Adventures in Queueing

7:00 Monika and I arise. Birds are singing. The sun is shining. A pigeon is mauling the boys’ butter on the porch. It is going to be a good day.

8:00 We’re ready to go packed and ready to go. This can’t take more than four hours, I’m not worried about making it to Jewish Studies on time. I’ll walk from the new, closer dorm!

8:15 We have to take down the curtains and turn them in? Okay, Poles are weird. We’re next in line to be inspected.

9:00 The strange long haired Polish guy who inspected our room made us sweep it on our hands and knees while he watched. For fifteen minutes. And we’d already swept it twice. But whatever, now we’re waiting in line to get our deposits back, there’s only 10 people this shouldn’t take too long.

10:00 I want a beer. Russians appear to be taking over the line. There is an Asian boy speaking Russian. Genghis better not even think about cutting.

11:00 I resist the urge to whip out my kitchen knife when a Polish boy cuts in front of us. And almost vomit when I realize I’m not 100% positive I removed my passport from its secret place in my bed. Thank god I found it. We’re next to get our deposits back and check-in shouldn’t be that bad. I’ll just drop off my bags and go. Monika and I contemplate alcohol prior to class.

11:15 The cabbie was very nice, didn’t rip us off, and the weather is lovely. I’m thrilled to be walking into a new dorm!

11:30 I stand with the luggage while Monika attempts to get a key. The receptionist glares and will not tell us how to check-in. I now understand why Poles drink so much. Communist bureaucracy.

12:00 The luggage and I commune. The coffee vending machine taunts me. I am late for Jewish Studies.

12:30 I meet a nice giant, red-headed Hungarian boy who doesn’t speak Polish either, but is fluent in English. New Yorker English. His enthusiastic profanity amuses me. People try not to step on me as I take up residence in the lobby.

1:00 Hungarian Giant and I chill on the stairs. No Jewish Studies. The coffee machine’s pull can no longer be resisted. Hungarian Boy jokes that maybe we’ll be spending the night in the lobby. It is dangerous to taunt the only partially caffeinated Liz.

1:30 Hungarian Boy is gone. I stare out the window. I believe I am entering a meditative state.

1:45 Monika and I discover the secret to check-in. One must first enter the bar on the ground floor, approach the couple sitting at the table with beers, tell them your name, have them write it on a sticky note, stamp the sticky note, and take this sticky note with you when you want to pay. Of course, why didn’t we think of this, it’s obvious, it’s such a clear procedure that it makes absolute sense why are no signs indicating it or administration willing to mention it.

Commies.

2:00 I grow less optimistic that we will make our 4:00 pm class. I grow less optimistic that I will not soon start tripping the people stepping over me.

2:45 Monika has her key! She tells me that the administration said that today is the special inter-dorm moving day. We were supposed to cut to the front of the line. Damn them all and their lack of signage. Should we bring a psychic next time?

3:00 Our room is lovely, I have my key, our room mate is adorable, and I have killed no one. Tonight I am eating so many pierogies.

Out in Warsaw

Well, here are the censored photos. I just find the second photo amusing because if you look closely you notice we all have the same Polish nose...yeah, that's what it means to be in an ethnically homogeneous country. Those are the MA girls, one from the UK, two from Ireland, a couple from the US with dual citizenship and fluency, Agnieszka, and one of her friends.

On a bridge in Warszawa

Warszawa

We were off in Warsaw for the weekend and it was incredible.

Whereas Krakow, largely untouched by war, is beautiful in a fairytale way, Warsaw was almost completely leveled and has grown up into a gritty, lovely, metropolitan city with a spirit to match its history.

I'm not much of one for describing bars and clubs well because I've little experience in them, but this NYT article actually mentions a couple of the places we went to (that club and bookstore) and gives a great rundown of the Praga district where Agnieszka's friends took us out.
http://travel2.nytimes.com/2006/10/22/travel/22next.html

The study trip portion itinerary went:

Gazeta Wyborcza Meeting with journalists from the foreign affairs, national and economic section.

http://wyborcza.pl

Meeting with Ms. Róża Thun, Head of the European Commission Representation in Poland

Tour Wilanów Palace: http://www.wilanow-palac.art.pl
Tour Warsaw Uprising Museum

The two meetings were interesting, definitely fun to pick the brains of the Polish foreign affairs journalists. Gazeta in general has a fascinating history, they were the first independent newspaper in Poland and worked underground for many years. The teenagers and twenty-somethings that began the newspaper working without pay to distribute tens of thousands of copies of the real uncensored news everyday are now the editors.
The European Commission meeting was worthwhile because for the first while we were with the commission's public affairs guy who went over how they try to drum up support for the EU in Poland. After my job this summer it was interesting to compare. They're surprisingly low tech and unfortunately a lot of the PR events they do are kid-oriented and gimmicky. I know it gets the parents there as well, and they may hand out brochures, but somehow I doubt it gets the brochures read.
Wilanow Palace was a palace. Eh, palaces are nice, and I enjoyed the royal portraits which featured figures in traditional Polish noble dress which is always interesting to me from a fashion history standpoint, but eventually I stop caring about seeing one more old shiny building stuffed with school children and grouchy blue-haired curators.

The Warsaw Uprising Museum was definitely one of the best museums I've ever been to. The walking tour of reconstructed old Warsaw though, well NYT comes it to an epcot version of Warsaw and I agree.
The Praga district was cool. We poked our heads into the club featured in the picture in the article, but it was too full and we went across the street. Later on we went to some tiny two room club on the forth floor of what looked like an abandoned building before further examination. Our guides to social Warsaw were Agnieszka's (a PhD student on the staff) native friends, really fun. Finding clubs and bars would have been difficult without them.

All over Warsaw are little concrete buildings (shaped like pods used at school)covered in graffiti, bars on the window, and windows papered over in old posters and newspaper. They're the remnants of the old communist shops, about 10 of them in each block, about 10 ft by 10 ft each. They look deserted, but the doors creak open to reveal tiny bars, smoke visible in the red light, stuffed with low couches, tiny tables, wall to wall people, and tiny crooked wooden steps leading down into bomb-shelter basements, walls covered in art, posters, or maybe just more peeling wall paper. Fabulous, unpretentious, and good Polish beer and vodka.

Hmm, I should work on some homework.

Unfortunately my batteries died as soon as we arrived, but hopefully by the end of the week I'll be able to steal some good photos from friends.

Polish stereotypes?

Okay, seeing how they measure up so far:

1. Polish people eat a lot of pierogies and kielbasa.
Absolutely true. Not that other traditional food isn't amazing, the soups in particular are incredible here, but pierogies ( containing everything from strawberries to meat) and kielbasa (which refers to sausage of all shapes and sizes) are very important food groups here. I suspect this has something to do with their cheapness, Polish wages are still very low compared to the US. It's not uncommon to see very well dressed business men alongside the homeless people and students in the milk bar eating 2.85 PLN (about $1.25) pierogies.

2. Everyone is Catholic.
In Krakow, yes. There are Protestant enclaves in various regions, but the population is generally considered 93 -98% Catholic. Krakow has one very tiny Protestant church.

3. The country is extremely conservative.
I don't know about the countryside, but Krakow has made a strong effort to become modern in all aspects, including those that defy the church. While divorce was unheard of a generation ago, its common now. Abortion is still illegal, but prostitution is surprisingly not.

4. Everyone drinks a lot.
Well, people drink differently. Admittedly, the Polish students put most American students to shame tolerance-wise, but most adults aren't that enthusiastic in their alcoholic beverage consumption. In general, alcohol just enjoys less cultural stigma here. It's completely normal to see two respectable men sitting at a sidewalk cafe drinking beer before noon. Spiked coffee can be found in breakfast establishments in winter. Poland is also a hard liquor country, supposedly the originator of vodka, so very cheap liquor abounds. Amusingly enough, one of the most strongly enforced laws here is no drinking in public. God help the poor tourists that open a beer on the street. The police always catch them. I'm convinced the police live of the fines from that law alone.

5. Polish jokes.
Eh, the only two things that live up to the Polish jokes so far are people's driving, which even the Poles recognize is a bit hazardous, and the government bureaucracy, also the frequent butt of jokes here.

6. Poland is part of Eastern Europe.
Poles would disagree with you, citing everything from cultural heritage, to the EU, to economic standing. It's debatable. Poland is less modern than say Germany or the UK, still "second world" in outdated terms, but a far cry from much of what's considered the rest of Eastern Europe.

7. Polish style
Most people under the age of sixty look very European, very elegant and coordinated always. Over sixty though and the little babcias emerge in their headscarves and colorful skirts. It's adorable.

8. Poles like polka.
Perhaps secretly, but I've yet to hear any and I keep going to musical festivals downtown. Poland is really proud of Chopin, the greatest classical composer it can claim as its own. Bars and clubs play almost all American music, unfortunately usually from the 80's.

Walking home

Here's more of real Krakow, outside the tourist district. At the beginning here is the monastery on the corner of the street where I have class. The final photo is Piast, my lovely abode, home to not only the dorm but a hostel, a laundrymat, a Polish restaurant, a Chinese restaurant, a gift shop, a hair salon, and a daycare as well.

The Dan

Okay, so this isn't from Poland obviously, but from right before I left. I figured I'd put the picture here because Dan certainly isn't about to send it out to the relatives willingly.

So cute. I love my lil bro, he's a giant!

Wawel Castle

Flowers in Krakow.

A pig at a festival in the Rynek, the Planty, two pictures of the Royal Garden, and the neighborhood shrine.

Out with my camera.

I wasn't feeling great today and it was freezing out, so I only went out walking for a few hours. It shows what my past weekends have been like that a three hour walk is comparatively brief.

I took lots of photos of the neighborhood, the walk home, Wawel Castle, and a festival in the Rynek, but here's my favorite, the antennas on the skyline. Click on it to see the full view, I love the textures.

The Cheese Tour of Poland

Well Poland may not be particularly well known for its cheeses, but it does have one: oscypek, smoked and salted goat cheese from the Tatras Mountains.

With the texture of overcooked calamari it takes some getting used to, but its addictive. The two zloty piece I bought from a little grandmother with a basket in the tunnel near the Galeria didn't even make to within a couple miles of home.

Here's a picture stolen from wikipedia, since I don't take my camera out with me usually. As you can see, they press it into neat shapes. It took me a week to figured it was cheese not some odd pastry or wood carving.

Classes

So for all of you who've asked and I've given insufficient answers to because I didn't have a syllabus in front of me, here are my classes:

Jewish Religion and Culture in CEE from the Middle Ages to 1939

The Cultural Construction of European Identities

Beginner's Polish

Introducing the EU

Modern European State Formation

And starting in October:
Beginner's Russian

I may take less, will probably take less, but for now they want us to just try all the classes for a couple weeks.

So far classes have been very low key.

That's the door to the building that contains the Centre for European Studies, along with a hotel, a restaurant, another language school, and probably a circus too for all I know. Most buildings here house many businesses and residences. The second photo is the view exiting, the quintessential residential courtyard in Krakow. Concrete, hanging laundry, and lots of flowers.

The Czatoryski Museum

Today I visited the one of Poland's loveliest art and artifact museums, the Czartoryski Museum. Full of armor, paintings, sculpture, all in a historic house right off the Rynek. The museum is home to one of the four Da Vinci Paintings currently on display is the world, Lady with an Ermine.

It was obviously the biggest draw of the museum- a school group nearly ran me over as the jogged through the rest of the museum to get to the painting, but other parts were definitely more interesting, like old royal housewares and weapons. If you have ever had the thought, "There is no way one can cover this object in gold and stud it with coral," the Poles will prove you wrong.

There were surprisingly (disturbingly?) few Polish paintings, but the few that were there were exquisite. I'm fond of one called The Mermaids. The other paintings were mostly from the Flemish and Dutch schools, with Italian sculptures, and a small but nonetheless impressive Egyptian section.

As for Lady with an Ermine, to quote a movie from the 90's I shouldn't like so much, it was underwhelming.

The Church of St. Peter and St. Paul

According to the internets....

There are eight convents or monasteries within Krakow! No wonder its hard to walk down a street without seeing a monk or nun.

In Massolit, the English bookstore, with Monika

Mandatory orientation bar attendance

Kazimierz

The photos below our from our tour of the historic Jewish district of Krakow, historical because since World War II there have been almost no Jews in Krakow, or Poland in general.
From the 1400's until just prior to the war the Jewish was home to 60,000 to 80,000 Jews, now, only a few dozen and mostly elderly. Only a few hundred Krakovian Jews survived the war.

The large white medieval building is one of three large former synagogues in Kazimierz. It is currently only open when large groups from Israel come to visit. To cover the cost of maintaining the building the bottom floor is rented out to a cinema. The largest synagogue, not pictured here, is now a museum.

The Jewish population of Krakow meets in a small synagogue (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remuh_Synagogue) just off the street on which much of Schindler's List was filmed, though our tour guide told us they have no permanent rabbi and often struggle to find the ten Jews needed to have a service.

The synagogue is home to the historic Jewish cemetery, home to Krakow's most prestigious Jewish former residents. If you look closely at the photo of the grave stones you'll see rocks piled on top. This is Jewish tradition, rather than flowers for remembrance, little stones.

Lining the cemetery is the Krakow's Wailing Wall, built from fragments of the sarcophagi of victims of the Holocaust. You should really click on the photo to expand it to get an impression of the wall. The only comparison I can really draw is to the Aids Quilt or the Vietnam Memorial.

I didn't feel comfortable taking any pictures inside the synagogue, but it rivaled St. Mary's Basilica on the Rynek.

Speaking of which, here's an article with pictures of St. Mary's: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Mary%27s_Church,_Krak%C3%B3w. It's very different than St. Pat's in New York due to the Orthodox-influenced wall paintings and color scheme. All the walls are covered in vibrant red, gold, and blue iconographic illustrations. Hundreds or thousands of faces must stare down from those walls.

The Jewish quarter has largely been appropriated by Christians, including the frequently spotted Jewish restaurants. The former ritual bathhouse now contains a pub.

Kazimierz

Touring the old town

So today I saw my first castle. There was even a disheveled bearded man in armor out front that reminded me of Don Quixote.

It didn't hasn't as great an impression on me as I thought it would though. I suppose I'm accustomed to looking at medieval architecture, even if not in person. What's struck me more are the renovated communist portions of the city.

My roomie Monika described Krakow as "charming" and that's really the best word for it. To see an industrial looking building scrubbed clean, windows flung open, and gauzy curtains blowing out on the rusted balcony is so much more lovely to me than the shiny tourist attractions like Wawel Hill. It just speaks of good intentions and hospitality.

Like in our dorm room, despite the bed being not quite a bed in the traditional sense, unmatched bedding, and a lack of hot water, our desks were laid with orange tablecloths and we have lovely sheer flowery curtains. Hospitality.

Our bedding, by the way, is hilarious. Piast is where bad blankets from the 80's come to die. Howling wolf blankets, neon plaids, and flowered sheets, but still plenty of warmth to go around.

Well, time for bed. The earlier bird gets the freshest rolls from the piekarnia.

Tour of the old town

Nom nom nom

I ate my first Polish food here today. Pierogies ruskie and barszcz at a bar mleczny. I think I spelled that right. Delicious and amazingly cheap.

I'll take my camera tomorrow, we're touring the Stare Miasto, the medieval city center.

The first day

After seven hours of over the Atlantic and two over the comparatively diminutive Europe, I had my first glimpse of Poland over the wing of the 767. The misty rolling hills were hard at first to distinguish from the mountains puffs of cloud on the descent, but soon we broke free of the cloud cover to see the red rooftop-spectacled countryside of Poland. And although the airport is technically in Krakow, it was definitely countryside, until one reaches the medieval center, Krakow itself seems to simply be a an oddly expansive woody village.

Poland looks undeniably similar to Pennsylvania with its hills, grassy fields and hardwood forests, but twice as brightly colored: rich green forest, gold fields, and red geraniums dripping out of the balconies that dangle of every domicile, including my own.

Yes, there is still plenty of communist architecture, but its taken on a distinctly Polish hue, quite literally. Piast, my dorm, a giant concrete block, is now lime green and yellow. Many of the old concrete structures are a patchworks of pinks, echoing the traditional red roofs and pinkish beige stucco (is that the word?) of Polish homes.

After the airport, Pani Zielinska from the center took us to the dorm, where, despite everyone's grumbles about Polish bureaucracy, we were processed quickly enough and on our way to the suite. Our, by the way, refers not to myself and the mouse in my pocket, but Tim, a student from Univ of Illinois I met on the plane. His room shares a bathroom with my and Monika's room. Monika, luckily for our suite, is fluent in Polish and tirelessly friendly.

After riding the tram to the center, Tim and I were shooed off with maps to go change our money. We wandered to the Square, well, I wheedled for Tim to come with me and he nicely agreed. It was amazing. I'll take photos soon. None of my words can adequately describe it.

My Polish may be nonexistent, but Pani Zielinska half-laughingly pointed out I already know the important words: excuse me, good morning/afternoon, please, and my favorite phrase, "Sorry, I don't understand, I don't speak Polish." I'm learning though. Most the students here know more than me, but I'll get down the basics soon enough.

Lots of love to all

Our awesome window and Monika's bed