Thursday, January 17, 2013

One Last Look

Well today was my last day in Poland, and what an experience it has been. This trip has gone so fast and it's amazing how much I have learned over the past two weeks. I have been immersed in a new culture and I have loved all of the experiences that I have had. It's hard to put into words all that I have experienced here in Poland, but I have tried to do my best to share my feelings and what I have seen. It's been a trip that I will never forget and has given me a lot to think about, I'm so thankful that I was able to have this experience.Today was my last day in Warsaw, and in Poland, and we were given a free day to do what ever we wanted. I decided that as for my last day I wanted to see as much of the city as I could and I found a few others that wanted to join in. We compiled a list of places that we would like to see and we took our map and we were off on an adventure.


We started our journey by taking our favorite tram, the 35, to what we expected to be the Opera House. Unfortunately when we got off the tram we did not see the Opera House but there was a beautiful palace instead. We were satisfied with this site and we decided to continue on. We walked to a park and walked through yet another beautiful snow covered scene. On the other side of the park was the Tomb of the Unknown Solider. This is a memorial to all of the those that lost their lives in all of the struggles in Poland's past. The memorial is made from a piece of the king's castle. The palace was completely destroyed during WWII except for two archways and 8 pillars, this is now the home of an eternal flame that is guarded 24/7 by two guards. Today was the anniversary of the "liberation" of Poland by the Soviets at the end of WWII. Because of this anniversary there were many military personnel there for a ceremony. Many people were also coming bearing flowers to place at the memorial. It was very neat to witness part of the ceremony. We then wandered through the streets and came upon a few random buildings and at this point we were getting very cold so we ducked into a coffee shop to come up with a game plan. After regaining some feeling in our fingers and toes we headed back out. We stopped at the basilica and then at the Nicolas Copernicus statue. We went into the Academy of Science to see what was inside but there wasn't much to see, at this point we weren't sure how to get to the river to see some more sites and a very kind elderly gentleman came over and helped us figure it out. Through some hand gestures and broken English we were able to find out that we needed to take the 102 bus for 2 stops to get to our destination. We followed the directions and found ourselves at the Vistula River.



We walked down towards the river and got and amazing view of the brand new soccer stadium used for the EuroCup 2012. It was neat to see it during the day and it is an amazing structure. We then saw another mermaid statue, but unfortunately some construction was being done around the area so the mermaid had a protective box around her which didn't make for very good pictures. It was time for lunch so we headed back towards the heart of the city. We didn't know exactly how to get back so we decided to just take the first bus that came and see what happened. Luckily it was just the bus we needed and it took us right where we wanted to be. We got lunch and I stopped to get a Starbucks :) Then we continued on to the Palace of Culture and Science which used to be the Communist headquarters during the communist era. Stalin had said it was his gift to the Polish people but it was no gift because the Poles were forced to build the entire palace. Even now when you look at it it is a very ominous building and it is clear that it was built to intimidate. It used to be the only tall building in Warsaw and I found out by doing some research that it is currently the 8th tallest building in the EU. We went in and we were able to go up to the top and see a panoramic view of the city. It was neat to see the city from an aerial view. Finally we went to see the only remaining synagogue in Warsaw and sadly it was locked, but it was neat to see since all of the rest of them were destroyed by Nazis. We were satisfied with what we had seen for the day and decided it was time to head back home, so we ran to catch the 35 and made our way back home.




It was an exciting day filled with adventure and we covered a lot of ground. It was so neat to see how after only being in the city for 4 days we were able to make our way around and we only had to ask for directions once. It was a neat confidence boost and I was really proud of the way that we found our way around in a city where we can't speak or read the language. I was so glad that I got to spend my last day seeing many of the important sites of Warsaw. How do I sum up an entire trip? Everyone always says that studying abroad is the best experience that you'll ever have and although this wasn't exactly the same sort of thing, they are right. I learned so much from this trip that I would've never learned in a classroom and the memories that I have made will stick with me for years to come. I'd like to thank you all for reading my posts and I hope you enjoyed what I had to say, I'm amazed that I had readers from 10 different countries and over 780 pageviews on all of my different entires. I'm excited to get back home and to see what new journeys lie ahead. Dziękuję! Dobranoc!

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