We're going to Ooge!

Okay I'm sorry I haven't been blogging. When I have time to blog, sleep usually comes first and then Lisa forgets to blog.

Last weekend, we went to Lodz, or phonetically Woodge. We like to call it Ooge. Lodz started off pretty lame - when we got off of the train it looked like we were in Youngstown, OH. Almost immediately following the dreary landscape, we were forced to watch the worst movie ever made ever. Three hours. Black and White. About cotton factories. The polish either don't have a sense of humor, or they have a cruel sense of humor. We all went to bed that night thinking that the weekend was going to be miserable. We were pleasantly surprised to wake up the next morning to 75 degrees and sunshine. We then saw the beautiful side of Lodz, which really is quite lovely. That night, we got a taste for european techno and silly danced to our heart's content at a random bar we stumbled upon. We continued the fashion of getting home as the sun rises around 330. The next day we spent the day at Manufactora, an old factory complex turned into a baller shopping center. I finally got my Polska football jersey, super cheap because I can fit into small boys clothing. Thank you Annie for always telling me to check children's sections.

Week of classes, boring. I'm pretty certain nothing exciting happened. Except for delicious Indian food, shopping failures and a store named after Caroline with tons of random food in it. OHH. We went to a karaoke bar! How could I forget? We befriended a Ukrainian gentleman down the hall, Oleg, who came to a karaoke bar with us. Eric and I did a beautiful rendition of piano man together when we discovered that don't stop believing wasn't an option (tragedy). Benny and the Jetts also happened, along with Bye, Bye, Bye and American Pie. Six zloty beers and karaoke made for an excellent night, which ended with Caroline running into a bar because she heard Polka music. Turns out there are 24 hour food places in Warsaw and they sell awesome mushrooms and wear adorable hats.

Krakow. Is. Awesome. For everyone who has ever said that Poland is lame - I would like you to take your words and eat them now. Gorgeous city, absolutely gorgeous. The central square was just so pretty. It looked like something out of a movie. There were cafes everywhere, cobblestone streets, cathedrals, and an ice cream shop every 20 feet. Street performers, we saw the Krakowiak dancers and statues - one of which juggled for me and the other pretended to write me a novel. The ice cream here, in case you were wondering, is divine and they always have pistachio which rocks. Our first night, Eric, Caroline and myself sat at a cafe in the old square and sipped wine and just admired the scene. Friday morning, we went to Auschwitz. After one of our professors told us several off hand inappropriate jokes about Auschwitz. "Are we going to take a train there?" "Well the trains to Auschwitz haven't been running for a very long time." "Well no one ever complained about going to Auschwitz over the salt mines, in common era." Auschwitz was eerie and surreal. Thats the best way to describe it. After trying my hardest to say a few hebrew prayers Eric taught me, we left Auschwitz after promising our tour guide to pass on all that we had seen there. The bus ride back gave us some time to cheer up a little bit to rally the troops for the night.

I have a tooth ache from hell right now- tomorrow I find out how good Polish dentists are, and the codine the pharmacist gave me is kicking in so i'm going to stop my saga here for tonight, tomorrow i'll write about the JCC, Zinger's, Schindler's Factory and some fantastic free cake. Oh and of course how my trip to the dentist goes. Wish me luck!