Month #8

Because I returned from the Euro Tour in the middle of my 7th month, I never wrote an actual 7 month update. So here’s my “8th month update,” which actually only covers 2 ½ weeks. Whatever, here it is!

Week #32 (April 6 to 12): My cousin Jake arrived in Poland the morning after I returned from the Euro Tour. He is a senior in high school and was working on his senior project which has to do with post-World War II communism and its effects on Poland. I’m so glad he got to work on his project in Poland because it meant he could visit me! On his first night, we attended a Rotary dinner to celebrate Easter. On Tuesday morning, we caught an early train to Krakow. After finding our hostel, we toured the city center and booked a tour about communism. The tour included riding in a Soviet car for 2 hours through places where communism was still very evident. I had to translate the entire two hours because our tour, promised to be in English, wasn’t really. I was exhausted by the end of the tour, so we ate dinner and returned to the hostel. On Wednesday we took a bus to Auschwitz and Berkenau. Here’s something from my journal:

The first camp, Auschwitz, was very big. It wasn’t as horrifying as Majdynek in Lublin, but maybe this was because I had already been to one and I knew what would be there. Today is was sunny and for us it was difficult to picture such a horrific thing happening in the exact place we were standing. After two hours of walking around Auschwitz, we walked to the second camp (the death camp), Berkenau. It was even bigger than Auschwitz, and I didn’t think even that was possible. The size is what really got to my cousin and me. It’s probably a 4km walk where we walked, and that is minus half the camp. It made me really sick, sometimes I was afraid I would vomit. How could Anne Franck truly believe in the goodness of all people? I am back to the same question that I asked when I visited the camp in Lublin. How?

The following morning, we took a train to Warsaw. Amanda, an exchange student from near Chicago, met us at the station and helped us find our hotel. Then she took us to the center of town where we climbed to the top of a viewing terrace and looked at Old Town Warsaw. We walked through Old Town and eventually found a restaurant with traditional Polish food. Another friend, Kascia, joined us later and we hung out for a little while in the new mall. Eventually, we returned to our hotel. On our second day we visited the Warsaw Uprising Museum, which I found fascinating. We spent about 5 hours walking around the Warsaw Ghetto and finding all of the memorials. After that we returned to the city center and hung out with a few more friends that live in Warsaw this year. Then we went back to our hotel.

We took a VERY early train to Wroclaw, and it was nice to be back home again. My host family left for the mountains shortly after Jake and I arrived, so we were walked to the city center and found an internet café to camp out in. For the first time in months, the weather was absolutely beautiful, so it was a nice walk to the center. It was a shock that this café was open, because it was Easter Weekend, and, as promised, EVERYTHING shuts down for the whole weekend. The city and the streets were empty. It reminded me of Day of the Dead in November, when everyone visits family member’s graves. There was the same sort of eeriness over the city. The internet in our house isn’t working, so I’m SO glad we decided to go to the center! Today I received an email from Simon’s Rock which for me, confirmed that I can go to college in the fall! It was the best news I’d received in so long! I spent the rest of the night shaking and freaking out! On Easter Sunday, my family was still in the mountains, so Jake and I had the day free. We went on a bike ride along the river and then walked to the city center in search of buildings that were from the soviet era. It wasn’t hard to find them. In the evening we went back to the internet café and read our books and checked our email. I called home to wish everyone a Happy Easter and got to talk to most of my family on skype, which was nice.

Week #33: In Poland, Easter Monday is also known as something like “Wet Monday.” People throw buckets of water on others all day… it’s kind of weird. Jake and I managed to stay completely dry all day, but we saw some people get drenched. One woman was soaked with a bucket thrown out a car window. She spent like 10 minutes complaining about how here hair and makeup were going to be ruined! We toured Cathedral Island today and hung out with a few exchange students in the center. In the evening we returned home and some of my family had returned so I spent time with them. The next day, my host dad and I took Jake to the airport to see him off. I had a great week with him!

I started going to the gym this week with my host brother. It’s about an hour walk from our house, and with the beautiful weather it makes for a nice way to get there. I also visited the Architecture Museum here in Wroclaw, which was very interesting. It had a big exhibition on furniture styles from the 50s that are being brought back in modern day life. There is also a model of the center of Wroclaw about 400 years ago.  Later in the week, I went to a movie with my friend Ania. She’s a student in the music academy here so we always have lots to talk about. We saw the new Woody Allen movie about Barcelona and the name escapes me… but I thought it was good. Sunday night I packed for Krakow, where our third Rotary meeting is being held!

Week #34: The Krakow meeting was a lot of fun! Even though I just spent 17 days on Euro tour with the majority of the students there, I enjoyed our time together thoroughly. The first day was basically for arriving, though we did get to walk around the city a little. I stayed up until like 3.30 talking with a bunch of people.

The second day was only for the March of the Living. This is an annual memorial march for the victims of Auschwitz and Berkenau. I was not happy about going back there, since I had been less than two weeks before. Going once is hard enough. The first part of the March consisted of walking from the first camp to the second. We marched with thousands of other people from all over the world. It wasn’t a solemn march, which took me by surprise. People were introducing themselves to others, trading pins, and exchanging stories. I met the American Ambassador to Poland! He came up and asked me if I was American, where I was from, etc. Then he gave me his business card and told me to come visit him at the embassy! As soon as we reached the gates of the second camp, however, the mood of the event completely changed. For those who paid attention, anyway. There was an extremely talented musician playing keyboard and singing in Hebrew as we marched to the main gathering point. His music brought me instantly to tears. He had every single emotion that should be felt in his voice and in his playing. I think this was the most touching event I’ve ever been to. It made me think a lot.

On the third day we go to see the salt mines! They weren’t as beautiful as some people say… after all they’re just made of salt. I made myself really sick though. You’re able in the salt mines to lick the ceilings (if you can reach) and the walls, since they’re all salt! So I licked the wall of almost every room we went in. And I drank water from the spring in the mine. I think I consumed enough salt for the next ten years. After returning, everyone started to depart for their cities. This was sad, actually. One student leaves on Friday, so I won’t see him again. The rest I might only see one more time before we all go home. The fact that we leave so soon is crazy.

I returned to Wroclaw after the three day meeting and resumed normal life. It’s hard to write reports now since life is so normal. It would be like writing reports in the US. How boring would that be? Oh… school, sports, music, and again. So that sums up my 8th month!

I CAN’T BELIEVE I’VE BEEN HERE EIGHT WHOLE MONTHS! I also can’t believe I go home so soon! I’ve started to plan my mom’s trip which she’ll be taking in the end of May! She and my Aunt Debsy are coming for 15 days! I’m very excited. I’m also supposed to switch families any day now. I’ve been packed for a few days, and every day the date when I will move changes. I didn’t even know where I was moving to until today. I’m nervous about switching, because people keep telling me I won’t like my new family. But something I’ve learned a lot about this year is judging. And that you shouldn’t do it too soon. Also, you shouldn’t listen to people when they don’t know what they’re talking about. So we’ll see how it goes.

After I switch families, life should be pretty redundant and normal for the next month until our next Rotary Meeting. My Polish teacher and I are working on designing an educational program to “home school” myself, since my class has ended. They graduated yesterday and now will spend about a month studying for the SAT equivalent, the Matura exam. I’ll still go to Polish class, of course, but I might also visit educational places around the city (museums, monuments) and write reports on them and give presentations in school. I’ll start gymnastics and music lessons again in May, and I will return to the Orphanage hopefully next week. Then life will just carry on. So until month 9!

Finally some flowers in Wroclaw

Euro Tour 2009

Euro Tour 2009

Hey everybody! A couple weeks ago, I returned from one of the greatest trips I’ve ever been on- the 2009 Rotary tour of Europe. It was a 17-day long excursion with 45 (I think) other exchange students by bus. We visited some amazing places including Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris, South France (Versailles, Chambord, Carcassonne), Barcelona, Monaco, Florence, Rome, Vatican City, Pompeii, Mount Vesuvius, Naples, Verona, and Venice. I’ll have to do an 8 month (OMG EIGHT MONTHS!) update in about a week, so I figured I’d do a separate one for the Euro Tour. So here goes:

Day 1: The first official day of the tour started pretty early for me. I had school in the morning, and practiced my presentation that I’ll be doing for my Rotary Club later in the year. There were only three of us at lessons, so instead of doing a normal language lesson, I asked our teacher if she’d teach us a little bit about the history of Poland. In regular history class, we have been talking about WWII and the holocaust, so my teacher talked about that subject on a more simplified level for us. It was very and I learned a lot about Polish opinions on the matter. At four, Marjorie (my friend who was staying with me) and I met up with the other exchange students at the meeting point in my city. The bus was about an hour and a half late, but we finally were able to board. Lots of talking and 17 hours (too few of which were spent sleeping…) later we arrived in the beautiful city of Amsterdam.

Day 2: Amsterdam really is a beautiful city. I would be happy to study there. What really shocked me is that after a 5 minute walk from the bus to the café where we ate breakfast, I saw more diversity that I have in all 7 months in Poland. It was like a different planet- like we got on a spaceship instead of a bus. There’s so much English there, too. The canals are really beautiful and everywhere. There were markets with fresh fruits and vegetables all over. The whole city smells like pot, and the Red Light District is quite something. Luckily we walked through it at 10AM so there wasn’t much action going on. After walking around, we went on a boat tour and then to the Van Gogh museum. I tried to figure out when he cut his ear off by his self portraits but it was hard to tell. If the portraits are accurate, then he probably cut his ear off the same year of his death. I’ll have to look that one up. Then we returned to the hostel, had dinner, and went to bed.

Day 3: We drove to Brussels today. We weren’t there nearly as long as we should have been. I really loved Brussels. It’s tied with Barcelona as my favorite city that we visited. The open markets are everywhere and there are little stores selling all sorts of things that I would have loved to go into… but we weren’t allowed to (there was kind of an unspoken rule that we weren’t allowed any free time or souvenir shopping). I’d also like to study in Brussels. Maybe I’ll just study everywhere. I need to learn French again, though, because my French is embarrassing. I’m not sure how I forgot all of it, it probably has something to do with learning Polish and not studying French. I think maybe the two most beautiful parts were A) the people and B) the people. They were so normal, and so happy. Like in Amsterdam, there was so much diversity. It was amazing. Poland is so different, and this trip is definitely teaching me a lot about the difference between the east and west of Europe. After a (way too short) walking tour in Brussels we got on the bus again and drove to Paris.

Day 4:  Today we were in Paris! We went to Sainte-Chappell, which was gorgeous. The stained glass was so intricate and really beyond words. After that we went with a tour guide on a walking tour and ended up at Notre Dame. Then we went to the Louvre but we only had 2 hours so it really wasn’t enough time to see the museum. I saw Mona Lisa and Winged Victory. The previous night, I had set up with Heather (a friend from home who is studying near Paris, for those of you who don’t know) to meet up on our second day in Pairs. Originally, the chaperones were fine with the idea but an hour before we were supposed to meet (and when she was already on the train) they said we didn’t have time, and it took a long time to convince them otherwise. As punishment for being late in the morning, we were given no souvenir time. But I found a little souvenir shop during dinner so I could buy a pin for my blazer. After dinner, we went on a boat tour on the Seine River. After that we finally got to Eiffel Tower. And I met up with Heather! It was so nice to see her- it’s nice to talk to someone from home who knows the same people I do. We went up the tower and the view was breathtaking. It was really windy and rainy but I still enjoyed it.

Day 5: We stopped in Versailles today and we had 2 hours to tour the Palace. It was really striking- my favorite part being the ceilings, which were delicately painted and were unique in every room. Since we hadn’t actually had French food (we’ve been eating at gas stations or cheap and very Polish restaurants), a few friends and I found our way to a café selling crepes in town. Our only real French meal turned out to be very tasty and worth sneaking off. Because our behavior yesterday was “satisfactory,” we were awarded 45 minutes of free time! In a grocery store. That we have in Poland. I don’t think our chaperone understands people. At night we arrived in the hostel, and that was that.

Day 6: Today we drove the South of France. We stayed in a real hotel (!)

Day 7: The castle we visited today in Carcassonne was absolutely stunning. It was completely walled in and very impressive. After a brief tour, we had REAL FREE TIME! Then we drove to Spain. The bus ride was beautiful. We drove by the Mediterranean Sea, which was out of this world. We visited a huge stadium upon arrival in Barcelona. I think it was called FCBarcelona. A lot of the exchange students were really excited. Apparently it’s a big deal. To me, it was just a really big stadium with a nice soccer field. There was also a museum. And it also was meaningless to me. I guess I’m not big in the sports world. We visited Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia Cathedral, which I found to be great and magnificent but definitely horrific. It’s one of the scariest things I’ve ever seen and is completely overwhelming. But it definitely left me in awe. There is a new part being built that looks like it’s from candy land. After that we returned to our hotel.

Day 8: I LOVE BARCELONA! The city is incredible. I’d also like to study here. I wore shorts and short sleeve shirt today! It’s really a wonderful city. There are palm trees and FLOWERS. I guess Poland has really gotten to me, haha. The people are happy and smile, it’s a nice environment. First we visited a cathedral but I wasn’t allowed in because my knees were showing. We had a Polish tour guide who led us around the city center and eventually to the famous open air market- I think it was St. Josep’s? There were endless kiosks of the finest looking fruits and vegetables. The colors are indescribable. The meat also looked good, but gross. I saw heads of animals, big huge hooves, and whole piglets. It was disgusting. Then we visited Guell Park, also by Gaudi. This, unlike his church, was spectacular (in the pretty way). Both pieces of his work were breath taking and both were calming somehow but also very perplexing. However, the park of mosaics was charming. The colors and styles were so well done that the whole thing looked like it could have just grown out of the ground. Then we returned to the city and had free time! WOW! Two days in a row! A few friends and I went to a restaurant and had Tapas. Unfortunately, being vegetarian, I could only eat a few parts of it. Then we went back to the hotel.

Day 9: After a 6AM departure, we drove all day to Monaco. I know I’m being repetitive but Monaco is astonishing. It truly is the most beautiful place I have ever seen. I haven’t even seen pictures as beautiful as the landscape here. I don’t really think words can describe it. We went on a tour and rode around the tiny principality. It’s such a rich place. I don’t know anything about cars, but the names “Ferrari,” “Lamborghini,” and “Audi” sound expensive to me. I mean, our car at home is called a “van” so when compared to “Lamborghini…” yeah. I didn’t recognize them but everyone else seemed pretty impressed. Also, I saw hardly any children and no garbage. Not that the two relate, those were just two observations. I saw Monte Carlo, which is apparently a very famous place where people play poker. I probably shouldn’t broadcast my ignorance. It’s so tropical here, though! We walked through a park with beds of flowers that my Mom would have died to see. It was unreal being there. This is definitely a place I’d love to do college exchange with, but I don’t think they have colleges here. It’s too small. The palace was nice and very royal. It’s weird to think that there’s an actual prince working in there. The bay is crowded with huge yachts and even the small boats make the ones on Otsego Lake look like peanuts. I don’t think I could ever afford to live in Monaco. I wish we were there for more than a few hours. Finally we returned to the hotel which was actually located in Nice.

Day 10: Today was another bus day. We just drove all day long. On the bus. Until we got to our hotel near Florence, Italy. I really enjoyed the drive, however. It was right along the Italian coastline. My favorite things were the many valleys of houses packed into the hills above the ocean.

Day 11: In the morning we rode the bus to Florence, which was a nice place. We had a great tour guide- she was very captivating. We got to eat gelato at what was supposedly “the best” in all of Florence. It’s also the oldest in Tuscany, and was kept open during WWII for the American Soldiers. It was delicious. After finishing our tour, we had a 6 hour drive to our hotel, which was located one hour away by train. After dinner, we celebrated Hayley’s birthday, a friend from Canada. Michelle (from Pennsylvania) bought a chocolate cake at a restaurant in Florence and Marjorie and I bought soda.

Day 12: Today we had a really long tour of the Vatican. Our tour guide was, again, really good. She was very animated about everything. I learned a lot about the church and the Pope. We saw lots of old buildings, artwork and sculptures. Also we got to go to the Sistine Chappell. I got really mad at our Rotary chaperone there, however. Our guide had told us maybe 5 or 10 times that in the chapel. NO PICTURES WERE ALLOWED UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES! Then he went ahead and took pictures! He got yelled at by a security guard and tried to wriggle his way out of it. I got pretty sick in the afternoon, which I think was from my lunch that had rotten mushrooms on it. Marjorie took such good care of me, though and I felt better after a little while. We caught up with the group and had a brief tour of ancient Rome- SO COOL. Then we went to the Coliseum. We got to go for a nighttime walk on the beach by our hotel. I went in the water (it wasn’t that cold once you get used to it) but then I got yelled at. I love the beach.

Day 13:  We got to see the Pope today! It was pretty cool. We were with 1000’s of others and I got some cool pictures of him. He speaks a lot of languages and we stayed until he did the English portion. It was cool to hear Polish. We also visited the famous fountain and basilica.

Day 14: After another 6AM departure, we drove all the way to Naples. We walked through Pompeii (completely awesome that it’s so old) with Mount Vesuvius in the background. After our tour we climbed Mount Vesuvius, which was good exercise. When we got to the top, we screamed and got to hear our echoes. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be (I don’t like edges) and I liked watching the clouds which were at our level. It’s scary to think about that erupting though…. Yikes. Then we had a bus tour of Naples and returned to the hotel.

Day 15: Today we drove to Verona, and stopped there for a little over an hour. We stopped to see Juliet’s balcony and the statue of her. Which I don’t really get since she’s a fictional character. I didn’t touch her breast for good luck and love… I thought that was weird. I’m pretty sure a male came up with that one. Then we went to the hotel.

Day 16: After a 20 minute drive from our hotel to the dock, we rode a ferry to the quaint city of Venice. On the way to the main square we were shown several monuments. The road we walked down was just like I imagined it to be. It reminded me of Kiss Me, Kate (I’d been singing “We Open in Venice” all day) and, of course, Death in Venice. It was absolutely perfect weather, and even though the canals were a little stinky, I loved walking over them and seeing the gondolas. The basilica there was just spectacular. There was so much detail to it, just like Gaudi’s cathedral in Barcelona except a TOTALLY different style.

In Venice, I saw a tie that I thought my dad would really get a kick out of- black and yellow with sparkles on it. I asked the salesman how much and he said “Oh! This tie is 550 Euro.” Ha. Right. Venice is a really expensive city, no doubt. In the afternoon, we were given about 5 hours of free time! WHOA! I walked around with Michelle, Hayley and Marjorie. We did some souvenir shopping, ate lunch, and just saw the city. Unfortunately, this was a bad arm day, actually the first in a really long time. So that was annoying. But the rest of the day was good. We returned to our hotel and ate dinner, then got on the bus to take off for Poland at about 10.

Day 17: I slept more on the bus than I had on any other given night this whole trip. I curled up on the floor and just slept. It was really pleasant. We arrived in Krakow around 10AM, bought our tickets and rode the train home to Wroclaw. It was good to be home. It was nice to be in a place where I could read the billboards and could understand the people walking by. All in all, it was a wonderful trip but it’s good to be home.