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American student in Krakow |
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| 9/27/2007, Thursday | ||
Hello again to everyone! Another week has come and gone, and I'm still trying to keep everyone
abreast of what's been going on. There have been a couple of additions
to my mailing list, and that's always good news, so I hope that you will
all enjoy my accounts of life here in Poland.This past weekend, our group took a study trip to the mountains of Poland. We started out on a cold morning and went to the oldest wooden church in Poland in a city called Debno. It was pretty neat, and dates back to the 15th century. Surprisingly, it has a name that roughly translates to "The Church of 7 or 8 Miracles." I'm not entirely sure about the merits of that name...but you know...who am I to question? After that, we went to a castle that overlooked the Dunajec River. It was one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. And shortly after that, we took a raft trip down the river to the Dunajec Gorge. It was a really nice trip down the river...quite relaxing. The river straddles the Polish-Slovakian border, so it was fun to notice the differences on both sides (the differences actually exist).  That night, we went to the resort town of Zakopane to stay overnight.
And well, Zakopane is one of the most beautiful places in Poland. It
lies at the feet of the Tatra mountains...so there are plenty of
opportunities for outdoorsy activities.The next day we went hiking in the National Park that is near Zakopane. We hiked through caves, climbed up rock walls, and walked through canyons. It was a blast...and the weather was perfect, so it made for a nice weekend. It was definitely the best weekend I've had since having arrived. The best part of the whole trip was the fresh air! This coming weekend, I had planned to travel to Lviv, Ukraine (or Lvov, or Lwow...depending on which language you speak)...but those plans fell through because of complications with the bus route from Krakow. Instead, I've talked to my German friend Christoph (who lives in Berlin), and I'm planning on visiting him and his girlfriend Claudia instead! I'm really excited, as it's been almost 2 years since I have seen them, and I really enjoy their company a lot! Naturally, I am going because I found a cheap deal to Berlin! It's always good to find bargains (it's genetic, right grandma?)!  Some of you are probably wondering if I ever study...and the answer is
actually yes. I had my first presentation this week. It went pretty
well, I think. A buddy and I had to give a little powerpoint
presentation on The Council of Europe. Also, I have a couple of upcoming
assignments...so I'm planning on doing some studying on the way to and
from Berlin, etc.Finally, some of you have asked about my Polish skills...and well...they're coming along alright. I'm not quite as far along as I'd personally like to be...but that's okay. We're going to start learning grammar and whatnot in the following weeks, so the language itself should become easier to understand in terms of actual conversations (not just buying food and other things like that). 
 Okie doke...well I've got to go get packed. We're actually moving to a new dorm in the morning. I've heard tale that it's actually smaller (?!) than the one I'm living in now...and I'm moving to a place with shared showers and bathrooms. That doesn't bother me too much, as I've lived with it for two years at AU...but it really made some of the people here pretty angry. We were told that our new rooms would be upgrades, but something got lost in translation...and well...I suppose there isn't much that can be done about it now. In all, it's only a couple of months. So it may be a couple of weeks before I send another email because it takes quite a while to get internet in the rooms (if it's anything like the struggle to get it in this dorm...as my parents, grandparents, and Chelsea can attest to). I'll do my best to keep you all informed! Let me know what's going on, and I'll do the same! Hope to hear from you all soon...and I hope you'll enjoy the attached photos! Cheers, Kent |
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8/31/07 9/11/07 9/20/07 9/27/07 10/5/07 10/14/07 3/22/08 3/30/08 |
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