Count down!

Hello all! I'm getting really excited about our upcoming trip. I just want to give you some itinerary info/contact info for me while I'm in transit.

I'll be in Wroclaw, Poland on Monday May 4-Thursday May 7. The best way to contact me there would be to send an email message to Ula Broda in the International Office. I'd love to see the students who are studying in Poland, if you are still in town?
ulbr@adm.uni.wroc.pl

On Thursday I'll head to Estonia. I fly into Tallin late afternoon (5:35 pm) and will need to catch a bus to Tartu (anybody wanna meet me?) I don't know where I'll be staying yet--but the International Office will know where to find me. I think that Piret Must will be out of the office, but Sirje Uprus will be in touch with me.
sirje.uprus@ut.ee

Once I'm in Estonia, I'll also have this phone number 372 5311 6581 SMS 372 533 57081

We'll head out on the bus at about 11 pm on the 8th (Friday) so let's be in touch about when/where to meet--I'll need to check out of my hotel midday I guess, I'll be checking in at the university, but maybe dinner?

Once I have our final packet with our intinerary in St. Petersburg, I'll send you the hotel info in case you want to leave it with anyone back home or in Poland/Estonia.

See you soon--
Kathleen

Frogs

I came here with the intentions of taking Biology courses. As that was not possible, I sought out a professor in the Zoology Department here at the Uniwersytet Wroclawiu and asked if I could help out in her lab doing research for credit. She said yes and I met with the Graduate and PhD students in her lab right away. We exchanged emails and phone numbers and I was invited to help with amphibian relocation and rehabilitation. I was excited.
A month later one of the students finally got back to me. She is only two years older than I am and is working on her Master's degree. She invited me out to catch amphibians from this lake that is being destroyed due to a new stadium being built pretty much on top of it and move the lil guys to a lake within a park about a kilometer away.
It was a warm, sunny morning and we jumped trams and buses until we arrived at our destination. I asked a million questions about amphibians and learned that there are more than just toads, frogs, and salamanders. It is all very interesting. I had to admit that while I had done research in lake systems I knew nothing about amphibians and so she told me even more; fun stuff like coping mechanisms for such a cold environment :). After breaking the ice with science we turned into two girls around the same age interested in the same things and so talked about being who we are in two very different countries. Comes to find out we're not all that different in the end. We talked about boys, about friends, and music. Ok I'm getting too cheesy so you get the picture. Then I had to ask why it had taken so long for some one to get back to me about the research when I knew they all had mentioned needing help the week I met them. She gave a an uneasy "uhhh....well Danielle..." and told me that they were all nervous about being around me. Why? of course I asked. She said they didn't want me to laugh at them or think badly of them for not knowing more English while they're at almost professional levels of education. I couldn't believe it but of crouse I understood it. It's weird though to think that they would even assume I would laugh at them for something like that, I can't speak a lick of Polish past, "My name is Danielle and I have a question." Anyways I told her that I would never be so rude and I didn't know many that would and that I understood they were the ones doing me a favor. I haven't heard from any of them still but I am planning on going on a bat excursion with them this weekend in which we follow and record behaviors of local bats at nighttime for two nights. I hope to make amends or things clear through the experience as well as get some photos of cute flying rodents.

They shave their heads and throw the salute

Running behind on blog entries so I'll so a few in a row here and boy do I have some things to write about.
Last Saturday I went to my first concert in town with two girlfriends from the dorm. It was a pricey concert but my friend said that the headliner band was "totally worth it." So I decided to go.
We start our journey on the tram taking it until our directions told us and then we had to walk about a kilometer past the tram stop. It was a series of lefts and rights and right agains and as we walked we noticed the streets getting a little dirtier and less crowded with people. At one point we passed a house that had 7 to 8 grungy middle aged men sitting on the broken boarded and paint chipped porch. But we laughed and took note to take a taxi home.
The last stretch of the journey led us down an ally, pretty well lit in actuality, and to a man selling tickets for the show. We bought three tickets and entered the joint.
The inside was like any other bar, two nice enough bartenders serving cheap beer; the walls displayed a number of figures including a graffitied portrait of Bob Marley. A space was cleared for 'dancing' and tables were set up for setting drinks down while you enjoyed the show. The first band were tuning their instruments up on stage while we grabbed a beer and went to a table behind the 'dance' floor.
Finally the band started playing and as it was all in Polish we just bobbed our heads and danced around a little bit. At this time the crowd began to congregate on the dance floor and moving to the music. The girls had partially shaved heads, plaid where there could fit in into their wardrobe, and big, hunking army boots which they kicked around as they danced in the punk rock style that has been popular for some time. (Lame excuse for dancing if you ask me.) The guys had camoflauge where the girls had plaid, T-shirts old and worn, and often suspenders which held up their skin tight pants. And they all had completely shaved heads. Looking around I noticed that more and more of the guys had this shaved head, skinheads. The band played on and it went to leave but recieved an encour. The request went out for some song and the band agreed to play.
The song started out like their others, lots of guitar, crap bass, and a drum skeme that lacked creativity and the dance floor filled up. Then I thought I understood some of the lyrics, was that english? Yes, it was english. "Skin head for life!" was repeated over and over and the crowd did something I least expected. They all threw up the Nazi salute. Girls, guys, young, old all put their flattened hands towards the band at that unmistakable angle.
It was a werid an scary feeling to be in that bar then. Us three girls decided to just play it cool until the headliners came on and certainly get our money's worth of the music. In between bands you could hear, "Adolf! Adolf! For Life!" I just wanted to scream at them all and ask them how they, of all the countries affected by the War, could remain so ignorant. I want to bust full beer bottles over the guys' heads. But I also didn't want to get the crap beat out of me.
The headliners came on and we stayed for a while but decided it would be smart to leave a little early. The headliners seemed scared themselves with the croud as they were a band out of London with one of the guitarists out of Paris. They spoke into the microphones with chilled English accents but gave the crowd nervous glares and played on anyways with songs containing lyrics such as, "I call and you but you'll never return!" and "Oo oo baby, you don't want to stick with me..." Very corny stuff that surprisingly the lame skinheads took to.
I am never going to another concert at that bar again.

Polish Easter

So I comprehend that Easter is about a week and a half removed from now, but this post was delayed by my laptop's unexpected hard-drive crash. As I was determining what topic to do for this blog post, I realized that one of the things I had been most looking forward to with a semester in Poland was to observe the Easter holiday and see how it is done here. Being Catholic myself, one of the reasons I had chosen Poland was for the strong Catholic background of the country, and the presence of Catholic churches every block much like Baptist churches in North Carolina. 

As I have traveled all over this city, exploring the various regions, I have always been struck by the number of clergy, particularly nuns, that I have seen going about their business. How often does one see a nun in the traditional habit going through the checkout lane in the grocery store in the US? To me it has been refreshing, a place where religion can mix in public society without causing stares or insulting comments. There is nothing like running into a nun on the street to remind one to attend church on Sunday. 

Anyway, as Easter approached, I was looking more and more forward to attending Mass in the Cathedral of Wroclaw. I was also looking forward to finding some ham and making a brown sugar glaze over it as is traditional, but more on that in a few moments. 

I typically do not go grocery shopping until I run out of food - it saves money that way, to me. This way, none of my food goes bad, and I stretch my stipend as far as possible. That reminds me, someone needs to educate this country on how to make a proper pizza, but since I do not possess an oven, I guess it will not be me. 

I managed to have 'perfect' timing, running out of food on Holy Saturday. I figured 'No problem, I'll run out when I wake up Sunday morning and find something.' Well, it never occurred to me that being in such a prominently Catholic area, stores would be closed for Easter. Turns out every grocery store near Olowek was closed, and had been closed since Saturday, and would be closed until Tuesday. Momentarily stumped, and completely out of food, I was a little uncertain as to what exactly I was going to do in this situation. Finally, I reasoned I could survive on junk food for two days, and I went in to the petrol station next to Olowek to see what food I could find. Turns out gas stations in Poland are unlike gas stations in the US for what food staples are available, as I could only muster potato chips and ramen noodles - ramen noodles! I almost never eat ramen, let alone purchase it for myself, let alone eat it as my Easter dinner! So there I was, Easter Sunday, consuming potato chips and ramen noodles, listening to my mother tell me about the wonderful ham and brown sugar glaze, mashed potatoes, and black forest trifle she had made, and then listening to my girlfriend describe what her family was having - Italian beef, ham, cheesy potatoes, and the list goes on and on - my noodles paling in comparison between either family's repertoire. And of course, Monday I ate the same thing as the grocery stores were still closed. 

However, at least the Mass was excellent. It started exactly on time, at 18:30 hours (6:30pm), and was about as traditional as Mass can get. Those in attendance were of course dressed in their Easter finest, high-class formal clothing. I do not understand much of it, due to it being entirely in Polish, but still, it is always nice to see such a high level of reverence and respect displayed. Younger members of the congregation paused and allowed the elder members to approach the Communion line first, everything was conducted almost silently, the choir singing in the background, etc. As I was not sure what to expect from an Easter Mass in Europe, I cannot say if my expectations were met or not, but that I was completely satisfied with what I received.

ASAP

I need to know the status of Robert and Gabriel's visa application right away. Please email me TODAY to let me know what you've done.

71 days...

Before I left the States one of my friends told me that I would go through stages of being here, which sound a lot like the whole culture shock talk from orientation now that I think about it.. He said at first everything will probably be overwhelming, be you're making so many friends and having so many fun new experiences that you push through and adapt. Everything continues to be fun as everything is new and there is so much to discover in every day. Then things will lose their new appeal and you might get bored of them, even frustrated because they are new and different, and want to come home. Then it's time to go and you become sentimental and don't want to leave, as you realize that realistically you may never see these places or people again.
I've been watching to see if these stages develop, and have definitely seen them here to some degree, in myself as well as others. I noticed recently how there aren't so many new things in my day anymore. Last week my Mom came to visit me. She kept pointing out and observing so many things that were different from home. These same things I didn't even notice anymore, they've just become a common part of my day and surroundings. My mom and I traveled to Helsinki for a couple of days too while she was here. As much as I really did enjoy Finland, I felt a little bit relieved to be back in Tartu, I think it's becoming a second home to me.
Before I left home I had also heard that it wasn't a good idea to visit with people from home mid-way through the semester, so I was a little worried about what would happen after spending a week with Mom and then having to say goodbye again. But I think it was more helpful than anything, kind of like a refresher of home. It was also nice for her to see everything in person that I had been trying to explain through words and pictures. Now she can relate more to my experience here.
I have been feeling a little homesick lately though. I've even noticed myself missing random things, like graham crackers. I was a little worried about this until a couple of other people here started talking about missing home too the other night. For whatever reason I think now is when it's starting to sink in for a couple of us that we're away from home and have been for so long. It is pretty much the halfway point. But there is still so much to take in and experience while I am abroad. As much as I want to be with my friends and family from home again, I want to take advantage of the relationships and time I have left here.

Bus or Car Or Bike or Train?

There is a reason why transportation systems are different in the United States than they are in Europe. For starters, as everyone is aware, Europe is not as large as the United States. You can drive through three countries in less than a full day.
Europe also has an excellent public transportation system in comparison with the States. Subways, trams, and buses are all very accessible, some are 24 hours and almost all are very inexpensive to ride.
On this note, however, I would like to point out that the States are miles ahead on roads, road signs, and drivers....at least in my experiences.
For example, two weekends ago, three friends and I rented a tiny little Fiat to drive to Budapest. All was good in theory, except the driving friend figured she knew the best way to go based off a tiny map I had in a traveling book. Error number one.
8 hours later on a trip that should have only taken 6, we were still no where near Budapest. No road signs were even telling us what road we were on or if we were even going the right way. Kilometer after kilometer of bumpy and pot-holed roads, and still no clue of where we were. Not only had we not seen a single road sign in over an hour, but we had nearly been run off the road several times due to impatient drivers behind us. Not only did they pass us, but they sped off into the distance, down the topsy-turvy roads, only for us to hear them squealing tires turn after hairpin turn. As if they had a death wish.
10 hours later, we have finally spotted a sign for Budapest while we were in Slovakia. Tiny, inconspicuous, and out of the blue, we had no clue if we had been going the right way or not until we stumbled upon this sign. And it was the only one we saw until we reached Hungary and were about 10 minutes outside of the city.
Finally arriving in Budapest after 12 hours of driving, double the amount of time it should have taken, we still had to navigate the city to get to our hostel. However, in Budapest, all the names of the streets were posted on tiny signs in seemingly 12 point font on the side or a corner building.
"Is this Erzbeth?"
"I don't know, I can't see...."
Passing the turn.
"Yeah, that was Erzbeth."
I think we must have pulled at least 20 u-turns getting to the hostel.
The trip was great, but then the return home was also a nightmare. Before leaving, we looked up directions on Google Maps to avoid another 12 hour adventure. But no one wants to listen to the American driver when she points out that it would be much quicker to cut through the corner of Czech then it would be to drive straight across the middle of Slovakia. European drivers, even ones that have only driven from Wroclaw to Budapest once before, apparently know better.
So, a 10 hour drive home, with many more rocky shifts, crazy drivers passing us at the speed of light, and guessing at which fork in the road to take, we arrived safely home in Wroclaw.
I think I prefer Europe's public transportation, and I think next time I'll take the train.