I really need to make an update video - both for the week and a Spanish update because it's been forever since I've done one of those...
So let's go back to the weekend. It was a puente (awesome!!), that's when a holiday falls on either a Tuesday or a Thursday, so you have a 4 day weekend.
I spent Thursday packing and getting everything together to leave for Poland, then my friend Yvette and I went into the city and found the restaurant "Tierra Burrito" - the Spanish version of Chipotle. I finished up my packing, had some dinner, skyped with Keith, then around midnight headed over to Yvette's house.
Our flight left at 6:40 Friday morning, and since we had to arrive early, the metro was closed, so we stayed at Yvette's because we could walk to one of the 3 bus stations that run all night to the airport. We didn't sleep since we had to leave around 3:30am. This was my first experience flying Ryanair, and let me tell you, it was an experience. If you aren't sure what I mean-Ryanair is a really cheap airline (we're talking around 35-90 euro tickets), but because of this there (of course) are downsides. Mainly, you do not have assigned seats, so as soon as they open the gates it is a mad rush to get on the plane so you can sit next to the people you are traveling with. I'm normally not anxious when flying, but this made me crazy. Oh well, that aside, I survived and successfully passed out before our plane even backed away from the gate. I woke up about 10 minutes before we landed in Kraków, so that was a great flight.
From this point, my weekend got interesting...
Freak Out Number One: The hotel preauthorized my credit card before we checked in...for $1,500 more than the bill. I think I spent the first 4 hours on the phone with different banks and customer service representatives trying to figure out what was going on. Luckily, on Monday when we checked out, the manager finally said they had made a mistake and fixed it.
Freak Out Number Two: My ATM card would not work in Poland. Even after my loving family figured out how to break into my bank account and transferred more money into my checking account.
So with both of those things to worry about, my weekend continued...
Saturday, we went on a trip to Auschwitz. I don't really know what to say. In my opinion, I thought it was amazing, but I can't really say that about something so awful without sounding demented. It was just very interesting and a moving experience. It was interesting to see the differences between the museum in the US and in Poland just because the people in Poland in the actual camp have much deeper connections and opinions about respect and how we need to reflect on the Holocaust. Without carrying on for forever, I'll mention two things.
1. The point of having Auschwitz as a memorial is because the people that were sent to Auschwitz and the other concentration camps were sent there to be dehumanized. Today we go there because it is our responsibility to remember that these people were in fact people just like us and today we go there to re-humanize them.
2. In the museum in DC there is one of the actual train cars that was used to transport the people to the camps. There, it is open and you can enter it. In Poland, there is another one of these cars, however it is not open. The survivors there believe that it was such a horrible thing to experience that no one should ever be allowed to be in the same position they once were.
Saturday night we went to get dinner at a Hungarian restaurant. Let me say, amazing. I ate chicken paprikash and it was the best thing ever. Made me feel like home with my grandma noodles (except those are better!!) After that we went to a bar and got some drinks (I of course ordered a smoothie, causing everyone else to get their IDs checked) We then were headed home when we ran into what we thought was a promoter, but turns out he was a random German guy with his friends, so we went to a different bar with them. (where I of course drank water all night and was thus the only sober one)
Freak Out Number Three: The point of the night when I had to pee so bad and the bathroom didn't have any toilet paper and had to use the pages of my Kraków guide book as toilet paper. Yes, I felt disgusting. Lesson - always carry tissues with you, always.
Sunday we headed to the Salt Mines, it was cool, but nothing I would recommend to anyone visiting Kraków.
And finally Monday, it rained. So we headed over to the Jewish quarter for lunch before catching a cab to the airport for our 6pm flight back to Madrid.
Without a doubt the best thing about Poland is the exchange rate. For every 1 euro, you get about 4 PLN. Basically, I bought a ton of presents for $30. (That was fun packing my Ryanair approved carryon size luggage...)
Our flight arrived late, so I didn't get home until around midnight. Then I stayed up until 2 this morning doing homework, slept a few hours, got up at 6 to read a book and write a paper about it, and then went to school.
Tired.
Had my visa extention appointment today at the police station, where we had to wait 1.5 hours outside in the cold weather. Turns out, my visa got denied and now we have to go back tomorrow to fix it so I don't get deported.
Lovely.
On that note, I have a ton of homework I need to do. I'll update soon.
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