It didn't hit me until the very last minute that I would be leaving the land of my birth to study in Krakow, Poland and won't return until June 21, 2013. That's 4 whole months abroad! Am I ready? We'll find out soon enough....
February 21, 2013
The nerves finally settled when Erika, who recognized me from Facebook approached me on the plane or I would have had serious anxiety issues throughout the flight. And just before getting onto the plane in Chicago, I realized that I had failed to print my boarding pass for the flight in Munich, Germany to Krakow which I was supposed to do at O’Hare. Of course I would screw something up before even stepping off the homeland. But with Erika’s help, we figured out where to print out my boarding pass and got to the right place, stuffed ourselves in a shuttle bus and climbed up the steps to the right plane.
About an hour later, I stepped onto the ground of the Krakow, Poland. Retrieving our luggage was a breeze and so was finding Piotrek, our resident director holding an ‘API’ sign as he waited for us. We quickly said hellos before he ran off to retrieve the others. As they approached us, I recognized my roommate, Julianna and discovered that our program consists small group of 6. I took note of everyone else's luggage of two oversized suitcases and a couple of carry ons each, then glanced down at my medium size luggage and carry-ons and wondered if my mother was right - did I under pack?
A taxi took us to our apartment: Ul. Sw Jana 13/4. Through 3 gates and up 5 flights of stairs, we carried our luggage to our home for the next 4 months. We later find out that these apartments are new to the program and that we are the guinea pigs to see how it all works out. Good to know...
With little time to unpack, we soon left as a group for the Welcome Lunch. Our first taste (literally) of Poland was at a buffet style restaurant. Not being able to understand 95% of the menu, I went with something familiar - Nalesniki with cottage cheese. I figured it would be similar to the kind my mother makes but boy, I was wrong. Apparently over here, virtually anything made with cottage cheese is more like a dessert - a very, very sweet dessert. Besides the oversized portion, I was a little overwhelmed by the sugar overload, especially when I was hoping for some comfort food.
After lunch we explored Krakow a little and found a small grocery store which we stopped at before hitting up the liquor store to pick up some ZYWIEC. If you don't know what that is, it's a good hearty Polish beer with an alcohol content of 12.5% in each can. That's triple than my usual friend, Miller Light. So one can imagine that after a good nap and 2 beers along with that arriving in a new place excitement, we were more than ready to explore the night.
Julianna took us to an underground club that her cousin had taken her the week before, and I had my first beer with syrup. I'm not sure what it's called, but it's common to pour a flavored syrup into your beer, turning it a pink/red color. I have to be sure to find this syrup and bring some of it home! Once we got onto the dance floor, it didn't take long for Polish men to gravitate towards us. Their subtle aggressiveness was something I'm not used to, but did find it flattering! Although the following day we learn that this club is on the 'not recommended' list, I'd say it was a pretty good entrance to the next four months to come.
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