The last thing I want to do is blog right now, but I know I'm going to forget everything if I don't!
After walking for a million miles to get back to Hera, we relaxed and tried to go to a cafe in the park which turned out to be a bar. So we just turned around and ate at the restaurant under the hostel. I ordered all in Polish and was very proud of myself. It was a pretty chill night and after doing homework we went to bed really early: 2 am.
Yesterday, the jetlag really hit everyone. Our professor asked me if I was tired because I kept zoning out. Oops. Then computer lab was borderline impossible. We were yelling at each other trying to figure out how on earth we were supposed to code certain things. We finally figured it out (thank god), and then got to go on a two hour walk to go pick up our professors son from preschool and meet our other professors wife. Along the way, I sat on an ant hill and saw an elderly man in a speedo tanning. It was a strange afternoon. Caroline and I were so tired after the day, so we took a "half an hour" power nap, which quickly turned into an hour and a half. Earlier we had bought pierogis, so we fried them up for dinner in my tiny camping frying pan (thank you parents for making me bring that). They were delicious, BTW. We had used part of a bottle of wine to cook our onions in, so naturally we needed to finish it. The other girls decided to go out to bar, while we stayed in and taught our Polish friend how to play kings, ride the bus and tourettes. All in all it was a really fun night, even though France lost to Sweden :(.
Today, our alarm didn't go off. Again. Somehow we managed to get down for breakfast in time and were only 5 minutes late for classes, which wasn't even our fault. Classes weren't too hard today, and we didn't have our second lecture because of individual consultations about our research paper. Mine was early so I got to come home and shower and do dishes, woooooo. My research proposal -because I know you're all dying to know what I'm writing about- is going to focus on the relationship between religiosity and friendship networks and the effects on overall health.
Well I'm going to work on my assignment that's due on Thursday and maybe upload some more pictures to facebook. TTFN.
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Monday, June 18, 2012
Serbian Food and Lots of Walking
After recovering from Saturday night and riding around all day on a bus, we had a dinner through the university. If you've never eaten or had the opportunity to try Serbian cuisine, go find it now. I don't care how or what you have to do but go. It was phenomenal. Being a vegetarian in Warsaw is incredibly difficult, so I've been nibbling here and there (annie please don't kill me!). Chicken liver kabobs wrapped in bacon. I'm going to let that sink in. They also kept refilling and refilling and refilling our glasses of wine. Stuffed with food and full of wine we slowly made it back to Hera for a relatively early bedtime.
Today we had statistics and computer lab like normal (pretty boring but I actually understood the math which is very exciting). After Alex, who is from Belarus, showed us where the less expensive restaurants were. We tried a "mexican" one. It could hardly be considered mexican, but was pretty cheap and the bathroom was gorgeous. After lunch, we went on another "walk and talk". Our lecturer likes to walk around the city and then lecture us about communist history. Today we went to the university library which is part botanical garden. The roof top garden was gorgeous. Terrifying, but gorgeous. We learned all about the characteristics of communism, 300 feet above the ground on a rickety metal walkway. I have no idea what Josh, our professor, told us- I was praying that we weren't going to die the entire time we stood there. We finally returned to solid ground and class was pretty much over.
We decided it would be a really great idea to walk home instead of taking the bus. Two hours later we made it back to the hostel. On the way, we bought ice cream, found a restaurant that has a trampoline, looked at children's books, sort of broke into a church? and got really sweaty. It was interesting but needless to say we won't be doing that again. Our shopping expedition was sort of a fail but it was a very beautiful walk. And now I am probably going going to lay on the floor because its colder there and it is hot here!
Today we had statistics and computer lab like normal (pretty boring but I actually understood the math which is very exciting). After Alex, who is from Belarus, showed us where the less expensive restaurants were. We tried a "mexican" one. It could hardly be considered mexican, but was pretty cheap and the bathroom was gorgeous. After lunch, we went on another "walk and talk". Our lecturer likes to walk around the city and then lecture us about communist history. Today we went to the university library which is part botanical garden. The roof top garden was gorgeous. Terrifying, but gorgeous. We learned all about the characteristics of communism, 300 feet above the ground on a rickety metal walkway. I have no idea what Josh, our professor, told us- I was praying that we weren't going to die the entire time we stood there. We finally returned to solid ground and class was pretty much over.
We decided it would be a really great idea to walk home instead of taking the bus. Two hours later we made it back to the hostel. On the way, we bought ice cream, found a restaurant that has a trampoline, looked at children's books, sort of broke into a church? and got really sweaty. It was interesting but needless to say we won't be doing that again. Our shopping expedition was sort of a fail but it was a very beautiful walk. And now I am probably going going to lay on the floor because its colder there and it is hot here!
Sunday, June 17, 2012
The Mundane
This is for you, dad :)
There are 7 american students on the trip and 4? polish, I'm still a little hazy about the number of people. Tom is the only Polish student who has been hanging out with us. We get breakfast in the hotel every morning (woo free food) and the kawa is amazing, don't worry mom, I'm cutting back on my caffeine while I'm here. There are two guys and six girls. Two professors, one is Polish and the other Romanian. Maciek (i think thats how you spell his name) is teaching us statistics and Polish history. Irina is teaching us the practical data analysis part of the course. The food has been amazing, I did try some sausage, which was actually really delicious. Caroline is my roommate, our room is pretty nice actually and we've been splitting food in our mini fridge to pack lunches. The internet connection at the hostel, Hera, blows. The classes are interesting, but I have a feeling they're going to get pretty hard. Pierogis are the BOMB.COM. I'm trying to restrain myself so I don't get fat on this trip but good god they're delicious. Polish beer is really tasty too. One of my shoes broke, so I'm going to do a little shopping this week. The area by the hostel is super lame, but Midtown, where the school is is gorgeous. Old town is my favorite place so far. The stadium looks like the one from the quidditch world cup. It lights up on the sides and is insanely cool. Basically Poland is awesome. I'm not really sure why so many people make fun of it.
There are 7 american students on the trip and 4? polish, I'm still a little hazy about the number of people. Tom is the only Polish student who has been hanging out with us. We get breakfast in the hotel every morning (woo free food) and the kawa is amazing, don't worry mom, I'm cutting back on my caffeine while I'm here. There are two guys and six girls. Two professors, one is Polish and the other Romanian. Maciek (i think thats how you spell his name) is teaching us statistics and Polish history. Irina is teaching us the practical data analysis part of the course. The food has been amazing, I did try some sausage, which was actually really delicious. Caroline is my roommate, our room is pretty nice actually and we've been splitting food in our mini fridge to pack lunches. The internet connection at the hostel, Hera, blows. The classes are interesting, but I have a feeling they're going to get pretty hard. Pierogis are the BOMB.COM. I'm trying to restrain myself so I don't get fat on this trip but good god they're delicious. Polish beer is really tasty too. One of my shoes broke, so I'm going to do a little shopping this week. The area by the hostel is super lame, but Midtown, where the school is is gorgeous. Old town is my favorite place so far. The stadium looks like the one from the quidditch world cup. It lights up on the sides and is insanely cool. Basically Poland is awesome. I'm not really sure why so many people make fun of it.
Wilanów Castle = fail
We made a valiant attempt to make it to Wilanów Castle today. We really did. After finally settling on a restaurant, which turned out to be the pub from last night, we hopped on a bus to try to get to the castle. We ended up going the wrong way and not understanding the bus at all. The castle closes at 16:00 and it was 15:00, so we didn't really have a choice at this point. One of our stops let us see a really beautiful view of the city however. And once we got back from our "bus tour", the Polish football team (who happens to be staying across the street) was getting out of their bus and we were able to see a few of the players which was pretty cool. Tonight we have a dinner with the entire group which should be pretty sweet!
Hej Polska Gol!
So going back a little bit, yesterday the tour was lovely. We were able to see so much of the city and the history. Our tour guide was adorable and incredibly helpful. He actually catered the tour to what we wanted to see. "Stalin's gift" was one of our first stops. Its the tallest building in Poland and was built during the communist reign. Our tour guide told us where the best place to see the monument was: at the top, because you can't actually see the monument. Apparently the Polish don't like the monument, even though it was beautiful and the view was amazing. We also toured the Jewish Getto, which was really moving. Only two walls remain from after the uprising. Shortly after, half of our group wanted to leave early to start getting ready for the Poland-Czech football match that night. Caroline, Eric and I decided to keep touring - which was the best idea. We then ate the greatest ice cream I have ever had, saw the supreme court which is held up by look-a-likes of the statues at the Acropolis, was given a kiss from winnie the pooh and saw several people get married. It was one hell of an afternoon. I basically fell in love with Warsaw yesterday.
Then the insanity began. We got all dressed up in our white and red to go and watch the football match. Our entire group went together. Applying face paint as we walked to the "fan zone" (we preferred "fun zone") we practiced our polish cheers. 100 thousand tourists and polish citizens crammed into the "fan zone" to all watch the match. Now, imagine this scene. Half of those people, drunk, trying to buy more beer, with no line. Mosh pit. In the center of this giant mosh pit, several of the other girls and myself pushed our way to the front somehow. Completely illogical and terrifying, and my shoe broke while i was in there. I did however acquire a scarf somehow. After taping my sandal back together (Annie, the Michael Kors? RIP.), we enjoyed watching Poland lose in quite the upset. Just as the final seconds ticked away, mother nature unleashed her fury and it began to rain. We made it to a bar where we could watch the chaos outside safely in our seats with mojitos in hand. After the riot police passed, we decided to make friends with the different nationalities in the bar. The greeks were very nice and happy, considering they won. The russians were surprisingly cheerful considering they lost. Additionally, one of the russian men turned out to be the national champion for wrestling in russia, he's sort of a big deal. And he gave me his flag. Our time came to leave said bar to adventure forward in search of a Klub for Caroline who just wanted to dance. Two frenchmen accosted us as we were leaving but we made it out of there unscathed.
We walked for quite a while in search of some place new to go, and we found ourselves outside of the Warsaw University where we attend classes. Normally the square is very calm and serene. This was not a normal night. People were everywhere with bottles of Wodka and their Polish flags. Caroline had been very jealous of my scarf all night so I vowed I would find her one. There happened to be a scarf just within reach: wrapped around Copernicus's neck, at the top of a 10 foot high statue. Naturally climbing up there seemed like a really good idea - so we did. The Poles on top loved that we were american's and decided that we need to take shots with them on top of the statue. This also seemed like a good idea at the time. When in Poland!! We finally made it to another bar, which had the biggest beers I've ever seen and a crew of rowdy irishmen who decided we were going to spend the rest of the evening learning irish drinking songs. "Trapattoni's having a party, bring your vodka and bacardi!" We sang that one quite a few times. They also sang "Sweet Caroline" to Caroline, who just about swooned. The irishmen were going to another bar and invited us along so we followed them. On the way, we saw two people get married and ran into some spaniards who let us play with their soccer ball for a while.
The final bar was so unbelievably hot. We tried to learn more irish drinking songs, one involved taking off one of your shoes. Someone gave me a rose, and Seamus gave me his sunglasses as a momento of the evening. As the sun began to rise in Polska, we finally got a taxi home.
Net gain: two Polska scarves, a rose, a pair of sunglasses, Russian flag, a tiny Polska flag and some fantastic memories.
Then the insanity began. We got all dressed up in our white and red to go and watch the football match. Our entire group went together. Applying face paint as we walked to the "fan zone" (we preferred "fun zone") we practiced our polish cheers. 100 thousand tourists and polish citizens crammed into the "fan zone" to all watch the match. Now, imagine this scene. Half of those people, drunk, trying to buy more beer, with no line. Mosh pit. In the center of this giant mosh pit, several of the other girls and myself pushed our way to the front somehow. Completely illogical and terrifying, and my shoe broke while i was in there. I did however acquire a scarf somehow. After taping my sandal back together (Annie, the Michael Kors? RIP.), we enjoyed watching Poland lose in quite the upset. Just as the final seconds ticked away, mother nature unleashed her fury and it began to rain. We made it to a bar where we could watch the chaos outside safely in our seats with mojitos in hand. After the riot police passed, we decided to make friends with the different nationalities in the bar. The greeks were very nice and happy, considering they won. The russians were surprisingly cheerful considering they lost. Additionally, one of the russian men turned out to be the national champion for wrestling in russia, he's sort of a big deal. And he gave me his flag. Our time came to leave said bar to adventure forward in search of a Klub for Caroline who just wanted to dance. Two frenchmen accosted us as we were leaving but we made it out of there unscathed.
We walked for quite a while in search of some place new to go, and we found ourselves outside of the Warsaw University where we attend classes. Normally the square is very calm and serene. This was not a normal night. People were everywhere with bottles of Wodka and their Polish flags. Caroline had been very jealous of my scarf all night so I vowed I would find her one. There happened to be a scarf just within reach: wrapped around Copernicus's neck, at the top of a 10 foot high statue. Naturally climbing up there seemed like a really good idea - so we did. The Poles on top loved that we were american's and decided that we need to take shots with them on top of the statue. This also seemed like a good idea at the time. When in Poland!! We finally made it to another bar, which had the biggest beers I've ever seen and a crew of rowdy irishmen who decided we were going to spend the rest of the evening learning irish drinking songs. "Trapattoni's having a party, bring your vodka and bacardi!" We sang that one quite a few times. They also sang "Sweet Caroline" to Caroline, who just about swooned. The irishmen were going to another bar and invited us along so we followed them. On the way, we saw two people get married and ran into some spaniards who let us play with their soccer ball for a while.
The final bar was so unbelievably hot. We tried to learn more irish drinking songs, one involved taking off one of your shoes. Someone gave me a rose, and Seamus gave me his sunglasses as a momento of the evening. As the sun began to rise in Polska, we finally got a taxi home.
Net gain: two Polska scarves, a rose, a pair of sunglasses, Russian flag, a tiny Polska flag and some fantastic memories.
Saturday, June 16, 2012
Polska bialo czerwony!!!!!
POLSKA!! Eurocup is well on its way here in Poland. Today is my third day here in Warsaw and a lovely tour guide showed us the city. After a strange wegetariański (vegetarian) breakfast we armed ourselves with cameras and fanny-packs and took the city by storm looking incredibly touristy. There were only a couple of dirty looks by the natives and the ocasional muttering of "ugh americans". We started in the gorgeous park that used to be a retreat for the king of Poland. 300 acres and stunning. The most beautiful was a greenhouse turned restaurant. Absolutely gorgeous. We walked through that park we moved on to Łazienki Park which is more or less dedicated to Chopin. And now we are hungry and must go cheer on Poland! More later! Do widzenia!
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