My darling Wroclaw, you will be missed....

It's more the Rynek than other parts I'll miss, but this city to me was the epitome of study abroad. Quaint, quirky, fun and troublesome.....with all it's little (and big) ups and downs, I can't imagine studying anywhere else.

Several times throughout the semester, I remember thinking, "Why oh WHY didn't I go to Estonia, or France, or Denmark? It would have been so much better...." And for parts, it's true. If I had gone to France, I would have vastly improved my French instead nearly forgetting all of it while I studied Polish. If I had gone to Estonia, I would have had the quiet, quaint little city to meander through.

But Wroclaw I picked and Wroclaw I went. And I couldn't be happier that I did. I was in such a great location for travel....so many AMAZING cities were only a few hours' train ride away. I managed to see ten different countries during my stay in Poland. I couldn't be more pleased.

And sure, some of the citizens of Wroclaw weren't my favorite people in the world, but the citizens of Olowek were. (And yes, I do consider us citizens of Olowek.....it took a lot to live there, and I'm quite proud of it. Olowek is like it's own private nation, I swear.) Not to get sentimental, but so many people in that place touched and influenced my life in ways I would have never expected. Study abroad makes you open your mind, and Olowek made me open my heart. I have made friends that will last for ages (including some great UNCG girls!), grown to love a place I thought I abhorred, and grown mentally on a different-than-academics level.

To all the Zubrowka I'll miss, the czeckolada i sliwka, and the bardzo tanej piwo, Wroclaw, I love you!

COMPUTER!!!

Okay, so I have many blogs to catch up on. As most of you know, my computer decided to end its life sometime back in April/early May, and due to the absolute hect-ivity (yes, I just invented a word!) of the last, well, SEVERAL weeks, posting has been quite a problem for me. So, here come the rants.

I'm going to dedicate this blog to my new personal awareness of just how much we rely on our computers on an everyday basis. Of course, there are important things like email and let's not forget Facebook, but also simpler things, like checking the weather. With the passing of a few seconds and the clicking of a few buttons, viola! We can have the weather of our city dispalayed on screen, right in front of us. Wondering what type of day they're having in say, Bosnia? A few more clicks and BAM! it's there.

In a dormitory where television doesn't exist, checking the weather via computer can be quite handy. I can't tell you how many times I cursed my Macbook as I trudged home in the rain because I hadn't known, based off of the sunny skies at 11 am, that by 2 there would be a thick black thundercloud over my head. It got to the point where I carried an umbrella nearly everyday, and why? Because my computer was broken.

Movie times, store hours, online translators, phone numbers and email addresses for flight companies and travel agents....it's HARD to live without a computer. You can't check email. You can't write an email. You can't write a paper. You can't upload photos (ladies, Russia photos are coming soon! I haven't been holding out on you!). You can't even charge your ipod or use the light from your laptop's screen to find your way across a dark room! Oh, the frustration.

Of course, there was the good side to the computer being broken. I didn't really need to worry about my roommate leaving my door unlocked and someone possibly stealing my computer. If they did, the joke was on them.....they just stole a seven pound piece of scrap metal and white plastic.

I have to say, to all the old fogies that nix computers......You're stinkin' crazy.

Back in the USA

So I have been back in the US for about two weeks and I think I have been really lucky concerning my level of reverse culture shock. When I was in Estonia, I was frightened that upon my arrival to the States I would lock myself in my room and not come out for a couple of days, but luckily, that hasn't been the case.

What really helped me cope with culture shock have been the people I have met. For instance, one day while at my local cafe drinking my third cup of coffee I started chatting with an old woman, who apparently had lived in Germany for several years. It was interesting talking with her about the similarities and differences between habits of Germans and Estonians like the pride they take in their baby carriages something we both found fascinating. I also think I have run into the only Russian family in Salisbury. Ironically, I have been following their art for several years without noticing that many their paintings have buildings from St. Petersburg, their hometown, incorporated within them (the painting has Our Lady of Kazan as the brim of the woman's hat). I know I've been really fortunate in meeting these people and many others who I can talk to about my experiences living abroad.

There have been other things like I have been cooking an Eastern European treat once a week. So far I've dabbled in pastry recipes that remind me of those in the local bakery back in Tartu. I also came home to a whole book shelf full of Russian and Eastern European literature as a birthday gift.

I mean, it hasn't been all kicks and giggles. When I got off my plane in GSO, I immediately missed the way Estonians dressed, how composed they seem, and how quiet they were. But, hey, I am in America so I just have to deal with it. So as you guys come home, my advice if you are having reverse-culture shock is just to talk it out with someone and I am sure you'll find your own ways of coping. Plus, as we all know, Skype is amazing.

It's just a dream

Last days in Wroclaw, last days in Olowek, everyone is saying goodbye with hopeful promises of future travel plans and long distance visits. Yet it seems that I am not really leaving this country that has taken up such a large portion of my life inhabiting me. As Mandy said, we'll get to the plane terminal and the stewardess will laugh and say, "That plane doesn't exist!" Goodbye parties have an uneasy sense of lack of conversation because no one wants to speak what is on their minds, no one wants to say goodbye. So conversations turn to remebering the times and recalling other parties which were more lively and contained that person that everyone loves but who now has gone home already. Hugs last longer and kisses are given more freely and the guys take in deeper breaths as girls swat the dense air in front of their faces and cover their mouths which tremble with the words; goodbye. Countdowns on Facebook get smaller and hearts get anxious, what a time to be in Olowek. The first to go really had it lucky.
When the first left, they weren't really gone. I caught myself going to the elevator and pushing the floor to their room.
Today is my last day, well for a while, I'll be back to Wroclaw to fly home so I can't say goodbye yet, but they are kicking me out of Olowek. I must say I can not wait to be faced with administration which I understand and who will understand me. Simple questions will be overcome with the beautiful fact of understanding each other's language...ahhhhh.
I was searching the internet for that cheap spa in Wroclaw and came upon someone's blog. They are British and had been staying in Wroclaw for the same time I had. I went to the first entry and began to read. It started the week before I first got into town. I read about how they dealt with the snow and cold and driving to and from work in it. They wrote complaints about the Polish cold disposition but wrote it off as winter blues, the same as most of us. I jumped around and read what drew interest, it was so weird reading about thsi person who was going through the same thing and having no idea about their existance. I have to wonder how many times we've passed in Rynek or sat near each other on the 17 tram. We live in a small world.
Leaving has so many feelings. I think it is this mess of emotions that takes the validity away from the event. I look forward to going home, well to most of it. I look forward to leaving Wroclaw, well most of it. I am sad to see my friends go. I am sad to leave behind that bakery beneath the dorm. I plan on hitting the ground running when I step off the plane, see if I can outrun those post-study abroad blues. Life is life as a friend here always says and Europe will always be here. The times I've had will always be with me, good, bad, and ugly. So I guess you can tell this is summing up to be my last blog entry (unless we have to write about the after effects when we get back) so goodbye blog writing. I will say goodbye to Wroclaw when the time comes. Blog Monster over and out.

The Most Wonderful Place in the World

If you have not been to the Estonian countryside, stop what you are doing, buy a plane ticket to Estonia and a bus ticket to any city in the South and you will find happiness. This is what all fortune cookies should say because it's true.

During my last weekend in Estonia, my friend, Colin and I decided to bike to several towns in South. The tour included Polva, Rouge, Voru, and Otepaa. Ambitious, yes. Delusional, yes. Possible, no (at least not for us).

After four hours of biking in the pouring rain and gusty wind in the only part of the Estonia that had hills, we revised our plan and took a bus from Polva to Voru. Now note here: After giving my drawing covered in stick figure versions of us and our bikes with arrows pointing to a rectangle with circles underneath to the bus attendant, I was amazed to find out that not only could we take our bikes on the bus with us but we were not going to be charged extra. I would suspect in the States, this would not be the case.

Once we made it to our guesthouse, everything went smoothly. The guesthouse was run by a cute old man, Tiit, who was obediently followed by his golden retriver and black cat. Tiit cooked us two meals each day. They were simple usually composed of fried eggs, a slab of ham each, a fresh cucumber-tomato salad that was generously topped with dill, a loaf of bread, an A Le Coq, and yogurt for desert. Simple, but it was the best couple of meals I had all semester. On the last day we were there, he told us of his life in the Soviet Union and when Estonia gained its independence he decided to move from the city back to the "motherland" to live out his life.

In Voru and Rouge, we rode our bikes around visiting the churches and gawking at the natural beauty. In Rogue, there is a nature park where you can walk along the outskirts of the deepest lake in Estonia. I feel, only in Estonia would you find a nature trail dedicated to water pumps. The path was lined with moss-covered metal cylinders and signs explaining the challenge of pumping water up a hill. I have never been so knowledgeable of hydraulics in my life.

Now, I love Tartu and I am quite fond of Tallinn (because of Alexander Nevsky), but the Southern towns were what I imagined Estonia to be like. They were rustic, and did not specifically cater to tourists. The birch forests were amazing because they lack undergrowth so you can look in and feel like the rows of trees go on forever. The hills, although a pain to bike, just increased the charm because you couldn't see what surprise was next. With all the quaintness, I definitely advise future students of Tartu to visit Southern Estonia.

The Great St. Pete

So here's me being uber late with all my blog entries... first off, St. Pete.

My expectations of Russia were complied from a conglomeration of sources such AP European History, what little I had learned from Estonians, clips from the news and of course, spy movies. I had expected Russians to be boisterous with a bottle of vodka in one hand and a furry cap upon their heads. Fortunately, or unfortunately (I was really looking forward to the hats), this was not the case.

As for the city itself, I really wanted to dislike it because everyone who had been there told me I was going to love it. In the end, there are some buildings I adore such as Our Lady of Kazan or the Dom Knigi, but the gaudy European Baroque style that adorned most of the buildings just does not appeal to me.

What really interested me, as usual, was the food. Tepemok, the blini place we visited, I would venture to say is average fast food for Russia, and in that case, the Baltics as well (I visited a similar pancake place in Vilnius). Compared to American fast food, I found Tepemok not only more flavorful but also more healthy. An American greasy french fry which occasionaly will bend on its own, falls flat to the light yet filling side order of simple blini and smetana. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water.

When it came time to leave St. Pete, I have to admit I was overjoyed to be going home to Tartu. Although St. Petersburg is lovely, I wish we had a chance to explore more of the "real" Russia; the Russia that isn't so Europeanized. But as our bus rolled away, the scenery slowly changing from a maze of canals to forests of birch trees, I seceretly couldn't wait to return to St. Petersburg and Russia once again.

Nie dobrze

I know in Russia I was saying 'bardzo dobrze,' but I'm SO far behind on posts I can't even bring myself to say those words in this blog space.....So, in the honor of being behind, I would like to make a few observations about Polish Erasmus.
I am excited to come home and have responsibilities again. Not the thing you'd expect to hear from an Erasmus student, huh? While my experience has been amazing and I wouldn't trade it for anything, I must admit I am getting weary of the life I lead in Poland.
As far as responsibilities go, in Olowek, you literally have none. You aren't even responsible for your keys. First of all, if you leave the building, you're to leave your keys at the reception desk. The lovely (haha, not) ladies in administration hold on to them for you and give them back when you return to the building. Or, in my case, when you drop your keys down the 15th floor elevator shaft, they'll call the elevator man to fetch your keys and loan you out a spare set.
You don't have the chore of checking your mail. It's delivered directly to the reception desk, and you don't even have to ask for it. They inform you if you have a letter or a parcel.
If something happens, and for some reason you can't get into your room, you always know at least one person whose roommate is currently travelling and you can just sleep in their room.
Wake up late? No worries, there's several buses and trams each hour. Don't bother remembering which turns to take, don't worry about having to physically exert yourself by walking. Someone else can drop you off right at the door while you doze on the way there.
Don't feel like going to class? It's okay. The vast majority of professors don't take attendance, and honestly, don't care whether you come or not. If you turn in the essays, take the exams, and do the presentations, you'll get your grade and your credits. Don't worry about coming to class. Its really no biggie if you miss a class....or twelve.
Forgot to pay rent? Don't worry. Administration will remind you. When you pick up the keys you aren't responsible enough to carry from the reception desk, there will be a little tiny note attached to your key ring, telling you that it is necessary to pay the rent. Can't remember after that? Don't worry, they'll keep reminding you with little notes.
I know the point is to have an amazing time experiencing the country and its culture, but really? Can we not have a few more rules? A few more things to be held accountable for? Where there are no rules, there are no consequences, and I know that myself, personally, will have a difficult time readjusting to all my responsibilities at home.