This afternoon Rachel and I went to showing of a film called Camouflage (Barwy Ochronne), a Polish one with English subtitles. A theater on Rynek Główny called Kino Pod Baranami shows Polish films for English audiences every other Tuesday. Today's film, made in the 1970s, is about two Polish academics. One of them is young and incredibly idealistic, the other middle-aged, corrupt, and cynical - the perfect conformist to the Communist system. The plot is pretty minimal and bascially just sets the scene for an intense psychological juxtaposition of the two main characters. It was a cool film that I liked partly because it wasn't nearly as dark and depressing as I think it could have been given the subject matter.
This week is super busy. Easter vacation is coming up but is only technically supposed to be from April 8-14. However, both Rachel's and Brad's parents are coming to Europe during next week and the week after and due to flight schedules and feasible travel plans, we've ended up rearranging our class schedules and getting off from April 3-14! All of professors were perfectly happy to postpone whatever classes we're missing, so the weeks after break will be chock-full of lectures and we have to get all of our assignments done by the end of this week instead of the middle of next. Anyway. I had already planned to be in Venice from April 9-13 for my birthday and now there's the possibility of seeing some more of Austria with Chris! I really want to do that, since most of the traveling I have been and will be able to do basically involves hopping between capital or major cities and, while all beautiful and unique, seeing just the capitals tends to get a tiny bit boring. So I'm hoping Austria works out!
The weather in Kraków is beautiful this week...sunny and almost 60 degrees today! Perfect for walking around and enjoying the buds emerging on the trees.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Spring seems to be here for good! Yesterday was beautiful though still a bit chilly - I wore my wintercoat but walked around all day with it unbuttoned and no scarf. Today is even more perfect, with 60 degree F weather, bright sunshine, and a clear blue sky. I was hot walking around with a denim jacket over my t-shirt!
After a lazy morning we walked to a place called More Than a Cookie near the old part of town (about a 20 minute walk) to have an early afternoon cookie snack! Delicious. I had their signature chocolate chip cookie which was very chocolatey (I hate chocolate chip cookies that aren't chock-full of chips...it's such a let-down) with a very rich dough. I also had rich, fudgy chocolate cookies with mint frosting, raspberry frosting, and a chocolate-orange frosting and a white-chocolate-peanut cookie. Oh, and a hot chocolate with marshmallows in it! This was the first place I've found in Krakow that offered marshmallows in their hot chocolate.
While I'm talking about food, Rachel and I ate dinner last night after our language class at a place called Pod Chimera, a five-star fancy restaurant that offers an affordable cafe salad bar next door. I think the salad bar is quite good, mainly because it offers hot dishes in addition to the salad. I had a fish-and-potato pancake of sorts (yummier than it sounds) and an assortment of salads: spinach and soy, bean sprouts and tomatos, and macaroni with veggies. All topped with a mild orange mustard though I was tempted by the creamy garlic sauce. I love food!
Yesterday was also great because Rachel and I went thrift store shopping again and made some lovely purchases. We ran into a girl named Kasia in one of the shops whom we met during the first week we were here and have only seen a couple of times since.
Friday afternoon on ulica Grodzka, the largest street leading off the main market square since it goes straight to Wawel. This was the most crowded we've ever seen the street.
Street performers in the main square.
One of the street performers. He was actually spinning on his head though of course you can't tell from the still picture. Rachel and I got there at the very end of the show but what we saw these kids doing was pretty amazing!
After a lazy morning we walked to a place called More Than a Cookie near the old part of town (about a 20 minute walk) to have an early afternoon cookie snack! Delicious. I had their signature chocolate chip cookie which was very chocolatey (I hate chocolate chip cookies that aren't chock-full of chips...it's such a let-down) with a very rich dough. I also had rich, fudgy chocolate cookies with mint frosting, raspberry frosting, and a chocolate-orange frosting and a white-chocolate-peanut cookie. Oh, and a hot chocolate with marshmallows in it! This was the first place I've found in Krakow that offered marshmallows in their hot chocolate.
While I'm talking about food, Rachel and I ate dinner last night after our language class at a place called Pod Chimera, a five-star fancy restaurant that offers an affordable cafe salad bar next door. I think the salad bar is quite good, mainly because it offers hot dishes in addition to the salad. I had a fish-and-potato pancake of sorts (yummier than it sounds) and an assortment of salads: spinach and soy, bean sprouts and tomatos, and macaroni with veggies. All topped with a mild orange mustard though I was tempted by the creamy garlic sauce. I love food!
Yesterday was also great because Rachel and I went thrift store shopping again and made some lovely purchases. We ran into a girl named Kasia in one of the shops whom we met during the first week we were here and have only seen a couple of times since.
Friday afternoon on ulica Grodzka, the largest street leading off the main market square since it goes straight to Wawel. This was the most crowded we've ever seen the street.
Street performers in the main square.
One of the street performers. He was actually spinning on his head though of course you can't tell from the still picture. Rachel and I got there at the very end of the show but what we saw these kids doing was pretty amazing!
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Today Kraków is doing its 20 minutes of 40 degree weather and brilliant sunshine alternating with 20 minutes of 20 degree weather and blowing snow. *sigh* I decided it was a good day to come right home after class and spend the afternoon doing work and reading. I'll run over to the Biedronka, our next-door mini grocery store, in a little bit to pick up some more water and maybe some chocolate. Yum!
So Vienna! We left Thursday a little after 5 pm when we were picked up by the bus service at Dom Piast. The drive was a little ridiculous and it took us 4-5 hours just to make it to the border between Poland and Slovakia due to bad weather in the mountains and having to pick 2 people up in really random, out-of-the-way mountain towns. Brad and Rachel were dropped off at our friend Viki's flat in northeastern Vienna around 1 am, and I didn't make it to Chris' house in southwestern Vienna until 2 am because the other passengers were dropped off in between.
Friday I got to go on a tour of the Natural History museum with everyone on Chris' program. The tours are supposed to be 15 people and they only had 10, so the program director (Brit) was happy to let me tag along. Of course, natural history museums have always been my favorite and this one didn't disappoint! We saw a LOT of minerals and other cool geological stuff, and went through the dinosaur and early mammal sections. It was totally cool. The tour guide was a retired gentleman who said he continued during the tours because he loved it so much - and proved it with his enthusiasm! The tour was in German, obviously, since everyone on it except for me spoke German. Chris says he had a lot of fun translating for me, although the tour guide would say some things for me in english every now and then and spoke slowly and accompanied almost everything with very elaborate gestures so I actually picked up a lot of it. He also made me do all of the demonstration things, like feeling the teeth and tusks on the fossil skulls and wondering what they were used for, or pushing the buttons on the evolution simulation machine.
Rachel and Brad met us at the museum midafternoon and the four of us (R, B, Chris, and I) spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around the 1st district to get a feel for the city with periodic stops to warm up. We stopped at the Demel chocolate store and bought some chocolate bars and also at a cafe called Aida for some inexpensive and delicious pastry! We had some bruschetta at Caffe Bar in Stephansplatz and then met up with Gerald (Viki's boyfriend who Rachel, Brad, and I had met when he visited her in Kraków a few weeks ago) and his friend, Matthias. We spent a long time at a restaurant and then broke up after midnight.
Saturday was a sushi-filled day! Chris took me to a sushi restaurant a short ride on the U-bahn from his house for lunch. It was a deceptive place since it looked like one of the tiny street food places but actually had a small sitting area inside and delicious food. We both got bento boxes with an assortment of sushi and a meat dish - beef for me, crispy duck for Chris. Then we hopped across the street and spent a long time in the grounds of Schloss Schonbrunn, a huge yellow palace surrounded by an incredibly extensive park. It was the first consistently beautiful day I've seen in Europe, so it was wonderful to spend it outdoors! We grabbed dinner at a sushi stand in one of the U-bahn stations and then met up with a ton of people at a pub for Viki's 23rd birthday party. It was a typical birthday party: dancing, hanging out with friends, and meeting new ones.
On Sunday, Brit hosted a brunch at her flat for everyone on the program plus me and Eric, the boyfriend of another Swattie on the Vienna program, Lauren. Delicious food! Bread, cheeses, meats, butter and creamy spreads, nutella, fresh fruit! Yummy. After brunch, Chris and I wandered around the city some more with the other Chris on his program (Chris S. also from Swarthmore) and met up with Rachel and Brad for lunch and coffee at Central Cafe. Then it was time to go back to Chris' house and pack, then head to Viki's flat where the bus was going to pick us up and take us back to Kraków! We left Vienna around 8:15 pm on Sunday and arrived back at Dom Piast a little after 2 am. A much shorter trip due to better weather in the mountains and only having to drop off one additional passenger.
I had a lot of fun in Vienna, but it was definitely nice to return to Kraków, which really does feel like my home in Europe. It has a lot to do with having more familiarity with the language here as well as a routine and a small circle of friends. In addition to all that, though, Vienna was just too big and too beautiful and too classical, and seemed a little stodgy! Kraków seems a bit more dingy (in a homey way) and edgier with more attitude. Also more interesting. :) Well, I'm planning to visit Vienna again in the summer so I'll see what I think after gaining a bit more familiarity with it!
I think my life is going to be fairly uneventful for the next few weeks until I go to Venice for Easter break, so my next posts will probably be academic-y. You have been warned.
So Vienna! We left Thursday a little after 5 pm when we were picked up by the bus service at Dom Piast. The drive was a little ridiculous and it took us 4-5 hours just to make it to the border between Poland and Slovakia due to bad weather in the mountains and having to pick 2 people up in really random, out-of-the-way mountain towns. Brad and Rachel were dropped off at our friend Viki's flat in northeastern Vienna around 1 am, and I didn't make it to Chris' house in southwestern Vienna until 2 am because the other passengers were dropped off in between.
Friday I got to go on a tour of the Natural History museum with everyone on Chris' program. The tours are supposed to be 15 people and they only had 10, so the program director (Brit) was happy to let me tag along. Of course, natural history museums have always been my favorite and this one didn't disappoint! We saw a LOT of minerals and other cool geological stuff, and went through the dinosaur and early mammal sections. It was totally cool. The tour guide was a retired gentleman who said he continued during the tours because he loved it so much - and proved it with his enthusiasm! The tour was in German, obviously, since everyone on it except for me spoke German. Chris says he had a lot of fun translating for me, although the tour guide would say some things for me in english every now and then and spoke slowly and accompanied almost everything with very elaborate gestures so I actually picked up a lot of it. He also made me do all of the demonstration things, like feeling the teeth and tusks on the fossil skulls and wondering what they were used for, or pushing the buttons on the evolution simulation machine.
Rachel and Brad met us at the museum midafternoon and the four of us (R, B, Chris, and I) spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around the 1st district to get a feel for the city with periodic stops to warm up. We stopped at the Demel chocolate store and bought some chocolate bars and also at a cafe called Aida for some inexpensive and delicious pastry! We had some bruschetta at Caffe Bar in Stephansplatz and then met up with Gerald (Viki's boyfriend who Rachel, Brad, and I had met when he visited her in Kraków a few weeks ago) and his friend, Matthias. We spent a long time at a restaurant and then broke up after midnight.
Saturday was a sushi-filled day! Chris took me to a sushi restaurant a short ride on the U-bahn from his house for lunch. It was a deceptive place since it looked like one of the tiny street food places but actually had a small sitting area inside and delicious food. We both got bento boxes with an assortment of sushi and a meat dish - beef for me, crispy duck for Chris. Then we hopped across the street and spent a long time in the grounds of Schloss Schonbrunn, a huge yellow palace surrounded by an incredibly extensive park. It was the first consistently beautiful day I've seen in Europe, so it was wonderful to spend it outdoors! We grabbed dinner at a sushi stand in one of the U-bahn stations and then met up with a ton of people at a pub for Viki's 23rd birthday party. It was a typical birthday party: dancing, hanging out with friends, and meeting new ones.
On Sunday, Brit hosted a brunch at her flat for everyone on the program plus me and Eric, the boyfriend of another Swattie on the Vienna program, Lauren. Delicious food! Bread, cheeses, meats, butter and creamy spreads, nutella, fresh fruit! Yummy. After brunch, Chris and I wandered around the city some more with the other Chris on his program (Chris S. also from Swarthmore) and met up with Rachel and Brad for lunch and coffee at Central Cafe. Then it was time to go back to Chris' house and pack, then head to Viki's flat where the bus was going to pick us up and take us back to Kraków! We left Vienna around 8:15 pm on Sunday and arrived back at Dom Piast a little after 2 am. A much shorter trip due to better weather in the mountains and only having to drop off one additional passenger.
I had a lot of fun in Vienna, but it was definitely nice to return to Kraków, which really does feel like my home in Europe. It has a lot to do with having more familiarity with the language here as well as a routine and a small circle of friends. In addition to all that, though, Vienna was just too big and too beautiful and too classical, and seemed a little stodgy! Kraków seems a bit more dingy (in a homey way) and edgier with more attitude. Also more interesting. :) Well, I'm planning to visit Vienna again in the summer so I'll see what I think after gaining a bit more familiarity with it!
I think my life is going to be fairly uneventful for the next few weeks until I go to Venice for Easter break, so my next posts will probably be academic-y. You have been warned.
Monday, March 23, 2009
W weekend jechaliśmy do Wiedniu!
That might be correct...it's supposed to say "We went to Vienna for the weekend!" We left Thursday evening and arrived back in Krakow late last night (Sunday night). I'll write about the trip in another post, but it took so long to upload pictures tonight that I'm just going to write some short captions and leave the rest for later.
Mostly Catholic country = Easter stuff everywhere, though it didn't seem as commercialized as in the US. I thought these bunny candles were super cute.
The hungry hungry caterpillar in German! One of my favorite children's books. Apparently it's his 40th anniversary?
Really cool arty thing in a wall.
Stephansdom (I think I'm remembering the name right) at night on Friday.
The Vienna opera house at night (Friday).
Holocaust commemoration, I think (I saw so many things it's hard to keep straight what was what).
Chris and I in one corner of Heldenplatz...this is my new favorite picture of us. :)
Another shot of Heldenplatz with Rachel, Brad, and Chris.
The Hofburg Theater.
Hmm, I completely forget what this is... I'll have to check with Chris.
Arched thing on top of the high hill in the middle of the park at Schloss Schonbrunn.
View from the arched thing toward the palace (Schloss Schonbrunn) with a fantastic view of the city.
Another shot of the palace from halfway up the hill to the arched thing.
Fountain at the foot of the hill with the arched thing on top. I was in that black arch in the center when I took the previous picture.
Closer shot of the palace, which was a surprisingly plain building, with Chris in foreground.
View from one corner of the palace. Open lawns/gardens leading to the fountain and hill at the far end.
Near the entrance to the palace park. The conservatory belongs to the zoo that exists on the palace grounds. I liked being able to see the garden designs in the dirt. I guess they've planted bulbs or will be planting flowers in the coming weeks?
Inside the Central Cafe where all sorts of famous historical people used to eat. The guy on the left is another Chris and another Swarthmore student studying in Vienna this semester. Both Chris's were a little embarrassed by my tourist-ness since they actually live there. :)
The Hofburg.
The Vienna opera house during the day (Sunday).
The Secession building. Yes, it has a moustache.
Karlskirche. The guy in red in front of it is Chris S. and the one sitting down in black is Chris R.
Pretty building!
Vienna concert house.
One of the many versions of the Danube wending their way through the city. We established that this was a canal, but the Chris's didn't know which one.
Mostly Catholic country = Easter stuff everywhere, though it didn't seem as commercialized as in the US. I thought these bunny candles were super cute.
The hungry hungry caterpillar in German! One of my favorite children's books. Apparently it's his 40th anniversary?
Really cool arty thing in a wall.
Stephansdom (I think I'm remembering the name right) at night on Friday.
The Vienna opera house at night (Friday).
Holocaust commemoration, I think (I saw so many things it's hard to keep straight what was what).
Chris and I in one corner of Heldenplatz...this is my new favorite picture of us. :)
Another shot of Heldenplatz with Rachel, Brad, and Chris.
The Hofburg Theater.
Hmm, I completely forget what this is... I'll have to check with Chris.
Arched thing on top of the high hill in the middle of the park at Schloss Schonbrunn.
View from the arched thing toward the palace (Schloss Schonbrunn) with a fantastic view of the city.
Another shot of the palace from halfway up the hill to the arched thing.
Fountain at the foot of the hill with the arched thing on top. I was in that black arch in the center when I took the previous picture.
Closer shot of the palace, which was a surprisingly plain building, with Chris in foreground.
View from one corner of the palace. Open lawns/gardens leading to the fountain and hill at the far end.
Near the entrance to the palace park. The conservatory belongs to the zoo that exists on the palace grounds. I liked being able to see the garden designs in the dirt. I guess they've planted bulbs or will be planting flowers in the coming weeks?
Inside the Central Cafe where all sorts of famous historical people used to eat. The guy on the left is another Chris and another Swarthmore student studying in Vienna this semester. Both Chris's were a little embarrassed by my tourist-ness since they actually live there. :)
The Vienna opera house during the day (Sunday).
The Secession building. Yes, it has a moustache.
Karlskirche. The guy in red in front of it is Chris S. and the one sitting down in black is Chris R.
Pretty building!
Vienna concert house.
One of the many versions of the Danube wending their way through the city. We established that this was a canal, but the Chris's didn't know which one.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Saturday night we went to a show in the basement of a place called Loch Camelot. The group played Polish songs from the nineteenth and earlier twentieth centuries, some raucous and some hauntingly beautiful. The main male singer in the group was a little bit of a ham and absolutely fantastic. He changed aspects of his costume to fit with each song, making jokes the whole time. There were two female singers with beautiful voices, very strong, who sang a few pieces throughout the show with the piano or accordion. The musicians (a guitar, electric bass, and accordion who also switched to piano for a few songs) assisted with the slight buffoonery of the main guy and definitely each had their own personality and presence on the stage. Oh, and there was a fiddler who showed up about an hour late and snuck backstage, then reappeared to play and sing. It was a really great show! All in Polish, of course, so I couldn't understand any of the words but I could definitely appreciate the musical performance. It was also funny because our group of 6 university students was the youngest group of people in the room by about 25 years, except for some of the musicians.
Shot of the stage pre-performance. Isn't this space great???
Let's see... we've met a bunch of new people, all Americans unfortunately so no branching out to non-english speakers so far although I am starting to make friends with some of the girls on the swim team. We met a guy named Jon, a Harvard grad doing phsyics research at one of the universities here who's pretty cool. We also met a huge group of American grad students doing a master's program in European Studies at the Jagiellonian University. Four of them actually live practically across the street from us, so we were over there Saturday and will probably be seeing them pretty often. Interesting and fun group of people.
Last night we went to an Irish pub downtown and it were a little surprised by the number of Irish accents in the place. It was packed of course, and it seemed like everyone was obviously Irish in speech.
Leaving for Vienna for the weekend tomorrow! We're traveling with a small bus service which is cheap and goes door-to-door. Of course, although some of the people in the company speak English, the woman that I kept getting in every call only spoke Polish and German...but I managed to reserve three spots and they're going to pick us up at 2 pm tomorrow! (I think...) I'm kind of proud of myself for managing that in Polish.
Language classes started up this week so now I'm pretty busy. Three hours of class a day (except for Fridays) and an hour-and-a-half of language three times a week. Add swim practice twice and a week and the time spent commuting on public transportation, and yay I'm pleasantly busy! I had dinner with one of the girls in my language class and some of her friends after our first class last Thursday. There are a lot of people from France in my class, maybe 4 or 5 out of the 10 people there? Also 2 from Spain, and the rest are Germans and me. I'm excited to learn more Polish!
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
I ate too much chocolate today
The chocolate is just too good in Poland. I'm sure I've mentioned this before... It's also very inexpensive. A fantastic combination.
We went to dinner tonight with Matt and Maggie, the other two American students we've been hanging out with a fair amount. We tried a vegetarian restaurant called Greenway, just a short way off of Rynek Główny. I ordered a vegetable curry and found it to be quite good, though it could have been MUCH more spicy. Another dinner-goer tonight was a guy named John from Miami, a nuclear physics grad student studying at one of the technical universities in Kraków. Nice guy who fits that "physics-type" in a good way. Sounds like we'll be seeing him again this weekend for some Friday night festivities.
Rachel and I just finished watching the BBC version of "Pride and Prejudice" (with COLIN FIRTH!!!) and now we're not quite sure what to do with ourselves. The real world just seems like such a let-down after being immersed in Jane Austen. Fewer empire-style dresses (is that the right term?), fewer beautiful gardens and parks, no carriages, no balls, no rich men come a-courtin'. It's very sad.
So maybe I'll talk a little bit about my usual week, now that our class schedule has gotten (kind of) settled... I have 4 environmental classes that each meet once a week for 2.5-3 hours, depending on whether or not we get a break in the middle of the class.
Monday at 12:30 - Environmental Policy in Central and Eastern Europe
Tuesday at 10:30 - Ecological Engineering and Sustainable Development
Wednesday at 2:30 - Environmental Engineering Lab
Thursday at 10:00 - Environmental Economics
Monday and Thursday evenings I have swim practice with the Politechnika team for 45 minutes (I wish it was longer...). I also have a violin student! It's looking like I'm going to be meeting with him for about an hour, once a week. His name is Tom, a British dude maybe late-20s teaching English here. He plays guitar already so he knows music but wants help with violin technique and fiddle music. Totally fun, although now I'm definitely wishing I'd brought my violin with me... I'm weighing the possibility of renting a violin while I'm here, trying to decide how much I would play it versus the cost of renting. Having a student definitely inspires me to work harder on my own though, and the whole atmosphere of Kraków makes me want to delve more deeply into klezmer music.
What else... I spend quite a lot of time reading in cafes. I have to write a paper by the end of April for the main professor of the survey culture course we took in February. I've got my topic narrowed down to Czesław Miłosz, a famous Polish poet and Nobel laureate who wrote prolifically throughout the 20th century. His work is really REALLY beautiful. We had to read a few chapters in his semi-autobiographical book, The Captive Mind, for class and now I'm debating between writing about his book or his poetry. The book is really cool because he explores the mindset of many Polish authors in the first half of the century and the emotions and thought-processes that made many authors choose to collaborate with the Communist regimes and many others to choose exile and the life of an emigre abroad. It's fascinating. On the other hand, his poetry is amazing art. So I have a lot of reading ahead of me as I work out what I'm going to do...and then do it. And of course I'm also doing reading for next year's thesis, as I've mentioned many times already. I've got some new general ideas that are kind of exciting and it's reassuring to find that there are several directions, many interesting to me and perhaps actually worthwhile, in which I could go. I'll probably post long boring posts about these ideas sometime when I sit down and actually start to explore them in detail.
We went to dinner tonight with Matt and Maggie, the other two American students we've been hanging out with a fair amount. We tried a vegetarian restaurant called Greenway, just a short way off of Rynek Główny. I ordered a vegetable curry and found it to be quite good, though it could have been MUCH more spicy. Another dinner-goer tonight was a guy named John from Miami, a nuclear physics grad student studying at one of the technical universities in Kraków. Nice guy who fits that "physics-type" in a good way. Sounds like we'll be seeing him again this weekend for some Friday night festivities.
Rachel and I just finished watching the BBC version of "Pride and Prejudice" (with COLIN FIRTH!!!) and now we're not quite sure what to do with ourselves. The real world just seems like such a let-down after being immersed in Jane Austen. Fewer empire-style dresses (is that the right term?), fewer beautiful gardens and parks, no carriages, no balls, no rich men come a-courtin'. It's very sad.
So maybe I'll talk a little bit about my usual week, now that our class schedule has gotten (kind of) settled... I have 4 environmental classes that each meet once a week for 2.5-3 hours, depending on whether or not we get a break in the middle of the class.
Monday at 12:30 - Environmental Policy in Central and Eastern Europe
Tuesday at 10:30 - Ecological Engineering and Sustainable Development
Wednesday at 2:30 - Environmental Engineering Lab
Thursday at 10:00 - Environmental Economics
Monday and Thursday evenings I have swim practice with the Politechnika team for 45 minutes (I wish it was longer...). I also have a violin student! It's looking like I'm going to be meeting with him for about an hour, once a week. His name is Tom, a British dude maybe late-20s teaching English here. He plays guitar already so he knows music but wants help with violin technique and fiddle music. Totally fun, although now I'm definitely wishing I'd brought my violin with me... I'm weighing the possibility of renting a violin while I'm here, trying to decide how much I would play it versus the cost of renting. Having a student definitely inspires me to work harder on my own though, and the whole atmosphere of Kraków makes me want to delve more deeply into klezmer music.
What else... I spend quite a lot of time reading in cafes. I have to write a paper by the end of April for the main professor of the survey culture course we took in February. I've got my topic narrowed down to Czesław Miłosz, a famous Polish poet and Nobel laureate who wrote prolifically throughout the 20th century. His work is really REALLY beautiful. We had to read a few chapters in his semi-autobiographical book, The Captive Mind, for class and now I'm debating between writing about his book or his poetry. The book is really cool because he explores the mindset of many Polish authors in the first half of the century and the emotions and thought-processes that made many authors choose to collaborate with the Communist regimes and many others to choose exile and the life of an emigre abroad. It's fascinating. On the other hand, his poetry is amazing art. So I have a lot of reading ahead of me as I work out what I'm going to do...and then do it. And of course I'm also doing reading for next year's thesis, as I've mentioned many times already. I've got some new general ideas that are kind of exciting and it's reassuring to find that there are several directions, many interesting to me and perhaps actually worthwhile, in which I could go. I'll probably post long boring posts about these ideas sometime when I sit down and actually start to explore them in detail.
Friday, March 6, 2009
Thrift stores and clearance racks
...are amazing in Krakow! We went to the H&M store in the mall earlier this week and found a clearance rack where everything was 10 złotych, or about $3! So I bought a cute black t-shirt, a long-sleeved green and gray shirt, and a short teal skirt. For $8-9. Then today Brad, Rachel, and I walked from Piast (our dorm) into the old city area, passing a lot of thrift stores on the way. The first stop was the store located in the basement of our building where I got a new shoulderbag (I needed a bigger one so I can carry a book around with me, as well as water bottle, camera, etc.) and a sparkly tanktop for dancing. Total was about $13. Stopped in several more shops but didn't get anything until a shop where I got 2 pairs of leather boots for about $7!!!! One pair is black and about mid-calf, with a 2 inch-ish heel. The other pair stops just under my knees and is dark-brown with no heel. Both in fantastic shape with only light scuffing and they fit perfectly! I'm so excited to wear them. After the thrift stores we went on to the mall so Rachel could more money on the SIM card in her cell, a stop at the grocery store, and a scoop of ice cream at the fantastic ice cream cafe on the third floor of the mall.
This week was a great one class-wise. Our class schedule finally seems to be coming together. All of our lectures this week were interesting, although the most interesting I thought was the Environmental Economics lecture Brad and I had Thursday morning. We didn't get very much new material since the professor wanted to do a brief overview of Polish history as preparation for diving into the world of environmental econ next week. Of course, we'd already had an overview of Polish history in our Polish history and culture class in February, but it was cool to hear about it from another person's point of view. This professor (Preisner) focused mostly on 20th century history: the world wars and communism. He had a very different experience during the communist era than the professor (Nowakoska) who taught us in February. Preisner lived as an expat in Canada for several years in the late '70s and returned in '80 when the Solidarity movement began. He talked for a long time about the overwhelming optimism especially among Polish youth at that time - they were completely convinced that communism was over and then came the shock of martial law in '81. Imagine returning home with all that hope only to have things become even worse than they had been before.
I'm now deep into the book I mentioned a while ago, The Legacies of Communism in Eastern Europe, and finding lots of tantalizing little bits that might be interesting for my thesis. Apparently I have some bureacratic checking-up to do though, since I received an email from the coordinator of the Environmental Studies minor asking what I was going to do for my honors preparation. So now I need to email the Peace & Conflict Studies department chair and make sure that I'm registered for an honors minor with that department and then get in touch with the Environmental coordinator and remind her that I'm supposed to be doing a non-honors minor in that department. Although it technically doesn't matter which department I do my honors minor in, since my thesis has to incorporate both fields no matter what.
Now a few pictures!
Awesome gate south of Ul. Karmelicka (the street that runs from our dorm to the old city) on the way to Massolit, the English bookstore/cafe.
Probably my favorite picture of Brad. This is in a pierogi restaurant a couple of blocks from our dorm, Piast, where we went for lunch last weekend.
Brad took this with my camera on the tram today (Friday). I swear Rachel and I do actually talk to each other, despite how the picture might portray our relationship... Check out my massive sunglasses.
This week was a great one class-wise. Our class schedule finally seems to be coming together. All of our lectures this week were interesting, although the most interesting I thought was the Environmental Economics lecture Brad and I had Thursday morning. We didn't get very much new material since the professor wanted to do a brief overview of Polish history as preparation for diving into the world of environmental econ next week. Of course, we'd already had an overview of Polish history in our Polish history and culture class in February, but it was cool to hear about it from another person's point of view. This professor (Preisner) focused mostly on 20th century history: the world wars and communism. He had a very different experience during the communist era than the professor (Nowakoska) who taught us in February. Preisner lived as an expat in Canada for several years in the late '70s and returned in '80 when the Solidarity movement began. He talked for a long time about the overwhelming optimism especially among Polish youth at that time - they were completely convinced that communism was over and then came the shock of martial law in '81. Imagine returning home with all that hope only to have things become even worse than they had been before.
I'm now deep into the book I mentioned a while ago, The Legacies of Communism in Eastern Europe, and finding lots of tantalizing little bits that might be interesting for my thesis. Apparently I have some bureacratic checking-up to do though, since I received an email from the coordinator of the Environmental Studies minor asking what I was going to do for my honors preparation. So now I need to email the Peace & Conflict Studies department chair and make sure that I'm registered for an honors minor with that department and then get in touch with the Environmental coordinator and remind her that I'm supposed to be doing a non-honors minor in that department. Although it technically doesn't matter which department I do my honors minor in, since my thesis has to incorporate both fields no matter what.
Now a few pictures!
Awesome gate south of Ul. Karmelicka (the street that runs from our dorm to the old city) on the way to Massolit, the English bookstore/cafe.
Probably my favorite picture of Brad. This is in a pierogi restaurant a couple of blocks from our dorm, Piast, where we went for lunch last weekend.
Brad took this with my camera on the tram today (Friday). I swear Rachel and I do actually talk to each other, despite how the picture might portray our relationship... Check out my massive sunglasses.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
I thought I should post this since I am, after all, studying environmental science and the compact car totally beat out the hummer and suv in this picture. Yessss! From failblog.org.
So I got my hair cut! Rachel cut it for me on Friday because it was way too long and kept getting stuck in my coat and stuff. So here are some pictures of me with newly-shorn hair, taken at a party we went to Friday night. The other girl in this picture is Alachua, a student from Florida taking a gap year before college and interning with a rabbi here in Krakow. I think she's singing along to a song here, hence the interesting face.
Hair from the back, with Rachel breaking out her dance moves in the background.
I got caught mid-laugh but look at the short hair! The half-face on the left is Iza, who lives in Wrocław and was only here for the weekend visiting some friends.
In other news, I started swimming twice a week with the Politechnika team! It's unclear whether or not I'm actually allowed to swim on the team, but apparently I'm "too experienced" to be enrolled in the normal swim classes and so I practice with the team. It was a bit of an ego-boost for someone who hasn't done any swimming since high school.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
I'm a book-addict
This week flew by unbelievably fast and I've now been in Poland for 4 weeks and it's been a little over 6 weeks since I left home! It's going by too fast. :(
Brad and I had our first meeting with our Environmental Economics professor on Thursday. It's just the two of us in the class, so we sat around a table in the professor's office. Seems like it's going to be an interesting course with plenty of opportunities for Brad and I to suggest topics we would particularly like to cover. I already shared my obsession with transitions with the professor, so he knows that I'm going to be super interested in our lectures on the post-communist transformation and the transition process of accession into the EU. I'm really trying to dig for thesis material here!
In that vein, I've started reading a book called The Legacies of Communism in Eastern Europe, which has a juicy-looking section on the environmental legacy of the communist system and predictions for the future. But so far I'm only halfway through the introduction so I've got a ways to go before I get to the interesting stuff. I settled down last night for a good chunk of book-reading but was stopped by one sentence: "According to Marxist economic theory, the development of infrastructure was a low priority; production became the central element of the system." This sentence precipitated an impassioned rant to Rachel and ranting email to Chris. Does that sentence not set off little stupidity alarm bells in anyone elses' head? You simply can't have production without infrastructure, and attempting to develop production to the level that the Soviets did requires an equal, if not greater, investment in infrastructure development. Or else the whole system falls apart, as I guess everyone saw in the end. Anyway, I know the author of the book I'm reading is just summarizing one part of Marx's argument and there's more to it, but I still think the idea in that one sentence is really stupid. So today I spent the afternoon in the English bookstore, Massolit, reading a copy of The Portable Marx.
Rachel and I tried to go to a museum on the history of photography which was advertised as open but got there to find that it was closed. There was a little crowd of people outside the door, so we weren't the only ones who got the wrong message. We ate lunch at a delicious place in Kazimierz (the old Jewish quarter) called Bagel Mama. It's the only place in Krakow where you can get real, American-style bagels and real Tex-Mex burritos. Oh, and they have super yummy brownies. It's a little pricey so we don't go there often. The owners are really nice...a man from New York who came here 15 years ago and stayed because he fell in love with a Polish girl. Awww.
In other news, we got some information about the athletic situation (we're all getting a little antsy with the lack of exercise) and I'm going to try to join the swim team! Our program coordinator, Piotr, is going to take me to the practice tomorrow so we can ask the coach if there's still room in the program, since it's technically a "class." It would be pretty amazing and a great way to meet some more students! That's the only bad thing about our classes: 3 of them are just the three of us, and one is just Brad and I. Our language class doesn't start up again until the middle of March (it's part of the international European Erasmus program so it's not really on the regular university schedule) but there will be a lot more people in that class and from all over the continent.
Oh, we had our language and culture class exams last week as I've mentioned and they went really well. I have to keep studying my Polish, though, because we have to take placement exams at the beginning of the Erasmus class and I want to make sure I get into a class that will really push me.
Brad and I had our first meeting with our Environmental Economics professor on Thursday. It's just the two of us in the class, so we sat around a table in the professor's office. Seems like it's going to be an interesting course with plenty of opportunities for Brad and I to suggest topics we would particularly like to cover. I already shared my obsession with transitions with the professor, so he knows that I'm going to be super interested in our lectures on the post-communist transformation and the transition process of accession into the EU. I'm really trying to dig for thesis material here!
In that vein, I've started reading a book called The Legacies of Communism in Eastern Europe, which has a juicy-looking section on the environmental legacy of the communist system and predictions for the future. But so far I'm only halfway through the introduction so I've got a ways to go before I get to the interesting stuff. I settled down last night for a good chunk of book-reading but was stopped by one sentence: "According to Marxist economic theory, the development of infrastructure was a low priority; production became the central element of the system." This sentence precipitated an impassioned rant to Rachel and ranting email to Chris. Does that sentence not set off little stupidity alarm bells in anyone elses' head? You simply can't have production without infrastructure, and attempting to develop production to the level that the Soviets did requires an equal, if not greater, investment in infrastructure development. Or else the whole system falls apart, as I guess everyone saw in the end. Anyway, I know the author of the book I'm reading is just summarizing one part of Marx's argument and there's more to it, but I still think the idea in that one sentence is really stupid. So today I spent the afternoon in the English bookstore, Massolit, reading a copy of The Portable Marx.
Rachel and I tried to go to a museum on the history of photography which was advertised as open but got there to find that it was closed. There was a little crowd of people outside the door, so we weren't the only ones who got the wrong message. We ate lunch at a delicious place in Kazimierz (the old Jewish quarter) called Bagel Mama. It's the only place in Krakow where you can get real, American-style bagels and real Tex-Mex burritos. Oh, and they have super yummy brownies. It's a little pricey so we don't go there often. The owners are really nice...a man from New York who came here 15 years ago and stayed because he fell in love with a Polish girl. Awww.
In other news, we got some information about the athletic situation (we're all getting a little antsy with the lack of exercise) and I'm going to try to join the swim team! Our program coordinator, Piotr, is going to take me to the practice tomorrow so we can ask the coach if there's still room in the program, since it's technically a "class." It would be pretty amazing and a great way to meet some more students! That's the only bad thing about our classes: 3 of them are just the three of us, and one is just Brad and I. Our language class doesn't start up again until the middle of March (it's part of the international European Erasmus program so it's not really on the regular university schedule) but there will be a lot more people in that class and from all over the continent.
Oh, we had our language and culture class exams last week as I've mentioned and they went really well. I have to keep studying my Polish, though, because we have to take placement exams at the beginning of the Erasmus class and I want to make sure I get into a class that will really push me.
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