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!
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