Evening Symphony

So after a day of relaxation last Sunday, I then went with my friend, Nicole to a small symphonic Chopin and Mozart concert at St. Peter and Paul's Church. The small orchestra consisted of a pianist, two violinists, a viola, bass and celloist. The sound was amazing and they played some of my favorite Mozart music. It was fairly inexpensive (like $20) for an hour and 15 minutes. I felt such peace afterwards as the music was very calming!!

Of course after the concert we had to get lody (ice cream) and as always it was delicious. :)

Zakopane

Yesterday was the best weather we have had in a long time which was perfect timing for our trip to Zakopane! Our bus ride took about 2 and 1/2 hours to get there and we were divided into a hiking group or sightseeing group. Since I was leary of hiking for 4 hours, I chose to do the sightseeing tour. We went to the Architecture Museum and it was so neat to see how many residents in Zakopane have their homes. They are known for their skill at wood carving and it is

showcased in their homes.

We then went to the famous cemetery called Stary Cemetery and Church. Again the most beautiful wooden church and wooden monuments that I have ever seen. Jana, Agatha, Lauren and I took an express tram up to the top of the mountain. Oh the view was breathtaking and serene.

After shopping for souvenirs we took the bus back home. As soon as we got back to the dorm we went to eat an outside cafe on the square listening to another live concert while we ate. All of the girls wanted to go on a carriage ride so we did. We loaded into a pink carriage (we thought that was fitting) and took a 30 minute ride which was beautiful. Then I called it a night!

I am skipping the school trip to Auschwitz in order to go with Jeremy when he visits. I know that I couldn't handle it two times so close together.

Friday night!

I watched a live choir concert in Rynek Glowny Square on Friday night and it was beautiful! These young adults had such powerful voices and it was enough to give you the chills.

After that a couple of us went to a bar, Le Scandale, in Kazimierz district. The bar was very nice and laid back -- best Bloody Mary I have had in a long time.

Heavy heart

Well the movie about the Katyn Massacre was absolutely horrific!! It was a must see and it was extremely important to tie together the history of the Polish people. However the movie was very graphic and extremely sad -- I felt awful afterwards and cried my heart out. For those of you who may not know, in the spring of 1940 Stalin ordered his troops to execute 4,000 Polish army soldiers that were Prisoners of War. They covered the bodies up in a mass grave and blamed the Nazis and vice versa. Families of the loved ones lost were not allowed to speak of this massacre under Communist rule.

On a lighter note, I aced my midterm!!

Fun at the Cafe

I want to say that I absolutely LOVE all of the outdoor cafes here in Krakow. A few of us girls needed to get out of the dorm so we took our study materials for Polish language and headed to Cafe Camelot. I had a kawa amaretto bialy (white coffee with amaretto) and it was delicious!! They served it with a few ginger snaps and a few cherries, presentation gets an A+. I truly enjoyed sipping on my coffee, studying, having girl talk and observing the Poles interact (yay to multi-tasking).

Tonight we meet Piotrek for an API Cultural Event, watching the movie "Katyn" at one of the academic buildings near the square. Tomorrow is my midterm, YIKES!! I am so worried about it but I will do my best.

More later....

Sunday

Sunday morning I studied for a while until it was time to go to Wieliczka Salt Mine. I had already been here before but decided to go ahead and go with everyone else since I was feeling a bit bummed (missing home). I had a great time hanging out with everyone and the salt mine is quite a remarkable site. They have a beautiful chapel which is the lowest underground church in the world and we were at the lowest (approx. 327 meters deep). To get down into the salt mine you have to walk down about 400 steps for the first level and then again to get to the lowest point, so in all you have to go down approximately 800 steps, whew!

Since we worked up quite the appetite, we had pizza for supper near our dorm. I shared with a friend so I paid about $3.50 for 1/2 of a pizza and a coke. :) Is important to tell you that they do serve pizza with the option of a side of ketchup. I kindly declined in Polish of course.

Rough day....

Well Saturday was pretty tough since we had class all day long plus a few of us visited what once was the Gestapo headquarters in Krakow. Not only was it a museum but also had the actual prison cells where torture and death was an everyday occurrence from 1939 - 1945. In the prison cells you could see entire walls full of inscriptions by the prisoners either pleading for their life, praying and notes to their families; as well as, smell the stench of stale death. Needless to say, I was crying by the end. It is unfathomable how capable humans are of violence.

Saturday night there was a party at a club that was put on by the Summer School and it was okay but we left early.

Classes...

Taking a trip down memory lane with college.....

My language instructor is very patient and extremely nice to us (since it is evident that our language skills are not up to par). However that said, it is very hard to learn!! I am one that languages usually come fairly easy for me but this provides a tough challenge. The majority of the words have many clusters of consonants so it is hard to pronounce and spell. I am getting better each day but no where near being fluent that is for sure.

The food in the cafeteria is pretty good...sometimes it is hard to decipher what they mean or sometimes what you are eating. I know that doesn't match the previous sentence but all in all it does come out tasting pretty good plus it is free so we are saving money. :)

My last two classes, Jewish History and Communism are so interesting. It is astounding to me that I was never really taught in school anything about the Central Eastern European Nations and their political situation in which many of the climactic events took place in my lifetime!! For the Jewish History course, I have to write a paper, hope I can remember how to cite references correctly. :)

Today as I sit here and type away on my blog, I have the windows open and it is POURING down rain here!! I think that the temperature is probably about 55 degrees at the moment.

Well, I am going to have lunch now but tonight I am going to Polish Karaoke so it shall be interesting....

Inauguration Day!

Friday, July 4th was our Inauguration Day at Jagiellonian University. They tried to fit all 500 of us in one room that probably seated about 300 so there were a lot of people stuck standing for an hour and 30 minutes. Oh well, such is life. It was really nice to be able to meet the President of Jagiellonian as well as all of the head lecturers for our summer school. And then came the language placement test...well let's just say that I am in the Survival Polish course because I know NOTHING in this very hard language.

We went dancing on Friday night and found this really cool hip hop club (in a cellar) it was so hot because of it being so compact but it was fun to dance with the girls to my favorite 90's (yes 90's hip hop). :)

Day in the park

Saturday I didn't really do anything just took it easy since I have been going and going. When we went ot the city center, we did see some traditional folk dancers which was prety cool!! And then we had a movie night watching Hitch -- love that movie!

Sunday was swietnie (fantastic)!! After mass, my friends, Agatha, Jana, Nicole, Sarah and I spent the majority of the afternoon at this beautiful park near our dorm. We had snacks, we journaled and we read books. It has been a rare occasion to do that at home but here many couples, friends and family members hang out in the park on a Sunday afternoon (Sunday stroll, if you will).

Supper and then to bed so that I can get up at 6:30 am for class...

Czestochowa

It is a smaller city outside of Krakow (approximately 2 hour train ride) that is a pilgrimmage site because it has the Black Madonna at Jasna Gora. Agatha, Nick and I took the train to Czestochowa right after we arrived by the night train from Prague. Yes, we are crazy in case you are wondering! :)

As soon as you step off the train you can see the tower of Jasna Gora and all roads seem to lead to it. There were several gates that you cross through to get to the chapel each had a different theme and some statues included gold pieces. Then as you walk into the chapel, there are so many people but it is so quiet as everyone is in prayer. Agatha and I sat there for about 30 minutes in awe until the unveiling happened (approximately 1:00 pm). You know that it is about to happen because they play some very dramatic music as the veil is rolling up away from the picture. It is enough to give you chills for a long time (even thinking about it does that to me), I am so glad that we decided to go ahead and go rather than rest. After that we went into the arsenal and some other museums (I saw a display from 9/11 of a cross made out of the rubble, again very humbling).

Prague

So it has been a long time since I was able to post something, I am truly sorry! Anyway, the night train to Prague was sursprisingly comfortable -- probably the best night of sleep than I had previously. Agatha, Sarah and I shared a sleeper cabin and we had a giggling fit that lasted about an hour, I think that we were a bit delirious.

Upon arrival into Prague, I was hurting pretty bad from all of the walking that I had been doing so I elected to rest in the morning which was nice to catch up on sleep too. For the afternoon, we went to Prague Castle which words cannot describe the beauty of these grounds. The stained glass was absolutely phenomenal including a woman artist who did the last two of the panels. Unfortunately, I have limited pictures of my 3 days in Prague due to my camera battery going kaput on me. :( That evening after dinner we went to a very authentic working class pub which turned out a pretty good story. At this pub there was limited seating we had only one choice, to sit with Pawel (a very goofy man but very sweet). I believe that Pawel had already been there for quite some time as he was quite animated when conversing with us. He did fall in love (so he says) with one of my fellow participants, Lauren, which made it so funny to see him try to get her attention. He even left the pub to go and pull some random flower for her -- too funny.

During our free day, we went to the Museum of Communism which made me very appreciative of having a democracy rather than living under a communistic regime. Of course sensitive me, I had tears by the end. Next was the Mucha Museum (showcasing Art Noveau) which had so many designs more than I had ever seen before. By the end of that, we were all pretty tired so we went to the river and sat in the park just relaxing. We did the same for our last day after we went to Konopiste Castle and the television tower.

Unfortunately, I cannot say that we had a pleasant experience on the train ride back to Krakow. Due to lack of air circulating through the train and an unexpected delay of two hours meant we were all awake for the majority of the night.

New Things

So we arrived in Krakow yesterday via the train which took approximately 3 hours to get from point A to B. As I was getting ready to go out last night, I was listening to a live Celine Dion concert and saw a beautiful firework show. Who can say that happens on a normal day?

Today, I went to a Polish Mass at St. Mary's Cathedral (where Pope John Paul II presided) and it was so moving eventhough I couldn't understand what they were saying. The church is literally one of the most beautiful that I have ever seen and I enjoy spending time there.

The majority of the other students and I went to the Jewish Quarter, Kasimerez, because a Jewish festival is taking place this week. We ate at this Italian food place, Portofino, which had the best food and it was so fresh tasting.

Slowly but surely I am learning more of the Polish language as I meander my way through this beautiful city.

I will be taking a night train tonight to Prague, so I am anxious to see what a night train will be like...you will have to stay tuned for that entry.

Excitement through and through

I have arrived today in Warsaw and am loving every second of it!! The weather is absolutely amazing here with the high about 80 degrees. Getting to know everyone on my program has been amazing since everyone comes from a different background/place. We all have different thigns that brought us to Poland but each of us has a deep appreciation for the country.

After having a true Polish supper a couple of us went to a bar to watch the soccer match, Spain vs. Russia. Everyone in the bar was cheering out loud which made us cheer and we all had smiles doing so.

Well it's been a very long day so I will say goodnight!