Massive Update: Phase 2
Krakow, Poland
Poland. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, especially since I don’t speak any slight bit of Polish. I successfully changed money, got on a bus, and made my way to the city. A couple was sitting next to me on the bus and were speaking what I deciphered to be Italian. At one point the guy turns to me and asks if I speak English. I was like yes! You asked the right person. Unfortunately, I had no real idea if the bus went to the train station or not. So I was an English speaker, yet a not very useful one.
LANGUAGE BARRIER?
So in the directions to my hostel, it said that I had to get of at Plac Inwalidow, or something like that. The stops had signs, but sometimes it was hard to see from my side of the bus. When every single other person got off the bus at the main bus station, I figured I had screwed something up. After showing my stop name to the bus driver and watching his pantomime, I figured out that I had missed my stop. Instead of waiting 40 minutes in the cold for the bus going the other way, I decided to hop into a cab that was taunting me from about 50 feet away. Person #2 who didn’t speak much English: the cab driver. However, I reached my hostel just fine, and after a slightly rocky start, never had any more trouble with the language barrier.
BAR ADVENTURE
After a quick meal at the McDonalds next to my hostel (I was starving and wasn’t quite sure what would be open in this country around 8:30pm. Spain=not even dinner time. Poland=I had no clue), I met some people in my hostel room. This girl Silvana and I set out on a quest for a beer. It was the 26th, which was technically another Christmas holiday, so pickings were slim. We ended up in a small bar. When we walked in we saw two girls, one blonde guy with a hug liter mug of beer, a bartender smoking a cigarette, and a guy in a red leather jacket playing a guitar. To say guitar man looked like he was on something is an understatement. He was American, I believe, had long blond hair and big buggy eyes. Apparently, he just waltzed in with his guitar and started playing. Silvana and I asked for beers, figuring we could drink them and peace out quickly, if need be. Well, blond guy (Kristof, as we found out) wishes us a Merry Christmas and starts talking to us. One of the girls that was on the other side of him asks me at one point if I was “starting anything.” Just what I needed, a new Polish enemy. I said no. But the the girl went behind the bar and warmed up to us and gave us cheap shots when we asked. I didn’t understand, however, we got to try cherry vodka and this delicious creation of apple syrup, good vodka, and cinnamon (there’s a picture). I didn’t understand, but she ended up being nice. And blond dude ended up getting drunker. All in all, an interesting night.
HAPPY BDAY KRISTIN
I got to meet up with Kristin (Kaduk/Duk for most of you who don’t use/know her first name) and Piotr one day! It was really strange to see people from home! But it was really nice. The three of us plus Piotr’s cousin Magda headed to the Wawel Castle during the day (during which Kristin and I got to catch up on the past few months. Chattering on and on “like a couple of magpies.” Or so stated Piotr.).
It was nice wandering the city with people who knew what things were and things like that. We had Kristin’s birthday dinner with Piotr’s parents and aunt and uncle and cousins. Delicious. And got ice cream which was more like a fruit sculpture than ice cream. But a delicious fruit sculpture.
Kristin also brought me an Illini Rose Bowl Tshirt! (I wore it on the 1st…but apparently luck doesn’t cross the Atlantic AND the entire US…)
Poland Pics:
coming soon: My first sleeper car adventure, and more
Poland. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, especially since I don’t speak any slight bit of Polish. I successfully changed money, got on a bus, and made my way to the city. A couple was sitting next to me on the bus and were speaking what I deciphered to be Italian. At one point the guy turns to me and asks if I speak English. I was like yes! You asked the right person. Unfortunately, I had no real idea if the bus went to the train station or not. So I was an English speaker, yet a not very useful one.
LANGUAGE BARRIER?
So in the directions to my hostel, it said that I had to get of at Plac Inwalidow, or something like that. The stops had signs, but sometimes it was hard to see from my side of the bus. When every single other person got off the bus at the main bus station, I figured I had screwed something up. After showing my stop name to the bus driver and watching his pantomime, I figured out that I had missed my stop. Instead of waiting 40 minutes in the cold for the bus going the other way, I decided to hop into a cab that was taunting me from about 50 feet away. Person #2 who didn’t speak much English: the cab driver. However, I reached my hostel just fine, and after a slightly rocky start, never had any more trouble with the language barrier.
BAR ADVENTURE
After a quick meal at the McDonalds next to my hostel (I was starving and wasn’t quite sure what would be open in this country around 8:30pm. Spain=not even dinner time. Poland=I had no clue), I met some people in my hostel room. This girl Silvana and I set out on a quest for a beer. It was the 26th, which was technically another Christmas holiday, so pickings were slim. We ended up in a small bar. When we walked in we saw two girls, one blonde guy with a hug liter mug of beer, a bartender smoking a cigarette, and a guy in a red leather jacket playing a guitar. To say guitar man looked like he was on something is an understatement. He was American, I believe, had long blond hair and big buggy eyes. Apparently, he just waltzed in with his guitar and started playing. Silvana and I asked for beers, figuring we could drink them and peace out quickly, if need be. Well, blond guy (Kristof, as we found out) wishes us a Merry Christmas and starts talking to us. One of the girls that was on the other side of him asks me at one point if I was “starting anything.” Just what I needed, a new Polish enemy. I said no. But the the girl went behind the bar and warmed up to us and gave us cheap shots when we asked. I didn’t understand, however, we got to try cherry vodka and this delicious creation of apple syrup, good vodka, and cinnamon (there’s a picture). I didn’t understand, but she ended up being nice. And blond dude ended up getting drunker. All in all, an interesting night.
HAPPY BDAY KRISTIN
I got to meet up with Kristin (Kaduk/Duk for most of you who don’t use/know her first name) and Piotr one day! It was really strange to see people from home! But it was really nice. The three of us plus Piotr’s cousin Magda headed to the Wawel Castle during the day (during which Kristin and I got to catch up on the past few months. Chattering on and on “like a couple of magpies.” Or so stated Piotr.).
It was nice wandering the city with people who knew what things were and things like that. We had Kristin’s birthday dinner with Piotr’s parents and aunt and uncle and cousins. Delicious. And got ice cream which was more like a fruit sculpture than ice cream. But a delicious fruit sculpture.
Kristin also brought me an Illini Rose Bowl Tshirt! (I wore it on the 1st…but apparently luck doesn’t cross the Atlantic AND the entire US…)
Poland Pics:
coming soon: My first sleeper car adventure, and more