Month #1

Hello all! I wish I could tell you every detail, everything little thing I’ve thought or done. But that would take weeks to write, and a lot of space, too. This first post is sort of an experiment- I’m not quite sure how to write this update, so I’ll see how this goes.

In answer to the question I get a lot- “How is Poland?”- Poland is amazing. I know that’s not very descriptive, so I’ll try to explain why in this post.

Week 1:    I arrived in Wrocław just as planned- my first experience in a real airplane was pretty cool. I didn’t sleep at all, so when I got “home” I was exhausted. The only time I have ever felt upset here was when I called my mom for the first time to tell her I had arrived. I wasn’t even homesick- just tired. Since then I haven’t felt homesick at all.             On my second day, I went to Old Town Wrocław with my host father and he gave me a tour of all the universities and important parts of the town. My host parents speak English very well, which was very helpful this past month.
The next few days I spent unpacking, learning common phrases, and getting over jet lag. I also was introduced to two girls close to my age who took me around Wrocław looking for the famous gnomes- or krasnoludki. (See my pictures for more information.) A few days after our gnome hunt, they took me out for hot chocolate at a nearby mall.
My host parents took me on vacation to the mountains for my first weekend in Poland. We stayed with friends of theirs in a beautiful made of wood. I’d like to say that this house was the first house I had seen that was made of wood. All the others are cement. It’s cool, actually. Anyway, we went up on the mountain and crossed the border into the Czech Republic. Pretty exciting. We also visited a 900 year old church that had been moved from Norway and was built without any metal (no nails). On the way home, we stopped at a huge mansion that belonged to a German king.

Week 2:     I spent my second week in Poland at language camp. I got to go on an 8 hour train ride to get to Lublin, the city in which the camp was taking place. The week consisted of very intense Polish lessons and sometimes sight seeing at night. There were 12 of us total at the camp, and we all got along pretty smoothly. It was actually a lot of fun for me. The only sketchy part was the hostel we stayed in and the food…. I lost a lot of weight that week. But it was a helpful course for me. I didn’t think it had helped me all that much until I got back home and realized how much more easily I could communicate with people in Polish.

Week 3:    I started school during the third week of my stay in Wrocław. I went the first four days and it was very confusing. The first day I came home feeling fine because I understood nothing so it wasn’t exhausting. There were a few students who were very friendly and spoke English with me. It was such a nice feeling to have people come up to me and be willing to talk. Remember that if you’re around an exchange student- it makes them feel REALLY GOOD when people are interested in speaking to them and it also is a nice feeling to receive smiles. (By the way, the whole story everyone told me about no smiling in Poland is false- people smile here just like they do in the rest of the world.) The second  and third day I came home exhausted and had to spend two or three hours doing something in English and resting. I was beginning to listen to the Polish and search for anything that was familiar- a process which makes me feel like I want to put my head in the freezer.
Anyway, Friday of my third week I traveled 5 hours by train with 11 other exchange students from my city to Torun, where I spent the weekend with the 60 other rotary students in Poland this year. They come from the USA, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, Australia, and Ukraine. (I think I remembered all the countries). It was a great weekend- it consisted of rotary meetings, the group picture, a tour of the Old Town, a visit to the Gingerbread Museum, a talent show, a 3 hour dance, and lots of hanging out. I don’t think any of us got sleep that weekend- there was too much to talk about and not enough time.

Week 4:    This past week I stayed home from school for 3 days because I had the stomach bug and a disgusting cold. I think it was from lack of sleep and from hanging out with people were already sick. I spent the time studying Polish, writing in my journal, and resting. I also tried out for a soccer team Tuesday- which sucked because I was in the middle of the stomach bug. But they invited me back, so it’s all good. I went back to school Thursday and it was really great, actually. I have started making actual friends and I’ve been invited places, too. *Another thing to remember if you’re around an exchange student- INVITE THEM PLACES. I can’t tell you how good it feels- even if it’s just to walk a block or something, it makes you feel actually cared about. Yesterday, I attended an opera with my host mom and my host sister’s friend. It was very awesome- it reminded me of Glimmerglass’ production of the Monteverdi last year. The opera was “King Roger” and was very modern and very interesting. Of course, I didn’t follow everything since it was sung and titled in Polish. But I followed the main story, and I was happy because I was able to figure out simple sentences, recognize words and figure out conjugations.

So that is a summary of each week spent here. I can’t believe I’ve been here a month already. I had a dream the other night that the year was over. I woke up and I was so sad and so mad at myself because I hardly knew any Polish and I also couldn’t remember anything that happened that year. Then I realized it was still September and I had almost a year left. ☺

So now I just want to go into detail about a few things and then I’ll be done.

The Polish School System/ My school: From what I’ve gathered, the Polish school system is very different than the typical American one. For starters, you are placed in one class and travel with that class around the building as a group- different rooms but same people every class. (Actually they have me in about 5 different classes- but that’s just because I’m weird. It really confuses the Polish kids…). I think there are about 3 or 4 different “classes” within each “grade.” My understanding is that each different class specializes in a different area. My school is apparently known for its language program. Each class seems to specialize in a different language- for example the class that is mainly concerned with German has its classes in Polish and German.
As I have said, I am in 5 different classes. Now remember, these are classes. My classes happen to fall into three different grades. My actual lessons (or courses) include two different Polish classes, two different English classes, geography, drawing, three different French classes, German government, music, Polish politics & society, and history. The French classes are taught in French, English in English, and so on. I am still working on my schedule, dropping and adding courses every day.
I usually copy everything from the board and the person sitting next to me. Then my host mom and I translate my notes into English. Mostly I am just listening and trying to recognize Polish words. My French teacher speaks only French and Polish, so I communicate with her entirely in French. It’s very good for my brain but also very confusing. On the day that I have three different French classes, my sentences tend to come out in mixed up English, Polish and French. My French classes range from 15 year olds to 19 year olds and go from beginner level to my level.
During the first days of school, I was listening so hard to the Polish that I often couldn’t tell the difference between Polish, German, and French. I’m happy to say that as of this week, I can actually tell what language is being spoken. In school, I listen very hard, and thought sometimes my mind wanders, for the most part I am just listening to this nonsense and trying to make sense of it. I can tell sometimes the subject of a conversation by the tone of the voice and the vocal expressions. They’re very helpful and I never notice it when speaking English. I also listen all the time just to pick out two or three words every two or three minutes. It’s exhausting mentally, but I notice patterns, similar words, and similar phrases. It’s funny because I’ve begun to forget English words. When someone asks me for a word that they don’t know, it takes me forever to remember the word. I also can’t pronounce certain things the American way anymore- for example the word “okay.” When I talk to someone from New York, they say I say the word “okay” weirdly.  Anyway the Polish is getting easier- I just hope it clicks by Christmas.
One more thing about school that is totally different than the USA (or at least CV-S) and that caught me by surprise is the dress code- or rather lack there of. People wear whatever they want and it’s no big deal. The teachers wear more flashy clothes than the students and no one even cares. Just thought I’d mention that.

Activities: My week goes as follows. Monday- rotary meeting; Tuesday- soccer practice; Wednesday- piano lessons; Thursday- soccer practice; Friday- soccer practice and choir rehearsal. I’m really happy that my week is full- it keeps me busy and working hard. Soccer is a lot different here than it is back home. The girls are more like animals than actual girls and they play really dirty. I spend most of practice being thrown around on the ground, but I can keep up just fine. Piano lessons are pretty good- the teacher speaks limited English and I speak limited Polish so it’s always interesting. The choir I sing in is maybe 15 people and they sing mainly gospel music. They’re very good and really enjoy singing. I’ve only been to one rehearsal and I just listened since I didn’t know the music or how to speak Polish. They sang 2 songs in English, though, and I could understand every word. Imagine that.

Food: Finally, I’d just like to say that the food here is very good. Yes, there is a lot of meat. But there are plenty of meatless meals here, and they’re actually really good too. The biggest difference is how fresh everything is. The fruit is fresh, the vegetables aren’t packaged in plastic and soggy & disgusting. The meat is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen- yeah I don’t eat it, but I get to look at it every time we go to the grocery store. It’s so gorgeous and fresh and there’s hardly any fat on it. Yup. But I’m eating just fine here, the food is all delicious and that’s about it.

I honestly don’t think I’ve ever been happier than I am right now- everything is great here. Sometimes I get the chills because I realize that I’m in Poland learning Polish. How crazy is that!? It’s really awesome, and I’m so glad I decided to come.

Bye for now!

Old Town Torun