A long weekend, dedicated to family!

           Wiecie co. Jak jestem z mojim rodziną, to odrazu więcej po polsku myślę, i niestety, ten blog jest po angielsku, to powinam po angielsku dalej pisać. I probably made a ton of mistakes in that opening sentence, but the gist of it is: I think in Polish far more often when I'm with my family. But! I will keep this blog (mostly) English, no worries! So, let's see! Let's turn back time to Friday! I woke up super early and finished packing to go to the train station early so that I would certainly have room on the train. Honestly, I still got there too early, but I was reassured that I would not miss my train. (: I slept most of the way on the train ride. And in fact, I was fortunate enough to have the seat before me to myself. Aka, I could stretch my legs out and get a decent nap in. (Yes, my legs were not too short to reach the chair... ... once I leaned back.)

           Honestly, nothing special on the train but napping and listening to a lecture; and worrying about whether I would get out at the right stop or not. No worries! People told me the route and the last few stops, so I got out and met up with my uncle and aunt. (: I really am super happy to be back in the Wrocław area... It really does feel like home. I could live here forever, near my family, have a job as a professor at Wrocław University, and send my kids to one of the better schools in the country, even! Anyways, back to today and now... we drove back to Strzelin, caught up, decided my train out would be easier to take from Oława (it's on the way to Kraków as it is; the stop right before Wrocław, actually), and when we got to Strzelin, we went straight to a pierogi place to eat obiad! Yummy pierogi, per usual. Soup at home, and then we took a walk to the cementary. It was my grandfather's name day: Tadeusz. We cleaned off his grave, my aunt bought him some flowers, and we started taking count of candles needed for Day of the Dead. I talked a lot with my uncle about our family from my grandmother's side and how many siblings she had. It was really interesting. It makes me want to go to Lwów more than ever, but I think I might actually save it for another time at this point. A time that I can dedicate to looking up family information in archives. We also walked by my mom's mom's side's grave, where I wiped it off a bit. We'll be visiting the graves Tuesday morning, as that will be All Saint's Day, and really the day when you decorate everything the most. Supposedly, it's absolutely gorgeous at night, to see all of the cemetary lit up in hundreds of candles... It makes me grateful I chose to come to Poland this semester, because I'm here for so many important holidays and events... I really am getting to see a side of Poland I never had the opportunity to see before. ^^

            After that, we just relaxed at home for the rest of the evening. Had a lot of interesting discussions. Oh, I also found out some wonderful news! My adviser emailed me, informing me that because I am abroad, my adviser did not even have to take me off hold, and that I can register from the first day on. ... Bwahahahahahaha. I am on the same level as the seniors. All of my friends my year have to wait until November 7th, and here I am, registering tomorrow (the 31st). Hoorah for no worries about whether I'll get my classes or not! I win! After soooo many times being left at the end of the registration list, I now have absolutely nothing to worry about. Bwahaha! Really, I should not feel as powerful as I do, but... I do! It makes me feel wonderful. I always worry about classes, so this just made my life so much easier. Heck yes for being the odd sophomore who hops away the very first semester I can.

           But onto the evening with my family! My uncle taught me so many things about my new voice recorder... You see, he helps this man with his recorder, because he's blind, so my uncle helps him work with the recorders so that he can write books. Therefore, when my uncle found out I had a recorder, he went all out to tell me what I can do and everything. Now I know there is voice activation! As in, I'm going to record myself sleeping to see what in the world I sleep talk about! (My roommate has told me I sleeptalk quite often, actually... So this is going to be an interesting test.) Along with that, I found out that long ago, my uncle and aunt determined that they would leave one of the two old Polish books they have from my great grandfather to me, while the other would be left to their children. And I get to choose from one of two books: one about the history of Poland, and the other about Grunwald, from the battle to that year. Both of these books are over 100 years old. One printed in 1908, and the other in 1910... Absolutely phenomenal history, and I'm very privileged to even have access to either book. Both are absolutely fascinating from what I flipped through as well. Each also have an old Polish map in the back; my uncle and aunt had to refurbish both, but wow... History... Such history! <3 It was really cool to skim through the first one about Poland in general, as well, because I recognized a lot of the kings and general history, thanks to my class on ethnic history of Poland. It's amazing how much I already know from a short month in class.

           Besides that, my aunt told me that my little nephew, Tymek, still remembers me... ... Oh dear lord, I died of happiness when I found that out. It's been a full month since I last saw him. Apparently, whenever my uncle and aunt pick him up, he points to the front seat, where I sat the one time I was also there to pick up, and he repeats my name. So they have to explain that I'm elsewhere. Not only that, but on occasion, when he needs something, or is going to sleep (if I remember that correctly), he goes through everyone's names: Mama, Tata, Babo (grandma), Dziadzio (grandpa), Agata (his mom's name), Adam (his dad's name), Nell. He includes me in that list! I hung out with him a grand total of three, maybe four days, one of which was minimal, yet he still remembers me, and he hasn't even turned two. Do you know how amazing that feels?

           So let's talk about yesterday, now. Because it will include more adorable anecdotes about Tymon. Woke up. Relaxed through the morning. Honestly, I can't remember anything significant through the morning except for... a really good obiad... ... Yeah, that sounds about right. But my late afternoon and evening! Oh, so full of amazingness. You see, at around 16.00, we left the house for Oława, because my aunt's work place was closing, so they were having a final little get together party, thing. Therefore, I hung out at Agata's for the evening! :) We got there when Tymek had just woke up, so the entire, groggy, why are you here, don't look at me, thing was going on. Then all was well! Tymek took me by my hand and guided me to his room, where he would jump up and down, saying, "Hop, hop hop!" all excitedly, because kids have to learn how to jump. (It's little things like that that you forget a kid has to learn how to do, simply because it seems so normal and basic to us.) He also ended up handing me one of his large puppy plushes, and he would put puzzles together, and it was just a wonderful evening. At one point, he had me sit down with him and originally looking through books. Then, he wanted me to read. Agata was all, "Oh no... no, don't tire your poor aunt out by having to read those books," because ya know, they're in Polish. But then I was like, No, it's ok! And I started reading to him, with some words I had never seen tripping me up. Afterwards, Agata was actually a bit impressed. She admitted, without trying to offend me, that she didn't realize I could read so well. Of course, a few months ago, I couldn't have read that so smoothly, but yeah, I certainly don't blame her! There was one or two times when I tripped up that Tymek looked at me in confusion. Ya know. Being an adult. Who supposedly can't read completely. He doesn't quite understand that Polish isn't my first language, I'm sure, but what, he's a kid! So that's ok. (:

           It was funny, though, because Tymon would hide behind a curtain, so we'd ask where he went, and then say "Akuku!" when he came out. Amongst all of this, we would try to have some sort of conversation, but it would get broken up from time to time, understandably so, with Tymek grabbing our attention. He scribbled around for a bit as well, and he handed the booklet with the page he wanted to give me. My uncle and aunt brought him some more difficult, 15-piece puzzles for him to put together, and the first time he had a lot of help with both, but when he put together the one with the train on it the second time, I was the only one helping him out. At the beginning, I really had to help him out, but for the middle four or so pieces, he put them together on his own! I just kept saying, "Bravo!" and giving him mini applause, because that's really impressive. The last few he needed help again with, but... he is such a smart kid. Oh! I helped him with his little sticker book as well, and managed to help him realize where to put the stickers over the little yellow indicators that had the same picture in it. At least for a few of them. But best of all! He's been learning a lot of words. Every day, he repeats something new. So while hanging out with him, I tried to get him to say "duża" (big), "słońca" (sun), and "żółta" (yellow) instead of just saying, "gleegleeglee" for the first one, and moving his hand in a small wave thing to indicate sun, or to indicate yellow like the sun. Had no luck with those. However. Instead, when I was playing with the little finger animal puppets he has, I would put them on and go through their names. At one point, I was trying to get him to say "ogon" (tail) for me, because I know he can say it. I was pointing at the mouse's tail and asking him what it was, and he wasn't saying it, but then I realized he was saying "mika," which was his childized version of "myszka" (mouse)! I actually taught him a word. When his mom came in, I asked her if he knew how to say mouse, so I pointed at the mouse, and he said it again.

           As I have said many times, wonderful evening. Agata and I had many awesome conversations about life, Tymek was precious as ever, and yeah. Eventually, Tymek had a bath and was put to bed, and after a while, my uncle and aunt came back. The party went really well, as they stayed later than they intended. I didn't mind, really, but I know they also didn't want to stay too late for the sake of Agata and Adam. We stayed and talked at their place for a bit before returning home, where I Skyped with mis padres briefly, and went to sleep.

           I supposedly had one extra hour of time to sleep tonight. Why? Daylight Savings Time was observed in Poland today, so the clocks were pushed one hour back! That means, for one whole week, I am closer to everyone by one whole hour! Bwahahah. Today, though, was your stereotypical lazy Sunday. Woke up, ate breakfast, relaxed, sat and talked together, had tea and stuff, and oh what else. Listened to music. We eventually watched "Mam Talent." Which I am super glad I got to watch. Unfortunately, the girl with a very unclean voice got first place, and two truly talented, non-singing individuals, were sent home, when at least one of them should've gone on to the finals. lD' Stupid people voting on a popular song. She did not sing it well! It was an Adele piece, and she did not have a powerful voice enough for it. However, the boy singer who got through did sing his piece by Bruno Mars quite excellently! I was very impressed. Even with his voice cracking, he persevered through. We played Scrabble before that, in Polish, obviously. I'd say I did rather well for this being my second language. Plus, my uncle and aunt really helped me out, and I knew most of the words on the board, and learned quite a few new ones! Scrabble is a wonderful language exercise, to be honest. Let's see, I learned how you say stern in Polish, as well as another term for joke, and a few other things. It was a tough game, composition wise, and by the end of it, I unfortunately had only consonants... And while in Polish, you can throw a ton of consonants together in a row and still make a word... I had the wrong consonants.

            Ah well! And yeah, that was all there is to say about my day. (: I really should've done a lot more school work than I did, but at least I had a good opportunity to catch up with friends and family as well. Tomorrow should be a good day for work, and interesting later on. So we'll see! I don't understand why I'm tired right now, but I am. And it's still early! Well, I hope you guys are all doing well, too! I think that's all the important things that happened to me these last few days. <3

Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, away to home I go!

           Holaaaaaaa! I am in a woooonderful mood, and I can't say why. I think it's probably because I'm going to back to Strzelin tomorrow!!! Hoooome (in Poland)!!! But let's talk about yesterday, first. Classes in the morning!

           Guys. I know I have made the right choice in not continuing my bio major. These humanities. All of this. It's absolutely fascinating. I love it. I'm truly interested. I really don't mind these kind of semesters. (Of course, I have to think about the fact these are three-day weeks and no midterms, but... nonetheless! The material!) But yes. Poland in Europe in the 20th Century. I've been stupid this week about sleep, so I keep on feeling drowsy in classes... But it was a very interesting lecture. Very powerful, actually. We were discussing the beginnings of World War II, the political climate of Europe, like I mentioned before, the lack of trust between any countries. However, I also learned about the secret pact Germany and Russia made between each other. Part of it was to eliminate the Poles. As in, by 1975, the Polish ethnicity was supposed to cease to exist. ... Yeah. It was actually a difficult lecture. Professor Basista told us how the tactics in World War II were like none other in history. Meaning, it was total warfare. I mean, I knew that, but, I dunno... listening to it is hard. Hearing him explain how it was straight up killing of civilians, not just targeting defense points or military. In fact, one of the statistics he gave us showed us far more civilian deaths than military deaths. Because they didn't care. They wanted the people gone. ... /: It's just... very unsettling, that people could be driven to such a point of hatred and have an absolute lack of remorse. That's why I hate the "are people innately good or bad" argument. I'm an optimist. I like to think good. But then... things like this pop up, and I don't see how anyone with any good in them could thoughtlessly kill people. Ah, I believe the statistic was... 14 million people were murdered in World War II. Not died from natural causes or because they were in the army. Murdered. Intentionally. Planned. Part of that was the concentration camps, yes... part of it was also Stalin and the Communists. Meh. It's just a very ugly part of history... and it's unfortunate the tensions could not have been handled otherwise.

           Onto happier things, though! My Secularization class was interesting! We watched a movie called The Sunset Limited, based on the play by Cormac McCarthy. Basically, a black, religious man saved a white, atheist man from suicide. Then the entire movie was a dialogue between the two, one trying to prove the other their belief, essentially. It was really intense at some points, and I'd say it was incredibly powerful. Therefore, I would recommend it if you like watching these sort of religious controversial-ish movies, because it really does make you think.

           Hmmm... I'm trying to honestly remember the rest of my day... Oh yes! I was supposed to have a Skype meeting with my adviser, again! So I rushed back to my apartment, and I waited for an hour to no avail. Being utterly exhausted, I gave up and took a nap. Of course, I wake up, see an email. He forgot. Again. Though! I do not blame him one bit! 8 am, and you don't normally use Skype, well... it's easy to forget. Particularly the 8 am part. It was really funny, though, because he was still determined to Skype, because he thought it would be cool. And easier, of course. But that was really neat. I think a lot of other people would give up, at that point. Or honestly, not even consider Skype. So I really appreciate him. Best. Adviser. Ever. I'll return to this in a second.

           Nate made chicken piccotta (I can't spell it correctly) for dinner for us, and goodness, it was a very yummy dinner. Although, interesting difference between America and Poland: chicken breasts in Poland sometimes still have bones in them. Oh yes, that's right. I had to cut out the bone and some other... thing that I think was a bone, but was way too soft to be a bone... But the bone was a wishbone! Monika and I snapped it in half for a wish. :D Bahahah, yes, that's right. Much fun! (I got the bigger half.) After dinner, I determined we needed to get rid of the very very ripe banana. Well, what else can you do with a very very ripe banana and limited resources in the kitchen but make banana scoooooooones?! ... Yes, we have had three batches of scones in what I would think is three weeks. No. It is not a problem. Yes. The dough itself is phenomenal. Monika (jokingly) suggested we should just make the dough for ourselves... ... You have no clue how tempted I am to do that... Regardless! We also did an ~experiment~ woooooooo. You see... our oh-so-amazing Nate donated his sacred Toffifees (caramel, chocolate, and hazelnut candies) so we could make Toffifee scones. I put a bit of vanilla in the scones as well for an additional flavor. ... Oh my god. Absolutely scrumptious. BUT! That's not all! Monika also made another experimental scone: Toffifee, banana, with a swirl of cinnamon scone. ... Basically. THAT was made full of win. An absolute whirlwind of tastes!

           Yeah. Basically. Baking is amazing. I love it. So many fun experiments! Deliciousness! But, onwards with the rest of the day. Which, actually wasn't much besides me doing homework. Oh, and me staying up because my adviser was absolutely determined to Skype with me, so I agreed to Skype with him at 0.45 (45 minutes past midnight). Or well, I said it's likely I'll be up, so yeah! Plus, he was really considerate and actually managed to Skype me at 0.25, so that was nice. And I'm really glad we decided to keep up with the Skype, because talking through my schedule face-to-blur (since he was blurry the entire time, yaaay internets!) was far easier than e-mailing back and forth. He determined that my schedule was a-ok, and that I seem to know what I'm doing and going on the right track, and of course it was super helpful that now these courses actually apply towards my minor, annnnd... when he went to take me off hold, he was like: Wait. I can't find you. Then, my suspicions were confirmed. Something weird happened, and I wouldn't have been permitted the register if I hadn't talked to him. Why? I'm not in the registrar. Why? Because I'm friggin' weird. A sophomore studying abroad my very first semester of sophomore year? Yeaaaah, far from the norm. Ya see, I saw that I had no holds, and that I had a very wrong date for registration, so I just knew there was something wrong. Now, I'm just worried that they'll put me on the stupid second day of registration for classes, which may mean I may not get into the courses I want, yet again, because the only time I have ever gotten the first day of registration was for this semester, which, obviously didn't help, cause here I am, in Poland, writing to the world about my life.

            But! I'm just glad I managed to finally work that out. (: I'm sure I'll be fine, and I feel super confident I actually know what I'm doing. Considering this time last year, I was even a bit uneasy with my choice thanks to chemistry, particularly... But again: Best. Adviser. Ever.  Even one of my neighbors was like: dude. You're adviser rocks.

           Moving on to today! I woke up early to work some more on school stuff, and today, I actually started to type out my recorded lectures. ... Oi vei. Ya see, I can type really quickly, so taking notes of exactly what people are saying is no problem, because I can catch everything they say, usually, and yeah. ... But that's in English. When it comes to Polish, it's my second language, I'm trying to make sure I spell everything correctly, it's not as natural for me to type in Polish so quickly (yet), and yeah... I kept on rewinding and replaying it, like... sometimes up to 10 times for one part to make sure I got one word down. For portions where the words are very normal and easy for me to understand, I tend to have less problems, naturally, but the minute I hear a word I don't know, it takes forever for that one section. However, I know this will be the absolute best method for me to a) learn Polish, and to b) learn my class's material. I'll be able to look through these notes and reading them aloud, find the words I don't know, translate them, and basically, be absolutely set for my exam, since... it'll be his exact lectures. On paper. Win? Absolutely.

           On my way to said class, I grabbed a kebab. Yum. Then sat in on class. Unfortunately, with me staying up late and then waking up early to work... I was very tired, and by the end of class, it was difficult to pay attention. And I felt bad when the girl beside me asked something, because I usually didn't get it down... We talked about Jews in Poland as well today, and I found out I read the wrong thing. Blaaaaah. I'll figure this out sooner or later. I'll just have to make sure to actually read through everything I need for the class, and I'll be fine.

            After class, I trammed back home to eat dinner. Yay fried mashed potatoes, leftovers, and mizeria! No, really. It was a good dinner. Plus we met our stand-in RD (Resident Director) for when Piotrek is gone on his conference in America (first time ever to America, yay for him!). Then I rushed back to the center to get to my Polish language class. It started off badly, because my teacher came up to me, gave me back my papers, and said that "my handwriting is massacre," which, yes, fair enough, but then she walked away and didn't even explain her corrections. Meanwhile, every other student in class had their corrections explained to them... ... I know I write illegibly at times, and it's only because of my tiny handwriting. Tinyness follows tinnyness, but still. She still made the corrections, there were red marks on my sheet, so she could've taken a moment to tell me my mistakes. If I continue to write this badly, and then she doesn't help me out, then I'd understand, but this was the first time, ya know, so she really could've taken a moment to tell me what was up. Fortunately, I understood all the corrections, but... it still agitated me. And I had already been feeling quite... unnoticed in class as it is. She practically never calls me out for anything, and she has clearly ignored my risen hand before. The rest of class, however, was very interesting. She gave us a conjugation sheet. ... This was the first time in my life that I saw the Polish conjugations on paper. Although, I am very proud to say, that I managed just fine through the worksheet, which means I actually naturally understand how to conjugate things. Usually. It's the other grammar I keep screwing up. xD

           Oh, we started off the class explaining Polish articles that we read. Not that it was that interesting. But, after our conjugation exercise, we read something about Halloween and Święto Wszystkich Świętych, which is All Saint's Day, in Poland. It was opinions about whether or not Poland should bring Halloween into its culture or not, and she had us answer a ton of questions about whether we thought so or not, and other basic things about the reading. I'll be honest: I really do like the class simply because she does try to have us involved more personally than straight up grammar. Which makes it so much more interesting. For example: we ended the class on three questions discussing the acceptance of other cultures, the disappearance of cultural identities, and the tying of multiple cultures. She asked us, and we just had to discuss our beliefs and thoughts on it. It was really interesting to listen to, particularly since I was the only non-natural-European in class tonight, and I could definitely tell that I had a very unique outlook. Not because I am not European, but because I was raised in America with a far more European outlook on life, but didn't grow up in Europe. Shockingly enough, it leads to a very different outlook, I think. One of the ladies in our class answered the last question, talking about how it upset her how many cultures are becoming more and more American and really only picking up the bad parts of America, and before she spoke, she quickly apologized to me and made sure I wouldn't feel offended. Afterwards, I told her it really wasn't an issue, because my outlook is very different, and I agreed with her. It honestly upsets me how much Europe seems to "look up" to America in certain cultural aspects.

            But! That's all, folks! I Skyped with my parents (yay <3), but I majorly disliked the fact my mom told me I only have one month and 22 days left. Major dislike. I love Poland. I don't want to leave. I want to see everyone, but I want to live here. Why must life be so crueeeel? (Not really. Life is beautiful.) One day! After all my studies! But still. Time. Is. Flying. HOWEVER, I am sooooo excited for Wrocław/Strzelin tomorrow!!! I am going hoooooooome! Homehomehome! Which means. I really should pack. And sleep. Sleep is good. I'm actually tired. Yay trains! Good night!

Lazy days bring days full of errands!

            You know those lazy Mondays? Yeah... I had a nice lazy Monday, yesterday. And it's wonderful to say Monday, because people hate Mondays, except when they're lazy. Then the rest of the week is awesome! But really now, yesterday, I essentially sat around in my apartment, did a ton of class work, and then did some groceries. For dinner, Monika, Nate, and I went out to Dominium Pizza for dinner, and then we all enjoyed some McDonald's for dessert.


           ... That's right. McDonald's. You see! We stopped by CoffeeHeaven, and Monika wasn't certain of the coffee, so we decided to head to the mall for Starbucks, and on our way, Monika sees "DONUTS" on the menu at McDonald's. That's right. American donuts. Not pączki, which translates to donut, but are very different from American donuts (which I actually dislike). So we stopped there, and that is when I had my first McFlurry ever. That's right. I am so unAmerican, that my first McFlurry would be outside of America, particularly in Poland... My thoughts? It was all right. I don't think I'd order it again; I could definitely get a lot of better things for the same price. Or perhaps that's my bias... Shhhhh... By the way, here is a picture of this experience. Whoot for first picture on blog ever (and not being lazy!)! (Thank you Monika!)

           That was it for the day. Really. (: But today! Oh, today made up for it. Left the apartment at around 8.30. Got back at around 19.30. That's right. You see, between my first two classes, I have enough a break, but I was running errands! Ah, so Holocaust was very interesting today; we discussed ghettos and the lives in ghettos. I love Professor Orla-Bukowska. She really does make it interesting, and she repeats the important things, and she tries her hardest to make it apply to us, while not killing our emotions. She keeps it light-hearted, which is super important to do for such a heavy course. Ah, at the end of class, she informed the Americans (and one Canadian) that she typically does a field trip/tour of Kazimierz, the old Jewish district in Kraków, as one of the last classes. So she asks us to determine a time we want to do this as a group, and then we have to write a paper on it. Well, short essay really. Although, during this, she informs me that Gina greatly enjoyed hanging out with me. Hoorah!

           After class, I headed out to the ksero (xerox) to copy my reading for my Ethnic History of Polish Lands course in Polish, because that's actually a lot easier than walking back every day, trying to find the time to read it. I don't have to worry about someone interrupting, and I can take my sweet time in understanding it as opposed to skimming it and missing half of the information due to my lack of Polish vocabulary! But, the more fun part of that break was going to Professor Orla-Bukowska's office. Well, being in her office. Getting there was a pain in the butt.

            So I knew her office address, sort of. I go to the building I think she's in, walk in, and I stare in absolute confusion of where to go. Polish college buildings aren't well marked, understandably so. I see a man in the court yard, smoking, when it says no smoking somewhere, so I'm like whatever. Then this man gets all grumpy and asks me, "Do you need something?" So I respond that I want to know where her room is, and he sends me up a flight of stairs, and complains at me for not noticing him earlier, because he's the porter and that's his job. Well, I'm sorry that I couldn't recognize you were a Porter, because you were smoking and on a break. Then I go up all of the stairs, don't find the room I'm looking for, hopelessly wander the courtyard and see there is no hope, go back to see the Porter in his office and ask him, "Is... this where the sociology department is?" Quite timidly. He responds, "It's on the other side of the street."

           Well, damnit. I knew it was one of the two building numbers on either side, but that was still aggravating. So I walk to the next building, decide not to deal with a potentially grumpy porter and start hauling butt up the stairs. Oh, may I remind you: Polish universities are typically spread out across a city, with buildings here and there, not too well addressed or laid out, because they're old. So that's ok. Just... difficult to navigate. Oh, and they are monstrously tall buildings with no elevators, cause they are old. I go to the very top of the building, see a room number which confuses me to absolute heck, cause I was hoping for the first number to represent its floor. Wrong. Then I go down the hall, down, down, down, numbers shrink, turn the corner, go down the stairs on the turn, see a number closer to mine, keep going around, see the number I think I need, enter it, ask for the professor using the wrong name, because up until now, I've really thought of her as the "awesome Holocaust professor with my future life who introduced me to a fellow Tennessean in Kraków." Yeah. Not too informative, right? :) But, the woman at the desk (who stares at me after I come in before I ask about the professor) informs me next door. ARGH.

            FINALLY, I walk in, and thank goodness, the lovely professor is sitting at her desk, and she invites me to sit down. Yeah, I'd have to say this was probably the most enjoyable part of my day, to be honest. I asked her about my paper and then I asked her what it's like to be a social anthropologist. So she told me about her job, and what she does, and why she enjoys it, and what the perspective is, and then she gave me a ton of suggested books and readings and authors on the subject so that I could get a better idea, and she told me certain scenarios of what has been studied, such as Jews during Christmas time, or Jews in the South, and other such cases. It's basically looking at the scenarios from the minorities case instead of the winner or the historian's viewpoint, the outside. Super. Awesome. It's far more modern than history, but you need to understand history in order to learn why people behave as they do in their societies, like the Nepalese women! They participate in polyandry! Yes, one woman has multiple husbands. Why? Not enough woman. Woman in Europe outlive men, and in Nepal, men outlive women. That makes total sense too. So she told me how they looked into it, and learned the necessities of such a scenario, and how it's more or less... imposed upon them?

           I spent a good thirty minutes, at least, sitting and talking to her in her office about this. I even told her how whenever she told the class that she was born in America to a Polish family, then moved back and is a social anthropologist I essentially flipped out in joy. She is the future me. So she was really nice, and then she invited me back to sit down and talk to her when I get a chance to read some of her suggested books. Oh, life, how I love you. Ah! And when I told her I was super grateful for her telling me about Gina, she said that Gina had been really excited as well, and that she had a feeling that we would get along. Hah. It's so interesting how professors (and people in general) just can tell who you will get along with, even if you haven't had the opportunity to talk to them a lot. So, I left her office quite joyful and thinking about my future, per usual.

           I am thinking that if I need to complete a Master's before my Doctorate to become a professor, then I might just do it in Poland... preferably Jagiellonian, and if not, Wrocław University would be awesome too. However, if I do not need a Master's, I'll just take a break year and go volunteer/work/intern somewhere in the world for the year, and then continue on with my Doctorate in the States. But! We'll see how life goes. A lot of things can change between now and then.

           Afterwards, I headed to Zapiecek, the pierogi place, to meet up with Nate and Monika! There was a huge English group ahead of us, though, so we decided to say, "Let's go find another place to eat." Because they were a bit annoying... Like, they were observing the menu and were wondering about the traditional mix, and one girl was like, "No, they aren't dumplings unless they say pierogi," so I popped in and said, no... those are dumplings... I've been here a lot. I dunno if they took the advice, but whatever! We went to "U Babci Maliny," the restaurant we ate at the first day. Nate and I lucked out in that we had no line. Then Monika had to wait in the line. And ordered a dish. That took forever to make. But! The food was good. Yummy kiełbasa for me!

            Rushed to Poland in Europe in the 20th Century. Good class; mainly talked about the European situation before World War II and building it up to then, and essentially how no one cooperated. I was tired and full of food, so I definitely felt quite drowsy through the course... but that course ended, Monika stayed afterwards to help me with my Polish homework; aka I told her what I was writing, and I had her make sure that my grammar sounded all right. Why? Because I have always been terrible in grammar, English included... So no surprise that my second language also has a very odd idea of grammar! Headed on to my Polish class from there, where we learned about the book we needed to get, did a reading exercise on Chopin and then a writing exercising, condensing the information we were given. Oh, plus, she had us listen to music and describe it. It was a fun class period, but at that point, I was ready to go home. Afterwards, I actually talked to the Polish-Canadian in my class! From Toronto, Polish family, very awesome. He even asked me about the accents in the South, and he's from Canada. xD That's just amusing.

            Then I was home, where we waited for Monika, but ended up eating the few leftovers we had instead when we were tired of waiting. Yay for not really having stuff to make a full dinner with! I talked to my aunt and uncle from Gdańsk as well, so that was nice. I think I'll be visiting them one weekend in listopad (November), so that'll be fun! Also, they gave me information about my mom's side of the family that live near Kraków. Oh, and my aunt's brother as well, who I met in 2005 when I visited Poland on my own. It'd be awesome to see that family again! :) But then, in regards to family... oh gosh... I called my parents and Skyped them with a bit, ya know, talking about my life plans and everything, cause that's just what I do, and then I asked my mom about information about my family. ... I did not know about this entire side of the family. I've met a few, apparently, but I don't remember them. I am super excited to meet them! But why in the world must there be so many Marias? Seriously, I was talking with my mom and kept on pausing her to ask, wait, what Marysia? Which one? What? But... you said. Oh wait. What? Oh, yay for Poland loving the Virgin Mary... But... again, I will see more family, and that's just going to rock my world! I love family! <3

            I will leave you with that exciting note, as I do have class in the morning, and I have things to do, and I need to wake up early. Unfortunate? Yeah, a bit, I know.

Mistakes in History

           Well, now that I am conscious as opposed to a babbling fool (this is in reference to my Skypeing with Bobby and fellow Muffins last night; I went to bed at 3:40 in the morning, and that's a recent record), I shall type up a blog post! So let me recall Friday! I already mentioned the absolute wonder of baking, yes yes. So for the rest of the day, we stayed at home, and I Skyped with some people, until we had to head on out and meet to go to a restaurant with the Budapest API group! We went to Chłopskie Jadło, which is a traditional Polish food restaurant. The one we were supposed to eat at the first night we were here, actually! So that was interesting. Since it was on API, all of us went all out. I ordered apple pierogi for everyone to try at the table, barszcz z uskami, and a pork with apricot in it, and it was covered with an apricot, plum, and garlic sort of sauce. Yes, it was quite delicious, actually! All of us were absolutely stuffed after that. From there, we headed on home before heading over to Angelika's place.
           Angelika's apartment was wonderful! It is the typical, modern Polish style apartment. So we all hung out in there for the first part of the night with the Budapest kids. We all did typical introductions in a circle, which for me, was super useful. But it was quite enjoyable. Great group of people, actually. Although, gonna straight up say that people need to remember Polish alcohol is far stronger than the alcohol in the States. Oh, of course everyone was drinking! I am proud to say I didn't even have a sip. Hoorah! Although, mostly everyone else had at least 7 shots... ... Needless to say, you can see where the night went. We headed out to a karaoke bar, where some people mixed their beer and vodka. Literally pouring vodka into the beer. Brilliant idea. We didn't stay there too long. Instead, we walked around, trying to find clubs, completely exhausting my legs while trying to herd drunk people who were falling over, literally, making out with each other, and trying to get their coats from coat checks, even though, they had gotten their coats already... Oh, people getting lost, and others abandoning their lost friend. Super responsible. Yes, it was a night of shambles. In retrospect, it was sort of amusing; although, when I got home that night, I was honestly ticked off to a scary level. Oh! While I was waiting for two of the people to retrieve the lost girl, two of our group members were making out, and two guys walked up to me, each holding two cans of open beer, offering them to me. No worries! I said no thank you, firmly, multiple times, and they left, giggling away. I guess it was some bet about "seeing what that serious looking girl would do if offered beers."
           That night left me with a further validation of the fact that most (note: not all) Americans have no clue how to drink. Even if you drink a lot, you can drink responsibly. You can know what to do. Being drunk is partially a matter of "mind over matter," too. So, having a preset mentality of what to do when you are plastered would help. Although, to get plastered in a foreign country, where you speak nothing of that language, is just a terrible idea in the first place.
            But, enough of that! Because the next day was far more meaningful... You see... We went to Auschwitz. Therefore, as a disclaimer, if you are faint of heart, please do not read on until my next bolded statement. I did cry, writing part of this, as... it's absolutely unimaginable how such a horrible event could've happened. And how these sort of things still happen to this day, in all parts of the world.
           As many of you know, throughout my life, I have studied details and stories on the Holocaust. I have always been interested in it as a critical historical moment which must be remembered, so I emphasize the need to learn about it and what people went through. This was my third visit to Auschwitz; my first was in 2005, when I was 13, and my second was last year, actually. You may ask, but why would you go to such a depressing place so many times? Well, to pay respects to the millions lost. To learn new things. To remind myself how fortunate I am in my life. Every single visit I have learned something new. So yes, I plan on returning there again. If I am fortunate enough, perhaps even next summer.
            The unbelievable happened in this tour, though. As soon as our tour guide started speaking, I recognized his voice and his speech pattern. Immediately, I looked at Monika and told her, "I think this is the same tour guide I had last year." His speech pattern and his notations of the events that happened in Auschwitz kept triggering my memory, and so eventually, I went up to him and said, "So, I have a weird question for you: how long have you worked here?"
           "Four years."
           "Oh, ok... Because I think you were my tour guide last year."
           "Oh... Well, that could be possible."
           "Did your grandfather stay in block 18?"
           With a sort of shocked chuckle, he said, "Yeah, yeah that's me." We talked about it, and we came to the conclusion that the chances of that happening is like the lottery. Why? Last year, I visited in a different month, on a different day, during a different time, and he is most certainly not the only English tour guide. Although, I am glad I had him again, because the way he presents everything is very well done.
           We missed some of the parts that I remember going through last year, such as block 18. You see, his great grandfather was placed in block 18 while he stayed in Auschwitz for I believe... 6 months? His great grandfather was a Polish political prisoner. The reason I remembered his grandfather so well, was because last year, when he took us to block 18, he told us how important that one particular building was to us. Now, block 18 is a memorial to the Hungarian Jews that perished in Auschwitz, and inside, you hear a beating heart, and you see pictures of people being herded away from their homes and ghettos, and you see their stories, and it's dark, and you are walking on glass, so you feel like everything around you is fragile. I remember it being put together very excellently, because it moved me to tears.
           As always, we visited the room of hair... ... I hate that room... To me, it is one of the most... heart-wrenching and in-your-face moments of all of Auschwitz. You walk into a room. It is about 30 yards long (perhaps less).  The entire left side is blocked by glass. Behind the glass... you see piles, upon piles... of human. Hair. At the front, it is low, but it raises up in elevation deeper into the case, which is at least 10 feet deep. That room? It contains 2 tons of human hair. Taken from women, children, and men. Mostly ponytails. ... The amount of hair in that room came from about... 50,000 people. They originally found 7 tons of human hair when they found Auschwitz... 2 tons was only a third of the hair that was found. And you must remember. This hair was used. It was made into rugs, textiles for uniforms, and other textiles. It was used, and sold. They made a profit from it. Oh, and Auschwitz was actually under insurance. That land and their factory was under insurance. Therefore, if it was bombed, the Nazis would've received money from it. It was insured by Allianz. The company's still around today...
           Auschwitz was an organized factory for death. The records they had of everyone were precise. They kept numbers for their statistics. Of ya know. Human lives. Being taken. They moved from Auschwitz I, which has been the only part I have visited before, and built Auschwitz II, aka Auschwitz-Birkenau, because their gas chamber and crematoria in one wasn't enough. Auschwitz I was a concentration camp converted from an old Polish military camp. The gas chamber was originally a bomb shelter. In the first gas chamber, they could kill 380 people in one day. When they built the second one, Birkenau... they could kill up to 5000 people. In. One. Day. And. They had to eventually start burning some of the bodies outside of the crematoria, because the crematoriums were not fast enough. They had four of them in Auschwitz II.
            The Nazis built Auschwitz II where six Polish villages used to be. They reused some of the supplies to build the barracks. Which, being wooden, were far worse than in Auschwitz I, and no, the first one's weren't that great of living conditions either. In the winter, it was just as cold in the barracks as it was outside. They would let the dead people stay in the barracks if they died there, so that way, they could have their rations. Some of the best jobs were jobs like being a musician, being a fellow officer, sometimes more brutal than the officers themselves, or cleaning the shit out of the "toilets," which were just holes. In a ditch. Why? Because had better living conditions. Not stuffed into some bunks. You had the chance to live.
            Out of the four crematoriums, three of them were destroyed by the Nazis when they realized that the Red Army was closing in on them; they wanted to destroy the evidence. But what happened to the one that was not destroyed? Well. It had been destroyed. Earlier. The campers had an uprising. Over the course of a year, the women would smuggle explosives from their factories. ... Over a year. They managed to smuggle just enough to destroy one of the crematoriums. Oh yes, they were punished. Hanged, if I remember correctly. And again, if I remember correctly, 400 other people were killed in response to this uprising.
            Through our tour, our guide kept asking us: How long do you think you would last? Of course, in Auschwitz I, everyone had a longer chance. Women, 3-5 months, men, half a year to a year. In Auschwitz two... A month was pretty lucky... a year, rare. Whenever he asked us this, though, I could only think of one photograph. It is one of the doctors standing in front of a line of men. You see a man at the front, white hair, walking cane. You see the doctor pointing his thumb to the right, and you have a confirmation of that by his shadow behind him. This doctor. He would look at the people in front of him, and just... flip his thumb. To the left. Or to the right. Left? Sent off to the camp. Right? ... Sent off to the gas chambers, being promised a shower. So you know. You know by this picture, that that man died. Whenever our guide asked us, how long would you last? I knew. I always thought to myself. I would see his hand point to the right. Who needs a tiny a girl with a limp to work in a camp, right?
           But, that's not the point. For these men, for the doctors who determined who was sent to death. It was a simple movement. A small flick of the hand. The face, the thought of their family. It meant nothing to them. And this wasn't all just Jews. Mostly it was, yes, but there were also the political prisoners, and the homosexuals, and the gypsies, and so many other people. They were all people. Who cares what they are, or how they live their life, or what they believe. They are people. Our Holocaust professor has taught us a saying: They went after the Jews, the Gypsies, the homosexuals, and the bicyclists. Everyone in the class asked: But why the bicyclists? She responded: Exactly.
           It's a shameful thing. We all asked, why the bicyclists, but not about the other three. They're all people, and it shouldn't matter at all, yet it does. That on its own was enough to show just how ingrained these separations are ingrained in our society. It's shameful.
            Our tour guide told us another interesting story. A while back, his coworker had a German tour group. When they stopped in front of the picture with the doctor pointing a man off to his death, one of the members of the tour group pointed out a fellow officer on the picture. He recognized his father. As a Nazi officer. Of course, the picture is black and white, and blurry, so they checked the archives to find that yes, this man's father was a Nazi officer in Auschwitz who was in that picture. This man did not know his father had been at Auschwitz, as an officer. He had no clue. He couldn't ask him about it either, because by then, his father had passed on. This picture was taken on the platform in Auschwitz II, where trains come in and drop off the prisoners before they are given an order.
           We walked on that platform. We went through some of the barracks. We saw the dozens of chimneys remaining from the other barracks, which stretched out for a terrifying distance. We saw the few brick barracks they had built on. We saw the remains of the crematoriums that the Nazis had destroyed, where people were sent to die. In the last two months that Auschwitz ran... it killed 400,000 people. In two months. Over the five years it ran, from 1940 to 1945... the total was nearly 1.5 million people. Yet, nearly a full third of that number comes from the last two months. When they knew that the Soviets were coming. When they wanted to try their hardest to kill off all of the Hungarian Jews that were being imported at that time.
            So that was Auschwitz. And yes, as much as it tore me apart to write all of this, I do plan on returning. Perhaps next summer, on June 14, 1940. That was the first import of prisoners to Auschwitz. 780 Polish political prisoners... Every year, survivors return to Auschwitz on this day to remember... in honor of those lost through this terrible trial of history. I have wanted to meet and talk with a survivor all of my life, and because I know this day would be truly powerful, I want to be there, that day. As far as I know, I may even end up studying the Holocaust for the rest of my life. People need to remember the dangers of ignorance, the dangers of hatred, the dangers of petty names, and the dangers of stereotypes. It's these small things that lead to such grand scale destruction, like Auschwitz. No one deserves to die because of such dehumanization, or worse, to live through them and be scarred for life.
           With my heart pounding, I think it's time to finish talking about Auschwitz. The visit was powerful as ever. We bid our tour guide good bye and left, heading back for Kraków. Back in Kraków, Monika suggested we make fajitas for dinner, and I Skyped with my friend Bryce and then my mom. Although, my Skype session with my mom was cut short when Monika came to my room and said: Fajitas! Yeah, no more was necessary. Although, we had to go pick up our Budapest friend Maya so that she could join in on the scrumptiousness. So Nate and I made extra fajita stuff, and then we had some delicious fajitas when Maya and Monika came back. Afterwards, we headed out to the E. Wedel restaurant. E. Wedel is one of Poland's well-known and wonderful chocolate companies. So this restaurant is dedicated to sweet goods. And oh goodness, that night made up every bit for the previous night. We were all dying of laughter. I could hardly breathe, and my cheeks hurt. I had tears in my eyes. It was wonderfully fun. My lime, raspberry, and strawberry sorbet with fresh strawberries, kiwis, and melon was phenomenal. Oh gosh. How I do adore fruit. I also had a cup of hot chocolate with cinnamon in it. Oh, when I say hot chocolate, I mean, basically, melted chocolate (with some milk, I guess). Although, the chocolate was too bitter in my taste. The cinnamon parts of it made it delicious, though. So yes, that was a phenomenal evening.
            We headed home after that, and that was it for my evening! Except for the fact that I ended up Skyping until 3:40 in the morning. Such a bright idea on my part, eh? (:
           This morning, I slept in as late as I could. Which, unfortunately, my body would not permit to be too late. Even though I had covered the windows. Ah well! I relaxed, Maya came over, and then we went to meet up for the Nowa Huta tour.
            ... Guys. If you are ever in Kraków. Take this "Crazy Guides" tour. They are epic. You see. You get to travel around in old cars. For example, we had two Trabant limousines, one Fiat, and then some epic old Van, which was literally plushed red on the inside. Oh yeah, we found out that Van was a party van... for bachelor parties... And they played the stripper music while we were in it (aka, really up-beat pop music, but still, the stripper CD). Oh yes. The van did have a pole in it. You could smell and see the burning fuel from each car. Oh, old car fun! One of the Trabants was from 1984, and another from 1964. They looked exactly the same minus the paint jobs. No competition meant no need for improvements in those times in Poland, yeah?! :D Although, these cars are still bigger than a Polish Maluch. Our drivers, the tour guides. Oh, were they crazy! They would zoom ahead, and spin the wheel harshly, and drive all crazy. Which is fitting for the name of the tour. And it made sense with the cars. But it must've looked hysterical on the roads, watching these old-ass cars, driving around like lunatics.
            They were fun to listen to and talk with, though! Excellent English, for all of them. But anyways, the point of this tour was Nowa Huta, a city built right outside of Krakow as a gift to Krakow, from Stalin. It was meant to be the PERFECT Communist city, and an example for the world. It's built in a half-circle shape. The distance from homes to work is perfect. It's all cheaply built, meant to last sixty years, because the area went from nothing to a factory, steel-based town in ten years. All of the buildings were originally white, grayed by the smoke columns. All of the apartments and accessories within them were essentially the same. There was absolutely nothing in the shops in the 80s because the economy was shit. Yet you had to wait in ridiculous lines to get up and hear, oh, we have nothing. You might have had the money, but it was essentially useless, as there was nothing to buy. You would have to wait for two or three weeks to buy a laundry machine, and longer for a car, and even with those cars, you'd have to buy two to make one successful working one. Everything was controlled. Your job, your apartments, everything. If one person had a TV, everyone in the block would go there to watch it. People were supposed to be happy as hell workers in Nowa Huta, because who wouldn't want to live in a successful, industrial, Communist city? Yet, they tore down the walking Lenin statue in one of their squares the minute they had the opportunity. Apparently, this statue now wears a cowboy hat and holds a cigar. (Or perhaps that was a joke, but it makes me and many others happy!)
            While Communism did not support or like the idea of religion, they knew that restricting Poland, a 98% Catholic country, essentially, would just bring them unnecessary riots. So eventually, they were permitted to build a church, which is super symbolic. It's roof is shaped like a boat, and it's called the Ark, because it's meant to represent that one day, it will save them all from a flood of Communism. There are seven entries, like the seven something in Catholicism (sorry about my lack of knowledge there), and then the cross. Well, you see, in previous years, the citizens were permitted to put up a wooden cross in town, but three years later, it was torn down by Soviet Militia men. Oh, there were riots. So, what the architect did was make the cross a supporting beam of the church. So it couldn't be torn down without destroying the church! Genius!
            Our tour guides constantly referred to the Communists as Communist bastards. Such as when they were showing us the złoty from that time, the first two were some Communist people, so he was like: "Two Communist bastards, Kościuszko, Kopernikus," and I can't remember the last one. Ah, we all had shots with a chaser of a pickle! Oh, obviously, I didn't join in on the shot, but the pickle was delicious! We started our tour in "Stylowo," translated to Stylish. It's a popular/famous restaurant from Nowa Huta, and that's where he showed us some history via pictures. It was a very interesting part of the tour, because I learned quite a bit. Ah! And it featured one interesting anti-Soviet, propaganda piece. It's a caricature of a Soviet militia man, holding the sickle and hammer behind his back. So you have one picture on the left, of him from the front, and a second of him from the back, where you see the Communist sickle and hammer. On top, it says, "Obywatel wybór," which is essentially, "Citizen choice." Underneath the caricatures, it has written, "Ence-pence, w której ręce?" Essentially, that means, "Pick a hand." So, if you see where that is going, it's a very satirical piece of, "You can pick, but it won't make a difference!"
             So, very interesting and fun tour today! We came back, and Maya, Monika, Nate, and I all headed back to our apartment to pick a place to eat, and then we went to eat at said place called "Wesele." It was... not as reasonably priced as we had thought it would be, to be honest. Our stupid book lied. But ah well! The food ended up being good: I hate chicken stuffed with hazelnuts over a spinach in cream deal, with kluski on the side. So the food was good, our conversation was good, we headed home, played some Yahtzee, and Monika and Nate walked Maya back to the hotel to make sure she could get there so she would get on her train back to Budapest!
             Basically, for the most part, this weekend was wonderful! And tomorrow should be quite enjoyable as well! Though, I really should be working on some school stuff tomorrow, instead of running around and doing a ton of things, then taking my leisure time as relaxation time... Perhaps, I should also insure going to bed at a reasonable time, tonight! Dobra noc, moje kolegów!

Cooking, cooking, baking!

           Wow, so I totally did not realize I would not manage to post until today! That's ok, though. (: Life's been good! Wednesday... Let me recall Wednesday. The Poland in Europe in 20th Century class went well. I even got my 20th century figure approved of! Although, apparently there are two Józef Hallers... So... I'm going to have to pick one of them, hahaha. Oh, and after class, I was asking Monika and Nate what they wanted for dinner, right? So I suggested pizza pork chops! And our professor gave us the weirdest look and asked, "Pizza?" Yup! Haha. Then Secularization was next. Our class went on a bit of a tangent, actually, but it was an interesting tangent! We discussed how we, Europe, follows the Judeo-Christian idea of time, meaning a straight line, like an arrow being shot to a target. Then there is the Hindu idea of time, and most of Asia, which is a circle. The presentation was on Holland, and I died when they announced there is a Bible Belt in Holland as well, which proves to be a problem in some of their politics, apparently. Well, at least based on the two boys presenting. I'm just glad I got my presentation out of the way immediately; less stress for me, and considering I feel the stress in my life increasing right now, this is grand!
           After class, I ended up having a delicious beef Kebab. This second place was a lot better, as its sauces were diverse, and I dunno. It just tasted better. Ah, and then I finally went and copied my readings for my Polish ethnic history class. Super useful, as now I don't have to worry about running around the entire time, trying to get the readings from various sources. I have to figure out what this week's reading is, though...
           When I came home, Wednesday, I essentially relaxed before starting up dinner. It was my time to make dinner, so I made kotlety, aka pork chops in a flour/bread mix, some sliced potatoes that were baked, and then a tomato, sour cream sauce. Which, Monika actually made in the end, since I was more focused on the potatoes and kotlety. The dinner ended up being rather good, surprisingly enough. Particularly the potatoes. But, this is where the day gets to the fun part!
            I met up with the Tennessean, Gina! I had to set back our meeting time due to dinner, but that's ok! I met up with her, and then we went to go celebrate the fact that her friend just finished defending her master thesis. So we went to this little club, called Ray 5, I think? It was nice, in a cellar, very relaxing. Gina actually grew up in Nashville as a Vandy fan. She feels my pain. Meaning, the football team. Super aggravating. But yes! So we talked about Nashville, and Vanderbilt, and she knew a lot about it, which made me feel awesome. I found out she plans on staying in Poland, which is even cooler. She works in the Galicia Museum, and as a teacher teaching English, I think. I felt like a baby hanging out with them, since I'm just starting my second year of college... But honestly, that's how I've always been. I've always enjoyed spending time with people older than me. That's just how I am. I am a mature person. In fact, the girl who finished her master's was like, "Wait... so that means you're 19?" Yup, that's right. Little me.
           They got soooo drunk. Although, they did it responsibly, and they really weren't acting obnoxiously as so many people do. There is a way! You can drink responsibly, and be drunk, even! Many people just don't know how, unfortunately. But it was amusing. Especially since her other friend kept on saying, "I'm normally not like this, I'm normally sober, really, this is such a bad influence and impression, I'm so sorry." It really doesn't matter to me, though. I'm definitely used to the alcohol environment. Hello Polonia! But really, it was just amusing, and I understand how it goes. (: I'm just weird cause I literally dislike the taste of alcohol.
            Oh, and it was really nice when they asked me if I wanted anything. I said no, cause I don't like alcohol, so they said, oh ok! Finally, none of this morbid shock if you do not drink. Instead, they just had the barman make me some shot without alcohol. I think it was just cranberry juice, but hey! I participated in the toast! :D
           The evening went wonderfully, and Gina and I do plan on meeting up again to hang out! She was worried she might've scared me off with the one time that they decided to go out, cause they normally don't. Haha. Ahhh, I also learned a bit about becoming an EU Citizen and all sorts of fun stuff! Like it takes seven years if you have no European background, and how you need to act when you go to government offices, and costs. This is all going to be super useful for me in the future!
           That was it, as far as I can remember. I went home earlier than everyone else so that I could wake up early for Thursday; although I still stayed up late, panicking about my life, essentially. I'm trying to figure out major/minor stuff for Vanderbilt, and planning my four year plan has become infinitely difficult thanks to the changes in my plans. Oh well!
            Yesterday was a good day as well! I stayed in for the morning and read my reading for historia etniczna ziem polskich. It is unbelievable how many words I learned just by having access to Google translate. I know so many new Polish words! And I still have to finish this reading! But it felt great! I should've just made the copies in the first place. Around noon, though, Monika came to our apartment bearing naleśniki! Mmmm. What a delicious way to get ready for class. Nutella, bananas, and blueberry jam. Perfection.
           Class went well. I understood most of the lecture, I think; although, I still will be transcribing all my lectures. That will be the absolute best practice and best way for me to learn everything, as I do need to remember we'll be taking an actual exam. The workshop went well, also! He gave us guidelines for our presentation, which I definitely appreciate, and then we practiced going through them using the Germans. That was our reading: Niemcy w Polsce. Germans in Poland. Very interesting reading, by the way. I even participated! I mean, it was a short and quick answer, because I was so nervous that I might've misread something or say something stupid, but I did answer one of his questions. (I probably sound really silly being excited over that, but I feel like that's a valid reason to be excited.)
            I rushed back to the apartment so that we could make dinner together. It was the delicious sour cream tomato sauce from yesterday, with pasta soaked in it, and a mix of sauteed onions, mushrooms, and chicken. Oh, it was a very delicious dinner. We managed to make it and eat it in my short break, about an hour and 30 minutes. Then I hopped on a tram, and I am incredibly grateful that the number 3 tram was late, or else I would've been super late to class. The tram took 20 minutes to get there, and the driver was horrible, and I barely made it on time. This is my Polish class, like the actual language course. It went by super quickly, despite being 2 and a half hours long. We started off with an exercise in which we described the people on a chart: their likes, their jobs, their dislikes. It was a grammar exercise. Then we went on to descriptions. Such as how you look and personalities. We ended class with having to describe the "ideal man or woman." And I actually have homework. What is this? No, but really, that's fine! It's a fun assignment in which we just have to write about our best friend, essentially. (: I love these kind of assignments!
           In class, I sat by a Lithuanian girl, I think. We ended up talking and hanging out shortly after class, and I might have convinced her to try to take Secularization. She's having issues with credits and what not. She apparently is working on her fifth language now... Well, damn. Yes, I'll be honest; I'm envious of that. I want to know that many languages. I wish we had that opportunity in America. But no. We know English. Who needs to know other languages? What do you mean there is more than America in this world? Ok, I apologize for the cynicism. 
           In regards to language though, I'm going to admit: I am very proud of myself right now. I am reading and writing in Polish far more comfortably than I was just a month ago. I feel as though I've improved a ridiculous amount, and that just makes me incredibly blissful. It's amazing what you can do when you put your mind and effort into it.
           Last night, I stayed up late, yet again, panicking about my schedule. Although, I think I actually took a grand step forward, and it might end up working out. I should now be able to successfully major in Anthropology with Honors, minor in European Studies, study abroad in Europe again (currently looking at Spain), and continue my Spanish all four years, except for the last semester. Oh, and fulfill stupid AXLE requirements. Plus! With me studying abroad, a lot of these courses I'm taking now will apply toward my minor in European Studies, so it will be a very well-rounded and fat minor! :D You have no idea how happy that makes me, hahaha.
            Now, to today. While it's still just the early afternoon, I've done quite a bit. I've just relaxed in the apartment all day to be honest, although I should be working on some class work. Or well, perhaps not relaxed. I've been in the apartment. Because I made banana-cinnamon scones again today! :D Yes. They were delicious. There is one left, waiting for two of my flat mates to enjoy. Then, I helped out in the process of baking a "Cheap and Easy Honey Cake" from a Polish cookbook... ... It should've been a lot easier, but we ran into two problems: we had full cloves instead of ground cloves, and we have no mortar and pestle. Therefore, grinding them was a pain in the butt, and they weren't truly ground. Then, we had to stiffen the egg whites... ... We have no electric beater. ... Yes, we whisked the egg whites for at least an hour. And no. They were not as stiff as we would've liked. But after an hour, you sort of give up. Regardless, though, the cake is baking in the oven, it smells delicious, the batter tasted delicious, so I believe it will certainly be a success! :D Oh, how I love baking.
           Anyways, that's all for now. The rest of the day should include lots of catching up with school work (typing up old notes, transcribing lectures, outlining papers) and then meeting up with the Budapest kids for dinner. Hoorah!

Wawel Monday and Courses Tuesday!

           These last two days have been incredibly busy, exciting, and tiring, actually! But that's all a very good thing, because that's much better than sitting away an entire day (even though, unfortunately, that's a must for some days). Oh goodness. So yesterday, wake up was bright and early! Wawel Monday, after all! So, we all woke up, left the apartment for Wawel! It was free day for the armory and the "Lost Wawel" exhibitions, and we also wanted to check out the Dragon's Den, which is super cheap, so it really didn't matter if it was free or not.
           So we headed to the armory, and wow... I definitely remembered it from my 2005 visit, but this time it was that much more meaningful. We saw a lot of objects from the medieval ages; swords, halberds, shields, armor, all of that fun stuff! Plus, old cups, jewels, the sword that was used for the coronation of all of Poland's kings. Also, Nate was awesome in explaining all of the weapons, their uses, the methodology, as he is an actor in Polish reenactments! Cannons, history, all sorts of fun stuff. Fascinating. Then we moved on to "Lost Wawel," which I had not seen before. It's an exhibition which shows artifacts from the Wawel castle, as well as it's changes through time, and what it was like way back when. This includes walking through a part of Wawel which was left destroyed or from some dig, I'm certain. It's really cool to walk through it and see it in its ruins, because that also gives you an idea of its massive size. Oh, plus, they had some bones from a burial there! Nerdy me started calling out what they were... (I definitely need to touch up on that...) We walked through the kitchen too, or what would've been the kitchen. But once we finished that exhibition, we went by our late president's tomb once more, out of respect, and headed on to the Dragon's Den! So, what you do, is you descend down a huge spiral staircase, and end up in a cave, and walk through the dark, rocky cave, imagining a dragon would've lived there, even though it's actually rather small when you think about the size of a dragon. I was nerdy and took a video, walking through it, explaining that we're in a cave, and we found no sheep bones yet. Yeah, it was nothing special, but now I can say I went through it, and I saw the dragon again! In fact, Monika and I fearlessly stood before the dragon as it raged its terrible fiery breath just above us, and Nate bravely recorded its horrible flamethrower for the record of all people to know its horror! ... Yeah, I know, I just made that super nerdy and epic all at once. :)
           Ok, in all seriousness, we ended up going to grab some Asia to Go to see how good the Asian food is over here. Pretty good, I'd say, if not better. Different, but I liked it for sure! From there, we headed on to a museum that was opened just last year: it's underground! Under the sukienica actually! It's an interactive sort of museum which shows you Kraków in the middle ages, when it was a bustling medieval city, full of merchants and travelers, and just one of those medieval capitals of the time, ya know? You could go to a little nook and hear some Polish guy yell at you to go away, look at some maps, see how much you weighed or how tall you were based on olden time measurements, then there was a really cool rounded theatre that went through all of the important people in Polish history from Kraków! Oh, you walked under the fountain that sits in the square, and you walk through the dig sites of Kraków's old square. Cool fact about this: they started the archeological dig in August of 2005. That was two months after I left! Literally, the entire square in Kraków was completely torn apart so that they could look at the structures of the old market places. They had clips going through the museum, and they had old, black and white drawings of previous kings and queens smiling down on you. :) Err... looking at you, rather, except for the lovely Queen Jadwiga. <3
           Although, the wait for it was quite ridiculous! It was a free day, so we were told 15 minutes. Tons of groups went in before the three of us (they can't pack the museum, so they're careful with the amount of people permitted in), and we waited for 45 minutes while dealing with snotty Polish customer service (yes, Polish customer service is no customer service, essentially), but the museum was nifty!
           We finished our day far earlier than I expected, which was wonderful. That was it for the day, though! We came back to the apartment, I relaxed before heading back out once again to this language exchange club. It. Was. Packed. No seats. At all. Next week, I plan on sitting with the Polish table, but this week, I ended up talking with two girls, also from Poland, who wanted to improve their Polish. Marysia and Ania, I think. Marysia had been to America not too long ago, and she fell in love. She wants to go back. Ania says she'd like to go, but ehhhh, maybe, if it can happen, that kind of attitude. We talked some about accents... A lot about accents, actually. They were absolutely shocked by the Southern imitation I attempted. They assumed there was only "one American accent," and Nate and I both went into the explanation that is far from the case! In general, we talked about some comparisons as well, such as Christmas, and schools, and all sorts of stuff. There was one guy who was quite tipsy and personal that I talked to briefly. He was really glad to find the two of us Americans and took Nate with him; which I found out later they discussed conspiracy theories of 9/11. Great topic! Yeah, the guy came back to me and informed me of this. He was... very very in my face. Literally. I keep on forgetting how close and personal Polish people can be. Although, being tipsy, and the area being loud did not help, I'm sure. Oh gosh, plus the smoke was horrid. Ick. So many smokers. Why. Why must they permit smoking indoors. It just stays.
            Oh what else happened... Ah, not much to be honest. I ended up going back home earlier than last week, reminding myself of my early class. Back home, Monika and I chatted, as she had enjoyed an evening with some distant family, so we talked about our families and grandparents. That was really fun. (: Then Nate joined us, and we all had tomato soup!
           Eventful day, right? Well, today was no slower! Morning, we had our Holocaust class. I still am absolutely fascinated by it, and I'm learning so many interesting nuances I never considered or knew before. I have a feeling I'll end up just being a professor on the Holocaust, or the significance of genocides, and somehow manage to incorporate comparative cultural anthropology, or social anthropology in determining why people permit things like this to happen. Honestly, I have no clue; there's so much going on with me trying to figure out what I want to do with my life and in college right now. I stayed up way too late last night trying to making another four year plan to incorporate new plans, and I'm worried about these new plans, and I feel like I have one hundred interests going one thousand different directions. However, that is not the point of this post!
            After the Holocaust class, I had an adventure trying to buy tickets for traveling. I can't buy bus tickets from Zakopane to Wrocław outside of Zakopane (maybe Wrocław) apparently, and it's not like I could've bought them this past weekend while in Zakopane, because they likely wouldn't have sold them to me. I need them for my parents and me on New Year's Day. Then I tried to buy a bus ticket to Wrocław for the upcoming long weekend. All sold out. So, I walked to the train station, the lady was actually really nice and ensured that I got a student ticket (I wouldn't have asked otherwise), and I have a ticket for my trip to Wrocław! Super exciting! Did some mini shopping, met up with Nate for pierogi (a mix plate, once again, and yes, delicious), then we walked around the Rynek, buying gifts for people, or in my case, trying to find the cheapest deals. Although, I know more and more what I plan on getting for everyone, I think. I still need to get post cards. Desperately at this point. Then we headed on to Poland in Europe in the 20th Century; I learned a LOT in that class today! So many new people and facts I never knew or realized about Poland. The first president in the new, developing, democratic Poland was assassinated. And Poland never really had many political assassinations otherwise, so this was an absolute uproar and upset that did not help it's attempt to grow up as a country. Oh, and you know why this man was assassinated? ...
           He was atheist. 1920s. Atheist. In Poland. In politics. Who managed to get the parliaments votes to become president. That's impressive. I would've never thought. I really do like these course! (I really should just dedicate my life to studying Poland; it's a part of who I am, after all.) But yeah, class ended, I found the library where my readings for my Polish ethnic history course are, and I spent some time there before heading on to my first Polish language class. (Still incredibly happy how that turned out!)
           It was interesting. I have never heard that amount of Polish accents. I meant, accents while speaking Polish. It's amazing how much holds over from your native language, but it's also so cool how so many people can connect through a second language. It's a unique and special unity, I feel. Let's see. We had some Czechs, a Slovakian, a fellow American, a Canadian, a Ukrainian, a Swede, a Spaniard, oh who else... ah, yes, Austrian! And some others which I cannot recall, but look at that beautiful diversity! We're going to be encouraged to talk to each other as well, as it started off today! We all introduced ourselves by drawing three symbols we consider to represent us (I chose people, i.e. family, friends, helping people; arts, i.e. drawing, music, writing; and travel). Then people had to guess what we drew and what we could interpret about the person from the drawing, then we introduced a bit more about ourselves, and everyone had to ask the person a question. Therefore, our teacher could listen to our speech, via discussion and our answers. Then we answered a weird questionnaire; it was for her to see our level of writing, but I'll be very honest... the questions were odd. Such as what excites you, what you fear, what you are ashamed of, what you would give a woman, what you would like from a woman, who is your dream woman (no, I am not making this up), what you want from life. They definitely allowed for her to learn more about us and our writing style, so it was a great exercise. Also, I felt great, because I felt very comfortable in writing. Writing in Polish now comes to me far more naturally than before, and wow, is it a wonderful feeling. I'm really getting things down, finally.
           After that, we ended off the class with some tongue twisters/pronunciation exercises. Again, for her to pick out what level we're on. They were interesting, but I was a bit saddened by the lack of times I actually had a chance to say anything. (In fact, I was the one person whose name she did not know...) I got one go, while everyone else had at least two. Ah well! She ended up saying that our speech is on a great level, and now she just needs to figure out how we write. If we're lucky, we won't have to buy books! And yes, you can bet I am hoping that we don't need to buy books. Class ended, I checked out the rosters downstairs and realized that hey, I'm actually in the level just under the highest level that made it this semester! I'm a B1.2, and the only classes above me are two B2.1s. And there's only one B1.2 class (which means I was fortunate in how well these times worked out for me). Yay for more confidence boosts!
           That's the end of that, though. I just know now I am exhausted, and I indeed have classes in the morning! Then I have to go finish my reading for my Polish course! Oh, course work. <3

What did you do today? I climbed a mountain!

           Oh, how happy I am that I went to Zakopane!!! I felt such a peace as we were driving through the mountains. I could live in that area, I really could. The culture is really interesting as well, and to describe it to the best of everyone's understanding, it's "The South" of Poland. Ironically enough, it is in the southern part of Poland as well! They have thick accents and spell things different! When I was reading one of the menus in the restaurant, I was absolutely befuddled and kept looking at our site director, Piotrek, saying, "This is wrong!" And he kept reiterating, "That is wrong, ignore it." Basically, if people in the South wrote as they spoke. Nonetheless, very cozy and home, lots of snow, chill weather, gorgeous.
           You see, we woke up and met in the morning in front of the train stop to get to the bus stop to hop on the bus!
           ... This bus was a lot nicer than the ones from Wrocław to Strzelin and Oława. However! I assume that's because the trip was longer. As in, two and a half hours. (Lol, what do you mean long? That's a breeze!) But yes! The trip up was wonderful, and when we got there, we walked to a restaurant, where I ordered some wonderful naleśniki! With cheese. It was a big portion! I really was stuffed by the time I finished it, and lucky Nate got to try the last bite. But yes, it was delicious.
            From there, we headed on to our hotels, where Monika and I ended up rooming together! We took a very quick break and then went back out, walking to yet another more local bus to get to the same lift I went to in 2005. Kasprowy Wierch! This is a place where you get onto a huge lift, 30 people at once, and take a stop in between to get up the side of the mountain, to a point that is (according to Wikipedia) 1987 meters above the sea. So yes, last time I was there, there was at least a foot of snow on the ground, and it's a very popular skiing and winter sport area in general! This time, while we were waiting, it started to snow a wet snow, more sleet-like, to be honest, and we had to wait in line for what was about an hour, I think. We get in the lift, go above the trees into snowier and snowier terrain, and I get super excited! (Just in case you don't know: I love the snow. I love the cold.) We get up there, walk outside, and I explode in joy due to the snow and the fact that everything is white. Oh, let me explain.
           I mean, the visibility distance was oohhhhh 15 feet. Yes, the wind was going fast, snow was blowing everywhere, and our group says, let's try to get to the Polish/Slovakian border to stand in two countries at once! We start walking, I try to make a snowball, but the snow is dry, the wind is intense, and we keep walking, you can't see anything, and there are no red flags on the side noting the trail. And yes, if you slip and fall, you will be tumbling down a good-sized slope, if I remember correctly. And no, you could not see far. At all. So after a while, my toes get really cold, as I was not wearing two layers of socks, the wind starts really effecting my wet, cloth gloves, and... you can't see anything, and people are coming back, and the trail is small. I started getting nervous as I walked (thank goodness I brought my boots), because well, ya know. My legs aren't the best, and I have a bad feeling I might slip and fall, and it's windy, and my only thoughts are: This is what the pioneers felt like during blizzards in the mountain (no, it was not a blizzard). The Yukon, the Rockies, the Tatras. Those brave, brave, men. I literally felt like I was in the Yukon. Oh, and the Donner Party, as Nate pointed out later. That's a good one too!
            People keep coming back, so Piotrek asks us if we want to turn around, and we all agree to turn around. That is when the wind is blowing in our face, and snow keeps covering my glasses, so Monika takes the lead, as I can't see as well. Then we get back, go inside, and I immediately pull of my gloves in fear for my poor fingers. No worries, they were fine! Just me worrying unnecessarily. Monika says that she did not recognize me due to the snow in my hair. We all get a nice cup of hot cocoa and relax in the Pizza Dominium (they're everywhere). Then we head back down on the lift, go back to the hotel, and relax once more!
            So what do Monika and I do? We sit in our room and watch TVN!!! It's one of the Polish TV channels, and we stumbled upon a hilarious TV show, that we're now determined to find out about after learning the website to watch TVN shows on! (Super exciting!) Ok, not that hilarious, but certainly interesting and makes us go what?! Bhahaha. Like, the fact that a couple are adopting a child, while the husband is having an affair with a woman boxer who is leaving for Vegas in one day for her career. Yeah. That kind of story line. Good stuff. (: Good practice for Polish too. I never grew up with Polish TV, but Sam (from Florida) always had Polish TV, and so did Monika apparently, and now, I really want to order Polish TV. I'm not an active TV watcher, but it's excellent practice!
            Then we headed out again for dinner, to a góralski restaurant! I ordered some herbata (tea) with raspberry juice, which was delicious, annnnnd, placki ziemniaciane (potato pancakes) with gulasz! The gulasz was very different from what I'm used to at home, but it was quite a wonderful meal. Plus, it was even better when we found out we were in Zakopane during the 50% off weekend! Meaning, all restaurants and food from side venders were 50% off! Yeah, that was amazing!
            That was honestly it for the day. It didn't feel like too much, but the evening was awesome as well. Why? More Polish TV! :DDD Haha, but really, Monika and I just relaxed in the hotel room, and we watched Mam Talent!, the Polish version of Got Talent. We lucked out, because this was the day they picked their top 40! (Oh, I'm too big of a Got Talent fan...) But yeah, it was awesome to see all of the talent on the show. Then, we started watching "17 Again," but got fed up with the one-voiced narrative over-voice. Horrible, horrible thing. That kind of dubbing has always bothered me, and it likely always will, simply because I don't like not being able to tell the actors apart by voices, and because they don't even differentiate genders or ages. Oh, and I can hear the English underneath. Aggravating.
            So instead, we flipped through the channels and landed on TVP2, where Monika recognized an adorable movie. Playboy-esque guy has a seven-year-old girl show up at his door and say, "Hi! I'm your daughter! I'm staying with you for five days, until we meet up with my mom!" Oh, you can see where it went from there. But it was so precious! I am bringing it back to the States and making the Muffins watch it (I heard they were doing a scary movie month in honor of Halloween; hello romantic comedy month for Valentine's Day!). Oh yeah, it's a Polish movie! Interesting fact: all TV stations must make movies once a year in order to keep running as a TV station in Poland. Isn't that fascinating? Honestly, the actors and actresses here have so many opportunities, it's phenomenal! The movie was really well made, too. (: Now I'm going to try and find as many Polish movies as possible. They're good movies, in the language I want to learn! Perfection! (Yet, I don't watch English movies... Oi vei.)
            Chatting was fun, sleeping was comfy and warm, and breakfast this morning was delicious. Plus, today was gorgeous. Absolutely no clouds in the sky, bright and high sun! We walked to the second lift in Zakopane, called Gubałówka. It's more like a quick tram that goes up the mountain than the lift we were on yesterday. However, the line was enormous. Therefore, we decided to hike up the mountain!
             ... That is very right. Needless to say, I don't think any of us really recognized the length of the hike, but once we were going, we wanted to go all the way! Piotrek thought we were insane, as he said we're the first group ever to hike the entire way. As we went up, more and more snow showed up, and eventually the ground was frozen, and eventually, the ground was slippery, too! But the views. Were. Breathtaking. Looking out over the mountain scenery. Panoramic view. Lightly snowed forest. Very steep hill. I was super proud of myself, although, I have such a horrible tendency of doing things my legs likely do not appreciate. But, we got up the entire way! I climbed a mountain! There was an amazing Polish group with the director screaming at his group, cussing at how pathetic they were, and trying to motivate them negatively, and one of the boys in the group was screaming back that he bought brand new shoes, and the main guy motivating everyone owed him a new pair of shoes. Oh goodness, it was hilarious to listen to them. The amount of cussing. Ridiculous. But it provided a good laugh for those of us who understood!

            Ah, it was very very muddy. I wore my boots yet again, but the unfortunate part about these boots is they are sort of fuzzy on the outside. It's going to be so much fun cleaning them! Not. But, I don't care. It was worth it. Every step, every view, the entire experience. Monika built a tiny snow man, we threw a few snowballs at Piotrek, Nate and Piotrek had a mini snowball fight, the hot chocolate was deliciously sweet. Honestly, the entire thing was made of win. :)
            Just so you know, the hike took us one hour. Not bad. The tram ride down? Three minutes. Oh, and it's a really cool piece of engineering! You see, up and down, there is only one rail! However, both trams are sent at the same time. Collision? Of course not! The rail splits in the middle. Or well, we thought it was the middle. We called it our halfway point, then we realized the logistics behind it. It was more like the underneath-the-halfway-point. Tram going down goes quicker than the one going up, therefore it needs more rail to reach the point where they meet. Yeah. Oh well!
            The rest of the afternoon was filled with yumminess. Monika and Nate needed to buy stuff, my legs were dead, so I ended up sitting in front of a church, eating a zapiekanka and waiting for them (Nate also bought me a present for someone so I didn't have to walk back). Instead of walking all the way back to the hotel, they left me with the shopping bags (which looked like garbage bags) and went to grab my backpack. Such wonderful friends. (: I really needed the rest, and I knew I would just slow them down. Besides, we would have to walk from the point they left me at, so it worked out!
            People stared at me, though. Some did. Cause I had three enormous trash bags sitting in front of me, and I was sitting in the shade, instead of the sun. Even when Piotrek came up, he said, "I was wondering why Nell was sitting by all those rubbish bags..." The look on his face when he found out it was presents? Priceless.
            So much walking this weekend. We walked everywhere, to be honest. But then sitting on that comfy bus was nice. I ended up calling the Tennessee girl my professor told me about, and she was super excited about "meeting a fellow Tennessean!" So we're meeting this Wednesday. Then I plopped in my ear phones to listen to my lecture from my Polish course. I am eternally grateful now that I bought that. It honestly helped. I felt better, because I could understand the lecture, and I felt like it was reiterating important points, and I plan on typing it all out. So it's excellent practice and study time. It also proved that my lack of understanding Thursday was a lack of sleep. No surprise! Though, quite relieving.
            The bus ride back was surprising. The amount of people needing to get to Kraków was overwhelming, and people from the next few stops ended up standing in the aisle. Automatic lawsuit in the US = social norm in Poland. I have seen it before, certainly, but not with such an enormous amount of people, plus over the two hours to go back to Kraków.
            Coming back to the apartment was nice. Monika, Nate, and I had rosół for dinner, I did my laundry, and I found out some wonderful news. My Polish language course class times: Tuesday and Thursday evenings!!! It worked out perfectly. Three day week, four day weekend, lots of travel time, no stress! I mean, those three days are jam-packed, but I am so happy with this schedule. I'll have to talk to the teacher about being an American and leaving early in the semester, but that's it. It's all good. Life is working out, and I am super happy.
             Now, I should honestly go to bed. Tomorrow is "Wawel Monday." Which, Monika and Nate worried whether we'd still be able to do it, thanks to the amount of walking I did today. I can't blame them for worrying, but I'm too excited to not go! So much to do, so little time! Go go go! Good night!