I give up.

Since it's been more than 2 months since I remembered/had time to keep this up, I think it's safe to say it's a lost cause. Lol.

RIP, blog.

Saint Patty's Day Field Trip!!!

Back when I was still recovering from being sick- aka St. Patty's Day- there was an offer of a free ride on a bus to see Ksiaz Castle, which was about 2 hours from Wroclaw. I accepted of course, even though I still had a cough. It was so cool. Perched on a rock ledge, in a valley, at the bottom of a windy wooded road, painted bright colors, all that happy Disney stuff. But in real life!

It was commandeered by Nazis for strategic purposes (it was Germany at the time anyway) and stipped of most of it's value, then by the Soviets, then by local Poles. Saddess. Since the Nazis documented what they took, they're slowly putting the place back together. Good thing they kept a record of their plundering. Lol. But on the tour, my memory cards filled up and by the time we got to the rooms that had been remodeled to become Hilter's apartment (no joke), I had to delete pics to take them. Thus, we need to return in the summer.

On the way back, we stopped in Swidnica (another city) to look at one of only 2 remaining 'peace churches' left in Poland. Basically, these were Protestant churches that were allowed to be built- Poland has been and is still a very Catholic country- so that Protestants could have their own churches too. There were 3, but since one of the conditions of the building of the peace churches was that they only be made out of wood, straw, and other non-stone materials (read: flammable and flimsy), the other burned down. They weren't meant to last. They've been around since the 1600s.

We went out for dinner at Rodeo Drive ('American' grill), which is the only place in Wroclaw with BBQ sauce- a VERY important thing to know. We went to a pub and hung out. I had an ice cream sundae. That was my St. Patty's Day indulgence... hehehehe... :)

And I started to feel better!

Sick... :'(

Yeah that 'sore throat/cough' was definately a sinus infection. Yeah... well.

Thankfully, a Polish-speaking friend helped me get some medicine yesterday afternoon, and after a miserable day of still making myself go to classes today, I think I might be recovering. At least, I hope I am recovering...

I am not hacking up lungs anymore. I do have a fever, I believe, with no thermometer it's hard to be sure... but I do have earaches in both ears. I also have a runny nose, which is not fun in a country that does not appear to sell things like "Puffs Plus" lotion-y tissues. My poor throat is clearing up, which means that I am now able to feel how raw it's gotten over the past few days. And since all medicines- even aspirin and cough drops- are literally over the counter, and the people who work in these pseudo-pharmacies usually don't speak English, I might need to ask for help to buy a couple of packs of cough drops.

***Moral of story- Cherish WalMart.
And CVS. And Rite Aid. And Eckerd. And Walgreens.***

But good news. My last class of the week isn't until 5pm tomorrow, so I can sleep in (as always)!!!! :)

Then it's the weekend.

They played 'Big Machine' in Czeski Film tonight!!!

Earlier today, I managed to spot a Darren walking to town while I was on a bus headed the same direction. I texted him, hopped off the bus at the next stop (which happened to be at the park where the Carnival is, and of course I was wary of gypsies), and caught up with him just as he realized I'd sent him an 'SMS,' as text messages are referred to here. It was a beautiful day, it was in the 60s, and of course I had my camera out. We got lunch and such, then wandered slowly back to Albert (across from Olowek). I got the water I'd been nearly out of, and ice cream (for my sore throat... really... hehe). Just as we left the store, he reminds me I had Polish language class in 40minutes.


Good to know someone else knows my class schedule, cuz apparently I do not.


This presented a problem because it's usually a 45 minute walk-for me at least. I like to take my sweet time. I booked it back, having just missed the bus and walked/speed walked to the University, and WASN'T late for class. All hot and gross, but not late. I even had time to try and cool down/do the homework that had been assigned that I hadn't done yet. o:)


Afterwards, we got dinner at a pizza place that had an Australian/Aboriginal theme to it (places here tend to have really unique atmospheres, which in this case, was cool), and I 'forced' us to go get dessert. I used my record-setting 25 minute super-walk to class as an excuse to get ice cream, which would, of course, happen to make my sore throat feel better. :)


We went to Czeski Film, a popular (among students, at least) pub, with a supposedly Czech-like theme. I couldn't tell ya what was Czech-like or not... I like the place, it's neato, with UNIQUE (Google the name of the place if you're curious) decorations of 3-D paintings on the walls and such, but I like the music best. It never fails- I have yet to be in there when they didn't play part of the 'City of Angels' soundtrack. Which is great, because we were in a different place getting dinner once and heard a cover of 'Iris' that made us cringe. Simply sickening... Anyways. We were in Czeski Film tonight, and they played 'BIG MACHINE'!!!! I was sooooooo happy the guys must have thought I was nuts. I mean, this place once played 'Long Way Down,' which I'd never heard played outside of it's 20 second appearance in the movie 'Twister' and my own computer.


Goo Goo Dolls- friendly establishments that have really good, semi-cheap desserts are definitley hard to find... in Poland, of all places.

I have a favorite pub now. Yeah, ME, happy to be in a pub. Go figure :) :) :)


Anyways, not too important, but it made me happy so I felt the need to share this with anyone who reads this.

Gnomes and Buses and Gypsies, OH MY!!!

I'm still alive.

I just kept forgetting to do this, cuz it seems everytime I manage to remind myself to write here again, I tell myself I will once I am ready for bed. The Internet in Olowek somehow knows this and decides to stop working. Twice, so far, I've gotten out of the shower to find myself without an Internet connection. SkyNet taking over? Perhaps large buildings named after pencils are the first to fall...

I admit that I am completely addicted to the Internet and it's so disorienting when it's gone. I haven't the foggiest what the temperature is outside even, and if I were manage to ask someone- and I actually understand the answer- it would be in Celsius, and anyone who knows me knows that Cabryn cannot do math. It's an ugly, ugly thing to witness. Lol.

Anyways, it's working now, so we're good. :)

So what's new with me? Not too much, I have a sore throat/cough. Not good, but it doesn't seem to be getting worse. So that's alright at least. I think I only have one blister right now, and I still walk to or from Rynek (the City Center, near the University) at least once a day, unless it's rainy then I might take the bus. In my trusty L.L.Bean comfort clogs- which are most certainly NOT compatible with rough cobbled streets- I walk a couple of miles a day. Weird, cuz I have definitley DRIVEN to the Heff from Feeney to put money on my laundry card- in the summer. Suddenly living without couches, I have apparently ceased to be a couch potato. Haha.

For those who truly know me, do not be alarmed- I am still 'graceful as always' -and trip daily, but have thus far managed to avoid falling down. Give it time... it WILL happen... and probably over one of the new gnomes they're installing around the city. You think you know a street, since you walk it every day to get to and from the bus stop. And with all of Wroclaw appearing to be under some sort of restoration project, you don't think too much of the construction workers on the sidewalk. Then BAM! the very next day, you nearly stumble over a 12 inch tall metal gnome. Or two. They are now just around this corner and that corner, hidden by a Transformer garbage can here or a flower box over there. Cute. But oh man, I can easliy see myself attempting to recover from a gnome-induced injury.

The buses are quite an adventure, let me tell you. They've decided to start changing the traffic patterns here again, as construction continues. Just the other day, we saw a sign on the usual bus stop across from Olowek (in from of Albert). No idea what the heck it said. The next day, the buses didn't stop there. So we walked a ways down the street to catch one at the next stop. Another day goes by, and someone looks out the window and sees that a new bus stop has been added on the other side of the building, near McDonald's. Ah ha, so THAT'S what the sign had said... The old bus stop sign has been taken away. To conceal such information in plain sight... hahaha. On top of such confusions, streets that were one-way three days ago are now two-way, or one-way in the opposite direction, or totally closed, or traffic is now running through what will be tram lanes but was basically a sidewalk for people last night. Dangerous when you have no idea where you can walk after you get off the bus, or which way to look before you cross the street. It's hectic, but maybe it will be over soon. I can't wait to no longer be awoken at 6am to the sound of a dump-truck load of cobble stones being emptied onto the street near McDonald's. That's a symptom that you will indeed have a case of the Mondays by the time the day is out.

We ventured to IKEA yesterday, which takes 2 buses to reach. It was cool, IKEA is like a Bed, Bath and Beyond/Home Depot/furniture store. I got a rug and a pillow. Nothing like WalMart though. Oh, WalMart, how I miss you. *tear* But yikes! The ride back was a nightmare and a half. It took almost a half an hour for the bus to get out of the shopping center/mall complex. The bus was packed, and the driver was reckless (par for the course) and let's just say that it was an experience. But we survived.

The weirdest thing that happened was on the Sunday before this past one. We were walking into Rynek from the bus stop when this old woman walks up to me and grabs my arm, then starts mumbling something about 'herbata' (which is tea in Polish). She had a deck of cards in her hand. GYPSY!!!! Luckily I had a friend there to grab my other arm and drag me away from the gypsy. I should have realized that, with the Carnival in town, unscrupulous characters might also be about. And for those of you- like my brother- who are thinking it, NO she did not say 'Thinner.' Lol. But I'm alright. If I felt that a curse had been placed upon me, I'd've been in the nearest church immediately.

Ok, so as I sit here hacking up a lung, I'll wrap it up for now.

Above you will see a picture of one such dastardly gnome, around a corner, with a gnome house. Hiding, I tell you, trying to trip people... or maybe just the tourists... shame on them...

Culture shock, the second time around...

So, I awoke this morning to check email (as I do about once every ten minutes when I'm awake) and had some IS-generated "Your mailbox has been closed" message, apparently because I had too many emails. Okay, so I try to keep encouragement from friends back home in my inbox so I can re-read them when I feel like doing so. Apparently, this wasn't going to work. I went through and got rid of most of them :( but did manage to 'reopen' my email.

While doing so, I found this email Dr. Laughran had sent me about a month ago about culture shock. Yeah, if I had read that BEFORE this afternoon, I wouldn't have felt so utterly alone for those first few days. I know that someone somewhere did some sort of research on the topic, but I do beg to differ on at least one thing it mentioned. It said "Another phase of culture shock is regression. The home environment suddenly assumes a tremendous importance, everything becomes irrationally glorified. All difficulties and problems are forgotten and only the good things back home are remembered."

Uh, yeah. Nice try, but, um, I don't think so.

I do I think that this idea is on the right track, though. Yeah, I've felt an indescribable sense of patriotism and of course I want to go home, but I don't think I'm being "irrational" because I have a newfound appreciation for people and places back home. I've always loved my country, that sure as heck is NOT a new development. Simply being away from familiar things makes me see how much I had taken them for granted.

I mean, it's not like I've never been culture shocked before. Albeit nowhere near the same level of shock as moving to Europe, moving to Maine was indeed a challenge in itself. At the time, I didn't think anything else could be as bad (I was 18, and I've recovered, gimme a break). At the very least, it was a sort of practice experience for me. I hated Maine at first, just because it wasn't Central New York. And it seemed like too many people were forgetting to pronounce their "r's." (I sincerely do not mean any offense.) For someone who had just graduated from high school, something so petty as an accent threw me for a loop. I can now say, I see that for the trivial first-time-away-from-home homesickness.

I got over it, and more often than I'd like to admit it, I feel more at home in Maine than in Utica. The fact I pretty much dropped off the face of the Earth in September 2003 and didn't talk to anyone but my family and exactly 3 friends in Utica is completely my fault. I have a feeling I will feel something like that here, but at least I know to some extent that it's normal. I spent three and a half years in Maine, with a single non-vactiontime trip home in all that time. I also spent quite a few long weekends at SJC when everyone else went home. Now, I'll be spending Easter here, but my butt will certainly be home for the Fourth of July. That, I made sure of months ago.

Stupid me, I had known Dr. Laughran had sent me the link, but simply forgotten that the email was in there... but certainly I did not delete it. :)

Finally adjusting, at long last...

Okay, so good news. I'm doing a lot better than I was say, last week. Being able to talk to my mom on the phone, and most of my friends online, I'm finally getting used to being here. Maybe it's because I only wake up about once a night now due to the noise of the city, maybe because I'm wandering around with other people more. Who knows, but then again, it doesn't really matter. I think that I can do this now, which means...


That I'm no longer a TOTAL basket case. (Funny story- it makes me think of a sign I saw a while ago outside the Protestant church in New Hartford, between Zebb's and Dove Eye Center. It said "When things go wrong and everything looks bad, just remember that Moses was once a basket case." Hahahahaha still cracks me up years later...)


Anyways,
So we found out what classes are being offered in English this semester. And boy, is the way classes are taken here different than in the States. Each of your classes are held once a week, for an hour and a half. That's it. Also, you attend any classes that you might be interested in taking for the first 2 weeks, and if you decide to stay in them, you've gotta sign up with the professor to register. AND, if you don't feel like taking a final or writing a term paper, you still get half credit, just for having shown up for the class. Nice...


Thus, I'll have a lot of free time, and if I take the 3 classes I'm looking at, will have class once on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, which just 'happens' to leave loooooong weekends for travelling. :)


I'd still probably want to take the Polish for forigeners class too, which adds a class on Monday nights and another to Wednesdays. Not too bad at all...


Here's a picture I took of one of the hallways of the University. The gate is wrought iron, I believe. Wandering through its corridors, I'm amazed that this insitution has been in existence longer than our entire country. Wow.

13 days down, 129 to go...

Eeek. That's another five months.

So I know that it's not helpful to think about how long I'll be here in the grand sceme of things, but its simply a fact that I do and probably will. I've finally settled into a routine that keeps me somewhat stablized until classes start. I can't begin to function when I have no class, no job, no friends to meet up with, no grocery shopping to do with my mom, no dog to go home to. I think that it's something that we'd all go through if we ever left our homes and moved somewhere completely new.

It's not so easy making new friends when you have so little in common with the other students, but I know that's what studying abroad is supposed to be all about. I regret to say it isn't all that comforting... I think that the alcohol factor in the 'nightlife' here is more than asking for bottled water without gas (carbonated water= quite gross) at a pub. It's also the notion that staying out late- while other people are consuming mass quantities of alcohol- is normal. Uhhh yeah so I don't like staying out late. It's just not the kind of person I am. I'd rather stay in and watch a movie or read a Stephen King than have to come back by myself. And half-mile stretches of roadways being constructed, where you must walk them, in the dark, alone, with no street lights sure as heck do not make me comfortable. Not that it has that it's-unsafe-to-be-out-alone-at-night feeling. Give me a country road, pitch black night without a moon, and I'll walk it alone. In a big city... I don't think so. Anyways, I'll stop complaining right now, otherwise I can rant for a long time.

Change of subject.

I'm coping with not only missing my family and friends, but the US as well. My God, I never knew how patriotic I was until I came over here. Please, do not misinterpret this as a negative comment against anyone or any place. I can miss anything and everything I left behind, and I do because I never knew how much these people and places and things back home meant to me. I know that I'll spend my time being miserable and alone if I dwell on these things, and that's not what I'm trying to do. I've found completely new appreciations for the little things in life that I'd taken for granted. I'll list them at some point, just because it is something that I think will help people back at SJC or in Utica or wherever understand a little bit better the differences between Wroclaw and the States. Just for starters, McDonald's supposedly does not have breakfast food... not that I eat there anyway, but I surely will as soon as I can learn to order stuff, I mean the place is right outside my window. No Egg McMuffins? Oh no! :P

I want to post more pictures on here, but it takes sooooo long that I've just put them all up on Facebook, for those who have it. If I'd exercised a brain cell or 2, I would have brought a couple of blank CDs with me to burn these pictures on, then mail them to people. Yeah, well the idea failed to strike me until recently. Oh well...

Enjoy another picture of the city... :)

Braving the popularity of booze... or trying to at least...

So I've really been losing it over here. It's not like this isn't a beautiful place (at least in part), its just most discouraging that my choice not to drink is clashing 100% with the norm for students here. In a city of 600,000-- what-the-heck-was-I-thinking moment--, with 10 public and 10 private universties, for a total of 720,000 people, a country girl like me is like a trout in the Sahara. Literally.

There are pubs everywhere, and most of the students that I know go out clubbing every night.

I wouldn't go down the hall in Feeney to hang out with friends who happened to be drinking when someone I didn't know well was down there with them.
So, being in an overwhelming place, with unlit streets, construction everywhere, where I don't speak the freaking language is a complete and total nightmare on its own. Throw the fact that I've never changed who I am as a person just to 'fit in' with others into the mix, along with alcohol being served EVERYWHERE and I have become a total basket case.
The reality that you can get sick from drinking the water is probably some factor in the popularity of drinking beer all the time (heck, that's why they drank wine back in the day- it was clean and safer than contaminated water supplies), but that doesn't make me feel any better. When a barmaid walks by with an eight liter beaker of beer-complete with spigot- I'm simply at a loss for words. I mean, the alcohol content of beer here in Polska is like 7%.

Ugh, I feel that I can walk into any given bar back in the Good Old US of A without a problem now. And I'm not so happy about that.

I did not come 5,000 miles to drink. I came to look at museums, old buildings, and travel. I want to see Prague, maybe Berlin (they're both like 2 hours from here), go to France and visit Nancy, and stop by Venice on the way back and see Drs. Laughran and Vianello. I mean, when else will I happen to be in Europe and have a chance to see these places? I don't want someting as trivial as beer to get in the way of my plans, but it's hard to try and get to know people when they get upset that you won't come out clubbing with them until 4am. I just want to be a student for the learning, not for the "nights I can't remember." Back in the States, college life isn't complete without the random partying on weekends or for special occasions. Here, it seens to be the reason for attending a university in the first place.

Anyways...

Thank God for the internet, now that I have it I can at least listen to FRANK online while talking to my friends and feel like a normal person again. Except for the six-hour time difference. When I'm heading to bed, my SJC-ers probably haven't been to Bon Appetit for dinner.

Aww, I miss the Caf too... :(

More than mixed feelings... :(

I've been feeling really moody... hating Europe with a passion one minute, then being alright with it, then actually being able to picture myself here in the summer two seconds later.
My friends have been emailing and messaging me advice, and thanks guys, it means SO MUCH. Really, it does.
I have to say that what has been the most helpful so far is that, thanks in part to that number one addiction among American college students-Facebook- which I'd shunned for oh so long, I've been talking with an old friend who was in the same situation not too long ago. His advice honestly makes me feel like this wasn't the dumbest thing I'd ever done. Remember, I left my friends, family, Senior Ball and Graduation from Saint Joe's behind to spend a phenomenal amount of money on flying halfway around the world to take this opportunity.
During my I-hate-this-place-what-the-heck-was-I-ever-thinking moments, I can't see that this is the chance of a lifetime. I simply stop caring about what I'll have to look back on, and just want to go home, hug my mom, argue with my brothers, pet the dogs, eat pizza and drive my semi-speakerless Saturn 6 hours to Maine to crash on couches and futons.

I guess you can never realize just how much the people who love you really mean to you. Until you're too far away to hug them and tell them that you'll never forget them, it's something you cannot even begin to fathom.

Thank God for the Internet.

Wahooo :)

Yay! I got the Polish equivalent of a Go-Phone today. For a total of 300 zloty (Polish dollars, pronounced zuh-waty, soon to be replaced by the Euro) which equals out to about $100 American dollars, I got a snazzy 'candy bar' phone, referred to as such because the phones here are freakishly tiny and rectangular-ish. Flip phones are extremely rare, and I'm reminded of that old SNL skit where Will Ferrell is working in the Mod fashion store and has the little Barbie flip-phone... Ahhh... cable... TV in general...
Back to the phone. It has free incoming calls, and about 100 zloty of prepaid money on it. That means I can talk to my mom- about 4 zloty for me to call her, and when she calls me- for just the 39 cents it costs her to call international. :)
If you have an international plan... and miss me... check out my Facebook and call me, just remember that anything after about 6pm is actually after midnight here...

Though any calls are greatly appreciated...


hint hint ;)

Doing better...

I am doing better, mainly because I have found other English speaking people and a couple places where they speak English- like the pub across the street (me in a pub, go figure) and Pizza Hut, which here is more like a less gaudy Olive Garden, believe it or not.

We have started our Polish intensive class, so we can introduce ourselves now and say some numbers, etc.. We have a ways to go.

I will finally get a Polish cell phone, so instead of $2 a minute to talk to my mom it will be 39cents. Whoo hoo.

I hope to have my own internet soon, then I will be better at keeping up with this...

I'm here and alive...

I'm here, and although my bags were a day late thanks to the big disaster of my flight plan at Syracuse.
Unfortunately, the people here who were supposed to all be speaking English are definitely only speaking Polish. As a result, I need people to translate everything for me. If I don't learn the language soon, I really will starve. I'm hungry now, but can't get groceries because 1) I don't have a stipend yet and 2) can't read the packages, signs, or speak to the cashiers.
I can't use my computer yet because I need to be registered, but instead of SJC's super-easy (really, it is very convienent) registration online, I need to send a request to someone and they'll supposedly have me on in 2 days. (!!!) Remember, I don't speak Polish, and very few people appear to speak English.

I am more homesick than ever, and being away at college for the first time is nothing compared to this. I'm 5,000 miles from home, and can't go anywhere in the building, let alone leave the building, or go out into the city alone because I'd be helpless. I want to get on AIM to talk to my friends, but again, everything is such a process here (I'm on my roommate's computer). Oh, did I mention that there is only one Internet connection in each room, as well as only one key for each? Oh yeah, 2 roommates and 1 key. Here, if your key isn't at the desk downstairs- where you're supposed to leave it- you are outta luck, buddy. No one comes to let you in. No security, no Student Affairs, no Facilities. Nada. It's already happened to me.

I cannot express how very much I miss SJC, New York and the States right now. :'(

Tomorrow's the day...

Okay, so tomorrow's the day. I leave from Syracuse, then fly to Dulles then Munich. I just found out that my seat won't have an outlet so I can't watch movies on my laptop, just in case the in-flight ones are crummy. :(

Having been home for a month seems to be making this harder to pack up and leave... I mean, this past summer I was at SJC for 4 months straight, and we all know how THAT stint ended ever-so-tragically when I finally made it home. Stupid raccoon.

Oh well.

Wish me luck. :)