"I should say my experience in Poland was life changing. It made me realize many things I didn’t know about myself. I say this is one thing everyone should do. My trip was not just about visiting a country. It was about engaging with the culture and getting to know realities."
Cześć!
There's so much to be said about how it's been, so this is going to be a very long article. I never thought I’d ever have to write about my travel experiences but here I am sitting in the airport biting the end of my Atlas Chooty and trying to recall a 6 weeks’ stock full of memories.
I arrived in Rzeszow at 9.30 pm. After a 5 and a half hour bus ride, I could
say I was ‘bus-lagged’. It was very Asian of me to think that my Project
coordinator would Agatapick me up from the bus station in one of those very cozy
taxis but no, we took a bus instead. I did my first sightseeing around Rzeszow at
10 something at night and LOVED IT! All thanks to Agata. We had to catch the
last bus to Milocin so we had to rush. I never imagined myself pulling a 19kg
luggage for over 2 kilometers in freezing cold but I did. We had half an hour
to the bus so we made our selves comfortable on a steel bench. That night, I
had my first Polish lesson. Agata taught me how to ask for a students’ ticket
from the bus driver. ‘ProszębiletstudenskidoMiłocina’
(A student’s ticket to Milocin,please), There! I spoke in Polish. I spent three
nights with Agata, at her home in Milocin, before I met my first host family. Little
did I know that she was planning on taking me to a club. That was the night I lost
my club virginity !! ha ha. Esraa and
Maha , the two EP’s from Egypt arrived the next day and I went to meet them to
Magdalena’s apartment.Though I had chatted with them on Facebook , this was
the first time I saw them. I was delighted to see that they are as tall as I. I
am NOT the tallest girl is the clique anymore !!. Not to forget , there was
another girl from Georgia who had decided to join our project.
On our first weekend there, we went to AIESEC Rzeszow's
Local Committee Conference (LCC) to HadleSzkalrskie, a half an hour bus ride
away from Rzeszow. We met two other EP’s from another project (Kamna from India
and Donna from The Philippines) for the first time. I became friends
immediately with the Indian girl (no surprise huh!) and by the end of the bus
ride, the three of us had become good friends. This small village was so beautiful; I really don't have the words. We were staying in a wooden lodge and for the 2
days there, the AIESECers planned a lot of EP activities and presentations so
we were indoors pretty much all day. I got to try Authentic Polish food for the
first time there! All in all, the LCC was pretty awesome, We danced a lot on
our last night there, trying to ape the AIESEC jives and one of the songs was
the BnS song LIFE in the new millennium!. That night I also got to
experience a time change for the first time. We were all glad to know that we
have an hour more of shut eye. After the LCC, we EPs had united and we made a
Facebook group entitled "EP Travels" and then on planned and went to
Krakow and Prague.
The next weekend, we set off to Krakow, and it was a trip of mixed emotions. We stayed in a nice little hostel called Goodbye Lenin Revolution that took us such a long time to find from the bus station and once settled in, we went out to the Old Town Square and took pictures of the grand old buildings and went on a guided tour for it and neighbouring areas.
Some weekends I would go over to Kamna’s and Donna’s dorm for sleepovers and we'd stay up and watch horror movies, such fun, joining two of our single beds to make one big bed for us to all sleep in, and going on adventures in the day time.I even made them Sri Lankan style Omelets one night. On another Friday night, we went to a nice little cafe called ‘Nora’ at the Market Square and drank hot beer and hot wine and had a lot of laughs with a new friend we met at the LCC. It was a fun night and we were out till late and Donna and Kamnahad to cab it home because buses here last ply around 11 PM.
I will not do justice to my trip if I don’t tell you about
my teaching experience. Esraa was my teaching partner and we set off to Sanok
on our first school. Sanok is a very small town with mountains and lakes. The
river ‘Solina’ that flows across Sanok is a very popular place for fishing and
camping in Poland. Our Teacher, Mr. Adam was waiting for us at the CentralAutobusy.
Unlike here, schools in Poland have numbers, so we were teaching at Primary
school number 1 on our first week. There he introduced us to Klara, Tola and
Wiktoria, the three brightest students in the school who helped us translate
our lessons to youngsters. The kids were so forward and eager to learn English.
We played local music to them on the Laptop and they would dance along with us.
We had many interactive sessions with them playing hang man and story
completion. Mr. Adam volunteered to be our host for the week as our original
host backed out the last minute. He has a very sweet wife and a darling son who
we spent many evenings playing.
We also cooked authentic Egyptian and Sri Lankan food. Esraa made Coshrey (a dish with Rice, lentils, fried onions and pasta) and I made Chicken curry and Tempered Potatoes. Some other people we met in SanokwereGosia and Yola. They took us out every evening to museums, galleries and shopping malls one of which is one of the largest open air ethnographic museums in the world. To date, my favourite place in Poland is Sanok and Mr. Adam’s home. Esraa is agreeing with me so we went to Sanok again on our last weekend to bid farewell.
We also cooked authentic Egyptian and Sri Lankan food. Esraa made Coshrey (a dish with Rice, lentils, fried onions and pasta) and I made Chicken curry and Tempered Potatoes. Some other people we met in SanokwereGosia and Yola. They took us out every evening to museums, galleries and shopping malls one of which is one of the largest open air ethnographic museums in the world. To date, my favourite place in Poland is Sanok and Mr. Adam’s home. Esraa is agreeing with me so we went to Sanok again on our last weekend to bid farewell.
On the following weeks we went to Krosno, Jaroslow,
Niebylecs , which were also very small towns and spent our last week in a
school in Rzeszow. In Krosno we visited the Glass factory, another biggie in
Europe, where we were given the opportunity to make glass. We were in awe of
the talent we saw. Also we went to see the largest oil lamp collection and a
modern art museum. Krosno was a different experience as we stayed there for two
weeks and had to switch host families every three days. None of the host
families could speak in English but we gelled so well, they ended up showing us
wedding albums and photos of family vacations. There I got to taste an
interesting drink called ‘ Nalefka’. It tastes like a combination of wine and
vodka. I was told that alcohol percentage is higher than Vodka and the homemade
ones are the best. There onwards, I made it a point to ask all my host families
if they had ‘Nalefka’(wink). I should have bought a bottle or two!
One of the nicest things in the trip was our farewell party at
the Jaroslaw primary school. We were taken by surprise when we entered the
school gymnasium. We didn’t expect a farewell as we had to leave a day before
than usual as we were going to Prague that weekend. The entire primary school
was present with colorful hearts in their hand. Needless to say, we were in
tears when the students applauded and hugged us. I got a chance to cook
Pierogi,( Dumplings with Cheese and potatoes center) the traditional dish in Poland for the first
time.
In Niebylec we experienced snow for
the first time. Both of us were a little worried as it was our 5th
week and we expected snow by then. A student who is residing in mountains
volunteered to take us there as it was snowing so our teachers took us there.
Niebylec was a very small town with nothing much to do so we spent most evening
at Kinga’s. We both thought she’s the best thing in Niebylecs as she was one of
the peculiar kids at school, always full of smiles.
On the 4th weekend, we went to Prague by our faithful dependable PolskiBus and we were only going to be there for 27 hours so we planned our itinerary down to the hour so no time would be wasted. We got into a bus on Thursday night to Warsaw and another one and reached Prague Friday evening. It was tough sitting in one place for 17 hours.
We dropped in Wroclaw and Lodz as well. I wish I had more time and money so I could go explore other cities too. Prague was lovely. Once we checked into Old Prague Hostel, not a very confusing path from the bus stop thankfully, and set off on a prowl. We were starving and luckily we found a nice Asian restaurant, Donna ordered Sushi and I finally got to try some authentic Sushi for the first time, and I sort of liked it. I should say it’s different to what is available at so called Japanese restaurants here. After dinner we headed to Charles Bridge. Wewalked around the city, and you have to see Prague in the night, or there really is no point going there. The lights make everything look so much more amazing than in just daylight. We were so stunned by the beauty of some buildings, so much grandeur; we didn’t mind walking the whole night. We walked into the night all the way to Charles Bridge and then reached the hostel exhausted. The next day we had an early start, we headed to shop for some souvenirs and then went for a free Sandeman's
Me, Esraa and Maha walked back to the dorm and grabbed our
luggage. It was time to say goodbye to our flat. We said goodbye to Justina and
her adorable kids. We had to pull our luggage over 10 inches of snow as the
taxis refused to some to the flat due to bad weather. Our bus was delayed in 3
hours and all of us were seated nearly frozen inside the waiting room. Thank
god we booked an early bus if not we would have missed the flight. We arrived
in Warsaw at 9 am, 4 hours later than what was originally planned. We met a
nice Polish girl who happened to go in the same direction as us so decided to
take a cab instead of the bus. We were so exhausted from the journey and a cab
was just what we needed.
An hour ago I said goodbye to Esraa and Maha at their gate. Having
to say goodbye always sucks. I'm going to miss Rzeszow and Poland. I am going
to miss my EPs, the friends I made here, the beauty of this place,the way buses
run so beautifully on time, trips to Biedronka, trying to figure out which new
food to try, waiting for the green light to appear at the crossing, buying
studenski tickets for everything as much as possible, walking to school, to GaleriaGraffika
and Galeria Rzeszow. Meeting up with Donna and Kamna atMillenium Hall and later
sleeping over at their dorm , going to Dara though I don’t want to, buying
second hand clothes, playing with Justina’s kids,drinking gazowanawater,
munching Layers crisps, holding on to Esraa so I won’t slip on frozen
sidewalks, planning trips, budgeting plans that always failed at the sight of
good food, Eating hot Kotlets in freezing cold , skipping breakfast so I can
visit another Museum or Art Gallery, running everywhere to catch WIFI signals
so I can Skype with my parentsand so many more memories.
I shall end this super long post here now or else I will miss my flight. I should say my experience in Poland was life changing. It made me realize many things I didn’t know about myself. I say this is one thing everyone should do. My trip was not just about visiting a country. It was about engaging with the culture and getting to know realities.
I shall end this super long post here now or else I will miss my flight. I should say my experience in Poland was life changing. It made me realize many things I didn’t know about myself. I say this is one thing everyone should do. My trip was not just about visiting a country. It was about engaging with the culture and getting to know realities.
So this is my story. I’m waiting to read yours!
Do widzenia!
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