One Month In!

Cześć!

Today is my one month anniversary of arriving in Poland! I can't believe how the time has flown, while also feels like I've been here for way way longer! It's a hard feeling to explain. Everday I'm thankful for this experience and I'm so happy that I have more time to experience even more!

Since the last time I wrote I have been busy! I have school everyday - Monday through Wednesday I start at 8:20am and Thursday and Friday I start at 11:05am. I usually get done about three. I usually take the bus to school and back, though yesterday I walked to school for the first time and it didn't take as long as I thought, maybe about 30 minutes? It was nice to walk, the fresh air wakes me up and I get to see Kielce in a new way! Plus, everyone here walks a lot. Though most people have a car (though only one per family), it is much more common to walk, bike or take a bus! It's great!

On September 4th I went back to Kraków with my host mom, sister and their friends. We went shopping at a very nice mall right next to the train station, Galleria Krakowska, but the old city is only about a 5 minute walk from the mall so we spent time there too! I love old city Kraków, it really is beautiful, though I forgot to take my camera this time... Ooops. My host family's friends have a cousin who works at a small cafe off of the Rynek and we went there to visit. I had the most incredible hot chocolate, the best I have ever had!! Definitely will go back in the future! The cafe itself was very European feeling, tucked into the building, looking like nothing from the outside, but warm and friendly upon entering. It was full of people enjoying a late breakfast, reading the paper over kawa(coffee). Just wonderful.

The following Monday (September 6th) the three exchange students in Kielce went to this huge military show. It is always held in Kielce, but the military equipment comes from all over the world, the big thing this year was the American Blackhawk helicopter on display. Military really isn't my thing, but it was interesting to see all of this equipment personally, especially since most of this equipment is only seen by soldiers!

The next day my school class went to Lublin, which is located in eastern Poland, about 3 hours from Kielce. We attended a workshop/show of different physics experiements. It was hosted by the University of Marie Curie-Skłodowskiej (Marie Curie was born in Poland, in case you didn't know!) in Lublin, a very big university! The physics experiements were great and I could figure out what was going on because many of the experiements I had seen in my physics class last year, though on a smaller scale! After the physics part of the day was finished my class had about 1 1/2 hours to explore Lublin. With a small group of girls I went to see the old town. Lublin is an extremely old city (like most cities in Poland!)being established approximetely in the 12th century. The really cool thing about Lublin is that it is still surrounded by the protective walls. To get into the old city you have to enter through Brama Krakowska, a medieval gate. You then find yourself in a maze of old twisting streets and beautifully restored buildings. On the other side of the city is the Lublin Castle, which is now a museum. I unfortuntely did not have time to explore the whole city and would really like to go back!


Brama Krakowska



Lublin Castle


The bus ride home was quite long, due to the fact that our bus broke down in Radom, something to do with gas... Anyway, we waited about 45 minutes until the bus was fixed and then started to head home, only to be stopped again by a huge traffic jam. Traffic jams are common here in Poland, mostly because highways are all two laned. If there is an accident, like there was that night, all traffic gets stopped. But on the way home I was asked hundreds of questions about what I am doing here, how I like Poland and everything on the US. Everyone wants to travel there! And people know where Chicago is, so I've taken to saying that Saint Paul is near Chicago, give or take 8 hours... (:

This past weekend I had my first official Poland Rotary Exchange meeting. It was held in Toruń, another beautiful city in northern Poland. My host Rotary counsler drove Sarah, Gerardo and I up, took about 6 hours. When we arrived we were immediately wisked off to dinner and a traditional folk dance and music presentation. It was very fun and we even got to learn one dance. The music is composed of accordian, bass cello and a violin, the dancers atired in colorful suits and dresses. Really cool.




The next day was super busy. In the morning we had a meeting with the head Polish Rotary exchange officers. They went over some information on Polish Rotary, rules and stuff like that. We then had a presentation with information on Poland, a lot of I already knew. We then travelled by foot to the old city of Toruń and had lunch in a small cafe off the rynek. It was delious! After lunch we headed back to the hostel where we were staying and had a talent show. I played a short piece on my flute, there was guitar playing, singing and a group of US students made a giant human pyramid! We then headed back to old city for a tour of Toruń. Again, Toruń is old and very beautiful. It is a World Heritage Site and the birthplace of Nicolaus Copernicus. We saw the house believed to be where Copernicus was born and happened upon a renisanse fair near the ruins of a castle.


Exchange Students from USA

Toruń is also famous for pierniki or gingerbread and at the end of our tour we went to learn how to make pierniki. I was never really a fan of eating gingerbread back in MN, but I absolutely love the pierniki here! My host grandfather works in Toruń and comes back weekends and often brings back gingerbread! So tasty!! Anyway, we learned about the ingrediants in pierniki - nutmeg, ginger, cinamon, black peper, honey, rye and wheat flour. We watched them make the dough and then had a opportunity to need our own dough and place it in a mold. Our pieces were then baked. I didn't eat mine, going to keep it as a suvenior, but I did buy some to eat!

For the rest of Saturday it was just all the exchange students hanging out togeather. We swapped stories of school, played cards, danced and just enjoyed being with each other. Our next full meeting is not until December, so it could be awhile before I see some people again. Though I am planning on traveling to other cities to visit people!

Got back to Kielce late Sunday night and went to school yesterday. Came home from school with an aweful sore throat and so stayed home from school today. Thus, the blog update which I've been meaning to write! No worries though, I think it's just a quick fall cold, should be back at everything tomorrow!

Mariah