::Polska::

This past weekend was another adventure outside of Prague, this time to Poland! I chose this weekend to go because several of my friends were going to be going to Krakow for the weekend with their study abroad program, and I had planned to meet up with them once they got there so that we could hang out. Well, that didn't exactly happen, since my phone decided that it could not make phone calls or send text messages as soon as I got into Poland. I actually saw some of my friends at Auschwitz (kind of a weird place to have a "Hey, look, it's so-and-so, fancy seeing you here!" moment, but I digress), and I knew that there was a chance I'd catch them while I was there since their group would be there on Saturday like I was, but I only spent about 15 minutes with them. However, it actually turned out just fine, because I met a lot of new people on this trip, something I might not have done had I spent all my time with people I knew. And besides, I love meeting new people. I really do. And I've had to do a lot of that since coming here to Prague, because I came here knowing NOBODY, not a single person here. It's good to go places alone sometimes though, because then you have no choice but to branch out. Plus, it's also good to be alone sometimes. I think that too many people (myself included) are sometimes afraid to really spend time with themselves and travel alone. It was a great experience for me, and I continue to realize more and more that I can be comfortable in my own skin. It's a freeing feeling.

Anyways, I got to Krakow on Friday afternoon with only a couple problems along the way ;-) I had to take 3 different trains to get to Krakow, and the second train I took was running about 10 minutes behind. Normally, no problem, but the third train was supposed to leave only 5 minutes after I got to the station, so I really couldn't afford to be running even 10 minutes late. When I got to the station to catch the third train, the lady at the ticket office managed (with my lack of Polish and her lack of English) to explain that I missed the train. Feeling depressed, I decided to check the boards again, and amazingly enough, I saw my train posted up there as also having been late, so it was just now pulling into the station! Yet another miracle that I've had this semester. Then, when I got on the train, the conductor (who also spoke about 3 words of English) started to freak out when he saw my ticket, and I realized that he was trying to say I wasn't supposed to be on this train and had to get off at the next station. I got so worried, and then he even walked away with my ticket in his hand. Five minutes later, a different conductor came back with my ticket in hand, and handed me my ticket back. I asked if everything was alright, and he just looked at me with a very bored expression and said, "Yeah, why wouldn't it be?" And that was that!

I did my own little walking tour of Krakow on Friday afternoon and evening, and as I was heading back to my hostel at around 19:00, I saw a sign posted outside of a gorgeous cathedral saying that there would be a chamber orchestra playing there that evening at 20:00. So I walked up to the man selling tickets outside the door, and after hearing that it was 50 zloty ($20), I figured that that was a little much. I started to walk away, but then turned around and asked if there was a student discount. Sure enough, I got in for $12. The concert was beautiful, and I met two very nice ladies who were also traveling alone while I was there, one from London, the other from New Zealand. While I was sitting there in this gorgeous cathedral with vaulted ceilings and elegant artwork and architecture, listening to some of the most beautiful songs that humanity has created, I couldn't help but think of what a stark contrast that evening would be to my day the next day when I would go to visit Auschwitz. I felt as though that evening, I was experiencing the best of humanity, the most beautiful offerings that mankind has, while the next day, I would be seeing the absolute worst side of humanity, seeing what horrors a person or group of people can be capable of. It gave me the chills.

I was up early on Saturday to get to Auschwitz, and though people told me that it was a bad idea to go by myself, I knew I didn't really have a choice. All of my new friends at the hostel had either already gone or had absolutely no desire to go there. So, I got on the bus and headed there alone. However, I decided to strike up a conversation with the girl sitting next to me on the bus and learned that she was also traveling alone to Auschwitz, and so we agreed to spend our time there together. And boy, am I glad that I had her with me. I realized when she left (she had to catch an earlier bus, so I spent the last 45 minutes or so alone out of the 3.5 hours I was there and didn't find my friends until almost the very end of that) how horrible I felt going through the camp alone. I actually started to go numb to what I was seeing and reading by the end, and the last building I went through, the one where the prisoners had their hair shaved off and were given their prison clothes, was basically in a daze. For those who haven't been there, there are actually 2 camps to see: Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau. The first one is much smaller and is a museum. About half of the old barracks are filled with exhibits, and there is a lot to read and see. At Birkenau, about 3 km from the first camp, it is nothing but wide open spaces of old barracks and crematoriums. And, of course, the crushingly infamous set of railroad tracks that led straight into the camp...

Birkenau is massive, and when you walk along the railroad tracks with the wind whipping past you and the long rows of barbed-wire fences on either side, you can't stop yourself from imagining what it must have been like. If you were led to the right off of the train, you were taken to the barracks to begin a life of slave labor. If you were taken to the left off of the train, you were immediately killed. The women and children (except for the ones saved for cruel medical experiments) were almost always taken to the left immediately, and perhaps the saddest thing I saw all day was at the museum, where they had a gigantic pile of children's shoes that the Nazis had saved from their victims and were planning on selling. I felt as though I was going to lose it right there, but again, this was where it helped so much to have a friend, and she was very sweet, patting me on the back, asking if I was okay. The other moment where I felt as though I would break down and cry was when I was walking through one of the barracks where they had hung the pictures that the Nazis took of the prisoners when they first arrived at the camp. The pictures had been framed, and had the person's birth date, arrival date at the camp, and date of death. I couldn't help but glance at the birth dates on some of the pictures, and I found so many that were from 1920 or 1921, making those prisoners about 20 or 21 years old when they arrived in 1941 (that was the only year where they took pictures. After that, the volume of prisoners got so high that they stopped taking their photographs). All of a sudden, I stopped at a picture of a young man who was 21 when he arrived at Auschwitz, and who only lived about 6 months there before passing away. What arrested my attention was his eyes: he was looking straight at the camera with the calmest face I have ever seen, and all that I could think was that he was the same age as I am now. My heart broke to think of the life that had been stolen from him, yet he looked so calm and brave. I will never, ever forget that face and that moment in time where I felt as though he and I were connected. I am crying as I write these last few sentences, because I still can't believe how gut-wrenching of a feeling that was. I had always wanted to go to Auschwitz very badly, and it was an experience that I am very glad I had and one that I think everyone should have at least once in their lifetime, but it was so heart-breaking. It's actually a state requirement that every Polish student now go to Auschwitz with their high school graduating class, which I think is very important.

I didn't really have the heart to do any other sight-seeing on Saturday night after going to Auschwitz, so I went out with some girls from my hostel to have an authentic Polish dinner, which tasted absolutely amazing. Cabbage and mushroom pierogies with potato cakes = delicious! I also sampled some of the other girls' food, and although I don't remember the Polish names for those foods, they were amazing. Krakow is a really cool city, actually kind of like a smaller version of Prague. Almost the entire city has now been reconstructed from the WWII damage, and I only saw a couple buildings that were under serious renovation. On Saturday night, our group walked down along the river to see the famous Krakow dragon breathe fire. Yes, breathe fire ;-) I had actually seen the dragon from where I was up on the Castle Hill, and I had honestly thought that I was going crazy when I thought I saw fire coming out of the dragon's mouth, but one of my hostel roommates assured me later that day that it does indeed breathe fire. So, we headed down there to be able to see it at night, and it was pretty awesome! We girls climbed up on the sculpture, and, forgetting about the fire-breathing aspect, freaked out when he breathed fire as we climbed up there. Of course, we were far from the dragon's mouth and perfectly safe, but as a reflex, we all panicked when we saw the fire coming ;-)

Before leaving on Sunday afternoon, I headed out to the Wieliczka Salt Mines, which were absolutely amazing to see. The lowest our tour group got (all 3 of us ;-) that's what happens when you take the early Sunday morning tour, nobody is there!) was 200 meters below the earth. The mine became inactive back in 1996 and now is just for tours, but we walked through massive underground chapels that the miners had carved, including the world's largest underground cathedral. It was gigantic and beautiful, and the entire room had been carved out of the salt. They actually have masses down there every week, too!

So, I think that that's enough for now! Your eyes are probably crossing from reading all of this, dear readers, so I will let you go. Life is busy here in Prague this week, but only 5 days till I leave for Italy for spring break! Wooo!!!!