A View From Nieszawska: Welcome to Wroclaw

As of yesterday morning, I officially have internet of my very own, which means that I can start posting pictures on my blog....

That being said...welcome to the grand tour of what I have seen thus far in Wroclaw...

where the pope is my homeboy.

(That statue screamed "take funny pictures with me.")

Anyway, let's start at the begining: I officially live in a city whose name I have trouble pronouncing correctly--it's Vro-shuv. So, for the past five mothes, I have been telling people that I'm studying in a place that technically doesn't exsist. Oops...I've spent the past few days wandering the city with a few other American that happened to arrive early as well: Lance, Zan, and Andrea.

This is what they feed you on an international flight--I don't recomend it. It was like chicken stirfry meat in a pile.

I only saw this small snipet of Copenhagen Denmark. We did get to go outside at the airport in order to take the shuttle to the plane, so now I can officially claim that I have been there.

All the exchange students live in a Soviet-built dorm called Olowek, which means "pencil." I'm told that it's the most comfortable dorm in the city. And it is very nice, once you get past initial impressions...

There's 17 floors, and each room has it's own balcony.

We've slowly been venturing farther and farther from the dorm. The first day, we simply walked the general area. Now, we've become really brave and are venturing out on the tram. It's a very cheap way to travel very far.

Plus, all the drivers here seem to be sucicidal--they fly around corners at ridiculous speeds. Also, here in Wroclaw, it's customary to park on the sidewalks.

Here's a few photos of the Old Town Square, which is located within a five-minute walk from our university. It's a very clean, brightly colored place inhabited by lots of shops and pigeons. This is where we decided to be brave and try a Kabab pita-thing without knowing exactly what it was. Apparently, it's pig instestines--at least, that's what Lance's flatmate said. Still...it was pretty good, though I'm not sure I would eat it again...

Wroclaw is famous for it's gnomes scattered throughout the city. Here's two we stumbled upon in the Square. They made me think of Gary (at the gas station in Ashton) and his obsession with his lawn "ga-nones."

Here's Lance attempting to cook our first-ever meal on the hotplate. It was only hotdogs and green beans. Last night, we got a little fancier with spagetti, and Saturday Andrea and I are going to attempt chili in honor of Lance's birhtday.

One of the many random churches scattered throughout the city.

Here's both an inner and outer shot of the market just across from our tram stop by the university. We stopped at the bakery inside on our way to Cathedrial Island. I had a true Polish pzunki, which was filled with raspberrys--it was excellent.

The Philology Building where I will be attending my English classes:

I will always have a soft spot for NWU's Old Main, but this is gorgeous. I was tempted to take a picture of the bathrooms and post it as well....they're so shiny!

The city is littered with over 100 bridges. Here we were moseying along the river and eating our baked goods on the way to Cathedral Island. I'm told that it was in this area that the city originally began. (It's also imortant to note that 90% of this city was destroyed in WWII. Apparently, it was a favorite of Hilter's and he would rather have seen it destroyed than handed over to the Allies.)

Another view of Cathedral Island--I especially like the clouds.

The "Love Bridge," which we ironically crossed on Valentine's Day.

Lance and Andrea--This was about the point that we decided that we were taking too many "building pictures" and not enough "people pictures."

The Cathedral of John the Baptist who is the patron saint of Wroclaw.

The intricacey of the stone work amazed me.

And a back view of the Cathedrial...I took way too many pictures of this building just because I thought it was so cool.

As a special shout-out to Michelle Kringle: I found these candy bars, and she's right, they're quite tastey. Thus far, I've had two. I'm not doing well with Lance's mission of trying all the candy bars--i just keep getting this one.

And that's all I have for pictures at this point. Today seems as though it may be sunnier than it has been all week, so I'm rather excited for that. The plan for today is to take the tram in the opposite direction and to see where we end up.