A month? Already!

Thirty days I've been in Wroclaw but where has the time gone. No one was lying when they said time here would fly by.

I finally got out of Wroclaw for a weekend with a group of erasmus people and it did me a world of good. I've found that when I'm in a new place I feel very small

and my surroundings seem infinite. The train ride out of town into Krakow helped shrink my world and provided a sense of geographical placement in this foreign land.

The 5 hour ride was all sunny and warm and relaxing as we each had 1.5 seats to ourselves. (much different to the ride home :-( ) The trip and sights were wonderful

with Wawel Castle and it's Dragon. The lesson learned was to get out of town more often. Of course the trip let all of us get to know each other a lot better which is 

also important, to know who you're sharing this experience with.

The people in Krakow were just as nice in Wroclaw even though we were obviously tourists there. If someone in line hears that you speak english but you're

attempting so hard to say your order in Polish they will ask, "what is it you're trying to say?" and then relay the order or tell you how to pronounce it. It certainly cuts 

the embarrassment of the situation down in half. It must always be pretty obvious that I'm an out-of-towner because I take this deep breath of "here we go" before I

order things. :-P Unfortunately I hear that though natives are not unhelpful to most foreigners, they do look down on some. And this is based on skin color. :-( A fight

erupted outside our dorm between 5 polish guys and 2 spanish guys. One of the Spanish guys came out with a huge black eye. Actually a lot of fights happen right

outside of Olowek, another happened last night when I heard screams below. I ran out to the balcony to see 8 guys running around each other. Pretty scary.

There was an instance in which a group of us were harassed. A club had held a Carnival themed erasmus party and a group of us were heading home from it. We

were 4 girls and 1 guy and snowballs started landing around us. We turned around to see two Polish guys yelling and lobbing them in our direction. We yelled back but

the ambush did not stop. I decided to turn around and asked them in polish to stop,please. They accepted laughing still but they stopped. After rejoining the group the

guy with us lent a bit a truth to the situation. The guys were probably trying to flirt with us as we're all dressed in cute outfits and we just couldn't understand what they

were saying. And that they were laughing probably because I was trying to act intimidating while dressed and painted as a leopard. Oh that wonderful language

barrier.

Our Russia trip!

Hello!
A couple of people have emailed asking for details on our Russia trip (May 8-13)--so I thought I'd update you here.

Remember that the Estonia group needs to make a trip to visit their peers in Poland at some point during the semester. I know that you are all rather mobile, so I will leave the timing/planning to you---the first days of May are good travel days (May 1 is a holiday) but if the Estonia crowd plans to travel to Poland then, you should check on the Students Days calendar first. Student Days is a festival in Tartu in the beginning of May--it should work out for the Poland group to be in Tartu for Students Days just before board a bus for Russia on May 8. The plan at the moment is for all of us to meet in Estonia, departure for Russia the evening of May 8. Arrive in St. Petersburg May 9 (am) transfer to hotel and begin our adventure! We have a guide for a walking tour/a couple of museum tours/ a minivan trip out to see some incredible palaces just outside of town. We should have time on our own to roam the streets, take a boat tour of the city (this isn't on the schedule, but it is easy to book on our own, it costs about $15 but if we are lucky enough to have a sunny afternoon, it is a beautiful and relaxing ride) and find some interesting food to eat. We'll be staying in a hotel with breakfast included (2 to a room as far as I know, we can work that out on arrival). The tours and transport are paid for so you just need money for food and souvenirs.

I have really been enjoying reading your posts! I was thinking about posting some points to ponder about recording observations on the blog from a conference I just attended. I want to encourage you to get out on your own, make a list of places to go and just observe how they do it there (grocery store, market, religious service, public spaces, cultural event, riding a bus or public transportation). I'd love to hear where you all are shopping in Tartu and Wroclaw--the markets and grocery stores are really different in Poland and Estonia (as I hope you'll have the chance to see!) so some descriptions, please!!

Last note--I have the passport scans from Gabriel and Robert, but still don't see them on the blog. Could you nudge them? Hopefully I will be in touch with some instructions for you guys on the visa front very soon!

Best,
Kathleen

Are hostels hostile?

This past Friday five other international students and I all packed up, made the treacherous cold morning hike to the Tartu bus station, and boarded the 6:30 bus to Riga, Latvia. I was excited because this was my first trip since I have arrived in Estonia. I didn't really know what to expect from Riga, because honestly I had never heard of it. I just accepted to invitation to join this group in their excursion and hoped for the best. As we arrived in Riga, I noticed that the whole ambiance was very different from Tartu. Though both have endured Soviet occupation, Tartu has held tightly to its rich culture and community, where Riga seemed to still weigh heavy under gray block buildings and the burden of oppression. I also noticed the absence of a middle class. It seemed that every person we passed on the street was either clothed in rags or adorned in garments worth a down payment on a small house.
Once we got into Old Town Riga, the architecture was certainly something to admire. The buildings held an old charm with exquisite attention to detail. I was nervous as we were walking from the bus station through the city at first because I had never stayed in a hostel before and had not been prefaced with encouraging stories about them. The Old Town Hostel, however, was nothing like I expected. The hostel rooms reminded me of summer camp, with 6 bunk beds per room. The bathroom was much better than what I had pictured. There was one room with a toilet and sink, and another with a shower and sink. I would say the only difficult thing about a hostel is privacy. With 12 students sharing a bedroom and one toilet and shower, you have to learn to be creative and flexible.
The weekend was a lot of fun over all. We visited many museums. One on the Soviet occupation of Latvia, a beautiful art museum with pieces from many different eras, a war museum, and several others. I also got to ride a double-decker bus for the first time while we listened to a city tour. I'm not sure that we ever actually ate traditional Latvian cuisine, it wasn't strongly recommended. We did, however, try everything from Latvian Mexican to Latvian Thai. It was quite an experience.

Monday was Estonia's National Independence Day. This holiday is held to commemorate the declaration of independence and founding of The Republic of Estonia on February 24, 1918. To celebrate this day many businesses are closed, along with the schools, and a special soup and cream pastry are the common dish. In the evening the citizens of Tartu gather at the local sledding hill (which looks like a huge crater in the earth - perfect for sledding!) and, well, sled! This year they filled the middle of the "bowl" with water and stuck a hot tub in the middle of that. For those who were really brave, you could sled into the water and swim to the hot tub, with your soaking wet clothes. It was exciting to me to be able to celebrate this day with the Estonians.

No Need to Schedule an Excursion

For me, shopping for meat and ordering food from restaurants always has a surprising outcome. I have yet to learn the Estonian word for turkey, which is mainly what I eat back home, so meandering through the deli-sliced and sausage-filled meat aisle can seem quite intimidating. I recently bought a packet of sausages that I thought would taste like the Jimmy Dean breakfast sausage but it didn't. It tasted like sausage one would put in a pasta sauce, not an egg and cheese sandwich.

However, there is hope here in Tartu, Estonia. The farmer's market contains some meat of which I know its origin. Obviously there are different types of fish, a couple of eels, and of course, the pig's head. At first, I was pretty shocked to see a pasty looking Wilbur gazing up at me from inside his glass coffin. Then I thought, "Wow, what would someone do with THAT?"

I suppose, I have yet to experience authentic Estonian cuisine but I'd like to think my expertise is in the Tartu restaurant scene. Due to my uneasiness in the kitchen, I tend to eat out a lot. Restaurants range from Italian, Russian, Chinese, French, and pub grub. When I do go to a restaurant where I recognize a dish, I've learned not to expect the "Americanized" version. As for the Estonian version of American food, one would have to order the bar snacks at The Kissing Students or Big Ben. For around $10, one can buy a plate containing chicken wings, ribs, fried cheese that resemble tator tots, pickles, onions, mushrooms, cheese (not fried), olives, and the ultimate "American" food, fried bread. I know at home I often joke about everything being fried in America, but never have I considered frying bread slices. I think the rye bread is generously coated in a garlic butter than dipped in a deep fryer for a moment or two to become extra crispy. It's appalling and appeasing all at the same time.

So I'm not so sure of how on topic this will be, but hey. It was experience.
This past week has been incredible; I learned lots of new Polish phrases and I've made lots of new friends. I've adventured new places and sampled new foods. Well, maybe a little more than sampled. I am completely in love with how many cultures are present in this one building alone...there is a constant hum of life in this city, much like in Greensboro, but here it is so different. You don't walk by someone on the street and immediately realize that they are talking to their friend in English, or even in Spanish. I hear so many different languages in this place, I feel like I live in the tower of Babel.
The market place has probably been the only place I have felt rather uncomfortable. This past week, our Polish teacher took us to the local market to teach us what kind of food was what and how to say it in Polish. One woman had a plate of oranges as a sample out on her stand, and many of my classmates moved forward to taste a slice. She became angry and began rambling off at us in Polish, and our Polish teacher went to rambling back at her. After we had moved away from the stand, our professor explained to us that the woman had been upset because we were taking our samples and not buying her product. It was a bit awkward, because it was true, but my understanding of a sample was a free taste with no obligation to buy. I wouldn't call the definition of sample a cultural difference, but I found her reaction to our actions interesting. Our lack of ability to communicate or understand the way the woman felt must have been frustrating...
I'm finding that grunts and pointing are about the best universal language.

The question is...Have you seen Gabriel's Hat?

I haven't been prejudiced by the locals for being foreign, but I have been blamed by another out-of-towner for the world's problems.

Being an American abroad is insightful. My image of European political debates has been deleted and the truth has been put in place. Well, they're much like anywhere else. They consist mainly of blame, broad generalizations, and are based on controlled media aka loose fact. I've never had my individuality stripped from me so quickly and a stereotype put in its place. As I said, insightful. 

The event burned my bottom at the time considering I was just trying to eat a dang Kebab at 2am but looking back I'm not too bummed. People like this exist everywhere, including the states, and they like to sputter the same smutter that everyone around them is. They just have a different name back home, Republicans. 

Hee hee! I kid,I kid!

Truthfully the lesson learned was not to get down by this event and to remind myself that I do attempt actions which are in my power to make things better for those around me. And that's all I need to live with. :-)

Have you seen Robert and Gabriel?

If you ladies see our UNCG guys in Poland, will you give them a nudge to join the blog? I also need a scan of Gabriel's passport...could you pass that along?! Hope all is well, I'm enjoying the blog posts...keep up the good work!