Parliament trip is now scheduled for Tuesday morning. :)

Cool Warsaw websites:
http://warszawazadarmo.pl/
http://wrszw.pl/

Another train website:
http://www.tktelekom.pl/

Savior's Square / Plac Zbawiciela

I saw fireworks again. :)

Tomorrow, in Polish class, we are watching another film: http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117934108?refcatid=31

This weekend is the Gdansk/Gdynia/Sopot trip and then on Monday afternoon my Jews in Poland class is going on a tour of "Jewish Warsaw." In this class, we also began to watch a DVD with different clips of stories from survivors of Auschwitz. It seems the more detailed the accounts are and the more I learn about Auschwitz, the worse this place (I have already seen in person) becomes... not that a concentration camp can ever really seem any better... but it is almost unbelievable. 

My politics class had a discussion about Polish mass media today, which was interesting because we heard about different present-day magazines, television channels, and radio stations. Since I have a field trip for my Jewish class on Monday afternoon, I will sadly be missing a speaker coming to this politics class - a well-educated economist and friend of our professor. We also may go visit the parliament buildings next week with our politics professor, specific date and time in the process of being scheduled.

The weather today was very unpredictable. The last few days have been not-too-great weather-wise, but today was actually nice for a few hours mid-day. But, while I was in my last class, the sky darkened to gray and then it was chilly and began to rain on-and-off (drizzling right now). I hope the weekend weather on the Baltic is nice for our touring!

HollyŁódź

My day in Łódź was a lot of fun, especially when the weather would agree with me. :-P Before my trip, my program's assistant director gave me a great map to the city: http://www.use-it-lodz.pl/ [comes from this website, which has other places: http://www.use-it.be/europe/ since we also have a great Warsaw one: http://www.use-it-warsaw.pl/] that was very helpful. Łódź is a nice place for a shorter trip (or even longer if you have the time) since the train ride is a little over two hours there (so under five hours total travel since the trains tend to be late arriving when I board or disembark) and a lot of the main places for food, shopping, visiting, etc. are along one main street or not too far from it; this street is Piotrkowska [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piotrkowska_Street]. There is more than one train station in the Łódź area and the one I arrived at and departed from (Łódź Kaliska) was not bad at all (better than Torun, but not as nice as the main or central ones in Wroclaw and Warszawa, but those have more construction; it also had small kiosks, stores, vending machines: food, HOT DRINKS - I love these (for me, they're more for soup and tea) and the US needs more of them, and cold drinks). I walked along this main street and I went to a fantastic commercial spot called Manufaktura: http://www.manufaktura.com/ It was created from a former factory and became multi-purpose: a mall, bowling alley, museums - such as about the factory's history, galleries, restaurants, a movie theatre, and more. It was probably one of the nicest malls I have ever seen and it is so cool how the exterior factory-look was maintained. It was there that I had lunch at my go-to food chain (everyone else on my program tends to go to McDonalds wherever they go, but I like the Polish vegetarian food chain Green Way: greenway.pl and I just tend to select different menu items when I go - this time Krupnik soup: http://www.kwestiasmaku.com/kuchnia_wloska/krupnik/krupnik.html, a croquette filled with cabbage and covered in a mushroom sauce:http://greenway.pl/pl/katalog/dania_glowne/krokiet_z_kapusta_i_grzybami, with salads on the side: shredded carrots, shredded beets, a coleslaw-like other one); I am in a very Catholic country and it must be the leniency - authorized by the Pope - on meatless Fridays during most of Lent (mainly Good Friday as the one to be meat-free) that allows more Poles to be lenient themselves. I am one of the main people I have seen who stick to every Friday being meatless when I can, so many a Pole can be seen at KFC, kebab stands, McDonalds... Later, I walked around the mall and a few stores, such as grabbing some drinks, gum, and snacks at a real: http://www.real.de/real-startseite.html - a European supermarket and then went to a small market called Alma: http://www.almamarket.pl/ because it began to rain while I was inside the main part of the mall and I wanted to stall for time... but ended up walking in some rain anyway. The tough parts about rain are the loss of peripheral vision with a hood and the fear of being poked by umbrellas. Plus, it was very windy, so I saw some difficulty with using umbrellas when they would fold the wrong way. It was cloudy when I left Warsaw, sunny from the train window, and then cloudy, windy, and cool when I left the train until it began to rain when I was inside the mall (stopping sometime later before starting again). I walked along Piotrkowska Street (it stopped raining for a bit and began again shortly before heading to the train station as it began to darken earlier from the lack of sun and abundance of clouds) and I even stopped inside of some neat stores: a Polish folk store - full of Krakowiaka dresses and painted eggs and Polish stoneware - and this interesting market with one floor a grocery (with a candy/alcohol counter ;) ) and the upstairs a weird market considered a "Chinese Market." It simply had a weird hodgepodge of items and made me have that "where am I?" feeling. There are even some "stars" along Piotrkowska (http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleja_Gwiazd_w_%C5%81odzi), a la Hollywood's Walk of Fame, but this one is smaller (only a few - not many - blocks on both sides of the street) and for Poles.

Not my picture ;)

I really liked this city a lot and I was glad to go, although it would have been cool to see the Corning, Inc. establishment there (since then my parents could tell their coworkers that their daughter had seen/visited an international location :-P). It would have been fun to stay longer since there were some sites left to see, but it was a pleasant trip. :) I did not see any of the museums or some places (ghetto, cemeteries, forests, some parks, some monuments, some important buildings/sites) farther from my train station, Manufaktura, or Piotrkowska Street. There also was an IKEA at a mall nearby. :-P ;) So, a longer time there could have been spent.

Pictures on Twitpic: http://twitpic.com/photos/kab1221

Since the weather is not-so-great (a bit windy, cool, cloudy, and drizzling on-and-off), I will not go out too much. I may wait and see how the weather is tomorrow before making definite plans (also because of it being the Smolensk anniversary), other than going to the classical performance at 6pm. I have been interested in seeing a movie, so there is a chance I will do that tonight or tomorrow. I also have a little homework to finish up before Monday or Tuesday. There is also an episode of "Castle" I have yet to watch and a new show called "The Borgias" that might fill the void left by "The Pillars of the Earth" (which I still might read one day).

You Are A Tourist / Danzig

Today is cloudy, cool, and may rain later. I only have one class later in the afternoon. Before that, I have to pick up some items from the CIEE office. After class, it is the weekend. :) Plans include, a day-trip to Łódź tomorrow and going to see some parks (if the weather allows, of course) on Saturday and Sunday, before I go to a classical music performance on Sunday evening (which is the anniversary of the Smoleńsk plane crash, so our group was warned about demonstrations and other activity going on that day, especially near the Presidential Palace).


Yesterday, our CIEE group had a meeting about our trip next weekend to Gdańsk (also with stops in the other two of the "Three Cities": Gdynia and Sopot). We leave Friday morning (not early!) for a train ride that is about five-and-a-half hours. We are staying at a hostel (Dom Muzyka: http://www.dom-muzyka.pl/) and will go out to dinner on Friday to a place that serves local (Kashubian) cuisine (Velevetka: http://www.velevetka.pl/). On Saturday we have breakfast at the hostel (which is apparently well-reviewed by previous students) before going on a day of tours: Gdańsk's Old Town and the Museum of Solidarity. We have some of the afternoon off before dinner in the evening at Kresowa (which is more international cuisine to represent all of the different kinds of people who came to the city because of its commercial importance). On Sunday, another breakfast before touring Sopot (one main attraction for us Americans seems to be this: http://2bored4fun.blogspot.com/2009/05/crooked-house-in-sopot-poland.html) and Gdynia. We have lunch in Sopot before going on a train in the afternoon back to Warsaw.

Lions & Tigers & Bears... Oh My

Today, I went to the zoo here in Warsaw. It was both beautiful and terrible: most of the animals were gorgeous (as was the weather), but I feel so bad to see them in their cages or exhibit areas and the fact that most of the animals are not natural inhabitants of this part of the world but live here anyway with some adjustments. I particularly enjoyed the bears (so lovely), seals (so playful), lions (man, their roars are loud), tigers (one had a supermodel strut), bison, lemurs, rhino, elephants, giraffes, and red panda. A few of the animals, probably from living in a zoo, are very friendly to people and come very close (especially the goats and bison). Some of the areas were smelly :) and the zoo is definitely worth a visit since there is so much to see (I think I saw every bit except a building that had a spider decoration on the outside, so I avoided that for a reason :) ). I really was glad to go, especially after reading a book about the family who maintained the zoo during WWII (there is even a small marker dedicated to the husband of that family to commemorate the years he was the zoo's director). It was neat learning new words since there were some animals that I did not really know their names in Polish or how to say their names. Some I already knew, so it was just a bit of review for me. After the park, I had a quick dinner at the vegetarian chain Green Way (cabbage soup, kasza/brown rice, shredded red cabbage, shredded carrots, shredded white cabbage/coleslaw, cooked vegetables with sauce) and picked up a few items at a grocery store before heading back to the dorm. Sadly, the weekend is almost over. I am now planning more of my Spring Break. Only two classes tomorrow (Polish and Jews in Poland) and then one the next day (history) (missing one - literature - to go on a field trip to a Jewish cemetery with another - Jews in Poland).

Today's pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/60142466@N03/sets/72157626295524705/

Did it Geoffrey's (AKA the BEST) way. ;)

Todd Packer

Today, I went on a bit of a duck hunt... only this duck is gold, wears a crown, and is a monument. :-P Part of my homework for Polish class was to find this monument and to take its picture. I researched online to find its location and headed there before my afternoon class. It took a while since the weather was not the best (pretty windy, gray sky, a bit chilly, no sunshine) and I decided to just jump on one of the first buses to come in front of my dorm. I took it to a stop close to the Wisla River and used a map to make my way in a somewhat zig-zag fashion to the monument. It took some street crossing and step retracing, but I finally found my ducky and took some photos, before heading back to my dorm for a bit. I emailed the shots to my teacher before watching the end of "Promised Land." The film was not bad, but I wish the ending gave a bit more detail about what happened to the three friends or even a couple of the other characters; there was a progression in time shortly before the conclusion and I was hoping we would hear more about the lives of Karol, Max, and Mauryc (we only really saw that Karol married and had a son, but not much more than that; it seems the other two men are still involved with Karol in business and in friendship, but it is unsaid whether they marry or have children or do anything else). It was not a film that seemed to be enjoyed by the other students, but I would say there were points I liked and points that I did not like, as with any film. All-in-all, I am more neutral than being someone who completely disliked it. Now I am catching up on "The Office" (I guess I only missed one episode when it seems to have been some time since the last time I watched it; I guess it was on vacation, too). Then, I have to pack for my trip tomorrow.

Be sure to check out http://twitpic.com/photos/kab1221 for up-to-date photos, even my golden duck.

I Know Places

Serce w Sercu - heart in heart (the gingerbread cookie in keepsake tin I bought)

Today I had lunch at one of the Green Way bars here. Sadly, this is the third I have seen and no stuffed cabbage. I have one more I have yet to see in Warsaw, so maybe there will be some there or I will maybe have some at a place that serves both regular and meatless. I also have yet to have my fruit-filled pierogi. My meal today included lentil soup (with other such vegetables as carrots and potato pieces), vegetables and small bits of tofu in tomato sauce on top of kasza (kasha = http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kasha) with the side salatki (salads, mostly three different coleslaw-like sides). I liked the food, except when it comes to vegetables there is one variety that I tend to forget that I do not care for (since I tend to think I like all vegetables): peppers. Not a fan. I had some peppers in my food and I am not so into them.

After lunch, I went to the Independence Museum [http://www.muzeumniepodleglosci.art.pl/] (free on Sundays). It was neat since I saw an exhibit on Polish children in exile who went to school in countries other than Poland, such as Israel, Italy, and Mexico. It was neat to see school IDs, report cards, notebooks, and other school materials. There also were political posters, paintings, and cartoons. I read a lot of information about different times in Polish history where Poles fought against various threats for freedom and independence. The museum is also at a location I had walked by several times without even knowing it and the place is a palace. It was very pretty inside. I had some confusion communicating with the people at the door and coat check since the coat check guy asked something about help and I said no and then both of them kept talking to me, so I had to say I do not speak Polish that well and the woman at the door was silenced since she struggled to speak English. She tried to find the word "coat" in her mind and then motioned and I said it. Then we switched to Polish (me making some sense out of her words and me speaking in simple Polish) as I gave my coat and bag to the coat check guy.

After the museum, I headed to a couple stores for some groceries for the next few days before heading back to the dorm for some reading homework.

Pictures are updated on my twitpic! :)